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JOURNAL OP HOSTICULTDEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ September 9, 1875. 



Ill as an attempt would be to pot a wooden head upon a pair 

 ■ i buman ehonlders that had their proper " pod " split ! 



The question is put to me what the rule signifies at the 

 National that a " mutilated " flower is difqualiCed. I cannot 

 -ly much for the word here, except as an accepted techuicality ; 

 "ut I liuow very well what it means. It means that though 

 voumay drees your Carnations and Picotees and pull any- 

 ihing bad out of them, you may not gum anything good into 

 or upon them. — F. D. Hoener, Kirkby Malzearil, Ripon. 



ESTIMATE OF 8TEAWBEREIES. 



" C. P. P." (page 150) requests of the readers of our Journal 

 their experience with regard to new Strawberries raised by Dr. 

 Rodeu and Dr. Nicaise. Of the former we have Enchantress, 

 Sir John Falstafit, Early Crimson Pine, and the Countess, all 

 first-rate sort?, which cannot fail to give general satisfaction 

 when more widely known. For my part they stand on the top 

 of a choice collection. Of Dr. Nicaise's last seedlings we have 

 Maria Nioaise, Auguste Nicaise, Btrlhe Jlontjoie, Due do 

 Magenta and Mad. Nicaise, which I consider the cream of the 

 whole lot; tbey are all veiy largo, handsome, and of fine 

 flavour, besides being of healthy vigorous growth and great 

 fertility. 



Comte de Zahn (in Mrs. Nicholson's catalogue Comte de 

 Zanf) ought to bo Comte de Flandres, an old Belgian sort ; it 

 is indeed an enormous bearer, but the plant rather too tender 

 with lauky foliage to ripen its mass of fruit to the last. The 

 quality is but poor and the fruit very soft, for which reason I 

 discarded it many years ago. 



During the past season we have seen of what little use it is 

 to grow soft Strawberries, such as Marguerite, Brown's Wonder, 

 and a host of others, which when nearly ripe were but a mass 

 of decayed matter ; whilst La Constanfe, Sir Joseph Paxtou, 

 Unser Fritz, Cockscomb, Sir John Falstailf, Sabreur, the 

 Countess, Duke of Edinburgh, Souvenir de Kieff, and Dr. Hogg 

 endured a four-days drenching rain in July quite unhurt. 



Princess of Wales (Knight) is very early and good, but I 

 find it in some seasons a had setter. 



La Grease SuciL^e (De Jonghe) is all what Mr. W. Level 

 says of it, page 182. In the Eoyal Gardens at Frogmore it is 

 likewise much prized. I have had it in perfection in both 

 light sandy and strong loamy soil. — FEEDI^"A^'D Gloede, Eppin- 

 dorf, Hamburgh. 



PLAMTS FOE CUT FLOWEES AND SPEAYS. 



No. I. 



Collections of plants have long been on the wane, though 

 in some large establishments, and even in some of moderate 

 pretensions, collections of some tribes of plants are aimed at, 

 but in many instances, and I may say a majority, selections 

 and not collections are the order of the day. It m.ay bo that 

 v;here collections are aimed at many plants of no great at- 

 tractiveness either in foliage or flower must he included ; and 

 as, from the rapidity of introductions from abroad and the no 

 less rapid multiplication of varieties at home, these would 

 occupy more space and entail greater cost than can be allotted 

 to and expended upon them, selection becomes a matter of 

 necessity rather than choice. 



In the cultivation of plants some are given to a great ex- 

 penditure of means, and beiitow care upon the curiously beau- 

 tiful, and so grow Orchids and Pitcher-plants and other 

 curiosities ; others delight in elegant, graceful, finely-divided 

 foliage plants, and so cultivate Ferns. Some like stately 

 forms, combining majesty with elegance and grace, and those 

 grow Palms ; others see most beauty in form and colour, 

 beauty of outline and distinct markings, theeo cultivate florist 

 flowers ; and there are others, a growing majority, who set 

 most value upon that which ia chaste, pure, delicate, bright, 

 fine in form, profuse in bloom, persistent also on the plant as 

 well as enduring in a cut state, and if fragrance he added to 

 these qualities, are the gems most sought after by proprietors 

 of gardens of all grades. 



Even the cottager with not a yard of land outside that he can 

 call his own, garnishes his windows with plants, and though 

 showy plants may be present in greater number, place is found 

 for a representative of those emitting perfume. Now, this 

 taste is by far the most prevalent of all others in the liking for 

 flowers ; and though some may yet linger over hobbies, or be 

 led captive by the rare, curious, stately, or majestic forms of 

 vegetable life, there are those, and it is diiBcult, and I think 



wrong not to say all, have such a liking for flowers as to grow 

 or have grown for them, the purest, brightest, and sweetest. 

