December 22, 18G3. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOETICTJLTTJEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEK. 



491 



measures, there are useful tables as to foreign monies, 

 weights, Ac, as respects France, Belgium, and Prussia. 

 The other novelties are — a chapter on absorption, a very- 

 valuable article on aphides, a valuable summary of the 

 meteorology of the months, and an essay on and a descrip- 

 tion of the nen- Eoses of 18G2 and 1863, as proved by IVIr. 

 William Paul, the descriptions being of great value to the 

 Eose-grower. Besides such matters, the two great features 

 of the work have hitherto been a descriptive list of the new 

 vegetables, fruits, and flowers of the past season, and a 

 trade directory of all the nurserymen, seedsmen, and florists, 

 so far as known in England, Scotland, Ireland, and the 

 Channel Islands, and the principal firms on the continent, 

 and in previous issues all the principal nurserymen in 

 America. To this has been added this season anew feature, 

 worth far more than the price. Is., charged for the little 

 book. It consists in a list, extending to some twenty-two 

 pages, of the designations of some of "the most important 

 of the seats of the nobility and gentry in Great Britain and 

 Ireland, the names of the oi\Tiers, their gardeners, and the 

 post towns near which they are situated." No doubt this 

 list will be rendered more full, complete, and free from mis- 

 takes every year, and will fiU up a want long felt. Many a 

 time when we would have liked to have visited a place have 

 we been deterred fi'om failing to discover how we were to 

 reach it, or how we coidd gain access by a letter to the gar- 

 dener. There will be no dlfEoulty as to wTiting now, as the 

 post town and the county are given. At first sight we thought 

 the railway station and the distance in miles would have 

 been better than the post town, which is often a long way 

 from the place ; but on further consideration we think the 

 post town is the best, as for 2d. for a letter and an answer 

 all the necessary information may be obtained. The mere 

 distance from a station is a matter of great importance to 

 the visiting gardener, unless there be a party to share the 

 expense. Not so long ago, when rather tired, we were asked 

 for more money to take us two miles, wait an hour, and bring 

 us back again, than we have paid for a jaunting-car for a 

 day in Ireland, and making the di-iver a pleasing companion 

 by giving bim something extra for himself into the bargain. 

 All who go from home once or twice a-year, and wish to see 

 something fresh will hail this list as a boon. 



The new plants of the year and where figured, described 

 or exhibited are fully given ; and long lists and descriptions 

 of florists' flowers with the awards they have respectively 

 taken, occupy nearly twenty closely-printed pages, and must 

 be of great value to enthusiastic amateurs. The descriptions 

 of new and notable fruits occupy five pages, and to these we 

 refer our readers. — F. 



EONDELETIA SPECIOSA CULTUEE. 



In answer to an inquiry &om " G. E.," it is a stove 

 plant, and one of the handsomest in cultivation for exhibition 

 or decorative purposes. E. speciosa major, a variety having 

 a more vigorous habit and finer foliage and bloom, is the 

 most desirable kind. Tou leave us in the dark as to the 

 time of exhibition and the present size of the plant. Sup- 

 posing, however, that it is strong and in good health, you 

 will pot it in March, giving a good shift, draining well, and 

 using a compost of sandy fibry peat one-half, loam fi-om 

 rotted tuvves one-fourth, leaf soU, piec 3S of charcoal the size 

 of walnuts, and silver sand in equal parts the remaining 

 fourth. The whole should be well incorporated, and be in a 

 moderately dry state previous to its being used for potting. 

 The roots should have as much of the old soil taken away 

 from them as can be done without destroying the fibres. 

 Place in the stove, and syringe overhead frequently, but 

 keep rather dry at the root until gi-owth fairly commences ; 

 then water more ii-eely, but still allow the soil to become 

 dry before v/ater is applied. 



