April 29, 1875. ] 



JOUENAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEh. 



333 



admirers. It haa to my knowledge but few of its class with 

 decided and attractive colours as yet. I contend, in conclusion, 

 it is the harbouring of inferior varieties, mostly nondescript in 

 colour, which tends to create a heterogeneous strain, thus de- 

 generating instead of improv-ing this beautiful class of flowers, 

 and rendering it a plant of second-rate favour. — Henky W. 

 Cooi'ER, Surn-y. 



CHILIAN BEET FOR WINTER DECORATION. 



A BAD strain of this decorative plant is one of the most 

 rubbishy impediments that a garden can be troubled with. 

 The worst of it is, its badness is not proved until the plants 

 have attained a good size, and the blanks left by pulling them 

 up are not easy to iill up satisfactorily. But a good strain is 

 decidedly ornamental, its massive foliage, high colour, and 

 bold growth adding an agreeable diversity to the general effect. 

 Unfortunately, however, in good strains are bad plants, and, 

 if planted in a row, to take these away leaves ugly gaps, and 

 to allow them to remain is to cultivate unsightly mongrels. 

 It is quite likely that this inconstancy may drive this Beet out 

 of our gardens, and its use be lost for that purpose for which 

 it is really useful. My practice in growing has never been to rely 

 on it as a summer garden plant, but it has served me well as 

 a winter and spring ornament both in conservatory and hall. 



For this purpose I grow a batch in any convenient part of 

 the kitchen garden, and keep weeding out the worst as they 

 show their character, and in the end have generally a dozen or 

 two left of really brilliant colours. These are potted up in 

 the autumn and kept in pits from frost, and introduced as 

 required for associating with flowering plants both under glass 

 and for grouping in corridors and on staircases. Thus used on 

 special occasions they have saved the life of many a Dracaena, 

 and have created an effect, by gaslight especially, that few, if 

 any, tropical plants could equal. 



For mixing with plants of Centaurea, a few Chrysanthemums, 

 or Primulas, high-coloured plants of this Beet are really useful 

 in the depth of winter where more tender plants could not be 

 placed without great anxiety. I can recommend it for that 

 purpose, because I have proved its worth, and have witnessed 

 how satisfactory it has been to those for whose gratification the 

 groups of plants have been arranged. More than once it 

 has been a sad puzzle as to what the brilliant-coloured plants 

 could be which looked so tender yet were so hardy as to be 

 placed in all sorts of draughty positions without care or com- 

 punction. 



To those who are called upon to furnish ornamental group- 

 ings in winter, and whose resources are greater for killing 

 tender plants than for raising them, I advise a trial of selected 

 plants of Chilian Beet. Sow the seed in the open garden 

 about the first week in May, and transplant in any convenient 

 place in which to prove and select the best. Pot up in October, 

 and when established give them a little liquid manure to enhance 

 the colour of the foliage. The plants are never more effective 

 than when bolting for bloom in the spring, when the best can 

 be replanted in the garden to ripen their seed. — Anglo-Saxon. 



OUR BORDER FLOWERS— THE COLUMBINE. 



Perhaps there is no race of plants that affords us more 

 diversity of colour in their flowers than the Columbine. With 

 the exception of a pure scarlet I think they give us all the 

 intermediate shades to be found in flowers. I have seen them 

 in some woodland scenery growing on a gravelly hill in partial 

 shade among the grass and decomposing leaves in their 

 thousands. In such places they are seen to perfection in 

 single, double, and semi-double varieties. They are a race 

 that are easy to manage, for under the above circumstances 

 all they require is just simply to be left alone ; they repro- 

 duce themselves rapidly from seed when once established. 

 They will grow almost anywhere provided they have light and 

 air. These plants are among the very best for cut flowers, 

 where such are in demand, as affording a continuous supply 

 for a great length of time. There is a variegated form of the 

 Aquilegia vulgaris, and when well established it is a very 

 striking plant as a border flower. 



