98 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTDRE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Feirnary 4, 1875. 



qnently been snrpaBsed in this conntry, especially with certain 

 sorts, it is, we believe above the average of the regular Potato 

 cnltivators. It is unfortunate that more resnlts on the larger 

 scale are not forthcoming, for they would of course be con- 

 siderably more valuable than those obtained from trials of 

 " 1 lb. of seed," because we do not know what is considered 

 an " unusual method of multiplication" in the States. In 

 favourable seasons, 1 lb. of tubers can be made to cover a very 

 large piece of ground by taking off and planting the shoots as 

 fast as they grow, and by planting cuttings. The quantity 

 raised from a piece of ground of given dimensions is, cirteris 

 parihvf:, the criterion of the merits of a Potato. The Com- 

 mittee (Messrs. G. Thurber, F. M. Hexamer, and P. T. Qninn), 

 are men well known throughout the United States, and they 

 assure us in their report that, while they abstain from com- 

 ment on the " astounding yields from single pounds," a " most 

 careful and scrupulous investigation " has satisfied them of 

 the " correctness of the statements made." That the skill of 

 the cultivators and the productiveness of the soil have had 

 much to do with the result, is tolerably evident from the fact 

 that two of the competitors obtained prizes for each sort, 

 whUe three others obtained prizes for two sorts. The season 

 is said to have been unfavourable, and that added to the 

 ravages of the Colorado beetle diminished the crops of many 

 intending competitors tor the quarter-acre prizes to such 

 an extent, that they considered their chances of a prize as 

 hopeless, and accordingly did not compete. The three varie- 

 ties mentioned above have been tried in this country, and re- 

 ceived first-class certificates from the Royal Horticultural 

 Society. They are undoubtedly prolific even here ; butopinions 

 as to their merits when on the table are divided, and on the 

 whole are not very favourable. — {EnglishMcclianic and World 

 of Scie!^ce.) 



SPAEEOWS VERSUS GOOSEBEEEIES. 



On reading Mr. Abbey's article on sparrows I cannot refrain 

 from saying a few words, although not in support of his ar- 

 gument, for I have had hundreds of large Gooseberry trees 

 spoiled by sparrows ; and to prove that sparrows alone did the 

 mischief, I have many times gone round the trees after a fall 

 of snow and watched them cover the ground with buds. It is 

 generally in hard weather, but they eat them more or less all 

 the winter months. I have known acres of good trees in this 

 neighbourhood, not only about a town but in conntry places, 

 completely spoiled by sparrows. Linnets I never yet saw take 

 a single bud, and have watched them early and late. As to 

 the sparrows eating caterpillars on Gooseberry or Currant 

 trees, each year I see trees completely leafless, but never yet 

 saw a sparrow touch one, and have watched them for hours 

 among the bushes. 



I have known the cuckoo to clear a large quarter of Goose- 

 berry trees from caterpillars, and most of the migratory birds 

 cat them. The new Peas in early summer suffer severely 

 when seeds are scarce, and corn fields about towns and villages 

 are almost destroyed. During this last ten years sparrows 

 have trebled themselves in this neighbourhood, and during 

 my sixty years' experience in and about a garden. My advice 

 to all would be. Kill every sparrow you can. — Jons Allcock, 

 The Nurseries, Sandbach. 



FLOWERS FOE OUR BORDERS.— No. 47. 



CYCLOBOTHRA ALBA.— White-I'LOWERED Cvclobothea. 



The plants formerly placed in the genus Cyclobothra are 

 now by common consent merged in Calochortus, the present 

 species taking the name originally conferred ou it by Douglas, 

 of Calochortus albus. Having put this fact on record it may, 

 however, be more convenient to the readers of a popular Journal 

 like the present if the better-known name be retained in con- 

 nection with the following description of this pretty and in- 

 teresting hardy bulb. 



The Cyclobothra alba is a bulbous plant growing about a 

 foot high, with one radical leaf of considerable length (much 

 longer than is represented in our figure), and from three to 

 five shorter ones upon the stem, from each of which proceeds 

 a lateral shoot bearing two flowers (sometimes, however, there 

 is but one), with a pair of leaf-like bracts at the base of the 

 peduncles. It is only strong bulbs which will produce the 

 number of blossoms shown by our artist ; usually there are 

 but six upon the same stem. The flowers are drooping, of a 

 globular form, and about 1^ to 2 inches in diameter. The 



three petals are externally convex, and have their edges closely 

 approximated, being rarely separated to a greater degree than 

 shown in our figure. In colour they are of a silky white, with 

 a tinge of green near the base ; they are bearded on their 

 inner surface with long white hairs, which, under the micro- 

 scope, have a flattened ribband-like form. The three sepals 

 are of a membranous texture, oval-pointed form, and of a pale 

 green with a tinge of purple. 



The curious nectariferous cavity which characterises this 

 genus is well seen in the present species, appearing as a linear 

 or oval depression in the petal, at a short distance from the 

 base, and secreting a sweetish fluid. 



The stamens are six iu number, with yellow anthers attached 

 by their base to the filament, as in the Tulip. The ovarium 

 is oblong, bluntly triangular, with intermediate furrows, and 

 terminating by three short spreading stigmas. Seeds of an 

 oval form, wingless, and of a purplish-brown colour. It 

 flowers from midsummer to the middle or end of July. 



Fig. 25. — Cyclobothra alba. 



The Cyclobothra alba is quite hardy, but the bulbs suffer 

 from excessive wet ; when planted in the open borders it should 

 therefore be covered with a small hand-light or empty pot 

 during long-continued rains in autumn and winter. It does 

 well in a mixture of peat and sandy loam, and should be planted 

 iu a warm well-drained border. It the bulbs are removed 

 from the ground after the foliage has withered, they must be 

 replanted not later than the end of October, as they usually 

 commence their growth at an early period. It may also be 

 grown in pots, and in this case may be protected iu a frame 

 during the winter months. Seeds are generally ripened, by 

 which, as well as by offsets, it may be increased. 'The seeds 

 are best sown as soon as ripe, but iu that case the young 

 plants must be kept in a frame through the winter. If the 

 seed is preserved until spring, it will, however, vegetate with- 

 out much trouble, aided by a little heat. 



The genus Calochortus, as now arranged by Mr. J. G. Baker 

 in his recent Monograph on Tulipe.'c, includes twenty-one 

 species classed under four subgenera. The present species 

 and the closely-allied C. pulchellus, with yellow flowers, are 

 the only two having globose drooping perianths, the rest 

 having their flowers erect. — (W. Thompson's English Flower 

 Garden, Revised inj the Author.) 



NOTES ON VILLA and SUBURBAN GAEDENING. 



The Hardy Fernery. — I think it is not too much to say that 

 a collection of hardy Ferns ia an indispensable addition to the 

 ornamental portion of a suburban residence, and when arranged 

 upon a mound of rocks of a suitable size, •'i'c, clinkers, or over- 

 burnt bricks, or among the roots and stumps of trees, they can 



