400 



JOUBNAL OF nOKTICULTUBE AKD COTTAGE GABDENEB, 



[ NoTomlier 18, 1809. 



must be very difBcnU, bnt that it is not impossible the prand 

 display of Chrysanthemums at the Versailles Narsery affords 

 abundant proofs. Year by year it improves, and the improve- 

 ment being so constant, it has become almost a needless repe- 

 tition to mention the fact ; bat this antnmo. in the number, 

 size, and quality of the blooms, and in the arrangement of the 

 plants producing them and of those employed as adjuoctp. 

 Messrs. Salter's exhibition is far in advance of that of any 

 previous year. It is a splendid si(;ht which no one interested 

 in the Chrysanthemum should miss, whether his object be to 

 gee the best of the kinds already sent out or to form an eRlimate 

 of those which are to come, and of which Messrs. Salter's 

 nursery is the head-quarters. 



Taking the flowers already in the hands of the public first, 

 the best at present in bloom are : — 



Whit,- iDid Pull- Blush. — White Eeverley ; Rotundiflorum, a 

 beantifnl new variety of this year, a sport from Golden Bever- 

 ley, delicate blush changing to pale lilac, and almost globular 

 in form; Princess of Teck, fine, very pale blush; Mrs. O. 

 Bundle; Virgin (Jueen ; Novelty; I'leur de Jlarie, a beautiful 

 Anemone- flowered kind, quite 4 inches in diameter; and 

 Beauty, blush, nearly white. 



Shaihs of iii«cf(ito«r.— Princess of Wales, liady Harding, 

 Princess Beatrice, Plenipo, sent out in the spring of this year, 

 rosy lilac; Lady Talfouid, not lari-'O, but forming beautiful 

 specimen plants, and when well grown furnishing fine cut 

 blooms ; Compaotum ; Finette, a beautiful lilac peach Ane- 

 mone-flowered variety of this year, delicate in colour, and dwarf 

 in habit; Pink Perfection, also new this year, very large and 

 beautiful both in form and colour; Bella Donna; Themis; 

 Lady Slade ; Prince Alfred; Fingal, magnificent, the blooms 

 inches in diameter, and the florets an inch in breadth — this 

 Mr. Salter considers the grandest flower ever raised ; and 

 Christine, beautiful for specimens and conservatory decoration. 



Criimoii. Claif't, oiid Purph-. — Prince of Wales, Lord Clyde, 

 crimson with bright tips, splendid for conservatory specimens ; 

 Sanguinenm, as yet hardly out, but a finely incurved very 

 showy kind, especially when grown for specimen plants ; Julie 

 LagravOre, dark velvety crimson, splendid in colour and very 

 effective as a specimen plant ; Ossisn, very large ; Prince Albert, 

 reflexed, fine for specimens ; Mr. Wyness, beautiful mulberry 

 colour; Captivation, purple, with a white bottom; Prognc, 

 splendid in colour, late-blooming, and very effective, though 

 the flowers are rather small ; Hercules, very large ; Josiah 

 Wedgwood ; and Purpureum elegans, darker in colour than 

 Progne, and, like it, brilliant when grown as a specimen plant. 



Yellow and Oranpc. — Golden Beverley ; lona ; Jardin des 

 Plantes ; Guernsey Nagget, beautiful pale yellow ; Golden .John 

 Salter, new this year, a sport from John Salter, rich in colour ; 

 Bronze Jardin des Plantes ; Aureum multiflorum ; Etoile 

 Polaire ; Orange Annie Salter, new this year, a fine sport of 

 Annie Salter. 



Oraiiiic and Brou-n. — Little Harry, not large but beautifully 

 incurved ; Bernard Palissy, Eev. J. Dix, Beethoven, new this 

 year, with broad finely-incurved florets, bronzed red, tipped 

 with yellow ; John Salter ; General Slade ; Golden Eagle ; and 

 Dr. Brock. 



The novelties to be sent out during the next spring always 

 constitute a most interesting portion of the display at Messrs. 

 Salter's, and of these there is no lack this year, wliile there are 

 others which will only show themselves later in the season. 

 Among those at present in bloom are the following — viz., 

 Duke of Edinburgh, very large, finely incurved, rosy lilac with 

 a lighter centre ; Xorma, not large, but a very pretty, ivory- 

 white kind, of compact habit ; Miss Hope, medium-sized, lilac, 

 with a lighter centre; Ondine, medium-sized, cream-coloured 

 and lilac, with a buff centre, and promising to be finely in- 

 curved; Princess Louise, Anemone-flowered, pale blush with 

 a high lilac centre ; Mrs. Wreford Major, deep pencilled rose- 

 colour, of compact habit, and likely to form a fine conserva- 

 tory plant ; and Marginata, a fine Anemone-flowered kind, 

 blush, with the *' guard petals," or outer row of florets, edged 

 with rosy lilac. This Mr. Salter thinks will give rise to a new 

 strain. Besides the foregoing, there are several others very 

 promising, but not sufficiently expanded to show what they 

 will be. 



