144 



JOTJBNAL OF HOBTICULTTJBE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



[ August 25, 1670. 



year of growing it, but unless it prove better than it has 

 done, I shall discard it. The seed was obtained from a 

 first-class firm, so that I have no reason to doubt its being 

 true to name. The plants vary in the colour of the leaves ; 

 some plants have yellow stalks and veins, others red, but of the 

 " deep waxy orange," and " vivid polished crimson," I have not 

 seen any more than are developed in yellow or red Mangold, 

 whilst the growth is coarse — very different from the refinement 

 we aim at in flower borders or beds. It may do for shrubbery 

 borders, but not, I think, for flower gardens ; in fact, I do not 

 see why the Silver Beet should not have a place as well as 

 this novelty. In the same way we might adopt in the 

 flower garden other kitchen-garden plants. Where is there 

 a more stately plant than the Globe Artichoke, so silvery in 

 its foliage, and what plant has such a finely cut foliage as 

 the Carrot ? 



The Chilian Beet I shall not grow again unless some one 

 seeing it (and I have it in all the colours spoken of by " Q. Q."), 

 should between now and November express himself in its 

 favour. I have it in a conspicuous part of the kitchen garden ; 

 no one but myself seems to notice it — proof enough of its 

 little attractiveness and beauty. In the flower garden I have 

 no doubt it would soon be noticed, and might be thought from 

 its novelty very beautiful, until it became known that it was 

 nothing more than Beet with various-coloured leaves, green 

 largely predominating in all. — G. Abbey. 



A GLIMPSE OF THE ROSES IN THE NORTH 

 AND SOUTH. 



I have received the following communication from Mr. 

 Henry Taylor, of Fencote, Bedale, Yorkshire. It is reliable, 

 as he is a first-rate propagator, cultivator, and judge of hoses, 

 and not a mere scribbler. 



" I have been to see Mr. Harrison's Boses, at Darlington. 

 He has 20,000, one-half on the Manetti stock, and the other 

 half on the Briar ; both are fine, but he has a strong clay soil, 

 which suits the Briar. Amongst the Boses of 1S70 these were 

 good — Albion, Baronne Chaurand, Blanche Meon, Ferdinand 

 de Lesseps, Louisa Wood, Eugenie Terdier, of immense size 

 and the best of the year. The following were good and promis- 

 ing:— Jules [Seurre?] Madame Dustour, Jeanne Guillot, La 

 Motte Sanguine, good and free ; Charles Lee, Henri Ledeehaux, 

 Clemence Baoux, Leopold II., Black Prince, Madame Noman, 

 Ville de Lyon, Marquise de Mortemart (properly Montmartre). 

 Teas — Belle Lyonnaise, Adrienne Christophle, Madame Lever, 

 Montplaisir. He marks the following Hybrid Perpetuals as 

 extra fine : — Monsieur Woolfield, Nardy Fieres, Felix Genero, 

 and Thyra Hammerich." He adds further on in his letter, 

 " Madame Auguste Yerdier is a magnificent Bose, very large 

 and perfect, a new Bose." Then again, " Yelours Pourpre of 

 1866 is one of the best dark Boses, a fine Bose not much 

 known. I have budded it." 



At the same date I received a letter from my esteemed friend, 

 Mr. William Paul, in which he says, " I am of opinion that 

 Felix Genero is quite first-rate." 



Boses are now blooming well again here. What a wonderful 

 stock is the Manetti ! We are told that we cannot grow Boses 

 big enough for exhibition except on Briars. Such is a fallacy. 

 The Bev. Mr. Going, vicar of Walworth, came here with his 

 friend Mr. C. Ingram, and, being astonished at the size of the 

 Boses, he measured with my marked tape one Bose, and found 

 it to be 6 inches in diameter. I have had numbers of Boses 

 4 inches and over. What a man does, and what he can do and 

 ought to do, are two different things. I brought down on my- 

 self satire, sarcasm, and the sardonic laugh some years ago for 

 saying what I shall now repeat, that we have lots of possessors 

 of Boses, and prize-winners, and scribblers, but very few ex- 

 perienced Bose-cultivators ! 



