THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 279 



ever it is cultivated, being used for posts in pavilions and the houses of the inha* 

 bitants. The hollow joints are utilized for carrying liquids, for flower-vases, etc. ; 

 and in China, and especially in India, for bottles and tobacco-boxes, highly wrought 

 and polished, and sold at great prices. The larger stalks are also used for bridges, 

 water pipes, and carts and other vehicles. In fine, the wood is employed in the 

 arts, in a multitude of industries, and for implements of agriculture. This species 

 of bamboo vegetates with such rapidity that it can almost be said that one can see 

 it grow. Its progress may be seen from day to day, and at Ghezireh it has been 

 known to o-row 9 inches in a single night. In China, criminals condemned to death 

 are subjected to the atrocious punishment of impalement by means of the bamboo. 

 A humid soil is congenial to the gigantic bamboo, although it suffers under a pro- 

 longed inundation. It is proposed in Egypt to cultivate it upon the borders of 

 the canals in the vast domains of the Khedive. There is also in the gardens of 

 Egypt another species of bamboo, believed to be the Bainbitsa arundinacea of 

 "Wildenow. It presents the following characteristics ; the stalks are smaller and 

 shorter than the gigantic bamboo of India ; it attains about 12 metres (39 feet) in 

 height • it forms larger tufts or clusters than the great bamboo, and throws out a 

 greater number of stalks, which are furnished with numerous slender and flexuous 

 branches, bearing ordinarily tolerably large thorns, a little arched at the joints or 

 articulations, and the leaves are smaller than those of the gigantic species, being 

 rounded at the base, lance-shaped, tapering to a point, and a little downy. There 

 is another species of bamboo which it is proposed to cultivate in Egypt. It attains 

 a height of 5 or 6 metres, produces enormous clusters of canes, about the size of 

 the finger, and makes excellent props for use in horticulture. A plant of two or 

 three vears' growth will furnish a hundred stalks, forming a cluster of vast size. 

 This species is the Bambusa edulis, so called from the fact that its young shoots are 

 edible, and in China regarded as very nourishing. There is still another species 

 of bamboo to which the attention of the cultivators in Egypt is called. It is the 

 black bamboo {Bambusa nigra). It is distinguished principally by its slender 

 branches, which are of a fine black colour, and from which canes are manufactured 

 extensively for exportation. Pens are made from the smaller stems, which are 

 commonly used for writing in Egypt. — Journal of Applied Science. 



NEW HYBEID HELLEBOEES. 



jHE following seedlings are the grand results of the cross-fertilization of 

 II. abchasicus with H. guttatus, and others. Their general superiority 

 to the older varieties consists in a much improved form, more floriferous 

 habit, larger and finer flowers, of more distinct and in some cases 

 dazzling colour. The leaves of these valuable species have nearly all 

 the same character ; they are about twelve inches in diameter, sharply toothed, 

 dazzling dark green with lighter ribs and lines, on taller stalks, according to their 

 age, more or less inclining and evergreen, as damaged foliage is always replaced 

 by a new growth. Dr. Koch, in referring to them in the pages of a contemporary, 

 eays : " These historical notes will doubtless interest your readers, because the 

 species last named have yielded, through cross-fertilization, varieties of rare beauty 

 and diversity, which I cannot too strongly recommend to them. And should any 

 reader of the Gardeners' Chronicle wish to become better acquainted with them, I 

 am quite ready to play the part of mediator, as I am convinced that at this time of 

 the year there are no more beautiful or more useful plants than these hybrid Helle- 

 bores." These magnificent hybrids originated in the Beriin Botanic Gardens. 

 Messrs. Ant. Roozen and Son, Overween, near Haarlem, Holland, who will offer 

 them in the autumn, have kindly sent us the undernoted descriptive particulars : — 

 Seedling No. 1. — Flowers beautifully formed, three inches in diameter, bright 

 dark purple and rose colour, with numerous carmine red streaks, charming leaves, 

 rich and early variety. ,,,,,., . , ..,, 



Seedlinf/ No. 2.— decidedly the finest and most remarkable hybrid raised till 

 now {vide Gar. Chron. p. 480, 1874), flowers of fine form, stately, and well above 

 the leaves ; petals finely cut and covered, very large, often three inches in diameter ; 

 colour p.ale brown and purple-rose, with numerous sharp bordered, dazzling, dark 

 carmine red spots, splendid variety. 

 September. 



