272 



JOUENAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ AprU 13, 1871. 



I may, perhaps, be permitted to tell how I treated them, as I certainly 

 ■was eminently successful in growing them. They were planted in 

 March, in one of the circular beds on the lawn, in a rich compost of 

 light sandy loam mixed with thoroughly decayed horsednng, the whole 

 well sifted through an ordinary gardener's sieve. They were then 

 planted about 3 inches, or rather less, beneath the boU, and 8 inches 

 apart ; but I believe their success was mainly attributable to their 

 being watered twice a-week with the diluted sewage from a cesspool. 

 Certainly I have never seen the Gladiolus attain such a size either as 

 to the stallr or bulb, and I did not follow the usual course now adopted 

 of taking them up in the autumn, but I covered the bed with a coating of 

 leaves 6 or 8 inches thick. I never lost a single bulb, and what giants 

 they were ! Eventually they became so numerous that I was com- 

 pelled to take them up and divide them. 



I have lately been shown Appleby's fumigator. What a boon it is 

 to the gardener ! What a saving *of time, of health, and of incon- 

 Tenience ! — Hoetatoe. 



PORTE AITS OF PLANTS, 

 FRUITS. 



FLOWERS, AND 



CoSTUs MaI/Oetieaktjs (Malortian Costus). Nat. ord., Scitam- 

 raoeffi. Linn., Monandria Monogjnia. — Native of northern 

 Costa Rica. Flowers yellow, striped with scarlet. — {Bot. May., 

 t. 5894.) 



GiLiA LiNiFLOKA fPlas- flowered GiUa). A''af. oj-(J., Polemoni- 

 aceaj. Linn., Pentandria Monogynia. — Hardy annual, intro- 

 duced by Mr. W. Thompson, Ipswich. Native of California. 

 Flowers white.— (l&id., t. 5895.) 



NoiHoscoEDUM AUKEUM (Golden-flowered Nothoscordnm). 

 Nat. ord., Liliacea;. Linn., Hesandria Monogynia. — Native of 

 California. Flowers yellow. — (Ibid., t. 5896.) 



Begonia ceinita (Slender-haired Begonia). Nat. ord., Be- 

 goniaceaj. Linn., Monceeia Polyandria. — Native of the Bolivian 

 Andes, South America. Introduced by Messrs. Yeiteh. Flowers 

 pale rose.— (76id;., t. 5897.) 



Chlokocodon 'Whiteii (Mr. White's Chlorocodon). Nat. ord., 

 Aselepiadaceas. Linn., Pentandria Digynia. — Native of Natal, 

 where it is called " Mundi-root." A lofty climber. — {Hid., 

 i. 5898.) 



AzAiEA INDIOA VAKIETIES.— " Fanny Tillery was obtained 

 at Welbeck as a sport from the variety called Triomphe de 

 Gand. The other. Acme, is, we believe, a seedling. The rais- 

 ing of seedlings is very interesting, but with the greatest care 

 and judgment in selecting the parents, it is a lottery with a 

 great number of blanks to one prize. Mr. Kinghorn, whose 

 name is so intimately associated with these plants, informs us 

 that he finds in his own experience ' that it is of the first 

 importance to select as the seed-bearing parent one that has 

 attained every point of escellence, particularly form and sub- 

 stance of bloom, and a good habit of growth ; while in the 

 pollen-bearing or male parent it is equally important to choose 

 one that has some desirable qualitv of colour or marking. 



" Fanny Tillery is, as we have just said, a sport from that 

 called Triomphe de Gand, obtained some three or four years 

 since by Mr. Tillery of Welbeck. It has, we hear, a strong 

 healthy habit, and is a profuse bloomer, the flowers keeping 

 perfectly true as to colour and marking. ' None of the varie- 

 gated section which I have seen,' observes its fortunate pos- 

 sessor, 'equals it for bright colour and effect.' The flowers 

 are of average size, of a bright rosy-pink colour, the upper 

 segments richly spotted with deep crimson, sometimes nearly 

 over the whole surface of the central one, and the edge being 

 of a pure white breaking inwards in an irregularly feathered 

 manner. The flowers which were sent to Mr. Fitch were six- 

 lobed. Its bright and showy character places it in the first 

 rank in the variegated group, and we believe it will be found 

 to be the best of its class ; certainly it is a very fine and valuable 

 Azalea. 



" Acme, the second variety for which we are indebted to 

 Messrs. Veitoh & Sons of Chelsea, is a self-coloured Azalea of 

 good quality, and is remarkable for the great substance of its 

 blossoms, and for its rich deep rosy-crimson colour, a peculiar 

 tint which we have not seen in any other variety." — {Florist 

 and Pomologist, 3 s., iv., 73.) 



NOTES ON A FEW FINE BEDDING PLANTS. 

