270 



JOURNAL OP HORTIOULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



( April B, 1878. 



grown one that could be found. He sent me two bulbs : the 

 other I shall submit to the Soientitio Committee of the Royal 

 Horticultural Society next week. — D., Deal. 



[The corm was mora than half decayed, and covered with 

 parasitic fungus. — Eds.] 



SEEICOGEAPHIS GHIESBEEGHTIANA. 



Most useful is this plant for affording a supply of sprays 

 for vase and other[modes of indoor decoration durio'-; the dull 

 months of autumn and 

 winter. Equally useful 

 also are the plants for 

 conservatory and dinner- 

 table decoration during 

 the same period of the 

 year. It is seldom that 

 this plant is found culti- 

 vated in large numbers 

 after the manner of Poin- 

 settias, but it is well 

 worthy of being so grown 

 for its glossy leaves, and 

 the lightness and bright- 

 ness of its feathery spikes 

 render it an admirable as- 

 Foeiate of plants of rigid 

 habit and stately form. 

 The soft scarlet of its 

 flowers is a colour which 

 is pleasing, and well- 

 grown plants are worthy 

 objects of admiration. 



The cultivation of this 

 plant calls for no special 

 skill, it being as easy to 

 grow as a Pelargonium 

 and as certain to flower 

 when its season arrives 

 in October, when it con- 

 tinues in beauty for three 

 or four months. Cuttings 

 inserted at the present 

 time, and the plants 

 grown on the shelf of a 

 Ftove until May, potting 

 and stopping them as re- 

 quired, and placing them 

 in frames in June to make 

 t heir summer growth , will 

 1)8 attractive plants in 

 the autumn, when they 

 should be arranged in 

 a warm conservatory. 



After the flowering sea- 

 son is over water should 

 bo withheld to facilitate 

 the ripening of the shoots, 

 when the plants may be 

 cat down, the soil be 

 shaken from the roots, 

 and be treated precisely as 

 are show Pelargoniums, 

 with a little warmer tem- 

 perature and moister atmosphere. Plants are thus produced 

 3 feet high and through, huge globes of scarlet sprays. 



A suitable compost for the plants is a mixture of loam, peat, 

 and leaf mould in their early stages of growth, finally potting 

 them in richer soil by substituting decayed manure for the 

 peat. I fear that this useful plant is not cultivated so exten- 

 sively 33 its merits deserve, and hence I ask the insertion of 

 these notes. — A Conbeetatory Foeeiian. 



especial attention for pot culture, and for the spring or early 

 summer decoration of the warm greenhouse or conservatory. 



This plant is said to grow wild in northern China, and is 

 largely cultivated by the Chinese florists, who have raised 

 numerous very distinct seedling varieties. Other very hand- 

 some seedlings have been raited in this country, and also on 

 the Continent, especially at Ghent, so that a good collection 

 may now be formed of nearly all shades of pink, flesh, 

 purple, straw colour, yellow, crimson, and white, and some of 

 these are very delicately perfumed. It is difficult to imagine 



more attractive pot plants 

 than these, and their cul- 

 ture is as simple as that 

 of an Azalea or other 

 Chinese shrubs. 



They are generally pro- 

 pagated by grafting a 

 shoot, inlaying or cleft- 

 grafting on a thick piece 

 of the root of the com- 

 mon herbaceous P.'eony 

 (P. officinalis); but cut- 

 tings root freely in the 

 epricg if placed in a close 

 propagating case. New 

 forms are readily raised 

 from seeds, but artiticidl 

 fertilisation is generally 

 necessary to secure good 

 results. The quickest, 

 and for many the most 

 satisfactory plan, is to 

 order a dozen or two of 

 the best varieties from 

 any respectable nursery- 

 man who grows these 

 plants for sale ; and who- 

 ever once gives them a 

 fair trial for conservatory 

 decoration in the spring 

 wiU never care to be with- 

 out them. The flowers 

 look best on the plants ; 

 but for large drawing- 

 room vases they are very 

 attractive. — (B., in Tlie 

 Gardener.) 



THE TREE P^ONY. 

 How ia it that the now numerous and beautiful varieties of 

 Preonia Moutau are so seldom seen in our gardens ? I saw 

 some last summer in the old gardens at Hampton Court bloom- 

 ing v«ry freely in the sheltered border.^ ; and on visiting 

 Belvoir wai delighted to find n noble specimen growing and 

 blooming profusely at the end of the range of vineries. Apart 

 from its use as a half-hardy perennial, however, it deserves 



CARNATIONS AND 

 PICOTEES. 

 In addition to thosa 

 which " D." of Deal re- 

 commends are the follow- 

 ing, than which there are 

 no better : — In Carna- 

 tions SirJ. Paxton (Ely), 

 s.E. ; Lord Raglan (Bow- 

 ers), c E. ; Lord Milton 

 (Ely),c.B. ; Falconbridge 

 (May),p. andp.B. ; Squire 

 Meynell (Brabbins), p.f. ; 

 Juno (Baildon), p.f.; 

 Premier (Millwood), v ¥. ; 

 Clipper (Fletcher), a.F.; John Keet (Whitehead), e.f. ; Maid 

 of Athens (Ely), E f. Iq Piootees John Smith (Bowers), 

 H. red ; Princess of Wales, M.ifed ; Mrs. Summers (Simonite), 

 heavy purple; Ann Lord (Lord), light purple; Mrs. Lord 

 (Loi-d), heavy rose. The abovQ are all equal to any shorts 

 which "D." of Deal mentions, and many are superior, 

 possess good constitutions. — Geoege Rudd, Bradford. 



SEBICOSBAFHIS aHIESBP.EOBTIAN'A. 



Thev 



EAKLY V7RITEBS ON ENGLISH GARDENING. 



No. 11. 

 BEV. JOHN LAURENCE. 

 To the close of the seventeenth century from the earliest 

 period of Christianity its clergy were the chief promoters of 

 the arts and sciences, and the authors and preservers of their 

 literature. Gardening is not an exception to that rule. Gar- 

 deners iu those times were totally illiterate, and to the clergy 

 then living we are indebted for the only publications that im- 



