216 



JOURNAL OF HORTIOULTUEE AND COTTAGE QABDENER. 



[ March 18, 1875. 



Protector. — A fine flower ; top petals maroon, with lilac 

 margin ; fine shape. 



Prince of Wales. — Large flower, habit g cod ; lower petals 

 rosy purple ; top petals maroon, white centre. 



Iluth. — Cherry rose, new in colour ; email spot on top petals, 

 white centre. A nice pleasing flower. 



Senator. — A mottled purple flower of medium quality. 



Statesman. — Lower petals rich crimson, richly shaded ; top 

 petals black with crimson edge. 



Scottisli Cliieftain. — Lower petals richly painted crimson; 

 top petals dark maroon, with a narrow fiery margin. A good 

 flower. 



Topsy. — Dark flower, of medium quality. 



The few Roses that I had in pots bloomed nicely and are 

 looking fairly well again this season ; and amongst the plants 

 I had for my later blooming were some very nice Lilies. 

 L. Humboldti is a very pleasing and fine-looking flower, and 

 L. Leichtlini is exceedingly pretty. I did not succeed in 

 blooming Waehingtonianum, but I saw it very fine with Mr. 

 Backhouse of York, and am hoping to bloom it and others this 

 season. 



I have said my say about my little house, and I think that, 

 although I cannot pretend to any great cultural skill, I manage 

 to have as much enjoyment out of my small house as most 

 people do ; and some of my friends are fain to confess that 

 they wonder how I manage it. It is but another illustration of 

 the old adage, " Where there's awill there's away." — D., Deal. 



NOVELTIES IN THE EOYAL GARDENS, KEW 



In the temperate house a magnificent tree of Acacia deal- 

 bata is beautifully in flower. Thoufih it cannot well come under 

 the above title, it is still worth mention. It is more than 30 feet 

 high, and laden on every branch ; the leaves are glaucous and 

 very Fern-like, forming with the inflorescence of delicate 

 small yellow balls of flowers a very elegant object. These are 

 produced in long racemes or in panicles with a few racemose 

 branches, all bending in the most graceful manner. In 

 addition to the decorative value as a specimen its branches 

 are useful for cutting, either to stand alone in a small vase 

 or to form the basis of an arrangement in which it stands the 

 chief object. The leaves unfortunately fold in sleep at night. 



For high conservatories the best of the strong-growing 

 Acacias should be considered indispensable. After giving form 

 to the specimen by cutting back, the aim of the cultivator 

 should be to promote free growth, when flowers will be produced 

 in proportion, provided of course that the tree has reached a 

 sufficient maturity. Cuttings may be rooted, but perhaps the 

 best way is to raise from seed, sowing about this time. The 

 young plants will soon become vigorous, and so long as suffi- 

 ciently small will be of value for the foliage to arrange with 

 flowering plants, and may also be used ia the same way as 

 A. lophantha for subtropical combinations. A. dealbata and 

 a few other species are cut down largely in the Australian 

 colonies for the sake of the bark, which contains tannin. So 

 far has this been carried that the trees have nearly disappeared. 



ToxicorHLJ5A Thuneeroi is flowering in the Palm house. It 

 is a beautiful shrub with opposite dark green coriaceous leaves 

 and pure white sweetly-scented flowers. They are produced in 

 Ixora-like clusters in the axils of nearly all the leaves of the 

 young growth. The branches are slender, with foliage and 

 flowers closely arranged, ready at once to form a wreath. It 

 is rare, and plants elsewhere have probably been had from the 

 Royal Gardens. At the Cape it is known to colonists as the 

 Gift Boom or Poison Tree, and a decoction was formerly used 

 by the natives for poisoning their arrows. 



A plant very closely allied was sent out by Mr. B. S. Williams 

 about three years ago ; it has been called T. speetabilis. 

 Another species is cultivated under that name, but is appa- 

 rently quite distinct, and of less horticultural value. 



couservatory, with small garden and fountain in front of it, ia 

 near to the Hall. — P. Geieve. 



CuLFORD. — Mr. Douglas has made a slight mistake at page 105 

 in his notes of Culford, as he says, "Of bedding Pelargoniums 

 the best white-flowered variety is a hybrid raised at Culford 

 named Dolly Varden ; it is a cross between a bronze Zonal and 

 P. peltatum elegans." Now, the flowers of this variety are not 

 white, but are of a dark magenta colour ; and what we consider 

 as our best white bedding sort is Bridal Wreath, a hybrid 

 Ivy-leaved sort, but which was not raised here. Fig. 4.3 is 

 represented as the " Conservatory and Flower Garden," it should 

 be the " Garden Cottage, with Flower Garden in Front." The 



CHIMONANTHUS FKAGEANS. 

