324 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[Seftembeb 22, 1888. 



is also a splendid summer Lettuce, and Sutton's 

 Winter White, which has proved quite hardy in 

 the trial grounds, should make a first-rate variety for 

 autumn planting, standing in a seedbed for 

 spring planting. 



Turning to Cabbage Lettuces, so tempting looking 

 and so sweet and crisp, the little Commodore must 

 stand out as invaluable for close planting on warm 

 borders, and for the earliest use. All the Year 

 Round had soon bolted, whilst the little Commodore 

 was still as hard as a nut. Sutton's Standwell, fitly 

 r.amed, is a very large, solid, white-hearted form, big 

 as skittle-balls and almost as firm. A brown-tinted 

 form is named Brown Standwell, and was even larger 

 than the preceding, and as solid. Sutton's Favourite, 

 a perfect giant amongst Cabbage Lettuces, resembles 

 a white Savoy Cabbage in being curly, yet so very 

 firm and solid ; whilst even larger seemed to be 

 Sutton's Giant, purple-tinted, and a grand solid- 

 hearted variety. 



These are but a few selections out of a large trial, 

 and illustrate the care and enterprise of high-class 

 seedsmen tend to the production of high-class 

 vegetables. A. D. 



Clematis at Huntingdon. 



If one desired to gain anything like an accurate 

 idea of the extent to which the Clematis is grown in 

 the present day, it might be realised by consulting 

 those in the trade who grow largely to supply their 

 brother nurserymen. It appears that certain of the 

 trade make a leading specialty of the Clematis, and 

 by propagating a selection of varieties in large 

 quantities they are able to supply others in the trade 

 as cheaply at least as they could propagate for them- 

 selves on a limited scale. One of the firms who 

 produce Clematis to a large extent is that of Messrs. 

 Wood & Ingram, of Huntingdon. 



It is probably pretty widely known that Clematis 

 are propagated by grafting upon the roots of some 

 favourite stock, and that this is done mainly in 

 spring. It is work requiring careful manipulation, 

 and also suitable propagating-houses, so that the 

 process may go on rapidly. As to the most suitable 

 stocks for grafting, that is to some extent a matter 

 upon which the trade is apt to maintain a reserve. 

 One firm which grows largely uses two stocks, and it 

 seems some care is necessary, for the Clematis is 

 subject to a disease that it is supposed originates in 

 the stock, and great discrimination is therefore 

 necessary to select these clean and healthy. 



Our lists of Clematis are now somewhat extensive 

 — even if they are confined to what may be termed 

 popular leading varieties. Messrs. Wood & Ingram's 

 list comprises some sixty varieties, and of these 

 about twenty may be said to be in the largest 

 demand, and a few popular varieties, snch as Jack- 

 manni, have to be produced in extra quantities. Of 

 Jackmanni, Messrs. Wood & Ingram have this 

 season propagated some 5000 plants. 



A list of Clematis, which has no classification into 

 sections is at best a bewildering document. Unless 

 one is pretty familiar with the varieties, who is to 

 tell which are the spring bloomers that flower on the 

 old wood of the previous year, and which the summer- 

 blooming types which bloom upon the summer shoots 

 of the same year ? The sixty or so varieties grown 

 by Messrs. Wood & Ingram can be divided 

 into five distinct sections — the lanuginosa, the Jack- 

 manni, the florida, the patens, and the viticella. 

 The lanuginosa group has gained in number in recent 

 years by the addition of many fine varieties. 

 They flower upon the wood of the current 

 year, and the successional summer growths 

 should be trained in so as to secure the later 

 crops of blossoms, the habit in the race being to 

 throw out a sprinkling of flowers at intervals till 

 the frosts come to arrest further growth. When 

 they have to cover a limited space or are employed as 

 pyramids the plants should be annually pruned down 

 to about 3 feet from the ground, so that the 

 base may not become naked by being devoid of 

 foliage. Of this section the best varieties are : — Alba 

 magna, white ; Blue Gem, pale blue ; Enchantress, 

 double, white flashed with rose ; Fairy Queen, pale 



flesh, with pink bar; Henryi, creamy- white, said to 

 be a very hardy variety ; Imperatrice Eugenie, white ; 

