so 



JOUENAL OP HOETICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENEB. 



( July 15, 1875. 



quires no tacking nor tying, cannot do better than try thia 

 Ficus, which ia probably a miniature and distinct form of 

 F. repens, — W. 



SOLANDEA GRANDIFLORA. 

 This belongs to a splendid genus of plants named in honour 

 of Daniel Charles Solander, LL.D., a Swedish botanist of great 

 celebrity. He was the 

 companion of the re- 

 nowned Sir Joseph 

 Banks in the memor- 

 able voyage of disco- 

 very round the world, 

 and was the collector 

 of the botanical notes 

 made during that expe- 

 dition, and which are 

 now preserved in the 

 British Museum. The 

 plant, a bloom of which 

 we figure, is by no 

 means commonly to be 

 met with in cultiva- 

 tion. This is not, how- 

 ever, because it is not 

 beautiful, but rather 

 that it is somewhat 

 shy in producing Its 

 flowers. Besides the 

 flowers being striking- 

 ly attractive by their 

 Brugmansia-like form 

 and pale yellow colour, 

 the foliage is also agree- 

 able, and the plant ia 

 worthy of being culti- 

 vated in our stoves. 

 For a number of years 

 after its introduction 

 In 1781 this plant did 

 not bloom. It was pro- 

 pagated and grew lux- 

 uriantly. The treat- 

 ment necessary for the 

 production of flowers 

 was found out by acci- 

 dent, a plant being 

 overlooked and left in 

 a dry stove at Kew. 

 This plant produced 

 foliage of only mode- 

 rate luxuriance, and 

 produced a flower at 

 the extremity of every 

 shoot. This suggested 

 that a period of rest 

 was necessary, and on 

 its being afforded the 

 difliculty in blooming 

 this plant vanished. 

 The plant is propagat- 

 ed from cuttings, which 

 should be grown on 

 in loam and peat in a 

 brisk heat and with li- 

 beral supplies of water 

 until it has attained 

 a good size. Water 



should then be gradually withheld until the leaves wither and 

 drop off by droughty and the plant will seldom refuse to flower 

 profusely. It is a free-growing plant and a native of Jamaica, 

 thus requiring heat to grow it, yet a distmct season of drought 

 and rest to induce the production of its beautiful flowers. 



remedy is in checking the sap by an incision of the stem of 

 the fruit. 



Pears crack, first as the result of spring frosts injuring the 

 fruit in its infancy, and is then incurable and mostly unpre- 

 yentible ; and second by drought. Thia is preventible if water 

 is provided, and time to apply it freely. With a pair of Citron 

 des Carmes Pear trees I have tried experiments with watering 

 — soaking one tree thoroughly, and not giving a drop to the 



other. I have done 

 this for some years, 

 first with one and then 

 with the other. Ex- 

 cept when spring frosts 

 have injured both by 

 superinducing crack- 

 ing, the watered tree 

 has invariably given 

 the largest, most juicy, 

 and smooth fruit, that 

 on the other tree being 

 more or less cracked. 

 The power of free wa- 

 tering in preventing 

 the cracking of the 

 fruit has been very 

 striking. 



Do not many of our 

 fruit trees on a sub- 

 stratum of chalk, gra- 

 vel, or limestone suffer 

 by lack of a sufficient 

 water supply in the hot 

 summer months? — A 

 New Subscriber. 



Fig. 7.— SoLiNDF.A GEANDIFLORA, 



THE CBACKING OF FRUITS. 

 This arises from different causes. In Grapes and Melons it 

 is generally the result of an excessive influx of sap after a 

 period of comparative drought — that is, when the autumn 

 rains set-in in the one ease, and when the roots penetrate into 

 the rotted dung of the hotbed in the other. In both cases the 



Flower-seed Farsi- 

 ING. — The large acre- 

 age devoted to this pur- 

 pose by Messrs. Carter 

 of High Holborn, in 

 connection with their 

 vegetable and farm- 

 seed crops, at the pre- 

 sent time afford a de- 

 lightful sight. A pass- 

 ing glimpse is obtained 

 just after leaving Man- 

 ningtree station on the 

 Great Eastern Rail- 

 way ; but it is only the 

 visitor to the Dedham 

 and St. Osyth farms 

 that can fully realise 

 the beauties presented 

 by the broad acres in 

 every possible shade 

 of colour of Convolvu- 

 luses, Lupinus, Sweet 

 Peas, Nasturtiums, Lo- 

 belias, Clarkias, Lark- 

 spurs (Delphiniums), 

 and the like blazing 

 under a July sun — 

 cultivated under the 

 skilful management of 

 Mr. Dunnett, one of 

 the principals. This 

 is a rich and extensive 



display, and is well worthy of a visit by all lovers of popular 



flowers. 



KNOTT'S GREEN, LEYTON, 



THE RESIDENCE OF .1. G. BARCLAY, ESQ. 



This is one of the largest and best-kept places in the neigh- 

 bourhood of London, and it is quite suburban, being situated 

 in the Lea Bridge Eoad, about a mile from Lea Bridge station 

 on the Great Eastern Railway — just outside the dust and tur- 

 moil of the great city. The bead gardener is Mr. D. Donald, 

 well known to fame as an exhibitor at the metropolitan exhi- 

 bitions. At the time when the fine collection of stove and 

 greenhouse plants formed by the late Mrs. Lawrence of Ealing 



