472 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE ARDENER. 



[ November 30, 1876. 



get down amongst the crocks and prevent their serving their 

 intended end. 



If anyone wants to prove — who has not done so already — 

 that this is a trifling part of plant culture, let him take two 

 Heaths, Azaleas, Camellias, or even a Pine plant, or a Pelar- 

 gonium, and drain the pot for one of tham as above described, 

 and the pot for its fellow by carelessly — a by no means un- 

 common practice — rumbling into the bottom of the pot a few 

 large and ungainly pieces of dirty pot or brick, and subject 

 the plants to the same treatment otherwise, and they will be 

 witnesses to results so diverse that the matter will soon come 

 to be regarded as of paramount importance ; and they will not 

 consider that we have insisted on the strict observance of a 

 trifling point of culture. We might almost say that what the 

 foundation is to the structure, the proper draining is to the 

 successful growth of plants in pots. 



Only the other day we were engaged in shifting some 

 Azaleas which had their pots properly drained two years since, 

 and on turning them out of their pots the crocks fell from the 

 bottom of their balls as clean as the day they were put in. 

 The roots of these plants were in the most perfect health, 

 ready for increased feeding ground. In the case of others 

 which had a few large pieces of crocks pitched carelessly into 

 their pots, th9 passage for water was nest to entirely filled up 

 by the soil working down among the crocks to the bottom of 

 the pots. The consequence was that hali the ball stuck in the 

 pot, and it was a soured mass of peat, in which the roots had 

 perished, if ever they had entered it at all. Such crocking in 

 conjunction with old unwashed pots is in time certain death to 

 plants, if the evil is not timeonsly put right. — (The Gardener.) 



EUCALYPTUS GLOBULUS. 

 Information being aBked as to its hardiness, I am enabled 

 to state that I was presented with a specimen in the 6pring of 

 1875, which I planted in the C9ntre of a flower bed in my 

 garden. It was then about 6 inches high, but is now at least 

 8 feet, with a stem 6 inches in circumference, and very healthy. 

 It suffered somewhat during last winter from the frost, but not 

 to any considerable extent. My garden i3 at the rear of the 

 house, which is on the seashore failing the east, so that it is 

 partially sheltered ; but it is exposed to the north and north- 

 west winds, which we get in this locality with no unsparing 

 hand. — W. H. Digges, Sandymount, Dublin. 



In reply to Mr. G. Abbey, in your Journal of November 16th. 

 In 1869 I raised a plant from seed, which when it was about 

 2 fe6t high I planted in a south border. It was cut down by 

 frost to a single leaf. I then repotted it, tied up the single leaf 

 to a stick, and placed it in a small hothouse ; there it very soon 

 recovered itself, and grew into a tree too large for me in less 

 than two years. It Btill lives in the large conservatory of a 

 friend, but will, I suspect, soon outgrow him too. Whether 

 it could now be hardened so as to stand frost is an interesting 

 question. — S. C. 



I am glad to see that your valued correspondent, Mr. Abbey, 

 has drawn the attention of your readers to the possibility of 

 acclimatising this fine plant, as I firmly believe that it can be 

 done by those who possess both skill and space, but I think it 

 must be protected for two or three winters. I have grown it 

 for some years without bottom heat. Sowing the seeds in the 

 open garden in April, planting out the seedlings when a few 

 leaves appear ; they grow about 2 feet. In the autumn I pot 

 them in common garden soil, and place them in an old 

 Cucumber frame, and the following spring plant them out 

 where I want them to stand. They grow to about 7 or 8 feet 

 in height ; I then destroy them, as I have always assumed that 

 they would not winter without protection , which I have no space 

 to afford them. But in future, as Mr. Abbey seems to consider 

 that there is some hope of success, I shall try what I can do in 

 my small way to preserve them. Is the globulus and globosus 

 the same ? The leaf of the latter is much darker. — G. D. 



[There is no species named globosue. It must be a mis- 

 nomer for globulus. — Eds.] 



