Febrniry 27, 1S73. ] 



JOUKN'AL OF HOKTICDLTUEE AND COTTAGE GABDENEE. 



179 



are sometimes here termed " custavJ winds," prevail in the 

 spring and early summer mouths with such unvarying persis- 

 tency, that the Kev. C. Kiugsley, were he compelled to live 

 here would perhaps find out that it is possible to have too 

 much of even so good a thing as an east wind. Well, in this 

 eituatiou La France blooms profusely. From a small tree on the 

 Briar, its second year of blooming, I cut last summer more 

 ihan twenty good blooms. With the exception of Guueral 

 Jacqueminot I grow all the fifty Roses which received the 

 greatest number of votes at the recent election. If in this good 

 company, during the last Eose season, there had been a con- 

 test for the premier Eose, and it those friends who came to 

 look had been aslied to vote (with woman's suffrage of course), 

 La France would unquestionably have been at the head of 

 the poll. 



My experience of " old Glory " is precisely the same as that of 

 Mr. Cant and Mr. Eadclyffe. I have many plants of this Eose 

 — as everybody has — beautiful in bud, dehcicus in scent, but 

 scarcely ever producing a perfect bloom. Marie Baumann wiU 

 not grow with me, and Cehne Forestier is as worthless here as 

 Mr. Eyre says it is with him. Marechal Niel grows weU on its 

 own roots, on the Mauetti, and on the Briar. I get plenty of 

 wood, and every year I look anxiously for the blooms which 

 come not. — W-'SioxEHonsE, Darnholine, Goatliland, Yorlc. 



EXOTIC AND HAEDT CYCLAMEN CULTUKE. 



I FULLY coincide in what your able correspondent Mr. 

 Douglas has written in favour of this plant for winter decora- 

 tive purposes, and also in the mode of cultivation he adopts. 

 I can only add one or two remarks with a view to render the 

 latter still more easy. 



Like Mr. Douglas, I sow the seed as early in the spring as 

 possible, say February, and plunge the pot or pan in bottom 

 iieat, if such can be afforded. As soon as the plants are tit to 

 handle they are pricked-out into boxes, such as are used for 

 Geranium cuttings. These boxes are 2 feet long, by 1 foot 

 wide, and 3 inches deep, and I prefer separate pots as requir- 

 ing less space ; for every inch of heated structure is full to 

 overflowing, and a box is more quickly moved from place to 

 place than a number of small pots. In boxes the seedlings 

 remain till they are large enough to pot, or, rather, large 

 .enough to be transferred to 3 or 4-iuch pots, by which time 

 there will most hkely be more room in the heated compartment 

 they have been occupying. In fact, like Mr. Douglas I keep 

 ■them very often the whole summer in the Pine stove until 

 •they begin to show flower, when I find it is not always ad- 

 visable to remove them to a house too cool, for with such treat- 

 ment I have known some of them die-off. A sort of inter- 

 snediate house is best for the young plants, but older ones 

 "that have not been kept in the forcing house during the sum- 

 jner will endure as much cold as Cape Heaths and similar 

 plants. 



When the flowering is over in spring my treatment is even 

 more simple than that of Mr. Douglas, for I usually turn all 

 the plants out of their pots, and plant them in a cold pit in 

 which Calceolarias have been wintered, the soU being sandy 

 lather than otherwise. The corms are but slightly covered 

 with this, but I coat the ground as deeply as the remaining 

 leaves of the plants will aUow with decayed leaf mould, and 

 take notice during the summer that there is always sufficient 

 to just cover the corm, which I think ought never to be ex- 

 posed. Beyond this no further notice is taken of them till the 

 middle or end of September, when they are hfted and potted, 

 the autumn growth having just begun about that time. By 

 this system no care nor attention in watering is required, 

 beyond giving them a good watering with licjuid manure some 

 wet day during the summer, although the bed they are grow- 

 ing in is exposed to the full sun. I am not acquainted with 

 any plant which can be more readily taken up than the 

 Cyclamen. 



With regard to the species which are named in catalogues, 

 might I ask those who are authorities in such matters if the 

 bulk of those in ordinary cultivation do not run into each 

 other in such a way as to render botanical classification im- 

 possible ? For many years I have looked upon the hardy 

 autumn-flowering Cyclamen, that often presents a mass of 

 bloom without a vestige of foUage, as being a distinct species, 

 but now it seems linked by imperceptible degrees to the 

 rounder- foliaged class to which the name C. persicum is given. 

