July 1, 1888.] 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



hybrids should be lost in this manner, although in 

 many cases it is possible to give approximately 

 correct guesses as to parentage. R. A. Rolfc. 



THE BULB GARDENS OF 

 HAARLEM. 



(Continued from p. 686, vol. iii.. 3rd ser.J 

 Hardy Flowers from C. G. van Tubergen, 

 Jcn., Swanenbcrg. — I sent a few notes some time 

 ago about the hardy plants in Messrs. Tubergen's 

 nursery. Since that time they have sent me various 

 gatherings of hardy flowers. They write, June 21 : — 

 " Hyacinths and Tulips are lifted, and the bulb 

 gardens are very bare of flower, but the hardy 

 plant garden is quite an oasis among the bulb gar- 

 dens." I wondered at the time how it was that so 

 many different classes of flowers could be success- 

 fully cultivated in their loose sandy soil ; but I am 

 now informed that specially prepared beds of suitable 

 soil are made up for the various classes of plants, and 

 the examples of hardy flowers sent show how well 

 they are grown. Something like a hundred varieties 

 of Iris hispanica (the small bulbous Spanish Iris), 

 and also the large bulbous Iris, usually termed the 

 English Iris, were sent. Most of the English Iris 

 blooms came in the bud state, and they expand their 

 exquisitely tinted petals in water as freely as they 

 do on the plants, the colours being more delicate ; 

 they were very varied in colour — white, blush, laven- 

 der, rose, blue, purple, deepest violet-purple, and 

 even crimson, streaked and blotched in endless 

 variety. No Orchids are more delicately beautiful. 

 Such flowers, that can be purchased at two or three 

 shillings per dozen, should be planted in every 

 garden. Nearly a hundred spikes of Ixias, the 

 flowers of very large size, and the colours of the 

 most varied kind, with the leaves of a deep green 

 colour to the tips, testify how well they grew in the 

 prepared soil. 



Of Lilium Thunbergianum four very distinct 

 varieties were sent ; jhe prettiest one is Prince of 

 Orange, apricot colour ; an unnamed semi-double 

 form was also very striking. L. pomponium, like a 

 large form of tenuifolium, very elegant. L. mona- 

 delphum Szovitzianum (Colchicum) — this is one of 

 the most handsome of garden Lilies, and produced 

 as many as eight flowers on a spike. L. colum- 

 bianum (the Oregon Lily) is a very pretty little 

 species with rich orange flowers freely spotted. The 

 ordinary L. Martagon, with a very long spike, and 

 the pure white form, was also vigorous and very 

 charming. Amongst the smallest flowered Lilies 

 were the orange-scarlet L. carniolicum, L. tenui- 

 folium, and L. pulchellum, quite scarlet ; they are 

 very charming at this season. 



Brodisea coccinea, of a rich magenta-crimson, with 

 the segments of the mouth pale green, are in marked 

 contrast to B. congesta, two flower-heads of which 

 are also sent, the flowers of a pretty clear lilac 

 colour. 



Hardy Orchids are represented by varieties of 

 Orchis maculata, slender spikes of delicate pale pink 

 flowers of Gymnadenia odoratissima, and the curious 

 Listera ovata, besides a noble growth of the best of 

 all hardy Orchises, Cypripedium spectabile, with its 

 lovely white and rose flowers. Allium azureum, a 

 very pretty Siberian species, with quite globular 

 heads of decided blue flowers. Triteleia laxa 

 maxima is quite a large form of this species, and a 

 <*ood large head of it was sent. Orinum longifolium 

 album has pure white flowers with a greenish centre 

 — a striking plant. A long spike of the clear yellow 

 Eremurus Bungei was also sent ; it is a Persian 

 species, and one of the finest hardy garden plants 

 introduced in recent years. This genus of Liliaceous 

 plants contains some of the most noble examples of 

 hardy flowering plants we have at present in cultiva- 

 tion. Eremurus spectabilis has been in cultivation 

 for many years— in fact, since 1800. It is figured in 

 the Botanical Magazine, t. 4870, where it is stated to 

 be a native of Altaic Siberia, the Caucasus, Koor- 

 di6tan, Taurin, Scinde, &c. E. robustus is a more 



recent introduction, and is one of the most noble of 

 the species, throwing up spikes of peach-coloured 

 flowers 9 to 10 feet in height. It was first flowered 

 in Europe in 1871, in the Moscow Botanic Garden. 

