November 2, 1871. ] 



jouknaij of horticulture and cottage gardeneb. 



337 



mittee gave the preference to Telef^rapli. Mr. Cross, gardener to Sir 

 H. Goldsmid, Bart., Eendcombe Park, Cirencester, sent specimens of 

 Walcheren and Veitch's Autnmn Giant Cauliflower. 



Messrs. Carter & Co., exhibited a collection of twelve varieties of 

 Onions, and sixty sorts of Potatoes, some Beet, Carrots, and Drnm- 

 head Cabbages, all of which were meritorions examples of their dif- 

 ferent kinds, and to which a special certificate was awarded. Mr. 

 Ijidgard, of Hammersmith, exhibited five varieties of Celery of large 

 aize and excellent quality, to which a special certificate was awarded. 



Flobal Committee. — W. Marshall, Esq., in the chair. The sub- 

 jects on which the Committee had to decide were very limited in 

 number, and those which merited special notice were but few. A 

 -special certificate was given to Messrs. Standish & Co., of Ascot, for 

 a collection of Gladiolus, the result of hybridising Brenchleyensis 

 and Gandavensis varieties, and probably others, with G. cruentus. The 

 •spikes were not so many-flowered as in the ordinary varieties, nor was 

 the form so good, but the colours were very striking and novel, and 

 ithe lateness of blooming remarkable. Whether the latter was a con- 

 sequence of the corms being young, or the effect of hybridisation, we 

 are unable to say ; at all events there is every prospect that the varie- 

 "tiea thus originated will give rise to fresh varieties iu this beautiful 

 flower, as well as a prolongation of its flowering period. Messrs. 

 Standish & Co. also exhibited their late-flowering Lily of the Valley 

 along with a pot of the ordinary kind. While the leaves of the 

 former were all withered, those of the latter still preserved their fresh- 

 mess. Mr. ChaiJ, gardener to A. Smee, Esq., sent a specimen of Pteris 

 scaberula, nearly -1 feet in diameter, in perfect health, and beautifully 

 'famished. This had been grown in the hardy fernery in the open air 

 since the 5th of lasjt June. A special certificate was given. A like 

 award was made to Messrs. E. G. Henderson & Son, Wellington Nur- 

 series, St. John's Wood, for a charming collection of Sedums, Saxi- 

 'frages, and other alpine plants in small pots. Sedum acre elegans, a 

 aieat little creamy green variety, received a first-class certificate. 

 Messrs. Henderson also sent Bouvardia Davisoni, a white-flowered 

 'variety obtained between longiflora and Hogarth, and stated to be 

 ■valuable for winter flowering ; likewise Salvia angustifolia, not a new 

 plant, but one of which the blue flowers might be a welcome addition 

 in <!)ur greenhouses. 



Mr. Green, gardener to W. Wilson Saunders. Esq., had first-class 

 , -certificates for BiUbergia chlorosticta, a new Brazilian species with 

 fcrowu leaves mottled with green, and Lomatophyllum Sanndersii, 

 with long, narrow, channelled, light green, rose-toothed leaves. Mr. 

 lEemmery contributed a number of fine cut spikes of Cattleyas, a very 

 iarge flower of Miltonia MorelUaua, Odontoglossum Alexandra, and 

 other Orchids. From Messrs. E. G. Henderson came a curious black 

 .Fungus, Xylaxia polymorpha; and from Mr. Chapman, Gloucester, 

 3iis Multum-in-parvo plant and flower protector, for placing round 

 S^orists' flowers. There are perforated zinc openings in the sides of the 

 i>oxes to admit air, and the whole can be readily taken to pieces. 



THE ONION GRUB. 



The destraotion of the Onion crop by the maggot is a pte- 

 ventible disaster, bat I believe not a carable one. 



■When the young plant attains to the production of two leaves, 

 on a fine sunny day the Onion saw-fly deposits one or more 

 ■eggs between the leaves. The grub is soon hatched, and finds 

 its way down the stem to the root, which it destroys. 



Now for the preventive. In the stage previously mentioned, 

 if you go over the beds with a flour-dredger charged with flowers 

 of sulphur, dredging the beds twice or thrice daring three weeks, 

 4he saw-fly will not invade them. I have used this means for 

 the last twenty years, and while my neighbours have suffered 

 severely, my Onions have been exempt from this plague. — 

 Joseph Buksess. 



NAMES OF PLANTS. 

