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JOURNAL OF HOhTICDLTURE AND COTIAGE GABDENER. 



[ Kovemtiet 11, 1875. 



erect; leaves narrow and pointed; colour green, freely marked 

 with ivory white. Very effective, and a fine decorative variety. 



Hcb'ccic .< Cooperi and Kegina. — Plant vigorous; leaves 

 broad and wavy; colour magenta, pink, and green. Very 

 bright and effective. 



JJahilia:. — Plant of medium growth; colour very brilliant 

 pink. A glowing decorative variety. 



Eximia y. excelsa and terminalis. — Plant robust and of fine 

 habit, with noble arched leaves ; colour dark bronze with a 

 distinct red margin. A fine variety. 



CiintrcUii X ferrca and excelsa. — In the way of, yd distinct 

 from the preceding, and also a fine vaiiety. 



Ihoma X terminalis and concinnum. — Plant medium; 

 leaves narrow ; colour bronze and pink. 



The following are naiTow-leaved vai'ieties, and will be un- 

 surpassed for dinner-table decoration. We have seen them 

 under artificial light, and can testify to their elegance of form 

 and richness of colour : — 



Fredcrici x congesta and Chelsoni. — Plant medium ; leaves 

 narrow, graceful, and nicely arched; colours bronze and 

 red, suffused with a tint of orange. A bright and glowing 

 variety. 



AiimUic (Mrs. Bause) x congesta and pollen of Regina and 

 terminalis mixed. — Plant medium dwarf ; leaves narrow and 

 graceful ; colours bronze, red, and pink. Excellent. 



Bella X excelsa and terminalis. — Plant similar in habit to 

 the preceding ; colour bronze, distinctly edged with red. A 

 chaste and effective variety. 



Violacea x congesta and nigricans. — Habit same as preced- 

 ing ; colour purple bronze. Distinct and effective. 



Eiirnesti X congesta and terminalis. — Habit similar to 

 Bella ; colours bronze and bright red. A distinct and fine 

 variety. 



Sydneyi x concinnum and Eegina. — Plant tall, leaves 

 narrow and snb-ereot; colour purple bronze. Distinct and 

 effective. 



Eenardii X congesta and Regina and terminalis. — Plant 

 compact, graceful ; colours similar to Amaliie. Very attractive. 



Joctinda y. limbata and terminalis. — Plant tallj leaves 

 naiTow and veiy dark. Distinct and good. 



Such is a hasty description of these remarkable hybrids. 

 The colours are given as affording a general idea of the plants, 

 which are, however, changing every day and unfolding fresh 

 tints. Their colours, in fact, are not yet fixed, and can hardly 

 be finally determined until the plants are grown from cuttings. 

 Two or three tops which have been taken off and struck have 

 become richer in colour than cu the seedling plants ; and it is 

 highly probable that others wUl follow the same rule. 



It is remarkable that plants of the same parentage are 

 widely different in habit and colours. It is also noticeable that 

 in no instance has Regina been a seed-bearing parent, but has 

 been freely used as a pollen plant, and with decided effect. 



A gentleman when inspecting the plants — himself one of 

 the first of British horticulturists and a collector of plants — 

 pertinently observed that " It is now hardly necessary to im- 

 peril the lives of eoUeotors in hunting-out new Dracfenas from 

 the dangerous wilds of the tropics, when they can be created 

 in such diversified beauty at home, for nothing as yet received 

 from abroad can equal these grand EngUsh hybrids." 



We congratulate Mr. Wills on his good fortune, and Mr. 

 Bause on this splendid evidence of skill in hybridisation. He 

 has now revolutionised two genera of plants, and merits sub- 

 stantial honour and reward. We do not hesitate to say that 

 there is not to be found in the whole civilised and uncivilised 

 world such a valuable collection of Dracjenas in the same 

 area of space as can be now seen in the little span-roofed 

 house at Anerley. 



them — scraps of meat or bacon, which, my servants assure me, 

 attract thousands, and they have the most lively satisfaction 

 in boiling them. Still there seems to be no diminution. They 

 almost realise the old saying, ' Kill one, and ten come to the 

 funeral.' We have endless companions in misfortune. 

 " I think South Kensington is particularly infested with 



them. Lord 's house, next door, is so possessed by them 



that the servants have the greatest difficulty in keeping their 

 provisions from these vermin, which seems to be still more 

 numerous than with me. Do think of my ants, if you know 

 of any one learned in such plagues. We have found out that 

 the little wretches bite. Can any of your correspondents 

 suggest other remedies ? How would it answer to sprinkle 

 Calvert's carboUo powder on the ants and on their runs ? 