 Lady Caroline Nevill, French-white, with mauve 

 bars ; Lady Rosamond, silvery-grey ; lanuginosa and 

 its varieties, Candida and nivea ; Lawsoniana, rosy- 

 purple — a very vigorous grower ; Lord Nevill, bright 

 blue ; Louis van Houtte, bluish-purple ; Madame 

 van Houtte, white ; Mdlle. Torriana, bright rose ; 

 Mrs. Cholmondeley, lavender, tipped with purple ; 

 Mrs. Hope, satiny-mauve ; Princess of Wales, deep 

 bluish-mauve ; purpurea elegans, deep violet-purple ; 

 Robert Hanbnry, bluish-lilac ; Sir Garnet Wolseley, 

 bluish ground, with plum-red bar ; Symeana, delicate 

 lavender-blue ; The President, purple, suffused with 

 claret ; Venus Victrix, delicate lavender — a double 

 variety ; William Kennett, deep lavender ; and 

 Willisoni, shaded pale lavender. 



For general usefulness, hardihood, floriferousness, 

 and great decorative effect, the Jackmanni section 

 of the Clematis is the most valuable, for the plants 

 in the late summer and autumn months literally 

 become masses of blossoms successively and con- 

 tinuously renewed. They should be pruned back 

 hard in early spring, as well-established plants 

 throw out large numbers of strong leading shoots 

 that bloom with marvellous freedom. The leading 

 varieties, and the most useful of this section are : — 

 ascotensis, azure-blue ; Beauty of Worcester, a 

 variety that bears both double and single flowers, 

 the colour a very pleasing bluish-violet, a fine and 

 distinct new variety ; Gipsy Queen, rich bright dark 

 velvetty-purple — late flowering ; Jackmanni, Jack- 

 manni alba, and Jackmanni superba, the flowers of 

 the latter large and very fine jn form; Madame 

 Grange, crimson-violet, tinted with red — a fine and 

 distinct variety ; President Grevy, bluish-purple ; 

 Star of India, reddish-plum ; Victoria, deep reddish- 

 mauve ; and velutina, dark purple. 



The florida section, the forerunner being a 

 Japanese species, is a much smaller group, but 

 one which contains only summer bloomers, flower- 

 ing from the old or ripened wood; it is therefore 

 obvious that if the plants were pruned back as 

 recommended in the case of the lanuginosa and 

 Jackmanni types, they would not flower, and there- 

 fore what is required in the way of pruning is, that 

 the decayed wood be simply thinned out, the ripened 

 shoots made the previous summer being left for flower- 

 ing. The varieties forming this section are well 

 adapted for planting against conservatory walls, or 

 in corridors, and if on walls it should be where their 

 blooms are sheltered from late spring frosts, which 

 occasionally injure them. The leading varieties are 

 —Belle of Woking, silvery-grey, double ; Candidis- 

 sima flore-pleno, white ; Countess of Lovelace, 

 bluish-lilac, double ; Duchess of Edinburgh, white, 

 double ; Fortunee, white, double ; John Gould 

 Veitch, lavender-blue, double; Lucie Lemoine, 

 white, double ; Mr. George Jackman, satiny-white ; 

 and Proteus, purplish-rose, large and double. 



The patens section is represented by a much larger 

 number of varieties, and, like the florida type, flowers 

 from the old or ripened wood, and generally rather 

 earlier in the year, hence they are known as spring 

 bloomers. The most popular varieties appear to be 

 Albert Victor, deep lavender ; Duke of Edinburgh, 

 deep violet-purple; Lord Londesborough, deep 

 mauve ; Miss Bateman, white ; Miss Crawshay, 

 Solferino-pink, a very distinct and pleasing variety ; 

 Mr. S. C. Baker, French-white with claret bars; 

 Sophia, mauve ; and Standishii, violet-blue. 



Lastly comes the viticella section, and they are also 

 summer and autumn bloomers, flowering succession- 

 ally, in profuse masses, on rammer shoots, but not so 

 continuously as in the case of the Jackmanni type. 

 Of this there are a few fine varieties, such as Earl 

 of Beaconsfield, rich royal purple ; Lady Bovill, 

 greyish blue ; and viticella rubra grandiflora, bright 

 claret-red, small-flowered, but very distinct. 