 As an example of the modification and perversion which 

 names undergo as they are handed down from generation to 

 generation, we may cite the familiar Sweet William of our gar- 

 dens, a plant originally so called from the French aillet, a 

 little eye, in allusion to its bright star-like flowers with their 

 darker central spot of colour ; the original meaning being lost 

 and the pronunciation of the word slightly distorted, soon led 

 to its being termed Willy, and thence the transition to Sweet 

 "William. In the same way the word Asparagus, originally 

 derived from a Greek wood signifying to tear, many of the 

 species being armed with sharp spines, being meaningless to 

 the great majority of those who heard it, soon from the desire 

 •of the uneducated to modify an unknown word into one familiar 

 to them, became the, in reality, much more meaningless word 

 "Sparrow-grass;" while in conclusion, not to needlessly mul- 

 tiply examples, the plant we term Samphire was originally, from 

 its love of the seashore, dedicated to St. Peter, the fisherman 

 of Galilee, and is still known amongst the French as St. Pierre, 

 and by the Italians as the Herba di San Pietro. As an example 



of the name of a plant becoming obscure from a custom con- 

 nected with it becoming obsolete, I may just mention the 

 Ground Ivy, which from its use at one time in brewing as a 

 means of gilling, or as we should now term it fermenting, was 

 known as Gill-run-by-ground, a name now meaningless. A 

 few names arise from a certain sense of humour on the part 

 of those who first started them : thus hemp, from its use in 

 providing the halter, is in some old books called Gallows Grass, 

 while others call it Neck Weed, and this grim humour changes 

 into contempt in the names Dog's Violet, Dog's Mercury, and 

 Dog's Orach, the prefix, as in the names Hog Fennel, Swine's 

 Cress, and Horse Mint, implying worthlessness ; even the 

 beautiful wild Ease of our hedges shares this opprobrium, and 

 that very widely, being not only Dog Eose in English, but the 

 Ease de cliien of the French, and the hundrose in Germany. 

 — {Marlborough College Magazine.) 



SUCCESSION POTATOES. 



I AM exceedingly obliged to you for naming the Potatoes for 

 me. With regard to changing the sort, I am anxious not to do 

 so, as it is a first-rate cropper on our soil, and of good quality 

 for the table. I have tried several varieties, but not one will 

 compare with this. If you could suggest a good variety I should 

 be much obliged. I have lately tried the Eed-skinned Flour- 

 ball, but it is not fit for the table, although it crops well, the 

 flavour being very rank and earthy. I always grow the old 

 Ashleaf to commence with, followed up with the Fortyfold and 

 the variety I forwarded to you [Douglas's Irish Kidney ?] for 

 winter and spring use. I do not care to have a number of 

 varieties, but endeavour to grow the best individual variety 

 that suits the seasons — viz., summer, autumn, and winter, the 

 three sorts named above following in this order, and they cer- 

 tainly suit our soil better than any others I have tried. — W. J., 

 Shepherdswell. 



[To people of large income wine of foreign vintage and choice 

 brand at a guinea a-bottle would not be an object of con- 

 sideration, whilst to others a bottle of home-made wine at one- 

 twentieth of the cost would prove both convenient and enjoyable. 

 It is just so with Potatoes. A large landholder would probably 

 be indifferent so long as he obtained quality, whether he grew 

 an expensive sort or no — not so the possessor of a garden, or a 

 mere quarter-of-an-aore man. Persons of the latter class are 

 generally compelled to take into consideration both the quality 

 and the economy of the form of a Potato. 



Now the old Scotch Eock, and, say, Douglas's Irish Kidney, 

 are first-rate sorts to eat, large and deep-eyed, the peeling which 

 a cook-maid will cut off, diminishing the tubers into neat 

 rhomboids of wasteful diameter ; and if for the parlour table, 

 she must still further destroy their outlines by deeply scooping 

 out the eyes, so that they may not appear there when cooked. 

 The old Cobbler's Lapstone Kidney, or Almond's Yorkshire 

 Hero, or Paterson's Victoria, or Paterson's Alexandria, go one- 

 third further with the same weight of crop. The kitchen-maid 

 looks more kindly upon them, because she can peel them more 

 quickly when pressed for time — and she generally is very much 

 so at the Potato-peeling time of the day — and with no temptation 

 to waste. The latter sorts are withal quite as good croppers 

 and keepers, and better in flavour than " W. J.'s " Irish sort, 

 and they are kinds which in his soil I would strongly recom- 

 mend him to try. Paterson's Alexandria is a Potato of first- 

 class quality, and I do not think it has been sufficiently re- 

 commended. It is, however, a tuber of colour, which is one 

 reason, I suppose — for colour is not admired in the Potato 

 markets as a rule. By all means keep to the Ashleafs and the 

 old Fortyfolde ; but even with these you should exchange your 

 seed of them every two or three years for that from the county 

 of Middlesex, or the farther north the better. — Eobekt Fenn.] 



PORTRAITS OF PLANTS, FLOWERS, and FRUITS. 



BoMAEEA OHONTALENSis (Bomarca of Chontales Mountains). 

 Nat. ord., Amaryllidese. Linn., Hexandria Monogynia. — A 

 native of Nicaragua, where it grows at a height of from 2000 to 

 2500 feet above the level of the sea. It is nearly allied to 

 B. edulis, the tubers of which are eaten by the natives of 

 St. Domingo in place of Potatoes. Its flowers are rose red, 

 and it is a good stove climber. — (Bat. Mag., t. 5927.) 



XiPHioN FiLiPonuM (Thread-like leaved, Xiphion). Nat. ord., 

 Iride^. Linn., Triandria Monogynia. — Discovered by Boissier 

 in the south of Spain. Flowers generally one on each plant, 

 and of a violet purple colour. — [Ibid., t. 5928 ) 



