256 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTDRE AND COTTAGE GARDENEB. 



[ AprU 5, 18T7. 



my intercourse with him, but this, alas ! is not to be. He 

 came south last autumn to try the efJect of a warmer climate, 

 but without avail, and he has died at the comparatively early 

 age of forty-two, leaving a devoted wife and three little ones 

 to mourn his loss ; indeed, one may say that wherever he was 

 known it will be felt that a blank has been made, and he 

 affords another example of a truism we are too apt to forget, 

 that a man may by a quiet and consistent life make a gap as 

 much felt as that occasioned by any of the more clamorous 

 claimants for the good will of their fellow men. — D., Deal. 



PORTRAITS OF PLANTS, FLOWERS, and FRUITS. 



Bauhinia PETioLATA. JiTai. ord., LegumlnoBse. Lrmi., Deo- 

 andria Monogynia. Flowers white. — " B. petiolata was intro- 

 duced by Linden from New Grenada, and by him was sent to 

 Kew, where it flowered in October, 1862. I am indebted to 

 the excellent New Grenadau botanist M. Triana for identifying 

 it with the plant of Mutis."— (Hot. Mag., t. 6277.) 



Oncididm cHKiROpnoRUM. Nat. ord., OrchidacesB. Linn., 

 Gynandria Monandria. — " A charming very sweet-scented little 

 species alhed to the 0. straminenm (t. 6254), but a far more 

 elegant plant, with narrow leaves, an almost filiform scape, 

 and brighter-coloured sparkling yellow flowers. It was dis- 

 covered by Warscewioz on the volcano of Chiriqui, at an ele- 

 vation of 8000 feet, in New Grenada (near Panama), flowering 

 in December, with the thermometer some few degrees above 

 freezing point. It has been long cultivated on the Continent, 

 and first of all at Hamburgh, a town once so famous for the 

 Orchid collections of its high oflice-bearer, as of Senator Janisch 

 and Consul Schiller, and was soon thereafter introduced into 

 England. It was flowered at Kew in December, 1872, from plants 

 reared by Messrs. Veitch the previous year." — {Ihid. t. 6278.) 



CoKDiA DECANDEA. Nat. ord., BoraginacesB. Linn., Deoan- 

 dria Monogynia. — " A beautiful shrub, native of Central and 

 Northern Chili, where it is well known for the excessive hard- 

 ness of its wood, which is much used for charcoal, whence the 

 local name of Carbon for the species is derived. The first 

 information we possess of it is from specimens gathered in 

 182.J by Macrae, a collector in the employ of the Boyal Horti- 

 cultural Gardens, who visited Chili on his way to the N.W. coast 

 of America, since which period it has been met with by many 

 botanists and voyagers. It is easy of cultivation, and well 

 worth a place in a warm greenhouse on account of the pure 

 white of the blossoms that are copiously produced in spring. 

 The following account of the wood is given in the Appendix to 

 Mrs. Graham's (afterwards Lady Calcott's) ' Chili ': — ' Carbon 

 grows in the districts of Guasoo, Coquimbo, and Gnzcuz only. 

 It is short and thick and used for small articles of turnery, 

 but it is incomparable for firewood. Two logs that might not 

 each be more than a yard long and one-third thick suffice to 

 keep a stew boiling night and day,be9ides other kettles, enough 

 for eight or ten people.' Mr. Cruckshanks, frcn whom there 

 are specimens in the Hookerian Herbarium, states that the 

 wood is extensively employed for fuel in smelting copper (as 

 the dead and w thered stems of the Cactus are for refining that 

 metal) in the mining districts of Coquimbo, bo that in many 

 places the district is almost cleared of these plants. Cordia 

 decandra was introduced by Messrs. Veitch, who sent the 

 specimen here figured in May, 1875." — {Ihid., t. 6279.) 



TupiSTHA MACKOSTIOMA. Nat. Ord., Liliaceaa. Linn., Hex- 

 andria Monogynia. — " We have a considerable suite of speci- 

 mens in the Kew herbarium, gathered in the mountains of 

 Khasia at an elevation of between 2000 and 4000 feet by 

 Grifiith, and Hooker, and Thomson. There is a fine drawing 

 at Kew yet unpublished by Cathcart of the true T. equalida 

 from Sikkim. The drawing of T. macrostigma was made from 

 a plant which flowered in Kew Gardens in December, 1876, 

 which was sent to the collection by Dr. Eegel in 1872." — (Ibid., 

 t. 6280.) 



DRACocErHALUM srECiosuM. Nat. ord., Labiatte. Linn., 

 Didynamia Gymnospermia. Flowers purple.—" Discovered 

 by Wallich's collectors in Nepal, and afterwards almost simul- 

 taneously found by Madden in Garwhal, by Strachey and 

 Winterbottom in Kumaon, and by myself in the Sikkim Hima- 

 laya, all at elevations ranging from 12,000 to 1.5,000 feet above 

 the sea, where it forms a robust handsome plant in grassy 

 places. The genus is a very considerable one, containing 

 many species well worth cultivation, especially on a rockwork. 

