Octoljcr 31, 1S63. 1 



JOURNAL OF HOKTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



3G1 



13. Soiwi'idr (Ic Ihicteiir Jamain. — Plant \ery vigorous. 

 Flowers large, full, wcU-formoJ, bluish violet, new colour. 



LiU'liarme was Uiml iT.migh to send mo u)i to Paris a box of 

 blooms of No. 11, and I bave no hesitation in jironouncing it 

 to be a grand Ro.fe ; to mo it seemed a cnmliination of the 

 good qualities of Charles Lefebvre and Seiiuteur Vaisse, evi- 

 dently of vigorous habit, and very freo-lloweriug. One can 

 never be sure in the.-e matters, but I shall be very much sur- 

 prised if this ll)se does not hold its own in the foremost rank 

 for many a year. No. 12 sounds well, for a wi^U-formcd 

 Souvenir de la Heine d'Augleterrc, in lieu of the coarse and 

 flaunting dower that that is, would indeed be a great boon. I 

 do not fancy that 13 is of a shado of colour, however novel, 

 that will be very much appreciated on this side of the Channel. 



GUILLOT FILS. 



14. Josfphim de. UeauhamatJi. — Plant very vigorous. Flow- 

 ers very large, very full, well-formed. A seedling of Louise 

 Peyrouny. Magnificent tender rose, the edge of the petals 

 silvery. Superb. 



I.'). Plinr. — Plant very vigorous. Seedling of Mere do St. 

 Louis. Flowers very large, fuU, vai-j-ing from a beautifiU red 

 velvety vermilion to violet red. Very striking. 



10. Fn'xiilritt Mas. — Plant very vigorous. Seedling of Tri- 

 ompho do I'Exposition. Flowers very large, full, well-formed, 

 a beautiful velvety shining red, sometimes shaded with violet. 

 Superb. 



Of the.se 14 and 10 are, I know, considered by the raiser fine 

 Roses. There are several announced which seem to be seed- 

 liugs of, or have a strong likeness to, Louise Peyronny or 

 L»lia. If they are improvements on that fine flower they will 

 be very valuable. 



And now I must close for the present, not without, however, 

 drawing the attention of our Rose-loving readers to a notice 

 which appears in another column relative to a testimonial to 

 the Rev. S. Reynolds Hole — a project which has been most 

 warmly received, and has already a certainty of success. There 

 are many rosarians who have not the pleasure of personal ac- 

 quaintance with as genial and hearty an EngUsh gentleman as 

 one meets with ; but there is not one who can be ignorant of 

 the benefits conferred on the culture of their favourite flower 

 by the founder of the National Rose Show, and from one and 

 all we look for countenance and support. — D., Deal. 



ON THE PROPAGATION OF CYCLAJIEN 

 PERSICUM. 



Ctclamem cultivators have had a treat in the very valuable 

 papers wliich have appeared during the last three weeks, and 

 much useful information is now at their disposal, which was 

 previously unattainable. iUlow me, however, to inform ama- 

 tem- cultivators, that there is no need to wait three years for 

 seedlings to bloom, and to detail my Umited experience, in the 

 hope that it may prove useful to amateurs like myself. 



I sowed forty-four seeds of Cyclamen persicum on the 9th of 

 February in the present year, in a box containing a mixture of 

 leaf mould, rotted turves, and silver sand. The seeds were 

 about 2 inches apart, and covered about half an inch. The box 

 was then placed on a Rendle's tank, which occupies the front 

 of my little stove, and a bottom heat of about 70' was main- 

 tained for two months, after this the heat was increased to 

 about 80°. Only thirty-five seeds germinated, they were about 

 six weeks in appearing, and came up very irregularly, some of 

 the latest being eight and nine weeks before they did so. This 

 heat was kept up until the middle of .June, when 1 had a severe 

 illness which prevented my attending to my plants for about 

 six weeks, during which time the fire was rarely lighted, and 

 they were left pretty much to themselves. I fully expected that 

 they were doomed for this season's blooming. However, they 

 progressed very well under the influence of sun heat and fre- 

 quent waterings. About the middle of August I potted them 

 in a similar mixture to the above, with the addition of a httle 

 peat. When engaged in this operation I fancied I observed 

 some incipient bloom-buds on the largest and most forward of 

 the bulbs. In two or three weeks this suspicion became a 

 certainty, and as the roots got hold of the fresh soil, they 

 quickly pushed on. both in foliage and bloom-buds ; and at the 

 present time (October 25th), no less than twenty-eight out of 

 the thirty-five are showing for bloom, the largest bulbs having 

 from twelve to eighteen bloom-buds, part of which I hope to 



see expanded in a week or ten days. Had I been able to con- 

 tinue bottom heat for a longer period, no doubt I should have 

 had several in bloom at this time. — G. H. 



