318 



JOUENAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ April 30, 1874. 



really is not wanted the principle might be advantageously 

 applied to boiler-heating for horticultural purposes, and I 

 know a really well-contrived conical boiler takes a great deal of 

 beating, and that, perhaps, has as small a space of heating 

 eurface as any. 



If " A EiMBLisG C.E." still insists on the superiority of the 

 tubular boiler over the saddle, why is it that so many of the 

 latter are still in use ? And if he has any doubts of the popu- 

 larity of the latter over the former, let him ask the first half- 

 dozen hothouse builders and hot-water apparatus manufac- 

 turers which they have the more orders for, and which is the 

 more generally and successfully adopted, and I have a shrewd 

 guess that the saddle will offer a proportion of two or three to 

 one. The majority of gardeners uow-a-days are too shrewd and 

 clear-headed to allow any real improvement to pass unnoticed; 

 and if they prefer simplicity and usefulness to intricacy, inge- 

 nuity, and difficulty, so much the more to their credit. As 

 both boilers have now been sufficiently long known to be 

 tested by the hard censorship of every- day practice, I shall 

 willingly give in if the friends of the tubular boiler exceed in 

 numbers and outweigh in practice those of the saddle ; but 

 until that be done, "A Rambling C.E.," who says reaUy 

 nothing about horticultural heating, will excuse me if I still 

 adhere to a good old friend, " the saddle boiler." — J. Roeson. 



FLOWEES FOR OUB BORDERS.— No. 30. 



LILIUSI SZOVITZIANUM.— SzoviTz's LiLV. 

 Among hardy bulbous plants the Lilies have long stood pre- 

 eminent for their beauty and stately grandeur, and recent 

 introductions have invested this genus with much additional 

 popularity. Few of the more recently-introduced species, 

 however, exceed in interest L. Szovitzianum, first cultivated iu 

 this country under the name of L. colchicum, by Messrs. H. 

 Low it Co., of the Clapton Nurseries. 



Ulium Szovitzianum. 



The figure accompanying this article conveys but a very 

 inadequate idea of its ornamental value, having been drawn 

 from a single flower furnished many years since by the late 

 Mr. H. Groom, of Clapham Rise, an enthusiastic and very 

 successful cultivator of the rarer species of Lily and other 

 bulbous plants. In the ease of strong bulbs the stem reaches 

 the height of from 3 to 4 feet, and yields from six to ten 

 drooping flowers disposed in a scattered raceme. In the fully- 

 developed blossom the petals are more revolute than in the 

 figure. The colour is a brilliant citron yellow, speckled inter- 

 nally with purple-crimson, and stained at the base externally 

 with dull purple. 



Tlie flowers exhale the most delicious and powerful fragrance, 

 perceptible at some distance, and it is, in fact, a question 

 whether any other of the numerous species of this genus exceeds 

 it iis the sweetness and diffusiveness of its perfume. 



The foliage is scattered, broadly lanceolate, smooth above, 

 but paler and somewhat hairy on the under surface and on 

 the margins. Bulb rather largo, with yellowish scales. By 

 the best authorities this plant is regarded as but a variety of 

 the L. monadelphium, from which it is distinguished by its 

 stamens not being united at the base, by the red colour of its 

 pollen, by its longer style, as well as by some other minute 

 characters. Like most of the species it is quite hardy against 

 cold, and will succeed iu any good substantial garden soU as 

 well as in peat, but is liable to suffer from excessive wet, and 

 precautions should therefore be taken to insure thorough 

 drainage. Should the conditions of local climate render it 

 desirable, protection against heavy rainfalls may be aiiorded 

 by placing over the bulb a large inverted flower-pot, the open- 

 ing being closed in wet weather. 



Owing to the somewhat slow rate of increase of the bulbs of 

 this genus, new species are less rapidly disseminated than in 

 the case of plants readily propagated by seeds, and Lilium 

 Szovitzianum is, therefore, in common with several other re- 

 cently-imported species, rather rare and expensive. It is true 

 that most, if not all of the Lilies, ripen seed under favourable 

 circumstances, which vegetates quickly if sown as soon as 

 gathered, but several years usually elapse before the bulbs 

 are of sufficient size to flower. 



Notwithstanding this drawback, however, we do not hesitate 

 to recommend to those of our readers who may be endowed 

 with a sufficient stock of patience, the propagation of the Lily 

 tribe by seed. — {W. Thompson's English Flower Garicn, Re- 

 vised hij the Author.) 



PEARS WITH HARDY BLOSSOMS. 



[Although the experience recorded in the following com- 

 munication was gained in America, its teaching is applicable 

 everywhere. The subject deserves the attention of all Pear- 

 growers, and the writer is a practical gardener and trust- 

 worthy. — Eds.] 



There is certainly a great difference in varieties as to the 

 hardiness of the blossoms. Varieties which thoroughly ma- 

 ture their growth early of both wood and bud, most success- 

 fully withstood the freezing of winter and the frosts of spring. 



The blossoms on young trees are often killed when on older 

 trees of the same variety they will not be harmed, and killed 

 on low stations, and escape on elevated ones. 



On girdled Umbs I have often seen the blossoms set well, when 

 on the other branches of the tree every bloom would fail. 



I have seen where the tendril of a Grape Vine would in the 

 summer twine around a small twig and cause it to mature its 

 growth, and the following season the blossoms from this would 

 mature fruit when all others on the same tree would fail from 

 spring frosts. 



Loui-ie Bonne of Jersey is one of the most noted examples 

 of hardy blossoms. 



Belle Lucrative appears as if it particularly delighted in 

 producing a full crop when all others fail. Flemish Beauty 

 does not bloom in as great profusion as some others, but every 

 blossom sticks, and a good crop of fruit is sure to follow. The 

 same may be said of Swan's Orange. Easter Beurre, three 

 years grafted into a bearing tree, produced last year on four 

 of the grafts, not over 3 feet in length, from 6 to 12 fine large 

 specimens each (the previous season did as well on two of the 

 grafts). This was a good showing of its bearing qualities in 

 the midst of a general fruit failure. To have endured the late 

 cold winter and the spring frosts, and to have thus produced 

 at once, places it on the list of hardy varieties. 



The White Doyenne, Seckle, Urbaiaiste, and Julienne may be 

 named with the foregoing as not only among the hardiest Pear 

 trees, but as having blossoms possessing in a high degree the 

 <|uality of resisting the frost. The Bartlett, Vicar, Dachess, 

 Glou Morc^'eau, and the Beurre Clairgeau are scarcely less pro- 

 ductive, but have been more severely injured by the late cold 

 winter than the other sort.-i which I have stated. 



All pro.lufod some fruit with me (1873), and thev have often 

 liornn full tihpn other varieties (not herein named) were fruit- 

 less from the blossoms having fallen off. 



Iu the vear 1868, after almost constant rain for two weeks, 

 a frost fnil on the morning of the 7th of May. The Apples 

 were nearly a total failure, but most of these Pears produced 

 from half'to full crops of fruit that season. The excessive 

 lain ill this instance may have damaged blossoms more than 

 tVio frost : be that as it may, it shows the Pear, for once at 

 least, to have been more hardy in blossom than the Apple. 



