Septomber 6, 1877. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



201 



themselves by spreading of the root and seed. To see them 

 in their fall beauty they must be seen in quantity. They are 

 not partioular as to soil, but in such situations as I have named 

 they are quite at home. They appear to derive much support 

 from decayed leaves which cover them in the autumn. I like 

 to have a patch in the border where variety is required. 



There is a beautiful white variety, Doronicum altaicum, 

 •which is worth looking after; it requires a moderately dry 

 situation and rich light soil. Doronicum cauoasioum is perhaps 

 the most commonly met with, but is not nearly so common as 

 it deserves to be. As a spring garden plant it is very desirable. 

 For lines, beds, and patches in my estimation it ranks very 

 high. When established in large patches in the early spring 

 it beoomes one of the gayest of the flowers of the garden, often 

 giving us flowers also in the autumn and winter. In the spring 

 it sometimes requires protection. Any light material placed 

 over it, or a few epruoe branches stuok round it, will ward off 

 the severity of the frost. Slugs are fond of hiding in the 

 crowns of the plants, and if not destroyed they do consider- 

 able injury to the leaves and flowers. D. austriacum, D. scor- 

 pioides, D. Columnaa, D. macrophyllum, and D. oordifolium 

 are all desirable border flowers, requiring little attention when 

 once established. They are readily increased' by division in 

 the autumn and spring when growth is commencing. — Veritas. 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 

 We are informed that the date of the Royal Horticultural 

 Society's Pbovincial Show at Pbeston in 1878 will be from 

 Tuesday, July 9th, until Saturday, July 13th, both days in- 

 clusive, and that a Schedule Committee has been appointed to 

 draw up a schedule. 



Now that England has become so great in the culture 



of the Rose it behoves that in speaking of our favourite flower 

 we should be correct in our language and literature on the 

 ■subject. Why do we speak of Violence Roses ? There are 

 none such. The Provins Rose takes its name from Provins in 

 the department of Seine-et-Marne, where the great Rose-culture 

 of Franoe is carried on, and not from Provence, one of the 

 ancient provinces of France. Will " Wyld Savage " take the 

 Slint and introduce a more correot orthography ? 



Unusually cold nights prevailed during the close of 



August and beginning of September. A Buckinghamshire 

 correspondent informs us that the grass was crisped with frost 

 on the morning of the 24th ult. : we have heard also that the 

 thermometer has been down to the freezing point in the neigh- 

 bourhood of London. Low night temperature and bright days 

 are the best possible antidote of the Potato disease. If heat 

 with moisture prevails nothing can prevent the destructive pro- 

 gress of the ubiquitous murrain. 



■ ■ That excellent Grapes maybe grown without elaborate 



border preparation many examples prove. A very good one 

 •came under our notice the other day near Penge railway station. 

 Mr. Baily, who had been a successful gentleman's gardener for 

 many years, commenced Grape-growing on his own account a 

 few years ago. Although his soil was a strong clay he did not 

 trouble to obtain turf, bones, or concrete. He simply made a 

 narrow ridge on the surface of the garden (not excavating) of 

 the loamy clay mixed freely with stable manure, and in this 

 planted his Vines, adding to the ridge as they increased in 

 ■size. The Vines have for some years produced wonderfully 

 heavy crops and no shanked berries. To borders above ground 

 and rich surface-dressings Mr. Baily attributes his success. 

 Cucumbers are grown in the same manner, hillocks of soil 

 being placed on the floor inside the house, and heavy crops 

 are produced in the clay and manure. 



Few flower garden plants which are readily increased 



from seed are more varied in colour, rich, and attractive than 

 Dianthuses Heddewigii, Diadematus laciniatus, &a., in good 

 "varieties. The seed of these is generally sown in spring, but 

 muoh more satisfactory plants are produced if it is sown in 

 August or early in September, wintering the plants in cold 

 frames. The plants thus managed are more luxuriant, flower 

 earlier, and are altogether more satisfactory than are plants 

 raised in spring. The great German growers, who almost sup- 

 ply the world with seed of these beautiful Dianthuses, raise 

 nearly all their plants in the autumn. 



An amateur cultivator, who grows a considerable num- 

 ber of Peaches and Nectarines on glass-covered walls, states 

 ihat the best Peach is GroBse Mignonne and the best Necta- 

 rine Pitmaston Orange, and if only two trees are required by 



any cultivators he recommends those varieties as being good 

 growers and bearers, the fruit being of full average size, hand- 

 some appearance, and of excellent quality. 



