JOtTRNAL OF HORTICtTLTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ January 11, 1877. 



they been culled and insertetl among the flowers, and the plant 

 itself was nriiDJare'3. — A Scbsckibeb. 



BEGONIA NITIDA ODOBATA. 

 In reply to Mr. Seers I may say that I have this Begonia 

 planted oat in a narrow border against the back wall of a stoYe, 

 the shoots being trained to a wire trellis, and are bearing 

 panicles of flowers, than which few others at this season 

 are more attractifo. The plant ia question was a year old 

 when planted out in Mny last. It is now several feet high, and 

 will go on growing and flowering continuously until it over- 

 grows its space and becomes bare and legay, when it mns' give 

 place to a young plant. I grow all my Begonias for winter- 

 flowering from cuttings struck in April, growing them on 

 during the summer, and they bloom all the winter. They are 

 not kept a second year, as young plants give finer flowers and 

 fresher foliage. B. infiguis is very free. It is now flowering, 

 as also are the following species and vaiitsties : — B. Ingrami, 

 Sanudersiana, erecta mnltiflora, purvifiov^, Weltouiensie, 

 fuchsiodes and hybrida floribunda. B. manicata it throwing 

 up its great feathery forked panicles, which are very elegant 

 whilst they lest for vaso decoration. — G. A. 



MYOSOTIS DISSITIFLOBA. 

 Not many gardener?, it is to be hoped, are without a stock of 

 this charming Forget-mn-not. Its worth is now well proved 

 and its value admitted. The plants for early flowering should 

 now be robust and about 6 inches in diameter. These planted 

 closely in lines or beds will in the earliest days of spiicg pro- 

 duce an effect that will not be surpassed during the whole 

 season of the year. But I alludo to this plant now for the 

 purpose of noticing its great value when grown in pots for ia- 

 door decoration. Plants for this purpose should ba taken-up 

 and potted without delay. Already the flowers may be per- 

 ceived in some oi the shoots, and which may bo injured by a 

 poaeible visitation of frost and snow. These plants, it potted 

 in rich soil and placed in a cold frame or on the shelf of a 

 greenhouse, and kept wall supplied with water, will produce 

 dense masses of lovely colour in February and March, contrast- 

 ing admirably with all kinds of Dutch bulbs, and rendering 

 the conservatory specially attractive and enjoyable. 1 know 

 of no plants which with equal ease and so much certainty 

 produce such a chaste, distinct, and agreeable effect in the 

 earliest months of spring as this charming Forget-me-not. It 

 should be grown in quantity iu all gardens where spring 

 flowers are cherished, and especially should it be employed for 

 indoor decoration. — A Consekvatory Fokejian. 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 



We have had acaounts sent to us from many places of 

 the injury ciusej to garden crops by the excessive wet. Not 

 the least of t^e iuconvauieneas of the seaioa has been the 

 floodmg of stokeholes and the extinguishing of fires, rendering 

 other adjuncts necessary for the provision of heat. The most 

 prompt and handy of these adjuncts aro port.ible stoves, 

 which aro made in metal and terra catti after the principle 

 adopted by the late Dr. Arnott. We have fouad by experience 

 that these Etovae introduced into forciug houses and tropical 

 ferneries are of eubstaoti>»l value in keeping up the heat, and 

 at the same time without iujuriog the most tender vegetation, 

 provided — and this is of the greatest importance — thit th-j 

 elements of combustion are carried away by a pipe into the 

 open air. A shallow dish of water placed on one of these 

 stoves secures atmospheric moisture proportionate to the heat 

 of the stove. Oae or two stoves of this nature ahould ba had 

 in reserve ia gardens where the regular means of heating is 

 liable to interruption by excsssive rain or other causes. 



The gontlemen recommended by the Council of the 



Royal HoRTicuLTURAt, Society to fill the vacancies for the 

 ensning yeir caused by the retirement of Mr. Robert Warner, 

 Hon. and Rev. J. T. Bosoawen, and Sir Trevor Lawrence, are 

 Sir Charles Strickland, B»rt., Mr. H. J. Elwes, and Mr. T. M. 

 Shnttleworth. 