 Ageratum Ivij)crial Blue. — Lively lavender, with more of a 

 dash of blue in it than has the real lavender colour, which 

 renders it more lively and effective ; 8 inches high. Produces 

 its immense bunches of flowers in the greatest possible pro- 

 insiou — so much so, that it covers a bed with a perfect sheet of 



its pleasing colour. It is a most valuable plant for masses, 

 scroll-work, edgings, and for forming ground-work in panel- 

 planting, or for pincushion beds. Since the introduction of 

 Lobelia Erinns speciosa and Gazania splendens into our par- 

 terres, we know of no other plant so serviceable as this. It 

 deserves more said in its favour than was said of it when 

 brought before the public ; and the coloured plates we have 

 seen of it do not do it justice, and this is not generally applic- 

 able to new plants. 



HeUotroi^e Surprise. — What Imperial Blue is among Ager- 

 tums this is among Heliotropes. A lively purplish blue. Grows 

 about 9 inches high, and having a first-rate habit. In some 

 localities, where for the last few years purple Verbenas have, 

 owing to the drought, not been satisfactory, it has been decided 

 to substitute this Heliotrope, the effect produced being similar. 

 This may apply most to dry soils. 



Iresine Lindenii. — This is a very decided improvement on 

 I. Herbstii, being of a brighter colour and much better habit ; 

 less lumpy and ungraceful-like, from its being dwarfer, more 

 twiggy in growth, and from the more pleasing outline in shape 

 of its leaves, which are acuminate or taper-pointed. When sent 

 out, we got a character with it of much more hardiness than 

 I. Herbstii ; we think it slightly more hardy, but not much. 

 It has the same liking for moisture and rich soil, is as easily 

 propagated, requires intermediate heat to keep it safely over 

 the winter, and tobacco- smoke to keep it free from green-fly. 

 More than likely it will supersede I. Herbstii. It bears pinch- 

 ing well for edging, and for dotting in light groundwork of such 

 as Pyrethrum Golden Feather (a most useful plant, likely in 

 great measure to cause a decrease in the number of Cloth-of- 

 Gold and Golden Chain Pelargoniums) and Alyssum variega- 

 tum, &c. Excellent also for contrasting-lines to yellow Calceo- 

 larias, Centaurea ragusina. Cineraria maritima, and C. acanthi- 

 folia. 



Cineraria acanthifolia. — The same beautiful silvery white- 

 ness as C. maritima. Fully more compact in growth, the leaves 

 being in shape intermediate between C. maritima and Centaurea 

 ragusina. Grown with a stem a foot high, this is a very hand- 

 some plant, beautiful either for panel-plants or for dotting. To 

 some extent this should supersede the Centaurea, being much 

 more easily wintered, and quite as if not a more handsome 

 plant. It is an excellent dinner-table plant. In hardiness it 

 is the same as C. maritima, but we have not found it so easily 

 propagated. It can be raised easily from seed, but, like its 

 companion, we suppose it will scarcely attain its full coat of 

 silveriness the first year. We have not yet had experience of it 

 from seed. 



Senecio argenteus. — From what we have already seen of this 

 plant, we regard it as the finest silvery-foliaged plant for general 

 usefulness out-doors that has ever been introduced. When it 

 can be said of it that it is a hardy perennial, and a miniature, 

 as nearly as possible, of Centaurea ragusina, forming lovely 

 compact specimens 6 inches across, with compact stiff leaves as 

 white as those of the Centaurea, and like them in all respects 

 except size, little more need be said in its favour. It was 

 brought from the Pyrenees by Messrs. Backhouse, of York, who 

 sent a special expedition for it, and who seem to think it does best 

 in loamy soil, tlaough it grows wild in a loose shaley soil. It 

 multiplies itself by its " woody stem branching and rooting as 

 it travels on." At present our stock of it is in pots, and from 

 what can be seen of it in that state, and from what we have 

 heard of it out-doors much farther north, it cannot fail to be a 

 great favourite. 



Pelargonium Vesxivius. — Brilliant scarlet ; flowers produced 

 in largish trusses in wonderful profusion. Habit compact and 

 dwarf; lively green leaves slightly zoned. We regard this, 

 from our experience of it in two different soils and localities, 

 as, taken as a whole, the most useful Pelargonium that ever 

 came under our notice. It has not a fault that can be named. 

 It is brilliant, free in growth, and for keeping up a continuous 

 profusion of telling blooms we have seen nothing in the Pelar- 

 gonium way to equal it for bedding. It is excellent for pot-cul- 

 ture, and in intermediate heat blooms profusely all the dull 

 months of winter. At present we have a quantity of it in a 

 temperature of 55° to CO', that were lifted out of the beds in 

 October, and since the middle of November they have been 

 studded with bold trusses of bloom ; and this in the case of 

 plants that were late in September denuded of every growth 

 that would make a cutting. The more vigorously it grows, the 

 more blooms are produced. 



Pelargonium Glorious. — This for beds is second only to 

 Vesuvius. It is more of a crimson scarlet, and not so Uvelj 



