October 25, 1864. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



331 



with other Geraniums ; to those not acquainted with it 

 I , may say it is a sort of half Nosegay ; habit spreading ; 

 foliage nearly plain green ; flowers in fine trusses, and most 

 abundantly. It is one of the memorials our late lamented 

 fellow labourer Mr. Beaton bequeathed to the gardening 

 world. Stella is very good as a potted plant, but thrives 

 best when planted in a mass in a flower-bed. 



Cybister. — I fear this is a still further departure from the 

 scarlet, but I hardly know under what section to class it. I 

 must in the first instance, however, say that my acquaint- 

 ance with it is limited. Not having grown it until the present 

 year, and that but sparingly, I cannot speak confidently on 

 its merits, but may say it is more of the Nosegay breed than 

 the last, the flowers being also more crimson. Many growers, 

 however, speak well of it. 



Class 7. — Flowers rose colour. 



Trentham Rose. — This popular variety needs no comment, 

 the plant being all that can be required in habit, and the 

 flowers individually are as good as those of the majority of 

 recently introduced varieties, and better than many of them ; 

 bnt it must be acknowledged that, viewed at a distance, 

 the flowers have not the attractive colouring of Stella and 

 some of the Scarlets — they are more for effect close to the 

 eye. In habit the plant is spreading, and the foliage scarcely 

 shows any horseshoe marking. 



Paul VAbbe.—K more robust grower than the last, with 

 foliage distinctly marked with horseshoe. Flower- truss very 

 large, and plant more upright-growing. For the centre of 

 a bed this is a desirable variety, while its immense trusses 

 of bloom are of themselves sources of much attraction. 



Beauty of Mildoise. — This so much resembles Trentham 

 Rose, that I am far from certain that they are not synony- 

 mous. More need not therefore be said about it. 



Cerise Unique. — Having all but thrown this old variety 

 away, I only mention its name as one of this class having 

 a more upright growth, foliage marked with horseshoe in 

 two colours, and the flower-stem white. 



Class 8. — Flowers purple, or approaching that colour. 



Magenta. — Slightly horseshoe-marked ; strong grower, but 

 spreading ; half Nosegay ; truss large and fine, and of the 

 lovely colour implied by its name. Next to Stella, it is the 

 most telling Geranium that can be planted, being of a colour 

 hitherto not approached by any Geranium. 



Imperial Crimson. — Nosegay ; foliage small and plain 

 green; habit dwarf; flowers good purple, and very abun- 

 dant. A good plant for edgings or for a single line in a 

 ribbon, the compactness of its habit fitting it admirably for 

 that purpose. 



Woodwardiana. — I am somewhat doubtful whether this be 

 the correct name: if so, it is somewhat like the last in 

 colour of flower, but more robust in growth. It is also a 

 Nosegay, not altered by hybridising with the broader-petalled 

 class. 



Lucidum. — This old variety of the Nosegay class, the first 

 I was acquainted with, excepting Hark away, seems to dege- 

 nerate, or other kinds have surpassed it in beauty and 

 general qualifications. I shall discard it. 



Purple Nosegay. — This once-popular vaiiety becomes so 

 kggy and bare of foliage that it no longer deserves culti- 

 vation, and compared with Magenta it is worthless. 



Lord Palmerston. — Foliage nearly plain ; flowers partaking 

 of the Nosegay class, more of a crimson than purple ; habit 

 good and promising. Not having seen much of it, I must 

 leave its properties to be commented on by others. It pro- 

 mises well. — J. Robson. 



CULTIVATION OP SOME EAEE WILD 

 FLO WEES. 



PRIMULA FABINOSA. 



Tourists who visit the upper parts of Aire and Wharfedales 

 during the months of May and June, are often charmed 

 with the beautiful flowers of Primula farinosa (Bird's-eye 

 Primrose), and bring back plants which they have collected 

 in the moorland pastures. These are planted in the gardens 

 at home, where they grow, and for a time all is well. If we 



afterwards inquire after them we are told that the roots are 

 dead and thrown away. Not so, the leaves were dead, but 

 the roots were alive, though dormant, peeping out of the 

 soil like a little bud, ready for growth early in spring to 

 flower and please the collector who gathered them, and to 

 serve as a memento of a visit to a wild but charming 

 district. 



This flower is one of my favourites, and was some years 

 since gathered for me by a friend in the Craven district, 

 where it grows very plentifully, and Baines in his ' : Flora 

 of Yorkshire," informs us that it may be found varying 

 from the purest white flowers to the deepest crimson. It is 

 of very easy culture, growing in almost any kind of soil, and 

 seems to do best in that collected from the sides of roads 

 repaired with dross or slag from the iron works in our 

 neighbourhood; but it will grow and do well in common 

 garden soil. The best time to increase it is in spring as 

 soon as the plants commence growing; if we then take up a 

 root we find it composed of a number of little buds cluster- 

 ing round the family hearth. These are easily divided with 

 the fingers, taking care that a small root is with every bud, 

 and the small buds will flower the same year. If allowed to 

 flower, and then divided, the roots are tough, and do not 

 easily part, and few plants are obtained ; these, if the 

 weather be dry, seldom do well. — Rustic Robin. 



PEEVENTING THE PALL OF SPECIMEN 

 PEAES. 



I have sent you a little box of Pears merely to show you 

 an idea which struck me in the summer, as answering to 

 keep large Pears from being blown down by the wind. I have 

 before had a good many King Edward's Pears, but they were 

 nearly always blown down before they were much more than 

 half grown. Tying them does not answer, and I thought 

 small net bags would do, and they have answered admirably. 

 The bag should fit moderately close, as the Pear is not sus- 

 pended by the bag so well if the bag is too large. I tie the 

 string to the same branch unless the fruit is on the end of 

 it, and then I tie it to an adjoining branch, so that the 

 weight of the Pear is in the bag. — George Lee, Clevedon. 



TODMOEDEN BOTANICAL SOCIETY. 7$™i 

 Meeting October 3rd. 

 The President in the chair. The President exhibited 

 fronds of a most beautifully-crested form of Athyrium Filix- 

 fcemina, lately gathered by him near Hapton. Mr. J. Sim, 

 of Perth, sent a specimen of Rosa alpina, L., recently dis- 

 covered on Kinnoul Hill, near Perth, by Dr. "White, jun., ot 

 that city. This Rose is said to be new to Britain, and Dr. 

 White may be congratulated on making so important an 

 addition to our flora. Mr. Aitkin, of Bacup, exhibited speci- 

 mens of Alisma natans, from the Vale of Llangollen. Mr. 

 Halstead, of Bacup, a most indefatigable Fern-hunter, 

 brought various interesting forms of Blechnum spicant, 

 recently collected by him in the neighbourhood of Rossen- 

 dale: one of these forms the President pronounced to be 

 new. Mr. Halstead also exhibited fronds of Scolopendrium 



