Blai-ch 4, 1875. 1 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGK GARDENER. 



183 



aureum, and Platycerium Walliohii ; also a very large epeeimen 

 of Todea arborea, with a stem over 8 feet in circumference, 

 evidently some centuries old. Platyoeriums, " Bird'fl-neat 

 Ferns," NiphoboluB. and others are growing nicely on blocks 

 of wood -with a little sphagnum, and hung against the wall 

 with pretty effect. Returning through the Orchid house we 

 notice a fine specimen of that best of all basket Ferns, (lonio- 

 phlebium subauriculatum, with fronds drooping down 7 to 

 8 feet; also, suspended in baskets from the roof are some 

 healthy young Pitcher-plants of the best sorts. 



The next house in this range is a span-roofed stove, 30 feet 

 long by 2^ feet wide ; we find it tilled with a good collection of 

 foliage plants, such as best sorts of Palms, Crotons, Marautas, 

 Anthuriums, Dracaenas, Caladiums, Alocasias, &c., all grown 

 with a view to the usefulness during winter and spring for 

 decorative purposes. Here we also noticed a good plant of 

 Adiantum farleyeuse, with a healthy lot of younger plants 

 growing in ti-inoh pots for table decoration, for which they are 

 in demand, and are very graceful, but do not stand it well, one 

 night being generally sufficient to so icjure the fronds that it 

 takes weeks to recover them. Here also is a good plant of 

 Cochliostema .Jacobiana, which produces its curious and showy 

 flowers all the year round, never being long without a spike or 

 two expanded. 



We now take a look into two houses 150 feet in length and 

 about 12 feet wide. The first we enter is a greenhouse, and is 

 filled with a varied lot of plants, such as Cinerarias, Amaryllis, 

 Heliotropes, Primulas, Mignonette, Pelargoniums, &c., the 

 next being used as an intermediate house, and in which were 

 growing nice lots of standard Epiphyllums, Poinsettia pul- 

 cherrima, Euphorbia jacquiniiefolia. Begonias, Gesueras, etc., 

 all grown for winter and spring- flowering. Leaving this we 

 pass a long pit with a north aspect, filled with the usual sorts 

 of bulbs in pots, to be moved bj-and-by into the forcing 

 houses as required to keep a regular supply in flower during 

 the season. They are plunged in ashes, just covering the pots, 

 and in severe weather sashes covered with thick roofing asphalt 

 are put over them, but always pulled down in mild weather, 

 and by this means the bulbs never get drawn, and thrive well 

 with the smallest amount of care. In this yard are also i-ituated 

 the frames for forcing and protecting vegetables of all the 

 usual kinds required in such an estabUshmeut, the Seakale and 

 Rhubarb being forced in a lean-to shed close and dark, and 

 heated with hot water. This shed was built specially for ihe 

 purpose, which it answers well. 



Our notes of this great and good garden are suspended on 

 the threshold of the fruit department, which holds higher 

 rank in the horticultural world than the ornamental features 

 and products of the establishment. Our notes will be con- 

 tinued in a future number. — J. Wrtght. 



LITTLE HEATH MELON. 



I AM sorry that Mr. Harrison Weir has disparaged Little 

 Heath Melon, and I think incorrectly. If I could grow Scarlet 

 Gem or Beechwood, most certainly I should not grow Little 

 Heath (and I do not think anyone would for a moment com- 

 pare them) ; but the advantage of Little Heath is that you can 

 grow it in a cold pit with only a small quantity of manure, 

 and indeed after you have grown Potatoes, and that you can 

 thus have a very decently flavoured Melon, which I have found 

 Little Heath to be. Nasty I have certainly never had it. A 

 man who can have his haunch of venison may disparage plain 

 mutton, but those who cannot get the former find the latter 

 very decent eating. 



I have made one omission in giving names of Strawberries 

 grown, and that is President, which I have found most excel- 

 lent in all circumstances, and amongst these I hope to try this 

 year La Grosse sucit'a.— D., Deal. 



BULBOCODIUM VERNUM. 



Mb. Robso>j has recently called attention to the welcome 

 early-flowering Eranthis hyemalis, or Winter Aconite. Not 

 nearly so well known as this, but which will assuredly and de- 

 servedly come into favour, is the plant named above. Coming 

 into bloom simultaneously with the Snowdrop and Eranthis, 

 it is a most valuable addition to our early flowers ; rich in 

 colour, dwarf in habit, and perfectly hardy, it is in all points a 

 suitable companion to these. 



Belonging to the natural order Melanthactre, in common 

 with Colchicnm, Veratrum, &e., the character of Bulbocodium 



vernum will be easily understood by those not yet acquainted 

 with it by comparison with Colchicum autumnale, usually but 

 improperly called the Autumn Crocus (this is Crocus sativus, 

 or the Saffron Crocus), to which it bears a strong resemblance, 

 but its colour — a bluish purple — is deeper and richer. 



