April 1.-., 180D. ] 



JOURNAL Of HOKTIOULTUUE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



F. hn^folia, of Voitch (anguatifolia, salicifolia). — Long, nar- 

 roil', lanceolate, RliK'itly serrated deep green leaves. Plant of 

 dwarfer habit than the next variety. Very dark red berries. 



/''. lovyifoUii, of Standish. — Long, Lrontl, lanceolate, deeply- 

 serrated rich green leaves. Plant of very free growth. The 

 berries are very long, borne in large bomiuots, and more bril- 

 liant than any l;nown kind. Should be in every collection. 



F. lonijifolia varleijata. — Leaves flaked and sometimes edged 

 with yellow ; pretty but inconstant. 



F. luti'ocarpa, the yellow-fruited variety. No one seems to 

 have beeu fortunate enough to have fruited it; but Mr. 13. S. 

 Williams, who sent it out, describes it as bearing yellow fruit, 

 therefore it will be a pleasing aJdition if it is of a good colour. 

 Leaves green, with a few yellov? spot3. 



F. maculaUi. — " Our old familiar friend ;" the berries it bears 

 are very abundant, small, but cf a fine bright colour. 



F. svlplnina. — The leaves are powdered with green on a 

 bright yellow ground ; plant of free growth; dull red medium- 

 sized berries. A very attractive and distinct variety. 



F. vera (nana, viridis pygm.Ta). — A dwarf and compact 

 grower, with dark green foliage; it produces brilliant fruit in 

 great abundance ; highly desirable for pots. 



Mas bicolur. — Leaves dark green, with large golden centre ; a 

 very compact and free-fiowering variety. The foliage does not 

 carl. 



Mas grandis. — A very broad-leaved, deeply-toothed variety 

 of very vigorous growth. Doubtless the largest green-leaved 

 Aucuba yet introduced. 



Mas macidata. — Large light green leaves, thickly splashed 

 with yellow, of very robust growth. Undoubtedly the best 

 male known, its spikes of blossom being from (i to 9 inches 

 long, and producing pollen in great abundance. 



Mas ovata. — Broad ovate dark green leaves, sometimes orna- 

 mented with a few small yellow spots. Quite distinct. 



Mas picta. — Very brilliant green with yellow central blotch, 

 foliage much smaller and centre lighter than mas bicolor. 



Mas pijipncea. — ')f a dwarf and compact growth ; leaves dark 

 green and of medium size ; a most abundant blpomer, lasting 

 longer than many other male kinds. 



Mas vera. — Broad, deeply-serrated, dark green leaves ; a very 

 nscfal male. 



To the females might be added himalaica, which was formerly 

 considered a distinct species, bat is most likely a iorm of japo- 

 nica, from whioh it diffi>rs by its rounder fruit. The leaves 

 are of a light green, long, narrow, and slightly toothed; it is 

 also longer-jointed than any other kind, and its fruit hangs 

 loosely, and is tipped with green. There were some doubts as 

 to its hardiness, but with the e::ception that its foliage becomes 

 a little paler in winter, it sufJers no more than the others. Of 

 course it has to be set for fruit with the male flowers of japo- 

 nica, and one remarkable fact connected with it is that I cannot 

 get its seeds to germinate, neither can I hear of their germi- 

 nating with anyone else. Its large-leaved variety, macrophylla, 

 is also distinct by its fruit, which are large and pear-shaped, 

 but being red and green are net very ornamental. 



I had finished the above remarks when I found the following 

 very interesting communication in the valuable French perio- 

 dical of which JI. Carriere is editor: — 



" Permit me to call the attention of yonr readers to the 

 following facts, touching the flowering of Aucubas. In ISOG I 

 procured two plants of A. P7gm;ea viridis mascnla and one 

 A. viridis fcEmina, which, kept under glass, bloomed the follow- 

 ing March, the males eight or ten days before the females, so 

 that the former still had an ample quantity of flowers for me 

 to impregnate artificially thos^ of the female, which took weU 

 and produced beautiful berries in the open ground, where I had 

 placed my three plants in the month of Hay. I thought, like 

 M. Bertin, who cultivates a good many of these plants, that 

 the open ground would tend to equalise the time of flowering ; 

 the result in my case has proved the contrary. In March of 

 the following year (18C8), my plants again flowered, the males 

 fifteen to twenty days in advance of the females, and nearly a 

 month ahead of the old kim". (t. maculata). I could not per- 

 ceive any flowers fit for hybridising purposes on the males, 

 when those of the latter were well expanded ; notwithstanding 

 this. Nature interfered in some way or otherj and at the present 

 time all my Auonbas are well provided with berries, including 

 plants situated 45 yards from ihe two males. 



