416 



JODENAL OF HOETICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENEE. 



[ June 5, 1873. 



capable of even local proof — by noting the progress, and the cha- 

 racter of that progress, which a Vine will make planted out- 

 doors in the ordinary soil of the garden. One need never 

 hesitate to speak of a fact, and this is a fact, that I have never 

 yet seen a soil that would grow the ordinary out-door fruits in 

 a satisfactory manner that refused to grow a Vine when one 

 was planted. When I was younger than I am now I had a 

 habit of sticking Vines in all sorts of soUs and watching results, 

 and it was remarkable to notice how exceptional were the in- 

 stances in which a complete, or even anything approaching a 

 complete, failure was the result, and they never occurred in 

 a good garden soil where other Iruit trees grew well. " That," 

 it may be said, " is only evidence as to growth, and not fruit, 

 which are not always correlative." Granted, but not uncon- 

 ditionally. It is true that Grapes do not always follow a free 

 Vine-growth, but not much less true that there might be fruit 

 where there is no fruit under more correct guidance, and such 

 as the Vine itself will, in most instances, foreshadow if we will 

 but read its index aright. Presuming that there is a healthy 

 Vine freely growing in the open air, say a Black Hamburgh ; 

 provide it with adequate glass shelter, and who will say that 

 with proper inside treatment that Vine will not bear fruit ? 

 Instead of no fruit the probabihty is that it will yield such an 

 example as will explode a too common notion — that to have 

 Grapes worth looking at and worth eating, an expensively- 

 made border is a prime necessity. 



I am of opinion that the natural capabilities of the Vine are 

 not pressed to the front in such a way as its merits demand, 

 or commensurate with the advantages which would be the 

 direct outcome. 1 do not wish to be misunderstood. I am 

 no antagonist to a thoroughly-made Vine border, knowing that 

 the highest forms of Grapes can only be expected from a 

 high order of border formation. I am not presuming to teach 

 those deeply learned in Grape lore, and whose aim is per- 

 fection, preferring to assist those requiring aid in a supply of 

 not perfect but useful Grapes. I should like, in the in- 

 terests of this laige class, to assist in knocking down some 

 barriers that time, fancy, and prejudice have set up, and in 

 clearing away some impediments so expensive as to be pro- 

 hibitory of this princely and popular fruit in places where it 

 ought to be. I should like it to be known, that hundreds 

 of people who have them not now, may have Grapes on 

 their tables, and enjoy them the more as being their " own 

 growing." — J. Weight. 



A FEW WORDS ON WHITE FLOWERS. 



Of the many hues which Flora in her sportive garb presents 

 us with I have a decided partiality for white, not a dirty dingj 

 white like an unwashed garment, but a clear pure white, free 

 from any discoloration, my model in this respect being the 

 white Camellia. Cannot some of our great Eose-growers pre- 

 sent us with one of their so-called queens of flowers in as 

 high a state of purity as this Camellia ? Catalogues without 

 number seem to have exhausted all the terms applicable to 

 the various tints the Eose assumes, yet a clear undefiled 

 white we have not yet, for a slight tinge of pink or flesh colour 

 pervades all the whites I have seen or heard of. The same 

 remark holds good in regard to the Dahlia, only the latter is 

 tinged with green instead of pink ; still I believe that now and 

 then Dahlias are met with approaching more closely to the 

 standard I have put forth, and where a stand possesses a really 

 good white Dahlia, that flower, in my opinion, carries a degree 

 of weight with it equivalent to three or four lilacs, reds, or 

 yellows. 



But it is not to the white-flowering varieties of these two 

 kinds of flowers alone that I desire to call attention, it is to 

 white flowers of' p.U kinds ; and there are some whites that 

 really rival the Camellia in purity of petal. Take, for in- 

 stance, a Cherry tree ; when in full bloom what can look 

 richer ? Whether it be a wild or cultivated Cherry it is still a 

 handsome object at a long distance as well as close at hand. 

 Scarcely less pure is the Pear and some of its congeners ; 

 while we must not omit to rotice the ever-beautifal though 

 not unmixed colouring of the Hawthorn, which, from its abun- 

 dance, may be regarded as one of the most ornamental of our 

 flowering trees, and but for the anthers its flowers would be a 

 very creditable white. Even as it is, in my opinion the white 

 far exceeds the pink varieties, and the double white is superb. 

