September 21, 1876. 1 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GA8DENER. 



265 



scriptions; rope plants, creepers, trailers, climbers, mosses — 

 all live together like a happy family far beyond the reach of 



man I have even see a tall white Amaryllis in fall 



blossom growing on the bough of a Jiquitiba nearly 100 feet 

 above the ground." Mr. Hinchliff was told by a French 

 botanist that a fortnight could be occupied in studying the 

 plants on one of these gigantic trees which fall to the earth 

 from time to time. 



In the gardens of Brazil Mr. Hinchliff saw Camellias 15 feet 

 high, and large enough to climb into to pluck the topmost 

 blossoms ; and Poinsettias, " not in the little plants which 

 often ornament our London dinner-tables, but grown into very 

 large bushes, on which I have found the crimson star of their 

 floral bracts to be 2 feet in diameter." A profusion of other 

 cultivated flowers growing in extraordinary luxuriance are 

 mentioned by the author. 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 



A repetition of the experiment of last year of an Inter- 

 national Potato Exhibition will be held in the Alexandra 

 Palace, Muswell Hill, on Thursday and Friday, September 

 28th and 29th. The prizes offered amount to upwards of 

 £140, the result of the subscriptions of the promoters, aided 

 by a grant of £40 from the Alexandra Palace Company. The 

 entries promise a fine display, and it is expeoted that fully 

 three thousand disheB will be staged. 



Last year we were highly favoured with fruit shows, but 



this year we have now little to expect. The "International" 

 last year at the Alexandra Palace was an excellent exhibition, 

 and very good was the show at the Crystal Palace, while the 

 display at South Kensington was extensive and superior. This 

 year no show is announced at the Alexandra Palace ; the 

 schedule of the Crystal Palace show is a small one ; the 

 Royal Horticultural Society's show has collapsed, and in con- 

 sequenoe the fruit-growing public was looking forward to the 

 Ootober display at the Royal Aquarium, but which is now 

 abrogated. An announcement in our advertising columns 

 conveys this information, which will certainly be unwelcome 

 news to many, and a letter from the horticultural superinten- 

 dent regrets it — a regret which not only many intending ex- 

 hibitors will join, but which those who are interested in fruit- 

 growing will share. We can only hope for better things next 

 year — more fruit to show, and better facilities and encourage- 

 ment for showing it. 



We learn that the Potato disease is arriving in London, 



and in a form that should put purchasers on their guard, and 

 prevent them making hasty purchases of cheap lots of tubers. 

 It is well known by those having experience with large quan- 

 tities of Potatoes, that tubers which appear sound when 

 taken up will in the course of a week, more or less, often show 

 the disease unmistakeably, especially if they are stored in 

 large quantities. Such is the case at present, and hurried 

 consignments and quick sales may turn out anything but good 

 bargains to the purchasers. The comparative lightness of the 

 Potato crops is a sufficient guarantee that sales at cheap rates 

 will not be forced if the produce is known to be sonnd and of 

 good keeping quality. Tubers which have been hurried into 

 railway trucks and heaped at the depots in large quantities 

 must be regarded with suspicion if offered at anything less 

 than the full market value of sound produce. We are informed 

 of more than one cheap bargain which has turned out dear to 

 the purchaser, for in ten days after the purchase many of the 

 tubers have been found to be affected with the disease, al- 

 though they were apparently sound at the time of purchase. 

 We have before known the disease to partake of the same 

 peculiar and delusive character, and to a greater degree than 

 we trust is the case at the present time. 



A Visitor writes as follows on the planting-out of 



Adianttjm fableyense : — "At Shipley Hall, the residence of 

 A. M. Mundy, Esq., in Derbyshire, there is a large intermediate 

 house planted as a rustic or natural fernery. There are scores 

 of varieties of all the finest Ferns growing luxuriantly in it, 

 but the most effective of all are the plants here and there of 

 Adiantum farleyense. This variety is planted-out like the 

 rest, and its large beautiful green fronds drooping over the 

 miniature ledges of rock produce an effect which I never saw 

 equalled with any other Fern." 



One of the most attractive shrubs recently introduced 



is Weigela amabilis Looymansi aubea. It is so named after 

 Messrs. Looymans & Sons, nurserymen, Oadenbosch, Holland. 



