162 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE, 



[August 11. 1888. 



suited in S. tuberosum being fertilised under the belief 

 that it was Solan um Maglia, has since been so far 

 rectified that crosses with the latter species have been 

 effected, and no doubt we shall hear of the results in 

 due course. The top growth from the tuberosum 

 hybrids, if such a term in this case be admissible, 

 shows great variety in form and character, pretty much 

 as is found in ordinary seedlings from some crosses. 

 A marked feature, so far, with some of the forms 

 has been remarkable productiveness. The great 

 object in view, however, has been the production, if 

 possible, of disease-resisting strains, and what 

 success in that direction has been achieved will 

 doubtless be learnt in a few weeks should the 

 present cold wet weather continue. It is worthy of 

 note as showing the very earnest aim of Messrs. 

 Sutton to secure any promising aid in the 

 direction named, that out in the trial grounds may 

 be seen a considerable breadth of a Peruvian variety 

 referred to by Mr. Ap-Thomas at the St. Stephen's 

 Hall Potato Conference as having the reputation of 

 being free from disease in its native habitat, and 

 stock of which Mr. Ap-Thomas obtained for the 

 Reading firm. Beyond remarking that the variety 

 has tops resembling our common varieties, but the 

 stems are densely abundant, nothing more is to be 

 said about it just yet. Should the disease really 

 develop a serious form in our Potato crops presently, 

 renewed interest will be created in the Potato and 

 all its belongings. A. D. 



CYPRIPEDIUM STONEI. — At the fortnightly 

 meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society, held 

 on July 24 last, a Cypripedium was exhibited which 

 is noted in these columns, at p. 108, as follows : — 

 " Cypripedium Stonei acrosepalum, a flower pressed 

 into the form of a flattened canoe, was shown by 

 Messrs. Seeger & Tropp, of Lordship Lane, East 

 Dulwich. The lateral sepals are here disjoined." 

 Messrs. Seeger & Tropp have been good enough to 

 send me the inflorescence in question for examina- 

 tion, which seems to possess the following peculiarity : 

 — The expanded flower has the two lateral sepals 

 disjoined for three-fourths of their length, instead of 

 being connate, as in the normal condition of the 

 species. I do not, however, detect any other differ- 

 ence in the flower, all the parts of which appear 

 perfectly developed. It appears to me to be rather 

 a monstrous flower than a variety — really a case of 

 dialysis of the lateral sepals as opposed to their normal 

 state. This is the normal condition of things in the 

 Canadian Cypripedium arietinum, which differs from 

 every other species of the genus in this peculiarity — 

 a character which has twice caused this plant to be 

 separated as a distinct genus — first, by Rafinesque, 

 as Criosanthes, and afterwards by Beck, as Arietinum, 

 though the difference appears to be too slight to 

 merit such distinction. But this is a digression. I 

 do not think the character likely to be permanent in 

 the variety of Cypripedium Stonei in question, for 

 in an expanding bud, just above the flower, the 

 lateral sepals were in the normal connate condition. 

 Some monstrosities, however, appear to have become 

 fixed, or permanent, as Uropedium Lindeni, a mon- 

 strous state of Selenipedium caudatum ; and Pax- 

 tonia rosea, a similar state of Spathoglottis plicata. 

 Cultivation alone can test the permanence or other- 

 wise of these characters. Jt. A. Rolfe. 



WHICH IS THE EARLIEST PEA ?— I thought I 

 was giving the information old gardeners would be 

 among the first to appreciate when, taking Ring- 

 leader and Improved Sangster's No. 1 as a well- 

 known type of early Pea, I saw no necessity for 

 going into details over the many other reputed var- 

 ieties of the same thing about which one was repre- 

 sented to be half an hour earlier than the other, or 

 3 inches shorter. The changes have been rung upon 

 this type ad nauseam, and I imagined it was enough 

 for me to state that certain of them having newer 

 names were really our old friend re-christened ; and 

 I still hold the opinion that in the general character- 

 istics of type the group of blue round-seeded varieties 

 I mentioned cannot be differentiated from the general 

 type of Sangster's No. 1. The soil in which the 

 seed Pea was grown, the locality, conditions of 

 weather, &c, may affect some ; but let them be 

 grown and the seed saved, and grown again a second 

 year on the same piece of ground, and the general 

 characteristics will be admitted to be identical. I 

 mentioned the Old Scimitar because it is a Pea still 

 largely grown in some parts of the country ; and in 

 Messrs. Hurst & Sons' trial ground at Chelmsford I 

 saw what was termed an improved type that seemed 

 to me to present to view this old Pea of my boyhood 

 in a desirable form, bearing long well-filled pods, 



and appearing as a good hardy, robust, free cropping 

 type, well adapted for market purposes. But there 

 did manifest itself a tendency to run to a tall form, 

 and I was candid enough to say so. Some conditions 

 under which the seed-plants were grown might have 

 caused this. I may further state that the trial of 

 Peas to which I made reference included many hun- 

 dred samples; there were from ten to twenty different 

 stocks in some cases of the same leading variety. 

