174 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ August 30, 1877. 



that my friends in Scotland from whom I procured the bnlbs 

 were very much surprised to find that it had flowered with me, 

 as it has done, the first year. I am therefore hopeful that we 

 may succeed down south with it as well as in Scotland, and 

 I intend myself to try it in various aspects this next season. 

 In Scotland it is almost a weed ; in fact I heard of one place 

 in which it was treated as such. But we have not arrived 

 quite at that yet, still it is satisfactory to find that it can be 

 grown in the south. — D., Deal. 



HOW TO MAKE MUSHROOM BEDS. 



The season is near at hand when those who intend to grow 

 MuBhrooms during the winter will have to do their beBt to 

 procure good materials for making beds to grow this delicious 

 esculent. No doubt many will say there are plenty of in- 

 structions before the public already whereby the merest tyro 

 ean find sufficient information, and that practical men do 

 not need lectures on this head. All very well; but still I 

 may have my Bay about the affair, being no novice in the 

 matter. Thirty years ago I had Mushroom beds in a brick 

 pit where Melons were grown during summer, and in which a 

 small pipe gave surface heat. This pit was cleared during 

 September preparatory to forming the Mushroom beds. Those 

 beds yielded a long succession of good Mushrooms, and so 

 strong in them was the run of the spawn that it came right 

 through the brickwork, and very good Mushrooms grew all 

 along where the path joined the wall. 



During last autumn I prepared materials much in the same 

 way as I had done thirty years ago, but this time the bed 

 was made in an outhouse in which we could not command any 

 heat. This bed was made up about the middle of October, 

 and, as in the former ease, I had the dung from the bottom of 

 a deep pit into whioh the dung from the stables had been thrown 

 during the summer months. Eight or ten cartloads of this 

 manure had become white while pressed down in the dung pit ; 

 during this time it had become one mass of white mouldi- 

 ness. We forked out the longest of the litter, not rejecting 

 the short bits of straw, and took good care while it was laid 

 in a heap outdoors that no rain fell upon it. When it gave 

 evidence there would not be any violent heat in the bed when 

 made up, we had it taken indoors. About three good cartloads 

 were placed in one bed, having about four barrowfuls of good 

 fresh soil mixed with this manure, thus giving the bed sub- 

 stance and firmness after being well trodden down, which is 

 much better than beds made up entirely of dried horse drop- 

 pings, in which case they are often a mere soft fluffy heap of 

 short dry dung, and but seldom bear over half the time beds 

 generally do when prepared as stated above. Our bed was 

 about 18 inches deep, and as the first violent heat in the dung 

 had been spent while in the dung pit we had no violent heat 

 >in the bed, and therefore we could spawn it the sooner. This 

 bed began yielding rather sparingly early in December, but 

 afterwards yielded abundantly, and continued doing so for 

 seven months. Always give a good depth to Mushroom beds, 

 they repay well for it ; and do not make them with damp 

 materials, which often give off a violent heat at first and short 

 yieldings. — G. Dawson, St. John's Nursery, Worcester. 



YARIORUM NOTES ON ROSES— PERENNIALS. 



I can endorse much that " Wyld Savage " says about au- 

 tumn-blooming Roses. Pierre Notting does not do well in the 

 summer, because, like most dark Roses and all that have much 

 tint of purple, it cannot stand sun. The same is especially 

 true of Mons. Boncenne, which is rarely seen good except 

 shaded. Here 1 never cut a perfect bloom unless there has 

 been nearly a fortnight of dull weather. For perpetual bloom- 

 ing recommend me to La Franoe ; there is no other Rose to 

 touoh it except Gloire de Dijon and the old Monthly. The 

 reason why Emilie Hausburg so often does best in autumn is 

 that its bud is round instead of conioal, and the outer petals 

 are hardly large enough. There is no more perfect-Bhaped 

 Rose when it has time given it to expand, but hot dry weather 

 and long sunny days do not suit it. Another Rose he has not 

 mentioned is Thomas Methven, another of the round-budded 

 flowers, but one of the most beautiful at times, still a hard 

 opener in summer. Again, for autumn-blooming there are 

 three Noisettes — Amerea, Celine Forestier, and Triomphe de 

 Bennes ; and why shoull we omit the old General Jacqueminot ? 

 Charles Lefebvre is another of those Boses whioh require shade 

 in the middle of the day. Madame Victor Verdier, Alfred 



Colomb, and Marie Baumann are generally better in summer 

 than autumn ; but as a rale few Boses oan stand early pruning, 

 then severe weather in March and April followed with hot dry 

 weather in May and June, and where Boses are pruned early 

 in early soils many of the Roses come to maturity too soon. 