 Assuredly the botanical distinctions are not persistent in the 

 two, or there are great departures from them in the mass of 



varieties cultivated both in-doors and out. The out-door Cycla- 

 mens are not met with half so often as they deserve to be, and 

 but rarely in fashionable gardens ; while in some cottager's 

 little flower border, nestling perhaps at the root of a Pear or 

 other fruit tree, one may be met with that has occupied the 

 same spot for a dozen years or more, and that, when in bloom 

 at the end of harvest time, presents a mass of floral beauty 

 which it is vain to look for in the best pot cultivation. The 

 truth of the matter is, the plant does not like rude removals. 

 May X ask if the Cyclamen which was found wild in divers 

 places is now met with '? I expect it is becoming more and 

 more scai'ce ; but as other kinds are now plentiful, may I 

 ask if any of your correspondents have been successful with 

 their out-door culture ? as I cannot but think some favoured 

 spots might be found where many of those that now grace the 

 shelves of our greenhouses would survive the winter, and add 

 as much beauty to spring gardening as the Primrose. At the 

 same time I hardly expect they will bear the same amount of 

 shifting from place to place, but if planted in some cosy 

 corner they might cheer us with their interesting blooms each 

 returning season. 



Mr. Douglas mentions the liability of this plant to be at- 

 tacked with mealy bug. I may also mention another enemy 

 in the shape of a rather large grub that attacks the corm on 

 the under side, eating large portions of it, and so divesting it 

 of its rootlets ; the fohage languishes in consequence, the roots, 

 in fact, being all gone, so that the plant has no hold of the 

 soU. I have lost several plants during the past winter from 

 this cause, and have tried some experiments with a view to 

 find a means of preventing the attacks of this unexpected in- 

 truder, but I find it more tenacious of life than might be 

 expected. A tolerably strong mixture of soft soap and water 

 takes no effect upon it, and the same may be said of tobacco. 

 Perhaps some other growers have met with it also; if not, I 

 may say that the grub is nearly as large as that which becomes 

 the wasp, but is an active creature, burrowing into the soil, 

 and eating away at the root. Is it generally known, and what 

 is the best means to check it ? 



I have not been very successful in multiplying the hardy 

 Cyclamens, perhaps inattention at the right time may have 

 been the cause ; although the tender kinds may be counted by 

 hundreds, umts wUl do for the hardy ones, and what I have 

 seen are scarcely less pretty. An easy and expeditious mode 

 of propagating them would be acceptable, more especially one 

 insuring the germination of the seed, which in my case is not 

 so easOy accomplished as with the exotic kind. — J. Eobson. 



YUCCAS FEUITING IN EUKOPE. 



I AM not a little surprised to see an article going the round 

 of the horticultural and other journals as to the non-fertihsa- 

 tion of Yuccas in Europe. Have we the Pronuba Yuccasella, or 

 are its services not required, or can it be another insect serving 

 the same purpose ? for Yuccas have seeded abundantly in this 

 neighbourhood (Cannes) for the past ten years without any 

 artificial fertihsation whatever. 



I should Uke under the same heading to correct an error of 

 your correspondent " C. W. H.," (see No. 587), when at Nice, 

 last year, in supposing there was but one male Date Pahn in 

 its neighbourhood. By far the greater majority are males, 

 which are very visible to passers-by knowing the two sexes. 

 — Geo. Worihaji, Gardener, Villa Victoria, Cannes. 



EHAMNUS FEANGULA. 



Procuke plants of this of Messrs. F. & A. Dickson & Sons, 

 106, Eastgate Street, Chester. Unless the Alder Buckthorn 

 grow better with others than it does with me in Ught but good 

 soil in which most shrubs succeed well, I fear it wUl take veiy 

 many years and a considerable extent of ground to give a ton of 

 twigs worth from £10 to £14 for charcoal for gunpowder manu- 

 facture. It is a good subject for withstanding the sea breeze, 

 and wUl succeed in an exposed situation. — North Yore. 



I n.wE seen Ehamnus Frangula in some of the nurserymen's 

 liets— Mr. WiUiam Paul's for one. From this shrub the finest 

 description of charcoal is made in very large quaiitities at the 

 Government powder works, Waltham Abbey. It is there im- 

 properly called Dogwood charcoal, the real Dogwood being 

 Coruus sanguinea, which is useless for charcoal. Gunpowder 

 manufacturers are almost, if not enthely, dependent on this 

 (erroneously caUed Dogwood) material for their charcoal, and 



