May 28, 1868. 1 



JOUBNAL OF HORTIOULTUBB AND OOTTAGB GARDBNEB. 



3S5 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



■h. 



^^^J<U 



BEET AS A BEDDING PLANT. 



^^^i^lP- ^'^^ ^^^- I'^ol^son's Hertfordshire friend I 

 y./^./p quite agree as to the comparative merits of 

 l\-,.A'4, •///,'•, jjggt g^g ^ dark-foliaged plant. I have 

 grown the variety Imown as Barrett's 

 Crimson Beet for the last ten years, and 

 can always obtain it so genuine from the 

 seedsman that every plant looks as if 

 turned out of the same mould, and I have 

 rarely ever known one run to seed. It can 

 be sown so early as to give a longer season 

 of effect than either Coleus, Iresine, or Amarantlius, and it 

 certainly is, taking one season with anotlier, tlie most 

 effective plant of the whole. Its lustrous dark-crimson 

 leaf, with just a shade of bronze playing over it, is alike 

 beautiful in sunshine and in rain. 



I have also grown Dell's Beet, which is, if anytliiug. a 

 shade darker, but lacks the bronzy lustre of Barrett's. 

 Dell's is more dwarf and pointed in the loaf, as well as 

 less recurved than Barrett's. Let any one plant a bed of 

 Centaurea, put a single line of Beet round it, and finish 

 ■with the chaste and graceful Daetylis glomerata or Pole- 

 monium cieruleum variegatum, and he will have a bed very 

 difficult to be excelled. These Beets, whatever prejudice 

 may exist against them as stray vegetables in the flower 

 garden, are most effective, and are within the reach of the 

 nullion, who cannot grow the tender dark-foliaged plants. 



The Iresine did beautifully here last year, planted in 

 almost dung, and well supplied with water. In dry poor 

 soil it is dingy and sliabby. A series of vases placed at 

 the back of a border and planted with Centaurea, having a 

 line of Iresine connecting and encircling the vases and 

 hiding them, so that the Centaurea appeared to rest on 

 the L-esine, was very much admired. I think those who 

 liave heavy rich soil ■wUl find the Iresine well worth 

 growing, especially in wet localities. — D. Thomson. 



P.S. — I may remark that Beet does much the best when 

 sown where it is to remain in rich soil about the last week 

 in April, and if well through the groiuid at the ordinary 

 bedding season it soon makes good its appearance among 

 its compeers, and long outlasts them in autumn. 



, STANDARD NOSEGAY PELARGONIUMS FOR 

 0, WINTER BLOOMING. 



' Few subjects of recent introduction are more beautiful 

 than some of tlie Nosegay Pelargoniums, and when grown 

 as standards or half-standards I question if there is any- 

 tiling more valuable for the winter decoration of the 

 conservatory, and tlie supply of flowers which they afl'ord 

 for cutting is surprising. Having a large conservatory to 

 make gay in winter I have usually grown a selection from 

 Mr. Beaton's and other varieties to flower from October 

 to May, and nothing could better answer the purpose. 



In. adopting the standard form of training I liave not 

 been guided so much by the vigorous habit of growth 

 which these Pelargoniums possess as by the noble and 

 ornamental appearance for conservatory decoration which 



No. 874.— Vol. XIV, New Series 



this form presents : for though the dwarf broad specimens 

 usually seen at the metropolitan exhibitions are fine 

 examples of the cultivator's skill, yet I am of opinion 

 tliat the length of time and trouble required to grow such 

 .spechnens, and the inconvenience in arranging that form 

 to advantage in a misceUaueous collection of plants as 

 C(nnpared to the standard, are against its being adopted 

 by the majority of gardeners for the above purpose. The 

 standard plant also produces Larger trusses, liner flowers, 

 and of greater substance than the dwarf. 



Feeling sure that the merits of this section of Pelar- 

 goniums entitle them to a much more extended cultivation 

 than they now receive. I will give a list of the varieties I 

 have found most suitable, with a few remarks on their 

 culture. 'Wlien this appears in print it will be time to 

 procure such varieties as Duchess, Amy Hogg, Glow- 

 worm, Excellent, Orange Nosegay, Black Dwarf. Magenta 

 Queen, Salamander, Pillar of Beauty, Scarlet Gem, Ma- 

 dame RudersdorfT, Cybister. Dr. IJindley, The Clipper, 

 Princess Lichtenstein, and JNIadame Chardine. 



Presuming tliese to be small plants in :(-inch pots, sliift 

 them at once into (i-inch pots. Drain the pots well, and 

 use a ricli soil composed of one-half lieavj' turfy loam, the 

 remainder leaf mould, rotten manure, and sand in equal 

 proportions. After potting water well, and keep the plants 

 close for a few days, either in a frame or pit without arti- 

 ficial heat. Select the strongest shoot, and train it to one 

 stake, taking oft' all others witli flower buds as they appear. 

 As the plants become estabUslied more air must be given, 

 and in three weeks after potting tliey will be sufficiently 

 rooted to be shifted into 9-inch pots, in wlucli they may be 

 allowed to bloom. Use the same sort of soil as before, but 

 coarser. They may now be plugged up to the rim of the 

 pot in half-decayed loaf mould or old tan in a sheltered 

 but sunny spot where the water can drain easily from 

 them. By the last week in August take oil' the tip of 

 every plant, wliieh will cause them to break at the top, 

 allow two, three, or four shoots to remain, according to the 

 strength of the plant, and when these are about 4 inches 

 long, take the tip out of each of these. When they have 

 again broken into growth, which will be towards the middle 

 of October, they may be taken to tlie conservatory, where 

 they will grow rapidly and flower freely the whole winter. 

 On some of the weaker-growing sorts it may be necessary 

 to thin-out the flower trusses, or they will exhaust them- 

 selves. In Febrnarj' give a rich top-tlressing. and a liberal 

 application of manure water twice a-week will be of service 

 to them. About six trusses of dift'erent varieties will fill a 

 large flower stand or vase, and when mixed with Adian- 

 tum (Maiden-hair Ferni, they are very ornamental in the 

 drawing-room at Christmas. — ^T. P^ecohd, Hnwlihurst. ,__ 



FRUITING STRAWBERRIES FROM THE 

 PREVIOUS YEAR'S RUNNERS. 



TiiF, fruiting of a Strawberry plant from runners of the 



previous year is, I thinlc, an element in the estimate of the 



comparative value of difl'erent sorts, second only to flavour 



and size. Perhaps the results comprehended in the foUow- 



No. 1021; -Vol. XXSIX., Ou) Series 



