February 4, 1869. ] 



JOUENAIi OF HOBTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE OAKDENEK. 



70 



maroon top petals. A very tine flower, though somewhat later 

 in bloomiug than the other varieties. 



Siinbeam. — A useful free-blooming variety. 



Victor. — Avery tine flower; rosy lower petals, tinted with 

 orange and red ; rich maroon top petals. J^xcellent habit, and 

 good shape. 



tl'oman in Wliitc. — .\ white flower, buS no great advance un 

 previons kinds in the same strain. 



Of the whole selection, then, I consider Captain John, Em- 

 peror, Example, Heirloom, Hermit, Kob Uoy, Saur de Uharit6, 

 and Victor to be the best ; and I would place after them Auto- 

 crat, Knipress, Needle Gun, Prince Consort, and Ilobin Hood. 

 The others I would consider as third-rate flowers, but many of 

 them most useful on a stage. — 1)., DtaU 



NOTES ON A FEW FERNS. 



In your Journal of January ^Ist I observe some recommend- 

 ations as to the mode of growing Asplonium septentrionale. I 

 am sure the method recommended would not answer here. 

 We have a very good collection, particularly of English Ferns, 

 and a good many line exotic ones. We have three plants of 

 AspleniuQi septeutrionale ; one has been hero about nine years, 

 another was brought here in IHfit, another less than two years 

 since. Two out of the three look very well. They are potted 

 in sand, or sand and old mortar, and peat, between small 

 pieces of freestone. Till this year they have been kept in the 

 greenhouse ; they have since been in a cold frame, and I can- 

 not say that it answers quite so well. Some years ago the first 

 of these plants was kept during the winter in the dining-room, 

 looking to the north, in a flowor stand. Through that season 

 it had only one green frond, but recovered, and has since been 

 doing well. 



We put our plants out ia their pots in the fernery in the 

 summer, and they grow vigorously; but we live in a Fern 

 country. One side of the great Cader Idris, a mountain near 

 here, is almost covered with AUosorus crispus. The only Fern 

 with which we have had any great difficulty is Poljstichum 

 lonchitis, but we have now one strongly-established plant in 

 the open rockwork, and another in a cold frame. Woodsia 

 ilvensis does well out of doors, with a bell-glass over it in 

 winter. It is planted in the soil of the out-of-door fernery. 

 Asplenium lanceolatum is a native of this country, but when 

 in cultivation, even here, it does much better in the cold frame 

 or greenhouse than when left out. Hymenophyllum Wilsoni 

 succeeds under a bell-glass, the plant having a block of sand- 

 stone, or a garden saucer inverted, laid under it, with a little 

 peat soil immediately under the Fern. Every two or three 

 days it is sprinkled with water. We are about three miles 

 from the sea, which is west of this place. — N. E. Owen, Gar- 

 dener to W. W. E. Wijnnc, Esq., Pcriarth, Mcriniictli, 



P.S. — Mareohal Niel Rose has grown vigorously in the kitchen 

 garden as a standard this year. It was covered with buds, even 

 to December, but they did not come out well. The plant has 

 now been removed to a south-west wall, and I have no doubt 

 next year will be a mass of well-blown flowers. 



THE CHOCOLATE PLANT. 



Dr. Mooke, Director of the Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, ex- 

 hibited a fine plant of the Theobroma cacao, or Chocolate Plant, 

 in fruit. He stated that it was the first time he had known 

 this rare and interesting plant to bear fruit under cultivation 

 in any place in Ireland, or probably in Great Britain. It be- 

 longs to the natural order Byttneriaoeie, which comprises some 

 plants which have rather showy flowers, but those of the Theo- 

 broma were the reverse, being small and inconspicuous, so 

 much so that they might easily be passed over by a casual 

 observer without being noticed. Ue stated, further, that they 

 grew from the bare parts of the stem of the plant, unaccom- 

 panied by leaves. 



The plant flowers at Glasnevin every year, but had never 

 before borne fruit. He noticed the latter forming about two 

 months ago, and supposed it might be about two-thirds grown, 

 judging from a fruit of the same species of plant he held in his 

 hand from Demerara. That exhibited was rather more than 

 6 inches long, and was attached to the stem of the plant near 

 its base. 



In a statistical point of view he mentioned that the seeds, 

 when grown, became our cocoa of the shops ; when reduced to 

 paste, sweetened with sugar, and scented with vanilla, our 



chocolate, of which between a million and a half and two 

 raillions of pounds are consumed annually in the United King- 

 dom, and much more in Spain, compared with the number of 

 inliabitante.— (/m'.i/i Enrmem' (imrtte). 



IVING DOWN YOUNG VINE LATERALS. 

 I WKNT to see an old friend who was tying down the yoODg 

 laterals of his Vines last spring, and these being remarkably 

 vigorous he broko many oil during the operation ; hut I soon 

 relieved him of his anxiety on that account, by showing him a 

 method which I have practised successfully for some yeare. 

 As he was a gardener of some years' experience, I had a some- 

 what hard task to persuade him to adopt it, but he did, and 

 the results wero satisfactory. As there are others to whom 

 the knowledge of it may bo of assistance, I will here state 

 what it is. I simply take the lateral by a joint in my left 

 hand between the thumb and forefinger, and twist it as I 

 should a weft, only of course no more than is necessary to 

 make it sufficiently pliable to come down to where it is wanted. 

 I sometimes twist between the first and second joints, and then 

 between the second ond third joints, if very stubborn, so as to 

 get the future bunch where I want it, and always with the best 

 results, aud the fruit is always quite equal to that on shoots 

 which do not require such treatment to bring them into sub- 

 jection. — W. GniLDEESFIELD. 



TONGUEING THE MANETTI STOCK. 



As the Manelti-stooked Rose, after planting, should as quickly 

 as possible throw out its own roots from the collar of the 

 bud, I recommend to my Rose brethren a very simple and sure 

 method of making it do so, by tongueiug — that is, paring up 

 the smallest strip of bark, about an eighth of an inch wide, 

 on both sides of the collar or point of union with the stock. 

 Plant this tougued part 1 inch or more under the soil, and 

 mulch the surface. The operation of tongueing does not take 

 more than a minute to perform, aud induces the certain and 

 rapid production of rootlets from the most desirable point, as 

 in some cold, stiff soils, and with many thick-barked Hybrid 

 Perpetual and Moss Roses, the operation of rooting is often 

 slow and uncertain. 



I have not tried tongueing with the Briar stock when there 

 is a deficiency of roots in the right place ; but I think it would 

 be likely to answer. Established plants on the Manetti or 

 Celine stock may be easily operated on by removing a little of 

 the soil from around their stems. — Henky Cukiis, Devon 

 lioscrij, Torquai/. 



METEOROLOGICAL NOTES, 1B68. 



AUDI.KY END, SAFFRON WAI.DEN. 



Rain-gauge 5 inches in diameter, and 1 foot above the ground. 

 Ground thermometers plunged in light garden soil, and that 

 at G inches deep read, at 9 a.m. ; that at 12 inches deep, at 

 9 P.M. Position, 140 feet above the sea level. 



CARTER'S CHAMPION CUCUMBER. 

 This winter, with a dry plain brick flue, I have reared from 

 seed aud fruited Carter's Champion Cucumber, with six frnit 

 swelling at one time on one plant in a 10-inch pot ; the fruit 



