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JOURNAL OP HOETIOULTU RE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ December 5, 1872. 



top having a tuft of long broad leaves about 6 feet long, in th e 

 manner of a Palm. It produces a larger flower on the panicle 

 t han the other species belonging to these genera. It was 

 obtainedat first by a gardener residing in this place when on 

 a visit to our west coast gold fields about six years ago. It is 

 now growing in his own cottage garden, and named by him 

 Cordyline Gouldiana, in compliment to his late employer in 

 Canterbury, Mr. George Gould. He states it to be the only 

 one cultivated here in Christchurch. 



I have not the least doubt that there are, like this plant, 

 still many more treasures in store for us in unexplored parts of 

 our southern and western alps, and in other places elsewhere 

 both in the North and South Islands ; more particularly in 

 some parts of the North Island among the Maories, where a 

 European foot never trod. Many new additions already, I 

 think, could be made to the number of genera mentioned in 

 " Porster's New Zealand Kingdom," geographically speaking, 

 of our indigenous plants and their whereabouts. 



Mr. J. C. Bidwell informs us about this genus in his pamphlet 

 entitled " Rambles in New Zealand," published by Orr & Co., 

 London, as far back as 1840 or 1841, that " a Dracasna was very 

 common in some places, and grew into a tree 30 feet high and 

 2 feet in diameter. If this tree could be brought to England 

 it would make quite a new feature in ornamental plantations. 

 There are in all three species which would grow out of doors 

 in England ; one of them, a most beautiful species, with the 

 leaves large and striped red and yellow, must be very hardy, 

 as the natives said that the mountain was always covered with 

 snow in the winter. It was growing in a little gully on the 

 very top, where the barometer stood at 25.20 ins., thermometer 

 45°." I very often have the pleasure of seeing C. Gouldiana 

 growing in the cottage garden by the roadside. Its leaves are 

 just as long again as those of C. australis and indivisa. Pro- 

 bably the species I am now writing about may be one of the 

 three mentioned by Mr. Bidwell. Cordyline australis is nearly 

 the last relic of New Zealand vegetation we have left on the 

 plains ; it is commonly called the " Cabbage Tree " by Euro- 

 peans. About their hardiness I agree with Mr. Bidwell, for 

 this last winter we had two intensely severe frosts, which 

 scorched all our large Eucalypti, and their green leaves now 

 hang dead on the trees, giving them a very miserable appear- 

 ance. Our native Cordylines sustained no damage. Our large 

 Wattles or Acacias were quite killed in some places. 



Mr. Bidwell, in his pamphlet, sums-up our climate better 

 than any author I ever read on New Zealand. He writes : — 

 " My opinion of the climate of New Zealand during the time 

 I was there -would be summed-up by the word ' raw,' and I 

 certainly think that rawness is the principal characteristic of 

 the air of that country, not so much, however, in winter as in 

 summer and autumn. I have no doubt there will be quite 

 sufficient heat for any crops which come to perfection in 

 England, and perhaps France, but I do not think the wines, 

 <fec, will ever have the richness of those of Spain or Madeira." 

 We often get four seasons in one day — spring in the morning, 

 about mid-day summer, about 3 p.m. autumn, and at sunset 

 winter. With regard to wines, we have as yet to grow our 

 Vines under glass in cold vineries in this part of New Zealand. 



Whether scientific botanists at home will .allow the specific 

 name of the Cordyline mentioned to continue I cannot judge. 

 For my own part I consider it is of little real importance what 

 name an object bears, provided it serves to distinguish that 

 object from everything eke; still, home botanists may think 

 it bold presumption in a gardener to have done such a thing 

 in this country. — William Swale, Avonside Botanic Garden, 

 ChrUtchurch, Canterbury, N.Z. 



GLADIOLUS DISEASE. 

 My friend " W. G. S." is too wise by far to be 



" As one 



That smells a foul-fleshed Agaric in the holt, 

 And deems it carrion of some woodland thing, 

 Or shrew or weasel. ' — (Gare'h aid Lynette.) 



Nay, he, I imagine, rather thinks this world to be one vast 

 Agaric, and we " petty creatures " but the spores scattered 

 over it. He challenges me on my remarks on the disease of 

 Potato and Gladiolus. He says anybody can tell all about 

 that of the former root, meaning thereby that it is of fungoid 

 character. But with all due deference to my friend's smell- 

 fungus perceptions, I must take leave to say I still hold to my 

 opinion ; for, 1, it is by no means clear that this is not a con- 

 founding of the post hoc and propter hoc. The eruptions on 



the skin in man are not the disease, but the effects of a poison 

 in the system. Cholera, to which he alludes, is a fell disease ; 

 but what is that poison which produces it ? The mould on a 

 decaying Apple is not the cause of the decay, but the effect ; 

 so, I take leave to say, you may detect the Potato fungus. 

