July 24, 1873. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE ANB COTTAGE GARDENER. 



59 



salmon yellow edged with rose ; large and fnll. Of the Madame 

 Margottin style of flower. 



24. Baronne Louise VxkuH. — Large and fnll ; fine colour, 

 but I am inclined to think uncertain. 



25. Souvt'iiir de Charts Perry. — A seedling raised by our 

 lamented friend, but hardly, I think, full enough to give it a 

 lasting place. 



I am inclined to give the first place to the following : — Andr6 

 Dunand, Etienne Levet, Madame George Schwartz, Madame 

 Lefebvre Bernard, Baron de Bonstetten, Fran(;'ois Michelon, 

 and Souvenir de Paul Neron. In the second rank would come 

 Abbe Bramerel, Bessie Johnson, Madame Cellon, President 

 Thiers, Rigotard, Louis Corbie, Richard Wallace, and Souvenir 

 de General Douai. And it is odd to find that some of these, 

 undoubtedly good, do not appear at all in two catalogues of 

 our chief growers now before me, so completely is it a lottery 

 which flowers are selected out of the eighty or ninety sent out. 

 It will be a great boon if the new Cercle at Lyons exercise 

 some sort of prohibitory power on the sending-out of snch a 

 multitude of new, and in many instances worthless flowers. 

 — D., Deal. 



G. F. WILSON PEA. 

 This proves to be a first-rate Pea, and fully justifies the 

 Royal Horticultural Society in awarding it a first-class certifi- 

 cate. Those who like Vtitch's Perfection should grow this 

 variety ; it is a decided improvement on that old favourite, 

 being more prolific, having larger pods more equally filled, 

 and is at least a week earlier ; the colour when cooked is a 

 lively green, and the flavour excellent. I shall grow it exclu- 

 sively next year for my midseason supply. It should be sown 

 2 inches apart in a single row, and the rows 8 or 9 feet apart, 

 planting Potatoes or other low-growing vegetables between. 

 Why do cooks spoil good Peas by boiling Mint with them ? — 

 WrLUAM Taylor, Longleat. 



THE HYDRANGEA AS A DECOEATIVE PLANT. 



The common Hydrangea hortensis is perfectly hardy in the 

 south of England, the Isle of Man, and other parts of the 

 British dominions ; but it is as a pot plant that wo would here 

 allude to its excellence. 



Doubtless some of our readers may have seen the beautiful 

 little plants of this species now being brought into Covent 

 Garden Market by the London market-growers. These plants 

 are propagated from cuttings in the autumn and spring, and 

 flower in from twelve to fifteen months, bearing from one to 

 four magnificent clusters of rosy flowers. Some of the largest, 

 or autumn-struck plants, vary from 18 inches to 2 feet across, 

 and are literally one mass of bloom, and invaluable either for 

 window-plants or conservatory decoration. I visited a small 

 market garden at South Acton the other day, and saw a long 

 span-roofed greenhouse quite full of this beautiful plant, while 

 hundreds had already found their way to Covent Garden before 

 my visit. In the turf-pits outside, four thousand cuttings had 

 been potted-olT ready for next year's supply, and this in one 

 small establishment onlj- — a fact quite sufficient to show the 

 high estimation in which this plant is held around London. 



Old plants furnish quantities of fine cuttings, which strike 

 freely in a moderate temperature, after which they are at once 

 potted-oS in good fibrous loam, leaf mould, and sand, and 

 placed close together in any empty space at command. The 

 leading growth is pinched out at the second or third joint, so 

 as to obtain strong bushy plants as dwarf as possible. As the 

 pots become filled with roots, they are again potted-on into 

 48'3, and the larger ones into .32's, and in these they produce 

 their flowers. During summer they are liberally supplied with 

 water, a httle manure water being occasionally added to 

 strengthen their ^owth. They are kept as near to the glass 

 as posjiblo while growing, and fully exposed to the sun, by 

 which means the plants are kept dwarf and bushy. The aim 

 of the market-grower is to get these plants into the market as 

 early as possible, since a much better price is thus obtained. 

 Those now in the metropolitan market sell wholesale at from 

 2t«. to 30i. per dozen, and are eagerly bought up at the price. 

 The market-grower has, in fact, but little difliculty in dispos- 

 ing of his flowering plants or cut flowers, provided they are 

 good in quality and early, these being the two great essentials 

 necessary in order to sncceed. 



Everyone who has to keep up a snccession of flowering 

 plants in either greenhonse or conservatory, will find yearling 



plants of the common Hydrangea invaluable for the purpose at 

 this particular season, and for the next month or six weeks. 

 We often see the Hydrangea with poor greenish blossoms ; but 

 if grown close to the glass in a low span-roof house or pit, 

 fully exposed to sun and air, the flowers finish-off beautifully, 

 and are of the brightest rosy hue imaginable. When growing, 

 the plants require but little room, and when in full flower are 

 very effective when grouped along with Fuchsias, Pelargoniums, 

 Ferns, and other decorative plants. — F. W. B. (in Tlic 

 Gardener.) 



METHOD OF GRAFTING RHODODENDRONS. 



In his treatise on grafting Mr. Charles Baltet calls this 

 method of grafting Rhododendrons '^ Anylaise a cheval," or, 

 as we should say, " saddle-grafting.'' He describes it thus : — 

 The stock e is cut wedge-shaped and sloping evenly, while the 

 scion A is split up from the bottom, as at a, placed astride tho 



Saddle-grafting Rhododendrons. 



stock, pushed over it, as at c, and tied up. Under glass clay- 

 ing or waxing is unnecessary. Some years ago a charming; 

 collection of Rhododendrons was exhibited by M. Bertin, jun., 

 in which a flowering shoot was employed as the scion, the 

 result being in each case a truss of flowers. In this way it 

 would be easy to have in a limited space a flowering collection 

 of miniature Rhododendrons. 



PEACH KERNELS POISONOUS. 

 It is not so generally known as it ought to be (says the 

 Argils) that the kernels of some stone fruits, especially Peaches, 

 contain prussic acid to an extent which may prove poisonous 

 if a largo number of the kernels bo eaten. The following case, 

 reported in the last number of the Aiislralinn MedicalJourna!, 

 by Dr. W. R. G. Samuels, of Wanganui, New Zealand, should 

 make parents cautious : — " February 19th, 1873, I was sent for 

 to attend a little boy, aged five years, the son of a carpenter of 

 this town. On my way I was informed that the little fellow 

 l>ad eaten something unknown to his parents, and was believed 

 to have been poisoned. On my arrival, I found him lying on 

 the sofa in a state of partial coma. Tho pupils were dilated, 

 the skin somewhat cold and clammy, tho pulse feeble. He 

 seemed, in short, to be suffering from the effects of some nar- 

 cotic poison. Upon making inquiries, I was informed that 

 abont half an hsur previous to my arrival ho had been seized 

 with di.'.ziness, stupor, fainting, inability to stand without 



