482 



JOUENAL OF HCKTIUOLTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ Jiuia 19, 1873. 



any collection where space can be afforded it. The leaves are 

 five-lobed, toothed, and dark green, whilst the flowers are large 

 and bright scarlet. Native of Panama. — Expeeto Ceede. 



BOSES. 



The yellow Eoses on the walls here (Okeford Fitzpaine)— 

 namely, Marcchal Niel, Gloire de Dijon, and Ci-Une Forestier, 

 ai-e as fine as I ever saw them, but the blooms of Koses in the 

 open are very bad as yet, many of them being green-centred, 

 and all of them small. This is not to be wondered at, as here 

 the buds began forming in February, and have been more or 

 less frosted ever since. We have had a iiue storm or two, and 

 I hope we shaU have some better blooms. 



The following Koses are the best that I have tried of late 

 years, and they are good Itoses, and of good general attributes : 

 — Felix Genero, Marie Eady, Perfection de Lyon, Madame 

 Chirard, Edward Morren, Barou Chaurand, Madame Creyton, 

 and Baronne Louise Uxknll. The last two are planted out 

 under glass without fire heat. The Pioses preceding them 

 have been amply tested in large numbers — from six to forty 

 each in the open ground of my very exposed garden. They 

 are all very beautiful, and these are certainly first-class Koses 

 — namely, Edward Morren, Perfection de Lyon, Marie Eady, 

 and Madame Chirard. Of the last-named Rose I have six 

 plants on its own roots, and six on the Manetti stock. I see 

 no difference. It is a famous grower. I believe Baroness 

 Louise Uxkull will be a great favourite. It is a great beauty 

 at any rate. 



I have read what Mr. Eobsou has said about pure white 

 Eoses. Baronne de Maynard is the only pure dead white 

 autumnal Eose, the others being more or less tinted. It is a 

 lovely CameUia-formed Eose, and an abundant and continuous 

 bloomer. The dead untinted whites of the summer Roses are 

 the Unique Provence, MagnoUa-shaped, Princess Clementiue, 

 Madame Plautier, and Pulcherie ; they are all beautiful Eoses. 

 The best summer creamy white Rose is Madame Zoutmann or 

 Soetmans, which is an improved Comte Plater. The new Eose 

 Madame Lacharme is not, I hear, a pure white Rose. We 

 sadly want a pure full-sized Hybrid Perpetual white Rose. 



My Roses on the whole are in good condition ; but I fear 

 that persons who did not mulch their Roses and earth them up 

 over the mulching, will find that many of them will die off if 

 sultry weather sets in. AU mine were so protected. — W. F. 

 Bahclyffe. 



THE PANSY. 



Anyone who has taken the trouble to notice the stands of 

 cut blooms of Pansies which have been exhibited at the spring 

 shows this season must have been struck with the amazing 

 advance made of late years, especially in the Fancy Pansy class. 

 Compare the grand and finely shaped blooms which Messrs. 

 Downie, Laird, & Laing, James, and others now exhibit with 

 the small, rough, and iU-shapen things exhibited a few years 

 ago, and is there any class of flowers that can boast of greater 

 improvement in the same space of time ? while in the class of 

 bedding Pansies and Violas, now so useful for spring garden- 

 ing, a new path for improvement has been struck out. In 

 further evidence of this I have to notice a large collection of 

 blooms sent me by Messrs. Dicksfins & Co., of Edinburgh, long 

 noted for their successful culture of these flowers. The brief 

 descriptions which I have appended to this can give but a very 

 faint idea of the marvellous variety of those of the Fancy 

 section ; while the Show varieties, not so takuig to the general 

 public, yet charm the eye of the florist by their fine form and 

 smoothness. 



Most of the bedding Violas and Pansies here named I have 

 growing in my own borders, and, although they have been in 

 bloom since April, are now giving promise of doing what then- 

 raisers say they will do — continue in bloom the whole summer. 

 Thpy are of many shades of colour, and in places where many 

 plants are required will, I have no doubt, prove most valuable ; 

 and even in smaller places they will be found very desu'able, 

 and form pleasing adjuncts in a bouquet of cut flowers. Most 

 of those named are new flowers of the present season. Those 

 in numbers are to be sent out the ensuing season. 



FANCY PANSIES. 



No. 7. — A remarkably large and high-coloured flower ; maroon 

 crimson, with large blotches. 



Curio. — Top petals brownish lake; lower petals brown, veined 

 with dark crimooa, large blotch. Very curious colour. 



