August S, 1872. ] 



JOUENAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



109 



largest of the kind in England. — Charles Woodhahs, Barn 

 Elms Parle, Barnes. 



AQUILEGIA GLANDULOSA AND BED SPIDEB. 



A correspondent, " A. E.," has some difficulty in keeping 

 this plant in health in the south, and believes that it is owing 

 to the dry atmosphere. Probably he and others are not aware 

 that this and various species of Aquilegia are, in dry hot 

 weather, very liable to be infested with red spider, and if this 

 is not destroyed the leaves perish prematurely ; consequently 

 the flower-spikes are weakly and the flowers inferior. I dis- 

 lodge the enemy by frequent syringing with clear water, work- 

 ing the water underneath the leaves. The beautiful Primula 

 cortusoides amcena and its varieties are very subject to the 

 attacks of red spider, and if the plants are neglected for a 

 short period they are very much injured. Prevention is much 

 better than any remedial agent, and the attacks of red spider 

 can always be prevented by syringing in the case of plants not 

 injured. With such subjects as those named above, syringing 

 . once a-day, and not allowing them to become too dry at the 

 roots when they are in a growing state, will prevent it. 



This little insect is the greatest pest of the gardener, and its 

 power of reproduction is something enormous. It is a con- 

 tinual source of annoyance to the Vine-grow6r, and if it gains 

 a stronghold in the vinery there will be but small chance of 

 well-finished Grapes. It is best to be on the look-out for it as 

 soon as the Grapes are set ; and should it appear on any of 

 the leaves, let them be washed with a sponge, using rain 

 water in which soft soap has been dissolved. It may thus be 

 destroyed at an early stage, while a few days' delay would be 

 fatal. In the Peach house it can be kept under by syringing 

 the trees twice a-day — in the morning when the ventilators 

 are opened, and in the evening when the house is shut up. It 

 fastens on the young Strawberry plants as soon as they are 

 rooted in the pots, and is a continual source of annoyance 

 until the fruit is gathered. I would therefore impress upon 

 all amateurs and others aspiring to success to use every effort 

 to cleanse their productions from this foe. Except in the case 

 of Grapes and plants in flower, frequent applications from the 

 syringe will diminish it. 



I see by an advertisement in the Journal for July 25th that 

 it can be destroyed " at no cost and very little trouble .... 

 without the least injury to any delicate plant ;" anyone for- 

 warding a dozen stamps to the advertiser can have full inform- 

 ation. If any of your readers have tried this, they would confer 

 a boon on others if they would detail the result. They can 

 do so without publishing the information for which they have 

 paid. — J. Douglas. 



SHOW PELABGONIUMS. 



Those who have patiently waited the turn of the tide, who 

 have believed that a fashion which had revolutionised our 

 gardening has seen its palmiest days, are likely to be rewarded. 

 Of course there are plenty of persons who believe that nothing 

 else but the bedding-out system is to be tolerated, and that if 

 time and space cannot be given to other things the scarlets 

 and yellows must take precedence of all else. As long as 

 tastes vary so will they find advocates, and it may be that one 

 taste is as good as another ; yet withal, there are many who 

 think that we have gone far enough-, and that once again the 

 old favourites may resume their place. I do not dispute the 

 fact that an immense stimulus has been given to the sale of 

 plants by the bedding-out system, but whether good gardening 

 has benefited by it is to my mind very questionable. I doubt 

 if the patience, skill, and attention to niinutia? which go so far 

 in the making of a good garden, get anything like fair play in 

 the management of plants which require but little if any of 

 these gardening virtues. As I have recently said, so I repeat 

 it, For our public parks and gardens by all means retain this 

 system, let it have full swing there ; and again, in large places 

 belonging to our wealthier classes, let gardens on this system 

 form a portion of their ornament ; but modify it for smaller 

 places, and rigorously exclude it, if you have the power, from 

 the sweet cottage gardens of our labourers. My good friend 

 Mr. Peach will, I am sure, agree in this latter matter, however 

 he may dispute my statements generally. 