 It is also well figured in the Botanical Magazine, 

 t. 6726, and in Gartenflora, 769. A spike of its 

 flowers has been grown 4 feet in length. They must 

 all become popular garden plants when more 

 plentiful. J. Douglas. 



Roses. 



The buds to be used for budding are in the best 

 condition just about the time that the flower-shoot 

 from which the buds are taken is bearing a fully 

 open flower. It is best to use bnds from shoots 

 which have produced flowers. The bark of the stock 

 must part freely from the wood, so that the bud may 

 be placed in position without undue pressure. In- 

 sert the buds on standards as near the base of the 

 shoots as is practicable, leaving on the leaf-stalk, 

 and removing before insertion any woody tissue there 

 may be, but in so doing be careful not to injure the 

 base of the bud. Bind round with worsted or matting, 

 but this last I cannot recommend as the best. I 

 prefer not to head back the newly-budded shoots on 

 standards, but tie the points down to the old wood. 

 Two or three weeks after budding they should be 

 examined closely, and ties loosened where necessary. 

 Summer pruning of the Banksian Rose may now be 

 done. Cut off all shoots that have flowered, as well 

 as all weak and spindly sprays. All the strongest shoots 

 should be retained, nailed in or tied to wire and 

 allowed to grow till the end of the season. Treated 

 thus, and growing on a wall with a south aspect, the 

 Banksian will flower freely every year, and yet to see 

 it in this condition is the exception. Rosa rugosa 

 is now flowering with me. It is a charming subject 

 for growing in the front of shrubbery borders ; the 

 flowers, which are single and of a deep rosy-pink in 

 colour, together with its handsome foliage, render it 

 a very striking object when growing amongst other 

 dwarf shrubs. In the autumn months, when in fruit, 

 it is also a conspicuous object. As soon as Austrian 

 Brier and Persian Yellow have done flowering, the 

 old flower-shoots and other superfluous wood should 

 be cut off, laying in only the strongest shoots, which 

 require to be well ripened to flower well the suc- 

 ceeding year. Look over the beds of dwarf Roses, 

 cutting out all Manetti suckers whenever they 

 appear. Remove all seed-pods as soon as the petals 

 fall. 



If it be desired to work up a stock of plants on 

 their own roots, cuttings may be put in towards the 

 end of the month ; these should be taken off with a 

 heel, and inserted in a good sandy compost in 5-inch 

 pots, well drained, placing them round the sides of 

 the pots, about a dozen in each ; well water them 

 overhead, and stand them in a shady place for a few 

 days, then put them into a Cucumber or Melon 

 frame, where successional crops are being grown, and 

 where the cuttings will have the benefit of a little 

 bottom-heat, and if not too hot the pots may be 

 plunged to the rims and kept shaded from bright 

 sunshine till they are rooted, at which period shift 

 them singly into 3-inch pots, keeping them in the 

 same place for a time, and later on harden off in cold 

 frames. J. Horsefield, Heytesbtiry, Wilts. 



Gloire de Margottin. 

 The Revue Horticoh publishes in the number for 

 June 1 a coloured plate of a new Rose called Gloire 

 de Margottin. This Rose is said to have had one 

 mother, viz., Gloire des Rosomenes, but several 

 fathers, among whom Goubault (Tea) was pre- 

 dominant. We suppose this means simply that the 

 mate parent is not exactly known, unless the Rose 

 be like " Cerberus, three gentlemen in one," each 

 with its own father. The buds, according to the 

 figure, are elegant, the flowers large, very double, 

 brilliant crimson-red, which does not turn violet as 

 the flower fades. Our contemporary speaks highly 

 of it as a cut flower for market purposes. It does not 

 look like an exhibition Rose. 