The best of the Boses of 1S70, so far as I have been able to 

 try them, are Princess Christian, Mademoiselle Eugenie Yer- 

 dier, two beauties of great substance — an important point — and 

 Marquise de Castellane. "D.,Dcal," brought here beautiful 

 blooms of Louis Yan Houtte. My plant has made no sign. — 

 W. F. Badcltfie. 



Vise Pests. — Many of the continental vineyards have been 

 attacked this year by a grub which infests the roots of the 

 plant. M. Marchand proposes the extermination of this pest 

 by watering the soil with sulphureted hydrogen water, which 



is well known to be very fatal to small animals. — (Student and 

 Intellectual Observer.) 



[This doubtless refers to the Phylloxera vaBtatrix. — Eds.] 



SOME FLOWERS AND GRASSES SUITABLE 

 FOR DRYING. 



Possibly some of your numerous readers who do not possess 

 a stove or other heated structure in which to grow flowers 

 all the year round, find it at times very difficult to obtain them 

 for the decoration of the dinner-table and other purposes of 

 house ornamentation. To those so situated I would recommend 

 the following flowers and Grasses, all of which come under the 

 general head of Everlastings, as suitable for drying, and so 

 capable of being turned to account when fresh flowers may not 

 be obtainable. 



Of these the Helichrysums are a most interesting class of 

 plants. They are easily cultivated, and, if the flowers be cut 

 before the disc becomes fully expanded, will retain their colour 

 for upwards of two years. Bhodanthe Manglesii and some of 

 its varieties are also well worth growing for the same purpose, 

 but they require a warm situation. Ammobium alatum is 

 another, and, as its generic name indicates, will thrive in a 

 poor sandy soil. Waitzia, or Morna, grandiflora, I may men- 

 tion, requires the protection of glass, unless in the more 

 southern counties of England, where it may be planted out of 

 doors after the middle of June. The Aphelexis is allied to the 

 Helichrysum ; all of the species are greenhouse evergreen shrubs, 

 but they are not all hardy. The Statices are a numerous 

 class, and so useful that they must be included in this list. 

 Several kinds of Gnaphalium, together with the varieties of 

 Gomphrena globosa, or the Globe Amaranth, are more or less 

 pretty, especially the latter, and well deserving more extended 

 cultivation. Eumea elegans is not by any means to be despised. 

 When dried, its bronzy-red spikes show to great advantage 

 when other things of the same character are not so plentiful. 

 The Xeranthemum is a true Everlasting; the flowers, after being 

 dried, may be, and are, dyed of any colour, and it can be grown 

 from seed sown in the open border. Acroclinium roseum must 

 also be in this list. Many others might be named, but these 

 are sufficient for the purpose at present. 



Iu the way of Grasses, as suitable for use with the above- 

 mentioned, the following will be found to afford much satisfac- 

 tion to those who have not hitherto grown them, and are not 

 well acquainted with this elegant tribe of plants : — Agrostis 

 argentea, A. pulchella, and A. nebulosa ; Briza maxima, and the 

 lesser species, B. gracilis ; the graceful and useful Eragrostis 

 elegans ; Lagurus ovatus ; Stipa pennata, or the common Feather- 

 grass of the seed shops, a British plant capable of propagation 

 either by root-division or by seeds, and will grow in any com- 

 mon soil. The Pampas Grass is also found useful; the elegant 

 and stately inflorescence of this fine Grass can be easily pre- 

 served, and retained in use for a considerable time. 



Such are a few of the more useful of flowers and Grasses 

 capable of preservation. Those unaccustomed to their use are 

 scarcely aware of the excellent effect they have when grouped 

 in epergnes and such-like for the decoration of the dinner-table. 

 — (The Gardener.) 



CHAPMAN'S PATENT FLOWER-CASES. 

 I Ail convinced that these cases must come into very general 

 use. I lately sent by rail to a flower show twelve blooms of 

 cut Boses, and they arrived without a petal shaken ; and 

 to the Boyal Horticultural Society's late Show at South 

 Kensington I brought up twelve Gladiolus, which won the 

 first prize, and I took them home again without the least 

 damage. It was the first case for Gladioli Mr. Chapman had 

 made, and all who saw it were delighted with its success. The 

 comfort of merely having to take out your box and put it on 

 the exhibition-table is something to be grateful for. — D., Deal. 



The Flower Trade of St. Louis. — It is but a few years 

 since the entire flower trade of the city was in the hands of a 

 few old women, and the list of flowers on sale was of the most 

 limited character. St. Louis was held up in contrast with 

 Chicago and other cities, and denounced by interested strangers 

 as displaying an utter want of enterprise. We have watched 

 the indications of progress in this direction, especially during 

 the last ten years, and find an amazing expansion and develop- 