 Would the smell be injurious to the inhabitants? I suspect 

 these pests breed in the summer in the Horticultural Gardens, 

 and then migrate into the houses around during the winter, to 

 the great annoyance of the inhabitants." — C. M. 



THE PLAGUE or ANTS i.v SOUTH KENSINGTON. 

 The wail of distress from that ant-infested district increases 

 rather than diminishes. The lady writes to say that she has 

 tried to extract from the Journal of Horticulture some crumbs 

 of comfort in her sufferings from the plague of obnoxious 

 creeping things in her house, which have taken the place of 

 wasps and gnats — those well-known enemies of her youth. " I 

 have had," she says, " the offices well painted, and every hole 

 filled with putty, but still the horrible ants swarm. I beUeve 

 they breed in the walls in conscfiuence of the bad materials 

 employed in building ; but from whence they contrive to 

 emerge puzzles us all. Now we are trying the plan suggested 

 by the Journal of Horticulture, and we are laying traps for 



OSMASTON MANOE, 



THE SEAT OF J. WEIGHT, ESQ.— No. 2. 

 I CONCLUHED my notes last week by noticing the Vines, and 



\ will now pass on to the other houses devoted to the cultivation 

 of fruit. 

 Peaches are grown at Osmaston on an extensive scale. They 



: have a period of use of six months, commencing in April and 



I continuing until the middle of October. The houses in which 

 the trees are grown are light, lengthy, and lofty. In some of 

 them the trees are trained up the back wall, the front of the 

 houses being occupied by trees in pots plunged in the border. 

 These comprise Plums and Cherries as well as Peaches and 

 Nectarines. In other houses the trees are trained on a low 



i semicircular treUis as well as on the back walls. The pot trees 

 are extremely well grown ; they are heavily cropped and richly 



I fed, it not being unusual to ripen from four to six dozen 

 Peaches on a pot tree. The trained trees are also in excellent 

 order. Some of them are large, and bear from three hundred 

 to five hundred fruit on each tree annually. I have never 

 seen trees in better bearing condition than are these. The 

 wood is not strong, but the foliage possesses that rich Portugal- 

 Laurel green hue indicative of sound health. 



Mr. Booth's principal stimulant is cow dung. The pot trees 

 are heavily dressed with it, and the borders have a thick cover- 

 ing of it annually lightly surfaced with soil. As soon as a tree 

 shows signs of exuberant growth it is carefully lifted and 

 root-pruned, and the roots are kept near the surface. The 

 ground is, in fact, completely netted with them, and the wood 

 by this system of culture is of medium strength, short-jointed, 

 and fruitful. An unlimited supply of water is laid on, and is 

 used freely, the trees being regularly drenched in the growing 

 season ; and in the resting period the borders are not suffered 

 to become in any degree dry. By these continued washings 

 and rich surface-dressings red spider is never seen in these 

 houses. The Peaches most esteemed are Grosse Mignonne, 

 Belle Bauce, Royal George, Diamond, Noblesse, and, as the 

 best late sort, Earrington ; the Nectarines which are mainly 

 relied on being Pitmaston Orange, Pine Apple, Violette Hative, 

 and Victoria. 



Besides the vineries and Peach houses there are three ranges 

 of span-roofed forcing pits devoted mainly to the cultivation 

 of Pines, Melons, and Cucumbers. Pines are not extensively 

 but well grown, the plants being in excellent order. Melons 

 have during the past season been both numerous and fine, 

 l.'SO excellent fruits having been cut from the house 20 feet 

 by 12 ; the sort principally relied on bein? a splendid variety 

 raised at Osmaston, and which is to be distributed during the 

 ensuing season. The crop of Cucumbers has also been extra- 

 ordinarily prolific, and beyond all doubt Mr. Booth has raised 

 a variety of great merit. From a house of the dimensions 

 given above 1364 Cacumbers have been out varying from 

 24 to 32 inches. These fruits have been snfiioient to supply 

 a house of thirty-five persons besides what have been given 

 away, and over and above these the surplus has realised by 

 sale £20. The variety is as fruitful as 'Telegraph, one of its 

 parents, and is much longer ; but its chief merit consists in 

 its keeping properties. Fruits were hanging in October on 

 plants which had lost their foliage by old age, and these fruits 

 were as green as ever : they appear, indeed, to refuse to turn 

 yellow. The flesh was quite firm, although they had been 

 hanging for months. It is clearly a variety of great value, but 

 scarcely any seed can be had from it, and it is perpetuated by 



