December IS 1888.J 



TEE GARDENERS' (JhRONICLE. 



703 



Clovers at critical times; they may afford food for slugs 

 and insects that, would otherwise prey on the grasses, 

 and in a variety of ways they may prove beneficial 

 rather than the reverse. These things are matters 

 requiring observation. The great value of scientific 

 training for cultivators of the soil seems to be that 

 it affords a broader and more varied basis for the 

 experience of the practical man to work upon. 



Houtine practice has, of course, much in its favour 

 as the outcome of experience ; but that experience 

 is much too limited in its range, and while it is not 

 calculated to further progress, still less is it adapted 

 to new conditions and altered circumstances. Pro- 

 fessor Wrightson's work reads like a series of essays 

 rather than a continuous treatise; bat, in any case, it 

 is one whicli we can most cordially recommend to 

 the attention of the thoughtful cultivator. 



THE BOOK OF THE FARM. By Henry Stephens. 

 Fourth edition, by James Macdonald. ( Black- 

 wood & Sons.) 

 The fact that this standard work now reappears 

 in a fourth edition is a sufficient guarantee that it is 

 adapted for the purpose it was intended to fulfil. 

 Moreover, the editor tells us that he has carefully 

 revised the greater pcrtion, while some part of the 

 book has been entirely re-written. The eminently 

 practical spirit in which the work is conceived will 

 commend itself to many. It is divided into three 

 heads — Initiation, or instruction in first principles ; 

 Practice, detailing the entire series of operations on 

 the farm, whatever be its nature; and Realisation, 

 under which are included the details concerning the 

 stocking of the farm and the various financial trans- 

 actions connected with it, comprising, we presume, 

 the art of marketing. The volume before us opens 

 with a statement as to the different kinds of farms, 

 and the duties of the several persons who conduct 

 its business. Then follows a section on the sciences 

 applicable to agriculture, occupying some twenty 

 pages, and therefore, as may readily be sur- 

 mised, meagre in the extreme, the section re- 

 lating to bjtany occupying about three columus ! 

 while the subject of germs is dismissed in a 

 dozen lines, and under the heading, " Productions 

 of Nitrates in Soils," not one word is said as to the 

 action of the aforesaid germs. Such cursory treat- 

 ment of the general principles upon which all culti- 

 vation, whether of animals or plants, depends, is, it 

 must be admitted, unsatisfactory ; but it must not 

 induce the reader to suppose that the other portions 

 of the volume are treated with equal inadequacy. On 

 the contrary, the explanations are full and clear, and 

 the precepts excellent. 



Trees and Shrubs. 



ESCALLOXIA MACRANTHA. 

 This beautiful flowering shrub is frequently met 

 with as a wall plant, and in that form it has no 

 chance of showing its floriferousness, such as is the 

 case when growing unrestrained. The other day, 

 when passing Battle station, we noticed a specimen 

 which had been plauted against a low wall, but 

 owing, I suppose, to want of time or knowledge, the 

 plant had long since been allowed to outgrow its 

 original boundary, and had risen much higher, as 

 well as taken possession of a part of the opposite 

 side of the wall. The plant was flowering very pro- 

 fusely. Its long racemes of red flowers, backed by 

 the bright green foliage, had a peculiarly graceful 

 effect. We thus had an opportunity of seeing this 

 fine old shrub in finer condition than usual. F. li, 

 [The shrub in question is twenty years old. For sea- 

 side planting it is highly to be recommended. Ed.] 



Atubotaxis (the Jointed Yew). 



Tliia is a very interesting genus of small trees or 



shrubs, natives of New Zea'and, and as they occupy 



but small space, and are very distinct in character 



and appearance from other ornamental plants, on 



this account they are well worthy of the attention 

 of amateurs and others who possess places of small 

 extent. 



A. cupressoides I have found to be the hardiest and 

 the easiest grown of any of the group ; and although 

 all of them are improved by shelter, yet this species 

 in particular should never be confined, as it is apt 

 to get drawn up, and then presents a slender lanky 

 appearauce. When properly grown it is a very orna- 

 mental plant, and is well furnished with branches, 

 which are often divided into threes, and occasionally 

 forked. The leaves are of a glossy-green colour, 

 without footstalks, imbricated, and lie close to the 

 twig or branch. It seldom requires pruning, with 

 the exception of cutting back or pinching out the 

 terminal bud, or cutting off a rival leader at the top 

 when it occurs. All the species like a rich free open 

 soil, thoroughly drained, well trenched, broken up 

 and pulverised to a depth of about 20 inches. Strong 

 adhesive clay soil is inimical to their proper growth ; 

 therefore, when it is desirable to plant a specimen 

 on such soil, the site should be prepared for it by 

 adding to and mixing a quantity of bog-earth or 

 other loose material with the staple, so as to render it 

 more genial. On the other hand, light sandy soil 

 should have a quantity of clayey loam incorporated 

 with it. When planting the trees the roots should 

 be carefully spread out in all directions from the 

 base of the stem, covered with fine soil, and finished 

 in the ordinary way. 1 need hardly say that the 

 plants should be protected from rabbits and vermin 

 of every kind, and I have found it an advantage to 

 stick a few Spruce Fir branches into the ground 

 around the plant, to afford additional shelter until 

 such time as the roots become established. 



A. laxifolia (the loose-leaved Jointed Yew). — 

 This is not such a free grower as the former, but 

 where it thrives it forms a pretty little specimen 

 bush, whose proper place is the lawn. The leaves 

 are rather thick and fle s hy, sharp-pointed, and of a 

 yellowish-colour, and stand out from the branch or 

 twig. The lateral branches often assume a pendent 

 habit, rendering the plant still more interesting. It 

 mav be planted with success in closer and more 

 shady places than A. cupressoides will endure, as it is 

 not so apt to be drawn up under such-like conditions. 



