February 19, 1869. J 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTDBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[1«5 



llicv Imil been utterly iioglocteil, and were only to be fonnd in " The 

 UcfiiRe" ["Rofusinm Kot»nicnm," sec imyo '2!!], and a most Talu!\hlc) 

 refuge it was. With reference to a plant of the wild CiibbaRe, which 

 Major Clarke had hvouRht from Wales, Mr. Berkeley said he had 

 some years a^;o setds of one from Abergele, but he never got the 

 slightest Tarintion, aiul all the plants raised were of the Kale tribe 

 rather than like Cabbage. The large and excellent Mushrooms from 

 Mr. Gilbert, gardener to the Marquis of Exeter, were next spoken of 

 in terms of high commendation, and as being perfectly free from the 

 parasite with which so mauy of the Mushrooms exhibited are found 

 to ho affected. Tho Solani'uu from Lord Carrington's gardener was 

 referred to as having a subacid fruit, which would probably he about 

 as asoful as tho Cape Gooseberry ; likewise the grafted Abntilon, 

 green-tlowered Hyacinth, and tlie disease in Cucumber roots, subjects 

 which are all fully noticed in the report of the proceedings of the 

 Scientific Committee. The diseased IVach shoots brought to tho pre- 

 vious meeting from Lord Winchelseas garden had been shown, it 

 was said, to two of the higliest anthoritics in fruit culture, and 

 they both agreed that the cause of the evil was probably the excep- 

 tional weather last year and this ; but Mr. Berkeley stated he had 

 been informed that the shoots were every year the same. He then 

 quoted a notice of a pamphlet on canker, by Mr. John Pearson, of 

 Bewdley, whoso notion was that the buds of the half-ripened wood are 

 affected by tho alternations of wet and cold weather, with heat and 

 droaght, during the summer, and this Mr. Pearson had attempted to 

 prove by causing a stream of water to pass over denuded buds with 

 intervals of rest, the result ;being canker or gam ; and the remedy 

 recommended was to protect the trees, especially when young, with 

 screens. In mauy cases, however, Mr. Berkeley added, the evil pro- 

 ceeds from the bud itself. In connection with some diseased Vine 

 roots, which were to have been at the meeting, some remarks were 

 made as to the danger of using uudecomposed vegetable matter near 

 the roots of plants, as such substances might be the means of placing 

 the roots in contact with the mycelium of fungi. In the case of the 

 Vines in question a top-dressing had been applied when it was found 

 that the roots were in an nnsntisfactory condition, and healthy roots 

 had been produced above the diseased ones, but if the soil in which 

 tho latter are placed be not removed the Vines mast die. Mr. Ber- 

 keley concluded by pointing out Moriea speciosa, than which, he said, 

 there were few more beautiful objects. 



Mr. Wilson Saunders remarked, in reference to the Phormiums, 

 that though it may be doubtful whether one, two, or three species 

 exist, still with him there was a Phorminm, or New Zealand Flax, 

 growing out of doors in a warm position in front of a conservatory, and 

 which only required to be matted-up in the winter, while there was 

 another, shorter, thicker, and red-edged, which was much more tender. 

 Passing to the neglected species of Pelargoniums previously referred 

 to, Mr. Saunders said that they should be grown in a basket with a little 

 moss, and their delicate leaves, at first erect, then gradually assume a 

 drooping position. They were deliciously sweet-smelling. During 

 the last thirty years he had brought together a collection of two hun- 

 dred species, and he kindly offered plants to any Fellow present who 

 was determined to undertake the cultivation of such neglected species. 

 He thought that we were running out our Pelargoniums, and ought to 

 *' try back," especially as among the two hundred species there was a 

 great variety of colour. As regards the wild Cabbage, it was common 

 on most parts of the coast, but the Dover variety was rather different 

 from the one that was shown, the leaves being more glaucous, thicker, 

 and not lobed so much. It might, however, be questioned whether 

 they were both the wild Cabbage, or the common Cabbage run wild. 

 He would caution anyone sowing the wild Cabbage seeds, except at a 

 distance from the cultivated varieties of the Cabbage tribe, otherwise 

 much mischief might result. The only other subject he wished to 

 notice was the hybrid Sonchus, between S. laciniatns and S. gummifer, 

 and which formed .a most beautiful object for dinner-table decoration, 

 the foliage being semi-transparent, so much so that one could almost 

 see the light through them, but it was not so with Ferns, beautiful as 

 they are for the same purpose. The plant could be struck readily 

 from cuttings, and could thus be kept true. 



Mr. Berkeley said his only object in bringing the wild Cabbage 

 before the meeting was to state he had grown it five years from seed 

 without variation. 



Major R. Trevor Clarke remarked that Mr. Saunders had said the 

 ■present race of Pelargoniums was being worn out, and he himself 

 (Major Clarke) had once had a try at '' harking back " in the chase. 

 He had used the old P. fulgidum and fertilised some of the best scarlet 

 varieties with it. He was convinced that anyone who undertook this 

 kind of work must exert a vast amount of patience, for it took gene- 

 ,^ ration after generation to obtain a good result. With him the finest 

 and richest colours (and he had some very rich), came after the first 

 generation, but it was then necessary to breed-in, and he had found 

 after a certain number of generations the hybrids had an awkward 

 habit of becoming sterile. Major Clarke concluded by drawing atten- 

 tion to a branch of a remarkable variegated Holly, which reproduces 

 itself in a variegated state from seed. 