The directions for its culture are of the simplest nature 

 possible ; for where the Crocus and Snowdrop will grow Bulbo- 

 codium will thrive also : hence place the bulbs in good ordi- 

 nary garden soil in groups of three, four, or five, as the ease 

 requires or taste directs, in a line with the Snowdrop and 

 Eranthis, and then let them alone. When the flowers and 

 foliage have died-off' other plants may be inserted by the side 

 of, but not planted on them, otherwise great injustice is done 

 to the plant. 



Like the Snowdrop and Crocus, the bulbs may be taken up 

 once in two (still better in three), years for multiplication of 

 stock and for giving the individual bulbs more room. This is 

 a small trouble, but it will be amply repaid. 



Following close upon, and in favoured spots simultaneous 

 with, the above are Scilla prai'cox and Crocus reticulatus, the 

 earliest and best of the yellow Crocuses. What a glowing 

 array of colour and beauty is furnished by these five humble 

 plants for the decoration of the garden in the earliest of spring 

 days, when every moment of sunshine is so precious to the 

 gardener and so enjoyable after the dreary winter weather ! 

 Yet how often are these plants subjected to the grossest ill- 

 usage ! It is surprising that it should have to be recorded, but 

 it must be, and accompanied with strong and earnest protest — 

 the foliage of these plants after the flower has passed away is 

 frequently torn or even wrenched off, or hoed off before it has 

 completed its natural functions, to make way for some jaunty 

 successor. — A. H. Kent. 



KNIGHT'S MONARCH PEAR. 



" D., Deal," wishes to know other growers' opinions of the 

 above-named Pear. I can fully confirm all he says refpecting 

 it. I had two trees of this variety, one a wall tree trained on 

 a west wall, and the other a bush tree double-grafted on the 

 Quince; this Irooted-up three years since. Previous to reading 

 " J)., Deal's," article I had cut all the branches back of the 

 wall tree to engraft with a more satisfactory variety. The 

 upper half of the tree I grafted with Huyshe's Prince of Wales 

 about six years since, which always bears a crop of fruit of 

 the finest quality. The fruit of the lower branches — the Mon- 

 arch — drop-off a month before I gather the Prince of Wales. 

 I have only a few days since thrown all the crop of Knight's 

 Monarch Pears to the rubbish heap, they being shrivelled and 

 worthless. My soil is a rich deep hazel loam on a dry open 

 subsoil, on which Pears bear abundantly both on the Quince 

 and the Pear stock. 



The following varieties I find to he good here. Those I have 

 marked with an asterisk are the best. 



^Doyenne d'Ete, pyramid. 



Jargonelle, bush. 

 *Beurrf^ Giffard, espalier. 

 ' Beurr--^ de I'Assoinption, wall. 

 "Bon Chretien (Williams), bush. 



^ladarae Treyve, espalier. 



Louise Bonne of Jersey, ijyramid, 



Fondante d'Automne, espalier. 

 ^Beurrt- Hardy, pyramid. 



Doyenne Bossoucb, bush. 

 * Marie Louise, espalier. 

 *Marie Louise d'UccIe, pyramid. 



Conseiller de la Cour, wall. 

 'ThompsouV, wall. 



Baronne de Mello, pyramid. 



Alexandi'6 Lambrc', pyramid. 



— G. A. T., Ujypingltum, Rntla 



*Prince Consort (Huyshe), espalier' 

 ^Huyshe's Prince of Wales, wall. 

 ' Doyenni- du Comice, pyramid. 

 ■^Benrre Bachelier, espalier. 



* Orpheline d'Enghein, espalier. 

 ^Z'.pbirin Gregoire, pyramid. 



* Winter Nelis, wall. 

 L'Inconnue, espalier. 



^Easter Bonrrt'-, bush. 



*Josephine de Malines, wall. 



*Bergamotte d'Esperen, wall. 

 Olivier de Serres, espalier. (This 

 Pear has ripened with me the past 

 two seasons In January, and la soon 

 rotten at the core. According to 

 catalogues it should keep until April.) 



nd. 



EUCHARIS AMAZONICA CULTURE. 

 I FIND no difficulty in flowering this plant twice a-year, but 

 I think that is as much as can be done with an individual 

 bulb. I think that where they are flowered three times a-year 

 it may be from side bulbs that had not previously flowered. 

 I would not, however, say that it cannot be done. I potted 

 some on the 21st of .July last, giving them a liberal shift. I 

 put five bulbs in a pot (some 12-inoh and some 'J-inch pots), 

 according to the size of the bulbs, and we have had a regular 

 supply from Christmas until the present time. I had four 

 spikes from every pot, with five and six blooms to each spike. 

 I think the above is a proof that they do not want to be pot- 

 bound to flower them. Of course I would not recommend them 



