236 



iOUBNAL OP HORTIOULTtJBB AND OOTTAQB GARDENEB. 



( March 25, 1^5. 



each pair of plants. For greater convenience at this time the 

 boxes should be made with the sides nailed on the outside of 

 the bottoms and ends, and in one side at least as few nails be 

 used as possible, which side can be removed to allow of the 

 plants being more easily removed. It is also a good plan to 

 cut off a number of the largest of the leaves a few days before 

 they are to be planted. 



Another way is to cut up good tough turf into cubes of 

 about .3 inches, and scoop a hole in each with a knife to re- 

 ceive the plant and a little fine soil, placing them afterwards 

 closely packed together either in beds or boxes. When it is 

 found necessary to increase the stock of Geraniums by pro- 

 pagating in spring, this method of afterwards accommodating 

 them is preferable to the other. 



A plan more satisfactory in its results, although giving 

 more labour in the first instance, is to treat them as follows : — 

 Provide a quantity of green moss, not sphagnum, for that is 

 too retentive of moisture for the purpose, but some of the 

 Hypnum species which is found growing plentifully in the 

 woods, on trees and stones, and which can be removed in thin 

 fleeces. If the plants to be treated are shaken from store 

 pots, the surest way is to take a 4-inch pot and line it with a 

 flake of the moss, then pot the plant in it rather firmly, and 

 when this is done cover the surface of the soil with another 

 thin flake, and then turn out the now moss-enveloped ball by 

 giving the pot a smart tap on the edge of the bench. It is 

 afterwards bound together by winding a strong strand of bast 

 three or four times round it. These being packed in beds or 

 boxes with a little soil between them are not unhandy at plant- 

 ing time, and do not experience much of a check. Of course 

 the moss is never removed. With plants that have been 

 potted off in the autumn, two in a pot, the same end is more 

 easily attained, as the balls only require to be halved and each 

 wrapped up in moss, care being taken that they are not too 

 dry at the time. 



Some very curious vessels are sometimes met with in cot- 

 tagers' gardens and windows doing duty as flower pots, yet 

 feats of plant-growing are often performed in these, which for 

 grandeur of results as compared with the grotesque unsuit- 

 ability of the appliances, may be compared with the feat of the 

 tuneful French fiddler who could extract exquisite music from 

 a wooden shoe. 



One of the best Petunias I saw last year was a balloon- 

 trained plant grown by an amateur in an Australian meat tin, 

 and a worthy farmer with floricultural tastes whom I know, 

 grows fairly good Zonal Pelargoniums in old sheep-dip jars. 



Not long since I saw in Glasgow a hoary Saxifraga sarmen- 

 tosa luxuriating in an ancient brass kettle suspended in a 

 shoemaker's window. Doubtless this kettle had in its day done 

 duty in many a stiff toddy brew, but its steaming days were 

 done, and here in its old age it was calmly, usefully, beautiful. 

 ■ — EoBEKi D. Taylok. 



PORTRAITS OF PLANTS, FLOWERS, AND 

 FRUITS. 



GnsTAVii CRACiLLiJiA. Nat. onl., Myrtaceic. Liun., Mon- 

 adelphia Polyandria. — Flowers light rose-coloured. " It is a 

 native of Now Grenada, where it was discovered by Purdie in 

 the woods of Carmin, in 181.5, forming a singular small tree 

 flowering on its slender lofty trunk in July. In Mr. Bull's 

 establishment at Chelsea it flowered in September of last year." 

 —{Bv!. Maij., t. (iir,!.) 



Masdevallia ciii-m.-era. A''(t(. onl., Orchidaoefc. L'nw., 

 Gynandria Monandria. — Flowers yellow, densely spotted with 

 crimson. "It is a native of deep valleys in New Grenada, 

 where it was discovered by Roezl, and imported by M. Linden in 

 1872. Mr. Bull flowered it in December last."— {/J'irf.,/.ei52.) 



CoLCHicuM LnTEr.-u. Nut. onl., Melanthacea;. Linn, Hex- 

 andria Trigynia. Flowers pale yellow. " It is a native of the 

 mountains in the extreme West of India beyond the Indus, in 

 Hazara, at an elevation of 7000 feet, where it flowers in Decem- 

 ber and January. An apparently identical plant has been 

 gathered by Dr. Thomson, F.R.S., in the valley of Kashmir, at 

 an elevation of .5-7000 feet, flowering in June; by Stocks in 

 Beluehistan ; and by (Iriflith, who is the discoverer of the 

 species, in Kafferisthan, near Olipore, about the year 18-10, 

 flowering in April at an elevation of C-700(i feet. It has also 

 been gathered by Stocks in upper Beluehistan, and by Hender- 

 son in the Zoji pass in Kashmir."— (ftid., (. 0153.) It is 

 hardy, and flowered at Kew in January. 



