November 13, 1S73. ] 



JOUENAL OF HORTICDIiTDKK AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



369 



Hose-in-Hose form, a dark crimson, and two i5n6 yellows, one 

 being the " Proliferous Oxlip '' of old authors with a thrum 

 eye, and the other pin-eyed. My opinion is, that the Oxlip ia a 

 true hybrid between the Primrose and the Cowslip. Wherever I 

 have found it wild has been where CowsUps abound, and it 

 also blooms at the same time as they do. The idea that it is 

 a trne hybrid is also supported by the fact that it seeds very 

 indifferently, being all but sterile, and when I have found 

 seeds they have been almost entirely barren. 



THE P0LTA^'THD3. 



When the Primrose and Cowslip are brought into cultivation 

 and successive generations of them are raised from seed and 

 grown in near proximity, they develope into a form we call 

 Polyanthus, which partakes so much of the characteristics of 

 both the Primrose and Cowslip, that it is dilHcult if not im- 

 possible to say whether it has come from the one or from 

 the other. I have found in a seed bed of Polyanthus every 

 gradation of form and colour, from the common yellow Prim- 

 rose and common Cowslip to the most highly-developed Poly- 

 anthus — so much so, thiit it is impossible to say where the 

 former terminates and the other begins. 



I am inclined to think that the Polyanthus comes originally 

 from the Cowslip, for if seed be sown a veiy large proportion 

 of the plants when they bloom prove to be the common Cow- 

 sUp in various stages of development towards the Polyanthus, 

 and very rarely is it that a true Primi-ose occurs. Among the 

 many thousands I have raised there has never been an Oxlip 

 among them. Those which have large flat corollas and a 

 cylindrical calyx-tube partake most of the character of the 

 Primrose, and may have been produced by it having impreg- 

 nated the CowsUp. On the other hand, there are those plants 

 which are Primroses in the early part of the season throwing 

 np their one-flowered stalks, and then later on pushing up a 

 stoat scape bearing a bunch of one-flowered pedimcles, and 

 becoming a Polyanthus. This may be due to the Primrose 

 being fertilised by the Cowslip. 



-Mthough Polyanthus seeds produce so large a proportion of 

 Cowslips and so few Primroses, the Polyanthus has more of 

 the character of the Primrose than of the Cowslip. The large 

 decnrrent leaf-blade, the cylindrical calyx-tube with deep acu- 

 minate teeth as long as the tube of the corolla, and the large 

 flat limb of the corolla, are all evidence of this. It is singular 

 that a Polyanthus is never seen with an inflated calyx like the 

 Cowslip. 



The varieties of the Polyanthus are endless as regards colour, 

 but in form we have not so great variation as in the Primrose. 

 As yet we have but two that are double — the old Double 

 Purple, and the Belgian variety called Arthur De Smet, purple, 

 with a yellow fringe. I have some very large yellows and also 

 a magenta-coloured one which show a tendency to become 

 semi-double, but as yet I have not seen any that are perfectly 

 so except the two mentioned above. There are several take 

 the Galligaskin and Pantaloon forms, but I do not know of 

 any that are Hose-in-Hose. 



HOSE-IH-HOSE. 



The Hose-in-Hose are all Cowslips or Oxlips, tho calyx of 

 which has become an exact-coloured /ae-simi/c of the corolla, 

 and has the appearance of one flower being inserted in the 

 tube of another. Hence they are called Hose-in-Hose, a very 

 old name, having been used so long ago as by Parkinson, who 

 Uved in Shakespere's time. 



My original plants of Hose-in-Hose I got from Mr. Webb, of 

 Calcot, near Beading, a gentleman well known as a great cul- 

 tivator of the Polyanthus, the Primrose, and the Cowslip, and 

 who very kindly presented me with all the varieties of Hose- 

 in-Hose in hia collection. These were yellow of various shades, 

 brownish red, and dark red. Since then I have by careful 

 crossing succeeded in raising a great variety with much larger 

 flowers, and embracing a great range of colour from pale 

 lemoti to deep yellow, and from pale brick to the richest 

 maroon. Last year I raised a very lino variety of Hose-ui- 

 Hose, produced by a cross from one of the large-flowered 

 Polyanthus, as the corolla is of unusually large size, and the 

 calyx equally so. 