We have here some very fine specimens of the Eucalyptus; 

 they are about six years old, and havo stood unprotected for 

 five years. Some of them havo attained the hoight of 35 feet, 

 with stems 18 inches in circumference, and appear quite 

 healthy. They were grown in pots the first year, which in my 

 opinion was a mistake, for the roots if crippled when young 



do not gain sufficient hold of the soil to support the heavy 

 heads of the trees. It may be observed that the Eucalyptus 

 sends down a strong tap-root, which is no doubt its chief 

 support, and if this root is Btopped by coming in contact with 

 the bottom of the pot it will never again resume its former 

 course, even when the tree is planted out. I have proved this 

 by the above specimens, for had it not been for the aid of 

 some large stones placed round the bases of the trees they 

 would have been overturned by the storms. The seeds should 

 be sown where the trees are required to grow, protecting them 

 with spruce branches for the first winter. 



I have sown seeds of Eucalyptus in different situations, and 

 have found the young plants do admirably in all cases ; but 

 those in sheltered places have attained a larger size, but do 

 not appear so hardy aB those in exposed positions. Most of 

 the seedlings have grown to the height of 2 feet during the 

 first season, and have withstood 8° of frost on several occasions 

 this winter unprotected. The seeds were sown on the 20th of 

 April in small patches of well-prepared ground, placing about 

 twelve seeds in each patch, and covering them to the depth 

 of half an inch with a compost of sand, loam, and leaf soil. 

 I thinned out the seedlings, leaving three of the strongest in 

 each patch, which will remain through the winter. Those 

 that were removed I have placed in pot3 and purpose using 

 them as foliage plants in the flower garden next Bummer. — 

 Andrew Campbell, Muckross Abbey, Killarney. 



BLUE GEM VEKONICA. 



Observing for the last several weeks in the Journal of Horti- 

 culture favourable remarks on the above plant, I have thought 

 it just possible that its origin might not be known to some of 

 your readers, and who may like to know a little of its history. 



I must go back to the spring of 1868, when I discovered 

 growing in my forcing house in a pot, where an Azalea was the 

 principal occupant, what I thought at first to be a weed of 

 some kind, then in its first pair of small seed leaveB.but seeing 

 that it differed somewhat in general appearance from most 

 weeds with which I waB acquainted I let it remain till the seed 

 leaves had developed and the second pairs of leaves made their 

 appearance. Then I potted it into a thumb pot and looked 

 after it more carefully, soon discovering it to be a Beedling 

 Veronica. Daring the spring and summer of 1869 I propa- 

 gated it as much as it would allow of, with the exception of 

 a few plants which I grew-on for specimens, treating them 

 liberally both in pots and open borders. Finding it constant 

 to its original habit I began to exhibit it in August, and took 

 five first-class certificates for it at various horticultural ex- 

 hibitions with plants only two or three days previously taken 

 from the open borders. The last place of its being exhibited 

 was before the Floral Committee of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society, who awarded it ita honours without a dissentient voice. 

 Ultimately I sold the stock to Messrs. Cripp & Son, nurserymen, 

 Tunbridge Wells, who sent it out in trade order the following 

 spring. — H. W. Wabren, Gardener to the Earl of Portsmouth, 

 Hurstbourne Park, Hants. 



CUCUMBEBS. 



The past season has not been one of the best I have witnessed 

 for growing Cucumbers. In the first place we had an unusu- 

 ally cold spring, with but very little sun, and this weather 

 lasted far into what should have been summer ; then came a 

 sudden change to exceedingly hot weather, rendering it diffi- 

 cult to supply the plants with a sufficiency of water at the 

 roots, and to keep the house at the proper humidity for the 

 health of the foliage. My Cucumber house is about 24 feet in 

 length and 12 feet in width, and as I have a strong demand for 

 Cucumbers it becomes me to grow the sorts which are the most 

 productive. For the purpose of experiment I tried several 

 varieties, planting them the last week in February, and I began 

 cutting early in April. The plants were removed the first week 

 in November. 



The first to mention is Nonesuch ; not a new variety, but 

 perhaps not so popular as it should be, as I found it an excel- 

 lent kind, very prolific, and handsome, growing from 18 to 

 22 inches in length, of a deep olive colour, of good quality, 

 bearing well till the finish of the Eeason. Telegraph needs 

 very little comment, as it- is admitted to be a most useful 

 variety, and ought to be grown in all gardens. Tender and 

 True I regard as an exhibition variety, and for that purpose 

 none can surpass it. Cox's Yolunteer I found extremely use- 



