268 



JOURNAL OF HORTICDLTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ AptU 6, 1S76. 



beauty, the lilao-blne of P. altaica contraBting admirably with 

 the white and primrose-colonred margins. P. altaiea is re- 

 presented to be a free-growing and profuse-flowering species, 

 and is alike hardy and effective. The plants alluded to have 

 had no protection afforded them, and although they have been 

 exposed to sharp frosts and heavy rains they have braved the 

 Btoim without receiving injury. 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 



" G. D." writes that a very pleasing ornament poe the 

 BINNEK TABLE may be made by anyone having a few pots of 

 Panicum variegatum. By gathering up the ends of the longest 

 Bprays and tying them to a stick fixed in the centre the frame- 

 work of a small pyramid is formed. Pinching occasionally is 

 all that is afterwards required to make most attractive objects. 

 Those who have to supply plants daily for the table will find 

 these pyramids useful, as they afford variety and are sure to 

 give satisfaction. 



The Lords of the Committee of Council on Education 



have given directions for a conESE of instruction in Botany 

 to be delivered at South Kensington, commencing about the 

 middle of June 187C. This course will be given by Professor 

 Thiselton Dyer, M.A., B.Sc, &c. It will be a daily lecture, 

 with practical instruction in the Laboratory, and will extend 

 over about eight weeks. A limited number of Science Teachers, 

 or of persons intending to become Science Teachers, will be 

 admitted to the course free of expense. They will also receive 

 their travelling expenses to and from London, together with 

 a maintenance allowance of 30s. per week while attending 

 the course. The hours of attendance will be from 10 a.m. to 

 4 or 5 P.M. 



At the Linnean Society on the 23rd ult. the adjourned 



debate on the observations made by Professor De Bary on the 

 fungus producing the Potato Disease was opened by Mr. 

 Cirruthers, who explained the reasons which had led the 

 eminent professor of Strasbourg to doubt the correctness of 

 Mr. W. G. Smith's observations on the resting-spores. Among 

 the principal objections raised by De Bary are the different 

 diameters of the spawn-threads or mycelium, bearing the 

 antheridium (male) and the oospore (female) respectively. He 

 further questions the connection between the spawn-threads 

 and the resting-spores figured by Mr. Smith ; and from these 

 and other points, such as the septate threads of Mr. Smith's 

 fungus, he considers that Mr. Smith is dealing with two dis- 

 tinct fungi, and that probably the resting-spores found by 

 Mr. Smith are those of a Pythium, and not of a Perinospora. 

 Mr. Berkeley considered that some of the points raised by De 

 Bary in his comments on Mr. Smith's researches were " hyper- 

 critical." He pointed out that Mr. Smith's figures showed 

 the actual process of impregnation taking place between the 

 antheridium on the smaller spawn-threads and the oogonium 

 on the larger spawn-threads, and he concluded by expressing 

 his own opinion that Mr. Smith was right in the main, and 

 that the bodies figured by Mr. Smith are the " true resting- 

 spores of the Potato fungus." 



We have received a copy of the balance sheet of the 



United Horticultural Benefit and Provident Society, and 

 are well pleased to see that it is prosperous. Its members 

 meet monthly, and yet the management expenses last year 

 were only £8 5s. 9(f. The Secretary is Mr. J. F. McElroy, 

 The Gardens, Moray Lodge, Campden Hill, Kensington. 



Mb. Henry Ormson, Stanley Bridge, King's Road, 



Chelsea, has been instructed to erect, from his own designs, 

 an extensive range of iron and glass structures for the Royal 

 Botanic Garden and Polytechnic Institution, Lisbon. 



We have never seen the great decorative value of 



single Wallflowers so fully demonstrated as in the gardens 

 of the Hon. A. Leslie Melville at Branston. In the green- 

 house there — a small span-rooted structure — the display of 

 flowers is sumptuous, and amongst them the Wallflowers are 

 both charming by their perfume and effective by their rich 

 spikes of flowers. These plants have been raised from seed 

 which was sown early in the spring. The plants are dwarf, 

 and have produced from fifteen to thirty-five spikes of flowers 

 each, and have for some time past won the admiration of 

 many visitors. For forcing in pots the single are much pre- 

 ferable to the double varieties, and in order to have the flowers 

 early and the plants fine, seed should be sown at the present 

 time. 



