December 3, 1B68. 1 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENSB, 



419 



the leaves being shorter. However, uotbing need be said 

 against this plant's growth during the vast summer. 



The foregoing examples will bo suffioient to show that even 

 as regards tropical vegetation, heat alone is not always suffi- 

 .cient to insure sucoe!<a, but tha^, the onmbiiied action of heat 

 and moisture are required to perfect certain tilings. The past 

 summer has been as remirkablo for some failures where mois- 

 ture has been defioieut, as for successes arising from the high 

 temperature that prevailed. The blooming of one of our most 

 popular autumn-flowering plants has this j-car, strange to say, 

 been in our ncigl'bourhood somewhat later than usual, the 

 Chrysanthemum being really not fairly out in llower in the 

 open air so early as inthe mijority of years, notwithstanding 

 the forwardness of most other flos-ers that presented them- 

 selves early in the year — perhaps this may be attributed to 

 the sudden change that followed the I'iihof September — but 

 the coarser and more robust vegetables of the kitchen gar- 

 den, whoso progress was arrested by the heat of midsummer, 

 have grown rapidly enough when moisture iu sufficient quantity 

 was afforded them. The autumn of 18HS has, nevertheless, 

 been less satisfactory than might have been expected, the rains 

 not being so abundant as desirable, and frost setting in much 

 earlier than usuul. 



In thus making a comparison between 18G5 and 1868, it 

 would not be fair to omit taking into consideration the pros- 

 pects there may be for another year, and in this respect I am 

 in hopes that the present one has certainly bequeathed to its 

 successor tillage fields and garden soils highly improved by 

 the scorching sun of July, and fruit and other trees matured 

 in growth to such a degree as to insure, unless the spring be 

 unfavourable, another fruitful year in 18G'J. Sjme other ad- 

 vantages, doubtless, will result from so unusual a season, and, 

 on the other hand, perhaps some errors may bo committed by 

 expecting a succeeding one quite as hot, as occurred in 1860. 

 The previous tivo warm summers then led many to surmise 

 that tropical vegetation would prosper in our northern lati- 

 tudes, and Chinese Sugar Grass and other crops were tried, 

 but the year was dull, wet, and cold, the absence of sunshine 

 being a more serious drawback than the amount of rain. 



In respect to the abundance and quality of many of the 

 most important products of the soil, 18(j5 may be said to 

 stand superior to 18G8, but at the same time the advantages 

 which the latter has conferred on its successor make up for 

 the inequality, as it is seldom that stiff heavy ground works so 

 well as it has done this autumn, and the destruction of weeds 

 and insects make us hope these pests will be less numerous 

 next year than they often have been. 



It is, however, more to the small difference iu average tem- 

 perature between the past and a former summer that I would 

 call the attention of the curious in such matters, so that when 

 it is necessary hereafter to speak of the great heats of 18G8, it 

 ought also to be mentioned that they were not of long daration ; 

 and that time, that leveller and smoother-down of al! irregu- 

 larities, natural and artificial, also confirmed the fact, that after 

 all the whole summer of 1808 was but a more fraction warmer 

 than that which occurred three years previously, notwithstand- 

 ing its tropical heats and the almost fabulous reports of its effects 

 at the time. The effort would seom to have almost been too 

 much even for Nature, the itsue showiug that she retired, as if 

 exhausted, before the summer was over ; but I leave the further 

 reasoning on this to others, my purpose being merely to show 

 the state of the two summers In plain figures. — J. Eobson. 



CELOSIA AUREA PYRAMIDALIS. 



Those who know the " golden glories " of this stove annual 

 will agree that no one who has much late autumn and winter 

 demand for sitting room and dinner-table decoration, as well as 

 cut flowers, should be without it. There are many spurious 

 and unsightly varieties of this vended and cultivated, and the 

 true variety is comparatively scarce. On this account it would 

 be well, when the true variety turns up, to destroy, as soon as 

 they appear, all spurious sorts, and carefully save seed from 

 the good and true ; and when this practice is followed, the 

 right variety can be constantly reproduced. I have grown 

 golden pyramids of this 3 feet high in 10 and 11-inch pots, 

 which resembled, in all but colour, a tower of ostrich feathers. 



Its cultivation is very simple : sown in March in stove heat, 

 and pot singly when 2 inches high, and shift as required 

 into pots varying from 8 to 12 inches according to the sized 

 plant desired, using a compost of equal parts loam and leaf 



mould, with n little sand added. This, and a stove temperature 

 in a light place, with frequent syringiugs on fine afternoons till 

 it begins to bloom, is all that is of importance in its culture; 

 and when in bloom it stands conservatory temperature, and 

 lasts in l>loom a long time. Vv'iicu the seed ripens it should be 

 carefully looked after, or it drops out of the husk and is lost. 