An instance of Pear TnEES bipenino two crops or 



TRUiT IN ONE SEAS 'N lias been communicated to us. The trees 

 are standards in the garden of S. Lutwyohe, Epq .Bramertone, 

 Lower Tuhe Hill ; the variety Williams' Bou Ciiritien. From 

 these trees the gardener, Mr. Gates, gathered the first crop at 



the beginning of Septeml:er of last year (1876), and in Novem- 

 ber he gathered a second crop from tlie same trees. The 

 latter were quite ripe, and equsl in quality but not in size to 

 those of the first or principal crop. It is not uncommon for 

 Pear trees to blossom twice a year, but it is a very unusual 

 circumstance for them to perfect two crops of ripe frnit. The 

 circumBtance is no doubt attributable to the extreme heat and 

 drought of summer ripening the wood prematurely, followed 

 by the moist, mild, and prolonged autumn, which has proved 

 in the case of these trees a second spring and summer. It 

 will be interesting to note the condition of these trees during 

 the next spring and summer, after having so clearly " lost 

 their reckoning " ia the past year. 



SrRiKG Flowers are welcome to all, and especially 



such which have long been familiar — the cottagers' flowers — 

 Crocuses, Snowdrops, &a. These flowers aro now showing 

 their '-grass" above the surface of the ground, and these 

 established clumps if potted will force with the greatest 

 certainty, and unfold their flowers in windows and green- 

 houses seme Wt'eks before tboy would expand in the open air. 

 It is not everyone who em purchase a supply of these bulbs 

 "fresh from Holland" every year for forcing, but all who 

 have them in their gardens may dig-up the clumps and place 

 them in pots in light soil. All that ia afterwards necessary is 

 abundant supplies of water and the lightest position at com- 

 mand, and masses of purity and beauty will shortly be pro- 

 duced. Many humble dwellings may be made cheerful and 

 many window-sills bright by these home-grown and home- 

 forced bulbs. They are flower?, too, for the town as well aa 

 flowers for the country, and are fo easy of culture that even a 

 child m<iy manage them. For miniature suburban green- 

 honses those home-grown bulbs aro very suitable. 



— — • As an instance of the mildness of the season a Not- 

 tingbamshiro correspondent informs us that he has the old 

 Monthly China Rose flowering freely in bis garden, and that 

 ha has lately gatherad lovely blooms of Gloiro de Dijon. He 

 thinks these good old Roses worthy of being extensively grown 

 as the hardiest and most persistent bloomers in cultivation. 



At this period of the year when preparations are being 



made for the spring and early summer decoration of the con- 

 servatory, the value for this purpose of the Early-flowering 

 Clematises should not be overlooked. Plants of these 

 Clematises in 8-icch pot^, or even less, flower most freely and 

 produce an effect which cannot be surpassed by any other 

 plants. All that is required for success is that tho last year'd 

 shoots be matured, and a vinery being started will do the rest, 

 for the steady progressive temperature necessary for the A'incs 

 is suitable also for the Clematises. A few which are suitable 

 for early flowering are Albert Victor, lavender; Miss Bateman, 

 white; Lord Londcsborough, mauve; L»dy L jndeeborough, 

 silvery grey ; Fjiir Eosomond, blush white, scented ; Standishii, 

 light purple; Stella, de-p mauve ; The Queen, lavender; and 

 the double varieties Fortuneii, John (jould Veiteh, Lucie 

 Lemoine, and Countess of Lovelace. No other conservatory 

 plants can excel theso in beauty during their flowering period, 

 April, May, and Juiie, aeoordiDg to the amount cf forcing to 

 which they have been subjected. 



Prominent attention has recently been given to the 



deficiency of culour of Mrs. Pince's Muscat Grape. There is 

 reaeon to suppose that this Grape has been, as a rule, sub- 

 ji'ctod to an extreme of cool treatment. When it was found 

 that it would lipcu without the hit^h temperature usually 

 given to Muscat of Alexaniiria, the fiict was interpreted too 

 freely, and Mrs. Pince was extensively planted in houses 

 altogether too c.ild for its requirements. It is a Grape which 

 is long iu ripening, and if it is grown iu a cool house the 

 Viae must bs started early with the assistance of fire heat in 

 order to proviiio a long season of growth. It is a Vine, too, 

 having smiU foliage, and should not be subjected to such 

 close piuohiags in summer as other varieties will endure with- 

 out injury. With a higher temperature and a longer period 

 for m.ituriition, and a more liberal allowance of foliage, there 

 is good reason to expect that the appearance of this Grape 

 would bo much improved, its good quality being generally 

 admitted. 



In a letter received from Newbury, Canada West, 



dated December ir,th, 187('i, it is stated that Fahrenheit's ther- 

 mometer has already registered 42" of frost — that is, 10' below 

 z^ro ; and on the above date, with a high wind drifting the 

 snow about, tho glass stood at 5" below zero. Last summer 



. was intensely hot, and the Wheat crop which promised well 



