256 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



ArR »- 23, 1898. 



their variety freedom of bloom, and the readiness with which they lend A Remarkable Allium from Western Asia, and 



incir vaiiciy, iiccuuin 1f • 1 . rofA j la C f cnmmpr. is Allium Schuberh. Tr \* « 0+ 



themselves to cultivation, they are by no means generally cultivated, 

 though they bloom in April and May. The species and varieties raised 



last summer, is Allium Schuberti. It is a strong-growW sit?**!* 



about a foot high , and bearing heads of rosy flowers ; sometim^ . .' **** 



.... 1. . » «w,««ucs as many as two 



from it are 

 roots, which 

 plants are g 



,100m m ^pru aim — - — -17 hundred, each with a long pedicel, are grouped together tv I , y 13 tWo 



deciduous hardy perenn.als, having creepmg /hizomatous * horticultural Jj Ht bears the name 7 ts discovele 1 



oread themselves below the surface of the by ^ Herb and ^ * *JST5 £ 



are capable of ^ Qther interesd lants are f ed . q w the forego^ 



It * a plant un- and these are Myantis dissitiflora & ' of the * *J£ 



inted out perma- , — tft Vm hv Mr . F T it™, v r» e eLI _ . uv :! nn s tor g«-me-not, 



nently should be on rock work, where moisture can readily pass away 



stagnant 



when the plant is at rest It is usual to grow this species in pots, 

 dividing the roots in the autumn, or at the end of the winter. Every eye 



will make a plant, and one or more can be placed in a small pot of suit- ^ 



able soil, and if given protection from frosts, there is soon made small a t an early date, for we are informed that Miss Cruikshank, sister 0^71^ ^ 



forwarded to Kew by Mr. E. J. {Lowe, F.R.S., Shirenewton Hall, Chepstow 



Gardens ; Crocus Malvi > 



native of Dalmatia, spring flowering, and with large white flowers, having y£l 

 throats ; and Rheu n ribes, a handsome rhubarb, with green and red flowers and 

 large blood-red fruits. ' 



A Botanic Garden at Aberdeen is likely to be founded and commenced 



flowering specimens, and it has now become the practice to exhibit the 

 various varieties in boxes or baskets, standing a number of small plants 

 in each, and so forminer dense masses. 



Blights and their Parasites.— Without doubt in selecting as the title oi 

 his recent lecture at the Drill Hall 11 Blights and Blessings," Mr. Enoch, the able 



Cruikshank, has offered ^15,000 to the Aberdeen University for the provision 

 of such a garden in memory of her brother. 



Surfacing Flower Beds. -Mr. George Wilson, F.R.S., sends the 



following interesting note relating to covering the verdure during the winter 

 months : Some time back I recommended covering beds with the evergreen 

 sedum, a bit of which I enclose, and dotting bulbs singly about it. I have now 

 carried this out on a large raised bed at Oakwood, using bulbs having blue flowers, 



entomologist was rather more alliterative than exact, yet those who heard his such as Chionodoxa gigantea, C. Lucilise, C sardensis, and different muscari. 



singularly interesting and beautifully illustrated address could realise that in This has been much admired, and is, I think, worthy of a note. I propoie 



referring to blights and blessings he was but conveying the thought dominant all trying another sedum bed, with the best of the smaller and lower-growing sp 



through that if we are as gardeners cursed with blights, the blights are, for our of narcissus. 



•mm 



good, equally cursed with destroyers. A good title would have been "Insect 

 Banes and Antidotes. " Very interesting indeed was it to learn of some of the 



Auriculas and Primulas should constitute the two chief features at the 



R.H.S. meeting on Tuesday. As the exhibition of the southern section of the 



parasites which seem in their turn to do so much to feed upon and destroy the National Auricula Society will be held, and as the season has on the whole bees 

 insects which primarily feed upon vegetation. There is, for instance, the grub or favourable, it has the promise of being one of the best shows the society has held 

 caterpillar of the wasp fly. This is a creature little regarded, but those familiar f or some years past# The exhibition will continue open until five o'clock, 

 with it recognise that its somewhat long body with gold and black markings make 

 it to resemble the water wasp. Possibly for that reason it generally gets 



beautiful 



wantonly destroyed. Yet this same fly will deposit its egg on the underside of a 

 leaf, and evidently always on a leaf infested with aphis. Shortly it becomes a 



while their fragrance is not offensively strong, though they are cultivated in 



lumbers. It is the general opinion, with which we concur, that in no 



enormous 



ad van tag 



caterpillar, and thence it proceeds to eat up the aphis. Unlike the ladybird, ^ and ^ nQ Qther season haye the arrangements and colour effecti 



wh.ch seems chiefly to use the aphis as milch cows, feeding upon the sweets they ^ sq skUful and beautifuL The beds are first . rate object lessons h combiM . 



secrete, this wasp-fly caterpillar destroys the feeding insects. It is strictly 



these 



vegetarian at second hand, for the blight insect feeds upon the vegetable leaf and d - j ^ q[ m {he intance of many handsome varieties not yet 



the caterpillar the insect. Erecting itself on its posterior, perhaps perched on „ , . , 



. r TT7 • s . . . , . l-r . . . f . so well known as their merits deserve. 



the ridge of the leaf midrib, it darts its head at the insect, lifts its high up, sucks 

 it dry, leaving only a white skin, and then proceeds to devour another, and so it 

 goes on at a rapid rate, destroying the blight wholesale. Mr. Enoch's moral is 

 that gardeners should get some knowledge of entomology to enable them to 

 distinguish insect friends from their insect foes. 