When we turn our attention to the imported varieties we 

 find some of Nature's choicest gems. To have them in perfec- 

 tion they should be grown in beds or groups, selected according 

 to then: habits and contrast of colour, yet as single plants in the 

 border few flowers can surpass them. They delight in a moist 

 but not wet soil— that sometimes proves fatal to their well- 

 doing. Sandy fibrous loam and decayed vegetable matter, with 



a sprinkling of coarse grit well incorporated into the border, 

 form a suitable soil ; this should be broken up to the depth 

 of 2 feet, to afford the roots room to develope themselves. The 

 taller kinds should be staked as they advance in growth, to 

 prevent the wind from breaking them. Some of the choicer 

 kinds are well adapted for exhibition purposes. Some of the 

 dwarfer species are splendid plants for the rockery. To keep 

 them true to name they are increased by division when the 

 bloom is past. New varieties are obtained from seed. 



Aquilegia arctiea is a very fine variety, with blue and white 

 flowers. A. siberica is of compact habit, its large blue and 

 white flowers have a fine effect ; it ought to be more extensively 

 grown than it is. A. chrysantha is a novelty of no mean order, 

 its beautiful yellow flowers and graceful habit entitles it to a place 

 in every garden. A. glandulosa is one of the best, it makes a 

 grand display as a border flower. A. alpina is a very choice 

 kind for the rockery or border ; it requires shade and moisture. 

 A. olympica is one of the largest-flowering varieties we have, 

 and is well adapted for rockery or border. A. cferulea is a 

 charming variety of dwarf habit ; no collection should be with- 

 out it. A. Skinneri is a dwarf and early-flowering beautiful 

 variety ; it is able to hold its own against all comers, and 

 ought to have a place in every collection. Its orange and 

 scarlet-coloured flowers render it a very conspicuous object 

 whenever it is met with in good condition. A. canadensis is 

 very seldom met with ; it is said to have been introduced more 

 than two hundred years ago. It is one of the tallest of the 

 race. All the varieties are effective and of easy culture. Their 

 cultivation is strongly recommended. — Veritas. 



RECUPERATIVE POWER IN PLANTS. 



Thinking the following may be of general interest, I send it, 

 hoping that it may elicit some discussion. 



In my garden I have a row of about fifty young Currant 

 bushes, principally Red and White, with here and there a 

 Black. At the beginning of February the sparrows and other 

 birds made a vigorous onslaught on the buds of these said 

 bushes, completely peeking them out, and leaving the branches 

 as smooth and free from buds as if the rods had been indi- 

 vidually drawn through the fingers and the buds rubbed off. 

 The Black Currants alone escaped this infliction, probably in 

 consequence of their strong aroma being distasteful to our 

 " feathered friends." 



Having noticed the completeness with which the birds had 

 stripped off every bud from the bushes, I was fearful lest the 

 plants themselves should die, or at least suffer very much, and 

 consequently watched with some anxiety to see the turn which 

 things would take. Judge my surprise when, about three weeks 

 after this Promethean infliction, I found that the bushes were 

 again putting forth buds, some in the exact locality of the 

 wound, and others at different portions of the stems. 



Now, not only are the bushes clothed with opening leaf buds, 

 but the show of flower buds is also very large, and seems to 

 promise (weather permitting) an abundant crop of fruit. — 

 Selimo Bottone. — {English Mccltanic.) 



[We are enabled to give confirmatory evidence of the vitality 

 of Gooseberry and Currant bushes under the same oircnm- 

 stanoes. We have, in the case of vigorous trees, observed that 

 where the birds had taken the primary buds a pair of latent or 

 adventitious buds pushed from the base of each. These have 

 produced fruit, but smaller — as the growth was more weakly — 

 than that from the principal buds. We have also frequently 

 noticed that where birds had picked off the tops of Peas when 

 just bursting the ground, that each Pea had sprung two dor- 

 mant buds from the base of the original growth, which have 

 made weakly haulm and even produced flowers. This is only 

 the case with large Peas sown somewhat late in the season, and 

 when the ground is warm ; Peas from small seed from which the 

 tops have been picked early invariably decay. Kidney Beana 

 which have been cut by frost will, if the frozen part is cut over 

 immediately and the downward decay of the stem arrested, 

 push fresh eyes and grow, providing the soil is not too cold 

 and wet; fair crops have been had from Beans so cut down. 

 —Eds.] 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 



At the Fungus Show held in Aberdeen last September, 



a committee was appointed to organise a Scottish Cbypto- 



GAiiic Botanical Society, and on the IGth inst. a meeting, 



attended by botanists from various parts of Scotland, was held 



