May 5, 1S63. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICTILTTJBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER, 



325 



With regard to the flavour of Gooseberries, I have Mr. Bob- 

 son " on the hip." No Lancashire Gooseberry or Gooseberry 

 in Lancashire, and I have tasted many, ever equalled a Eed 

 Champagne or Warrington Eed grown in the south of England, 

 leaving the White Eig Gooseberry and some others out of the 

 question. 



If Mr. Eobson will not come to see me I shall say he is a 

 firrn-minded old gentleman, who, "if convinced against his will, 

 will be," ic. (pule " Hudibras ") ; but I trust he will favour me 

 with s visit, all I ask is a day or two's notice. The Harlow 

 station is the most convenient for my house, — Ikos. Eities. 



25th, I gathered a piece of Hawthorn with the blossoms fully 

 expanded from a hedge near this village. I have once gathered 

 it on the 27th of April, but I never before saw it so forward as 

 it is this year. — Eobebt S. Stedsiax, Shambrook, near Bedford. 



ADLAN'TUil HACEOPHYLLOI. 



Ever at the present time, possessed as we are of beautiful 

 Ferns of the Pteris tricolor, argvrtea, and albo-lineata stamp, I 

 think there are few who will feel disposed to differ from me as 

 to the beauty of the fronds of really lovely hue of the old Jamaica 

 Fern introduced eome seventy or eighty years ago — the Adiantum 

 macrophyllum. 



Generally, and save when in a small pot, I have been in the 

 habit of considering this Fern difficult of culture, a rather 

 miffy subject, acknowledging very reluctantly the rule of those 

 of the blue apron ; and yet it will under some, and those the 

 most simple ways of treatment, adapt itself to the wishes of the 

 cultivator. 



_ I commence by supposing that the operator has a thriving young 

 plant tolerably well established in a 4S, or, better still, 32-sized 

 pot, say in February ; the fronds of last season's growth are 

 decaying. I would take this plant, and giving it a shift into a 

 i^i-sized pot, place it upon an elevated pot, slate, or stage, near 

 the cooler end of the stove, moderately supplying it with water. 

 It may remain in this position about a month ; when, if from 

 the necessities of the stove plants generally, in the same com- 

 partment, the heat is not then advanced about 10 3 , the Adiantum 

 should be removed so as to obtain that temperature. Probably 

 about this time young fronds will have pushed. If there should 

 be from eight to twelve with the pinnse expanded in part, then 

 cut away the whole of the old fronds of last season. Divested 

 of its old fronds it will make a stronger start, and must now 

 receive a slight increase of temperature. I would let it remain 

 in this situation about another month, gradually watering it 

 more frequently. 



The above treatment would bring it on into April, when the 

 days are long enough for a further advance of heat. I would 

 now, in a shady situation, give it 60° by night, from 75° to SO* 

 by day ; and an essential point is that the pots be so plunged 

 in moss around the pipes, or in a gentle hotbed, as to insure 

 the roots being in a temperature of 70°. From thenceforward, 

 until the plant has done growins;, deluge it well with water, and 

 gently. The influences of these combined inducements will 

 show themselves in the form of numerous fronds arising from 

 the plant. 



Thus continue each season ; and in the following February I 

 would give the plant a liberal shift into, say, a 12-sized pot, 

 giving it a sis-inch the following year, when it should be a fine 

 specimen compared with what we meet with generally — say a 

 yard in diameter, and having fronds all fresh in their beauty, and 

 attaining some 14 inches long, such a pot averaging some seventy 

 of such fronds. 



Care must be taken that no particles of water be allowed to 

 stand on the fronds ; otherwise they very quickly fade, and at 

 times even rot or fog-off. 



The soil it appears to like best I compound of some good 

 rubbly charcoal, not pounded too small ; rough little squares 

 ot a fibry sandy peat, having the weightier part sifted out ; some 

 good fibrous loam, with a fair proportion of silver sand, and 

 added to these a fair proportion of small potsherds. 



In potting I half fill the pot with charcoal and potsherds, and 

 intermixed with these a few of the finer lumps of fibry peat. The 

 latter should be placed in carefully, packing each as closely as 

 possible without breaking them. Then, before the old ball is 

 placed tipon these, take off all old substances where practicable 

 without injuring the roots ; and fill up with the mixture 

 generally, taking care to finish off at the surface with some of 

 the finer material. — W. Eabxet, Digsvell. 



HAEDY ANOTALS. 

 Lr The Jntuvii of HoBxicTLirBE of 31st March I have 

 read a list of garden annuals, at the foot of which is a suggestion 

 for other ideas to be thrown out on the subject. The following I 

 know to be good showy things in that way, and such as may ba 

 grown by any one. — P». H. 



EiEir Blooming op the ECavvthoex. — As a proof of the 

 forwardness of the season, I beg to state that yeiterday, April 



Athanasia annua, 1 ft., yellow. 



Bartonia aurea, 1 re., yellow. 



