November 10, 1863. ] JOUEKAI, OF HOETICULTtJEE AND COTTAGE GATvDENEE. 



373 



variegated plants, and, taking it altogether, it is a beautiful 

 appendage to the flower garden. Still, if the plant has un- 

 dergone further improvement, and it has gone forth to the 

 world attired in a yeUow jacket, I for one shall be happy 

 to learn where it is to be obtained. 



Perhaps some of your readers wiU enlighten us on this 

 subject, and describe what the improved plant is like and 

 other relative matters, omitting if they choose all mention 

 of the name, which may or may not be one or other of those 

 mentioned above. The "Golden-edged Ai-abis " is expres- 

 sive enough, and if it does in reality exist, I hope that its 

 possessors will not keep it unannounced. — J. E. 



SOME GARDENS WOETH SEEING. 



CORNWALL. 

 ^anie. Proprietor. Oardejier, Station. 



PentillieCastle A. Coryton, Esq Mr. Edwards Saltash. 



DEVONSHIBE. 



Endsleigh DuUe of Bedford Unknown ... Tavistock. 



WOECESTEESHIEE. 



HaglBy Hall... Lord Lyttleton Mr. McKay... Hagley. 



StourtonCastle W. O. Forster, E'q., M.P Mr. Mason ... StourbrWce. 



Lea Castle J. P. B. Wtsthead, E^q., JLP. Mr. Goueli ... Kiddermmster 



Spring Grove .. W. C. Hemming, Esq Mr. Faulkner Kidderminster 



Moor Hall liev. Turner Farley Mr. Phippen'.. Stourport. 



Stanford Court SirT-E.Winnington.Bart.M.P. Mr. Stewart .. Worcester. 

 We-stwood Pk. Sir J. Pakington, Bart. M.P. Unknown .... Dfoitwich. 



— H. C. K. 



[We are obliged for the above as well as for all others 

 which have been forwarded to us, and we hope that such 

 lists will continue to be sent. These lists need not include 

 only first-rate show places, but might very advantageously 

 specify gardens on a smaller scale distinguished by the taste 

 with which they are arranged.] 



GAUDENERS' NAMES FOE FLOWEES. 



" Wiltshire Eectok " at page 328 of The Joup.nal of 

 HoKTictTLTUEE says that he is quite sure that weU-edifcated 

 gardeners will say Amen to his remarks on this subject. I 

 am afraid that I am not sufficiently educated to do so. 

 I have generally found gardeners (entitled to the name) 

 anxious to pronounce the names of the flowers and fruits 

 they cultivate correctly, and they usually succeed in doing 

 so as well as may be expected. 



To instance the "beer-loving fellow," or the one who 

 would offend the delicately correct ear of his lady employer 

 by calling her Cyclamens " Sickly uns," and whom she no 

 doubt dignified by the title of her head gardener, and pos- 

 sibly remunerated at the munificent rate of 10s. or 12s. per 

 week, is about as fair as it would be to form an opinion of 

 the eloquence, &c., of clergymen generally by listening to 

 the men we occasionally hear holding forth by the waysides 

 and corners of streets. The Geant des BataHles Rose and 

 the Bon Chretien Pear ai-e well-known varieties, and I admit 

 to having heard them variously pronounced, but I have 

 never heard anything applied to them approaching to 

 "Johnny Bottle" or "Bun Christian;" and I feel quite 

 sure that the " beer-loving fellow " must have been quizzing 

 his reverence, who did not perceive it.— G. 



VAUIA. 



I AM always glad to see the letters from amateur corre- 

 spondents which every now and then appear in your Journal. 

 Much good may be done by persons residing in different 

 parts of the country sending up simple statements of their 

 successes or failures in horticulture. It is, in fact, only by 

 this means that any certain conclusion can be drawn with 

 regard to a new and doubtful phenomenon, such as this 

 Gladiolus disease, which is now occupying so much attention. 



Although both my experience and the rectory garden, 

 ftom whence it is derived, are small compared with the 

 resources of many of yoiu- correspondents, perhaps you will 

 be glad to get some jottings from the far west. 



