January 25, 1872. ] 



JOUENAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



81 



the monsoon, thus confirming the assertion of Solomon (Prov. 

 vi. 7), which had heen doubted by some northern naturalists 

 ignorant of the manners of the species in warm climates. 



SOME OLD AND NEW FUCHSIAS. 



I HAVE not the intention of sending you a critical account of 

 all Fuchsias, and particularising every good one— no such 

 ambitious project is mine. I merely think I can pen a few 

 lines on some that I, who have been a Fuchsia admirer and 

 cultivator for several years, have found worthy of attention. 



First, then, let me start with the double white corollas. 

 There is a very beautiful one sent out by Mr. Canuoll, and I 

 think raised by Mr. Bland, in 1870. This is one of the best 

 of the section, as the flower is good in style ; a fine large 

 flower, tube and sepals very bright in colour, and the corolla 

 very double and of a pure white. There is an older variety, 

 Yainqucur do Pueljla, which is also exceedingly good. These 

 I should place in the front rank. Enipereur des Fuchsias is 

 a fine large flower, but the tube is too pink in colour, and the 

 corolla not of a good-enough white to suit my taste. 



Of the varieties with suigle white corollas an old one, Con- 

 spicua, is, I think, as good as most. It is a good, large, well- 

 reflexed (lower, the corolla a good white, and the tube and 

 sepals a very good red. It has a peculiarity in often bearing 

 flowers with five or six sepals, and I recollect once noticing 

 one monstrosity with eight sepals. Another very good one is 

 Pic'turata, not a very large flower, but having a beautifully 

 pure white corolla. I have, and have had, many others of 

 this section, but none that I think equal to these two. Next 

 in order I will take white tubes. One of the best of these is 

 Annie, an old kind, but yet one of the best. Beauty of Clapham 

 is a very handsome flower, very large, but the tube is not pure 

 white. Madame Menoreau, a continental introduction of three 

 or four years ago, is also a very large beautifully formed flower, 

 but it has the fault of the tube not being pure white. Lustre 

 is another very be.autiful light variety, with which I think 

 everyone ought to be pleased. The tube is very white, and 

 the coroUa very bright. Arabella, Blanchette, Elegance, Minnie 

 Banks, and Rose of Denmark are also good varieties in the 

 white-tubed division. J must not forget to mention a unique 

 variety which is not much kno\TO, called Erecta. Instead of car- 

 I'ving its flowers in a drooping position it holds them erect. 



I will next name a few good double dark sorts. Agamemnon, 

 Marksman, Norfolk Giant, Alberta, and King of tlie Doubles, 

 are all old favourite's. Triumphans is a fine new variety of 

 1870 which Mr. Williams iutroduced, and there are, doubtless, 

 several others in this class which are good. 



Of the single dark-coroUa'd kinds blue and mauve have pro- 

 gressed very much in quality lately. Roderick Dhu, Father 

 Ignatius, Emblematic, Constellation, Beauty of Sholden, Mr. 

 Disraeli, and Beauty of Kent are fine varieties, some new and 

 some old ; and of the darker plum, or blackish iilum corollas. 

 Light Heart, War Eagle, Enoch Ai'den, Aurora, and Marvellous 

 are all good. But I would especially name one as being extra 

 good — viz., Fu-st of the Day ; it has a splendid corolla. 



These are a few of the best, but I daresay there are plenty 

 of others. Regalia, Cloth of Gold, Cioldeu Queen, Golden 

 Mantle are also beautiful variegated-foliaged varieties. — Georse 



W. BoOTHBY. 



STRAWBERRIES. 



I All highly gratified to find a man of Mr. Gilbert's experi- 

 ence writing so highly of the Black Bess Strawberry. I quite 

 agree with .all he says about it, and repeat that it is a noble 

 Strawberry, which must be more generally cultivated when 

 known. No doubt you will bring to mind that I sent you, some 

 weeks since, a note on its merits, but only a notice appeared in 

 the correspondence column to the eft'ect that you knew notliing 

 of it, and asked for a few plants. The following week you 

 noted that you were led to understand it was synonymous 

 vfith Empress Eugenie, and I find by referring to the descrip- 

 tion of the latter variety in Dr. Hogg's " Fruit Manual," that 

 some of the characteristics are the same as of Black Bess, 

 thus : — " Fruit very large, irregular angular, furrowed and un- 

 even. Skin of a deep red colour, becoming almost black when 

 highly riiiened. Seeds small, not deeply embedded. Flesh red 

 throughout, hollow at the core, tender, very juicy, and briskly 

 flavoured. Rather a coarse-looking and very large Strawberry, 

 not remarkable for any excellency of flavour." 



