510 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GABDENEK. 



I December 23, 187& 



msured. WlioeTer wonld take advantage of one of the few ro- 

 maining occasions for seeing old Hungarian hospitality must 

 come here for the vintage. I have been told of an cfticer who 

 arrived with a transport of recruits to pass the night. He 

 found the town quite empty ; it was vintage time, and his com- 

 rade, who was on guard bemoaning his own fate, advised the 

 new comer to go and amuse himself. On the observation of 

 the latter that he knew no one, he was told to go in at the first 

 vineyard where he saw a light and heard the sound of music. 

 He did so, was warmly welcomed, and danced till morning. 

 Some people complain that of late the old free and easy way of 

 going and coming is rather on the decline, and that set visits 

 are becoming the fashion more and more ; but from all I saw, 

 I think strangers would not fare worse now than formerly. 

 You can scarcely pass a house where you are not asked to step 

 in, and where every pains is not taken to show that you are 

 welcome ; but I should not advise foreigners to go there unless 

 they are blessed with a strong constitution and unlimited 

 powers of imbibing. 



As the period fixed for the vintage is usually a week, there 

 must be a Sunday in it, and this is really the grand day. Not 

 a soul, young or old, rich or jDoor, who can in anyway contrive 

 it, will remain then in the town, so that you may pass a 

 muster of the whole population in the open air. E%'ery house 

 in the vineyards down to the poorest is full of friends who 

 come out for the early dinner at 1 p.m., and spend the after- 

 noon and evening there tOl late in the night, winding up with 

 supper, dancing, fireworks, singing, flirting, and all sorts of 

 other pastimes for young and old. — (Times.) 



POETEAITS OF PLANTS, FLOWEES, AND 

 FEUITS. 



Passifloba (Tacsonia) iNsiGNis. A'n(. or<f., Passiflorie. Linn., 

 Monadelphia Pentandria. — Native of Pen;. " T. insignia ia 

 without question the finest species of the genus, whether in 

 foliage or flower, owing to the bright glossy deep green of the 

 rugose upper surface of the leaf, and the gigantic size of the 

 flower, the sepals of which are violet crimson, and the petals 

 of a deeper and redder hue. Dr. Masters observes that it 

 belongs to the section Poggendorffia of Passiflora, characterised 

 by the filamentous corona. Its affinity with T. Vau-Volxemi 

 (tab. 5571), T. quitensis (tab. 587C), T. eriantha (tab. 5750), 

 and T. moUissima (tab. 4187), is evident ; but in all these the 

 corona is reduced to glands, and the leaves are lobed." — (Bot. 

 Mag., t. 6069.) 



Uaultheeia iNSiriDA. Nat. ord., Ericaceje. Linn., Octan- 

 dria ilonogynia. — " A pretty little laalf-hardy shrub, of which 

 the old leaves in autumn assume a most beautiful rich red- 

 brown or claret colour on the upper surface, and which bears, 

 at the same time, a profusion of pearl-like white fruits, each 

 with five crimson spots on the crown, answering to the lobes 

 of the baccate calyx, which are scarlet in flower. It is appa- 

 rently a common plant in the Andes of Ecuador and New 

 Grenada. It was discovered by Colonel Hall at 7000 feet ele- 

 vation, near Camino Pveal in the valley of Loa. Professor 

 Jameson next sent it from woods on Pilzhum and Pichincha, 

 at elevations of tl-10,000 feet. Goudot gathered it on the peak 

 of Tolima, to the westward of Santa Fe de Bogota, in New 

 Grenada; Hartweg, near Quito ; and WcddeU, in the province 

 of Pasto. The above localities embrace a range of nearly eight 

 hundred miles of the Andes. The fruit is described as eatable, 

 but tasteless."— (/6id., t. 6070.) 



Aloe (Apicea) DELTOiDEA. Nat. ord., hiliacem. Ltjm.,Hex- 

 andria Monogynia. — Native of South Africa. Flowers greenish 

 white. " This singular succulent belongs to the same section 

 of Aloe with A. foliolosa (tab. nost. 1352), pentagonia (tab. 

 nost. 1.338), spirella, imbricata (tab. nost. 1445), spiralis, &c., 

 of Haworth, which are all closely allied, having 5-fariousIy 

 densely imbricating leaves, that clothe the stem throughout, 

 and terminal racemes of erect flowers, with an oblong tube and 

 short segments. It differs from the first-named of these chiefly 

 in size, and in the leaves not being spirally disposed except on 

 the young shoots, though I should much doubt this character 

 being of any value. It has long been cultivated in the Boyal 

 Gardens, where there is no record of its introduction. The 

 perfect regularity with which the leaves are superposed in five 

 series, and the columnar stem, render it a very striking object 

 in the greenhouse. It flowers in May, and is easOy propagated 

 by offshoots from the base of the stem." — (Ibid., t. 0071.) 



