398 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GABDENER. 



[ May SI, 1877. 



of refreshment to all the apartments round. No amount of 



water can injure its absorbent foliage, and an;^ quantity poured 

 over its broad leaves and around its roots will but serve to 

 increase the size of its really tine tropical foliage. The dimen- 

 sions to which these plants are capable of attaining is known 

 to but few beyond the fraternity of gardeners. "Were it not 

 so I feel sure so many dingy barren places would not be found 

 about the homes of town dwellers. Nor is it absolutely neces- 

 sary to have a garden in which to grow Sunflowers, or, indeed, 

 other plants. Large pots, or, better still, tubs or zinc pails 

 painted a dark reddish brown, form capital receptacles for 

 plants ; and in these they may be placed in balconies and areas, 

 and a good show be made at little cost. 



In town gardens it is as well not to attempt too much. Our 

 model lodger already alluded to had kept the happy mean. 

 Beyond the Sunflowers he had a goodly display of Indian Corn, 

 not stunted specimens but fair-sized plants, the form and 

 colour of the leaves of which presented an excellent contrast to 

 those of the Sunflowers. Creeping Jenny there was in plenty, 

 hanging in rich flower-covered festoons from the windows, and 

 covering the sides of suspended rustic baskets. As a contrast, 

 a few scarlet Geraniums had been induced to bloom; and 

 these, again, were relieved by some dark blue Lobelia, while 

 sweetness of perfume was represented by Stocks and Mig- 

 nonette. Those who have real gardens with sunny skies above 

 their heads, and numberless flowers at their feet, may not 

 think much of these things ; but look upon the picture I have 

 already drawn and then upon this : A similar fiat square out- 

 side a dwelling; instead of festoons of Creeping Jenny, dirty 

 dishcloths hung out to dry, broken pots and pans instead of 

 pots of plants, while the sweet scent of the Mignonette is 

 replaced by old bones and other decaying matter; whereas if 

 the very meanest of Flora's train were introduced into spots 

 like this, foul rags and uncleanly squalor would rapidly make 

 way before pleasantness, freshness, and beauty. — T. S. J. 



NOTES FEOM MY GABDEN IN 1876.— No. G. 



RANDNCnLTJS. 



Amongst the florist flowers, over the decline of which in the 

 south of England I as an old florist have had to mourn, is the 

 Persian Ranunculus. In former years there were many who 

 graw and exhibited it, and now it is almost an unknown flower. 

 In my early days there was a quaint old grower, who used to 

 live at Farnham, who grew them well and had most of the 

 good old Dutch varieties. He has long since gone ; and as I 

 intimated some little time ago, Mr. Carey Tyso, who has alone 

 maintained its culture as a grower for sale, has given them up, 

 and I verily believe I am left alone in my glory. And yet 

 what a lovely flower it is ! Where is there such perfect sym- 

 metry or greater variety of colour — so perfect that no dresser 

 however expert would for a moment dare to improve on it? 

 And yet I can readily understand why its culture has been so 

 much given up, for it involves an immense deal of trouble : the 

 planting has to be made at an unkindly time of the year — 

 about February 12th — one is apt to get " finger cold," and 

 the roots are so small that it is necessary to be wide awake ; 

 then you must manage to plant them at the proper depth, 

 IJ inch, or they will not form good roots for another season ; 

 then, unless you shade and a hot sun makes its appearance, 

 they are quickly out of bloom. Moreover, they must be taken 

 up before they have a chance of starting afresh, for if they do 

 they are done for. And then each variety has to be kept 

 separate ; and where a collection involves, as mine does, three 

 hundred and upwards, that is no small trouble in itself. But 

 the flower was one of my earliest favourites, and until I am 

 oompalled to do so I hope to continue to grow it. But unless 

 to an amateur who really loves the flower such trouble as this 

 is intolerable. Gardeners would find it simply impossible to 

 give the time and attention it requires. 



I do not know how it is, but it is impossible to obtain from 

 Holland the old varieties for which the Dutch used to be 

 famous. I have had during the past few years more than once 

 collections through some of our bulb importers, but they were 

 quite worthless— pretty enough as border flowers, but in no 

 way to be compared to the sorts to which I allude; while in 

 all edged and spotted flowers the varieties raised by Messrs. 

 Lightbody, Tyso and others are, I think, improvements on the 

 Dutch sorts, especially in the matter of freedom of flowering ; 

 the selfe of the older growers seem to be unequalled. 