 Then we have the Bird Cherry, a wild flowering shrub of no 

 mean pretensions, also a good white ; while, later, and when 

 all spring frosts are said to be over and estabhshed summer 



coming on, the Elder presents us vrith its numerous umbels oi 

 creamy white, showing to great advantage a fuU half-mUe, 

 and towards the dusk of evening looking like so many lumina- 

 ries appearing in the horizon. Later on we have the Sweet 

 Chestnut with its peculiar inflorescence planted in front o£ 

 fohage of the brightest green ; while amongst smaller shrubs 

 the white Lilac, Mook Orange, and Deutzia could not be 

 arranged in more becoming colours. The Deutzia, especially, 

 is very fine, yet I am not sure that it is really more hand- 

 some as a distant object than that niuch-negleoted shrub the 

 Gueldres Eose. Others could be added, but I will omit them 

 for the present, and descend lower, and see what small plants 

 do for us m this way. 



First of all we have the Snowdrop, the white Crocus, the 

 single white Primrose. Following these we have Arabis albida, 

 a very suitable companion to the earliest Forget-me-not, and 

 quite as useful in every way. Bulbs of various kinds may also 

 be flowering at the same time as this Ai'abis, there being a toler> 

 ably good white in Tulips , as well as in the Hyacinth , ISi arcissus, 

 and Anemone, and the wild Anemone of our woods must not 

 be overlooked. As the season advances white flowers become 

 too numerous to mention, and I wUl therefore content my- 

 self with naming only one or two more, and amongst these 

 islberis corifoha, a very pretty white. Perhaps the prettiest of 

 all is the common white Lily when seen in a cottage garden 

 in the dusk of the evening, backed by the healthy fohage of 

 the Gooseberry trees in its vicinity. The Meadow Sweet is less 

 pure in colour, yet stUl admissible, whUe perhaps the purest 

 white flower we have, next to the Camellia, is the white variety 

 of the Indian Azalea, which for purity of hue cannot well be 

 excelled. Later in the year we have also good whites in some 

 of the varieties of China Asters and several annuals. 



I am not acquainted with a really good white in Geranium, 

 Petunia, or Verbena. It is true there are so-called whites, but 

 they are more or less tinged with some other colour, and con- 

 sequently look badly when seen in masses, as these flowers are 

 expected to be, a sort of greenness pervading them all more or 

 less, and the same may be said of Lobelias and Pentstemons, 

 as well as Ageratums, the latter having a somewhat duty tint ; 

 in fact, really good clear white flowers are not by any means 

 so plentiful as some suppose, and it is not too much to ask 

 for something more clear and distinct among white flowers, 

 for, whether in winter, spring, summer, or autumn they seem 

 equally welcome ; and for contrast with the naked ground, 

 the young or advanced foliage, or with the decaying tints of 

 autumn, a clear spotless white is always acceptable. Witness 

 a white Chrysanthemum, how well it looks ; be it seen either 

 at noonday or by artificial light in the evening, it is equally 

 beautiful. There are other purposes to which a white flower 

 seems also indispensable — a bouquet would only present a dull 

 and cheerless aspect were it not for the white flowers which 

 hght it up ; and the interest with which our fair friends look 

 upon a bridal bouquet, when shown as it sometimes is at horti- 

 cultural shows, proves that they regard white as the first and 

 most important of all colours. 



I make no apology, therefore, for calling on those who have 

 done so much in the way of embellishing our flower gai'deus 

 with the brightest of yeUow, scarlet, pink, and other hues, 

 to try to supply us with a white Geranium equal in the clear- 

 ness of its colouring to some of the scarlets now so plenti- 

 ful. In like manner I ask for Petunias and Verbenas to be 

 also improved, or, if need be, some other continuous-flower- 

 ing plant that possesses the necessary qualifications to be sub- 

 stituted for them, for it must be borne in mind that in most 

 cases the object sought for in white in the fashionable parterre 

 has been supplied in foliage and not in flower. Although foh- 

 age is very good in its way, I imagine that fashion will ere long 

 take another turn and flowers be again in the ascendant. As 

 stated at the beginning of this article, I place white first in 

 my list, and I should be glad if more of the plants I have 

 named, as well as many others, approached the standard of 

 purity that I have laid down. Although I was once informed 

 by an eminent paper maker that he could make paper whiter 

 than the purest of snow, the latter will quite satisfy me, and 

 flowers equalling that ai'e not yet to be had.— J. Eobson. 



THE FRENCH WATERING POT. 



In Mr. Eecord's article on the contrivances used for watering 



he has alluded to the French watering pot and the peculiar 



manner in which the handles are jjlaced, but I tliink he has 



not given the true reason for this position. Anyone who has 



