Ooiabor 1"., lili. J 



joua^^Atj 0? HjarioutiTuiia and oorriOj; a\aDEHER. 



337 



them two checks. Gradually harden them off, and remove to 

 a cold frame by the middle of Miiy, and from the frame to nu 

 open position oat of doors, or, aa mine are for want of a better 

 place, to the sanny side of a walk. By this time they are ready 

 for a shift into their blooming pote, which are 7 inches in 

 diameter, as for our houses these are the most useful, with a 

 few smaller for the front rows. 



Throughout the summer the plants should be looked over 

 and all flowers picked off, stopping any gross shoots that may 

 need it. Few, however, require stopping if the flowers are kept 

 picked off. They branch much more freely, forming neat 

 little specimens without the aid of stakes or wire, showing the 

 natural habit of the plant, and giving in October two or three 

 dozen heads of blooms, and some produce more, according to 

 the variety. 



Give the plants plenty of water thronghout the summer, and 

 let them have full exposure to the sun and dews. By S:)ptem- 

 her they will have their pots full of roots, and their wood firm 

 and well ripoued. About the first week of the month they are 

 removed to a pit where a crop of Mtlons has been grown ; here 

 they have plenty of air night and day, the flower buds are no 

 longer picked off, and once a-week licjuid manure (guano gene- 

 rally) is given. Never apply liquid manure to a plant when 

 dry ; water it first with clear water. Many hundreds of plants 

 are spoiled by neglect of this little precaution. For ten days 

 or a fortnight they are watered overhead through the rose to 

 counteract the dryness of the air under glass. When they 

 show flower freely they receive more liquid manure, and are 

 removed to the greenhouse. Here they produce a fine display 

 of bright-coloured flowers when things outside look anything 

 but cheerful. By giving the plants aiittle heat just to keep the 

 air dry and moving they will continue in flower till Christmas. 



Amateurs who have but a small house in which Chrysan- 

 themums take up much room, will find that zonal Gera- 

 niums treated in this way will enable them to keep their house 

 gay in the dullest mouths until the earliest Primulas and 

 Cyclamens come in, the same (eajperature suiting all. The 

 main evil to guard against is damp ; therefore the ventilators 

 should always be open a little night and day, giving also a little 

 fire heat, which will make the house all the more enjoyable. 



After blooming, the plants are set thickly together in the 

 vinery, and in March the cuttings are taken off and the old 

 plants cut back. After they have commenced to grow they are 

 shaken out and repotted in the same size of pot, and used to 

 decorate the greenhouse in summer and to fill vases lor outdoor 

 embellishment.— W. 



NOVELTIES IN THE KOYAL GARDENS, KEW. 



SoNCHUs LAciNiiTus, au arboresceut Thistle from the Cape 

 de Verd Islands, is much to be recommended for table decora- 

 tion. There are several plants in the Cape house. Plants 

 grown with a single stem are best, the leaves arch gracefully, 

 are pectinate and oblong in outline, of a pale greeu, with a 

 midrib nearly white. It is grown from cuttings, selecting the 

 small side shoots that can be taken oft' with a heel. They 

 should be kept cool at first, but after a time slight heat is 

 beneficial. Though many consider it a rule that cuttings 

 should be given a higher temperature than the plants from 

 which they were taken had been accustomed to, it is found 

 that cuttings with difliculty rooted sometimes strike better if 

 allowed the same, or even a httle lower degree of heat. The 

 reason for this appears evident. With cool treatment they 

 are not excited to increased action, with consequent demand 

 for nourishment, as they are when subjected to htat, in which 

 case they may be exhausted before roots can be formed. 



Young plants of Grevillea robusta, the Silk Oak of Australia, 

 are very valuable for decorative purposes, illustrated by several 

 plants in the conservatory. They are best raised from seed, 

 which may be sown in April with bottom heat. Handsome 

 plants may be grown in two years, having large Fern-like 

 leaves, and which, when cut, are useful from their durability 

 and elegance— qualities that suggest its use for subtropical 

 effect. The soil may consist of equal parts loam and peat. 



Pancratium speeiosum, in the Palm house, is one of the 

 finest things in flower. It has magnificent heads of pure 

 white flowers, with long narrow segments. In habit it is much 

 like the Euoharis. The flowers are as ornamental when attached 

 to the plant, but are not so generally useful when cut. Kich 

 loam is the best soil that can be used. The bulbs may be 

 grown singly, or several together. The same culture as for 

 Eucharis may be applied with success. 



