August £0, 1877. ] 



JOOBNAL OF HOBTIOULTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



183 



elaborately planted. The high character of the building is not 

 the only charm of this garden. The plants are splendid — the 

 chief prize-winners of the year — Heaths, Crotons, Nepenthes, 

 Palms, Alocasias, &c. N. Bafflesiana has more than fifty fine 

 pitchers ; the Vines are carrying an excellent crop, and have 

 made capital growth for future crops. The kitchen garden is 

 well worked and cropped — in fact the condition of the garden 

 in every department testifies to the industry and skill of its 

 successful manager. The owners of the garden, Mr. and Mrs. 

 Balli, deserve a hearty vote of thanks for generously permitting 

 all oomers to inspect the flower beds, &c, on one day in each 

 week — Friday. The beds will continue attractive for a few 

 weeks to come, but the sooner they are seen now the better. 



I have now to state a "surprise." A letter informs me that 

 this is the fifth and last season of Mr. Legg's services at 

 Cleveland House, but a gardener who has given such good 

 proof of his competency and has been so signally successful 

 cannot be long out of harness. — A Noethebn Gaedenek. 



THE POTATO DISEASE. 

 This much-dreaded visitor made its appearance here about 

 throe weeks ago. It appeared first in the early sorts of the 

 Potato. Up to that time the tops of all sorts of Potatoes 

 looked remarkably well, and as the damp cloudy weather con- 

 tinued, with seldom more than one dry day or two in the 

 course of a week, great fears were had respecting the crop. 

 When the Potatoes were attacked the tops of some were pulled 

 off. But pulled off or not, all very quickly rotted and had a very 

 disagreeable smell. The later sorts are now nearly all going 

 bad, and soon there will not be a green top of Potatoes to 

 be seen anywhere in the neighbourhood. Some are lifting 

 their crops and spreading their tubers out in sheds, &o., and 

 places under cover, so they can be seen and easy to get at, in 

 order to pick out the decaying tubers. How would it do to 

 cover them over for a few hours with fresh-slaked lime? 

 Could it be any means to arrest the disease or keep the air 

 from operating upon them ? From present appearanoes it is 

 feared that one-quarter if not one-third of a good orop is 

 already affected.— G. Dawson, St. John's Nursery, Worcester. 



FRENCH BOSE GAEDENS.— No. 1. 



IVRY-SUR-SEINE. 



A eosaeian in Paris naturally bethinks himself, amongst 

 other things, of Frenoh Eoae-growers. Accordingly I attempted 

 a visit to Monsieur Leveque, " Grand Fleuriste " at Ivry. 

 Starting from the Pont dn Box as it calls itBelf, or Pont 

 National as the tickets call it, or Pont Napoleon is it going 

 to be? I journeyed down the Seine on one of the river boats. 

 Very charming those happily-called " hirondelles " certainly 

 are, as like our Thames boats as an Arab is to a cart horse. 

 It is a short one hour's sail. First past the still ghastly skele- 

 ton of the Tuileries wing ; but it will not be a wreck long. 

 Paris is busy building ; so busy, they seem almost glad of an 

 opportunity of making their splendid city even yet more 

 magnificent. Then past fine old Notre Dame, and where the 

 Hotel de Ville was, now it is a wilderness of scaffolding sky 

 high ; then on the right the Halles, those huge wine stores of 

 Paris ; then the pleasant groves of the Jardin des Plantes ; 

 its animals, a travelling companion assureB me, were not 

 eaten during the siege; under some pretty bridges, one em- 

 bossed with a big N, and I am at the landing-place for Ivry- 

 sur- Seine. A hot half-mile takes me up into Ivry proper. Its 

 inhabitants appear either asleep or in slippers, always except- 

 ing certain sturdy blouses at work in the nursery gardens. I 

 pass one small Bose garden, where rows of Potatoes alter- 

 nate with Bose plants, and every Bose that has failed is 

 replaced with a vegetable. Certainly every inch of ground so 

 near Paris is made use of. 



