October 4, 1861. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



273 



tiful deep yellow flowers, but unfortunately they will not 

 expand their blooms unless planted in a dry soil and warm 

 situation ; on the other hand, Homer, delicate in colour, tinted 

 blush with a salmon centre, is at once vigorous and one of the 

 hardiest of the Tea-scented Roses ; and Nina, with large and 

 very pure blush flowers, is a lovely hardy kind for planting out 

 of doors, but not a climber. Of others we observed Ophirie, 

 nankeen and copper, a good climber for a house coloured 

 white, against which the lighter Roses do not look well, 

 especially if the foliage is not vigorous and plentiful; 

 America, creamy white, large and fine, excellent for a south 

 wall in a warm situation; Niphetos, lemon white, large 

 and very beautiful; Eugene Desgaches, rose, very large 

 and sweet; Due de Magenta, salmon, large, and cupped; 

 Nisida, rose and yellow, exceedingly sweet, and a profuse 

 and continuous bloomer; Marquise de Eoueault, fawn, sal- 

 mon at the centre, delightfully fragrant; Solfaterre; and 

 Julie Mansais, lemon white. Another house, distinguished 

 as No. 5, was likewise filled with a fine collection of Tea 

 Roses in pots. 



In the next house we entered was a collection of fine 

 healthy Vines for fruiting and planting out, amounting to 

 sixty or seventy sorts, and with the wood rapidly becoming 

 well ripened. Passing from this we came to a second vinery, 

 into which Mr. Paul introduced forty-one varieties, both new 

 and old, in order to ascertain the comparative length of time 

 required for ripening. They were all grown in pots, and sub- 

 jected to cool greenhouse treatment ; and many of them were 

 bearing fine bunches, though some of the finest which were 

 exhibited at the Crystal Palace Show had suffered consider- 

 ably in consequence. Among them were Calabrian Raisin, 

 a good late white Grape, which answers well for pot culture ; 

 and Muscat Noir de Jura, an excellent late black kind, 

 which possesses the additional recommendation of being 

 ornamental by its foliage, which changes in autumn to yellow 

 and red. Chaptal, bearing eight fine bunches, fully justified 

 its character for productiveness, and as being well adapted 

 for pot culture; Foster's White Seedling was likewise bear- 

 ing good bunches, as well as Chasselas de Falloux, the 

 berries of which when ripe have a reddish tinge. This is a 

 variety of acknowledged merit for pot culture, being remark- 

 ably productive. Black Monukka, though by no means 

 first-rate, was producing good bunehe3 and has the property 

 of being stoneless. Some very large bunches of this kind 

 were produced in the conservatory at Chiswick two years 

 ago. Of new Grapes General de la Marmora, white, was 

 bearing large bunches and abundantly ; Chasselas Bulherry 

 was very thin-skinned and transparent; and so, too, was 

 Almeria, The others were Chavoush, Ingram's Prolific 

 Muscat, and Perle Imperiale, a fine-looking berry of a pale 

 amber colour. Chasselas Vibert, though better known, 

 deserves mention on account of its abundant bearing, large 

 berries, and suitability for pot culture. 



The next house waj : filled with a stock of Vines ready 

 for fruiting in pots ; and: we observed that the wood was 

 short-jointed, hard, and solid, with large well-developed 

 eyes, such, as give the promise of starting vigorously. 



We now came to a house in which were many of the best 

 of Beaton's Geraniums, and though the requirements of 

 propagation to meet the great demand which will unques- 

 tionably arise for these had made great havoc among the 

 shoots, there was still enough to show what valuable acqui- 

 sitions they are. Amy Hogg is decidedly the finest, being 

 entirely new in colour — a bright purplish rose; producing 

 enormous trusses, and having the habit of Cybister, it will 

 doubtless be planted by the thousand when known, and no 

 one can, fail to admire it. Indian Yellow, scarlet suffused 

 with yellow, is another first-rate kind, which cannot fail to 

 become a general favourite. Scarlet Gem, with large orange 

 scarlet flowers and dark horseshoe leaf, will be very useful 

 on account of its colour and dwarf almost creeping habit. 

 Black Dwarf, crimson scarlet, is also of dwarf habit ; and 

 the trusses, which are freely produced, are very compact. 

 Glowworm we did not see in flower, but from what we have 

 seen of it on former occasions we can affirm it to be a sort 

 of great promise ; the colour of the top petals is a brilliant 

 scarlet, that of the lower ones carmine with a magenta 

 tinge. Orange Nosegay, bright orange, and Donald Beaton, 

 orange scarlet, are both very desirable free-growing kinds ; 

 and Mrs. Wm. Paul, with broad finely formed petals of a 



delicate peach, if sufficiently free-flowering, will be a great 

 acquisition. 



