294 



GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



Meconopsis Wallichi. 



The Himalayan Poppy is one of the most attractive of hardy biennials, 

 but it is not often met with in gardens ; indeed, there are few places 

 where it is grown in any quantity save at nurseries, where hardy plants 

 receive special attention. It is very effective in masses or clumps, and 

 we have grown it for several years in this way. The plants usually attain 

 a height of from five to six feet, with stems as thick at the base as a man's 

 wrist, and they begin to expand their blooms about July, continuing till 

 September. The flowers do not open altogether, but at short intervals, 

 commencing at the top of the stem and continuing downwards, each 

 bloom is cup-shaped, and of a most pleasing shade of pale blue. The 

 foliage of Meconopsis Wallichi is of a very light shade of green and 

 harmonises with the flowers. 



The position for the Himalayan Poppy should be a shady one, and 

 sheltered from heavy winds and gales which are most injurious to them. 

 In preparing a bed for them the natural soil should be dug out to the 

 depth of eighteen inches, and if there is not sufficient drainage a little 

 may be added. Then fill the hole up with a compost consisting of half 

 each of boggy peat and rough leaf soil, coarse sand, and a little old 

 chrysanthemum soil should be fidded, when ihe bed will be ready for 

 receiving the plants. The early spring and autumn are the best times for 

 planting. When in flower this meconopsis is a great attraction to bees, 

 which pay great attention to it after a shower of rain has fallen on the 

 blooms. Gathering the seed is of great importance ; the capsules should 

 be watched every day during September, and when they open at the top, 

 and the seed is seen to be of a dark colour, it is quite time to gather, 

 store in shallow boxes, and place on a greenhouse shelf in the sun for a 

 few days, when the seeds will fall out of the capsules and be ready for 

 passing through a hair sieve to clean them previous to sowing. 



Germination is rather a difficult matter. New seed is the best, as 

 that a year or so old seems to have lost its vitality. Indeed, I am quite 

 convinced that with all hardy plants if new seed was more used there 



wir u n0t e so many failures - My method for sowing Meconopsis 

 Wallichi is to procure a clean five-inch pot and put in it about two inches 

 of drainage ; over this some rough leaves or soil to keep the finer 

 compost from washing down ; fill up with sifted leaf mould and old 

 potting soil with plenty of sand. Give the soil a good watering with 

 boiling water to kill any insects that may be in it, and when it is cool it 

 will be ready for the seed. This should be distributed evenly over the 

 surface, pressed into the soil, and covered very slightly with the same 

 compost Cover the pot with a piece of brown paper and a small square 

 u J fVr V A n mn £ the pot t0 tkc P^Pagating frame where a tempera- 

 It! \l S u gr r eS bottom heat can be maintained ; a hotbed is even 

 S££L% > T 1 *' a ^ the atmos Phere is not so apt to become dry. 

