C6 



JOURNAL OP HOBTICULTDRE AND COTTAGE GARDENER, 



[ January 2-', 18t9. 



" During the past summer C. Telfordi, a yellow-leaved sport 

 from 0. Blumei, was announced. This, from the contrast 

 between its yellowish margin and chestnut-red centre, proved 

 to 1)6 a -very pretty in-door plant ; and taken in coBJunclion 

 with the appearance of golden-leaved forms of so many other 

 popular subjects, gave rise to a desire for golden-leaved 

 Coleuses, which Mr. Bause was not long in satisfying; for in 

 the past autumn, en crossing some of his former seedlings with 

 C. Blumei itself, he succeeded in producing a batch of most 

 brilliant-coloured vraieties, far excelling all that had been pre- 

 viously known, and of which the beautiful plant we now figure 

 is one. These new varieties are of indescribably rich tints of 

 bronzy crimson, with a peculiarly lustrous glow which gives 

 the effect of shot silk — the shot colour being in some cases of 

 a brighter crimson, and in others of a magenta purple, while the 

 margin is of a decided greenish yellow, differing in width in the 

 different kinds, and forming a bead like edging. That which 

 has been named Qaeen Victoria, and which has papsed into the 

 hands of the Messrs. Lee, of Hammersmith, is the brightest in 

 colour of the whole series ; while in the same style, but differ- 

 ing in tint as well as in breadth, either of blotch or margin, 

 are others named Princess Ecyal, Princess of Wales, Duke of 

 Edinburgh, and Her Majesty. 



" The same hatch of seedlings yielded in Albert Victor an 

 equally desirable acquisition, having tricolor foliage. This is 

 of a very bold habit of growth, the golden margin broader than 

 in most of the other serfs, and the bronzy red centre stained 

 with large blotches of a deeper purplish red. Prince of Wales 

 resembles it in the blotching, but has scarcely any yellow at the 

 edge. To these have to be added some forms of the 0. Gibsoni 

 race, obtained at the same time, and equally in advance of all 

 previous varieties of that type ; they are of a yellowish green, 

 more or less veined and blotched, but the colour is a bright 

 purplish red, instead of the heavy, almost black, purple of the 

 older forms. These latter have been named Piinoe Arthur 

 and Princess Beatrice. 



"We have certainly acquired in these golden varieties cf 

 Coleus some of the most beautiful-leaved plants of which our 

 gardens can boast. Whether they will be available for the out- 

 door garden remains to be seen. The question will, however, 

 soon be set at rest, as they will be distributed in quantity, in time 

 for the next summer's planting ; and from their vigorous 

 growth they may be expected to succeed at least as well as those 

 previously grown.'' — (Florist and Pcmologist, 3 s., ii., 1.) 



GARDENING IN THE WEST.— No. o. 



Planting is not the only process cf the gardener's art that 

 is deeply affected by the influence alluded to in previous 

 papers ; others, and among them grafting and budding, are 

 changed in practice quite essentially. It becomes necessary to 

 cut scions of almost all kinds before Christmas, for it left 

 until spring it is common to find the young wood of Cherries, 

 Plums, Apricots, &c., quite discoloured, like the flesh of a 

 bruised Apple. Twigs thus injured will expand leaves in the 

 spring if not detached from the parent tree, and a layer of 

 new wood will coat over the " bruised heart," but such twigs 

 cannot be depended upon for use as scions. 



Sometimes, after very early and severe frosts, a deformed 

 amorphous opening of the buds in the spring shows the stage 

 at which the internal development had been arrested. I re- 

 member two seasons — one in 1865, when the thermometer 

 sunk to 12° on the 11th of November, and one many years pre- 

 viously, when the cold was yet more severe, and a late, pro- 

 tracted growth was less prepared to meet it. In the spring very 

 few buds opened on the annual shoots, save the terminal buds, 

 which opened in all cases, and the blossom buds of Cherry 

 trees exhibited a grotesque unfolding of mingled bracts and 

 leaves, and occasionally a portion of a cluster of blossoms, or 

 perhaps an imperfect single blossom after a long delay in 

 coming forward, like a late riser, unkempt, nngartered, and 

 down at the heel. These were lessons disclosing something of 

 the inner life of plants, proving how much goes on silently 

 within the buds, unseen to the external observer, like the 

 hidden shifting of scenes between the two great spectacles of 

 Autumn and of Spring. 



