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JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Joaa 10, 1879. 



are spotted with white, shaded with pale green on a dark green 

 ground, and the midribs are red. I grow it in fibrous peat and 

 loam, with silver sand, using charcoal drainage. It requires 

 pinching to form a bushy plant, and should be placed in a light 

 part of the stove to bring out the beautiful tints of the leaves. 



Cissds discolor. — Native of Java. I shall not attempt to 

 describe this beautiful plant as it is so well known, but I wish to 

 state my mode of treating it. 'When well grown there is not a 

 more lovely plant. Although it is to be found in most collec- 

 tions, very rarely do we see well-grown specimens. Being of 

 rapid growth it requires a rich soil. I grow it in sandy peat, 

 fibrous loam, old leaf mould, cow dung (the older the better), 

 and silver sand. In this compost it will soon make a fine 

 specimen if plunged in a gentle bottom heat. Care should be 

 taken not to syringe the foliage, for wherever water falls it 

 destroys the metallic lustre. I place the plant where it has 

 enough atmospheric moisture, but I never syringe it. I grow 

 it on a trellis, and trained up the supports of my stove along 

 with Echites rubro-venosa and Aristolocbia ornithocephala. 



Anthurium Schf.rzerianum. — Introduced from Costa Eica. 

 This is of easy culture, and produces an abundance of brilliant 

 scarlet spathes. which last for a long time in good condition. 

 I grow mine in sphagnum and fibrous peat, and I use charcoal 

 drainage. In this way it does exceedingly well. — F. P. L. 



LYCHNISES AS BORDER FLOWERS. 



Among the many beautiful flowers cultivated for border de- 

 floration, I may safely introduce to the notice of the readers of 

 " our Journal," the beautiful family of Lychnis, one not so 

 numerous as many other families of border plants, but for 

 interest and brilliancy of colour scarcely to be surpassed. Some 

 are natives of oar own land, and I would ask. What is more 

 interesting than the Ragged Robin (Lychnis Flos-cuculi) of our 

 dells, woods, and moist meadows, its ragged blooms peeping up 

 early in summer through brambles and other undergrowth, and 

 displaying their lively colours ? 



Then, there is Lychnis diurna, vespertina, Viscaria, and of 

 late we have learned to call, what uBed to be named Agro- j 

 stemmaGithago (Corn Cockle), Lychnis Githago — all interesting 

 and pretty, even in their native homes, but when we turn our j 

 attention to the charming varieties in cultivation, we are con- I 

 strained to admit that these are much more brilliant in colour. | 



Some of the taller kinds are well adapted for shrubberies 

 and large borders, and on account of their upright habit and 

 brilliant-coloured flowers ought to be much more cultivated | 

 than they are at present. Some of them attain a height of from 

 3 to i feet. Among the taller kinds may be noticed Lychnis i 

 dioica alba flore-pleno, rubra flore-pleno ; mutabilU ; and chal- | 

 cedonica coccinea. Among those of dwarfer habit may be | 

 noticed Lychnis Flos-cuculi alba flore-pleno, rubra flore-nleno, i 

 Haageana, fulgens, diurna, sanguiuea, and graudiflora. Those I 

 with double flowers are very desirable ; they make a splendid 

 show, and are useful for cutting for bouquets on account of 

 their brilliant colours. Among those of very dwarf habit may j 

 be noticed Lychnis pyrenaica, quadridentata, sibirica, alpina, I 

 l.xta, neglecta, and Corsica. There are others which are also 

 useful for borders and rockwork, and which will repay any 

 amount of labour bestowed upon them. 



Host of the cultivated kinds are impatient of stagnant water ; 

 see that they have thorough drainage. A moderately rich 

 porous soil is indispensable to their well-doing. The dwarfer 

 kinds may be treated like alpines in pots, and if thought de- 

 sirable the pots can be plunged in rockwork and other places, 

 seeing that they do not suffer from lack of moisture. Some of 

 them may be raised from seed ; others may be propagated by 

 shoots and divisions. If cuttings be taken they should be put 

 in sandy soil in a rather moist shaded situation, with a hand- 

 glass or frame over them. Old plants may be divided in the 

 autumn or spring. Cuttings may be taken off while the plants 

 are growing, and when they have attained a moderate degree 

 of firmness. It is good practice, where there is a choice col- 

 lection of these beautiful plants, to lift the more tender kinds 

 and keep them in a dry, cool pit during the winter, giving them 

 air on all favourable occasions, as they are liable to suffer from 

 damp. 



