March 4, IStiJ. J 



JOUUNAL OF HOBTlCULTUliB AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



IGl 



ylaiited, it is sure to grow. This rooting halnt, however, is 

 moro valuable from Ihc quantity of lnol iibros tliruwn oil' near 

 the surface of tbc groiinJ than" for the facility of propagating 

 from cuttings, although this also is a nicst useful property. 



Stocks, of whatever hiud, ought to be planted at least a year 

 before they are worked, thoiigh to preserve a variety of Apple 

 in order to make use of the scions the next season, the stocks may 

 be grafted even at the same tiuie tliey aro planted ; but such treat- 

 ment will rarely produce a good tree. As the stocks are not 

 costly, and occupy unly a small space, it is always well to plant 

 a fair number of them ; when they are converted into good soris 

 they arc easily disposed of, for cottagersi are always thankful for 

 them. Graft the stocks in the open ground, and defer the pot- 

 ting till such time as a fcleetion cau be made from the most 

 vigorous of the young trees. I often ] plant ttic stocks in pots 

 from the first, and so save some part of the troulile; but begin- 

 ners must expect failures, and the disappointment is less where 

 less trouble has been bestowed. 



The stocks should be planted in rows at about a foot distance 

 from each other in the rows; two rows may be put a foot apart, 

 and then a spuee of .3 feet sh.)uld be left before another row is 

 planted. The object of leaving the wide space is to enable any- 

 one to work safely, for if you kneel down with too little space 

 between the I'ows you will most likely break down a large por- 

 tion of the row behind you. The planting may be done in 

 October, Xovcmber, or February, or even as late ao the middle of 

 Apiil, if you take care to water in dry weather. — W. Kingsley. 

 (To be coutiuncd.) 



THE CHERRY PLUM. 



1 THINK the Cherry Plum, or as it is sometimes called the 

 Eoblet Plum, is worthy of more extensive cultivation. About 

 eight years since I gave a plant of this to a fiieud, who planted 

 it against a south-east wall. It grew very fast, bore fruit the 

 third year, and has eoniiaued to bear well every season since. 

 Last season it boro five pecks, which the owner sold for £1. 

 It is very rarely affected by blight, makes a good pyramid, but 

 the fruit is not quite up to the mark in flavour ; nevertheless 

 at the time it is ripe — the beginning of May [sic August ?] — it 

 has nothing to oompeto tiilh, consequently finds a ready sale. 



A pyramid in a pot is a most loveiy object in a greenhouse 

 early in December, and when out of flower it can be removed 

 to an orchard house to fruit. With this treatment it suc- 

 ceeds well with me. I have seeu very handsome plants of 

 this Plum iu pots at the nurseries of Messrs. Lane, Berk- 

 hampstead. — W. F. 



\'ISITS TO GARDENS PUBLIC AND PRIVATE. 



M. LIUDEN'S, JAKDIN ZOOLOGlgCE, BRUSSELS. 



When one sees the amazing number of novelties that year 

 by year some of our leading horticulturi/sts at home and abroad 

 aro enabled by their zeal and euterpriae to bring under our 

 notice, and when we hear o£ collectors g<iing north, south, 

 east, and west, wo sometimes think that lovers of new plants 

 ■will be like Alexander-, sighing fur some new world to conquer. 

 They may bauieh sach thoughts, for there are in many quarters 

 of our globe fields which will still reward with abundant trea- 

 sures those who seek to dig in them, and perhaps vegetable 

 wonders far exceeding any we at present have may be ours to 

 chronicle. For instance : when ouo reads with an entomologist's 

 zest (for I plead guilty to an early love for that branch of 

 ' natural history), the account of Bates's researches iu the valley 

 of the Amazon — while I felt v.hat a grand time it must have 

 been for him, the thought occurred, if the adage is true " that 

 where there is smoke there must be fire," so it is equally true 

 that where there are insects there must be plants; and I 

 wondered into what deep bells did those gorgeous butterflies 

 dip their proboscis, or on what juicy herbs their larva" fed, and 

 who would be the botanical eullector who worJd dare the heat, 

 miasma, and diseases of that seething region? The question 

 has been long since answered, and one if the most successful 

 botanist collectors of modern times, M. Wallis, has been in 

 the service of M. Linden, of Brussels, engaged in exploring 

 those regions, and on a visit I paid to his world-renowned 

 gardens in November I had an opportunity of seeing enough 

 of novelties and rarities to satisfy the most greedy glattou, 

 while there is promise of still further additions in seed-pans 

 full to overfl.iwing of raritisa sent home from the Amazon and 

 other quarters. 

 Time would not permit mo to linger over these things as I 



could have wished, nor to chronicle them hero as they deserve; 

 but I will just name a few of thoso which moat sti'uck me. 