A. sela</inoi(hs (the Cypress-like Jointed Yew). — 

 This pretty little tree is said to attain a height of 

 about 30 feet in its native habitat, but in this 

 country it is of very slow growth, and even under 

 the most favourable circumstances as regards soil, 

 site, and shelter, it only attains the size of a small 

 bush. Its habit of growth and general contour are 

 quite distinct, and those who have a partiality for 

 variety and have but limited space, should give it a 

 trial in a sheltered situation. Under favourable 

 conditions it has an upright habit of growth, and is 

 generally well furnished with flexible twigs and 

 branches of a lively green colour. These plants are 

 seldom to be seen even in first-class collections, 

 which may be partly accounted for from the fact that 

 their hardiness cannot be depended upon when 

 planted on exposed places or at high elevations 

 above the sea-level. I have been enabled to grow 

 by far the finest specimens of these trees in Ireland, 

 where the climate is milder, frosts less intense, and 

 of shorter duration than in this country; notwith- 

 standing which, there are many parts of this country 

 where its successful cultivation would be a certainty. 

 J. II. Webster. [We have ventured to alter the nanus 

 given by the writer, in conformity with the results of 

 our investigations into the botany of the genus. See 

 Nov. 10, 1SS8, p. 515. Ed.] 



Sambcccs racemosa. 



Whether it be owing to climate, or whether this 

 species is more commonly planted in the North 

 than it is in the South, its bright scarlet fruits 

 are very rarely seen in South-country gardens. 

 Whatever the reason for this, there can be no doubt 

 about its ornamental value as a bright-coloured 

 autumn-berried shrub; and of this I was reminded 

 recently when visiting the gardens at Crathes Castle, 

 Kincardineshire, where in a recently formed shrub- 

 berv it was observed in fine condition. The plants 

 had been well cut back the previous year, and the 

 eturdv growths which they had made this year bore 



clusters of brilliant red fruits, which were all the 

 more conspicuous as the early frosts had nearly 

 stripped the plants of their foliage. F. Ross. 



Florists' Flowers. 



NEW CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 



It is high time the English growers of Chrysan- 

 themums, aud especially those who cultivate for 

 exhibition, should enter a protest against nearly, 

 if not quite, all, the so-called new and incurved 

 varieties being sent to this country from France and 

 America. The one exception to the general con- 

 demnation is Delaux's Perle Precieuse, sent out in 

 18ST, and considered to be good enough to be 

 included in the last edition of the National Society's 

 Catalogue. It is there described as rose-purple, with 

 a silvery back to the florets, which are broad, and of 

 medium size, and a mid-season variety. It is a very 

 pretty variety, with a broad solid petal, of good form, 

 but does not come large enough to be included 

 among the exhibition flowers. The French raisers 

 appear to be coming round to the conviction that 

 the long lists of Japanese varieties they have been 

 announcing for years past— so many of them being 

 of only second-rate quality — are no longer bought 

 up so eagerly as they once were by our growers, 

 aud they seem to be turning their attention to the 

 incurved section ; but as yet with indifferent results. 

 Another danger threatens the grower, that cf 

 some exhibitors renaming imported flowers. A 

 strong piotestwas entered against the practice at the 

 meeting of the Floral Committee of the National 

 Chrysanthemum Society on the 21st ult. This is, 

 indeed, a misleading and unjust proceeding, which 

 cannot be too strongly condemned. 



The recently-published Catalogue of the National 

 Chrysanthemum Society contains a list of eighty 

 incurved varieties, more than one-fourth of which 

 have originated as sports. Indeed so sportive is 

 the Chrysanthemum, that of recent years we have 

 obtained finer incurved forms from sports than from 

 seedlings. Three new forms in this section are 

 announced for distribution in the spring of next year 

 —all sports; they are Miss M. A. Haggas, which 

 gives exhibitors what they have desired to obtain — a 

 golden Princess of Wales. This sport came from 

 Mrs. Heale, which is itself a very fine pure white 

 sport from the delicate rose-tinted Princess of Wales. 

 The second is H. Shoesmith, a bronze-coloured sport 

 from the well-known golden Mr. Bunn, which in its 

 turn is a sport from Golden Beverley, being much 

 deeper in colour, and a favourite early variety. 

 Lastly is Miss Violet Tomlin, which gives us a com- 

 panion to the purple-coloured Refulgens, but a much 

 more reliable flower for exhibition purposes. 

 Refulgens, though of a fine tint of purple-maroon, is 

 invariably small, and frequently comes with an open 

 centre. The new form is a sport from Princess of 

 Wales, and is of a bright purple-violet shade, and 

 quite as fine. 



Exhibitors of Chrysanthemums now possess 

 three valuable groups of incurved Chrysanthe- 

 mums most useful for show purposes. They 

 are the " Queens," under which heading may 

 be placed Alfred Salter, Bronze Queen of England, 

 Emily Dale, Empress of India, Golden Empress of 

 India, Golden Queen of England, Lord Alcester, 

 and Queen of England — a group which gives the 

 largest and finest back-row flowers of the incurved 

 section. Then Princess of Teck gives a smaller but 

 scarcely less useful set; they are — Charles Gib- 

 son, Hero of Stoke Newington, Lord Eversley, and 

 Mrs. Norman Davis. Now we have a third series, 

 of which Princess of Wales is the original type. 

 They are the new varieties described above, viz., 

 Miss M. A. Haggas, and Miss Violet Tomlin, Mrs. 

 Cobay, and Mrs. Heale ; while another fine sport is 

 promised for next season. 



It has been suggested that it would add a new 

 interest to our Chrysanthemum exhibitions if prizes 

 were offered for the members of these different 



