November 22, 1877. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



397 



will last till February. We, however, generally make a second 

 sowing in April. The sort with the incurved leaves, generally 

 oalled the " imported " stock in catalogues, is still the best that 

 I know. Cardoons are late and will not be large ; they were 

 badly mildewed at one time but have now recovered. Carrots, 

 for which there is always a great demand in the young state, 

 are sown in succession from February till the middle of 

 July. The first lot is sown on a hotbed, and the la3t, which 

 stands out all winter, on a south border. " French Forcing " is 

 sown for the earliest crop, " Short Horn" for the lateBt, and 

 it, with " James' Intermediate," for mid-season. 



The season has suited Cauliflowers, and they are still good. 

 The last batch of " Autumn Giant " will, however, hardly turn- 

 in unless we have a continuance of mild weather, which for the 

 sake of the already fast-swelling fruit buds is not to be wished 

 for. Celery has done well, there has been no fly and no disease. 

 Major Clarke's is still the best, but as it will not- stand the 

 winter well we grow " Salham Prize " for the latest. A row 

 of "Incomparable" or Sandringham White is grown for the 

 earliest crop. The new " Fern-leaved Parsley " is extremely 

 good both for use and ornament ; if it proves as hardy as 

 the older sorts, which I do not doubt, it is destined to drive all 

 others out of cultivation. Parsnip3 were not sown till the 

 middle of April, and all the better for it. We have given up 

 early sowing on our cold soil. 



Peas were three weeks late in beiDg ready for gathering 

 (middle of June), but they make up for it now, as we are still 

 gathering (November Sin), almost every day from " Omega," 

 sown the first week in July. This is a most valuable Pea, growing 

 only 2A feet high, is very healthy, very prolific, and of good 

 quality. Gardeners are much indebted to Mr. Laxton for this 

 and also for hie ''William I.," which is the best early Pea. 

 These two, with Yeitch's Perfection and G. F. Wilson for mid- 

 season, are all the sorts I grow in quantity. Alpha is an early 

 Pea of good quality, but it is not so hardy as William I. 



Of Potatoes, the old " Ashleaf " and Myatt's Prolific were 

 good, and were used before the disease had spread much. All 

 the rest were a miserable failure and were not worth digging- 

 np. On the light soils in the neighbourhood they are not so 

 badly diseased as mine were, but they are very small and of 

 indifferent quality. Tomatoes have not done well outdoors as 

 they wanted more warmth, they have also had the disease badly. 

 Turnips with me are excellent ; the only sort grown excepting 

 a few early white is Veitch's Red Globe. — William Taylob. 



CHRISTMAS ROSES. 



In a mild season the flowers of the Christmas Rose come 

 by or before the festival of Christmas. It certainly is the 

 latest and earliest flower of the year, expanding, as Shakes- 

 peare expresses it, when 



" The rain and wind beat dark December," 

 for this, like a majority of herbaceous and alpine plants, 

 delights in nothing so much as moisture and air. The rain is 

 never too heavy nor the wind too strong for them ; but during 

 soft mild winters, though winter flowers appear to advantage, 

 it is better in every way when Nature clothes Flora in snow, 

 provides snug winter quarters for the humblest and gayest of 

 plants. Though hid for a time, Nature gives back in richer 

 fullness the "gold" of the Aconite and " pearl" of the Snow- 

 drop. Winter is only really winter — seasonable and good, 

 when, as Scott has said, 



"No mark of vegetable life is seen, 

 No bird to bird repeats bis tanerul call, 

 Save the dark leaves of some rude evergreen, 

 Save the lone redbreast on the moss-grown wall." 