With some difficulty I make out in the main street M. Le- 

 veque's establishment. Unhappily he is not at home. Under 

 the obliging guidance of Mdlle. and M. Gaston Leveque, of the 

 mature ages of twelve and eight, we traverse his various terraces, 

 but he is not to be found. There is much besides Boses under 

 cultivation. The land appears light, but well supplied with 

 articles de Paris in the shape of heaps of rich refuse from the 

 great neighbouring city. An admirable arrangement supplies 

 water in abundance ; huge wine vats being sunk at intervals 

 are connected by leaden pipes, into which a deep horse-worked 

 well is constantly emptying. Bows of splendid Tomatoes 

 showed from whence mine host of the Valois in the Palais 



Eoyal might have obtained those irresistible Tomatoes au 

 gratin. There are also large beds of Melons and Vegetable 

 Marrows. The way these latter were being grown is a perfect 

 specimen of French ingenuity. Vast quantities of cloches 

 (bell-glasses) out of use have been packed together and thatched 

 over with straw, and now the huge plants are trailing at will 

 over them, having, as it were, a hothouse below instead of 

 above. The light wood and wire fence, so often seen by the 

 side of the pathway, is here constructed chiefly of Briar stocks 

 that have failed and died. They certainly would have been 

 burned in England, but France is the home of economic in- 

 genuity. They were busy budding Boses on low Briars and 

 Manettis, and such Boses as were in bloom seemed equally 

 busy setting Bose heps. 



But the new Boses that I went to see. My companion kept 

 assuring me (for a workman had succeeded to my little com- 

 panions, Garston had quite enough of walking over rough 

 ground in slippers), that when M. Leveque was found I 

 should see all the nouveutes. But, alas ! he never was found ; 

 consequently, Messrs. Editors, " Story indeed, sirs, I have 

 none to tell you," except that the, I hope, more fortunate 

 traveller than myself may vary the return to Paris if he 

 chooses, as I did, by taking the chemin de Fer d'Orleans, which 

 will deposit him close to the Jardin des Plantes. — A. C, 

 Hotel de Louvre. 



CAMPANULA MEDIUM CALYCANTHEMA. 



In the Journal of Horticulture for 16th of August is a letter 

 from Mr. J. Pithers respecting the Campanula Medium caly- 

 canthema. I have tried it for two years both in pots and in 

 the open ground. I flowered this year some plants in my 

 borders, which attained a circumference of a yard full of large 

 white flowers ; I have also had some purple, but not so large. 

 Some have flowers consisting of a perfeot bell within a bell, 

 while others have the bell corolla issuing out of the calyx, with 

 broad segments of the same colour as the corolla. 



I sent some flowers to the Norwich Bose Show, which 

 attracted much attention and were favourably noticed in two 

 local papers. — Jas. C. Babnham. 



FLOEAL DECOEATIONS at the AGRICULTUEAL 

 HALL. 



These are worthy of notioe from their great extent and high 

 character. The prizes of £50, £30, £20, £15, and £10 in one 

 class are somewhat of a sensational nature, but considering the 

 great extent of the groups — 70 feet by 5 feet and 11 feet high, 

 also that the plants must remain for a week to be injured, and 

 further that the competitors are not likely to receive a single 

 " order " from the spectators, the prizes are not of such great 

 value as at the first sight they appear to be. 



The prizes named were awarded as follows : — First to Mr. 

 Wills, second and third to Mr. B. S. Williams, fourth to Mr. 

 Turner, Slough ; and fifth to Mr. Ley. Mr. Wills's collection 

 consists of tall Palms and other ornamental- foliaged plants 

 rather thinly disposed, with groups at their base of Gladioluses, 

 Liliums, &c, and an irregular fringe of cut flowers of Orchids 

 and other stove plants arranged in a carpet of Lycopods, with 

 Pitcher-plants elevated on stands ; ripe Pine AppleB in pots and 

 Tomatoes ; also an arch of Vines bearing fruit, are employed in 

 this highly artistic group. Mr. Williams's contribution is a 

 valuable one — too valuable considering the risk of injury by 

 gas and the dry atmosphere to which they are subjected, for 

 the Palms, Tree Ferns, and specimen flowering plants are 

 splendid. Mr. Turner's group is composed chiefly of Palms 

 and very fine examples of Lilium auratum, and Mr. Ley's of 

 general decorative plants. These groups are arranged in the 

 promenade surrounding the inner circle of the immense hall. 

 In the circle— the auditorium — are semiciroular groups about 

 20 feet in diameter. These are on grass banks. Mr. Wills 

 secured the first and second prizes in this section with 

 beautiful collections of plants and several excellent dishes of 

 fruit, Mr. Turner being placed third and Mr. Williams fourth. 

 Mr. Turner's Dahlias had a fine effect by gas light, and had 

 they been arranged in a wide bank of moss instead of in ex- 

 hibition boxes the groups containing them would have won a 

 higher position. Mr. Williams's group is very artistic. It 

 represents a lawn and carpet bedding, the trees on the lawn 

 being specimens of Cocos Weddelliana. In the next class, the 

 spaces being 12 feet by 2£ feet, Mr. Williams secures the first 

 three prizes, and Mr. Wills the fourth. Messrs. Diok Eadclyffe 