 But what is it — the cause of the disease or the effect of it ? 

 But suppose I take it for granted that it is the cause : how 

 comes it that it has only been known in its virulent form for 

 the last thirty years, although the tuber has been cultivated 

 since the time of Raleigh, and what are the things that cause 

 it ? He asks me what is the analogy between the two ? I 

 reply, 1st, That in both it seems connected with some atmo- 

 spheric condition rather than with soil ; 2nd, that in both the 

 attacks are capricious ; and 3rd, that no remedy seems suc- 

 cessful. — D., Deal. 



SELECT EOSES ATTEMPTED TO BE CLASSED 

 ACCORDING TO THEIR COLOURS. 



Senateuk Vaisse" requires the names of the best three 

 Roses in different colours. This is a very difficult thing to do, 

 because the colour of the same Rose varies so much according 

 to soil, cultivation, situation, season, and the time of the year, 

 and also the stage of the flower. I will, however, do my best 

 to answer his requisition without strict adherence to the exact 

 number of three Roses of each colour or to the colour-s named. 

 All I name are good in growth with good general attributes, 

 unless otherwise stated. Of course they are not of equal 

 merit, but they are good, and adapted to exhibition or garden 

 ornamentation, or both. 



White. — Madame Willermoz, Sombreuil, Acidalie. For 

 garden ornament, Baronne de Maynard, beautiful ; Marguerite 

 Bonnet, tinted white, lovely. 



Blush. — Souvenir de la Malmaison, Duchesse d'Orleans, Ca- 

 roline de Sansal, Sceur des Anges, Madame Emile Boyau. 



Silvery Blush. — Baroness Rothschild. For pot purposes, 

 Princess Christian. 



Flesh. — Madame Audot (Alba). 



Variegated. — CEillet Parfait, the best, but tender and dwarf 

 grower ; Tricolor de Flandre, Madeline. They are all summer 

 Roses and great beauties. 



Mottled Rose. — La Volupte (Gallica). 



Buff. — Madame Levet, Tea Rose, good grower and hardy. 



Orange Yellow. — Gloire de Dijon. 



Coppery Yellow. — Ophirie, a good wall Rose. 



Golden PeMoJO.— MarechalNiel, the finest of all yellow Roses. 



Fine Yellows. — Celine Forestier, Triomphe de Rennes, both 

 admirable : it is impossible to overpraise them. 



Rose Colour. — Perfection de Lyon, Madame Chirard, Gloire 

 de Vitry, Monsieur de Montigny, La Ville de St. Denis, Mons. 

 Woolfield, Duchesse de Morny, Comte de Nanteuil, Baronne 

 Prevost, Madame Boll, Madame Charles Verdier, Marquise de 

 Castellane, Madame Clemence Joigneaux, John Hopper, Felix 

 Genero. 



Pink. — Marguerite de St. Amand, Comtesse de Chabrillant, 

 Baron Gonella. 



Salmon Rose.—W. Griffiths, Madame Fillion. 



Bishop's Purple. — Madame Jacquier. 



Lake Red. — Gloire de Ducher, Jean Bart, Le Leon des 

 Combats. 



Carmine.— Duchesse de Caylus, Lord Herbert, Francois 

 Lacharme. 



Scarlet.— Duke of Edinburgh, Fisher Holmes, Kean (Gallica). 



Fine Red. — Madame Victor Verdier, Dr. Andry, Leopold 

 Premier, Prince Leopold (W.Paul), Senateur Vaisse. 



Vermilion Crimson. — Maurice Bernardin, Prince de Portia, 

 Madame Julie Daran. 



Fine Crimson. — Charles Lefebvre, Alfred Colomb, Marie 

 Rady. All first-rate. 



PurpZe.— Napoleon (GaDica), Pierre Notting, Triomphe de 

 Paris, Baronne Pelletan de Kinkelin, and Due de Cazes. 



Maroon or Plum Purple.— Prince Camille de Rohan, Dr. 

 Jamain,Empereur de Maroc. 



Black ? — The nearest to black at certain stages of the flower, 

 according to atmospheric influences, are Souvenir de W. Wood 

 and Xavier Oli >o. 



Blue ? We have not this colour, but Prince Camille de 



Rohan, Souvenir de W. Wood, Dr. Jamain, Baron Chaurand 

 assume a bluish tint, described by the Erenoh as bleuatre. 



Pure Stoi«.— Schismacker (Gallica). Its colour is purple ; it 

 slates on expansion. 



Crimson and Maroon. — John Keynes, Baron Chaurand. Both 



