Psbraiiry 15, 1877. ] 



JOUENAIi OF HOBTIOtJLTtIBB AND COTTAGE GABDBNEB. 



117 



nitrate of soda to the same (juantity of ground. The dressings 

 may be applied in March and at the end of Jane or early in July. 

 Both are good against slugs. By the autumn many of the plants 

 will have crowns large enough for forcing. When the leaves 

 part from the crowns freely dig up the roots, placing them up 

 to the crowns in pots or boxes. A 12-inch pot will accommo- 

 date half a dozen plants, keeping the crowns about an inch 

 from the sides and the same distance below the rim of the pot. 

 If the pots are to be placed in a dark place there is no need to 

 cover them, but if to be placed in the light we must invert 

 over each another pot, and tie round the crevice a strip of 

 canvas so as to exclude light. Any house or place having a 

 temperature of 50" to .".V is suitable. I find it necessary to 

 apply tepid water about ouce a-week when the crowns are placed 

 in soil upon the floor of a JIuahroom house. The soil should 

 be moist when used, and be kept moist, or the produce will be 

 hard and stringy. Though o5' is the most suitable temperature 

 for producing fine Seakale in about three weeks, yet those 

 having the accommodation of a greenhouse or any place with 

 a temperature of 45^ may grow produce of high exoellonce. 

 A temperature of 45° to 50' will insure Seakale fit to cut in 

 four to six weekn, the latter period in early winter, the former 

 after January, 50' to 55' in three to four weeks, and 55" to CO" 

 in a fortnight to three week?, it being longer in growing in 

 autumn or early winter than in the spring. I put in crowns 

 every fortnight sufficient for producing " Kale " daily from 

 November to April inclusive. 



In respect of blanching in the open ground, there is no better 

 plan than to hoop over two or three rows and cover with straw 

 or long litter (J inches thick. Covering the crowns with pots 

 in the orthodox fashion answers well, the pots having move- 

 able lids. Old plants become weakened by a protracted season 

 of forcing, and it is well to bear in mind that superiority 

 marks the produce of roots which have not previously been 

 forced. Yet those who can command leaves and stable litter 

 in sufficient quantity may pursue a practice even if it is anti- 

 quated, troublesome, and uncertain. 



When Seakale is intended to be forced upon the ground or 

 blanched by pots the rows should be 2 feet apart and the patches 

 2 feet asunder. The plants may be placed three in a triangle 

 at G inches apart, or a ring may be drawn (i inches in diameter 

 and IJ inch deep, seed being placed therein, and the plants be 

 thinned to three or four in each patch. 



In case of a scarcity of covering material and the absence of 

 pots, Seakale may be blanched quite well by covering the bed 

 before growth takes place with sand, ashes, or cocoa-nut refuse — 

 in fact, any light material — to a depth of 9 inches or a little more 

 to allow for settling, and when the leaves show through the 

 covering material the " Kale " may be cut, freeing it from dirt 

 by washing at once ; but a more cleanly method ia to cover 

 Cinches deep with dry leaves, and a Uttle litter to keep them 

 from blowing about, and the shoots will raise the leaves, indi- 

 cating which heads are first ready for cutting. Seakale thus 

 produced is generally of superior quality. Blanching is resorted 

 to, to make the head more delicate in appearance and flavour, 

 yet the heads uncovered are equally good, having a full rich 

 flavour as compared with the blanched produce. The heads 

 or sprouts should be cut when 4 to G inches in length, the 

 object being to have them short and crisp. 



In taking up the plants for forcing, all having crowns less 

 tbau an inch in diameter should be rejected for that purpose, 

 and be laid in a thin heap covered with soil until a con- 

 venient time for planting, which may be done any time when 

 the ground is in good working order until April. They should 

 be planted in rows 15 inches apart and 1 foot apart in the rows, 

 the crowns to be slightly covered with soil; but before plant- 

 ing cut off with a knife the crown bud, for unless this pre- 

 caution be taken a majority of the plants will run to seed, and 

 good crowns cannot be expected from such, even though the 

 flowering stem be removed. The cutting off the crown will 

 cause other buds to start not having the flowering tendency. 

 These plants will give fine crowns for the succeeding winter 

 forcing. Any plants not taken up when a year old for forcing 

 should have their crowns out off in February or March as a 

 precaution against running to seed. 



Plants which have been forced should be withdrawn from the 

 heat so soon as the heads are cut, or they will start into a 

 second growth, which is not desirable if the plants are to be 

 forced the following year; but it is undesirable to take the 

 plants from a temperature of 55' and plant them in cold wet 

 soil at once. It is not, of course, necessary to harden off plants 

 in March or April before planting, I have plants which have 



been forced seven years consecutively, and they are apparently 

 good for many years to come ; but they become so large in the 

 rootstock as to be less handy than younger plants. 