My bloom in ISTC, was one of the best I have had for some 

 years, and certainly I enjoyed it more ; for instead of putting 



a low covering over the two beds as I had previously done I 

 erected over them my Gladiolus shading, and thus was enabled 

 to walk under it instead of having to stoop down and examine, 

 and as one gets older I find these little matters come to be a 

 consideration. It were useless to Bay what sorts were finest 

 or to give a list of varieties to be recommended, for I do not 

 know where any are to be procured unless Mr. Tyso did not 

 sell all his stock as he wished. 



CARNATIONS AND PIC0TEE3. 



Here, alas ! I have to speak only of disaster and disappoint- 

 ment. I was obliged to be away about the time of blooming 

 and so saw but little of them ; and as the person who has 

 generally layered them for me could not do so I had to entrust 

 it to a novice, and the result was that the greater portion of 

 them never struck at all. Having, too, owing to other oircnm- 

 stanoes been obliged to curtail some of my cultures, and look- 

 ing to the fact that I was generally much away at the time of 

 blooming, I have this year given up growing them in pots, and 

 have only one bed of them. I should not perhaps have alluded 

 to them at all but that I wish to say a few words concerning 

 dressing, etc. I have read or heard nothing that induces me 

 one whit to give way in the opinion that I expressed that the 

 style in which they are exhibited is misleading. I think it is 

 quite right that whatever is exhibited — fruit, flower, or vege- 

 table — should be exhibited to the best advantage ; and hence 

 to arrange the truss of an Auricula, to flatten a Pansy, to show 

 the bells of a Hyacinth, to disbud a Rose tree, thin out a 

 Peach, or highly stimulate a Celery trench, come in my mind 

 within the bounds of legitimate aid ; but it ie in my judgment 

 an entirely different thing to mutilate a flower by taking out 

 any number of petals, and to make a grower as dependant on 

 his powers of dressing as on the excellence of his culture. I 

 was the other day talking to a very eminent florist, a lover but 

 not an exhibitor of the Carnation. This subject came up in 

 the course of conversation. He thought dressing was allow- 

 able, but then he meant simply the arranging of the petals; 

 and when I spoke of the taking-out of the petals he shook his 

 head and said, " Oh no ! that is a different thing." I visited 

 one of our greatest northern florists last year and said to him, 

 " What number of petals do you consider a Picotee or Carna- 

 tion ought to have ?" His reply was, " Twenty-one or twenty- 

 two." I took one flower to pieces on my return and counted 

 forty-seven. " Do you," again I aeked, " think there is any 

 difference between the taste in the north and south ?" " Well," 

 was his reply, " we don't care much for your flowers when 

 they come north, so many of them are mops ; but you seem 

 to like our flowers when they go south. 'Two flowers came 

 north here with first-class certificates from the Eoyal Horti- 

 cultural Society which I just threw on the rubbish heap." 



I have thus said my last say on this subject, and shall take 

 no notice of any criticisms that may be made. I am conscious 

 (and in this instance I hope I know myself) of only one motive 

 — the advancement of flowers I have ever prized. It will be 

 remembered by some that when George Glenny, to whom all 

 modern florists owe more than can well be expressed, once 

 drew a circle and told raisers of Pansies and Geraniums that 

 was a perfect flower and they must strive after that, what 

 scorn and derision he met with even from those who were at 

 the very time engaged in raising them, and yet we have seen 

 his standard reached ; so although I (only following him at a 

 very humble distance) venture to hope that such raisers as 

 Ben Simonite will present us with flowers which will require 

 but the arrangement of their petals, and that a stand of twenty- 

 four blooms will not require days to make it presentable on 

 an exhibition table. Some such flowers we have already, and 

 I see no reason why in every class their number may not be 

 greatly increased. 



Since writing the above I have seen Mr. Llewelyn's letter on 

 the Auricula blight, and would like to say tbat my losfes fell 

 mainly on my earlier plants and that I have now a good stage 

 in bloom, thus leading me to hope that the mischief has abated. 

 Undoubtedly my loss was mainly owing to the fact that I had 

 never heard of or seen any reference to it until the notice in 

 the Journal. Had I been aware of it in the autumn I might 

 have saved a large number of my plants. — D., Deal. 



ANTHUEIUM SEEDS POISONOUS. 



Allow me to supplement my letter on the above subject by 



stating that on taking up the covering of the pipes outside the 



Orchid house to discover if possible whether any more rats 



