June 14, 1877. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTIOULTDEE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



430 



welfare of yonr pets, and connael yon from this time to begin 

 to withhold water, and let small healthy foliage be your 

 greatest pride, for the large and watery foliage is the effect of 

 luxuriance, which may result in disease. And this should 

 suggest the utility of silver sand ; yet washed sand of any kind 

 is better than a clog of sour compost, for that and inefficient 

 drainage, together with the lack of sun, have produced the so- 

 called epidemic which has so grievously contributed to cause 

 the scarcity of the rarer varieties which many growers like 

 myself would be glad to obtain at any price, and which may at 

 this time have been sufficiently plentiful to have encouraged 

 new cultivators like Mr. Weir and others, especially if the 

 dealers accompanied every sale by a short paper on the true 

 culture of the plant. I have wandered from the hospital 

 treatment, which is as follows : — 



Provide a flower pot in size according to the size of yonr 

 invalid plants, for you must have them very near the drainage. 

 To prepare a pot for this purpose let it be thoroughly clean and 

 soft-baked, drill two holes at opposite sides at an inch from 

 the bottom of the pot. Cannot do it. Why not ? You need 

 nothing but an old file, a nail-passer, and a will. First file a 

 deep notch, then insert your nail-passer. I grow many of my 

 varieties — such as Taylor's Glory, George Lightbody, Eichard 

 Headly, &a. — in pots so prepared. Fill the pot nearly half 

 full of charcoal, remembering that the top layer is small ; on 

 this you may place a layer of cocoa-nut fibre to prevent the 

 drainage being choked with the soil ; but fibre is not good for 

 mixing with the soil, for in such compost the plants will cease 

 to have compact growth, and the pips will come crumpled and 

 deformed. Fibre is not the food of a soft-rooted plant, such 

 as the Auricula or Polyanthus, for we find by turning the 

 plants out of the pots that the roots are twisting around this 

 fibrous matter and around each other, groping as if in search of 

 mineral substance ; and it may be matter of astonishment to 

 the young grower to see how those fleshy roots will penetrate 

 a piece of sound charcoal or bleached bone, therefore let their 

 hospital food partake more of the mineral than the vegetable 

 — sandy loam, powdered charcoal, and silver sand in equal 

 portions, and all the better for a few small fragments of Bath 

 stone, sandstone, or soft brick, with a good surface of silver 

 sand, not less than a quarter of an inch deep. The sandy 

 loam should be of the purest and poorest that can be had from 

 an old snnny bank. When your pot is so charged, and filled 

 within an inch of the brim, water it and make it quite level ; 

 use a flat dibble (such as a knife), open a place at the rim of 

 tlie pot wherein to insert your patient, press it as close to the 

 pot as you can without violence, leave the surface still level, 

 and when your plant has given evidence of growth lift it 

 gently and turn the other side to the rim of the pot, for it is 

 that which induces new grovrth. 



There may be those amongst my readers who would say that 

 I dwell upon unnecessary niceties, but such an one that loves 

 the Auricula can do all this and much more, and will keep up 

 ttie inquiry from youth to age, What more can I do for my 

 pets ? — S. W. Bullock, Brockton, Stajford. 



AKEBIA QDINATA. 



Tnis charming climbing plant has with me grown into great 

 beauty. It was planted among other climbers upon a south 

 wall about five years ago, presenting then and subsequently so 

 insignificant an appearaLCe that it was regarded as more curious 

 than ornamental ; but now it has grown to a large size and 

 shows its true character, presenting itself to our eyes in a 

 somewhat similar guise perchance to that under which it first 

 presented itself to its discoverer in .Japan, and we come to 

 understand something of its real value as a decorative plant, 

 and to see why it was considered worthy of introduction to 

 this country. 



The wall upon which it is growing is 12 feet high. After 

 the slender flexile growth had reached the top it was not kept 

 pruned closely, but was allowed to form long streamers of 

 pendant branches, so as to break the formality of the flat wall 

 surface as well as to enable the plant to show its true character. 

 The not-inelegant foliage is stout in texture, dark green in 

 colour, and is attractive from the singular appearance of the 

 five oval-shaped lobes composing each leaf. Clustering among 

 the foliage at this season of the year are thousands of its 

 pretty flowers, which in their form and disposal are in singular 

 harmony with the foliage. They are borne in short yet taper- 

 ing clusters, each llower having three concave shell-like petals, 

 farming a quaint-looking triangle of a dull pink colour snfiueed 



with lavender. To the botanist these flower oluslers present 

 an interesting study from the fact of every one of them having 

 two large female blooms, from the axils of which springs a 

 bunch of some two dozen male flowers very similar in form 

 but much smaller in size. 