" Wyld Savage" has in his notes on Boses touched from 

 time to time on several points on which I feel inclined to add 

 a few remarks. First as to disbudding. I am sure that this 

 may be overdone, especially as it adds much to the merit of 

 a stand in close competition to see good extra buds and foliage. 

 Some few kinds, as Baroness Rothschild, Paul Neron, and a 

 few others, if I may use the expression, seem to disbud them- 

 selves, as it is seldom that one sees more than one bud on a 

 stern ; but some of our strong-growing sorts, as John Hopper, 

 can stand the extra buds without injuring the blooms. 



Again, is it not a mistake for amateurs who wish to exhibit 

 in thirty-six and forty-eight to grow too few kinds ? There 

 are many neglected sorts, as Francois Louvat, M. Boutin, 

 Duchesse de Morny, Madame Caillat, Berthe Baron, Cecile de 

 Chabrillant, Duchesse de Caylus, Madame C. Wood, and others 

 I could name which ought to be more grown. I agree with 

 him that Annie Wood is capricious, but I occasionally cut 

 Boses from it worthy of any stand. Madame Clemence Joig- 

 neaux and Antoine Ducher are another pair of good old Boses 

 which are in danger of being cast on one side, though perhaps 

 neither of them will do for exhibition purposes. Another Bose 

 I have seen very good is Clement Marot, and also Lord Suffield. 

 No Bose oftener disappoints me than Mons. Noman ; the least 

 damp weather and the petals glue together. The same is the 

 case with Madame Lacharme. I have not, unfortunately, 

 been in the way of seeing new Boses this year, and should like 

 to know if any of the new ones beat Marquise de CaBtellane, 

 Etienne Levet, and Miss Hassard in their colours: the latter 

 seems to me a real acquisition. Shall I be talking treason 

 when I say I cannot think Cheshunt Hybrid can ever be a very 

 perfect exhibition Bose ? It grows well with me, blooms freely, 

 but always hangs its head and is rough and quartered. I 

 know Mr. George Paul sets great store by it, but I think he 

 has sent out many a better. It seems to me, if that can be 

 the case, as if it had three crosses of blood in it — a cross 

 between a Tea and a Bourbon, crossed again with Duke of 

 Edinburgh or a Hybrid Perpetual of that class. At all events 

 there is so little of the true Tea in it that it can hardly be 

 classed amongst the Teas. Wilson Saunders seems a very fine- 

 coloured Bose and stands the sun well. I should like to know 

 other persons' experience with regard to it, 



A question has been asked and answered as to zinc labels. 

 Is it not more likely true that shoots on which labels are 

 fastened die away because persons are too fond of keeping in 

 the old wood on which the label is fastened instead of cutting 

 it away and tying a new one on to a fresh shoot ? The older 

 shoots on trees, especially on the Manetti stock, are more apt to 

 die away than younger. Indeed, as I have before said in your 

 Journal, it is the nature of Boses to recuperate themselves 

 from the base ; and if you wish to have good blooms and 

 strong shoots always cut away all shoots that are more than 

 two years old. This of oourse does not apply to standards or 

 wall-trained trees. 



What course would " Wyld Savage " recommend me to 

 adopt to grow Tea Roses in the open ground in this part of 

 Yorkshire ? Some do fairly well, but they are generally disap- 

 pointing. I will in return give him a list of perennials for his 

 perennial border ; but I shall promise him it shall not be a 

 very long one, for let him beware of the snare of trying to grow 

 too many kinds on the same border and same aspect. Add 

 to those he has named good varieties of Pentstemons, and Del- 

 phiniums, and Gladioli ; and for early blooming Antirrhinums, 

 Sweet Williams, with Polyanthuses, Aurioulas, and Anemones 

 for front of the border, to be followed afterwards with Sedum 

 Fabaria or spectabile and other dwarf Sedums. Another plant 

 to be added, though not strictly perennial, is Myosotis dissiti- 

 flora ; and patches of Golden Thyme, if not allowed to over- 

 grow, look well in front. But the proper place for a perennial 

 border is in front of a shrubbery and not too near the house, 

 in my opinion. — C. P. P. 



TRIGONIDIUM OBTUSUM. 



This is a pretty though small Orchid, native of tropical 



America, with few coriaoeous leaves and orange-brown flowers. 



This genus is scarcely known in cultivation, and botanically is 



quite distinct from every other. It belongs to the Vandeas. 



