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JOUBNAL OF HORTIOULTDBE AND COTTAGE GABDENBR. 



( April 5, 1877. 



weet, will be held on Wednesday, April 18th, in the Gardens 

 of the Eoyal Horticnltnral Society at South Kensington. Gold, 

 silver, and bronze medals, with certificates o{ commendation, 

 wiU be awarded by the Society to the most meritorious collec- 

 tions. Most of the leading growers and salesmen have already 

 promised to exhibit, and a suocessful display is anticipated. 



Vegetation in the Crystal Palace is now attractive in 



its freshness, spring inside the building being necessarily in 

 advance of the season outside. Tree Ferns are never more 

 interesting than when unfolding large crowns of green fronds, 

 the trunks, as it were, shooting out their stores of hidden 

 beauty. The Ferns at the Palace are now in that state, and 

 since many of them have been repotted they have made highly 

 satisfactory progress. The groups of flowers in the central 

 transept and at the front of the orchestra are extremely good, 

 the plants being well grown and tastefully arranged. To gar- 

 deners and many others beside members of " the craft," one 

 of the most enjoyable " peeps" in the Palace is the fernery in 

 the Alhambra Court. It is appropriately placed, and affords 

 refreshing relief to the rich tracery of the court surrounding. 

 Spring bedding in the grounds (as must bo the case generally) 

 cannot equal that of last year. The continuous rains of 

 autumn prevented the beds being planted for some weeks after 

 the proper time, and then many of the plants " grew (not bean- 

 tifuUy) less ;" but the plants and trees inside the building 

 were never in better condition than they are now. 



A NEW Horticultural Society has been suocessfnlly 



launched, under distinguished patronage, in the North Biding 

 of Yorkshire for the encouragement of cottage gardening. It 

 is called " The Hornby and District Horticultural Society," 

 and it has met with general support in the district. 



A EosE Association has just been established at Hor- 

 sham. It is at present the only one in Sussex, and from the 

 very central and convenient situation of its locality it ought 

 to prosper. It has been decided to hold an annual exhibition, 

 the first of which will probably take place on Saturday the 

 HOth of June. The Hon. Secretary is Mr. W. H. Sadler, Park- 

 field, Horsham. 



DcKiNG the reading of his paper at the last meeting of 



the Wimbledon House Gardeners' Society Mr. OUerhead ad- 

 verted to what he termed express Grape-growing, and re- 

 ferred as a good example of it to a house of Grapes in Lord 

 Londesborough's garden at Norbiton. Towards the end of 

 May, 1876, the crop from this house was cut and the Vines 

 removed. Young Vines were at once planted, and the crop 

 from these will be ripe in May, or within twelve months from 

 the time the Vines were planted. We have seen this house of 

 Grapes and can testify to its excellence. The rods are about 

 20 feet in length, and are bearing excellent bunches from the 

 bottom to the top; in fact, a more satisfactory crop of early 

 Grapes cannot be desired than the one referred to. Mr. Denning 

 applies both more heat and more moisture in Vine-growing 

 than most cultivatori^. He does not hesitate to close the 

 vinery at a temperature of 120', having the border very moist 

 and the atmosphere almost saturated. Under this treatment 

 the Vines grow rapidly and healthily, and insects give no 

 trouble whatever. The same express mode of Grape-growing 

 (high temperatures and much moisture) Mr. OUerhead states is 

 adopted at Trentham and other places renowned for Grape 

 culture. 



We have received from Mr. Jordan, gardener to J. Bow- 

 stead, Esq., Cannizero House, Wimbledon, a flowering truss 

 of Clerodendron splendens. The plant is growing in the 

 border of a stove, and produces large heads of crimson-scarlet 

 flowers from October until April. Mr. Jordan finds this old 

 Clerodendron of great value for winter decoration, and cer- 

 tainly few flowers could be more effective than the glowing 

 truss and glossy foliage submitted to us. 



A " SoEUREAM Gardener" writes in high terms of 



Polyanthus Narcissds " Her Majesty," which he obtained 

 from Messrs. Veitch, every bulb of which has produced trusses 

 containing from seventeen to twenty-one flowers. He asks if 

 these numbers of flowers on one stem are commonly found in 

 Narcissuses. "Her Majesty" is stated to be a very dwarf and 

 sturdy-growing variety, the flowers being creamy white with 

 yellow cups. Our correspondent recommends it as one of the 

 best for decorative purposes, and he thinks it is not sufficiently 

 known. 