There is a very fine variety of this form which comes from 

 the Oxhp. It has a large sulphur-coloured corolla, and blooms 

 in great profusion, forming a charming spring bed. Of this I 

 have tho thrum and pin-eyed forms. These are all I have 

 ever seen in this country ; bat last spring when I was in 



Brussels, I found in the flower market there a fine rosy lilac, 

 which makes a pleasing variety. — Philanthos. 

 (To be continaed.) 



EEROES IN EXHIBITING FLOWERS. 



I Ai,w.\.YS notice that more persons are interested in the 

 matter of Eoses than any other subject touched upon in your 

 pages, and, with many others, I was much pleased with the 

 communications of Mr. W. Farren and "D. D.,"of Makerston. 



It is high time, especially in country exhibitions, that a 

 stop be put to some of the practices Mr. Farren alludes to, 

 particularly, I may say, those of putting duplicates into a stand 

 and of adding leaves. It is not merely in Eoses that duph- 

 cates come to the fore ; but in stands of Verbenas, Dahlias, 

 Hollyhocks, and other florists' flowers, where dissimilar blooms 

 are to be shown, it is the most common thing possible for 

 duplicates to be put in with the hopes of their escaping the 

 judge's eye; and, what, perhaps, is worse, the practice has 

 become in some places so common that judges do not disqualify 

 because they cannot find any stands that are free from the 

 dishonesty. What I complain of most is, that by this practice 

 honest exhibitors are often excluded from their proper place 

 in the prize list. For instance, one exhibitor has ten varieties 

 of Verbenas, and makes up his stand of twelve by addijag two 

 duplicates of his best sorts ; another exhibitor shows twelve, 

 but has to put in two inferior varieties to make up the number. 

 Other exhibitors, again, do not show in the higher numbers 

 because they find they are short of one or more varieties to 

 make-up their stand, while the dishonest exhibitor steps in 

 without any qualms of conscience, and carries off the prize 

 by means of duplicates, which the other would not contend 

 for. As regards the addition of leaves, I think it ought to be 

 more definitely stated in the schedules, and the committee 

 should ask the judges to be particular in seeing the rules 

 carried out. In many cases the schedule says, " Buds and 

 leaves allowed," and country exhibitors think this means that 

 additional leaves may be tied on. At one show, I remember, 

 this year where I was judging, my co-adjudicator and I started 

 with the full intention of disqualifying every stand whtre leaves 

 were added, and it ended by our disqualifying none, because 

 we could not find a single stand in which it was not more or 

 less done. 



With regard, however, to duplicates, borrowing blooms, and 

 other dishonest practices, the authorities at flower shows can- 

 not be too particular in doing all they can to put a stop to 

 them. Shows are too often looked upon as the means of 

 putting money into the pockets of exhibitors rather than for 

 what they ought to be intended, the encouragement of horti- 

 culture and the spread of horticultural knowledge ; and with 

 the idea of what is called obviating unpleasantness, dishonest 

 practices are winked at. I have known gardeners exchange 

 plants, one gardener lending one or more oruameutal-foliaged 

 plants in exchange for blooming plants, and vice versa, in 

 order to help each other to win the premier prizes, and 

 divide the spoUs afterwards. I have also known nurserymen 

 buy plants at one show and tako them to another show the 

 next day or next week, and exhibit them as their own grow- 

 ing. However, the subject of dishonesty at shows opens out 

 too wide a field for discussion, but it is one which requires to 

 be taken in hand by all horticultural societies. 



I am very glad that " D. D." has called attention to striking 

 Briar stocks from cuttings ; this does away with one of the 

 greatest evUa of which I complained in my notes on the 

 Manetti. I am also glad to hear from Mr. Farren that the 

 Manetti has succeeded in the stronger soils of his garden as 

 well as tho lighter, and I fully agree with him that much in- 

 jury is often done from overfeeding the Manetti stock in its 

 infancy. It is not a wise plan to apply all the manure to a 

 bed when first planting, but good food should be added as the 

 plants acquire strength. — C. P. Peach. 



HYBRID AGAVE. 



.\mongst the numerous results of hybridisation which from 

 time to time crop up, few are more singular and interesting 

 than one which recently came under my notice, obtained by 

 Mr. Taylor, of Highgate, so long and so well known in con- 

 nection with the famous collection of Cycads at Lauderdale 

 House, the property of J. Yates, Esq. It appears that some 

 time previous to the death of Mr. Yates a very fine plant of 

 Agave geminiHora produced a flower-spike. The flowers of 



