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JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Jnae 4, 1874. 



two things — that is, the previoiiB preparation which the beds 

 have received, and the freedom of the plants from insect life 

 at the time they are transferred to the beds. In the case of 

 Verbenas and Calceolarias it is useless to expect satisfactory 

 results imlesa the plants are clean and healthy at planting- 

 time, and the staple of the bed in which they are planted in a 

 rich and sweet condition. 



In a general way, and having regard to the greater nnmber 

 of the different sorts of bedding plants, all manurial dressings 

 of a solid description are best applied to flower beds during 

 the winter months, the object in view being to produce a steady 

 growth in the plants without causing an overluxuriauce of 

 foliage. In the case of the Verbena and Calceolaria, however, 

 I find the best time to apply manure to beds of which they 

 are intended to be the chief occupants is a short time before 

 planting them, and in the following way ; — The soil is removed 

 from the surface of the beds to a depth of 7 or 8 inches, and 

 the bottom forked-over with a digging fork ; then a layer of 

 good rotten manure, about -I inches thick, is spread over this, 

 and beaten level and firm with the back of the fork or spade ; 

 after which as much of the surface soil as is necessary to bring 

 the bed up to the right level is spread over the manure. 



On the first fine day, or as soon after as the surface is dry, 

 the beds are trodden rather firmly with the feet, and afterwards 

 gone over with a Dutch hoe to take the feet-marks out. They 

 are then ready for the plants, and I have found the two plants 

 in question do very well in beds prepared in this way. 



All flower beds not occupied with spring flowers should be 

 forked-over twice or thrice. This operation tends to sweeten 

 and warm the soil, making it In a more fit condition to receive 

 the plants, and to sustain them in a healthy state afterwards. 

 — J. Hammond (in The Gardener). 



ALTERNANTHEBAS IN THE NOKTH. 



In answer to Mr. Luckhurst's inquiries about the success of 

 the Alternantheras and Coleus in the north, I can state that 

 an amateur in this neighbourhood (valley of the Derwent, 

 North Durham), whose admiration of carpet bedding was 

 awakened by a visit to Mr. Cannell's establishment at Wool- 

 wich three years ago, has succeeded in growing Alternanthera 

 amccna very fairly in a bed in front of his residence ; and a 

 very pretty effect it has with Golden Feather Pyrethrum, to- 

 gether with Echeverias, Sempervivums, and other succulents. 

 The worst of it is, they make so little growth after they are 

 put out that they have to be good plants to begin with, and 

 put in close together to insure success. This, together with 

 the fact that they are somewhat difficult to winter, tends much 

 to limit their cultivation in the north. The Alternantheras 

 are certainly very pretty and deserve all the attention they 

 require ; and anyone having a stove need have no fear of win- 

 tering them and getting up a stock in spring, for they can be 

 propagated freely and grow luxuriantly in moist heat. — 

 B. Inglis. 



FEUIT PKOSPECTS. 

 In answer to " F. P. G.'s " inquiry as to fruit prospects in 

 other parts of England,! have the pleasure to inform him that 

 here (Diss) in Norfolk, we have a most abundant bloom of 

 Apples and Pears, which seem to be setting well in spite of 

 hard frosts and continueddrought (not rain enough to lay the 

 dust for more tliau sis weeke) ; and I hear the same account 

 from Cambridge and Bedfordshire. — Duckwing. 



I AM glad to say that the blossom on the Apple trees here 

 (South Yorkshire! has been most abundant. My standards 

 have done well, and espaliers better ; but my pyramids, from 

 within a foot of the ground to their tops, 10 feet high, have 

 been a sight worth coming to see, and the same may be said 

 of the Pear trees, with the exception that the Pear trees trained 

 on wire as espaliers have exceeded anything I had believed 

 possible. I shall have a pood crop of Apricots, very few 

 Plums, and no Peaches and Nectarines, both the latter having 

 been full of blossom, but ruined by blight. Strawberries will 

 be a good crop, but not equal to last year. 



The frosts have been very severe, and have prevented some 

 of the late .\pples from setting so much fruit as they should 

 have done; and most people have had their Potatoes ruined. 