We recommend to those who wish to acquire a know- 

 ledge of our native entomology " Sketches of British Insects, 

 a Handbook for Beginners in the Study of Entomology." 

 The author is the Rev. W. Houghton. It is illustrated with 

 coloured plates and wood engravings, and is both instruotive 

 and amusing. 



At the monthly meeting of the Bath and West op 



England held on the 28th of March, Mr. Gray, as Chair- 

 man of the deputation appointed to visit Bath with reference 

 to the centenary meeting in 1877, reported in favour of Mr. 

 Butler's farm, near the Bear Inn, HoUoway, as the site for the 

 Society's Show Tard, but left the selection of fields for the 

 trial of implements an open question ; and the report having 

 been accepted and approved by the Council, the Field Stewards 

 undertook by the next meeting (April 25th), to furnish a supple- 

 mental report on several matters of detail. The arrangement 

 for the Society's visit to Bath may therefore be taken as finally 

 settled, HoUoway Farm being the site for the Show Yard. 



ONIONS AND THEIR CULTURE. 



Onions, it is recorded, have been cultivated by the Egyptians 

 for upwards of three thousand years, and that they are still 

 highly esteemed by the inhabitants of that " ancient nation." 

 It is uncertain at what period the Onion was introduced into 

 Britain, for it is generally admitted that it is not indigenous 

 to our island, but found its way to our shores at some remote 

 period from central Europe. "The Strasburgh is probably the 

 oldest variety of Onion as it is, perhaps, the hardiest, and in 

 other good qualities it has still few superiors. Thus, although 

 the Onion has for ages been cultivated over a vast extent of 

 the earth's surface, and has constituted a staple article of 

 food of nations ancient and modern, barbarous and civilised, 

 yet no striking advance has been made in the character of the 

 bulb, and " Onions is Onions " has become a proverb. 



That being eo it might seem a matter of surprise that any 

 perplexity might be experienced either in the selection of sorts 

 or on points of culture, yet such perplexities exist, and many 

 a young gardener and amateur cultivator scans with anxiety 

 long lists of names which are presented to him, and compares 

 as well as he can the various testimonials of merit which are 

 generally included in the list and are attached to the greater 

 number of the names, hoping that he may arrive at a correct 

 conclusion and produce something superior to what has been 

 produced before. He glances at " Deptford," and " Spanish," 

 and " Strasburgh," and " Banbury," and " Globe," but these 

 are old names and sorts, and he is looking for improvements, 

 and " Trebons " and " Roccas," and other fine titles have a 

 better sound. But let him be careful, or he may find that 

 Onions are not Onions in the sense that he has anticipated, 

 and may produce a harvest of thick-necked specimens that 

 refuse to lie dormant after Christmas, and that his stock is 

 so " advanced " as to have run away, leaviug him no sound 

 bulbs for the kitchen. 



Let it be recorded by one who has been bitten by the novel- 

 ties in spite of the excellent teaching that he had received, 

 that there is danger in ignoring the old binds. It is from 

 them that the grower must still choose if he would not fail in 

 the supply of this important garden crop. That these kinds 

 are offered under many names is quite true, and not less true 

 is it that they are good. Nuneham Park, Improved Reading, 

 Somebody's " Mammoth," and anybody else's " Prize " are all 

 good so long as they preserve the characteristics of the old 

 sorts, and especially in their keeping properties ; but if size is 

 gained at the expense of soundness it is gaining a loss. To 

 have splendid Onions in September for exhibition is but a 

 poor success, unless they are sound in March onwards. 



There are probably few gardeners but who can remember 

 some favourite saying of their former tutors. It may have 

 been uttered in the broadest vernacular, and have at the time 

 provoked a smile, yet further time may have proved its truth, 

 and now in mature years we admit its usefulness. A favourite 

 boast of one of my tutors, a hard-headed and kind-hearted 

 Yorkshireman, was — " Haave grown Onions for fifty year, an 

 hav nivver mist a crop, an ha nivver grew nout but t' Broon 

 Gloab, an ha nivver sal." Another chief, whom I need not 

 mention, relied on the White Spanish. I once presumptively 

 ignored both their teachings, and " went in " for something 

 " distinct ;" but " never more." I that year bought Onions 

 out of my own pocket to supply a nobleman's house and save 

 my own credit, but again — " never more," for I have since and 



