Oetolwr 16, 1873. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTURE A>''COTTAGE GARDENER. 



289 



ground the result will be any amount of top and Ternffe 

 bottom. As a solution of " H."H. S.'s " difficulty tlipremarks 

 maybe a " mile off the mark;'' it is, however, .ittle expe- 

 rience that may be useful to somebody. 



Some Belgian Kidneys purchased in the miets, presumably 

 the same as those to which " H. H. S. Uludes, are really 

 excellent in table qualities — light, whitejd of perfect flavour. 

 Before cooking the skin is light red They are earUer than 

 the Kegents, and hardly average cipers. On this account 

 they will not be extensively groy good in quality though 

 they are. — J. Wbight. 



PROPAGATING CTTAUKEA EAGUSINA. 

 JIe. Eoeert STEVENS-ee page 253) has most certainly 

 achieved a great succesi rooting cuttings of these plants ready 

 for potting-off in twjr three days. For those who may not 

 have his means or id success the following mode of striking 

 Centaurea may beeful ; it is a plan which has been practised 

 for some years « unvarying success. Let a few old plants 

 of Centaurea pd in the borders all the winter, and at the 

 latter end of >ch or beginning of April take them up, and 

 strip-off theJe shoots with a heel, then remove the lower 

 leaves, and 'ble-in the side shoots in the flower beds where 

 they are in'ded to stand during the summer. Take care to 

 make eaduttiug firm in the ground, and success is certain. 

 — A SuBSBEK FOR Thirteen Years. 



THE EIBSTOX PIPPIN. 



In ponse to Mr. J. Wright's invitation by .Journal of 



9th oJctober, I report the possession of bush trees six to 



seveiears of ago from grafts; bright bark, glowing foliage, 



andj'orous stem, branch, and twig, fruiting but sparely, but 



molng fruit-spurs abundantly. The stocks are Crab, the 



sis to 7 feet in height and diameter of head, and the soil 



bfn heavy loam, substratum marl, and underlying sandstone. 



Jhes of equal size and vigour I possess of various varieties, 



; soil apparently genial to all alike ; pyramids also, 10 to 



feet high, tapering from 6 to 1 foot in diameter. I have 



pple, Pear, and Plum trees on Crab, Pear, Quince, and 



lum stocks, fruiting and preparing to fruit without much, if 



ny, distinction in growth and health. I have yearly strewn 



he surface soil with Ume after top-forking over, more to 



get porosity than to give this ingredient to the land. Sand, 



too, was added, so that lime and silica may contribute to the 



seeming success of my trees ; but development, size, and chary 



pruning, I imagine, have their degree of desert in my hands. 



As to Paradise stocks, a definition of the name is wanting. 

 Are these stocks English or French, Burr Knot, Nonesuch, 

 Stibbert, Doucin, Pommier de Paradis, or Apple-pip seedlings, 

 or what ? I know a little of these stocks, though but little, 

 and fancy, by comparison with the Crab, that they wo'n't 

 last, and although predisposed to fruit soon, do so fitfully ; in 

 fact, bear the " hectic flush " of bloom, and will die of con- 

 sumption induced by precocity. I may be wrong, and am 

 open to correction. I think that we must reason from analogy, 

 and following the preference of Mr. Douglas for Crab stocks 

 and standard trees, we must not depart too far from Nature's 

 behests in our own cultural concerts. — S. 



NOTES ON LILIES.— No. 4. 



I.ILIt'M TKiHINrM FLOKE-PLENO. 



Before describing this LUy I will, according to your sug- 

 gestion, say a few words as to our mode of growing Lilies. 

 Wfe have found the best soil to be a mixture of two parts peat 

 and one part of loam, with, when the loam is at all stiff, an 

 addition of half a part of sharp river sand. In the orchard 

 house we prefer to use rather large pots, and to place the bulbs 

 from 1 to 2 inches under the soil. When strong growth has 

 begun the plants require frequent watering. When Lilies are 

 grown in the open ground we have found most sorts grow well 

 in dwarf Rhododendron beds in deep peat. Wo have had this 

 season some splendid clumps of L. auratum at the top of a 

 rootwork with a northern aspect, in a deep bed of about three 

 parts peat to one part of loam ; while L. Leichtlinii has bloomed 

 well in an east rockwork border, on soil composed of about 

 two parts loam and one of peat. In the open, to escape danger 

 from frost, we plant the bulbs ."< or (1 inches deep. Some 

 Lilies, like the old garden white Lily, L. cnndidnm simplex, 

 seem to prefer a larger admixture of loam ; and according to 



Mr. Berkeley's experience, L. Szovitsianum blooms well in a 

 stiff soil. L. speciosum (lancifolium) is easily pleased. We 

 tried three sets of equal-sized bulbs in as different compost as 

 possible — some aU loam, some all peat, some loam and old 

 manure, and some in our usual mixture of two parts peat and 

 one of loam with a little sand. The last showed rather the 

 best growth, but there was no very serious difference between 

 any of the pots. This season in our beds in the open we shall 

 use rather a larger proportion of loam to the peat. Here, as 

 we have no more cats than mice. Lilies in the open must take 

 theu- chance of water from the skies, as they very seldom get 

 it from the water-barrow. 



Lililim tigTiuum flore-pleno. 



To return to the subject of the photograph, the double Tiger 

 Lily. Its beauty depends more than in most Lilies on its cul- 

 tivation. We have heard more than one good authority speak 

 slightingly of it, simply because thej' had never seen it decently 

 well grown. Wo have it flowering fairly well in a rockwork 

 bed facing the north, but not at all to compare with the plant 

 photographed. Its height from the soil of the pot was 5 feet. 

 It had thirteen blooms to a stem. The leaves were 7.J inches 

 long. The flower, besides being very beautiful, has the merit 

 of lasting long. We found our first bulb among some Lilies 

 from Japan. It was curious to see the first bloom expanding 

 its petals, one tier after another ; we did not know what to 

 make of it. We showed it at South Kensington in August, 1870, 

 when it received a first-class certificate, which in my humble 

 opinion it most thoroughly deserves. — George F. Wilson. 



AlUCfABIA IMIilllcATA FROM ENOLISn-SAVED SEED.^MeSSrS. 

 Mitchell, of the Piltdown Nurseries, near Uckfield, have a 

 flourishing batch of several hundred Araucarias, raised from 