Earlier Opening: of Kew Gardens.— This question received a full share 

 of attention in the House of Commons on Monday. In the course of the discussion 

 on the vote to complete the sum of £115,000 for the maintenance of the Royal 

 Parks and Pleasure Grounds, Mr. Akers-Douglas said with reference to his decision 

 to open the gardens at an earlier hour in June next, and the two following months, 

 there never had been a difference of opinion as to opening the gardens at an earlier 

 hour subject to two conditions— that the gardens would be taken advantage of by 

 the public ; and, secondly, that it would be safe in the interests of science and the 

 students at Kew to grant an extension. It had at length been decided to open the 

 gardens on June I at 10 a.m., and to open them at that hour every morning for 

 the following three months. If it was found that the public appreciated the new 

 arrangement, and visited the gardens to the extent that the advocates of the earlier 

 opening of the gardens said they would, the Office of Works would make the 

 extension of hours— as far as the summer months went— permanent. The Queen's 

 Cottage would be handed over by the Lord Chamberlain's Department to the 

 Office of Works on June I, and, as soon after as the Office of Works could make the 



Winter 



seaside 



handsome 

 nateil cost 



000 and £ 4.0.000 



Fertilisation of the Yucca.— The fertilisation of the yucca by met* 

 of the grubs of the yucca moth {Pronuba yuccasella) is a remarkable 

 example of complex instinct. As so well described by Mr. C. Lloyd Morgia, 

 the silvery, straw-coloured moths emerge from their chrysalis cases just when 

 the large, yellowish-white, bell-shaped flowers of the yucca open, each for a sn£ 

 night. From the a nthers of one of these flowers the female moth collects the 

 golden pollen, and kneads the adhesive material into a little pellet, which 1* 

 holds beneath her head by means of the greatly enlarged bristly palps. i» 

 laden, she flies off and seeks another flower. Having found one, she pierces 



egg* 



Stigm 



necessary arrangements 



It was the 



intention to preserve the grounds as far as possible in their present condition. 



They would only open a path from Kew Gardens to the cottage. The rest would 



remain much in its present condition. It would not be cut up unnecessarily, and 



it should still form one of the most beautiful bits of wild country in the proximity 



of London, and be, as it certainly had been, a sanctuary of all bird life in the 

 district. 



Rating of Market Gardens and Nurseries. — Our readers will 



remember that in a recent issue we referred at length to the decision of the Court 

 of Appeal which reversed the decision of the lower Courts in the case of Smith 

 and others v. Richmond. As the higher finding results in market gardeners and 

 nursery men failing to participate in the relief given under the Agricultural Rates 

 Act of 1896, it is but natural that those most interested should endeavour to obtain 



sion. To do this means a large expense, 



ent ; and provided 



a reversion of the Court of Appeal's dec 

 and carrying the case to the House of L 



1 ose affected will let Mr. G. Munro, ot govern uaraen, Know wnat neip tney 

 h*~k2 ,he n M " ket Gardeners, Nurserymen, and Farmers' Association, the 

 tetter body will take the matter in hand if sufficient funds are forthcoming, so that 

 there ,s the prospect of a most interesting struggle. 



comti^l 5 . C nH n l ed , Fl0wers Fragrant Leaves form an excellent 



K.H.S. meeung on Tuesday next should be of exceptional interest. 



Cihent Quinquennial Fvhiku* 



reoort of tK* pkJ, u * • • MniD »tion.— The illustrations accompanying our 



pellet into its funnel-shaped opening. Now, the visits of the moth are necessa^ 

 to the plant. It has been experimentally proved that, in the absence 0^ 

 insects no pollen can reach the stigma to fertilise the ovules, and the ferti 

 of the ovules is necessary to the Urvse, which in four or five days are * ^ 

 from the eggs. It has been ascertained that they feed exclusively on ^ 

 developing ovules, and in the absence of fertilisation the ovules wou^ ^ 

 develop. Each grub consumes some twenty ovules, and there may Qf ^ 

 four such grubs. But the ovary contains some two hundred ovules. 

 therefore, say, a hundred are sacrificed to the grubs of that mo ^ ^ 

 whose instrumentality alone the remaining hundred can be fertilised 

 to maturity. 



The Postmen's Park.-Some very absurd notions are abroad I in ^ ^ 

 with the Postmen's Park, the open space near the General Post umc ^ ^ fc 

 journals a large amount of correspondence has been published, an ^ ^ 

 would be inferred that there was a great idanger of the tiny par ^ ^ 

 built upon. If the real facts of the case had been considered ■» ^ -| 

 have been saved ; it is but a small addition to the park that is c^J^ tod 

 possibly ere this appears the necessary money will have been or 

 it has been made. i, - <1 has rttjft 



An American School of Forestry, the first of its kin^ - 



been founded by the State of New York. The sum of ten mo _ ^ r ^ 



been 



14**. .0 « <*■ ■ ": hc ***** 



region to the extent of thirtv thousand 



forestO' 



nected with the Cornell University. . fi^ed i» * 



Cypripedium F. S. Roberts.-The beautiful cyP"^ * w«*£ 



ie of April 16 (page 249) was, by an unfortunate shp ot ^ ^ * 



k c a • eVinnlH have been r. 3. _j..-fid0 



one 



of the 



description throughout applies to that fine hybrid, whicn 

 of Messrs. Hugh Low and Co., who named it in compUmen 

 Roberts, of Bannerfield, Selkirk, N.B. 