The Japanese Chrysanthemums are of themselves a great 

 attraction, being so distinct and varied in their forms, and 

 some of them so effective for conservatory decoration. The 

 novelties among these are The Sultan, resembling The Paimio 

 in its general character, but of a more rosy colour, very free- 

 flowering, and, like the variety just named, highly ornamental 



as a conBervatory plant ; Aurora, also with ribbon-like florets, 

 bright orange ; Emperor of China, quilled, waxy blush, with 

 the centre rose-coloured mingled with yellow ; Viceroy of 

 Egypt, deep rosy purple with a white back, and, as with the 

 preceding, the first row of florets is quilled, and the rest flat- 

 tened and curled inwards towards the tip ; Chinoise, bright 

 red, tipped with yellow, very distinct, and likely to be an ac- 

 quisition ; Chang, very largo, with broad twisted florets, dull 

 red, with a yellow back; (iiant, quilled, pale lilac, so large 

 that when spread out Mr. Salter assures us the flowers 

 measure nearly a foot in diameter ; and Gold Thread, also 

 quilled, golden amber, and the leaves of the plant have like- 

 wise a well-marked golden tinge, especially in summer. 

 Negro, splendid in colour, daik maroon ; and 5Iandarin, with 

 yellow ribbon like florets, are the remainder of the named 

 kinds, but there are several more coming on, and among them 

 a largo unnamed kind with jagged white and enlphur-colonred 

 florets. 



Of the Japanese varieties already sent out, The Daimio, Bed 

 Dragon, Hero of Magdala, tasselled, Indian red with a yellow 

 back ; Comet, reddish orange with a yellow back ; Aimee 

 Naurel, white, with rosy lines ; Meteor ; James Salter ; Morgi- 

 ana, with broad red florets backed with yellow ; Begalia ; and 

 Dr. Masters, may be mentioned as well worthy of attention. 



In addition to the Chrysanthemums there is an interesting 

 collection of Sedums, Sempervivums, and other snccnlent 

 plants, several of which are either new or rare. Among these 

 may be mentioned Echeveiia pulvcrulenta, with the leaves 

 having a beautifully powdered appearance ; E. agavoides, like 

 a little Aloe; Cotyledon fascicularis ; Agave Verschaffelti obo- 

 vata ; Pvhipsalis prismatica ; Sempervivum glutinoenm, &:C. 



At the entrance of the house is an undulated bank beauti- 

 fully carpeted with Mentha Corsica, Saxifraga hypnoides minor, 

 Sedum sexangulare, and Sedum glaucum ; and the opposite 

 corner is filled with an elegant mosaic design executed with 

 these plants, Echeverias metallica, sanguinea, and glauca, and 

 Pachyphiton bracteosum, the whole being backed with Adian- 

 tum cuneatum, the showy Chilian Beet, Centaurca candi- 

 dissima. and Isolepis gracilis. 



Next to the Chrysanthemums, the most interesting object in 

 the house is the new Dahlia imperialis, which Messrs. Salter 

 grew last year but without flowering it, although the plant 

 became much too tall for the house. This year Mr. Alfred 

 Salter grafted a shoot of it on a tuber of one of the liliputian 

 varieties, and the results have been a considerable diminution 

 in height, the plant from the grafted tuber being only about 

 8 feet high, instead of more than 12 feet as at Chiswick, and 

 an alteration of habit as well ; for, while the ungrafted plant, 

 of which there is also one in the house, mikes a long bare 

 stem, the leaves dropping off as the height increases, the plant 

 from the grafted tuber is branched all the way up the stem. 

 Although the flower buds are formed, these have not expanded, 

 and additional heat will probably be necessary before they do so. 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 



All onr readers will be gratified by knowing that Dn. J. D. 

 HooKEn, Director of the Kew Gardens, has had conferred upon 

 him a Civil Companionship of the Order of the Bath. 



The Countky JIeetisg of The P.oyai. HonTicuLTrnxi, 



SoriETY proposed to be held next year at Oxford, simultaneously 

 with the Koyal Agricnltural Society's Meeting, is well supported 

 by the Oxonians. We also nnderstand that the Council of the 

 Society have resolved on issuing a bronze medal to be called 

 the "Hire Pl.int Medal," and to bo awarded at any of the 

 Society's Meetings for the first exhibition in this country of 

 plants of great botanical interest. 



In- the Annual Heport of the Boyal Botanic Society, 



Regent's Park, recently issued, it is stated that during last season 

 free orders of admission to the gardens for the purpose of study 

 have been granted to two hundred students and artists, and 

 lO.Ci.S specimens of plants have been given to professors and 

 lecturers at the principal hospitals and schools of art and 

 medicine. The collection of living economic plants now con- 

 tains specimens of all the spices and condiments in domestic 

 use, most of the tropical esculent fruits, and many of those 

 from which furniture and other woods are obtained, the principal 

 gums and medicinal products, and the poison trees of Brazil 

 and Madagascar. The lecturers at the schools of medicine 

 attached to the various metropolitan hospitals are greatly in- 

 debted to the liberality of the Botanic Gardens in furnisbine 



