32 



JOtJENAL OF HOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEft. 



r Jahnajy 11, 187?. 



peditioDB of 1870 and 1872 havo been carefully examined by Dr. 

 Oswald Hetr, and they appear to throw important light on the 

 geological development of the plant world. An account of bis 

 study of the remains from the chalk period appears in a recent 

 number of the " Naturforscher," and in the summary of his 

 results Dr. Heer points out that the facta are against a gradual 

 imperceptible transformation of plant types ; from the upper 

 chalk the dicotyledons appear suddenly in great variety with- 

 out auy transition, whereas other forms at this period wholly 

 disappear from the scene. Further, these researches make it 

 very probable that a whole series of genera have had their origin 

 in the Arctic zone, and have thence " radiated " southwards. 

 Lastly, Dr. Heer shows that the facts at present known of 

 plant palajontology do not point to any alternation of climate 

 or repeated ioe-peiiods in these regions, a view which has also 

 been developed by Professor Nordenskjold. — [Nature.) 



JUSTICIA FLAVICOMA. 



This is a most useful plant for the decoration of the green- 

 house or conservatory at this season of the year, its yellow 

 flowers contrasting well with scarlet bracts of the Poinsettia 

 pulcherrima. Plants of the Jueticia from 1] to •-' feet high 

 dotted amongst plants of a dwarf habit have a very striking 

 tffcct, and never fail to attract the attention of visitors. 



The plants require a little rest after flowering, and in the 

 spring I cut them down and encourage them with heat and 

 moisturo to break, when the old soil is shaken away and they 

 are repotted. They are then encouraged to grow freely during 

 the Bummer months, so as to make strong plants by autumn, 

 and according as they are required I introduce them to stove 

 heat • and when they come in bloom they are taken to the 

 greenhouse or conservatory, and a very pleasing effect they 

 produce, and continue a long time in beauty, which a groat 

 many of the other species of Justicias do not. It is very 

 seldom one meets with the above old Justicia, but I think it 

 inherits properties which might entitle it to more general 

 cultivation.— J. A., Ilill Grove. 



a wire hoop at the top, will make plants of almost any desirable 

 size by June, when, if planted out carefully, they will flower 

 abundantly till the frost puts an end to their existence. This 

 did not happ.°n till the 1st of November in the past season : 

 they were certainly as beautiful on the last day of October as 

 they were any time during summer. They had half-globular 

 heads about 2 feet through, and were encouraged to assume a 

 partially drooping form. Any strong-growing variety will do 

 for the purpose ; but one I met with last autumn at Ashton 

 Court, called Mies Lewington, will I think prove the best, it 

 being a vigorous good-habited grower and of a brighter colour 

 than any variety I have hitherto seen. 



Standard Geraniums do not form very good heads in one 

 year, but they lift well in autumn (which Heliotropes do not), 

 and they improve as they grow older. — Wm. T.\ylok. 



STIRLING CASTLE APPLE. 

 Foe dwarf trees especially I cannot recommend a more suit- 

 able Apple than this. It appears to me to have all the good 

 qufthties of the Hawthornden— earliness, productiveness, high 

 culinary quality, and compact growth, yet without the prone- 

 nees to canker which recdera the Hawthornden unsuitable to 

 many soils. Were I planting dwarf trees largely with the 

 view of deriving the earliest profit by the sale of their fruit, I 

 should certaialy have a good number of Stirlicg Castle. In a 

 long row of trees in twenty-five varieties, the three which have 

 proved the most valuable by their free and constant bearing, 

 and the excellence of their produce for culinary purposes in 

 the autumn, are Lord Suffield, Stirling Castle, and Cellini, 

 coming into uee in the order named. I am scarcely able to 

 say which of these three I have found the most serviceable for 

 home use. For travelUng the Stirling Castle U the beet, not 

 bruising so much as the other sorts named. The soil of the 

 garden is rather light, and Hawthornden cankers excessively. 

 In this soil Stirling Cactle requires no root-pruning and but 

 little tummer-pinchiiig, but grows into a n,itural and fruitful 

 bush which anyone can manage. Does "WiltoIUBe Eectok" 

 grow this excellent culinary Apple :•— B. B., Birlx. 



MAEECHAL DE COUR PEAR. 



Many useful fruits havo been mentioned in your columns 

 during the planting season, and information of great value has 

 been communicated. Acting on your advice, some years ago 

 I planted at the gable end of my house the Pear above named, 

 and I have had good reason to be satisfied with the result. 