The Chairman (ten announced that the next meeting would be held 

 ^ on the 2nd of March. 



'' Mistletoe Cclterb. — I am oonetantly seeing accounts of un- 

 '■Buooessfal attempts to grow the Mistletoe. Four years ago I 



planted some berries, and have now about a dozen nice plants. 

 If your readers will adopt my plan, I think tlioy will have, no 

 diflioulty in growing it. I squeeze the berry on to the nsder 

 side of a smonth-akinned bough of Apple, Thorn, or any of tha 

 trees on which it generally grows, and bind it there with tlie 

 mucus that surrouada the aeed. In a low days the seed y?rll 

 adhere to the bough as firmly as if it were glued. The follow- 

 ing summer it will send out a email shoot, which will curve over 

 to the bark, and press into it, cauainf; the bough to swell 

 slightly. I think it is a mistake to out the bark, as it causes 

 it to open, leaving nothing for the seed to root into. I generally 

 tie a piece of white tape a few inches from it, to keep birds 

 away, and mark wh<5re tho seed is planted. My seeds planted 

 at Christmas, 18()7, are all growing, and those planted this 

 Christmas are now quite firm on the bough. — S. C. HiNcap. — 



(Science Gossip.) ,„,„j 



>ii'r. 

 EPIPHYLLUM TRUNCATUM CULTURE. •' ',• 



Tnis is generally classed as an evergreen stove shrub ; \>xtt 

 our plants do not receive stove treatment ; in fact, it is just the 

 plant to be safely recommended to the amateur with a vinery 

 or greenhouse, and a Cucumber pit. For nine months in tlio 

 year it will do well in the greenhouse, and during the other three 

 months it wants a close moist heat, such as that afforded by a 

 vinery at work, a Cucumber frame, or even a warm greenhouse. 



It may be grown as a dwarf on its own roots, as a standard 

 grafted on a stem of the desired height, or in a pyramidal 

 form ; but it is as a pyramidal plant that it is seen to the best 

 advantage. Imagine a close, well-grown specimen 3 feet in 

 height, as much in diameter at the base, and tapering gradu- 

 ally from the bottom upwards till it ends in a single branch at 

 the top, the bottom branches drooping gracefully over ^nd 

 nearly hiding the sides of the pot, and judge how effective it 

 must be. 



To form pyramidal plants I have used as a stock with satis- 

 factory results, Cereus speoiosiesimus, commonly called Cactus 

 speciosissimus. In spring, as soon as the Epiphyllums begia 

 to show signs of growth, select a stock of the desired height, 

 remove all the spines, by cutting a slice from each of the four 

 corners of the stock from the bottom upwards, tlius preventing 

 the stock from making any shoots afterwards ; choose scions or 

 grafts of different sizes, from 1 inch to G inches in length, and 

 cut the ends of the scions on both sides wedge-shaped. Begin 

 to form the pyramid by making a downward slanting cut across 

 the corner of the stock, commencing at the bottom, press in the 

 scion, and secure it in its place with a small piece of Cuba bast 

 or string. Proceed thus spirally round the stock, using shorter 

 scions by degrees till you reach the top, and put the last graft 

 upright in the centre of the stock. 



After grafting, if there is a Cucumber frame at work place 

 the plant in it, syringe it three or four times daily, and shade 

 it from strong sun until the grafts begin to grow. When the 

 plant has made its season's growth remove it to the greenhouse 

 or conservatory. It there is not a Cucumber pit available, set 

 the plant in tlie most close and shady place in the greenhouse, 

 vinery, or conservatory, and syringe as before described. 



To show that the Epiphyllum grows as fast, if not con6ld6r- 

 ably faster, and blooms as freely when worked on the Cereua 

 stock, as when on its own roots, I may just mention tha? a 

 pyramidal plant grafted here in the spring of 18C8, though the 

 scions used were very short, the largest being not more than 

 2 or 3 inches in length, was, on December 2ith, 2 feet in height, 

 and 1 foot in diameter at the top of the pot. It had eighteen 

 flowers, and would have produced at least three dozen if I had 

 not pulled them off. 



With regard to soil, almost every cultivator has a favourite 

 compost. That which I now use consists of about equal parts 

 of fibrous loam, leaf mould, silver sand, rotten manure, and 

 lumps of charcoal, about the size of a filbert. I drain the pots 

 well, and cover the drainage with scalded sphagnum. 



At all times keep the leaves of the plants free from dust, 

 soot, or any other impurities. I have never seen the plants 

 much infested with insects of any kind. Here we are troubled 

 with a nuisance worse than even the mealy bug— the smoky, 

 sulphurous atmosphere, for we are situated within five mimites' 

 walk of the centre of a town of eighteen or twenty thousand 

 inhabitants, and surrounded with a host of tall mill chimnfiys, 

 which are continually pouring forth their thick and black sinoke, 

 and almost making darkness at midday. To meet this evil^we 

 ply the syringe freely, and frequently sponge the plants with 

 soft soap and water. " Thus treated they seem to bid defiance 



