Notes and Gleanings. 245 



Gladiolus. — A writer in " The Florist," speaking of the planting gladio- 

 lus, says, " If you drive them, that is, grow them in very rich soil, you obtain 

 grand spikes of bloom, some deaths, a fair increase of bulbs, and few or no 

 young bulblets. If you adopt the opposite system, and use light, rich, sandy 

 soil, you obtain moderate blooms, no deaths, and an immense progeny of 

 juveniles." 



Of new varieties, Eurydice and Shakspeare are especially recommended as 

 fine flowers and vigorous growers. Madame Furtado is fine as a light flower ; 

 IMayerbeer is very rich as a dark-shaded red ; Madame de Sevigne is decidedly 

 superior to La Poussin ; Fulton is a splendid shaded scarlet, but thin in petal. 



The Roman Hyacinth. — I want to say a word in favor of a little bulb 

 which I do not think meets with the attention that it ought, — I mean the pretty 

 little Roman hyacinth, — believing that, in another season, some of your readers 

 who are situated as I am will be very glad to make further acquaintance with it. 



I have no means of forcing plants ; my object being, as far as greenhouse 

 plants are concerned, to keep them safe from frost. Those who can force, will, 

 therefore, probably think little of a hyacinth like this, which is much inferior 

 in size and beauty to the Dutch varieties ; but to me it is a matter of 

 no little pleasure to be able to have at Christmas a pot of hyacinths in 

 full bloom, distributing their fragrance through the room, and that without any 

 e.xtra trouble. By forcing, they can be had, I know, in November ; but I think 

 they are not nearly so pretty when forced as when grown naturally. It is a 

 mistake, too, to plant them too thinly : they should be placed with the bulbs 

 almost touching one another. I put six into a 32-sized pot, and have had them 

 now for some weeks in bloom in my sitting-room ; their little snowy bells standing 

 well up above the dwarf, stiff, glaucous foHage, and diffusing a pleasant but not 

 overpowering odor throughout the room. Doubtless, if they came in in March 

 and April along with the other bulbs, we should not think a great deal of them : 

 it is the fact of their blooming when they do that really gives them their value ; 

 and it is because of this I recommend them to those, who, like myself, are 

 obliged to study what is economical as well as pretty. — D., Deal. 



[We are well pleased that our correspondent has noticed this fragrant little 

 flower. It is a very old tenant of our gardens, being introduced in 1596. For- 

 merly it was called Hyacinthus Ro7tianus ; but Le Peyrouse has founded on it a 

 new genus, and it is named Bellevalia operculata.'\ — Cottage Gardener. 



Propagating Camellias. — Camellias may be propagated from cuttings, 

 and indeed are largely propagated in that manner ; but it is only the single red 

 for stocks. The double kinds grow very indifferently from cuttings : hence they 

 are grafted on stocks of the single red, which is the only eligible mode of propa- 

 gation to secure a free-growing plant. 



Nomenclature of Roses. — It is quite reasonable that the raiser of any 

 new variety of flower should assign to it such a distinctive name as his fancy or 

 interest inclines. Generally, the appellatives given to English flowers are well 