The flowers are crimson and white and attractive, but the 

 foliage entitles it to its distinctive name " golden," for the 

 leaves are totally yellow. The colour is stated to be but Blightly 

 altered by exposure to either sunshine or shade. A coloured 

 drawing of the leaves and flowers is in the " Revue l'Horti- 

 culture Beige " for August. 



The twenty-first annual Exhibition of Fruit and Cdt 



Flowers commences at the Crystal Palace to-day and continues 

 throughout the week. Considering that it is likely to be the 

 only fruit show held in London and its vicinity during the 

 present autumn, the limited nature of the schedule and the 

 small amounts offered as prizes are matters which will be 

 generally regretted. The highest prize is £5 for ten dishes of 

 fruit, £3 being offered as the premier award for a collection of 

 six dishes. Other prizeB in the fruit classes vary from £1 10s. 

 to 5s. Small prizes are offered for cut flowers, and there are 

 five classes for cottagers' vegetables. A "crush" is not 

 anticipated. 



From many correspondents we have accounts of the 



extreme rapidity of growth of many autumn cbops, such as 

 Coleworfes, Spinach, Cauliflowers, Turnips, &c. ; Celery, Brus- 

 sels Sprouts, and the various kinds of Eales are also improving 

 in a very satisfactory manner, and if the autumn should con- 

 tinue lengthy and the weather mild the scarcity of a supply of 

 vegetables during the winter is not likely to be so great as 

 was at one time anticipated. Weeds also grow apace, and it 

 is as well to bear in mind that the means of checking their 

 growth will also at the same time further the activity of the 

 useful crops, which in the absence of hoeings and a regular 

 moving of the surface of the soil, are deprived of much support. 

 That vegetables can be cheap is, we fear, impossible, yet by 

 good cultural attention the supply in most gardens will, we 

 trust, be equal to the demand of the owners and their cooks. 

 Dewy nights, manure water, and surface-stirrings work wonders 

 in improving the autumn crops and preventing a scarcity of 

 vegetables. 



We have again visited Cleveland House to note the 



lasting qualities of the carpet bedding whioh is there carried 

 out in such perfection by Mr. Legg. Hundreds of visitors 

 have been to criticise and admire, for none that we can hear 

 of have been disappointed. The few who have the oppor- 

 tunity of seeing these beds and who have not done so, have yet 

 time to take a lesson. If they cannot see the beds in their 

 zenith of beauty, they may see carpet bedding as probably 

 they have never seen it before ; and if there are some who 

 cannot admire the " style," they will yet admit the skill which 

 is evidenced in the arrangement and finish of the beds. The 

 gardens, we may remind our readers, are open on the after- 

 noons of Tuesdays and Fridays, and unless frosts occur the 

 beds will remain gay throughout the present month. They 

 are decidedly more lasting in beauty than are beds of flowers, 

 for while the Geraniums, &c, are now uninviting, the carpet 

 beds are highly attractive. In the houses, too, there are a 

 few plants worth looking at. Nowhere can finer, if as fine, 

 Crotons be seen, and Dipladenia Brearleyana has now fifty 

 flowers expanded, some of them being of a rich crimson colour 

 and of the size and texture of Allamandas. This, the finest 

 of all Dipladenias, was introduced by Mr. Bull, and no one has 

 grown it better than Mr. Legg. In the stove the Nepenthes 

 are attractive, one plant of N. Rafliesiana having nearly forty 

 pitchers and a number of others showing. In the vineries the 

 first crop of Muscat of Alexandras averages 15 to 20 lbs. per 

 rod ; the bunches are well filled, but the berries are rather 

 small, the crop beiDg fully too heavy. All the canes will be 

 cut-down to the base of the rafters, others of remarkable growth 

 being trained between them for the next year's supply. It 

 remains to be seen how the heavy crop of this year will affect 

 the growth of the Vines next year after the rods have been cut 

 down. One Vine is cropped with a vengeance, it showed ninety 

 bunches, and fifty were allowed to remain, but the Grapes are 

 small. 



A coebespondent writes on the scarcity of Tea-scented 



Roses which has been recently alluded to, that the quickest 

 mode of propagating them is to strike cuttings of the young 

 wood in heat in spring, after the manner of striking Verbenas, 

 subsequently hardening the Roses off and planting them in 

 good soil, and in the following year dwarf flowering plants are 

 produced of the best quality. Tea Roses, he adds, " may be 

 thus increased by thousands and the scarcity be averted." 

 While admitting the usefulness of the above hint, we do not 

 suppose that the scarcity of Tea Roses is due to failures in 