In the first place, then, with regard to the disease in the 

 Gladiolus. I have from seventy to eighty bulbs altogether : 

 about forty of them are gandavensis, and it is in them alone, 

 and only in two bulbs, that the disease has appeared. The 



bulbs were brought from Jersey in the autumn of 1860 : this 

 was, therefore, the third season I have had them under my 

 care. As they increased rapidly, I determined this year, for 

 the first time, to try some in the peaty soU of a Ehododen- 

 dron-bed. This soil was brought in some years ago from 

 the downs by which we are surrounded, and consists of a 

 stiff, black, fibrous peat, used by the neighbouring cottagers 

 for fuel until they were prohibited from so doing. In this 

 soil Rhododendrons, Azaleas, &e., flourish and attain an 

 immense size. Here, then, among, or rather in front of, the 

 shrubs I planted some Gladiolus gandavensis, while others 

 were placed, as in former years, in a flower-bed well ma- 

 nured with rotten leaves and the remains of an old Cucumber- 

 bed. The latter flowered splendidly, and I expect shortly, 

 when I take them up, to find a rich harvest of sound and 

 healthy bulbs. The former also flowered well, but in two 

 instances the disease appeared, exactly as described by 

 several ^vl■iters in your Journal. Fearing the possibility of 

 infection I took up one. The old bulb had as usual decayed 

 away ; bvit the two new ones found upon it were evidently 

 diseased, not having attained more than half their ordinary 

 dimensions, and the outer scales falling off soon after they 

 were taken up, leaving the inner solid portion white and 

 naked. I cannot, however, detect any rotten part similar 

 to that which appears in the diseased tubers of the Potato. 

 My fii-st impression, when I saw the leaves withering, which 

 took place in the hot dry weeks of July, was that the bulbs 

 wanted water. They were liberally suj)plied, but to no 

 pru-pose. I leave these facts to the consideration of " D., 

 Deal," and others who are ti-ying to get some reliable data 

 concerning this curious disease. 



Tom- correspondent, Mr. G. Abbey, in his interesting 

 article on " Roots and Leaves," page 332, says, speaking of 

 a leaf-cutting of the Gloxinia, " the leaf imbibes moisture 

 fi'om the atmosphere." Can he give us any proof of this? 

 Prof. Henfrey in his "Outlines," published in 1846, page 101, 

 says — " It has been sometimes imagined that leaves also 

 possess the power of absorbing fluid, especially in those 



plants which live for a long time without roots 



It may be assumed that absorption is never, or at least but 

 seldom, exercised by leaves in a normal condition." Lindley, 

 however, in the latest edition of " School Botany," page 

 193, says — " It is by means of this appai'atixs (stomates) 

 that leaves absorb water and gaseous matter from the 

 atmosi)here." Which is right ? Is this case of the Gloxinia 

 leaf one of those exceptions of a leaf in an abnoi-mal state, 

 which even Professor Henfrey would seem to allow may 

 possibly oceiir ? Or does Mr. G. Abbey agi-ee with Lindley, 

 and suppose that leaves in their ordinary condition absorb 

 moisture through their stomata, instead of those orifices 

 being simply used for the pui-poses of evaporation and ex- 

 halation ? Would it be troubling him too much to ask him 

 for further information on this point ? 



We, who live in the west country, are supposed to pass 

 half our time in a sort of warm vapour bath, produced by 

 constant mists and fogs. There is some truth in this com- 

 monly received notion. Even this year we could not be 

 said to suffer from dryness or heat, though we thoroughly 

 enjoyed the luxury of a few really hot, dry days in succession. 

 But even our climate seems to be too dry for Mimulus 

 cupreus, which, though very pretty in itself, is useless appa- 

 rently for bedding purposes, on account of requiring s» 

 much water. It wlU make, no doubt, a useful ornament in 

 the conservatory. 



I failed in the Amaranthus melanchoUcus by putting out 

 the plants both too small and too soon. Those which were 

 kept in the greenhouse grew into strong, bushy plants, and 

 on an upper shelf close to the light were extremely beau- 

 tifid. They were fed with a very strong solution of tank 

 manure, and seemed always to thirst for more. I was 

 obliged about a mouth ago to turn them out to make room 

 for other things, when they soon succmnbed. But with the 

 experience of this year I hope to be more successful with 

 them out of doors next season. 



Humeas which stood out unprotected last winter, were 

 finer this year than those kept in the greenhouse, attaining 

 a height of 7 to 8 feet, and branched in propoi-tion. These 

 also were in the peat above mentioned, as well as some 

 Tritomas, sown in the spring of 1862, now large plants, 

 which I hope will flower next year. — S. L. G., Cornwall. 