 There seemed to be almost every Pea which has been 

 sent out. I did not think it necessary to go through 

 the whole of them with a view of supplying written 

 descriptions. I was perfectly free to draw my own 

 conclusions, and I did so, apart from any pressure or 

 prejudice. I selected what I thought to be the most 

 useful varieties, and the absence of anything like 

 serious criticism justifies the inference that my con- 

 clusions are in the main correct. J?. D. 



SPARROWS. — Near large towns the common spar- 

 row often becomes a perfect nuisance, for every 

 gardener knows how industriously they will shell his 

 Peas, and one farmer near Tunbridge Wells was so 

 plagued with them in his Wheat fields, as the birds 

 migrated from the town in a body, and took posses- 

 sion of his Wheat that he has this year sown — the 

 bearded Wheat — which I understand puzzles their 

 ingenuity, and is secure from their depredations. It 

 will be understood that I am not blind to the fact 

 that they ease us of many a caterpillar, but then 

 they are in severe weather also fond of buds. 

 Our Gooseberries were sadly disfigured by them till 

 I adopted the plan of throwing soot over the bushes 

 pretty freely in the spring ; this kills the moss, 

 and at the same time nourishes the bush ; but 

 although I have studied birds and their ways pretty 

 closely for years, I was not prepared to see them 

 feeding their young with Potato blossom — a fact 

 which I witnessed last Sunday. I saw them in 

 flocks in the cottage gardens, apparently divesting 

 the blossoms of their petals, and carrying them to 

 their young; the kind of Potato was a kidney, and 

 was growing in very sandy soil, fully exposed to the 

 sun, and thus probably contained a certain amount 

 of honey — at least, this was the only explanation of 

 the act of the birds which occurred to me. J. East, 

 Eridge Castle. 



THE POTATO CROP EARLY AND LATE IN IRELAND. 



This crop is second to no other in importance in this 

 country, and the prospect therefore, is the question 

 after the state of the weather every one asks every 

 one else. This query has been asked with a certain 

 amount of fear and trembling during the past 

 three weeks as all the predisposing agents for the 

 diffusion of the Potato disease were daily present. 

 We had a constant downpour of rain, accompanied 

 pretty frequently by thunder and lightning. Now, 

 what is the result? I grow all the new varieties 

 kindly sent me for trial, by such raisers as Messrs. 

 Carter, Sutton, Laxton, Tait, and a few others in 

 Ireland including one— White Fortyfold— sent me 

 by Mr. Inglis, and as I frequently see, and hear from 

 other districts, this is the result as far as I can learn 

 at the end of the first week in August. Early varie- 

 ties: The old Ashleaf, especially Myatt's, if it can be 

 obtained pure, I consider still for quality un- 

 rivalled and the first to turn in. _ A heavier 

 cropper and not much behind is Carter's 

 First Crop. This firm sent me this season for trial 

 their Earliest of All. I will only say of this if it 

 maintains its present desirable characteristics it is 

 the coming favourite early variety. Early Hammer- 

 smith, Flourball, Pride of the Market, Snowflake, 

 and Extra Early Vermont come second. Three 

 weeks since I noticed the fungus on the Ashleaf 

 Kidneys; so long as the weather remained dry it 

 made little progress. Rain and storm supervened, and 

 it spread rapidly, with the result that hardly a 

 sound leaf is now noticeable in the experimental 

 plot ; and the same is true of the market gardens 

 around the town. Their general early crop is a 

 variety called The Flounder, so far as I know, not 

 generally known out of Ireland. It is a heavy 

 cropper, in shape roundish-flat (if that description is 

 not an Irish bull), and far from superior in quality. 