 Among fiiio-fuliaged pirnts there was a large nutnber of that 

 already numerous family Maranta. To the fine kindj already 

 kuoivu as Veitchii, roseo-picta, illustris, Lindeni, its., are now 

 to be added M. undulata, princopa, eburnea, and cinerea, very 

 dwarf, with ashy-grey leaves. Then there wm Spba;rogyne 

 imperiali) wiih a most beautiful undulated leaf; F.cus deal- 

 bata having the under side of the leaf covered with a downy 

 white tissue. Oesnera Eppsii tessellata, every leaf of which 

 seemed to bo done by a crimpiugmachine ; Drymonia turrialvse, 

 a Gcsneraceous plant with wonderfully thick leaves; Fittonia 

 gig.mtea, a large-growing form of Gymnontaohyum Verschaffelti ; 

 Anthurium trilobum, with moat singularly formed leaves; a 

 new Cissus, with largo heart-shaped leaves and .'ilvery mark- 

 ings ; an Echites with loaves like moire antique ; and Cyauo- 

 phyllum spectandum, with a beautiful light purple back, a fit- 

 ting companion to (J. magnificum. 



Among plants remarkable for their flowers, I noticed a new 

 Goodjera — splendida, with long panicles of white (lowers like 

 a Lily ; Bcrtolonia primulina, a mojt beautiful plant, the 

 leaves all arranged regularly round the centre of the plant, 

 from whence issue bouquets of large rosy-coloured flowers 

 very like those of a Primula, hence its name; it is from the 

 State of Ecuador, and will, I believe, be a (;reat favonrite wheu 

 known ; Tillandsia Lindeni, shown at Paris as T. cyanea, 

 where it excited great attention, having a soathe 16 to 18 inches 

 iu length, the flowers of a delicate sky blue, and the whole ap- 

 pearance of the plant very striking. Aristolochiaoordifoliais a 

 woudei fully large-habited creeper, almost too large for the 

 eeneral horticultural public, but fine for large conservatories. 

 Far more generally useful, however, and extremely curious is 

 the pretty Aristolochia Ducharteri. In this the foliage is much 

 smaller ; the flowers are not large, but most curiously-marked, 

 ihfl interior presenting almost the appearance of a printed 

 calico. 



It is not solely in plants already in growth and flower that 

 M. Linden has his sto.'es of novelty ; seed-pans all over his 

 houses bristle with stiff and vigorous plants, from seed sent 

 home by M. Wallis. Among them are some Melnstomads, of 

 which ho was kind enough to show me sketches, and which will, 



1 believe, eclipse anything we have in that family, fine as the 

 plants that we know are. Some of them had flowers 7 or 

 8 inches across, with petals as stiff as those of a Ctimellia, and 

 others produced clusters of richly-coloured flowers of large size. 



Of Orchids, too, M. Linden has a rich and varied selection, 

 probably the richest, a'S far as novelty is concerned, iu Europe, 

 and to this he is constantly adding. He has now between 

 forty and fifty new species, and many of there promise well. 

 They wero not in bloom at tho period of my visit, so that I 

 can only oay what M. Linden expects. 



Tliere are amongst Ferns two species which will, I think, 

 cause a sensation, even satiated as we u-ight seem to be with 

 wonderful end bcii.ulitul form=, yot have I rarely seen any 

 which more attracted me to them than these. They are of the 

 already rich and rmic'a-valued fumily of Adiantum, to which its 

 almost latest aduilicn has been that charming A. faileyense. 

 These two are, however, much larger, while possessing the grace- 

 ful pendent form that characterises that beautiful Fern. Adian- 

 tum M;ithusianuin has long, graceful, pendent fronds, the pinnse 

 of wliich are somewhat heart-shaped, the fructification running 

 like a cord round tho edge of the lower suifaoe, and the pinnas 

 being IJ inch iu length, and about 1 inch wide. Still more 

 beautiful, however, I think is Adiantum epecinsum. This, too, 

 has a graceful pendent form, but the piunse, which are nearly 



2 inches long, are very deeply cut, and almost pre.^ent the 

 appearance of Oak leaves of the most delicate and fragile 

 character, and it is certainly oiia of tho most lovely Ferns 

 that we as yet know. 



The stages in one of M. Linden's houses were all covered 

 with earth, and on inquiring the reason he told mo that it was 

 sent home from the forests of the Amazon, and that he hoped to 

 obtain from it some additions to his stores of novelties. It was 

 in this way he obtained Pteris tricolor and other plants. How 

 rich must sucli a land be, wheu its suif:ice soil is so largely 

 stored with riches as to make it worth while to send it home 

 some thousands of miles in the hope of oblninins something 

 from it. I should add that thero are also here npwards oi fifty 

 new Palms, which will tend to make that family more looked 

 fitter. The taste for them is now heginniog to dei elope itself in 

 England. 



Such aro the hurried notes of my visit, 8n.d I have to thank 