" This year the difference i< still more notable. The excep- 

 tionally mild temperature of the first part of the winter caused 

 my two males to be in full bloom when the first frosts set in, 

 about the 21st of January. Many of the flowers were destroyed, 



but many others have opened since the frost, and there is still 

 a good number, although the pollen does not seem to ripen as 

 it should do. The flowers of the green-leaved female are now 

 scarcely perceptible, and those of the old Aucuba are but mere 

 buds, so that there will bo an advance of the male on these of 

 at least six weeks, and perhaps more ; experience will show if 

 the pollen will be preserved and carried by the wind or insects 

 as last year. I will add that a plant of A. mascula maculata 

 that I procured in January, and afterwards placed in the open 

 ground to try to retard its flowering, has not yet bloomed, and 

 that I count on it for fertilising flvo or six sorts of females 

 that I have in bloom under glass, as well as my bushes of the 

 old Ancnba out of doors. 



" These facts confirm an idea that I have always had, rightly 

 or wrongly, that for plants there is no other acclimatisation 

 possible than transformation by hybridisation or seedlings ; 

 in other terms, that if a foreign plant is either too tender, too 

 early, or too late, we shall never modify the type, but will 

 modify the species by crossing it with one of the same race, 

 hardier or earlier, as may be desired." M. Carri(';re adds, 

 " The facts above mentioned that we ourselves have noted for 

 several years are very interesting, especially in a scientific 

 point of view. They show that the last word has not been 

 said on hybridisation, that the theories admitted are sometimes 

 insufljcient to explain this phenomenon, and that at all events 

 the fertilisation of Aucubas appears to be done very easily. 

 Might it not be with the latter something analogous to that 

 which takes place with certain plants. Nuts for instance, the 

 male flowers of which expand two months, sometimes more, 

 before the female flowers, and which, nevertheless, are always 

 fertile? We call the attention of botanists to this subject." — 



GULIBLMUS. 



PLANTS IN FLOWER DURING MARCH. 



March 18. T^iotatatarica 



Anemone apenniua 



Rtellata 

 Populns monilifcra 

 AmvRdalnH persica 

 Arabia vnricciita 

 Forsylhia viridissima 

 Borberia nervosa 

 Double-blossomed Furze 

 Gentiana acauliB 



,, 24. Biota orientalis 



CupresBus Lawsoniana 

 Bellis acubiefolia 

 Jonqnil 



Garrya elliptica 

 Arabis alba 

 Juniperns virginiana 

 Viola tricolor 

 Prnnnfl ppinosa 

 Salis helix 

 Daphne collina 

 Comus mas 

 Crooaa, varions 

 Oielytra spcctabilis 



,, 30. Buxus aempervirens 

 aim a 

 Viburnum tinns 

 Polygala cbamffibtixnS 

 Scilla eibirica 

 Primula vulgaris 

 Scilla bifolia 

 Myrica pale 

 Erica mediterranea 

 Plum 



Kerria j-iponica 

 Ulmna major 

 Iiinum flavum 

 Orobus Tcmus 



sborough-on-Tees. 



March 4. Narciesns pseudo-Narcis- 



laUS 



Alnns Klutinosa laeiniflta 

 Cerastium Biebersteini 

 Hyacinthas botryoidea 

 Acer dasycarpum 

 Alnns cordifolia 

 Amygdalns communis 

 Beroeris diilcis 

 Chimonauthus frngrans 

 Acerrubrum 

 Clematis balearica 

 Comptouia asplenifolia 

 Daphne laureola 

 Ibcris sempervirens 

 I'opulus alba 

 Erica camea 

 Hepatica triloba alba 

 Arabis liirida 

 Bulbocodixira vernum 

 Draha r.izoides 

 „ 12. Erythronium (iens-canis 

 Phlox stolonifera 



frondopa 

 Andromeda floribunda 



tetragon a 

 Primula acaiilis alba plena 



denticulata 

 Berberis Darwinii 

 Populus canescena 

 Pulmonaria tiflicinalis 

 Sani^ninaria canadf^nse 

 Sisyrinchium grandi- 



florum 

 „ 18. Vinca minor 



Alyssum saxatile 

 Viola odorata 

 Cydonia japonica 

 Veronica syriaca 



— M. H., Acklam Hall^ Middle^ 



PROPAGATION AND WINTEPJNG OF 



VERBENAS. 



Mr. Clayton (see page 174), evidently doea not agree with 

 me in coDdemniDg the old way of keeping Verbenas in store 

 pans, but I can assure him that keeping them three in a 6-inch 

 pot is by far the better plan. I have tried both,^ and where 

 the old way answered once it failed twice. As to its requiring 

 more room, the pot system does not do so if we take into con- 

 sideration the number and quality of the cnttinge. One may 

 obtain from seventy to one hundred cuttings from one pot, 

 &n\ far Btiouger than if they were cramped op in a pan; at 

 any rate it is so as far as my experience goes. Mr. Clayton 

 advocates striking them in bottom heat, but if he will try them 