The above are only a few of the best of Mr. Beaton's seed- 

 lings, for these amount altogether to about 4000, many of 

 them presenting new shades of scarlet tinged either with 

 orange or magenta ; but Mr. Paul is thinning them out as 

 they come in flower, and discarding the least promising and 

 distinct. It is not, perhaps, of much utility to attempt de- 

 scribing plants before they are named, but we may mention 

 a variety with broad silvery edges and pink flowers; another 

 with leaves of a similar character, but not so broadly edged 

 with white, and having magenta flowers; a salmon red, shaded 

 with orange towards the eye ; an intense scarlet with broader 

 petals than Stella ; and a magenta with a very distinct orange 

 blotch at the base of the top petals, but the_ flowers as seen 

 were rather small 



Passing by another house filled with Vines, we reached an 

 orchard-house, in which were Peaches, Nectarines, and Apri- 

 cots planted out, Figs in pots, &c. ; but the crop had been 

 gathered except from Late Admirable Peach, which was 

 bearing good-sized fruit in abundance, and Stanwick Necta- 

 rine, which appears to succeed much better in orchard-houses 

 than out of doors ; the tendency of the fruit to crack is, how- 

 ever, a great drawback to this otherwise excellent variety. 



This house is not heated at any period of the year, and 

 except in being provided with wooden shutters sliding in 

 grooves at the sides, it does not differ in its construction 

 from the other structures. The object of having wooden 

 shutters instead of glass at the sides is to economise heat, 

 which in severe weather would be rapidly carried off from, 

 the glass ; and by 'shutting up early with sun heat the 

 thermometer is never less than 5° higher in the morning 

 than it is out of doors, and the blossom is never injured by 

 the spring frosts, which render the crops from nnprotected 

 trees so uncertain. The soil used is strong turfy loam and 

 nothing else; and to prevent the trees becoming over- 

 vigorous, as well as to promote fruitfulness, they are taken 

 up every second year in autumn, and the crop of the follow- 

 ing season is never diminished but rather increased by the 

 removal. 



Adjoining the orchard-house a new span-roof is in course 

 of erection for pot Roses. The dimensions are nearly the 

 same as in the case of the other structures, but both roof 

 and sides are to be fixed. Ample ventilation, however, is 

 provided at top by hinged sashes of the same length as the 

 rafter, and which open upwards ; whilst air is admitted at 

 the sides by openings in the wall, closed by wooden shutters 

 placed in the interval between every pair of top ventilators, 

 so as to prevent strong draughts. 



Several propagating-pits were filled with Vines, Roses, 

 new Geraniums of all kinds, and multitudes of Conifers, 

 such as Thuja aurea, Pinus Lambertiana, Picea Nordman- 

 niana and nobilis, Juniperus chinensis, &c, the number of 

 Conifers raised each season being altogether about 20,000. 

 In one pit were 3000 dwarf Roses, and in another a fine lot 

 of seedling Picea nobilis and several Japanese plants, as ' 

 Retinosporas, Sciadopitys, Thujopsis dolabrata, &c. One of 

 these, Raphiolepis ovata, now in flower, will, if sufficiently 

 hardy for our climate, prove a great acquisition, the foliage 

 being of the deepest green and of thick leathery substance. 

 As an edging plant, Euonymus radicans variegata promises 

 to be very useful, having the leaves variegated with pure 

 white, and being, moreover, perfectly hardy; and another 

 of the same genus, E. japoniens aureo-variegatus, with dark 

 green leaves and golden variegation, makes a beautiful 

 table plant. It has been shown several times during the 

 last two seasons, and wherever seen has been favourably 

 noticed. A still more valuable acquisition is the new 

 Japanese Osmanthus ilicifolius, which closely resembles the 

 Holly in appearance, forming an admirable substitute for it, 

 and, as far as observations have hitherto gone, of more rapid 

 growth under ordinary treatment. There is besides a varie- 

 gated form, which may be used to replace the variegated 

 Holly. ' 



We noticed in some of the propagating-pits an excellent 

 and extremely simple contrivance substituted for hinges to 

 the propagating-frames inside the pits. It merely consists 

 of an iron strap attached to the woodwork of the back of 

 the sash, bent so as to hook over a slightly curved piece of 

 iron fixed edgewise on the frame, thus — /p| 