 It extends from Europe to the Altai and Himalaya, where 

 about thirty species are known. The specimen here figured 

 was received at Kew from the Eev. Mr. Harper Crewe, who 



raised it from seeds sent from Sikkim by Mr. Elwes. It 

 flowered in June last." — {Ibid., t. 6281.) 



Hypolttrdm latifoliuh. Nat. ord., Cyperacese. Linn., 

 Triandria Monogynia. — " Now that elegance of form is begin- 

 ning to be appreciated in cultivation, both Graminese and 

 Cyperacea! will claim a consideration which has hitherto been 

 but grudgingly awarded to them. The plant here figured was 

 sent to Kew from Ceylon by Dr. Thwaites, an excellent judge 

 of what is horticulturally an acquisition, as a very ornamental 

 one, and well worthy of cultivation in a tropical house. And 

 this it has proved from its graceful bright green foliage, its 

 rich brown inflorescence, and its permanent freshness. The 

 genus Hypolytrum is a thoroughly tropical one, found in all 

 three continents, and the species have wide ranges ; the present 

 extends from Hindostan and Ceylon to China and the Fiji 

 Islands, and has been identified with an African species. It is 

 common in mountain woods of Ceylon and in the Malay Penin- 

 sula, but has not been found in northern India. It was raised 

 from seeds sent by Dr. Thwaites to Kew, and flowers at various 

 seasons." — {Ibid., t. 6282.) 



Peach — Belle Imperiale. — " This is a late variety of Peach, 

 well deserving to be better known and more extensively culti- 

 vated. It ripens about the same time as the Late Admirable, 

 and is often highly coloured like the Bellegarde. The fruit is 

 large, somewhat ovate, being taller than broad and rather 

 smaller upwards, marked with a shallow suture, and having a 

 slight terminal depression. The skin is finely downy, of a 

 pale greenish yellow, more or less marbled with rosy crimson 

 on the sunny side. The flesh is pale greenish white, very 

 juicy and tender, deeply stained with red at the stone, from 

 which it freely parts ; it has a pleasant and refreshing flavour, 

 fully equal to that of the best late varieties in cultivation. 

 The leaves are orenate at the margins and furnished with 

 roundish reniform glands at their base. Mr. Scott, in the 

 ' Orohardist,' describes it as of the first size and quality, 

 ripening in September, and he gives Admirable de Septembre 

 as a synonym. He further states it is 'a variety of the Peach 

 Bon Ouvrier, which it much resembles ; skin pale yellow, with 

 a bright purple flush on the sunny side ; flesh vinous, sugary, 

 rich, melting, and excellent. Introduced by me from Paris, 

 1867.' " — {Florist and Pomologist, 3 s., x., 25.) 



SEEDS OLD AND NEW. 

 No doubt many of your readers, with myself, have been 

 struck with the apparent inconsistent teachings on the germi- 

 nation and results of seeds. We are often told to procure the 

 oldest seeds we can of Melons, Cucumbers, Celery, Ac. ; and if 

 we ask Why? the answer is, "They produce the best fruiting 

 plants; they grow less to wood and more to fruit." Well, 

 this is very good as regards Melons and Cucumbers ; but it is 

 not fruit we want from Celery — just the reverse; we want it 

 not to go to seed, but to strong healthy foliage. Now if old 

 seeds of Melons and Cucumbers produce fruit or seed sooner 

 than plants raised from new seed, why not argue by analogy 

 and say the same about Celery and such like ? The Turnip is 

 said to bulb better and is not so liable to run to seed when the 

 seed is two or three years old. The same is said about the 

 Beetroot and Mangold Wurtzel; if many bolt the explanation 

 is, "Oh! new seed did it." The Cabbage, too, is reported to 

 close more compactly and is less liable to go to seed if grown 

 from old seed. I might cite many more instances, but the 

 above will convey my meaning. I hope that this matter, which 

 is at present enveloped in mystery, will be elucidated in the 

 columns of the Journal. — B. G., Co. Boion. 



NEW BOOK. 



Album Denary. Parts 1 to 4. Ernst Senary, Erfurt, 1876. 



This is a work of very great value that has been issued by 

 M. Ernst Benary, the celebrated seedsman of Erfurt in Ger- 

 many. It consists of beautiful coloured plates, in which it is in- 

 tended to illustrate the whole of the principal vegetables usually 

 grown in the kitchen garden. There are already four parts ol 

 the Album published. The first contains in its four large 

 quarto plates three of Cabbages and Kales, and the fourth is de- 

 voted to Carrots. Of the former eighteen varieties are figured, 

 and of the latter there are thirteen. No. 2 contains one plate 

 of Cabbage Lettuces, one of Cucumbers, one of Kidney Beans, 

 and one of Radishes. In No. 3 we have another plate devoted 

 to Cabbage Lettuces, one to Beets, one to Kidney Beans, and 

 the fourth to various kinds of culinary roots, such as Chicory, 



