July 23, 1672. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



71 



WEEKLY CALENDAR. 



Day 



Day 



(if 



of 



Month 



Week 



25 



Th 



26 



P 



27 



S 



28 



Sdn 



29 



M 



30 



Tu 



31 



W 



JULY 25—31, 1S72. 



William Forsyth died, 1804. Twilight ends, 

 [11.20 p.m. 



9 Sunday after Trinity. 



Average Tempera- 

 ture near London. 



Day. 



Night. 



73.9 



49.4 



73.7 



50.3 



74.9 



50.7 



76.4 



50.8 



75.5 



49.9 



75.2 



50.2 



74.9 



50.0 



Mean. 

 C1.9 

 62.0 

 62.8 

 63.6 

 62.7 

 62.7 

 62.4 



Rain in 

 4a years. 



Days. 

 13 

 22 

 19 

 21 

 18 

 16 

 15 



Sun 

 Rises. 



m. h. 

 15 af4 



Sun 

 Sets. 



m. h. 

 56af7 



Moon 

 Rises. 



m. h. 

 40afl0 

 57 10 

 40 11 

 34 11 



morn. 





 29 



Moon 

 Sets. 



m. h. 

 24 10 

 43 11 



after. 

 12 2 



33 



Moon's 

 Age. 



Days. 

 20 

 21 

 ( 

 23 

 24 

 25 

 26 



Clock Dav 

 before of 

 Sun. Year, 



m. s. 



6 13 



6 13 



6 12 



6 11 



6 10 



6 7 



6 5 



207 

 208 

 209 

 210 

 211 

 212 

 213 



k™™ b ser ™tjons takon near London during forty-three years, the average day temperature of the week is74.9° ; and its night temperature 

 . J.ne greatest heat was 92°, on the 25th, 1844 ; and the lowest cold 34°, on the 29th, 1858. The greatest fall of rain was 1.48 inch. 



HARDY GEMS.-No. 1. 



\ k 'iMMr NI)E - R tlle above heading I beg to offer a few 

 ' - 1 $w£n remarks wi *h the view of bringing under the 

 notice of your readers some of the choicest of 

 the many hardy border plants which have 

 been much too readily tossed aside to make 

 room for ribbon beds and borders. The 

 beauties of many of these plants have claims 

 upon our notice which we cannot ignore 

 without detracting much from the pleasure 

 a garden is capable of affording. I trust, 

 therefore, that not only may these brief remarks be found 

 serviceable to some amateurs who already cultivate such 

 plants, but I also hope they will be the means of fostering 

 a taste for them amongst some who have hitherto looked 

 upon them as unworthy of a place in a select border. 