• The fickleness and uncertainty of our climate must be the 

 prompter of our cultivating some hardy plants in pots under 

 glass in order to have them in season with certainty. Plants 

 grown in pots may be more generally useful because portable, 

 but I can picture to myself no sight so fair as a garden under 

 glass of winter and spring-flowering plants. Winter gardens 

 as we usually see them bear out none of the characteristics of 

 a winter garden of northern climes. There are no mossy banks 

 aglow with the Violets, Primroses, and Gentians ; Crocuses, 

 Cyclamens, Adonis, sheets of Aconites and Snowdrops, glorious 

 Narcissuses and Hyacinths, Hepaticas, Anemones, Wallflowers, 

 and Stocks are wanting ; Arabis and Aubrietias clothe no rock 

 or slope ; there is no mountain of winter and spring Heaths, no 

 ravine with its Laurustinuses and Rhododendrons, with other 

 Bhrubs berried and flowered. Forget-me-nots and Omphalodes 

 are not there; Saxifrages, Triteleias, Squills, and knolls of 



alpine Auricula, with its many congeners, become conspicuous 

 only as absentees; Star of Bdthlehem and Christmas Rose are 

 not there, nor are they foreshadowed by autumn Crocuses, 

 Colchicums, the Japan Anemone, and Kaft'rarian Iris. These 

 and others come nearer to my ideas of a winter garden than a 

 display of tropical Palms — a desert of grandeur — unvarying 

 similarity, instead of the ever-changing beauty marking the 

 close and advent of the flower season of temperate climes. A 

 winter garden from my point of view would be best represented 

 in winter and early spring by floweriDg shrubs and plants— an 

 alpinery, in fact, under glass, cold, or only sufficient hot-water 

 piping near the glass to exclude frost. There is a host of 

 plants for furnishing such a house, so that the wonder is they 

 are not more generally employed. 



Christmas Roses are fine outdoor?, should the weather be 

 open, from December to March. To have this and other gems 

 with certainty in their natural season the plants must be grown 

 under glass. The Christmas Rose is well known, and is 

 deservedly popular, yielding as it does blooms at a time when 

 flowers are scarce ; yet it is not so frequently seen as a pot 

 plant as its merits warrant. Large blooms 2 to 8 inches in 

 diameter are freely produced in a light airy house from which 

 frost is excluded; though a little frcst does no harm, its ex- 

 clusion secures the greatest abundance ot bloom. . Even gentle 

 forcing may be practised successfully, the essentials being light, 

 free ventilation, and liberal treatment. 



The plants should be potted at the end of Ssptembar. 

 Plants with moderate-sized crowns will do well in 10-inch 

 pots ; 12 or 13-inch pots will not be too large for large crowns 

 for making a grand new-year display in a conservatory. 

 The size will, of course, need to accord with the size of the 

 orowns. The plants should be lifted carefully ; the loose soil 

 coming freely from among the roots should be removed, and 

 it will then be seen the size of pot each requires, allowing 

 about 2 inches space all around the ball for fresh soil. We 

 have only to drain well and work the soil among the roots, in 

 potting pressing rather firm, keeping the crowns slightly 

 raised in the centre of the pot, leaving sufficient space for 

 watering, and plunging the pots to the rims in ashes in a 

 sheltered situation outdoors, watering if dry weather ensue, 

 the weather being usually moiBt enough in autumn without 

 having to resort to artificial watering. Light turfy loam, with 

 a third of leaf soil or a iourth of well-deoayed manure, will 

 grow them perfectly. 



Early in December, or in November if the weather be severe, 

 the plants should be taken nnder glass. The essentials to suc- 

 cess are plenty of light, a well-ventilated atmosphere, copious sup- 

 plies of water and liquid manure (not too strong) once a-wetk. 

 They do admirably iu a greenhouse from which frost is just 

 excluded, yet they will bear gentle forcing, 50° being a max- 

 imum from fire heat. Though the plant-3 are best lifted in 

 September, especially when it is proposed to accelerate the 

 flowering by gentle heat, nevertheless they may be lifted from 

 the open ground any time up to December, potted and placed 

 at once in a cool house, with a certainty of a rich reward of 

 blooms in due time. 



The plants should be well hardened off in spring and 

 planted out in an open yet sheltered situation in rich light 

 soil, making sure that the ball is thoroughly moist, and water- 

 ing so as to solidify the soil about it. They will require no 

 further attention, only to remove any weeds that may appear, 

 and in September they may again be taken up, being equally 

 as good as before, or better, inasmuch as they flower earlier 

 the second than the first season, increasing year by year in 

 siz9 and value. Masses or lines of Christmas Roses outdoors 

 are superb. The plants do well in any well-drained soil, but 

 prefer a vegetable one, with shelter and slight shade in sum- 

 mer. I have employed them for winter bedding, lifting them 

 in May and planting in shady borders, removing them to the 

 beds and lines again in November, in which position they like 

 a mulch of leaf soil or cocoa refuse. 



Helleborus fcetidus is the finest in foliage, which is its only 

 recommendation, making a good centre to a group, having 

 H. niger around it, then the purple H. pnrpnrascens, banded 

 by Winter Aconite and riDgs in order of Hepatica angulosa, 

 double red, and single white Hepaticas ; or H. niger major 

 (maximus) for centre, with bands around of H. atrorubens, 

 H. niger, Winter Aconite, double blue Hepatica, double red 

 Hepatica, white Hepatica. Cyclamen hederasfolium for foliage, 

 margined with C. coum, alternating with C. conm vernum, is 

 a pretty combination. 



For pots H. niger, H. niger maximus (major, giganteum), 