 This, and its crimson varieties, are of great service for autumn 

 and winter display ; and they bluom just at a time after most 

 autumu Ihiugs are over, and before late winter things come in. 

 —{The Gardener.) 



CHRYSANTHEMUMS IN THE ORCHARD HOUSE. 

 I woui.n strongly recommend the possessors of orchard houses 

 not to neglect to brighten them up during dark November by 

 the liberal use of those invaluable flowers. They are cheap to 

 buy, easy to cultivate, aud, when grown under glass, present a 

 striking contract to their brethren in the open air soddened 

 with rain and disfigured by frost. Witli the assistance of a 

 mat in very severe weather they succeed almost as well in an 

 orchard house as in a greenhouse. Crimson Velvet, Jardin des 

 Plantes, and Virgin Queen might challenge all the stoves in 

 England to produce three flowers which equal them in brilliancy 

 and contrast of colour. Another good quality of the Chrysan- 

 themum is its persist'ince, whether on the plant or when cut. 

 I have now before me a vase filled with flowers gathered a week 

 ago, and still fresh. — G. S. 



NEW BOOKS. 



L'Art de Greffer Ics Arhres, Arhrlsscaux et Arba.ites FruUiers, 

 Forcstiers, oud'Oniement, jwiir Ics multijdier, les former, ou Us 

 metircafruit. Par Chablss Baltet. Paris : Victor Massou 

 et fits. 



This is just such a book as one would expect to emanate 

 from the hand of so experienced a practitioner as Mr. Charles 

 Baltet, who in himself constitutes one of those rare combina- 

 tions of a successful cultivator and skilful writer on French 

 horticulture. The subject on which this new vrork of Mr. 

 B dtet treats is one which receives much mors attention, and 

 enters far more prominently into the horticultural practice of 

 our neighbours than it does with us. V/ith the exception of 

 the ordinary whip-grafting, crown-grafting, inarching, and bud- 

 ding, there are no other varieties of this mode of propagating 

 or of reconstructing trees practised among us ; but with the 

 French, for many years, the various modes of what we call 

 grafting are so ui;merous, and attended with so much detail, 

 that various woikj h.ave been written on this subject alone. 



The work beforo us consists of 320 pages, and is copiously 

 illustrated with 113 weil-exfcuted woodcuts, representing the 

 different operations, the instruitients employed in executing 

 them, and the rr.^ults arrived at by the completion of the pro- 

 cesses. To the Eaglish gardener there will be found in it much 

 that is novel aud instruciive ; aud although our taste has not 

 yet taken us in the direction of the fanciful shapes which the 

 French have of late years given to tbeir fruit trees, those who 

 are interested in the subject will here find some examples of 

 these, and the modes of forming them. 



The following extract will supply information new to many 

 of our readers : — 



" The expense occasioned by the purchase of wool and cotton in 

 nurseries (for graftiug) has caused a so.ireli for ligatures of a more 

 economical description. After having trieil the leaves of Sedge (Garex), 

 and Bullrush {Scinais lacnstris), one is attracted by two nquatic 

 plants which giow abundantly on thn borders of rivers aud ditchei, in 

 pouds and marshes — the Cat's-tail (Typha iatU'olia}, and the l^tir-reed 

 (Simrg.anium ramosnm). Those arc cqn.ally useful as a lii^ature. 

 These two species belong to the family Typhacefe. The plant is 

 gathered when fully grown, either in the end of the summer for graft- 

 ing in the year following, or iu the spring, to he used in the course of 

 the same year. The leaves, which are attached together at the base, 

 are separated, and placed to dry iu the shade or in a bam, by banging 

 them up in bundles tied together by their tops. When the time of 

 using them anives, they are cut into the required length, averaging 

 15 to 20 inches iu length. A little before grafting the bundles are 

 steeped in water for a few hours, and then drained by pressing them 

 with the hand or by wrinj^'ing them. Frequently it is sufficient to 

 place them in a cellar to keep them fresh, and in grounds where there 

 is no water they are put into the earth. 



'* This vegetalde ligature requires a projier medium of dryness and 

 humidity. Too di-y, the leaf lacks resistance and breaks ; too damp, 

 it causes the decay of the graft and breaks also. The leaf is geueraUy 

 broad enough to be split up throughout its length. It bends better 