In the herbaceous ground a large proportion of the Asters 

 are in flower, of which there is a fine collection. A. Chapman! 

 is one of the best, and is also little known. It is of merit 

 tulfieient for a choice selection. The stems attain a height 

 of -t to 5 feet, and bear lilac flowers. 



FOSTER'S WHITE SEEDLING GRAPE. 



Poster's White Seedling is described by nurserymen as the 

 offspriug of the lloyal Muscadine, and similar to its parent, 

 but superior in appearance, flavour, habit, and season. Ono 

 nurseryman, though, calls this Vine White Lady Downe's, an 

 alias for its proper name. Of course he does not mean the 

 White Lady Djwue's of late introduction, said to be raised 

 from the Black Lady of that title. The nurseryman I mention 

 appears to apply the name of White Lady Ujwno's to Foster's 

 Wuite Seedling from a similar observation, probably, to my 

 own ; for I have observed Foster's White Sjedling to ripen 

 later than its reputed parent both in fruit and wood; in fact 

 rnuoh the same aa Lady Downe's ripens, and to hang, too, not 

 dissimilar to the latter in duration. Some time ago I also 

 noticed a writer in the Journal mention Foster's White Seedling 

 as a Grape hanging well, but I made no note of reference, much 

 as the passing thought impressed my mind. 



Can you or any of your readers tell us it the nurseryman I 

 have mentioned and I are right in our conception of Foster's 

 White as a White Lady Downe's in ripening and hanging 

 properties, thus differing from the Koyal Muscadine in these 

 features ? — Beabeb. 



THE FLOWER BEDS AT THE CRYSTAL 

 PALACE.— No. 1. 



That the Managers of the Crystal Palace do recognise the 

 fact that something more than the provision of amusement for 

 the people is expected from them, and show by their measures 

 that they seek to attract the attention of men of thought .and 

 culture as well as that of the mere sightseer, is an undoubted 

 fact. Faults and errors there may be in many of its parts and 

 features ; but these things, it must in common fairness be 

 granted, are inseparable from such a gigantic institution, and 

 to what extent they prevail mu»t always remain a matter of 

 opinion. Of course there are art rules by which such things 

 may be tried, but then it is too often found that seU'-consti- 

 luted Clitics are very apt to ignore rules, and boldly to resolve 

 questions of taste from their own point of view. 



Among the many beautiful objects at the CrystalPalace which 

 are a great and decided success, the flower gardens, of which it 

 is my particular province now to treat, have always filled a pro- 

 minent position, ranking so high among our best gardens that 

 annual reports of their arrangement and general appearance 

 have always been expected and welcomed. But more than this : 

 all who could, have visited the gardens year by year to seek in- 

 struction and to cultivate a knowledge of plants old and new, 

 aa well as of their arrangement. Knowing this, it was with 

 much pleasure that I found decided evidence of improvement 

 in the arrangement of the beds as well as of the plants ; but 

 still there is the old grievance of which I in common with 

 other reporters have before had to complain — the plants are 

 unnamed. Now, why is this ? It may be that the presence of 

 labels is regarded as a disfigurement, but this could of course 

 be set aside by using very small labels of a neat if not elegant 

 pattern, and to rendering the colour-combinations as instructive 

 as they are beautiful. Of the general desue for this trifling 

 concession there can be no doubt, for besides several groups of 

 undoubted " blue aprons" in deep and earnest confabulation 

 over the more striking beds, several persons appUed to me for 

 names while notetaking, showing by their remarks that they 

 had evidently a wish to know all about the plants with which 

 such wonderful enamelling could be wrought out, for the beds 

 are certainly very beautiful, the panel or carpet style predomi- 

 nating, the whole of the designs being marked with geometrical 

 precision, and composed almost entirely of plants having orna- 

 mental foliage. 



It has already been shown what great importance is attached 

 to the circular beds at Battersea, and here at the Palace the 

 value of circles, and the facilities which they afford for an 

 almost endless variety of designs, especially of an intricate 

 character, is clearly demonstrated. The favourite succulent 

 here for an edgitg is Sempervivum calif ornicuni, one row only 

 being used with excellent effect. Golden Feather Pjrethrum 

 is more used than any other yellow-leaved plant, and for 