Mr. Aeeey thus describes Mr. Lee's new Violet 



" Odoratisbiiia," which was alluded to last week : — The 

 flowers are pale blue, much paler than Prince Consort, but 



resembling that variety in its roundish cordate leaves, Frinoe 

 Consort is the flnest of all single Violets, it being robust and 

 very floriferous. " Odoratissima " is more of the old type of 

 Violet, though a great advance upon the pointed-petaUed 

 Eussian and Czar. It is very pleasing in colour, has long 

 stalks, distinct leaves, and sweet (very sweet) flowers, which 

 will render it " a great favourite." 



An extensive grower says that La Grosse Sucbee 



Strawberry is superior to Black Prince and Keens' Seedling 

 for early forcing, setting its fruit in a higher temperature and 

 closer atmosphere than those varieties. From plants started 

 early in January he gathered fruit of La Grosse SuoriJe the 

 middle of March of good colour and handsome shape ; some 

 fruit weighing an ounce, and averaging sis to eight fruit per 

 plant. Keens' Seedling set very badly and swelled off still 

 worse, and was a week or ten days later in ripening. Black 

 Prince sets even more badly than Keens' Seedling in a high 

 temperature, the fruit also being small. La Grosse Sucrue 

 appears to possess a hardy constitution. It seldom fails to 

 throw up trusses of bloom when forced early when the first 

 crop is ripening, and thus produces fruit successionaUy on 

 the same plant. 



A correspondent writing on the usefulness of Centro- 



POGON LcoYANUs states that it not only flowers very freely 

 from the points of the shoots during early winter, but con- 

 tinues producing from the same branches shoots lower down, 

 bearing flowers of a highly ornamental description until May. 

 Plants in 4inch pots which had each a large head of bloom in 

 November and December have now four to six side shoots with 

 several flowers each. The first heads were cut, giving rise to 

 the side shoots now flowering. Cuttings proceeding from 

 the base of the plant strike readily in gentle moist beat in 

 April or May, blooming finely in 5 or G-inoh pots. It succeeds 

 admirably in a cool stove in a compost two parts turfy loam 

 and one part leaf soil. After flowering in spring the old 

 flowered shoots require to be out away to their base, from 

 which young shoots proceed, flowering in early winter. 



Few hardy border flowers are more deserving of cul- 

 ture than Mule Pinks. The typical variety is supposed to bo 

 the result of a cross between the Carnation and Sweet William, 

 and it is about intermediate in appearance both in foliage 

 and flowers between Dianthus oaryophyllus and D. barbatus, 

 the flowers being double and a rich pink in colour. Healthy 

 plants continue producing flowers over a long period, and are 

 admired both by their colour and perfume. There is no better 

 way of raising plants than by striking cuttings in heat at 

 the present time. These, if judiciously treated, become fine 

 flowering plants during the current season, and if some are 

 grown in pots they will flower until Christmas in a green- 

 house. There are now several varieties of D. hybridus, a 

 white one — Marie Pare — being highly promising as a winter- 

 flowering plant. This variety planted in the open ground in 

 Messrs. EoUissou's nursery yielded flowers all through the 

 winter. The different varieties of Mule Pinks are well worthy 

 of being cultivated, especially where cut flowers are in great 

 demand. Cuttings also strike readily under a hand-hght 

 during the summer, and the plants thrive in ordinary garden 

 soil. 



Some successful experiments in destroying (blowing. 



up) THE ROOTS OF TREES WITH DYNAMITE have recently been 

 made on the Darlington Sewage Farm, where two hundred 

 trees had been felled, many of which were of great size, and 

 would under the ordinary methods of dealing with them — by 

 burying or removal — have proved very troublesome and ex- 

 pensive. Before firing the charges explanations were given of 

 the character of dynamite, and a cartridge was thrown down, 

 broken, and then burned, to show that it could be safely 

 handled unless exposed to a heat of 440% which it is im- 

 possible to obtain by ordinary means. The dynamite charge 

 was placed in bored holes, a specially prepared detonating 

 cartridge with a fuse attached was then inserted, and the hole 

 closed-up with earth. In about three minutes after hghting 

 the explosion took place, and the air was immediately filled 

 with pieces of wood of various sizes, which showed how effec- 

 tually the stump had been removed. Another experiment was 

 the blowing-up of a small Ash tree. Two charges were in- 

 serted under the roots and the tree rose in the air. The two 

 experiments clearly proved that dynamite is a very safe and 

 yet exceedingly powerful explosive. 



We notice a very interesting communication on the 



Flora of Turkestan, made by Prof. Begel, the director oi 