Respecting the culture of the Clematis, it can be 

 said it is a very accommodating plant, growing in 

 any good garden soil provided it is enriched. A 

 soddened soil is unsuitable, and that in which the 

 plants are gVo'wing should be so open as to alloy of 



water freely passing away. Chalk or lime mixed 

 with a rich light loam, is found to suit the Clematis 

 well. A good mulching of short manure should be 

 given in spring, and this lightly forked in in autumn. 

 Cow-dung on light, and leaf-mould on heavier soils 

 can be used with great advantage. 



A list of twenty fine varieties of the Clematis will 

 be found in the following : — Alba magna (L.), Beauty 

 of Worcester (J.), Belle of Woking (F.), Countess of 

 Lovelace (F.), Duchess of Edinburgh (F.), Enchant- 

 ress (L.), Fairy Queen (L.), Gipsy Queen (J.) 

 Henryi (L.), Jackmanni superba (J.), lanuginosa 

 (L.), Lawsoniana (L.), Lord Nevill (L.), Madame 

 Grange (J.), Mrs. George Jackman (P.), Princess of 

 Wales (L.), purpurea elegans (L.), Symeana (L.), 

 Venus Victrix (L.), and William Kennett (L.) The 

 letter placed after each name denotes the section to 

 which each variety belongs, if. D. 



CHIRONIA PEDUNCULAEIS. 



The Chironias are pretty greenhouse plants, easy 

 to cultivate, free flowering, and they last in flower 

 several months. They are rarely met with in gar- 

 dens nowadays, having disappeared along with 

 numerous hard-wooded greenhouse plants with which 

 they used to be commonly cultivated. C. peduncularis 

 (fig. 42) is one of the best of them. It was cultivated 

 in England many years ago under the name of Exacum, 

 to which it bears a close resemblance. It is a native 

 of the Cape, where the genus is abundantly repre- 

 sented, especially near the sea. The species under 

 notice was found by me in abundance on marshy 

 ground, within reach of sea-spray near the port of 

 East London. A few pods of seed were found and 

 brought to Kew in the spring of last year, where the 

 plants have this year been much admired. Several 

 examples were exhibited in the spring at one of the 

 Royal Horticultural Society's meetings, and these 

 same plants remained long in bloom. They are about 

 2 feet high, freely branched, the leaves bright green, 

 and the flowers a soft rosy-purple. This species is 

 well worth growing for the conservatory and cold 

 green-house. It seeds very freely. W. W. 



ITS 



GENTIANA ACAULIS AND 

 ALLIES. 



Under this name may be included several culti- 

 vated forms which have been classed and adopted 

 as species by certain botanists. As this confusion may 

 give rise to difficulties (especially among amateurs who 

 may desire to cultivate them), it will not be super- 

 fluous to pass them in review. 



Those who botanise in our mountains are struck by 

 the difference seen in the leaves and flowers of 

 different plants of the acaulis section. My friend, 

 Mr. Scott Wilson, with whom I botanised on the 

 slopes of Fully, remarked this to me, and said, how 

 greatly the plants around us differed from G. acaulis 

 as grown in his father's garden at Weybridge. 

 As I had already read the note by Mr. Perier, of La 

 Battue, on the same subject (Bulletin de V Association 

 pour la Protection des Plantes, No. 2), I decided to 

 work out the matter. Mr. Perier procured some seed 

 for me, and I collected some myself, and was easily 

 convinced that marked differences do exist. 



There is evidently one variety of G. acaulis which, 

 having been cultivated for so long a time in English 

 and Dutch gardens, has become modified and accli- 

 matised ; this is what is called in English gardens 

 the " Gentianella." This plant produces offsets 

 freely; its foliage is more shining, and is harder 

 than in the type. It is really a garden species, 

 without any exact natural counterpart of the Alps, 

 for the most part difficult to cultivate when trans- 

 planted from the mountains to the plains. In 

 order to introduce them into gardens recourse 

 must be had to acclimatisation by seed, which are 

 easily procured, but are of slow germination. I have 

 given particulars as to the method of raising them 

 from seed in former numbers of the Gara'enert' 

 Chrdnicte. 