Brachycome iberidifoiia, 1 ft., grey- 

 ish blue. 



Clarkia pulchella tlore pleno, 1 ft, 

 rosy purple. 



Chrysanthemum Burridgeanum, 2 ft. 

 white and crimson. 



Calliopsis bicolor, 2 ft., yellow and 

 brown. 



C. Drummondi, I ft., yellow and 

 brown. 



C. coronata, 1J ft. 

 Centranthusmacrosiphonnanus, 1ft., 



pink. 

 Collinsia bicolor, 1 ft., lilac and white. 

 Convolvulus tricolor splendens, 1 it., 



purple. 

 Diantnus chinensis, 9 in., mixed reds- 



D. ehinensis Heddewigi, 9 m., mixed 

 reds. 



Erysimum Peroffskianum, 1 ft., 

 orange. 



E. Arkansanum, 1 ft., yellow. 

 Feverfew, double, 1^ ft., white. 

 Godetia rubicunda, - fc, purple. 

 G. Schamini, 2 ft., white. 

 Helichrysum coraposiluni maximum, 



2 ft., mixed. 

 Iberis umbellata aanguinea, 9 in., 



crimson. 

 I. coronaria, 9 in., white, 

 Ipomxa Bunidgi, rosy crimson. 

 1. atr«-violacea, purple. (Climbers]. 



Lasthenia californica, 1 ft., yellow. 



Lavater.t, red and white, 2 It. 



Leptosiphons, various, 1 ft. 



Linuoi grandidoruni coecineum, 1 f :., 

 crimson. 



Lupiaus, various, 2 ft. 



Malope grandinora, 2 tl., crimson. 



Nasturtium, dwarfs— Cattell's crim- 

 son; Tom Thumb scarlet, ditto 

 yellow, ditto Beauty ; Nasturtium 

 Dwarf Spotted. 



Netuophila insignis, G in., bine. 



Oxyura chrysanthemoidea, 9 in., 

 yellow. 



Petunia, mixed. 



Phlox Drummondi, mixed. 



Poppy, Dwarf French, 2 ft., mixed; 



Saponaria calabrica, 1 ft., pink. 



Schoria californica, 6 in., yellow. 



Schizanthus, mixed, li ft. 



Silene pendula, 9 in., pink. 



Sphenogyne speciosa, 6 in., yellow. 



Troptnoium Caroline Schmidt, scarlet 



T. Brilliant, scarlet. 



T. Schultzi, scarlet. 



T. Barkeri, mixed. 



T. Scheurmannianum, buff andbrown 



T. Scheurmannianum carneum, bull" 

 and red. 



T. Lauderi. 



T, canariense. 



Tiscaria, mixed, 9 in. 



7-inm* elcgans, 1-2 fc mixed. 



EOSES IN THE SUBITEBS. 



In continuation of my former papers for suburban Eose- 

 growers, I shall proceed to give the results of the past winter 

 with me as exhibited in the behaviour of several favourite kinds. 

 Of course they may not correspond with the observations of 

 others ; but it is only by the comparison of various experiences 

 that reliable data can be' established. From October last to the 

 present time we have enjoyed a singular i m mu ni ty from severe 

 or continued frosts ; yet we have not been without two or three 

 sharp spells, which have left their effects upon my limited rosery. 

 This has been particularly the case with small plants on their 

 own roots turned out of pots during the last summer, several 

 of which have succumbed to the influence of cold or damp. 

 Damp in the early spring months is extremely fatal to young 

 plants, which dwindle and go off between " wind and water," 

 as the gardeners term it ; and the method by which I hoped to 

 counteract the enemy (by placing a mulch of charcoal round 

 the collar), has not in all cases proved successful. H.P.'s Anna 

 de Diesbach, Due de Cazes, Princesse Mathilde, and Eugene 

 Appert on their own roots are among the sufferers ; the first- 

 named, especially, seems really dehcate in that form ; the others, 

 though usually "considered hardy, have followed in its wake. 

 Perhaps when the last frosts occurred they were too forward 

 and full of sap. Epon the Manetti the case has been quite 

 different with the same varieties, except Diesbach. They are 

 flourishing and even in bud : hence I conclude that for ama- 

 teurs, whose space only allows them to cultivate limited collec- 

 tions, the Manetti is the most advantageous stock. B.'s G. 

 Peabody, Aurore du Guide, Cornice de Seine et Marne, George 

 Cuvier, and Madame Helfenbeim (similar kind of plants to the 

 H.P.'s), are also among the departed; as well as Teas, Meianie 

 Oger, Goubault, Yiscomtesse de Cazes ; Noisette, America ; and 

 C, Mrs. Bosanquet. These young plants appear to require more 

 bottom heat than is natural to the ground in spring to start 

 them at that period. I get on very unsatisfactorily with thoaa 

 beautiful Eoses General Washington and Madame Furtado. 

 They neither grow nor open well, and I fear will not do for us 

 townsmen. 



What will be the consequence of a continuance of the present 