A moist atmosphere should be preserved until the plant 

 has made considerable growth — say shoots 9 inches long 

 (which should not be stopped, for the blooms come from the 

 ends of the shoots), then keep rather drier, and let the plant 

 have all the light possible in every stage of its growth, but 

 more at this period of the jjlant's growth than at any other 

 time. When the trusses begin to open, a little weak 

 manure water applied twice a-week will materially increase 



the size of the blooms, and an occasional syringing is advan- 

 tageous. Towards the time when the flowers expand more 

 water should be given, and abundance when the plant is in 

 bloom. It is usually trained round sticks so as to give it 

 the appearance of a globe, and this is not an undesirable 

 method. A temperature of 55° to 65° suits it in winter, and 

 65" by night and 75° by day when growing, with abundant 

 ventilation on all favourable opportunities. Plants treated 

 in the above way usually flower in July and August. 



It may be necessary to retard or keep the plant back, 

 and this can be done by keeping it cool ; or to force it into 

 bloom in order to have it in flower at the right time, the 

 weakest and straggling shoots should be removed now, so 

 as to admit light to the stems, light being the agent by 

 which it is caused to bloom profusely ; therefore, the shoots 

 should not be tied one upon the other, but light must be 

 admitted to all parts of the plant alike, or it will become lop- 

 sided or an ugly specimen. 



CROCUS IMPERATONIUS. 



YouE correspondent will find this lovely Italian less tender 

 than might be imagined. It will thrive and increase out oi 

 doors if carefully grown in a warm corner in pure sandy 

 loam, and lifted every year, to be replanted after being kept 

 for a week or two in a pot of dry earth to ripen the bulbs. 



Although starting early, its flowering out of doors is pro- 

 longed on into the milder weather, and it may be often 

 seen blooming in company with the earlier garden Crocuses. 

 I grow it myself in a special sandy bed made up like a 

 florist's Carnation-bed. If the weather is harsh I protect 

 by a glass light, supported on four posts at the corners. 

 This is especially necessary for the autumnal sorts, the 

 blossoms of which suffer more from the wind and cold rains 

 of autumn than Imperatonius does from our rude early 

 English spring. 



It is useless to attempt the cultivation of the genus in 

 pots. The Dean of Manchester, however, kept his marvel- 

 lous collection of them principally in pots plunged in a bed 

 of sand. Had your correspondent mentioned his case earlier 

 I should have had pleasure in sending him good bulbs. I 

 obtained my bulbs from the hill above TeiTacina. — C. 



CATTLE AMOIS^G YEWS. 



As you ask for information with respect to the poisonous 

 qualities of the Tew tree, there is no doubt in my mind that, 

 under certain cii-cnmstances, there is danger ; but my own 

 cattle have never yet suft'ered. I attribute this fact to their 

 having plenty of other food. In one small field near my 

 house there are nine Yew trees of about thirty-eight years' 

 growth. In another field there are five of the same age. 

 Into these fields I always have turned my m i l k ing cows in 

 the early spring and at other times. My young cattle also 

 go there. My horses and sheep have accompanied them, 

 and I never have had any accident. 



My neighbour some few years since lost several heifers 

 which had broken through the fences, fi-om eating Yew in a 

 plantation ; but then- pasture was a very poor one. If cattle 

 are driven by hunger to eat Tew, and probably the^ same 

 may be said of many other sorts of evergreens, it will kill 

 them.— P. 



[Our correspondent is a clergyman, and, from this state- 

 ment, certainly one of the most ventm-ous in the Clergy 

 List.] 



DWAEF GEOWTH OF LAUEELS UNDEE 

 LARGE ELM TEEES. 



There are various situations where it is almost impossible 

 for any kind of shrub to thrive, and, as an instance, the 

 situation above alluded to has frequently been planted, and 

 always without success, with various kinds of evergreens. 



The border that I now aUude to faces due south, and is 

 backed by a wall about 10 feet high, which is very neatly 

 covered with Ivy from the bottom to the top. In spite of 