Syeingodea rcLcnELLA. Nat. ord., Iridaceie. Linn , Tri- 

 andria Monogynia.— Native of South Africa. Flowers Ulac. 



" Syringodea pulchella is one of Mr. Harry Bolus' interesting 

 discoveries, and was found in plains amongst the Sneeuwberg 

 mountains at an elevation of 4600 feet above the sea, flowering 

 in April. He sent bulbs to Kew, which flowered in September 

 of the present year. The name is derived from syringodes, 

 fistular, in aUusion to the slender perianth-tube." — (Ibid., 

 t. C072.) 



Aqdilec.ia leptoceeas var. cheysantha. Nat. ord., Ra- 

 nunculacea?. Linn., Polyandria Pentagynia. — Native of New 

 Mexico. Flowers pale yellow. — (Ihid., t. 6073.) 



Cheekies — Early liivers and Monstrous Heart. — The first 

 was some time since described by Mr. Rivers in this Journal. 

 "For some years he has been engaged in endeavouring to 

 raise early Cherries which would supersede the old Early Purple 

 Gean, which is notoriously a bad one to propagate, and in 

 addition has a bad constitution. The early quality is, how- 

 ever, so well developed in this variety, that Mi-. Pavers selected 

 it as a basis on which to work, and after many attempts he 

 raised a seedling from it, which combined its early-ripening 

 habit with a hardier constitution. 



" The Monstrous Heart Cherry, or Biriarreau Gros Cccuret, 

 is a very old variety of Cherry, having been described by 

 Duhamel, Mayer, Kraft, and all the noted pomologists of the 

 last century. Its great size, fine colour, excellent flavour, and 

 generally handsome appearance commend it as a variety worthy 

 of general cultivation. The tree bears abundantly, and grows 

 to a large size, with a spreading habit. The sort is admirably 

 adapted for orchard planting, where the fruit is sent some 

 distance to market, as it bears carriage well, and will keep 

 fresh for several days, provided it is gathered dry. The fruit 

 is of a large size, as broad as high, of a regular heart-shape, 

 and marked with a well-defined suture, which is rather deep 

 towards the stalk, but shallow and faint at the apex, where it 

 is marked with a distinct style-point, which is rather promi- 

 nent. The stalk is greenish, from 2 inches to 2J inches long, 

 set in a wide but not deep cavity. Skin rather thick and 

 membranous, adhering closely to the flesh, smooth and shining, 

 changing as it ripens from yellowish white to golden yellow, 

 splashed and streaked with bright red. Flesh firm, crackling, 

 yellowish white, with a few faint stains of red next the stone ; 

 juicy and richly flavoured. It is ripe in the middle of July." 

 — (Florist mid Pomologist, 3 s., vi., 265.) 



HOLLY, 



IVY, AND MISTLETOE IN THE 

 LONDON MAEKETS. 



Towards Christmas, Covent Garden, and other markets of the 

 metropolis, are glutted with Christmas evergreens for the de- 

 coration of the three-mUlion-peopled city. " The boughs with 

 clustered berries bright," and the Laurel, Ivy, and Box, can be 

 had for the asking in rural and less populous places, suddenly 

 become in London important articles of commerce, and the 

 poorest households are willing to pay in coin for a spray of 

 Holly and Mistletoe to welcome Christmas. Dark as it is on 

 a December morning, long before daybreak Covent Garden and 

 the adjacent streets and approaches to the market are thronged 

 with heavy waggons, some from the railways and some from 

 the eounti7 turnpike roads, and all laden with Slistletoe, Laurel, 

 Ivy, Box, and Spruce Firs for Christmas trees. Here are 

 waggons, piled up with the festive evergreens. Many laden 

 with at least a ton. The procession is at a standstill, for the 

 market ia already fuU. Every market morning for more than 

 a fortnight this is the aspect of Covent Garden ; and Covent 

 Garden is only one of the great markets at which Christmas 

 evergreens are received, in order that they may be retailed in 

 all the squares, streets, lanes, and alleys of London. Where 

 does this vast supply come from ? These waggons of Mistletoe 

 are not from the turnpike roads, but from the railway sta- 

 tions — from the South-Western and Great Western termini. 



English Mistletoe for the London market comes almost 

 exclusively from the cider and perry counties — from the Apple 

 and Pear orchards of Worcestershire, Herefordshire, and Glou- 

 cestershire. The Apple, and not the Oak, is the tree which 

 yields the Mistletoe in abundance. In the western and south- 

 western counties of England, where a moist climate and a 

 warm summer produce the juicy fruit for making cider, not 

 unfrequently 50 per cent, of the Apple trees are infested with 

 the Mistletoe. So important a commodity has the Mistletoe 

 become, that the quantity despatched from Hereford alone every 

 December has been estimated by Dr. Bull to exceed 100 tons. 

 From Worcester even a greater quantity is supplied. The Lon- 

 don supply is despatched from Gloucester, whilst the northern 