Of course the occurrence of such seasons is very disastrons 

 to Peach trees, Apricot trees, and other tender woods. On 

 cutting off a branch of five or six years' growth, the character 

 of each of these seasons is exhibited very obviously by the 

 great variations in colour and texture apparent in the different 



annual layers. Injnries of this sort, continually repealed and 

 aggravated by the effects of that denudation of vast districts 

 of their damp-retaining, sheltering forests, to which allusion 

 has been made, have so enfeebled the constitution of the Peach 

 tree in America, that it is in a continuous rapid decline. Yet 

 the Peneh is the favourite above all fruits, especially grateful 

 in the hot, dry American autumn, the most piquant, enjoyable, 

 and wholesome, the most innocent, and hitherto the cheapest 

 of all luxuries. In seasons of scarcity the most extravagant 

 prices are paid to the fortunate owners of well-situated and 

 productive Peach orchards ; hut they can never be had in 

 such perfection, or so fully enjoyed, as when they are grown at 

 home and fully ripened : hence the gardener is wanted abroad 

 to teach people how to procure crops, which they can yet do at 

 a fraction of the expense that is given to the cultuie in Europe. 

 But to return to the subject of grafting. In placing th« 

 scions they are made short, in order to have lut little surface 

 exposed to the withering winds, and, for greater security, one 

 bad is left close to the stock and under the wrapping, and this 

 often grows when others are parched. The wrapping, too, is not 

 made of clay, which would crack, and which is unpleasant and 

 inconvenient to use. Instead of it shreds of thin, worn cotton 

 cloth rolled en a little stick and soaked in soft grafting-wax 

 melted, are used for whip-grafting ; they are easily and quickly 

 applied in a single spiral lap, they seal the wound securely, 

 and the equipment is so simple, and the process so easy, ex- 

 peditious, neat, and successful, here as well as there, that it is 

 a wonder to find it so little used. The top of a tree or shrub 

 can speedily be changed in this way with no greater violence 

 to it than that of the annual shortening-in. 



The scions are carelnlly taken from the ripest external 

 shoots with firm thick wood and well-varnished baik, and when 

 put oa early a thin film of the wax is often drawn over them, 

 or a light paper cone ;s slipped over them as a protection from 

 March winds. This paper protection reminds me of a simple 

 contrivance which I have seen used very successfully to protect 

 newly-planted seedlings, cuttings, &c., from parching. Five 

 or six old hoops or willow rods are bent over a little bed of the 

 plants, and over all a newspaper is spread, its margin being 

 pressed a little into the soil to keep it in place. It remains 

 until, perhaps, washed down to the soil by heavy rains, and 

 there it serves as a useful mulching. A sifting of mould will 

 hide its staring Uttery look. 



Buds are so quickly placed in safe shelter under the bark 

 and in the cambium of the stock, that there is little need of 

 variation of process. Yet for some reason, probably because 

 of its saving of one or two movements, it is almost universal 

 in the States to allow the wood to remain in the shield of the 

 bud, and to use buds of the ripest wood to be found, such buds 

 being found lo resist decay better than the greener ones, which 

 must necessarily be used when the wood is taken out. They 

 are also more easily preserved, and as the U.S. post-office 

 regulations allow scions, plants, and seeds to be sent as articles 

 of traffic or otherwise at very low rates, the mails are loaded 

 with packages in oiled paper, oiled cloth, and tin cases ; many 

 houses doing extensive business in sending out plants, roots, 

 (Src, wholly by mail. The new and excellent sorts of Potatoes 

 originated by the late Rev, C. Goodrich have been very widely 

 diffused in that way, to the great advantage of every recipient, 

 and of the country at large. 



The favourable effect of dry, clear air on the ripening and 

 flavour of fruits has been alluded to. It is made conducive to 

 their preservation too. In September the yards of almost 

 every dwelling in the country are garnished with drying boards 

 or tables, or with chest-like portable driers, which untold to the 

 sun and close up tightly in wet weather — tightly, excepting a- 

 draught below to keep a little stove going inside, and openings 

 above for the escaping moisture to pass off freely, for the ope- 

 ration should be completed within twenty or thirty hours, and 

 without a high temperature, so as to produce but little change 

 of colour and flavour. Vast quantities of dried Apples, Peacher, 

 &e., are kept for sale at the groceries, as Currants, Eaisins, and 

 Normandy Pippins are here. 



On account of the greater certainty of crops of the email 

 fruits, such as Strawberries, Raspberries, Blackberries, Grapes, 

 &c., which either grow near the earth or can easily be laid near 

 it during winter, their culture is continually increasing, supe- 

 rior varieties are coming forward, and the amounts grown and 

 acreage planted for city consumption are immense. But they 

 are very imperfect substitutes for the larger fruits ; and it may 

 be said again that there is a grand open field of nsefolnesi, 

 honour, and profit for the skilful gardener who knows " what's 



