3S2 



JOURNAL OF HORTIOUIiTDRE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



I May n, 1874. 



a fine box of Mushrooms, which also received a cultural com- 

 naeiidation. From Mr. Hooley came specimeus of Ribbon-leaf 

 Broccoli, which were passed by the Committee. Mr. Allau, 

 gardener, Guuton Park, Norwich, exhibited a bundle of Aspa- 

 ragus, which was also passed. Mr. Dean, Bedfont Nursery, 

 sent a sample of Curled Parsley, which was of no high merit, 



Mr. Miller, Clumber, exhibited a box of British Queen Straw- 

 berry ; and Messrs. Monro & Wilkinson, Potter's Bar, sent a fine 

 box of Sir C. Napier Strawberry, to which a cultural com- 

 mendation was awarded. A basket of very fine fruit of Sir J. 

 Puxton and President Strawberries came from Mr. Bennett, of 

 Hatfield. These also received a cultural commendation. Two 

 "White fleshed Melons named The Czar, came from Mr. Ward, 

 gardener to T. N. Miller, Esq., Bishop Stortford, which the Com- 

 mittee thought were very good, but requested speeimens to be 

 submitted to them again later in the season. From Messrs. 

 Sherratt & Co., nurserymen, Knypersley Gardens, Congleton, 

 came a dish of the Kuraquat, Citrus japonica, for the ornamental 

 fruit of which a cultural commendation was given. 



Floral Committee. — W. B. Kellock, Esq., in the chair- 

 Messrs. E. G. Henderson & Son had a first-class certificate for 

 Haemanthus Cooperi, with large, showy, reddish-orange flower- 

 heads. The same firm also sent Hydrangea japonica speciosa, 

 with a broad, irregular white stripe in the centre of the leaf, and 

 which appears likely to be useful as a variegated plant ; also a 

 collection of their strain of Mimulus, for which a cultural com- 

 mendation was awarded. Mr- Williams, HoUoway, took first- 

 class certificates for Gymnogramma triangularis, a very neat 

 little species with pale sulphury-powdered fronds, and a similar 

 distinction was awarded him for the elegant Adiantum gracilli- 

 mum. Messrs- Veitch sent Azalea Mrs. Scorer, a very pleasing 

 and effective bright rose-coloured variety, and very free-flower- 

 ing, though not perfect in outline, and Tea Rose Duchess of 

 Edinburgh, which had been before exhibited and reported on, and 

 which now received a first-class certificate. Similar awards 

 were made to Mr. Braid, nurseryman, Winchmore Hill, for large- 

 flowered Pelargonium Duchess of Edinburgh, which as a market 

 kind of compact habit and remarkable frefdom of flowering, 

 will take a high place ; to Mr- R. Dean, Ealing, for bedding 

 Pansy White Swan; to Messrs. Jackman for Clematis Robert 

 Hanbury; and to Messrs. Lane for Azalea mollis Alphonse 

 Lavallce with reddish-orange flowers. Several other varieties of 

 other colours were also exhibited along with it, and had a very 

 showy effect. As a proof of the hardiness of this breed of 

 Azaleas, G. F. Wilson, Esq., sent cut flowers from plants which 

 had been exposed to the late frosts, and which were hardly per- 

 ceptibly affected by them- First-class certificates were also 

 granted to Mr. Croucher, gardener to J. Peacock, Esq., Ham- 

 mersmith, for Agave micrantha picta with leaves striped with 

 greenish white, Mamillaria lougispina with long paper-white 

 spines, very ornamental, and Agave filifera superba ; to Messrs. 

 Rullisson, Tooting, for Hypolepis Bergiana ; and to Mr. Douglas, 

 gardener to F. Whitbourn, Esq., Loxford Hall, for Aquilegia 

 leptocera lutea, a very ornamental variety with large, yellow, 

 long-spurred flowers. Mr- Fairbairn, gardener to W- Terry, 

 Esq., Peterborough House, Fulham, had a cultural commenda- 

 tion for one of the finest specimeus of Medinilla magnifica ever 

 seen, having, it was stated, no less than eighty panicles of its 

 rose-coloured flowers. 



EUCALYPTI AND OTHER AUSTR.\LIAN PL.\NTS. 



A GREAT many questions have of late been asked and an- 

 swered about the Eucalypti, and probably there will be in this 

 country many too sanguine planters of the different varieties 

 of that tree. The south of France and Algeria, where they 

 have been largely planted, are localities in which we should 

 expect success in the cultivation of Australian plants ; but in 

 England, although there are undoubtedly many instances of 

 species of the Eucalypti surviving our ordinary winters, the 

 resnlt can hardly be called encouraging; and those who think 

 with me that it is ever preferable to have a flourishing rather 

 than a mere existing tree or shrub, will do well to pause before 

 they trust to plants whose habitat is found in a climate so 

 essentially unlike our own. 