 I have saved mine, and expect an early and good crop. My 

 Sutton's Red-skins are only just appearing, as they were put 

 in late ; but I planted Mona's Pride, Sandringham, Myatt's 



Prolific, and Lapstone early in March. They showed all at 

 once in the warm weather before the frosts. I hoed them at 

 once, and kept covering them every night with the hoe until 

 they could no longer be so covered ; then I filled the trenches 

 with wheat straw, and every evening at sunset, if there was a 

 chance of frost, drew the straw over the tops with a rake, 

 removing it about nine o'clock next morning. Notwithstand- 

 ing this, some of the leaves were injured on two nights, but 

 not sufficiently to do any harm. The straw is now removed to 

 the Strawberry beds, and wUl finally go into the ground. I 

 saved my crop last year in the same way.— J. F. W. 



HARDY TERRESTRIAL ORCHIDS. 



ORCHIS M.ISCULA AS A POT PLANT. 



Oxe of the most interesting and attractive features for the- 

 last two or three years at the spring shows at the Regent's Park 

 and South Kensington has undoubtedly been the small but 

 charming groups of hardy terrestrial British and south Euro- 

 pean Orchids sent from York House, Twickenham, by H.R.H. 

 the Comte de Paris. His Royal Highness is not alone an en- 

 thusiastic admirer, but in every way intimately acquainted with 

 these singularly interesting wildings, and possesses perhaps the 

 most varied and successfully cultivated collection of them to be 

 found in Britain, or, indeed, anywhere else. We should like to 

 see many others imbued with a similarly refined taste, and take 

 up the cultivation of these little gems. It is not so difficult 

 a matter as many seem to think ; and as most horticultural 

 journals have recorded the details of the very successful mode 

 of cultivation practised by Mr. Needle, gardener to H.R.H., 

 none who may try to grow them need go blindly to work. 



We are led to allude to the cultivation of these interesting 

 little plants on the present occasion by a letter just received 

 from a friend in county Cork. Some two years since, about; 

 this time of year, happening to be in that part of the world, 

 we ailed at his residence, charmingly situated on the " pleasant 

 waters of the river Lee,'' and were particularly taken with a 

 very novel feature in his garden — namely, an oblong bed of 

 Orchis mascula in full flower. It was effective and striking as 

 it was novel, and, except as regards sameness of colour, its 

 appearance was quite that of a bed of Hyacinths, and just as 

 telling. 



Now, with regard to the behaviour of this most familiar of 

 our wild Orchises as a pot plant. In the letter above alluded 

 to our friend incidentally alludes to it thus : — " I had really 

 wonderful value this spring with Orchis mascula in pots. Some 

 of them have three and four spikes, fully 12 inches high. They 

 are better than Hyacinths, and remain three times as long in 

 flower ; they are about the most easily managed things I know 

 of." Is not this encouraging? And how many more even finer 

 subjects have we at our doors, the cultivation of which would 

 be equally easy ? — as, for instance, the fragrant Gymnadenia 

 conopsea, with its tall purple spikes; Orchis latifolia, in its 

 varied forms ; 0. morio, the Bee Orchis ; Listera ovata, the 

 white Habenarias, &c., all of which we have reason to know 

 are capable of being wonderfully developed under cultivation. 

 — (Irish Farmer's Gazette.) 



ALEXANDRA PALACE AND PARK, 

 MU SWELL HILL. 



Having had occasion in my capacity as Honorary Secretary 

 of the Metropolitan Floral Society to visit the Alexandra Park, 

 I have thought that perhaps a few notes concerning it might 

 be acceptable ; for its past history is not without interest to 

 horticulturists, and I would fain hope that its future may be 

 of greater interest still. One's memory goes back not only to 

 the Show which was held there at its opening last year — a 

 show of the grandeur of which it would be impossible to speak 

 too highly — but to one of an older date, when plants kept- 

 pouring in, and tent after tent had to be added, and when the 

 fineness of the day, the grand scenery of the park, and the 

 prospect from the high ground it occupies made it, in con- 

 nection with the splendid collections of plants, a day long to 

 be remembered by all who were present. The Exhibition of 

 last year was so fully reported in the .Journal that there is no 

 need to do more than to refer to it, as one in which the 

 liberality of the Directors was amply rewarded by the excel- 

 lence and variety of the exhibits. 



It might have been thought that the terrible fire which 

 levelled the building with the ground so soon after its opening 

 would have utterly destroyed the hopes of those who had any 