Saxifraga Stracheyi has this spring had its portrait 

 placed m that splendid gallery of art, the "Botanical 

 Magazine," a distinction it richly merits. I have fre- 

 quently seen this species in bloom, but until the present 

 year could never ascertain its name; and my earnest 

 wish is that it will soon be offered in the trade, in order 

 that I may enrich my little collection, for it is a veritable 

 gem amongst Saxifragas. We are told by the distinguished 

 Editor of the " Botanical Magazine " that this species is 

 nearly allied to S. ligulata, and that it is found wild in the 

 Western Himalayas and in Western Tibet, where it is at 

 home at various elevations ranging from 10 to 14,000 feet 

 above the sea level. It is a robust, spreading plant, 

 having a somewhat stout stem which creeps upon the 

 surface of the ground. The leaves are about 6 inches or 

 more long, inversely egg-shaped, bright green in colour, 

 and ornamented round the edges with a fringe of short 

 hairs. The flower-stem is stout, bearing a much-branched 

 many-flowered panicle of large blooms, which are soft 

 rich pmk, in pleasing contrast to the bright red of the 

 ovary The charming colour of these flowers, and the 

 tact that they are produced in the open border or rock- 

 work during March, should be sufficient inducement for 

 all plant-lovers to find a place for it in their gardens 



Silene Elizabeths.— This is not a newly-introduced 

 plant ; mdeed it will be scarcely necessary to remind my 

 readers that many plants formerly cultivated in our gar- 

 dens may, even m these days of vast introductions and 

 foreign travel, be counted amongst their brightest orna- 

 ments _ Ihis Silene, if my memory serves me right, was 

 figured m the pages of the " Botanical Magazine "nine or 

 ten years since ; it is of csspitose habit, and the stems 

 usually grow 6 or 8 inches high, seldom exceeding the 

 latter height as far as my experience goes; they are 

 furnished with lanceolate dark green leaves, and bear 

 upon then-branched summits five or six large bright rose- 

 coloured flowers, each measuring U inch in diameter. 

 Ihis plant cannot fail to please even the most fastidious, 

 and it certainly deserves general cultivation. The flowers 

 are produced from the end of June to the end of July 

 It is a native of the Italian Alps. To my sorrow the 

 only specimen m my garden has this season been de- 

 No. 591.— Vol. XXin . New Sebies. 



voured by slugs during my absence from home. Can any 

 of my readers explain how it is slugs have such exquisite 

 taste ? It certainly is a fact that if these pests devour 

 anything it is sure to be some valued plant. 



Dianthus alpinus. — This lovely alpine plant was 

 figured in Curtis's " Botanical Magazine " so long ago 

 as the summer of 1809. It was a rare plant in those 

 days, and was considered then a gem of the first water; 

 after a lapse of upwards of sixty years it is still a rare 

 plant, and is held in high estimation by those who are 

 old-fashioned enough to know and to grow Alpines and 

 herbaceous plants. In a wild state the stem bears only 

 one flower, but under cultivation it frequently bears two 

 or more. It is of a remarkably dwarf compact habit, 

 forming dense tufts on a properly-constructed rockery. 

 The leaves are oblong-linear, obtuse, short, and deep 

 green. The flowers are large, with crenate edges to the 

 petals, bright red shading to rose on the upper side, but 

 paler below. I have not hitherto been very successful 

 with this plant, but it may be that, as it is a native of 

 the high mountains of Austria and Styria, it cannot 

 breathe in the atmosphere of my London garden. June 

 is the time for it to display its beauty, but this season I 

 have not been treated to a sight 6i its bright blossoms. 



Dianthus neglectus. — In general appearance this 

 species resembles the preceding, but, if possible, is even 

 more handsome. On my little, rockery four miles from 

 London it grows and blooms. The flowers are larger 

 than those of D. alpinus, and of a beautiful soft rosy- 

 pink — a description, by the way, which entirely fails to 

 give an idea of its beauty. It thrives beautifully in that 

 grand rock garden of Mr. Backhouse, of York, which is 

 a sight worth travelling from the Land's End to John 

 o' Groat's house to see ; for there is certainly no finer 

 rockery that I know in the three kingdoms. — Experto 

 Crede. 



FIG CULTURE. 



In reply to a question from "E. E." on this subject, 

 Mr. Pearson says, " I hardly see how I can make it 

 plainer. My Figs are in pots holding about two pecks of 

 soil. The pots are plunged over the rims in a border of 

 one of my houses, where they have plenty of light and 

 heat, and where they receive plenty of water and an occa- 

 sional syringe overhead. They are pinched when they 

 have made four or five leaves. To pinch every third 

 leaf is too close for strong-growing plants like mine. 

 Good bearers will under this treatment carry about as 

 many fruit as leaves. When the fruit is ripening we 

 give less water and do not syringe, or the fruit would 

 crack and be bad-flavoured. 



" I am reducing the kinds of Figs rapidly, as I find 

 many of the newer ones very inferior to well-known sorts ; 

 some are very bad bearers, some drop their fruit badly, 

 and others are inferior in flavour. Of all the newer ones 

 I prefer La Madeleine. It is the earliest and also the 

 best-flavoured Fig, to my taste, of the whole collection. 

 Another really good Fig is Bourjassotte Grise ; this is a 

 new name for an old variety. It has been grown for 



No. 1243.-VOL. XLVIII., O-.d Series. 



