1883.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



13 



both introduced by Mr. Wm. Bull, of Chelsea, 

 London, from South America, a few years ago, and 

 proved very acceptable to English plant lovers. 

 D. Carderi is described as having oblong-ovate 

 leaves, spreading or becoming somewhat deflexed, 

 of a rich dark green, strikingly blotched and varie- 

 gated. Owing to the ground color and the variega- 

 tion being about equally distributed, the plant is 

 exceedingly striking and attractive. D. Leopoldii 

 is a plant of resplendent beauty. The leaves 

 are oblong-ovate, of a rich deep lustrous satiny 

 green, traversed by a broad and stout ivory-white 

 rib, which is bordered on each side through its en- 

 tire length with a whitish band, and shows in strong 

 contrast to the color of the leaf surface, producing 

 a marvellously fine pictorial effect. It is one of 

 the most handsome of the Dieffenbachias yet intro- 

 duced, and was one of the twelve new plants with 

 which Mr. \V. B. gained the first prize at the Royal 

 Horticultural Society's show, held at Preston in 

 1878, and the first prize at the International Horti- 

 cultural Exhibition, held at Ghent in 1878. 



Double Glo.xinias. — The latest novelty in 

 double flowers, is announced by the Revue Horti- 

 cole, as Double Gloxinias. They ought to be highly 

 prized if the double character is in any regular 

 form. They were raised by a gardener in Hun- 

 gary. 



•-»• 



SCRAPS AND QUERIES. 



Spruce Oil Liquid. — Mr. G. Geduldig, of Nor- 

 wich, Conn., writes that he has used the fir tree oil 



introduced by Mr. Rolker, on plants infested with 



Scale, and finds it to "work like a charm." 



AZ.A.LEA Miss Buist. — One of the last of the 

 late Robert Buist's many contributions to improved 

 garden flowers, was a seedling azalea, the stock of 

 which was purchased by Mr. B. S. Williams, of 

 London. It has just been placed on the market, 

 and is described as of the amoena type, but is pure 

 white "and a model as respects form." 



The Double Bouvardia. — R. L. Templin, Cal- 

 la, O., writes: "A few days ago, while visiting a 

 neighbor florist, I was shown a very fine bed of 

 A. Neuner Double Bouvardias, containing 150 or 

 200 plants, that were propagated from root cuttings. 



There was not one single flower in the whole lot. 

 Is it generally known that the double varieties will 

 come true from root cuttings ? When 1 received 

 my first plants from the originators, they sent me a 

 card stating that they could not be grown from 

 root-cuttings, as they would come single. I would 

 be glad to hear from some others who have tried 

 growing them from root cuttings." 



[As a general rule plants which originate in 

 branches, known as sports, will not come always 

 true from root cuttings. Many kinds of variegated 

 plants will not reproduce the character by root 

 cuttings. It would be well for an originator of a 

 new variety in this way to caution, that disappoint- 

 ment might not arise from root-cutting plants. As 

 regards this Bouvardia, we have known them to be 

 raised from root-cuttings, and always so far, with 

 the reproduction of the double form. — Ed. G. M.] 



YmiT AND Vegetable Gardening. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



CELERY CULTURE. 

 BY PETER HENDERSON. 



I notice at page 366, of the December number of 

 the Monthly, an article on celery growing by Mr. 

 A. D. Mylius, of Detroit, Michigan, in which he 

 says that he sows the seed in a hot-bed the ist of 

 March. That practice is no doubt perfectly cor- 



rect for his section of the country, but he should 

 not have set that date as the proper time for sowing, 

 without a warning that in any other section where 

 the season is longer and the temperature higher, 

 that if sown in a hot-bed on the ist of March the 

 crop would be destroyed by its running to seed. 

 Our practice in the vicinity of New York is to sow 

 in the open ground about the ist of April, and 

 plant not sooner than the 15th of June, and in par- 

 ticularly fine growing seasons we find that even 