Plants may also be increased by planting portions of the 

 roots. The younger the plants which the roots are taken from, 

 the healthier and better plants they are likely to give. Small 

 roots may be out into lengths of 4 to G inches, allowing the 

 thickest end to be about an inch beneath the surface. They 

 may be placed in a heap as detached in takiug-np, and be 

 covered with soil, planting in February or March — planting all 

 together rather than in small quantities, as would be the case 

 were the root-cuttings put in as the parent roots were taken up 

 for forcing. Plants raised from cuttings will perfect Eome 

 crowns fit to force by the following winter, and if cut over in 

 spring and left another season they will afford very fine crowns. 

 To secure plants for forcing without interruption some litter 

 should be placed over the surface of the beds in December to 

 prevent the ground being frozen, or a number of plants may 

 be taken up and stored in moist sand in a cool shed until 

 wanted, but it is preferable to lift the plants as required. 



In taking cuttings of the roots, select only the small, clean, 

 healthy parts. I find the best roots for this purpose are had 

 in digging the ground for replanting, they being carefully 

 picked out in the digging, and consequently are the extremities 

 of the roots young and healthy. — G. Abbey. 



PORTRAITS OF PLANTS, FLOWERS, and FRUITS. 



Telfaikia occidentalis. — " T. occidentalis is the West Afri- 

 can representative of the East African species, distinguished by 

 the triplincrved leaflets, short ovaiy, short calyx-lobes which 

 are simply serrated, the smaller more open white corolla with 

 smooth fringes and a red puiple eye, and by the few broad 

 wings to the fruit ; the fruit of T. pedata having no wings, but 

 many very deep grooves. It is cultivated in West Africa for 

 the sake of its seeds, which are boiled and eaten by the natives, 

 and have been imported as oil-nuts into England. We have 

 dried specimens from Sierra Leone, Abebokuta, Old Calabar, 

 Fernando Po, and Angola, where it was found by Welwitech, 

 growing commonly over littoral hedges of Euphorbia aphylla. 

 Our plant was raised from seed presented by Mr. Tyerman, 

 late of tho Liverpool Botanic Gardens, in 1870 ; it flowered 

 in the Kew Palm House in September, 187C." — (Bot. Mag., 

 t. C-272.) 



Masdevallia atienuata. — " M. attennata is one of Mr. 

 Veitch's introductions, and flowered in the Royal Gardens in 

 December, 1874, from specimens presented by Mr. William 

 Saunders. Beichenbach remarks that the dried native speci- 

 mens have the perianth glabrous within, whilst that of the 

 fresh ones is finely velvety ; the contrary of which is frequent 

 in Masdevallias."— (i6i<?., (. G273.) 



LivisTONA ADSTitALis. — "It is the mostfouthtin Palm of the 

 Australian continent, reaching the tnowy range in lat. .'!7' 30' S. 

 when its trunk attains 80 feet in height, and sxtending thence 

 along tho west coast to the Illawarra lliver, in lat. 84 45' S. 

 It flowered annually at Kew, in the spring months, for many 

 years. The fruits received from Mr. Hill, of the Brisbane 

 Botanic Gardens; they resemble specimens brought bjB/own, 

 preserved in the British Museum, except in having a thicker 

 and harder pericaip."— (IJot. May , t. C274.) 



Xanthibma texanum. — "Avery handsome Centaury-like 

 hardy annual, with golden flowers, ditcoveied in Texas some 

 fifty years ago, and since found by many collectors, but never 

 introduced into European gardens till within the last few 

 years. It was published both in Europe and America, and as a 

 new genus, first as Xanthitma by the elder De Candolle in the 

 ' Prodromus ' in 183G, and in about 1842 as Centauridium by 

 Torroy and Gray in the ' Flora of North America.' Xanthiema 

 is closely allied to the great American genua Haplopappus, 

 which extends from California to Patagonia. The figure in 

 ' Marcy's Expedition' is a very bad one, and represents the 

 pappus as two distinctly double, the corolla of the ray as 

 acute, which is owing to the margins being involute in a dry 

 state ; it omits the hairs on tho achenes, and the minnte 

 serratures of the foliage. This plant flowered in Kew in 

 November last."— (/6(d., (. C275.) 



DniMiorsis Kirkii. — " In 1871 Dr. Kirk sent to Kew from 

 Zanzibar bulbs of two species of this curious and little-known 

 genus. One of them proved to be D. botryoides, described in 

 the ' Linniean Proceedings ' from a couple of poor specimens, 

 without any locality, in the collection of the late Judge Black- 

 burn of Mauritius, and the other, the present plant. All the 