What does Mr. Gilbert say to this ? Does it correspond 

 with his Black Bess ? It should be added that there are 



as many conical-shaped fruit as those of other shapes, especi- 

 ally after the first two or three pickings. I never found them, 

 or at least very few, hollow at the core, and I call them excel- 

 lent ill flavour. It bears a striking resemblance to some of the 

 new French Strawberries illustrated in Dr. Hogg's "Gardener's 

 Year Book " for 1871. Not having it at hand I cannot say which. 

 I had Dr. Hogg Strawberry for the first time last year, so I 

 cannot speak positively about it. I liked the few fruit I had of 

 it, but the plant is certainly not stronger than British Queen, 

 which grows by the side of it. I believe it to be of a weak 

 constitution. One plant of Black Bess is as large as eight of 

 either of them at the same age. — J. T., Maesrfu-ijnne , South 

 Wales. 



SELECT ROSES. 



To the thirty-six Roses already named by me these may be 

 added — La Vil'le de St. Denis, Madame C. j'oigneaux, Madame 

 C. Verdier, Madame Knorr, and Madame Charles Wood ; Tri- 

 omphe de Paris, Mons. de Montigny, andGloire deVitry, three 

 fine old Roses ; Alice Dureau, Dupuy Jamain, Madame Jac- 

 quier ; EUza Boelle, like MdUe. Bonnaire, but abetter grower ; 

 Baron Chaurand, very handsome, black shaded ; Lord Ma- 

 eaulay; Lord Clyde; MdUe. Emile Boyau, like Madeline; 

 Annie Wood ; La Sa>ur des Anges ; Prince Leopold, a fine 

 pole Rose ; Black Prince ; Glory of Waltham, a fine pole Rose ; 

 Le Lion des Combats, lake ; John Keynes ; Frederick Biborel ; 

 Lord Herbert, very fine ; Monsieur Noman. 



Ticoitii-fonr o/'th,' Best Sidnmer Hoses. — Paul Eicaut, Paul 

 Verdier, Madame Soetmans, Charles Lawson, Coupe d'Hebe, 

 La Volupte, Kean, Queen of Denmark, Boula de Nanteuil, La 

 Ville de Bruxelles, Grandissima, Triomphe de Jaussens, Na- 

 poleon, General .Jacqueminot (H.C.), Tricolor de Flandre, 

 MadeHne; Quillet Parf ait, beautiful, but dwarf and delicate; 

 Juno, William Tell, Transon Goubault.Gloire des Mousseuses, 

 Vandael, Crested Moss, White Bath. 



Ttcelrc Good Summer Roses.—Viincease Clementine, Common 

 Moss, Laneii, Felicite Parmentier, La Seduisante, Charles 

 Duval, Paul Perras, Persian YeUow, Blauchefieur, Frederick II., 

 Chenedole, and Breunus. The last three, Mad.ame Soetmans, 

 La Ville de Bruxelles, Madame Plantier, Fulgens, Triomphe 

 de Bayeux, and Laneii make good pole Roses. Summer Roses 

 are good for long walks arid glades, but should not be put with 

 the autumnals. Tricolor de Flandre, OEillet Parfait, and 

 JIadeline are the only good variegated Roses we have, and 

 they are beautiful. 



Surmner Roses are very hardy, suitable for the north, give 

 a grand but short-lived season of bloom, and are very sweetly 

 scented. You may back them for bouquets without injury. — 



W. F. EADCLVrFE. 



MAKING A JIUSHROOM BED. 



The old-fashioned ridge system of cultivating the Mushroom 

 is an excellent one, and I have often obtained good and plen- 

 tiful crops from beds formed on this principle. They should 

 be 3 J feet in width and of the same height if intended for 

 winter or early spring, and from '20 inches to 2 feet in width 

 and height if meant for summer use. The great drawback is 

 the long time that must elapse before the bed becomes ready 

 to receive the spawn, and can be earthed-up and protected. I 

 therefore choose for this purpose rather dry filmy material 

 from old linings and hotbeds, which costs no time in pre- 

 paring, and when firmly beaten into the proper form heats 

 mildly and regularly, so that the spa-mi may be with safety 

 inserted very shortly after the formation of the bed. The only 

 drawback to beds of tliis kind formed out of doors, is the 

 abundance of covering they require to keep in the heat, and 

 the necessity of remo-^'ing it at the risk of admitting the cold 

 air whenever the Mushrooms are to be gathered. For these 

 reasons I would recommend that the beds be formed under a 

 shed where less covering is necessary, and where they can be 

 examined at leisure. 



For shallow beds in a Mushroom house, I prefsr two parts 

 of horse droppings, one of short litter, and one of dry fibi^ 

 loam, but the materials mentioned before will also do for this 

 purpose. I used to turn over the manm-e and let it get dry 

 before mixing the loam with it, but now I think the object is 

 attained just as well by throwing them together outside in a 

 somewhat conical-shaped heap, and covering it with litter to 

 keep off the wet. This, when it has so heated as to be white 

 and dry in the middle, has the exterior removed, and is mixed 

 with some fibry loam to make it firm. By this means a good 