These thoughts have been forced upon me by looking at my 

 small greenhouse. On one side I have the shelves filled with 

 the new Show Pelargoniums of this and last season, and on 

 the other with the newest and best of the Zonals, single and 



double. Can there be a moment's hesitation as to which is 

 the more beautiful of the two ? I may be told that the former 

 last but a short time, the latter for a whole season. Well, 

 there is something in that ; still, if you can have, as you easily 

 can, a succession of bloom for sis weeks, I think no one ought 

 to complain : and in delicacy and brilliancy of colour how 

 immeasurably beyond the Zonals are the numerous lovely 

 varieties of the Show Pelargonium that we possess ! But then 

 we hear the cuckoo cry, " They are so much alike." So are 

 gems, so is china, so are antiques to those who are mere 

 lookers-on. Get interested in them, come to examine any of 

 these things, and you will wonder that you could ever have 

 thought them alike. " Then but little progress is made ; and 

 although new flowers are sent out every year, there is no im- 

 provement on those of eight or ten years ago." If anyone 

 thinks this, he has only to procure the flowers of those days 

 and grow them beside those of the present, and he will soon 

 acknowledge how erroneously he has judged. Those who 

 thought highly of such flowers as John Hoyle, Sunny Memories, 

 &c, would be much astonished to see how thoroughly they 

 have been distanced by the flowers of later years. 



Having through the kindness of Mr. Charles Turner (to 

 whom is due the credit of persistently clinging to the Show 

 Pelargonium when abandoned by well-nigh everybody else), 

 been enabled to have the new varieties of last season growing 

 under my own eye, I have made the following notes as the 

 result of my repeated examination of them during then 1 season 

 of flowering. Of highly coloured flowers there are some which 

 for size and brilliancy have not been approached heretofore. 

 Caesar, Brutus, and Pompey are all remarkably fine ; while in 

 Eosicrucian, Achievement, and Brigand we have pink and 

 lilac-coloured flowers of great beauty. 



Achievement. — A very large flower ; colour a lilac rose, dark 

 maroon spot on the top petals, centre white. This is a variety 

 of very decided merit and novelty. 



Brigand. — Dwarf close-growing plant ; bloom in the style of 

 Troubadour, although the pink is more cherry-coloured than in 

 that variety ; clear white eye. 



Brutus. — A richly coloured flower ; deep crimson upper petals 

 nearly covered with a deep black spot, and having a narrow 

 crimson margin. Large and fine. 



Ccesar. — Another richly coloured flower ; bright lower petals ; 

 top petals dark maroon with a narrow fiery edge. 



Counsellor. — Bich rosy pink ; upper petals with a small spot ; 

 white eye. A very large and attractive flower. 



Kingcraft. — Dwarf habit ; a richly painted flower ; white eye. 

 Novel in appearance. / 



Pompey. — Very large; rich in colour; orange-pink lower petals, 

 maroon spot, orange margin. As far as I can judge, the finest 

 flower of the season. 



Prelate. — A fine purple flower ; black top petals, with a narrow 

 purple margin, Excellent. 



Prime Minister. — A good flower; crimson; margin of upper 

 petals lilac. 



Rosicrucian. — Not so well-shaped .a flower as some of the 

 preceding, but novel in colour, a sort of rosy purple. 



Moyal Bride. — Cherry. This is also a novelty in colour, not 

 brilliant but pretty. 



Sunset. — Bright crimson scarlet; dark spot on the top petals; 

 shaded with rosy carmine. 



Zephyr. — Deep-coloured variety ; painted crimson lower 

 petals ; a broad edge of bright crimson. 

 — D., Deal. 



COPINGS FOB FBUIT WALLS. 



I have been looking for several weeks in the Journal to see 

 if any communications would follow upon Mr. Luckhurst's 

 very interesting article on copings as a protection against frost. 

 The failure of fruit on the walls this year seems so universal, 

 that to those who, like myself, hesitate to undertake the 

 additional cost and care of an orchard house, the subject of 

 the best means of securing the out-door crop from cold and 

 frost assumes considerable importance. Mr. Luckhurst's ex- 

 perience corresponds precisely with that of a farmer friend of 

 mine, who tells me that since he has placed a straw coping 

 over his walls, he has uniformly had a good crop on his trees. 

 The only crop of Apricots that I have seen this year is on a 

 tree planted against a house, the eaves of which project some 

 distance over, so that no drip can possibly touch it. A Climb- 

 ing Devoniensis Eose of my own, some 15 feet high, lost all its 

 early leaves and buds, save a few which nestled beneath the 

 projecting sill of a window. 



It would, I think, be a great boon to some of your readers if 

 those of your correspondents who have tried copings would. 



