312 



JODKNAIi OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ September 8, 1874. 



and litted so as to support moveable shelves, and the baskets 

 are thus placed in four tiers. A grated door on either side 

 admits the air, and keeps the fruit cool. A carload is generally 

 consigned, as a whole, to one person, and on its arrival at 

 Jersey City is taken possession of by the representative of the 

 firm, who relieves the railroad company of any further respon- 

 sibility. A few mai-ket cars, called " pot cheese," are made 

 up by the railroad company to carry small lots, and the con- 

 signees in these cases always give receipts for the fruit on 

 delivery, a clerk taking charge of the cars when they reach 

 the destination. None of the railroad officials are required to 

 unload the chartered cars, consequently the work has to be 

 done by employes of the consignees, and the number of men 

 required for the transportation of the fruit from the railroad 

 to market is therefore very large. A train of twenty-four cars 

 arrived ; and as each carload averages 500 baskets, and the 

 lai'gest two-horse trucks would only carry from 150 to 180 

 baskets, and the one-horse trucks less than 100, the large 

 number of waggons necessary for the removal of the 27,000 

 baskets and orates may be easily calculated. Each basket con- 

 tains about 200 Peaches, making the arrival by one train of 

 over 5,000,000 of Peaches. 



We are pleased to find that the Ul\'EKston Horti- 



cuLTUKAL Show, on the 25th ult., was very successful in every 

 respect. 



FLOWEES FOR OUR BORDERS.— No. 39. 



GENTIANA BAVAEICA.— Bavarian Gentian. 

 The Gentians are impatient of stagnant moisture, especially 

 in winter, and they suffer from full exposure to the mid-day 

 sun during the hottest months of the year ; it is probable that 

 inattention to these points is the chief cause of failure in their 

 cultivation, and of their consequent rarity in our gardens. 



ssr 



Fig. 67. — Geutiana bavarica. 



With regard to soil they are by no means so particular as is 

 commonly supposed. They wiU thrive in peat ; in a mixture 

 of peat and loam ; and also in friable loam containing a little 

 sand. Rich highly-manured soil is objectionable, and in wet 

 adhesive loams they will live but a short time ; but in either 

 case it will only be necessaiy to supply a small quantity of the 

 compost of peat and sandy loam, with drainage beneath it, in 

 order to place the plants in the condition requisite to ensure 

 snccess. 



The plants should be screened from the sun during the 



hottest part of the day, only the morning and evening rays 

 being allowed to reach them, eepeciaUy in dry arid soils ; but 

 the situation should be as light and aiiy as possible — they will 

 neither bear to be smothered by other plants, nor endure the 

 drip of trees. During long-continued rains in autumn and 

 winter it will be a good plan to cover the clumps with a large 

 pot, as they are more impatient of wet than cold; but they 

 should not be kept covered longer than is necessary. — (W. 

 Tliom2)son's English Flower Garden, Revised lij the AtUhor.) 



BEDDING PLANTS IN THE LONDON PARKS. 



HYDE PAEK.— No. 1. 



The public are now pretty generally aware that Mr. Gibson, 

 the much-respected Superintendent of Hyde Park, has been 

 suffering for some months from paralysis, which has prevented 

 his continuing this summer that direct personal supervision of 

 the bedding arrangements which was his wont. Fortunately 

 his son, Mr. John Gibson, jun., well known as a skilful and 

 rising landscape gardener, was at hand to give the active and 

 efficient help in carrying on the work which the nature of his 

 father's iUness rendered necessary, and in this he was ably 

 seconded by Mr. Cole and Mr. Chamberlain in their respective 

 departments. The planting-out of 300,000 bedding plants is 

 a heavy task of itself, not to speak of the forethought required 

 to arrange them tastefully and effectively in manifold combi- 

 nations, all of which, however, are the subjects of anxious 

 consideration long beforehand ; but excellently the bedding 

 has been carried out, and grand is its effect, especially the long 

 stretch of beds between the Marble Arch and Hyde Park 

 Comer. 



Starting from the former point we come to a series of circles 

 all margined with Golden Chickweed and edged with Alter- 

 nanthera amcena, the centre being fiUed up with Geraniums, 

 many of which, however, are seen to better advantage further 

 on, where the beds are less shaded by trees. The best here are 

 Fire King (Lee), a fine magenta crimson Nosegay, which is also 

 good everywhere else ; Waltham Seedling (W. Paul), dark crim- 

 son, and Bonfire (W. Paul) , crimson scarlet, forming a splendid 

 mass of bloom. It has been largely used this year in the parks, 

 and it has proved itself throughout brilliant in colour, profuse 

 in blooming, one of the best of bedding zonals. Rose Brad- 

 wardine (Pearson), though better further on, is nevertheless 

 notable for its beautiful shade of rose. Daybreak Geranium, 

 white-edged, interspersed with Purple Queen Verbena, and 

 Atalanta similarly mixed, form elegant circles ; and two others 

 of Beauty of Calderdale are also noteworthy. 



We now reach Green Street Gate, from which point Gera- 

 niums and Ageratums mixed fringe the shrubbery border at 

 the back. The beds in this series are oblongs and circles, the 

 margin and edging of those on the right-hand side being re- 

 spectively Mesembryanthemum cordifolium variegatum and, 

 for the most part, LobeUa Mazarine Gem, a deep blue variety 

 with a profusion of small flowers ; while on the left the margin 

 is Gnaphalium lanatum, with an edging of Alternanthera mag- 

 nifica. Among the Geraniums filling the centres of the beds 

 Lucius still holds its place as one of the best large-trussing 

 rose scarlets ; Mrs. Mellows, crimson, one of Mr. Pearson's 

 raising, forms a very good bed ; but Corsaii', which we owe to 

 the same source, is stOl more striking, the bed of this being 

 the finest in the series. Madame D. Bertrand, cherry pink, is 

 free-flowering and of dwarf habit ; while Cleopatra, although 

 here not so good as elsewhere in consequence of the trees, 

 throws Christine entirely into the shade, being of a deeper 

 colour, and the flowers ,while lacking the white eye of Chris- 

 tine, also seem to be more persistent. Mrs. Saunders deserves 

 notice as one of the best of crimsons, and the Rev. J. Dix as a 

 scarlet. The oval at the end of this series of beds is effectively 

 fiUed with Mrs. Pollock Geranium, intermixed with Blue Stone 

 LobeUa, a beautiful dark blue, with a very small white eye. 



Proceeding on from Brook Street Gate we find a series of 

 oblongs and circles margined with alternate plants of Alys- 

 sum variegatum and Lobelia Mazarine Gem, whilst the edging 

 is Alternanthera paronychiodes major. Fire King Geranium 

 is here very fine, also beds of Golden Fleeoe, Queen of Queens, 

 Sportsman Verbena, with Centaurea candidissima and Coleus 

 Verachaffelti dotted with AbutOon Thompsoni. F. Bradley 

 Geranium is noticeable as a fine crimson, but the bed pre- 

 sented far- too much foliage in proportion to the amount of 

 bloom. Briton is also good. 



From Grosvenor Gate, which we now arrive at, extends a 

 splendid series of beds in a single row next Park Lane, and in 