Cannas are now commencing flowering in the London 



parks, and will be very ornamental during the present month. 

 One of the finest varieties appears to be C. Rendatleri, the 

 flowers being large and of a bright orange colour. A fine bed 

 of it may be seen in Battersea Park by the side of the walk 

 leading from " Alpine Point " to the rockery. 



Mb. Wills's nubseey at Anerley, under Mr. Bause's 



management, is always worthy of inspection. Not only are 

 there many thousands of Dracaenas in wonderful variety and 

 condition, but the ease and extent to which Ferns for decora- 

 tive purposes are grown is astonishing. Adiantums are raised 

 from spores with about as much certainty as Mustard and 

 Cress from seed. There are three thousand plants of Adiantum 

 gracillimum ; and as to such popular sorts as A. cuneatum, 

 A. scutum, A. trapasziforme, more than a thousand plants 

 a-week, often as many in one day, are required for decorative 

 purposes. On one of the shelves are some hundreds of seed- 

 lings of Tillandsia zebrina, and in that position the rich 

 marblings of the lower sides of the leaves are very conspicu- 

 ous ; and on another shelf are some thousands of Anthurium 

 Scherzerianum in thimble and thumb pots. Another house 

 is almost entirely filled, and attractive it is, with the fine 

 variegated plant Yucca filamentosa variegata, in the increase 

 of whioh Mr. Bause is extremely successful. The outside 

 portion of the nursery is almost wholly planted with Roses 

 for aSording cut blooms, of which ten to twelve thousand per 

 week are required during the London decorative season. The 

 Ferns (grown in loam) and fine-foliaged plants are in superb 

 health, which is attributed in a great measure to the " Elixir," 

 or buffalo-horn manure, which Mr. Bause uses to almost every- 

 thing with the best results. The most valuable roof plants 

 are Stephanotis, Lapageria, and Jasminum grandifiorum. 



Evebt spring well-grown plants in 5-inoh pots of the 



charming Everlasting Rhodanthe Manglesii are amongst the 

 most popular plants in Covent Garden Market. In order to 

 produce such plants seed should be sown at the present time 

 in a compost of peat and loam. When large enough the seed- 

 lings should be pricked an inch apart in small pots for passing 

 the winter. When established a light Bhelf in the greenhouse 

 is a suitable place for them. They require to be carefully 

 watered at all times, never wetting the foliage. Shift them 

 into their flowering pots in the spring ; and if they are well 

 managed, plants will be produced which few can fail to admire. 



Heat, which is a prolifio source of bed spideb, is also, 



says an " Old Melon-geoweb," an antidote of that pest. 

 Melons, and indeed many plants, he remarks, will endure heat 

 that is fatal to red spider if much moisture at the same time 

 accompanies the heat. However contrary to established notionB 

 the matter may seem, our correspondent states that Melons, 

 and plants generally which are grown in a very high tempera- 

 ture with much moisture, are rarely infested with either red 

 spider or thrips. He aBks those whose Melons are cut and the 

 foliage infested to olose the house or frame with much mois- 

 ture, and allow the temperature to rise to and remain at 120° 

 for an hour or two, when the plants will be found to have sus- 

 tained little if any injury, while most of the red spider will be 

 killed. 



Clebodendbon fallax is well known as one of the 



most brilliant and stately of decorative plants, but it is not 

 so generally known that the best mode of raising a stock of it 

 is by sowing seed and treating it as an annual. A fine example 

 of this mode of treatment may be seen at the Crystal Palace, 

 where a number of dwarf sturdy plants not much exceeding 

 6 inches high are just showing their flower spikes. They were 

 raised from seed sown in the spring of this year. It would be 

 equally satisfactory, probably, to treat the plant as a biennial, 

 sowing the seed at the present time. 



The merit of being the first introducer of Exotic 



Feens belongs, says Mr. John Smith in his volume on " Ferns, 

 British and Foreign," to Mr. John TradeBcant the younger, 

 who in early life made a voyage to Virginia ; and it is recorded 

 in Parkinson's " Theatrum Botanicum," published in 1640, 

 that upon his return from that country in 1628 he brought 

 with him amongst other rare plants the Cystopteris bulbifera 

 and Adiantum pedatum. These, therefore, remarks Mr. Smith, 

 must be regarded as the nucleus of our present large collections. 



" Rhododendbons," writes one who has had much 



experience on the subject, " are generally considered to be the 