 One word as to quality. Owing to the absence 

 of sunshine, constant rain, and rapid growth, 

 the quality this year is inferior, and I think 

 you would be safe in recommending only the 

 partial use of some, varieties ; and if possible, with 

 gravy or other such condiments. From a national 

 point of view early varieties are of limited im- 

 portance. Late varieties : I mentioned above that 

 the fungus first attacked the Ashleafs, it then spread 

 rapidly to Snowflake, then Pride of the Market, and 



Early Rose. In fact, in a wet season the American 

 varieties are the first victims. Last season was very 

 dry, and with no disease. I did not, as I mentioned 

 in the Gardeners' Chronicle, see a single diseased 

 tubers in any part of Ireland, so this induced 

 many to grow Roses, Beauty of Hebron, Eh- 

 phants, and other varieties, such as Fortyfolds, 

 Schoolmasters, and Victorias, known to be suscept- 

 ible of disease, who would otherwise hesitate to plant 

 them. They will in all probability be heavy losers, 

 as I have come to the conclusion no variety is wholly 

 disease resisting. For instance. I have Magnum 

 Bonum, Sutton's Abundance, Laxton's Reward, 

 Champions, and Scottish Queen, with five other 

 varieties of Laxton's not yet in commerce, all un- 

 usually strong vigorous growers, growing in plots 

 side by side with the early varieties above-named. 

 As soon as the early varieties got affected the dis- 

 ease passed in a day or two to those just named, so 

 that now nothing remains sound but the stems. 

 Curious enough, the majority of the same varieties 

 out in the open field are still safe. There is hope so 

 far. W. J. Murphy, Clonmel. 



HERBACEOUS PLANTS. — Mr. Jenkin's doubts and 

 difficulties seem to have arisen because the term her- 

 baceous is still obstinately adhered to in schedules 

 when all sorts of hardy border plants are invited to 

 be exhibited. Of course many of the plants shown 

 are, as a rule, not strictly herbaceous, according to 

 the technical acceptation of the term, but those using 

 the term in their schedules as a rule, doubtless de- 

 sire that the appellation should not be too rigidly 

 interpreted, and that it should rather include hardy 

 perennials, and possibly even biennials, also, the 

 object evidentally being to obtain examples at shows 

 of really hardy plants, as well as of greenhouse or 

 stove plants. The best wording of such class would, 

 I think, be " hardy border plants," and although it 

 might be said that such wording would admit Roses 

 or other shrubs, yet it would be easy to add, " shrubs 

 and Koses excluded." Still, every body understands 

 so fully what is meant by the term " hardy border 

 plants," that little difficulty is likely to arise from 

 this form of wording. Then there would be no ques- 

 tion arise as to the admixture of either perennials or 

 biennials, when the term " herbaceous " is employed 

 all real perennials should be excluded, and yet it is 

 very doubtful whether such be intended in any case. 

 Happily, in garden nomenclature or treatment these 

 diverse terms raise no difficulty, for, whether her- 

 baceous, perennial, biennial, or otherwise, we class 

 them as hardy, and that is enough. One of the 

 gayest of border flowers just now is Lilium candi- 

 dum, which, would doubtless, with other Lilies, be 

 ranked as herbaceous, and yet really it is a 

 perennial, because it is practically evergreen. The 

 whole matter is, after all, but a mere word-splitting, 

 and the compilers of schedules will do well to 

 adopt simpler phraseology, and thus make clear 

 to all that which should be as plain as a pikestaff. 

 A.D. 



A LARGE LILIUM AURATUM. — The enclosed is a 

 photo of a Lilium auratum bulb which I supplied 

 last autumn to a customer, the Rev. John Irving, 

 Free Church Manse, Innellan, Scotland. He has to- 

 day sent me a copy, and thinks it is an unusual sight 

 to see so many flowers on a spike. It bears thirty- 

 eight blooms. Each flower averaged 10 inches in 

 diameter, and the whole head was 24 inches in 

 diameter by 22 in height. Altogether the plant, 

 possessed a very compact and elegant appearance. 

 H. Ers/cine, Edinburgh. [It is a large head, but' we 

 have seen larger ones ; as, for instance, one grown 

 in the gardens of the Right Hon. J. Chamberlain at 

 Birmingham, which bore 119 flowers. See our 

 columns for October 23, 1886. Ed ] 



CYCAS REVOLUTA. — The following account of 

 the Cycas revoluta which is now in flower in the 

 gardens of John Hutton, Esq., of Solberge, North- 

 allerton, may be interesting : — The plant is about 

 forty years old, the stem being 3 feet high, and 

 32 inches inches in circumference, with sixty-seven 

 fronds; the flower or cone is 16 inches in length, 

 and is of a yellow colour, much resembling a very 

 large Pine-apple. This plant is a male, and 

 flowered about fifteen years since, and after flowering 

 the plant gradually went back by losing the fronds 

 one after another until they were nearly all gone, 

 when I found on examining the roots ten large 

 crowns or young plants, which fully accounted for 

 the loss of the leaves. I took them all off, potted 

 them, and plunged them in bottom-heat, and all 

 grew, but the parent plant did not seem to recover 