Thekopogox pallidus. Nat. ord., Liliace*. Limi , flex- 

 andria Monogynia. — Flowers very pale pink. " A very common 

 Himalayan plant, from Kumaon, alt. 6000 feet, to Nepal and 

 Sikkim, in which latter country it ascends to 10,000 feet ; also 

 common in the Khasia mountains, where it is found at 

 .5-6000 feet towards the tops of the hills. It prefers mossy 

 rocks and the bases of old trees, when the roots run rather 

 superficially in the loose soil." — (Ihid., t. 6154.) 



W.inLENBEitGL\ TUBEEOSA. A'a(. orrf., Campauulaceaj. Linn., 

 Pentandria Monogynia. — Flowers white with pink streaks. 

 " The tuberous rootstock resembles a cluster of small Potatoes 

 placed on the top of the pot; the contrast of these grotesque 

 ocjects, with the exquisitely graceful threadlike stems and 

 profusion of pearl-white rose-streaked blossoms is exceedingly 

 striking, and recommends the plant as a most desirable one 

 for greenhouse and probably out-of-door culture. Of course 

 care must be taken not to overwater the plant when past 

 flower, or the tubers will soon rot. 



" Messrs. Veitch had it in full flower in September of last 

 year. They received it from Juan Fernandez, where it was 

 discovered by their collector Mr. Downton in 1873." — (fbid., 

 t. 6155.) 



CvDONiA Maulei. — A hardy deciduous shrub. " It is a 

 native of Japan, and was first publicly made known by Messrs. 

 Maule on the occasion of the visit of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society to Bath in June, 1873, when a drawing of the plant, 

 with samples of the conserve made from its fruit, was shown 

 under the name of a Japanese species of Crataigus or Pyrus, 

 and received a first-class certificate. The yellow fruit is 

 roundish, slightly depressed both at the eye and stalk, and 

 bluntly but indistinctly ribbed, while the five-celled interior 

 contains numerous seeds or pips. 



" The affinity of this charming plant is obviously with Cy- 

 donia japonica, the Japan (Juince, one of the most ornamental 

 of flowering shrubs, but it differs from that well-known species 

 in the form of its leaves, and in the structure of its flowers and 

 fruits. Mr. Maule informs us that it will not take when 

 grafted on the Pear, but will do so on the Apple, and also on 

 the Thorn. 



"As a hardy ornamental deciduous flowering shrub this 

 plant has few equals, its brightly -scarlet flowers being so 

 abundant and so remarkably effective. They are freely pro- 

 duced early in May, and as we learn from Mr. Maule, the 

 plants go on blooming without intermission till June, so that 

 in the event of frosty weather there is always a succession 

 of blossoms, some of which' must escape injury." — [Florist and 

 Poniologist, 'A s., viii., 49.) 



ArrLE. — La<hj Ilcnnikcr. — " It is of the Codlin shape, the 

 fruits being high, inclining to conical, and obtusely angular. 

 The eye is small for such a large fruit, open, and placed in 

 a deep angular cavity. The stalk is short and deeply placed. 

 The skin is of a deep straw colour on the shaded side, light 

 brown where exposed, and streaked with bright crimson, with 

 a small patch of russet near the stalk. The flesh is of a pale 

 yellow, firm and tender, of a brisk, sub-acid flavour. It is 

 very excellent when cooked ; and is in season from October to 

 Christmas. 



"It is a seedling raised by Mr. Perkins, the gardener to 

 Lord Henniker, at Thornham Hall, Eye, Suffolk, and was 

 awarded a fir.st-cla8s certificate by the Royal Horticultural 

 Society." — (Ibid., 61.) 



HYACINTHS AT HOME. 



Wm. CcTBDsn & Soxs, HiGHGATE. — We would that this 

 charming spring flower had a place in every home small as 

 well as great, humble as well as exalted. We note it now in 

 one of the great homes, for is not the name of Cutbush and the 

 Hyacinth inseparable '/ It is from the hilly retreat of this 

 old-estabUshed nursery that some of the most splendid speci- 

 mens have been exhibited. 



It was here, we beUeve, that the idea of spring exhibitions 

 first had birth, and which resulted in displays which have been 

 and ought to be again amongst the gayest and the sweetest of 

 the whole year's displays. If the public have not had spread 

 before them the usual contributions of this nursery it is from 

 no lack of will, much less from any deficiency of skill on the part 

 of its head ; yet, if Mr. Cutbush has been misled and his plants 

 perforce kept, as it were, in ambush, he does the next best 

 thing in his power — viz., if he cannot take his plants to the 

 public he invites the public to visit his plants. 



His home exhibition commences on Easter Monday, and we 