Seed may he sown early in spring in pots or boxes in a cold 

 frame, and later in spring it may be sown in the borders. When 

 the seedlings are large enough, they should be pricked out in 

 beds or boxes a? thought best. It is advisable, after pricking 

 them out, to use a little shading until the young plants have 



established themselves, but not to draw up the plants, as that 

 would prove injurious to their well-doiDg. When lar&e enough 

 they may be transferred to beds or borders, where they may 

 remain to bloom, and will repay with their beauty all the care 

 bestowed upon them. — M. H., Acldam Hall, Middlesbrough-on- 

 Tees. 



KITCHEN GARDEN CROPPING- BROCCOLI 

 CULTURE. 



I saw two or three weeks ago that a correspondent was 

 complaining of his Eroccoli crop. I always plant Broccoli 

 after Strawberries, the ground being trenched and well-ma- 

 nured. The cropping runs thus : — Strawberries, Broccoli, Celery, 

 Onions, Cabbages. I find from experience that the firmer the 

 land is the better. I never let Strawberries stand longer than 

 two years, so that the ground is in good heart for Broccoli. 

 Growing large succulent plants is one thing, but growing Broccoli 

 is another. Immediately the Strawberries are gathered, which 

 is here in the last week in July, I cut the plants up with a sharp 

 spade, and, with the mulching, all is soon burnt on the ground, 

 and the ashes spread over it, giving a rough rake over. I now 

 set the lines out S feet apart, planting with the iron bar. The 

 operation is merely making the holes, putting in the plants, 

 and with a water-pot washmg in the surface soil. You then 

 get good sturdy plants, and, to use a garden phrase, they ripen 

 before the autumn, and they are enabled to stand our severest 

 winters. I generally sow the main crop on the 1st of April, and 

 plant from the seed bed. — R. Gilbert, Burghley. 



VAGARIES OF THE LABURNUM. 



As the question of the origin of sporting and of varieties has, 

 during" the past few years, received so much attention both in 

 reference to the introduction of new fruits and flowers, and to 

 the principles which Mr. Darwin has drawn from these sports, 

 I am induced to forward you an account of a sport which I 

 have carefully noted, and of which I send you specimens. I 

 am the more induced to do so, as in Mr. Darwin's book on 

 " Varieties," in the part relating to plants there are few pub- 

 lications more often quoted than the "Cottage Gardener" 

 and its successer. 



In the well-known garden of Mr. Kitley, Greenway Lane, 

 Bath, within sight of the road, on a dry brashy soil are two 

 Laburnum trees distant 100 yards apart, one-half of which is 

 the purple variety, the other the ordinary yellow. These va- 

 rieties are intermixed iu the trees. In one of them the yellow, 

 of most luxuriant growth, preponderates ; in the other, the 

 purple, with its smaller leaves and shorter blossoms, prevails. 

 This obtains not only over the trees as a whole, but in their 

 respective branches. There are or 8 feet of purple, then one 

 or two patches of yellow within a foot or two, exactly as if bud3 

 of the yellow had "been inserted in a brauch of the purple kind, 

 these yellow buds not throwing out wood but flowers only. 



The singularity of these trees does not end here ; at various 

 parts of the trunk and branches, both small and large, there 

 spring out specimens of the purple Cytisns, with its peculiar 

 foliage and bloom not the least modified by the Laburnum. 

 At first sight the presumption is that a bud has been inserted, 

 or a seed casually vegetated, but a close examination of various 

 parts wholly destroys that theory, aB this Cytisus springs out at 

 the end of some twigs. Looking at the tree from a distance 

 you might suppose some epiphyte was there growing, like the 

 Mistletoe or the peculiar excrescence of the Birch. 



The trees are in the fullest vigour, at least thirty years old, 

 with bark as smooth as a sapling. Mr. Kitley presumes that 

 the original stock was the ordinary yellow Laburnum on which 

 the purple was grafted, and the vigour of the tree has been 

 such that the root-action of the yellow has overcome the 

 tendency to the purple, which is always of less free growth. 



What shall I say about the purple Cytisus ? I am fairly 

 puzzled, unless what we call the purple Laburnum is only a 

 sport from the purple, and not from the Laburnum. If so, 

 the case is the more interesting, as we should have an example 

 of the activity of root-action overcoming the purple variety, 

 which, again, was reverting to its original type. 



I should say that near these trees is a fine specimen of the 

 yellow standard Cytisus, which, from its vigour, shows that the 

 soil and site suit the tribe well, whereas in the valley, notwith- 

 standing every care, it does not thrive. For years past in our 

 park specimens of all sizes have been planted, scarcely one of 

 which now remains, except in so stunted a condition as will 



