April 27, 1876. ] 



JOUENAL OP HOBTIOULTURE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



333 



ing group, and are more useful under glass than in the flower 



borders. 



SUTTON'S WHITE SPROUTING BROCCOLI. 



This is the most distinct and most productive Broccoli of 

 the kind that I have ever grown, and as such I wiah to call 

 attention to it now that the time has come to sow seed of it 

 to raise plants for next season's use. With me it has como in 

 a little before the Purple Sprouting. It is a compact grower, 

 and appears to have a hardy constitution. You can cut a fair- 

 sized head, and the sprouts come in well in succession. 



My pliuts are not large, neither do I ever grow them large, 

 fori believe Broecolis can be and are often overgrown, espe- 

 cially the sprouting kinds, when severe frosts often prove fatal 

 to them. While on this matter let me ask. Is it true that in 

 general every little plant of Broccoli has been destroyed 

 by the rigour of winter ? In some less severe winters whole 

 acres have been swept o£f by the frost ; and if what I ask be 

 true, I should think it would be a matter worth a little dis- 

 cussion and inquiry as to the probable cause. — TnoMis Eecokd. 



ACHIMENES AND THEIR CULTURE. 



Flowees "all the year round" must be provided in green- 

 houses and conservatories, or the structures fail in the purpose 

 for which they were erected. Perhaps the spring and early 

 summer, or from the present time till July, is the period 

 when such structures are in their zenith of beauty ; for be- 

 sides forced flowers, some of the finest genera of plants are in 

 " fullest natural beauty " at the season named. But these 

 families of plants — Cyclamens, Cinerarias, Calceolarias, and 

 Pelargoniums — must have their successors, and the more dis- 

 tinct these are in habit and colour from the flowers blooming 

 in the open air the more effective will they be when arranged 

 in the houses. 



Now, Achimenes are thoroughly dissimilar from all outdoor- 

 flowering plants both in habit and, the majority also, in the 

 colours of the flowers. The plants are, further, of easy culture, 

 provided they can, especially in the early stages of growth, bo 

 afforded artificial heat. Many valuable additions have recently 

 been made to this handsome genus of plants, and no garden 

 of importance can be considered completely furnished with 

 summer decorative plants which does not contain a collection 

 of Achimenes. 



Where tubers are plentiful the work of producing fine pots, 

 pans, or baskets of Achimenes is comparatively easy, for the 

 tubers can be planted suiEciently closely together that without 

 any, or very little, stopping of the plants fine masses of growth 

 and flowers can be obtained ; but where tubers are scarce, as, 

 for instance, in purchasing new sorts, greater cultural care is 

 required to produce plants of an effective size the first season. 

 Yet with even a limited number of tubers good plants may be 

 perfected, as I will proceed to show. 



Some years ago on entering on a new charge in April I found 

 that the garden was destitute of Achimenes. I found also a 

 large conservatory, and which the family expected to be very 

 attractive on their return from their town mansion in August. 

 I at once ordered two dozen pots of Achimenes, which arrived 

 during the third week of the month. They were in 3-inch 

 pots, each pot containing three plants about half an inch high. 

 With this small beginning I determined to make as good an 

 ending as possible, but did not anticipate the " large " results 

 that followed. 



The tiny plants were growing in peat, and were placed on a 

 shelf in the Cucumber house, and were carefully watered and 

 syringed, and were slightly shaded in bright weather. When 

 3 inches high their points were taken out, and shortly, instead 

 of having three shoots in each pot, I had in the case of some 

 sorts six and in others nine shoots. When these had pushed 

 half an inch the plants were potted into o-inch pots in a mix- 

 ture of two-thirds of peat and one-third of old Mushroom-bed 

 manure, with a free admixture of sand and lumps of charcoal. 

 After becoming established in these pots the plants were again 

 stopped, and the shoots increased in number from fifteen to 

 twenty-seven in each pot, according to the sorts, some break- 

 ing three eyes and others two. The plants with careful atten- 

 tion grew rapidly and were pinched a third time, and some of 

 them produced as many as a hundred shoots. These were 

 trained thinly out from the first, so that each grew sturdily. 

 The plants were eventually shifted into 8-inch pots, and were 

 afforded a compost of loam, leaf mould, old Mushroom-bed 

 manure and bruised charcoal in equal parts. 