On the Scilly Islands I have seen E. globulus (the Blue Gura 

 tree) and E. obliquus (the Stringy Bark tree) with an undamaged 

 growth of many years, but owing to their wind-swept posi- 

 tion theirs was the character of large shrubs rather than of 

 trees. In those islands, however, the winter temperature 

 ranges so high that the year passes without more than 1° or 2" 

 of frost. On the adjoining mainland of West Cornwall around 

 Mount's Bay from 4° to 5° may be taken as an average, though 

 in 1873 and 1874 not 2° seem to have been registered. Through 

 this E globulus and E. amygdifolius passed undaraage-l even in 

 their tender autumnal shoots. .\.nd here i*. seem-; to me it is that 

 the great difiiculty in the cultivation of these trees will be expe- 



rienced. Like other natives of the antipodes their seasons of 

 growth are the contrary to our English ones, so that in late 

 autumn we find shoots that require a summer's ripening, 

 instead of which they are at once exposed to autumnal frosts. 

 In some measure, no doubt, acclimatisation would gradually 

 obviate this natural tendency ; but such an annual nipping 

 will not only injure the growth and consequent appearance of 

 the tree, but will also eventually impair its vitality. 



But even supposing that E. globulus, of which such great 

 sanitary properties are reported, would stand our English 

 climate, I much doubt whether our landscape scenery would 

 be benefited by its introduction. The dull blue tint of its 

 foliage, described as so monotonous in its native habitat, might 

 indeed here and there serve as a foil to our own light shades 

 of green, but certainly it would he no desirable general feature ; 

 and further, at its best the tree has, I am told, a ragged un- 

 taking appearance. 



Some time hence I may be able to say more about these trees^ 

 for I have planted out several varieties, including E. globulus, 

 E. obliquus, E. armigerus, E. vimiuialis, and E. Riseloni(?), 

 so at least was the seed named from which the last-named 

 plants were raised, but I have not been able to certify the 

 correctness of this name, so some better-informed person may^ 

 perhaps, be able to set me right about it. 



I am experimenting upon many Australian and Tasmania^ 

 plants — Acacias, Hakeas, Melaleuca, Kennedyas, and others. 

 All these have stood uninjured through the past winter, but 

 that was far too exceptional to warrant any general conclusion. 

 Acacia dealbata, however, I have seen near Penzance 20 leet ia 

 height, and of beautiful form, and its end came through wind, 

 not frost. — W., South Cornwall. 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 

 The fine Bhotan Rhododendron Nuttallii is now flowering 

 in the collection of C. M. Major, Esq., Cromwell House, Croydon. 

 The truss of bloom, which consists of seven flowers, measures 

 upwards of a foot across ; the flowers are funnel-shaped and 

 pure white within, saving a tinge of gold colour in the throat ; 

 the outside, however, is suffused with a delicate shade of light 

 rose. 



At the Wimbledon Horticultural Society's Ex- 

 hibition on June 10th and 11th, there are seven classes, open 

 to all comers, nurserymen excepted, to which we would call 

 the attention of amateurs round London — viz., for nine mis- 

 cellaneous Foliage or Flowering Plants, first 80s., second, 60s., 

 third 40s.; six Tricolor Geraniums, .30s., 20s., 10s. ; six Fuchsias, 

 40s., 30s., 20s.; six Exotic Ferns, 40s., 30s., 20s.; collection 

 of Fruits, six sorts, 40s., 30s., 20s.; collection of Vegetables, 

 twelve varieties, 40s., 30s., 20s. ; twenty-four Roses in pots 

 (not exceeding 8 inches in diameter), a silver medal. 



At the banquet given by the First Lord of the Ad- 

 miralty and Mrs. Ward Hunt to the Duke and Duchess at 

 Edinburgh, at the Admiralty, the entire floral decorations, 

 bouquets, &c., were supplied by the Pine- Apple Nursery Com- 

 pany. They were profuse in number and of the choicest de- 

 scription. Among them were exquisite Orchids, fine speeimens 

 of Anthurium Scherzerianum, Curculigo recurvata variegata, 

 Coaos Weddeliana, the new Dracsinas Baptistii, D. Shepherdii, 

 D. imperialis, and D. Fraseri, also Pandanus Veitchii, and 

 Adiantum farleyense. 



The decorations of the premises of Messrs. J. Weeks 



and Co. on the oecasiou of the opening of the Chelsea Thames 

 Embankment were very effective. Draped archways, trophies, 

 and flags were well arranged, but the plants and floral decora- 

 tions, as was to be expected, were especially excellent and ad- 

 mired. Azaleas, Clematises, Roses, and other popular plants 

 were there in profusion, and among the more rare were splen- 

 did specimeus of Dracrena terminalis, Drac.nsna australis. Yuccas, 

 &a., forming a display seldom seen in out-door decoration. 



ARISTOLOCHIAS. 

 Pliny, about 1800 years ago, wrote of these, " They are in 

 the number of the most celebrated plants." He referred to 

 their reputed medicinal qualities, but his character of the 

 genus is now applicable if we only consider the beauty, ex- 

 traordiniry form, and size of the flowers of the stove species. 

 We refer to our notes at random, and the first we have there 

 is Aristohicliia qifjus, which flowered in Europe for the first 

 time at Chiswick in 1841. Hartweg sent it from Guatemala, 

 and its flowers astonished everyone, for they are the largest of 