104. — White, with immense purple blotch on each petal. 



C9. — A remarkably smooth and fine flower. Ground white 

 but nearly covered with immense purple blotches. Extra fine. ' 



119. — Somewhat rough. 



C2.— Bright magenta, with intense and large blotches, and 

 yellow eye. 



132.— Claret gi-ouud, with large purple blotch. Very fine. 



129. — Deep clai-et, with large purple blotch. 



W. M. Welsh.— YeWovf ground, marguied with bronzy purple 

 lake ; large blotch. Very good. 



Beauty.— Light gi-ound, with large blotches almost covering 

 the petals. 



Mrs. Cutler. — Bright yellow, with very large blotches. 



IGG.— Light primrose ground, with beautiful well-defined 

 blotches of brownish purple. 



107.— White ground, with smooth blotches of light purple in 

 each petal. Extra fine. 



Marquis of Lome. — A very high-coloured brownish crimson 

 flower, with deep blotches. 



CO.— A well-shaped flower; yellow ground bordered with ma- 

 genta, and deep blotches. 



82.— Rough. 



111). — White, purple blotch. Rough. 



lis. — White, with very large purple blotch. 



SHOW PANSIES. 



Defoe. — Beautiful smooth yellow ground, with intense purple 

 upper petals ; lower margined with the same colour. 



10. — Very dark self. Smooth, and of good form. 



Tannahill. — Yellow ground. Smooth purple top petals, and 

 belt. 



48. — Of the same colour. 



2. — Light yellow gi-ound ; Hght purplish top petals, and margin 

 of lower the same. 



4. — Good white ; clear blotch and eye. 



1- — Bright yellow gi-ound, splendid dark purple top petals, 

 lower margined with the same colour. 



2.5. — Bright yellow self. 



The Mede. — White ground ; light purple top petals, margins 

 of lower petals the same. 



3. — BrUhaut yellow ; dark purple top petals. 



8. — White ground. Large and fine. 



Senator. — A large and remarkably fine yellow-ground flower, 

 with broad band of maroon, and dark top petals. 



6. — Fine dark claret-coloured self. 



Lavinia. — White ground, bluish purple. " 



7. — An immense dark self. 



Lochnagar. — Very fine dark plum-coloured self. 



Robert Black. — Dark self, of great substance. 



Janeij Anderson. — Very fine white ; soUd violet-purple blotch. 



George White. — Cream-coloured or very light primrose self. 

 Quite a new shade. 



BEDDING VIOLAS AND P.ANSIES. 



Canary (Viola). — Immense size, clear golden yellow, pencilled. 



The Tory (Viola). — Deep plum, with dark blotch. Great sub- 

 stance. 



No. 1 (Pansy).— Immense size ; blue, in the way of Blue King. 

 Very fine. 



No. 2. (Pansy). — Light violet blue, with dark blotch. 

 9 Snov'fialie (Viola). — Clear waxy white, sUghtly pencilled. 



Claret (Pansy). — Ground colour shaded claret. 



Deep Yelloiu (Viola). 



Buby (Pansy). — Remarkably fine flower, of ruby-crimson 

 colour. 



Scotia. — Clear azure blue, with yellow eye. 



Advancer. — Lilac, shghtly marked with violet. 



Strict a Alba. — White, of great substance. 

 — D., Deal. 



THE BUFFALO BEEKY. 



The vegetation of the seed of the above seems to be not under- 

 stood by your correspondent, Mr. Charles Downing, when he 

 says the seeds I have sown will not vegetate until the spring of 

 1874. I assure him, and all others intcicstod in the matter, 

 that opinion is incorrect, as the seedlings from the seeds I 

 sowed on the 1st of April of this year are already through the 

 ground. The seeds were not rubbed out of the pulp, neither 

 have they had any muck, as suggested by Mr. Downing ; they 

 were kept ((uite dry through the winter, and the pulp had be- 

 come somewhat shrivelled by the time I sowed, but that soon 

 went to decay in the soil. 



In my opinion this is the most natural way to sow all seeds 

 of this description; the sarcocarp performing a most important 

 part in the preservation of the seed through the winter months. 

 I have often remarked the striking difference in the period of 

 vegetation of the seeds of Asparagus that have been washed 

 clear of the sareocai^p in autumn, and that kejit intact through 

 the winter. Though both be sown on the same day, the young 

 growth of the latter appears through the soil both earlier and 



