July 16, 1868. ] 



JOUENAL OF HOUTICULTDBB AND COTTAGE GAEDENKB. 



Ninian Niven. — Belted with light rosy oarmine, dark blotch. 

 Very \Avj.t> and distinct. 



Earl of Ito^ishjn. — Pale crimson, large dark blotob. Very 

 onriort'i nnd distinct. 



John McNab. — Tjij^ht yellow lacod with purple ; large dark 

 bronze blotch. Quito distinct. 



Figaro. — Deep violet imrple ; aide and lower petals edged 

 with whitp. 



Lailij Montfjomcry. — Wliite, belted with violet ; dark dense 

 blotch. Of fioo form and quality. 



Oriana. — French white, shaded with rose; large purple blotch. 



Queen Slab. — Piiro white, clouded and blotched in each of 

 the petals. 



I have no doubt there are many others quite as good as those, 

 but, as usual in such oases, I only give tho.se which I have 

 been enabled to bloom under my own eye. Some others not 

 quite up to the mark I have omitted. — D., Deal. 



WHAT IS A ZONAL PELARGONIUM ? 

 WiLii you say in yonr next .Journal what is a Zonal Pelar- 

 gonium, and thus settle some dispute which has taken place in 

 this quarter ?— J. McD. 



[The whole of the Pelargoniums known as "Scarlets," though 

 their flowers are ofen pink, and even white, owe their produc- 

 tion to three species — P. zonale, P. inquinans, and P. Fother- 

 gillii ; and inasmuch as tho earliest of them were the progeny 

 of P. zonale they have been comprehensively termed Zonals, 

 thoQgh no zone is on the leaves of some of them ; and though 

 the name is misleading, it is no more so than calling those 

 " Scarlets " which include plants with flowers of other colours. 

 In short, the term " Zonal " is intended to include a section of 

 Pelargoniums well known as bedders, without any reference to 

 their being zone-leaved. Wishing to know if our opinion coin- 

 eided with that of a well-known authority, but not a cnltivator 

 of these flowers, we wrote to him to ask his opinion. This is 

 his reply : — " I regret that this zonal question has been again 

 mooted. I believe it arose from the disappointment received 

 by an exhibitor, who would not allow that his competitor's 

 plants wer3 all Zonals, he taking it for granted that a Zonal 

 must have a zone folly defined in the several leaves of the 

 plant. The term Zonal has been taken from the original 

 plant, Pelargonium aonale, the old Horseshoe, from which the 

 present race are all descendants. This is one view of the 

 question. But when some of the seedlings produce plain leaves 

 without any sign of a zone, we are told these are not Zonals. 

 In one sense of the word they certainly are not so ; but these 

 plain-leaved plants vary iu no other way from those in whose 

 leaves tho zone is fixed — habit, colour, growth, are all the same. 

 Bat the florist chooses to subdivide these varieiies into Golden- 

 edged Variegated, Silver-edged, Golden-leaved, Bronze and Gold 

 Zonals, Bicolors, or simply green leaves margined with white. 

 It was one of these latter plants that caiised this question to 

 arise. 



" I think myself it is absurd to quibble on this point. They 

 are all doubtless in character true Zonals, but some varieties 

 are minus the zone, at least it is not developed. Whether the 

 colouring matter of the zone is absent, or why it is not visible, 

 I think no man can venture to say. I can but feel that all are 

 truly Zonals, though not developing a defined zone." 



We are thus sustained in our opinion, as we also are by the 

 facts, that some of the Zonals which usually have no zone on 

 their leaves will, under a change of culture, develope zones on 

 them ; whilst, on the other hand, those usually with zoned 

 leaves will, under di3erent treatment, produce leaves not zoned 

 —Eds.] _^ 



THE HOT WEATHEPs AND ABSENCE OF 



RAIN. 