The plant is not one to attract the attention of lovers of 

 bright and striking colours, but to those who care for what is 

 curious and graceful I strongly recommend it, feeling certain 

 it will find favour with them. It is by the introduction of 

 plants of this type that we are able to render a garden really 

 interesting ; and it is to such plants as the Akebia that we 

 turn repeatedly, knowing that they are worthy of something 

 more than a passing glance. — Edward LncKnoKST. 



KOSES IN HAMPSHIRE. 



I AM an amateur gardener, and I observe weekly in your 

 valuable Journal sundry and various lucubrations about the 

 culture of Roses. I desire to add my mite to the information 

 afforded, premising that I am no self-conceited cultivator; as 

 Sir Isaac Newton said with regard to the exact sciences, only 

 a learner, " like a child picking up shells on the seashore." 



I will first tell you of my experience this last winter, by-the- 

 by a moat extraordinary one as regards plant culture and tem- 

 perature. I keep a book entitled " Garden Memoranda," and 

 from this I extract — " 1876, December 8lh. — Cut numerous 

 buds of Gloire de Dijon, Devoniensis flowering, also Duke of 

 Edinburgh. December. — Cut Roses as follow : Gloire de Dijon, 

 Tnrenne, President Willermoz, Celine Forestier, Acidalie. 



" 1877, January.^Cut Gloire de Dijon. February -ith.— 

 Cut good bloom of Gloire de Dijon from front of house, many 

 buds bursting. All the above from last year's wood. May Hith. 

 — Yellow Banksian Rose just commencing to bloom. May I'.Uh. 

 — Monthly Rose (Pink China), commencing to bloom. May 

 ■25th. — -Cut Devoniensis and .Tohn Hopper in front of house. 

 May 28th. — Cut Gloire de Dijon, John Hopper, Devoniensis, 

 and Lord Clyde in front of house. June 8rd. — Charles Le- 

 febvre in bloom." 



I may mention that the above Roses this year as well as 

 last were cut from trees planted in front of the house, south 

 aspect. I have a rosery in the open planted without any par- 

 ticular shelter 71 feet by 15, on which are planted 131 Roses, 

 principally Hybrid Perpetuals on Briar and Manetti stocks, 

 and generally they show a fine promise of bloom. 



With regard to the usual aphis pest, I have to say that the 

 decoction recommended by Mr. Rivers of quassia chips and 

 soft soap has proved eminently successful. It is better than 

 the Scotch snuff recommended by one of your correspondents 

 lately, as it leaves the foliage entirely clean. — Constant 



SUESCKIEEK. 



FLOEICDLTDEE AND HORTICULTUBE 

 AT OKEFOBD FITZPAINE. 



FLORicnLTURE — I only keep Roses (over two thousand) which 

 are in good condition, and I think they will be a grand display. 

 The weather for two years has been against them. "D.,D<<j;," 

 has asked to come and review them. I shall be glad to see 

 Sir Henry's son, who is one of our greatest florists and a 

 worthy and valuable man. The Archbishop of Canterbury 

 gave him the living of Westwell, Kent, and removed him from 

 Deal, which finds him a "sobriquet." 



HoBTicnLTUKE. — This I must divide into fruits and vegetables. 



I'ruiu. — Cherries, Plums, Pears, Peaches, and Nectarines 

 will be failures, but not total failures. Apples, Strawberries, 

 Currants (red, black, and white), and Raspberries will be 

 grand. Gooseberries would have been good had not the bull- 

 finches made havoc of the buds. Soot is the best preventive. 

 As regards the Peaches and Nectarines, the foliage is first- 

 rate. Though they are so exposed their foliage is free from 

 blister. Mr. Francis Rivers says in the Journal of Horticul- 

 ture, "The cold orchard houses present a refreshing contrast 

 to the wall Poaches, which here look wretched with blistered 

 and starved leaves and an entire absence of fruit." I shall 

 have enough Peaches and Nectarines, but on the whole a poor 

 crop. There are eleven trees under glass, the Royal George 

 and Early Princess Louise — the best early Peach — being nicely 

 cropped. The Royal George is one of the best to have, being 

 such a good doer in critical seasons on a wall (south, east, or 

 west). I have 120 trees out of doors; of these twenty-seven 

 are Royal Georges. 



VegetahUi. — 'SeBa (Ringleader, Princess of Prussia, and 