 This is a most valuable winter-flowering deciduous shrub or 

 wall plant. It comes into flower just at a time when every 

 sprig of bloom is welcome, and especially those which possess 

 a delicious fragrance. In this respect this plant is invaluable, 

 for its odour is delightful. We have had a supply of bloom 

 twice a-week from the first week in December until the pre- 

 sent time. The blossoms should be plucked oft and placed in 

 glass or other small dishes ; small sprigs of evergreen shrubs 

 mixed with them add to the appearance. Being so hardy 

 and BO easy of cultivation one is surprised at not meeting 

 with it more generally in our gardens. It should be invariably 

 planted in villa gardens, many of which have not the con- 

 venience of glass to force other fragrant flowers which require 

 protection from frost and snow. It can be had of any nursery- 

 man. If planted in a south aspect, no matter whether against 

 a wall or rustic summer house, in the month of April in good 

 garden soil it will make rapid growth. At the end of June the 

 leading shoots should be carefully trained, the remaining 

 shoots should be pinched back, leaving six or eight eyes ; by 

 leaving them long a much longer supply of bloom is secured. 

 Nothing more is required to be done until after the blossoms 

 are all taken off, when the leading shoots should be secured 

 and the remaining laterals pruned back to one eye. — Joseph 

 Peirce. 



GLASNEVIN GARDENS, DUBLIN. 

 The following is a list of shrubs and flowers in bloom in the 

 open air at Glasneviu Botanic Gardens :^ 



AnemoDe Btellata 

 ArbutUB tomentoBa 



Unedo 

 Arabis alpina 



aurlculata 

 Armeiia cephalotes 

 Aubriotia albida 



caucasica 



grreca 



prandiflora 



besperidifolia 

 Eulbocodiam vernum 

 Camomile 



Cardamine rotandifolia 

 Clematis calycina 

 CoroniUa plauca 

 Crocus Busiana and others 

 Cylisiis Alwhinfieri 

 r>oronicum Columnfe 

 Braba altaica 



rupestris 

 Epimedium colchicum 

 Erica arborea 



herbacea 



mediterranea 

 Erytlironium dens-canis 

 Forsythia siispenea 



viridisbima 

 Gorse 



Hepatica angnlopa and others 

 Helleborus atrorubens 



angustifolius 



abcbasicuB 



cyclophylJas 



guttatus 



HelleboruB praveolens 



jntermediua 



niger 



odortis 



olyropicuB 



orieutatis 



purpureus 



kamtschaticus 

 Iris retiijulata 



stylosa 

 Lanrustinus in varieties 

 Leucojum veruum 

 PolyanttiuB 

 Primula macrocalys 



marfiinata 



Paliouri 



Double Yellow 



Double Purple 



Double White 

 Pyms jBponiea 

 Pulmouaria sibirica 

 Sasifraga cfC,*pitosa 



crassifiilia 



hi^pida 



oppositifolia alba 



retnsa 

 Scilla bifolia 



bifolia alba 



Bibitica 

 Sisyrincbium albnm 

 Triteleia uuiflora 

 Viola renifonuo 



Double Purple 

 Wallflowor 



-P. N. W., Glasnevin, Dublin, 



NOTES RELATIVE TO THE POTATO. 



" Beta's " argument is evidently based upon a misconcep- 

 tion, and the point at issue just hinges upon the uncertain 

 opinion of what ia a poor soil and what is a rich one. He 

 evidently agrees with me that mere opinion is of very little 

 value, and if any good is to be gained from a discussion, 

 general results — not of a single season, but of several — must 

 form our basis. In proof of this we have only to refer to 

 " Beta's " statement that in a district on the north-west coast, 

 where "the rainfall is the greatest in England," and the 

 disease is usually so virulent that the Fluke is " wore out " by 

 it, yet the Potato crop of last year was "the soundest in the 

 United Kingdom." The fart is interesting, but is of no par- 

 ticular value, and only serves to prove the truth of another 

 well-known fact — that a hot dry season is favourable to Potato 

 culture in a wet district. 



There is a great difference in a poor soil enriched by heavy 

 dressings of fat manure and an alluvial deposit requiring none 



