1883.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



171 



band along the midrib; when mature they are of 

 a deep bronzy green shaded with brown, reheved 

 by a broad silvery white central band which gives 

 off short branches with every nerve. The novelty 

 of the coloration of this plant and its striking 

 aspect, cannot fail to recommend it to cultivators 

 of ornamental stove plants, to whom it may per- 

 haps be appropriately described as resembling a 

 shrubby Cissus discolor. 



Tobacco Water for Insects. — W. H. Spang- 

 ler in Vice's Monthly, beheves that tobacco tea, 

 occasionally syringed over infected plants, is a far 

 better insecticide than tobacco smoke. 



Rose Madam Gabriel Luizet. — At the April 

 meeting of the Germantown Horticultural Society, 

 Messrs. Lonsdale & Burton exhibited cut blooms 

 of the new hybrid perpetual rose Madam Gabriel 

 Luizet. This is the one which was pronounced by 

 foreign growers the best of all the roses of recent 

 introduction. In color it reminds one of the well- 

 known La France, is exquisitely sweet scented, 

 and the exhibitors claim it to be an excellent one 

 for forcing. 



Pedigree Roses. — Mr. Bennett believes in the 

 natural variation in races; others'depend on cross- 

 ing or hybridizing. Mr. Bennett has been and 

 continues to be successful with his method. An 

 English paper recently says: "Mr. H. Bennett, 

 Shepperton, contributed two flowers of a lovely 

 new seedling rose named Mrs. George Dixon, a 

 large flower with broad, deep petals, of a rich 

 satin-rose color — a lovely bit of color; and some 

 cut blooms of another of his seedlings, W. Francis 

 Bennett, an invaluable dark button-hole or bou- 

 quet rose, being neat and pretty in the bud, of a 

 good dark color, and richly scented." 



SCRAPS AND QUERIES. 



Rose Etoile de LvoN.^Nanz & Neuner send 

 buds of this yellow tea rose which confirm the 

 good character we have formerly given of it. It 

 will be a popular variety if its blooming characters 

 equal its beauty. 



Rose Merveille de Lyon. — Nanz & Neuner 

 send a flower of this hybrid perpetual rose, which 

 came to hand April 25. It is a large whitish 

 cupped, and very double rose and seemingly ot 

 much promise. The number of new roses is now 

 so great that it is not easy to judge of the actual 

 value of a variety by a flower alone. Habit, free 



blooming, fragrance and other points go to make 

 up the first-class kind in these days. If this should 

 excel in these points, we fancy there will be few 

 roses to excel this. 



Hot Water for Sicklv Pl.\nts. — A corres- 

 pondent calls our attention to the following from 

 the Garden, and inquires whether "there is any- 

 thing in it:" 



"The Florist asks has any one tried hot water 

 as a restorative for sickly plants? and then pro- 

 ceeds to say that M. Willermoz some time since re- 

 lated that plants in pots may be restored to health 

 by means of hot water; ill health, he maintains, 

 ensues from acid substances in the soil, which, 

 being absorbed by the roots, act as poison. The 

 small roots wither and cease to act, and the upper 

 and younger shoots consequently turn yellow, or 

 become spotted, indicative of their morbid state. 

 In such cases the usual remedy is to transplant 

 into fresh soil, in clean pots with good drainage, 

 and this often with the best results. But his ex- 

 perience of several years has proved the unfailing 

 efficacy of the simpler treatment, which consists 

 in watering abundantly with hot water at a tem- 

 perature of about 145^ Fahr., having previously 

 stirred the soil of the pots so far as may be done 

 without injury to the roots. Water is then given 

 until it runs freely from the pots. In his experi- 

 ments the water at first cgme out clear, after- 

 wards it was sensibly tinged with brown, and gave 

 an appreciable acid reaction. After this thorough 

 washing, the pots were kept warm, and the plants 

 very soon made new roots, immediately followed 

 by vigorous growth." 



To our mind there is a great deal in it. We 

 know to a certainty that sickly peach trees are 

 often restored to vigorous health, by the old-fash- 

 ioned German farmers of Pennsylvania, by pouring 

 boiling water on the ground about the peach tree; 

 It cools, of course, somewhat before reaching many 

 of the roots. Here, however, it is believed to be 

 beneficial by destroying parasitic insects and para- 

 sitic fungi, rather than chemically as suggested by 

 the extract. But let the reasoning be what it may, 

 we are willing to endorse it as good practice. 



Rose Catharine Mermet. — "Anxious I." asks: 

 "How is this rose pronounced? Some say it is 

 Mermet, others Mermay. These French names 

 are puzzling to us innocents." 



[Anxious Innocent need not be agonized about 

 it. There is no rule for pronouncing any proper 

 name, unless it is accented by the owner himself. 

 Owners of the same name often pronounce it 

 in various ways. Precisely how Catharine pro- 

 nounces hers we have no means of determin- 

 ing. Seeing no accents we may be forgiven if 

 wrong in pronouncing it as in English — Mermet. 

 If the lady wishes us to say Mermay, and will 