RAIDS AFTER FERNS.— No. U. 



DAitTMOOU. 



Still on the moor ! — llie fresh invigorating breezes playing 

 around me as I go peering about bank and brae in search of 

 something new and strange. Sometimes the bank is my best 

 friend ; sometimes the ditch ; sometimes the moor. My choice 

 would lead mo to a sunny tract of moorland rather abruptly 

 descending to the banks of a river, whose waters come tum- 

 bling headlong over huge blocks of rock ; but this lialf-cleared 

 moorland will only give you a certain number of Ferns — the 

 Lastrea dilatata's that do not care for much moisture, so that 

 their roots may find shade under big stones ; the smaller 

 varieties of Athyrium Filix-fcemina, and a sprinkling of other 

 Ferns ; but down by the river the larger varieties may be 

 foimd, and the water's music is always, to my hearing, so very, 

 very sweet. 



On the banks about Manaton I found some splendid speci- 

 mens of Aspleuium adiantum-nigrum ; one verging towards 

 acutum, and called "intermedium " ; another " scarcely obtu- 

 sum" but very like it — so like it, that had I not a friend with 

 a very high title amongst the aristocracy of Fem-land, who 

 kindly names some of my specimens, I should boldly have 

 stated that I had found both acutum and obtusum ; so strongly 

 marked in their difierence of form were these two beautiful 

 Ferns — each with free-waving pinna; — the pinnules of obtusum 

 being like little bells. 



Beneath the friendly shade of banks, bright with Ferns, and 

 trailing along which the wild Raspberry (Rubus idieus) may 

 occasionally be found, we passed on our uphill-way to Heytor. 



Heytor, though not the highest of the Dartmoor tors, com- 

 mands more general attention from its majestic form, its ease 

 of access, and the glorious views which greet the eye on every 

 side of its castle-Uke keep. It is formed of immense rocks, 

 piled into two grand masses, that crown the mountain top, 

 and, in their calm and solemn grandeur, bid defiance alike to 

 time and tempest. On the top of one of the great rocks there 

 is hewn out a '* rock-basin " — one of those ancient remains 

 about which so much has been conjectured and so little known. 

 We ascended the height and looked around. Beneath our feet 

 was, as it were, the ruined city of the tors — thousands of shat- 

 tered rocks lay on the green sward, caressed by tender grass 

 and Ferns, by moss and heather — on every side nothing but 

 heath, and rock, and moor ; there was not even a bird to break 

 the solitude by its cry and give one's heart a memory ! I think 

 I must have felt as the Sir Eger of the old romance of Graysteil 

 felt when 



*' He Baw neither rich nor poor. 

 But Moss and Tiiiig and bare wild moor." 



I know, whatever it was, that I liked it ! — and it was many 

 minutes before I raised my eyes from the scene beneath to the 

 scene beyond. How different it was — wavy outlines of sweeping 

 distances, of soft grey hUls, crowned here and there by tors 

 rising in silent solitude majestically towards heaven. 



These tors have each their name, their separate indivi- 

 duality — you get to know them as you know the face of a 

 friend. This one, with a sort of joUy irregularity of'outline, as 

 if the rocks were hob-nobbing with each other, is Houndtor ; 

 beneath its huge fragments may be found — with dark fronds 

 seeking the hght of day — a curious form of L. dilatata, the 

 fructification of which is coal-black, and through a lens has 

 the appearance of rich ripe Blackberries. To the left is Honey- 

 bagtor — a name derived in some way probably from the fact 

 that wild honey in ancient times when found near royal forest- 

 lands was claimed by the king, and it was not till Henry the 

 Third's time that a freeman was allowed to retain the honey 

 which he found in his own woods. StiU further to the left is 

 Rippoxtor ; turning still to the left, your back upon Houndtor, 

 you see far off old Ocean's bright blue arms circling round the 

 Ness at Shaldon, and stretching far away into the dim distance. 

 Then your ej'e travels inland, where here and there are 

 bright-looking villages nestUng in peaceful valleys. There are 

 several, but I see but one — Chudleigh — for had I not a little 

 time before found on rocks near that pretty village a beautiful 

 form of Asplenium adiantum-nigrum, with branched and tufted 

 fronds ; not only rare, but new to learned eyes ? — there, also, had 

 I found a lovely Athyrium, which also promises good things, 



