Fobroary 4, 1875. ] 



JOUBNAL OF HOBTIOULTURB AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



9S 



advocacy of this plant, bnt surely that would have been false. 

 The raiser and distributor of a good plant are interested in a 

 pecuniary sense ; but there are other kinds of interest, and mine 

 is most undoubtedly to tell to the readers of the .Journal what- 

 ever facts may be worth knowing about this or other things 

 worthy of their attention. — Edward Lcckuurst. 



ERANTHIS HYEMALIS, ok WINTER ACONITE. 



As early spring flowers seem now-a-days to be sought after 

 as earnestly as new or choice bedding plants were a few years 

 ago, it is singular that this old favourite should have received 

 so little attention, having been seldom mentioned as occupy- 

 ing a position in those gardens where " spring bedding," as 

 gardeners will term it, is most patronised ; certainly its neg- 

 lect cannot arise from its want of hardihood, for I do not 

 know of one more capable of preserving itself. In regard to 

 its earliness I am inclined to place it as the very first, if we 

 make the 1st of January our starting point. True, some of 

 the Primroses may be in flower before that time, and so, also, 

 may some of the Hellebores, but they seem rather to belong 

 to the class of autumn or winter-flowering plants than to early 

 spring, of which this beautiful little plant is the type ; for I 

 do not recollect at any time ever seeing it bloom before the be- 

 ginning of the new year, and but seldom is there any token of the 

 plant being present uutU after that time ; still its bright yellow 

 flowers are presented to our view in most cases ere January is 

 one, and very often before it is far advanced ; and taking the 

 present winter as an example, it is almost needless to point 

 to December, 1874, as being a very cold and wintry month — 

 frost with us on twenty-seven days, and the ground covered 

 rather deeply with snow for the last sixteen days and for three 

 days at least in January, 1875, whUe some of the snow re- 

 mained three or four days more, and when it disappeared 

 there did not seem a trace of this early harbinger of the new 

 year, but its flowers nevertheless presented themselves fully 

 expanded on the l-lth in considerable numbers, and I believe 

 a few did so a day or two before that; the Buttercup-like 

 brightness of their petals contrasting favourably with the dark- 

 coloured ground through which they had thrust their way ; 

 whUe their shining-green leaves added by their freshness an 

 additional charm to their welcome appearance. It must be 

 remembered, too, that the plants alluded to did not occupy 

 any favoured spot Ukely to hasten them on, they being quite 

 in the open ground — being, in fact, an edging to some Rose 

 beds, and not humoured in any way, yet there they are flower- 

 ing, and their bright numerous flowers visible at a great dis- 

 tance, the dark-coloured soil as well as the turf by which 

 they are bounded alike adding to the contrast, and giving a 

 cheerful aspect to the beds they margin. It happened that 

 the white Primrose I have so often depended on for furnishing 

 a nice display at Christmas, has this season disappointed me ; 

 the long period of severe weather before that time prevented 

 them coming on, and the Snowdrops are not yet out, so the 

 palm of earliness this season must in the fullest sense be 

 accorded to the useful little bulbs. 



