JOURNAL OF HOETICDLTUEE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEB. 



[ July 2;;, 1874. 



As a prelimiuary to carrying out this intention, they invited 

 the various societies before whicli such subjects most naturally 

 come, to nominate delegates to join a committee by whom the 

 whole question as bearing upon agriculture, horticulture, &c., 

 should be considered, and to whom also any written communi- 

 cations should be submitted. 



The first meeting of this joint committee was held at the 

 office of the Meteorological Society, 30, Great George Street, on 

 Thursday, July 2ud, when delegates were present aud promises 

 of co-operation read from the Royal Horticultural, Royal Bo- 

 tanical, Royal Agricultural, and other Societies. After the sub- 

 ject had been fully discussed, the Eev. T. A. Preston, of Marl- 

 borough College, was requested to prepare a list of plants to be 

 observed, aud also to draw-up a report on the same. Other 

 gentlemen were requested to prepare lists of insects, birds, a:;d 

 animals. 



PASSIFLOEA CJilRULEA, 



THE COMMON BLUE P.\SSIOX.FLOWER. 



AVe most willingly afford all the information we can obtain 

 in reply to the inquiries of our correspondents ; but " G. 1!." 



Fig. 34.— Passillora cterulea. 



will appreciate that we could not " describe the Passifloracete," 

 for the descriptions of the more than two hundred species 

 would occupy most of the pages of one number of our Journal. 

 However, as our correspondent (a lady) concludes with a more 

 moderate request, we will reply to that fully. 



The Passiflora crerulea was introduced by the Duchess 

 of Beaufort, living in 1(199. It was called the " Passion- 

 Flower" by the Roman Catholic settlers in Brazil, who first 

 became acquainted with the flower ; for they appropriated its 

 various parts to a symbolism of our Saviour's last sufferings — 

 the circle of filamentous processes of the nectary within the 



corolla, they said, represented the crown of thorns ; the nail- 

 shaped styles the nails of the cross, and the five anthers the 

 five wounds of the crucifixion. 



To propagate it you may now layer some of the young 

 shoots, or next spi-ing you may make cuttings of this year's 

 shoots, or, which is the best mode, of pieces of the roots. To 

 make it bloom freely, train the young shoots at full length, 

 and in October of each year cut them back to within two joints 

 of the older branches. Cover them in frosty weather, and they 

 cannot fail. They are free bloomers after attaining three 

 years of age. If the cuttings are taken from an old plant in 

 April, they will produce flowers the following autumn in good 

 soil against a south wall. 



It is quite true, as you were informed, that you can raise 

 this Passion-i'Iower from seed. In April place it for eight or 

 ten hours previously in water about 90°, then sow in light 

 sandy earth, anel plunge the pot in a hotbed. When 2 or 

 .3 inches high, pot the plants off separately, and place them in 

 the bed ; harden them after a week by giving more air, and 

 by-and-by place them in a window or greenhouse, protecting 

 them tluough the winter for the first year or two. If no hot- 

 bed, wait until April, soak the seed, sow as advised, cover the 

 pot with a square of glass, and keep the pot not far from 

 the fireplace until the plants are up, but taking them to the 

 window afterwards. 



DESTROYING WASPS. 



Never was such a year for wasps' nests as this — at any rate 

 in our neighbourhood. We find a most eflioaeious mode of 

 destroying them to be this : Obtain a quart bottle half filled 

 with turpentine, insert the neck in the wasps' hole late in the 

 evening, and by the morning every wasp will be killed by the 

 fumes. Of course for this mode to be successful the nest must 

 be in the side of a bank. 



Another mode, and equally effioacioua, is to pour gas tar 

 down the entrance. — H. W. S. C, Ross, HerefonUlnre. 



The most simple and effectual mode of destroying wasps I 

 have found is to put a little gas tar into an old watering pot, 

 and after it is dark pour about a pint into their hole, and 

 they will never come out again. " T. G.'s " plan may do very 

 well if their nests run in a horizontal direction, such as in an 

 old wall or bank ; but even in this ease, if you put the spout of 

 the watering pot in the hole, and place a sod or a lump of clay 

 round it, the tar will find its way to their nest ; but as a rule 

 we find the nests in a perpendicular direction. — 0. Oepet. 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 



Mk. Staxdish, of Ascot, who has for some years given hia 

 attention to improving the varieties of the garden Pea, has 

 succeeded, after cireful and patient crossing, in raising a num- 

 ber of sorts which promise to be of great utility. One espe- 

 cially, which is called Ckiti;rion', is well worthy of notice. It 

 grows about 'i feet high, aud has a pod similar in size aud 

 ' shape to Laxton's Supreme, and remarkably closely filled. 

 The shells of the pod are very thick and fleshy, which enables 

 them 'io withstand extremes of heat and drought better than 

 others which have not this qualification. The colour when 

 cooki;d is of a fine lively grass green, and the flavour very 

 rich and sweet, while the texture is very delicate. We have 

 tasted and examined this Pea, and consequently speak from 

 experience when we say that, in addition to its other merits, 

 it is a fortnight earlier than Ne Plus Ultra, and will be one 

 of the most valuable Peas in cultivation. 



A GOOD plant of Aeosdo conspicda now in bloom in 



the garden of Mr. G. F. Wilson, of Weybridgo Heath, reminds 

 us that this noble Grass is not so much grown as an orna- 

 mental plant as it ought to be. The plant in question is like 

 a great mass of Pampas Grass, and it has thrown up fifty-four 

 panicles of flowers, the graceful drooping form of which is very 

 beautiful. This plant blooms in summer, while the Pampas 

 Grass flowers in autumn. Those, therefore, who are admirers 

 of the Pampas Grass may have the same efi'ect produced in 

 their gardens in summer by planting the Arundo conspicun. 



RUSTIC SUMMER HOUSE. 

 We have been asked to tell a correspondent, " E. H.," " the 

 most desirable form of rustic summer house," aud we are just 

 as incapable of replying as the clergyman was when an un- 