By the end of June the plants were too large for the shelf in 

 the Cacumber house and were moved to cold frames — that is, 

 to frames having no artificial heat. A "cold" frame at that 

 period is, however, what Mr. Abbey once said, really a warm 

 stove if carefully ventilated and the sun heat conserved. On 

 chilly nights the glass was covered for a time, and ventilation 

 was as carefully attended to as for a house of Vines or Melons 

 in early spring. The plants were regularly sprinkled, also 

 slightly shaded and kept as close as possible, provided the 

 temperature did not exceed 83°. The ashes on which the pots 

 were placed were also kept moist, and especially in the day- 

 time when the sun was powerful. The frames were closed 

 early each afternoon. Under this warm-frame treatment the 

 growth was more vigorous than in the Cucumber house, and 

 some of the plants were in the autumn 3 1 feet in diameter, 

 and almost complete balls of flowers, the weaker-growing kinds 

 being proportionally less yet equally satisfactory. They were 

 greatly admired by all who saw them, and few could believe 

 that from three tiny tubers potted in spring such rich masses 

 of fine flowers could bo produced in the autumn. 



The secret of my success in growing these plants may be 

 expressed in two words — unremitting attention. I have grown 

 Achimenes for twenty seasons since and have had unlimited 

 supplies of tubers, but I have never had such fine masses as 

 from the first " small beginning " alluded to. Tubers, soil, 

 means, conveniences cannot compensate for anxious, solicitous, 

 personal care in the cultivation of these or any other family of 

 plants. Those cultivators who succeed the best do not simply 

 give orders and leave someone else to attend to the plants. 

 It is not by that system that Mr. Baines succeeded, nor is it 

 by following out the same system that Mr. Ward, Mr. Douglas, 

 and other cultivators so often head the Usts at exhibitions. 

 No : the winning men are the working men, as many examples 

 prove ; and it was by simply working harder, paying closer 

 and more thoughtful attention than usual to my small but 

 precious stock of Achimenes, that they increased to such large 

 dimensions. 



When an article is plentiful it appears to lose value and 

 does not receive that care to which its intrinsic merits entitle 

 it. When we have plenty of Achimenes tubers we are apt to 

 "take things easy," feeling a sort of self-satisfied consciousness 

 that " that crop is at any rate safe." But we forget that it is 

 on us as the cultivators and not on the numbers of the plants 

 that success depends. We have plenty of tubers and we use 

 them freely, sowing them almost like sowing seeds. We know 

 that Achimenes start well in peat, therefore peat is used ; 

 but although the plants start well in peat they do not always 

 finish well in it, and hence it is that failures are common 

 when tubers are plentiful — they are lavishly placed in soil that 

 lacks sustaining power ; twenty plants are perhaps raised in a 

 pot that does not contain food for half the number, and a 

 good beginning results in a bad ending. Achimenes, like most 

 other plants having fine hair-like roots, start well in peat ; but 

 when a large number of plants are placed in one pot — and the 

 plan is an excellent one — the peat alone will not sustain them 

 throughout their season of growth. Beneath the peat should 

 be placed soil richer in plant-food than peat, and more lasting 

 in its character. 



In potting the tubers when they are plentiful a mistake is 

 often made in filling the pots too full of soil. That is a very 

 simple matter, but is, nevertheless, the cause of many, if not 

 of most, failures in plant culture. A first-class plant-grower 

 never makes a mistake of that kind. He provides his plants 

 with soil, and also provides the means of keeping that soil 

 replenished with food for his plants, and this cannot be done 

 when the pots are filled too lull of soil. Before plants can 

 have a sufficiency of food in a liquid state space must be 

 afforded to hold the hquid. Achimenes when in free growth 

 require much water, and frequently need more than they 

 receive, simply because an inadequate amount of water-hold- 

 ing space is provided at the surface of the pots. Therefore 

 when many tubers are potted in one, and possibly the bloom- 

 ing pot, let the drainage be ample, the soil rich and rough at 

 the bottom, the surface light, and the pots not filled — if large, 

 to within 2 inches of their rims. If that plan is adopted too 

 many tubers will not spoil the plants ; but if it is not adopted 

 —if the pots are filled quite full of light soil only— then the 

 plants cannot receive the support which they need, and plenty 

 (as is too commonly the case), ends in comparative failure.^ 



Besides being adapted for cultivation in pots of various 

 sizes, Achimenes are amongst the finest of basket plants. 

 Baskets lined with moss and filled with suitable soil may be 



