354 



JOURNAL OP HORTICDLTURB AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ May 1, 1873. 



encourage a Bhort-jointed, moderately ■vigorous growth, rather 

 than a coarse pithy one. To promote this result do not force 

 the growth too much at first, but give plenty of air as long as 

 the temperature does not fall lielow fiO', and if it advances to 

 75° or 80' at mid-day or later, with air circulating through the 

 house, no harm will arise. At the beginning of June, when 

 the Vines will be making roots very fast, 5° or 10° more heat 

 will be beneficial. This amount can generally be secured by 

 giving less air. Keep the Vines growing in this way until 

 September or the beginning of October, when some attention 

 must be paid to ripening the wood. No doubt the wood will 

 be turning brown at some parts before this ; however, the at- 

 mosphere of the house must be kept drier, but with heat and 

 air in a moderate degree the ripening will go on in a satisfactory 

 manner. After this has been secured, and the wood has be- 

 come hardened, the season will be so far advanced that the 

 Vines will show signs of going to rest ; all moisture may then 

 be withheld and plenty of air given, with less heat. It is not a 

 good practice to allow the frost to get at the Vines, as was 

 commonly done years ago ; therefore, during the winter, plants 

 may be kept in the house and fire heat applied to exclude frost. 

 Now, a few words with regard to water. In newly-made 

 inside borders with plenty of drainage, Vines can scarcely have 

 too much water, all through the growing season they will 

 take water once a-week ; it should be given with no sparing 

 hand, for it is astonishing the quantity of water necessary to 

 reach every portion of soil in well-drained newly-made borders. 

 For free-setting Grapes of the Black Hamburgh class keep the 

 Vines dry during the blooming, but in very sunny weather, 

 and at other times not too frequent, water may be thrown 

 about the heuse with advantage. For shy-setting sorts of the 

 Muscat class keep both the Vines and the atmosphere dry. A 

 little fire at night is a great help to Vines in bloom, but not 

 absolutely necessary to Black Hamburghs and some others that 

 bloom in the height of summer.] 



FLOWEES FOR OUE BOEDERS.— No. 5. 



RLBES ALBIDtlM.— White-flowered Corrant. 



This plant is a variety of the red-flowered Currant, Ribes 

 sanguineum, a shrub now found in every garden of the smallest 

 pretensions, and was raised from seed in the gardens of 

 Admiral Sir David Milne, Inveresk, near Musselburgh. 



From the perfectly hardy character of the parent species 

 and all its varieties, the ease with which they are propagated, 

 and the beauty of their pendant flowers, which enliven the 

 garden at a period when but few shrubs are in blossom, they 

 are well deserving the place they occupy in the public esteem. 

 The variety albidum, as well as sanguineum, varies in the 

 colour of its flowers according to the soil in which it is grown, 

 being palest in sandy soils ; but it is probable that much of 

 the differences observable in distinct specimens, may arise from 

 the natural tendency of the plant to variation when raised 

 from seed. The best varieties are slender-stemmed, and quite 

 deciduous, but we have seen a specimen with a coarse arbo- 

 rescent stem, dense foliage, almost evergreen, and flowers of 

 a far less ornamental character, followed by prodigious crops 

 of insipid black berries. 



They wUl thrive in almost any soil, but succeed best in such 

 as is moderately rich and moist, the natural habitat of the 

 species sanguineum being often in the neighbourhood of the 

 Californian streams. Cuttings of the ripened year's wood, 

 taken off in autumn, and treated as those of the common 

 Gooseberry, will root readily in a sheltered border. 



With the exception of the equally interesting Eibes aureum, 

 or Golden-flowered Gooseberry, the plant now figured, with its 

 sister varieties, are the only members of the Kibes family com- 

 monly found in cultivation, which, considering the beauty of 

 many of the remaining species, is a matter of surprise. Among 

 those less known, we may mention the elegant Ribes speciosum, 

 with red flowers and long projecting stamens ; the E. cereum, 

 or Wax-leaved Currant, with roundish glandular leaves, covered 

 with a thin layer of a wax-like substance ; the R. punctatum, 

 from Chili, with dotted leaves and greenish yellow flowers, 

 borne in erect racemes ; and handsomer still, the Snowy- 

 flowered Gooseberry, E. niveum, with flowers of the purest 

 white, and berries of a deep rich purple colour, which, unlike 

 those of the other flowering-species, are of an agreeable flavour, 

 and, according to Dr. Lindley, " when ripe, make delicious 

 tarts, and would probably form an excellent means of improv- 

 ing the common Gooseberry, by hybridising." 



All who have ever gathered a Gooseberry — and who has 



not ? — have, we do not doubt, heartily wished the bushes 

 Ihornless, but they would scarcely prefer the habit of another 

 of the family, Eibes Menziesii, published by Sir James Smith 

 under the appropriate name of E. ferox, ^hich he desciibes as 

 " a very remarkable species, whose branches are thickly covered 

 with tawny setaceous pricldes, about a quarter of an inch in 

 length, and armed under each bud with three very strong and 

 pungent ones, an inch long, having sometimes lesser reflexed 

 prickles at their base !" and what is worse, the young berries 

 are " covered with prominent glandular bristles, which harden, 

 as the fruit advances, into stiff sharp spines, so that whatever 



its flavour may be, it seems perfectly inaccessible in the com- 

 mon way of eating Gooseberries." Another species, R. Cynos- 

 bati, the Dog-bramble Gooseberry, a native of Canada, has- 

 also prickly fruit. 



Nearly all the Eibes grown as ornamental shrubs are natives 

 of the North American Continent ; one or two, however, are 

 found only in South America, and a few in Siberia, Hungary, 

 and other parts of Europe. — (W. Thompson's Enylish Flower 

 Garden.) 



PLANTS FOR LEAN-TO GREENHOUSE. 



I HAVE a lean-to greenhouse, and I have a moderately large 

 flower garden at the front and back of my residence. I want 

 my greenhouse to supply me with bedding plants for the gar- 

 den, and I also want to have a nice selection of the hardier 

 greenhouse plants, such as Primulas, Roses, Azaleas, Camellias, 

 Chrysanthemums, Geraniums, Fuchsias, itc. I have room for 

 about two hundred moderate-sized plants. Can I grow Ferns 

 in the same house, and in a bed under the front shelf, if so 

 state the names of a few suitable ? I have hot-water pipes in.' 

 the greenhouse, but do not wish to use them until the autumn 

 if possible, as I get too much heat ; my boiler is too powerful, 

 but in the autumn I will have other pipes connected with it to 

 warm a coil in my hall, and will thus be more under control. 

 I should also like some good variegated-foliaged plants for tha 

 greenhouse. I suppose a cold frame will be useful, and I am 

 about to have one made. — T. H. 



[You do not give the dimensions of your greenhouse, but 

 there wiU be no difficulty in making use of it for the various 

 purposes you mention to a greater or less extent. A cold 

 frame as you propose will be useful, in fact, a necessity, for the 

 reajing of seedling Primulas, Cinerarias, and Calceolarias ; the 

 former two may be sown now or a week or two later, and the 

 latter in July. . The different plants named below include a 

 variety of colour and form, and are likely to be easily cultivated, 

 and interesting to you. Ferns will grow well in the position 

 you name. 



Azaleas. — Beauty of Eeigate, Iveryana, Louise Margottin, 

 Admiration, Stanleyana, Vesuvius, Mars, Chelsoni, Due de 

 Brabant, Glory of SunuinghUl, Due de Nassau, Kinghornii, 

 I and for forcing Indica alba and A. amcena. 