 The most profuso and continuous-flowering, the most beautiful 

 in form or colour, whether of flower or foliage, are selected 

 and grown in gardens, and by artificial means to supply a want 

 of flowers and sprays for cutting, for the taste ia so strong 

 that nothing short of the presence of them in the places where 

 leisure is passed, or friends entertained, will satisfy. 



The demand for cut flowers and sprays of elegant, graceful, 

 and finely divided parts (or with distinct markings), of foliage 

 for a setting and relief of the bright hues of the flowers ia ever 

 increasing. This increase in the demand for cut flowers and 

 plants for decoration has doubled itself within the past ten 

 years, and quadrupled itself during the past thirty. This rapid 

 development of the taste prompting the demand, we can only 

 conclude, has been fostered and given by the increased esta- 

 blishment of horticultural societies in most towns and very 

 many villages. Though we must admit the claims of horti- 

 cultural societies to the foremost place in advancing the taste 

 for horticulture, and its adoption as a relaxation from life's 

 turmoil by the masses, much must be ohiimed for the proas in 

 giving instructions in culture, and iu bringing before the 

 distant as well as near the new introductions which are added 

 to horticultural wealth by the enterprise of collector or the 

 skill of hybridists. 



I will proceed to notice some plants which are suHable for 

 affording sprays and cut flowers in a future communication. — 

 G. Aebet. 



OLLA PODEIDA— A CONTINENTAL TOUE.— No. 3. 



We did not stay long enough in Turin to inspect all the public 

 gardens and squares there, aa we were anxious to press on to 

 Venice, staying for two nights in Milan on our way. Milan ia 

 a very different town to Turin, for whereas iu Turin all the 

 streets, as I said in my last, run at tight angles to each other 

 in a way which would thoroughly suit the American taste (in 

 fact a Yankee, who was a fellow-voyager with us from Aix-lc- 

 Baina to Turin, said he felt quite at homo there). Milan, on 

 the contrary, seems to be of much older date, and hardly any 

 of the streets are either parallel or at right angles to each 

 other. The whole town is surrounded with a line of fortifica- 

 tions or ramparts, with twelve gates. The line of fortifications 

 is planted all the way with a double row of trees, either Lime?, 

 Horse Chestnuts, or Plane trees, with a broad road or drive run- 

 ning through them. This forms a pleasant and a shady drive, 

 which is a favourite place of reeort for the Milanese ; though 

 here, too, aa in other towns, fashion reigns supreme, and only 

 a short part of this road forma the fashionable drive — a piece 

 just outside the public gardens called the Bastione de Porta 

 Yentzia. This forms the Venetian Rotten Row, or Route de 

 Roi ; though why so small a part of this drive should be 

 used it is difficult to say, except that it ia ruther wider and 

 more raised than the rest. It is, however, far too short, as it 

 ia not much more than a quarter of a mile loug, and carriages 

 have perpetually to turn, as the only piece which is used as 

 the fashionable drive and promenade is between the Porto 

 Venezia and the Porto Princesso Umberto which leads to the 

 Central Railway station. The Milanese, however, do not care 

 about taking many turns on the Bastione, as the line of car- 

 riages soon cornea to a standstill outside the public garden 

 near to the bridge which leads to the Cafe Restaurant. The 

 ground on which the Cafe Restaurant — a sort of Rotunda 

 Kiosk— is built ia raised on the same level aa the Bastione de 

 Porta Venezia, and crosses over one of the principal roads or 

 paths of the public garden by a bridge made of rough tufa 

 blocks. All the fides of the mound or raised ground on which 

 the Caffi stands ia chiefly ornamented with rockwork princi- 

 pally formed of tufa, and all the pathways leading down to 

 the ordinary garden level are also made to pass through rock- 

 work. This is not well arranged, aa a rule, for planta to grow 

 in, and the Ferns do not seem to thrive, except in some aspects. 

 The gardens are nicely laid out as far as the walks are con- 

 cerned, and there is a stream of water passing through it in 

 which aquatic planta grow freely, and there are a few orna- 

 mental wildfowl there which seem much at home ; among 

 which were some pelicans and swans. 



What struck mo much was the almost utter absence of 

 flowering plants ; the only bed I saw in flower was a bed of 

 Monthly Rosea, and the only bed of coloured foliage was one 

 of purple Orach (Spinach). Some of the flowering shrubs 

 were, however, veiy lino to compensate, especially the Mag- 