This little plant, which when fully expanded is seldom more 

 than 3 inches high, seems to have been known in this country 

 for nearly three centuries, is more often met with in old neg- 

 lected gardens than in fashionable new ones. In the former 

 position it will often be found growing at the base of some 

 large timber trees or amongst shrubs that have not been dis- 

 turbed for many years, and very often struggling for an exist- 

 ence amongst things of much more robust growth, and main- 

 taining the struggle. Many years ago I had a large patch that 

 had originally occupied the spaces between old Fuchsia plants 

 in a bed on which the encroaching branches of a Cedar of 

 Lebanon were making advances. The place not being of im- 

 portance, the Cedar of Lebanon, the Fuchsia a hardy one (I 

 believe the old F. gracilis), and the little Winter Aconite were 

 all allowed to take their chance, and do for themselves ; the 

 result being the Fuchsias were the first to give way, and little 

 Winter Aconite successfully maintained its own against the 

 weeds and other plants that usurped the space for some time, 

 that it was only when the Cedar branches had so completely 

 overshadowed it, and the common Ivy had occupied the ground 

 some time, that the little spring favourite eventually suc- 

 cumbed. I have seen it struggle on some years amongst grass 

 in a dry situation, and its seeds when allowed to ehed them- 

 selves on the turf generally come up in great abundance, more 

 especially, I believe, when the soil is of a chalky or limestone 

 character. I am not sure that it is limited to soils of that 



kind ; on the contrary, I think it will grow on most ordinary 

 soils, provided it be not too wet, and perhaps a too stiff clay is 

 also pernicious to it. But I beUeve one of its greatest enemies 

 is the spade ; for coming up, as it does, in January, and as 

 usually its foliage is ripened off and also its seeds during May, 

 there is all the rest of the year wherein no outward vestige of 

 it is seen, and consequently, either from design or accident, it 

 gets disturbed, and is rarely put back again so well as it is 

 taken up that it gets lost. Still it clings to life tenaciously, 

 and is often met with coming up where least expected ; bnt it 

 is best when left alone. 



If it be advisable to multiply it, wo very often do so when 

 it is in flower, as it can bo the more easily seen, and lines 

 or edgings of it are easily made then ; and as an edging lor 

 clumps of shrubs I need not say anything in its favour ; while 

 Roses and other things in beds may in like manner be also the 

 better for its presence, and even patches of it in the herbaceous 

 border are very beautiful coming up where there is nothing else. 

 Care onght, however, to be taken to mark it with a stick, so 

 that during the summer it be not meddled with. Tufts also 

 in the rockery are charming ; and even on the narrow border 

 adjoining most dwelling houses, where creepers are cultivated, 

 a few plants of this peeping up in middle of January, and 

 cheering by their richly coloured petals that dull period of the 

 year, are a source of attraction which after-objects, coming 

 when other things are plentiful, fail to do. That and many 

 more reasons combined give this plant a claim on our attention 

 on which it would seem needless to enlarge further than to 

 say that it is propagated freely from seed, which I beheve is 

 best sown immediately it is gathered ; but even then it does 

 not come up until the following spring, whereas if kept till 

 then it is not at all certain of coming up that year. The seeds 

 when ripe are not small, and the young plants do not seem 

 miffy ; on the contrary, we often meet with self-sown plants 

 growing in the most unpromising places, the gravel walks being 

 as often occupied by them as anywhere. And perhaps the best 

 advice towards its management is to let it alone. — J. Robsok. 



HARDINESS OF CORDYLINE (DEAC^NA) 

 INDIVISA. 



Refebbing to the notice of this plant in your last issue, 

 permit me to observe, that in the rock garden at Messrs. J. 

 Backhouse & Son of York it has now been fully exposed to 

 all the vicissitudes of our northern clime for the last three 

 years, and it is quite fresh and green. It is growing on the 

 side of a bank, elevated about 4 feet above the walk, in a dry 

 and poor soil fully exposed to midday sun ; in fact, it must 

 from the position in which it is planted be an extremely dry 

 and hot situation for the plant during the summer months. 

 In such a position the foUage will be thoroughly well ripened 

 before the wet and cold set in. It may possibly be owing to 

 this circumstance that this Dracsena has so far borne our 

 winters, including the last severe frost, without sustaining the 

 sUghtest injury. At the same time the plant is without doubt 

 perfectly hardy, or it would have succumbed to 30° of frost, 

 and is therefore a most valuable acquisition to our hardy 

 ornamental plants. 



It win, I doubt not, prove to be a handsome object for 

 planting on lawns, or in vases placed in sieh a position as to 

 be seen easUy from the window, or for cultivating in pots and 

 used for table decoration, or for standing in an entrance-hall, 

 and for any similar purposes. As it may be cultivated with 

 perfect success in a cold frame, or where there is a glass 

 house, without artificial heat, it would be perfectly at home 

 there, and would be in such a position a most useful and 

 valuable plant. 



The habit is that of a narrow-leaved Yucca. The leaves I 

 measured (those in the centre which are erect) are from 12 to 

 15 inches in length ; the older ones are from IS to 25 inches in 

 length and are only half an inch in width. Many of these 

 are recurved towards the outer half of the leaf, which gives 

 the plant a graceful appearance. Midrib of the leaf prominent 

 on the under surface, and is of a yellowish colour. Veins con- 

 spicuous and semi-transparent when held towards the light, 

 and extremely tough. The leaves are so arranged as to cause 

 the whole plant to form a circular plume. 



There is a variety with red midribs, which ia, I beUeve, 

 named D. indivisa var. lineata. — R. P. 



Nectakines on Peach Trees. — With reference to the singular 

 fact mentioned by Mr. Abbey, page GO, I would remark that 



