(if 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Janaary 27, 1876. 



mits, and when the plants are strong enough to thin them ont 

 to 6 or 8 inches apart. The roots are taken np in the end of 

 October and Novembtr, and all the leaves removed so as not to 

 injure the crown ; these are then placed in circumstances which 

 are most convenient for blanching. The diiiferent wajs of doing 

 this will he suggested to people by the conveniences they have 

 at their disposal. Those who have a Mushroom house may use 

 that ; those who have not can plant the roots in boxes and put 

 them under the stage of a greenhouse, protecting them from 

 the light. The mode we adopt ia the following, which we have 

 Been in Belgium, and which will be the most convenient for 

 most households. 



In the corner of a cellar, a stable, cow-house or ehed pro- 

 tected from frost, form a cone of horse dung 2 feet in diameter 

 at the base and as high as may be desired. Outside of this 

 place a layer of soil on the floor 18 inches wide and 4 or 6 

 inches thick. On this place the Chicory in a row close toge- 

 ther, with the roots towards the horse dung and the crowns 

 just outside the edge of the soil. Upon these put a eecond 

 layer of soil and then another layer of roots, proceeding in 

 this way till the top of the cone is reached. If the apartment 

 is dark it will not be needful to place any covering over it, but 

 if any light is present it must be covered with a mat or any 

 other covering, and this again enveloped in straw, long dung, 

 or any other litter. In this case sticks will require to be 

 stuck into the cone at various distances, and protruding about 

 9 inches to prevent the covering from pressing against the 

 Witloof when it begins to grow. The fermenting mass of dung 

 stimulates the roots into growth. A more homely way is to 

 select a dry piece of ground, and dig out a trench as for Celery, 

 in which plant the roots in a row close together. Let this be 

 covered over with hoops or branches of trees, and then en- 

 veloped in a thick coat of long dung. Seakale pots may also 

 be used as for Seakale. 



When the crowns have grown 4 to C inches in length they 

 are to be cut off in the same way as those of Seakale and so 

 as not to disturb the roots in the cone, which are to remain 

 and to be kept covered np, when they will produce an abun- 

 dant crop of small shoots, furnishing a constant supply of 

 excellent salad all through the spring months. The crowns 

 are to be stewed in gravy or in any other way that the taste 

 of the household may desire, and served in the same way as 

 Seakale. 



We can strongly recommend this to every person who has a 

 garden, and we would do so especially to enterprising forcing 

 gardeners, who may reap as rich a reward from its cultivation 

 as Mr. Myatt did by the introduction of Rhubarb. 



TREES ON WHICH MISTLETOE GEOWS. 

 Observing in your issue of the 13th inst. an article on the 

 Mistletoe question, I thought it may not be unacceptable to 

 your readers if I name a few trees on which it may be seen 

 growing with us — namely, the common Lime, Whitethorn, 

 common Maple, Black Poplar, Willow, wild Crab, and a variety 

 of Sjcamore seen growing rather extensively in Canada (one 

 example of which we have here in the pleasure grounds), but 

 the specific name is lost; and I may also mention that there 

 is a bnsh of Mistletoe growing out of one of the standard Apple 

 trees in the kitchen garden about 2h feet in diameter, produced 

 from seeds inserted in the bark about twelve or thirteen years 

 since by my predecessor. The tree is about twenty years old 

 from the graft. And as to the question of injury to the tree on 

 account of the Mistletoe, I can affirm, as far as this iuotance is 

 concerned, that the branch on which it is growing is the most 

 luxuriant and healthy on the tree; how it may hereafter affect 

 the tree remains to be seen. As to the Limes and White- 

 thorns more especially, I can say we have some trees in the 

 park so smothered with the parasitic growth, that at first 

 Bight it is almost difiicnlt to determine which is the parent 

 plant by looking at the upper portions only. — H. W. Wabren, 

 Gardener to the Earl of Portsmouth, Whitchurch, Hants. 



Eucalyptus globulus.— In your paper of the Gth I see refer- 

 ence is made to this tree. At the Mockta Iron Mines, twenty 

 miles inland from Bona in Algeria, it was first planted eight 

 years ago, and with such beneficial effects that fever is reduced 

 very considerably. The foreman who showed me over the 

 works said that they had not above one case of fever now 

 when formerly they had four. The consequence is that the 

 company are planting it by the million. Another benefit is 



said to belong to it — viz., that mnsquitos will not come within 

 its influence. — H. T. H. 