 I have not only won local prizes with fruit from this tree, but 

 have been FAtcccsstul with it at one of the greatest shows of 

 the Koyal Horticultural Society. This Pear appears to me to 

 possess a more than usual number of good properties. It is of 

 noble appearance, of splendid quality, productive, and hardy. 

 It ripens early in November, and is esteemed as the best Pear 

 in its season. I have many applications from would-be pur- 

 chasers, who pass by and admire the fine specimens which 

 annually clothe the wall whereon the tree is trained. The 

 aspect is nearly due east. To anyone having wall epace for 

 a tree and desires superior Pears in November I say. Plant 

 Maruchal de Cour. I have young Pear trees growing ae pyra- 

 mids, and amongst them the Marochal is most promising. I 

 havo also seen it -vevy fine in other gardens in this district. — 

 M. A., Liiicoliisliire. 



STANDARD HELIOTROPES. 



EvEEvr.ODY agrees that sweet-scented flowers are desirable 

 in the flower garden, but everybody does not agree to put them 

 there, because as a rule sweet-scented flowers are not showy 

 or do' not last in good condition throughout the summer, and 

 are consequently almost inadmissible to the formal garden. 

 Were a highly-coloured Heliotrope which was at the same time 

 sweet and frcc-flowcring to present itself we should never again 

 lack sweetness on the parterre, but for the present we must 

 make the beet of such as wo have. 



If the Heliotrope is not showy in colour it can be grown into 

 a very pretty foimal shape as a standard, and is then admissible 

 to the mostformal of gardens for the centres of circles or long 

 rectangular beds. I used many of them in this way last summer 

 alternately with standard scarlet Geraniums, and they were 

 greatly admired both for their beauty and perfume. 



Cuttings struck now and grown-on in an intermediate tem- 

 perature through the winter, each trained toa straight stoke with 



ASPECTS OP NATURE— DECEMBER. 



" O, Winter ! rukr of th' inverted year. 

 Thy ticatter'd liair with sleet-like ashes fill'd. 

 Thy breath cooaeal'd upon thy li])g, thy cheek? 

 Fring'd with a beard made white with other enowa 

 Than those of a^e. thy forehead wrapp'd in clouds, 

 A leafless branch thy sceptre, and thy tluono 

 A sliaing car indebted to no wheels. 

 But urged by storms along thy slipp'ry way^ 

 I love thee, all unlovely as thou seem'st. 

 And dreaded as thou ait." 

 Decemi'.ek, although the last, and generally looked upon as 

 the most barren month of the year, has, flowerlesa and almost 

 leafless though it bo, an aspect of cheerfulness for those who 

 seek Nature in her most favourite haunts. The forest trees 

 are bare, and only the iirepreosiblo Primroeo and equally hardy 

 Violet among spring flowers dare show their bright Irtsh 

 foliage on sheltered banks, where they peep forth from among 

 the dried and rustling grass, forming an almost spring-like 

 contrast to the scarlet berries of the Cuckoo-pint or Wako 

 Eobin, which may still be found in many places, although they 

 have but little time to remain with us ; for even should bitter 

 frost and heavy snow not hasten their disappearance, they will 

 fall from the stem into the earth beneath to give us fresh 

 plants for another season. But the Arums are not the only 

 plants with berries of gaudy hue making spots of brightness 

 in the landscape ; the essentially winter plant the Holly, should 

 at the beginning of the month — before violent hands have been 

 laid upon the shrubs and they have been divested of half their 

 glory, their berry-laden branches — be in the plenitude of its 

 beauty; and this season, which has been exceptionally mild 

 though wet, the dark sombre foliage of the Yew is still re- 

 lieved by the rosy pink of its wax-like berries, many of which 

 the birds have as yet spared. 



Of plants made beautiful by their fruit at this season a 

 charming garland might be formed. Those we have already 

 mentioned, the Arum, the Holly, and the Yew, would be suth- 

 cient for brightness, while the Ivy, the Privet, the sacred 

 Mistletoe, the evergreen Thorn and others would servo for 

 contrast. But it is not alone in the berries or in the glossy- 

 varied foliage of our evergreen trees and shrubs that beauty 

 may be found. The Mosses and Lichens attract attention at 

 tbia season, not only because they are in the fulness of their 

 beauty, but because at this time they are less hidden by larger 