MUSHROOMS. 



During the month of June just ended the soil of 

 many of our meadows and pastures has been in that 

 condition of warmth and moisture most favourable 

 to the growth of outdoor Mushrooms, consequently 

 a larger quantity has been gathered than has been 

 known at this time of year for many seasons past. 

 We were told last week by a gentleman that from 

 his park had been gathered, for several days in suc- 

 cession, 26 bushels of Mushrooms per day, and that 

 these had realised in the London market 12s. per 

 bushel. 



We were further informed — and this has also been 

 found the case — on the estate of Sir J. B. Lawes, 

 at Rothamsted, that Mushrooms grow most plenti- 

 fully in pastures where the cattle had received a 

 liberal supply of cotton-cake as food. This descrip- 

 tion of food is known to result in an extremely 

 rich manure, as is shown by the following figures, 

 taken from a table compiled by Sir J. B. Lawes and 

 Dr. Gilbert, showing the manure value of 1 ton of 

 decorticated cotton-cake after consumption as 

 cattle- food : — 



Total remaining for Manure : — 



Nitrogen 

 Phosphori 

 Potash 



1135 lb. 

 24-5 „ 

 109 „ 



Formerly a good deal of mystery was supposed to 

 attach to the growth of Mushrooms. Thus Shelley 

 says — 



" Agarics, fungi, mildew, and mould, 

 All start like mist from the wet ground cold." 



But it is now well known that even the lowest order 

 of plants do not start into life without some predis- 

 posing cause, or without something or other has 

 caused decay when they arise. And by the study of 

 the phenomena connected with the growth of these 

 plants modern investigations have made them per- 

 fectly amenable to certain rnles of artificial culture. 

 Scientific research has further demonstrated the 

 fact that Mushrooms are extremely nitrogenous 

 bodies, and that they absorb immense quantities of 

 both nitrogen and carbon in their growth, the source 

 of which, until recent years, was supposed to be the 

 atmosphere, but which is now proved to be the 

 organic nitrogen of the soil itself; consequently the 

 removal of the Mushrooms from a pasture is accom- 

 panied by a considerable reduction in the amount of 

 the organic nitrogen and carbon in the soil. Further, 

 it has been proved in the Rothamsted investigations 

 that the action of the mycelium of the fungi is not 

 only to reduce the carbon in a greater proportion 

 than the nitrogen of the soil, but to do so in a much 

 greater degree in proportion to the amount assimi- 

 lated, a portion of the carbon being doubtless ex- 

 haled as carbonic acid. John J. Willis, Harpenden, 

 July. _ 



VEGETABLE PRODUCTS IN 

 CENTRAL AFRICA. 



The following notes on vegetable products in 

 Central Africa are gathered from a recent report fur- 

 nished to the Foreign Office. Rubber, it is stated, 

 is now found in very small quantities, and, indeed, 

 can scarcely be considered worthy of mention. This 

 is undoubtedly owing to the destructive method 

 adopted by the natives of extracting the juice. Under 

 proper treatment rubber might have become a pro- 

 fitable export. At Mount Zomba Landolphia florida 

 was found in large quantities, but the plant is now 

 almost exterminated. Rubber from this species sold 

 in Africa last year for Is. 6d. per pound. The culti- 

 vation of rubber-yielding plants by Europeans appears 

 to be attracting attention, and it is stated that a 

 plant of Ficus elastica that had been introduced into 

 a private garden had grown so well that it was in- 

 tended to propagate it extensively. Indigo grows wild 

 all along the slopes of Mount Zomba. It forms a 

 large busb, and is perennial. Its growth is luxu- 

 riant, and its cultivation and manufacture might 

 possiblv be undertaken with advantage. 