MR. PEARSON S NEW PELARGONIUMS OF 1876. 



It makes no difference whether one visits Chilwell on the 

 24th of June or the 21st of December, the Pelargoniums will 

 always be found most attractively in bloom. It is impossible 

 without seeing them to form any conception of the gorge- 

 ous display which they make massed together. They bloom 

 as profusely throughout the whole winter as the summer, I 

 have seen them in nearly every month of the year, and if they 

 look better at one time than another it is in the very shortest 

 days of the year. Most other flowers then, or at any time, 

 will pale before them, and it is difficult to say what their 

 greatest recommendation is. Probably it is their easy culture, 

 coupled with the extraordinary quality of flowers they give 

 as compensation for the little attention they require. There 

 ia nothing exacting in their cultivation, nor is there any 

 " secret" brought to work on them at Chilwell. Common 

 everyday fare to which they may be treated in the hands of 

 anyone is what they thrive on. Large quantities of cuttings 

 are rooted at Chilwell in the autumn, and potted singly into 

 3-inch pots in a mixture of loam and sand, and set on stages 

 about .S feet from the ground. Very little fire heat is used, 

 unless to exclude frost or expel damp : under this treatment 

 they bloom amazingly. Sometimes old plants are allowed to 

 flower for eight and ten months incessantly, and at other 

 times the plants are cut down as quickly as they grow to 

 supply young plants. 



It is a great mistake in amateurs with limited time and 

 accommodation putting themselves to no end of trouble and 

 anxiety to keep a few semi-hardy plants in existence through- 

 out the winter, when they might have their greenhouses replete 

 with healthy Pelargoniums and abundance of every existing 

 shade of flower with no inconvenience whatever. Some may 

 think and others may take the liberty of saying it would be a 

 tame affair — a houseful of Pelargoniums, but in this I beg 

 to differ, and it is infinitely more preferable to see an entire 

 houseful of Pelargoniums nicely in flower than rows of barely- 

 furnished plants. 



Those who are familiar with all the Pelargoniums which 

 have been sent out from Chilwell, especially those introduced 

 last year, will know that to excel Lady Byron, Ethel, Mrs. 

 Viokers, Brutus, Sir S. H. and Lady Scndamore, Stanhope, 

 A. Henderson, Laura, Little Carr, Mrs. Jacoby, and others, 

 will be an accomplishment which is attained in those being 

 issued this year for the first time. 



Amongst scarlets Wordsworth, Havelock, and Lord Zetland 

 are superior to Corsair, Vetuvius, or any other of this shade. 

 Leopard is a beautiful somewhat striated salmon colour; and 

 amongst that beautiful shade pink Lady Sheffield is excellent, 

 and so is Sybil Holden, Mrs. Lancaster, and Louisa. For 

 many a day Amaranth was my favourite pink, and after that 

 I gave preference to Mrs. Gibbons, and finally Annie Orton, 

 bnt these I unregretfully relinquish in favour of any or all the 

 four I have just named. E. Davis is a splendid purple crim- 

 son variety in the way of Earl Manvers. Mary Pearson is a 

 beautiful rose colour, and Mrs. Gregory is of the same hue, 

 both producing large compact trusses. Captain Holden and 

 Frederick WilUam bear some resemblance to the two last 

 named, but they are about three shades deeper in colour; and 

 last but not least comes David Thomson, which is a splendid 

 crimson variety, the individual blooms and trusses being of 

 immense size and of great substance, and in no way dis- 

 creditable to the worthy author of the " Handbook on the 

 Flower Garden." 



Before finishing let me say that amongst older varieties of 

 the Chilwell strain the Rev. T. F. Fenn is a crimson of great 

 merit, alike useful in a pot or bed and an excellent winter 

 bloomer. — J. MuiR, Lenton. 



THE ROYAL AQUARIUM AND SUMMER AND 



WINTER GARDEN. 



Under the auspices of Royalty and a clear epring-likeday 

 this imposing building was declared " open" on the 22nd inst. 

 It was a happy idea of Mr. Wybrow Robertson to snpplant a 

 block of incongruous buildings by a palatial structure in the 

 immediate neighbourhood of the Houses of Parliament and 

 Westminster Abbey, and completing a trio of public edifices 

 eminently worthy of a nation's patronage. No sooner was the 