 Common as the expression is, that " we never knew such dry 

 (or such wet) weather before," there are many who at the 

 present time, the beginning of July, believe that the last few 

 weeks have exceeded all similar periods for heat and the small 

 quantity of rain that has fallen, and in some cases it is asserted 

 there has been no rain for six weeks or more. Now, a certain 

 amount of deduction must always be made from mere casual 

 assertions or grumblings, but it would be well to correct all 

 false notions that may exist in the matter of long-continued 

 drought or rain. On close examination it will he found that 

 neither the one nor the other continues unchecked for so long 

 a period ae ie often aesarted. I find in locking over a register 



of rainfall kept here, that only on three occasions during the 

 last fourteen ynars ]\nn there hern a 16 ii>d of twenty aon- 

 cecutive days without rain, and one o( theso was in winter, 

 when the want of it was not felt. Dry periods have been fre- 

 quent enough, and the driest of them, lasting thirty-four days, 

 was between August 21ih and October Oth, 18G5. During that 

 time there was only 0.08 inch of rain, but ibiit falling on two 

 occasions reduced the numlier of consecutivo days actually 

 without rain to a lees number than might be supposed. Be- 

 tween the 7th and oOlh of ,lune, 18.58, no rain was registered ; 

 in 18G3 there was no rain from tho 27ih of June to the 21st of 

 July, while during the past month (June), a little rain fell on 

 the 2ud, -Ith, and 22nd, but it barely amounttd to half an inch, 

 most of it falling on the 22ad. June being ali'o preceded by 

 four unusually dry months, it is not surprihing that vegetation 

 is Buffering much, and that great alarm eiists in many 

 places as to the water supply for domestic purposes, more 

 especially as tho dry weather has sot in so early in the season, 

 .and welis and streams are either drying up or getting low. 

 Even deep-rooted plants, as trees and shrubs, have made less 

 growth than usual, and many of them will grow no more this 

 season, while the progress made by such as commence growth 

 late has been small indeed ; for instance, Ehododendrons in dry 

 situations have scarcely made any progress. Although the 

 foliage of most deciduous trees and shrubs pushed vigorously, 

 and the growth has been robust, it has been ehort, and mast 

 bo so, as in many cases ripening at the points has commenced.- 

 I do not think that in this there is anytLiing to complain of ; 

 but in the case of evergreens, such as the Ehododendron, a 

 continued dry season may be fatal to many of them. Three 

 or four years ago some established plants which had been 

 planted many years, were pointed out to me at Bury Hill, near 

 Dorking, as having been killed by the dry autumn, and possibly 

 this year the same result may be experienced at other places. 



As regards dry periods, we must not forget that a drier one 

 than even the present has occurred before, as the following 

 record of the rainfall in five oousecutivo months will show. 



18S7-58. Inches, 



December 0.4t* 



January 79 



February 0.77 



Marcli 0.80 



April 1.98 



EUN. 



1808. Inches. 



Febrnary 1.35 



Mnrch 1-29 



April 1.21 



May 192 



Juno 0.51 



1.78 



6.28 



From the above it will be seen that the winter and spring 

 months of 1858 were even drier than those of the present year, 

 at the same time tho rainfall of May and .tune, 1858, exceeded 

 that of the samo months this year ; but 1858 was very dry. 



This season, however, iu addition to being dry, has been early 

 as well, most plants having been in a more forward state by 

 the end of May th,an they have been for many years ; but I am 

 not certain that they are relatively so forward at the end of 

 June, notwithstanding its dryness. H.iving for many years 

 noted the first appearance of Wheat ears in quantity, and in 

 the same locality, I have to record seeing them one day earlier 

 this season than I have observed in any previous year ; the 

 next earliest being 1859, while 1860 was the latest. There was 

 a difierence of just fifteen days between the earliest and latest 

 year. Hot dry weather also urges many plants on prematurely, 

 but the above examples will show that the date of the Wheat 

 harvest is less influenced by variations in the atmosphere than 

 is often supposed. The ripening of fruits is more influenced 

 by the condition of the atmosphere at the^ime, and the growth 

 of plants whose roots only penetrate a short depth into the 

 soil is still more sffected. The long-continued absence of rain, 

 however, affects all. 



With regard to temperature, the past month has been much 

 less remarkable for heat than dryness, and September, 1865, 

 shows both a higher night and day temperature. I find the 

 mean night temperature of that Septemher to have been 53°, 

 and that of the day 78°, as against 49° and 74° in the past month, 

 a marked difference when the much shorter days which we 

 have in September are taken into consideration. June, 1857, 

 was also a hotter month than the June of the present year, and 

 portions of other months have been still warmer. Wliilst the 

 weather up to the present time has been very dry, dew has been 

 almost as scarce as rain, and, perhaps, nothing afiecls vege- 

 tation more than dry withering winds at night from the north- 

 east, and such have often occurred. Thunder has rarely been 

 heard, and the hot days which in former years frequently 

 ended in a thunderstorm, have this seacon often given place tc 