 Jm2£ if P ° t :u and 8e ? Mm g? should a PP ear » about sixteen days from 



inH i/ • t un fr0rr these at aI1 times durin & the seedling stage, 



and do not allow them to suffer for want of water. A good position for 



The Twofold Productio 



Ma * 7, 1898 



Plants 



A tree, properly so-called is not a single individual, but is an a ♦ , 

 tribe or association of families springing from the parent lT 

 associated with each other in collateral contiguity and / ' close 'y 

 within one stem ; yet each preserving a distinct scparaten°cTs P ^?° n 

 lanty, living principle, nutrition, growth, productivity anrl «.£ I 

 It is now generally taught that every bud is a distinct^ 

 or branch from which it protrudes [?] When it has 

 and form, it pushes its own vessels downwards, inside the nar^h V 

 or rind, to the earth, from which they then begin to draw It k 

 nourishment adapted to promote their development p] This the fv^ 

 with proceed to transmit to the newly-born shoot, and thereby enabled 

 expand into foliage and general enlargement. This produces also h Int 

 roots which descend into the earth and become the fibre of the wnnH 

 Professor Burnett says that every bud should be considered as a distinri 

 individual, containing, at least virtually, roots, leaves, and flowers 



So we find that every ramification of buds, from itself, are so many 

 new individual descendants of the general parent trunk, and the whole 

 tree thus becomes and exists m the state of a large society, or affiliated 

 tribe of distinct individuals, intimately associated together. Hence it 

 follows that all trees and some flowers may be planted by slips or cuttings 

 For example, the mulberry tree has been raised by planting so lame a 

 branch in the spring that the same bore fruit in the summer of the 

 year following. The late Mr. Jaquelin relates that in his garden on one 

 occasion some dahlia branches were broken off" bv the wind. He placed 

 them in the ground desiring to secure the leaves. - In this he did not suc- 

 ceed, but the plants lived and were after a time found to be furnished 

 with tubercles. Here was a new means of multiplication. So we see 

 that branches or cuttings often grow into all their functional organs, and 

 have their principle of life as fully within them as the newborn young of 

 any animal. It appears also that plants produce either shoots or flowers, 

 according as the circumstances under which they are situated lead them. 

 After a long production of shoots without flowers, a vegetable has, when 

 its nutriment, from neglect, has become insufficient for its ramifying elonga- 

 tion, suddenly disclosed its floral organs ; and in this way prepared for an 

 offspring by its seeds, when prevented from perpetuating itself by 

 branches ; thus evincing that it had received the power of varying ii 

 mode of organic reproduction according to the immediate expediency. 



Solandra grandiflora, a West Indian shrub, was for many year, 

 cultivated in our stove houses and propagated extensively by cuttings 

 Each plant grew many feet in every season, but these showed no sign 

 of prolification. Left accidentally without water in the stove house at 

 Kew Gardens, the luxuriant growth of its branches was checked, and a 

 flower, for the first time, came into blossom at the extremity of each. 

 Similar treatment has often since produced like results. We see thi* 

 same principle in the fact that when plants are checked in their growth 

 by cold and frost one effect is to force them prematurely into b!oon\ 



This Droves rnnrln«;ivp1\7 that «1o«tc Vio^a a twr.fr.1H mnrlp nf nernetuat i \1 



the seedlin v. ^ W1 waLC '» ^ guuu pusiuun ior J w „ w lkJ vw iWA ^ WX4V , WJ r . vmm t 



should be removed Yn\rZu*r {r0m wb ? nce > after a few weeks > they This proves conclusively that plants have a twofold mode of perpetua 



very fond of "he !eedL^ n 1 m f ? ear the glaSS - Slu * s are their s P ecies ' viz -> b X branching or by seed. Each is equally effectual, 



fit fo handling it?s w ££ ,o nriT ^ gUarded ag£UnSt , When the y are for ever y new twi S is the eml >ryo of a new tree. In the one case the tree 



in pan ! wftn lar J en™ if £ K^.i V plant 5 '. nto V* ^ soil com P let « its offspring within itself, in the other it makes it ready to be 



u«W7r,«K y enough they should be potted into three-inch pots, — **- — J ■ • • ■ «— — * u ~ 



Z7,re ^w mp0St 1 ^ SUCh P ° tS thCy ^ an be P ,anted ° ut wher<; 



fowe«7h9S ne P al t ns l is n also a Pleasing species with bright yellow 

 or 7he be^n^n Pand f 5, littIe « h « those of Wallichi. I find the end 

 heZ i ? , 8 g f the yt f r **** times for mowing the seed, as then 



nice batch o n fM r ffv ^ P lanting ^ 1 h ™ » ow a 



this vear and will ' C J'' wh ' ch r was «ised from seed sown in January 



^W^r ready for pricking ° ff r^ s - 



✓ wiriwN. X. W. BlRKINSHAW. 



subsequently completed, leaving it to undergo first another process- 

 that of hatching in the egg and of germinating in the seed, before the 

 new comer is perfected. All trees have this double power and can exert 

 it _ They make new leaves and twigs when not forming flowers and fruit. 

 It is from this action that when a plant luxuriates in foliage it forms fewer 

 flowers. — — -* - r — : — * 



Starvi 



Old Tr 



S^S^«?S!SS , have ,ong been familiar with the fa ^ts you so 



! Z ,1 "Jp£ 2 VHH. r . eaders r <* ent 'y- Could the trees be heard their 



cry would be for n Iv er5 ^ent'y. Could the trees be heard their 



drmk As I t^Tn ^n g mUC t m ° re > and better ' to eat as ^ " 

 arwic. As I used to tell my hearers when lecturing on Horticul- 



• ■ 



una atuon mac wnen a plant luxuriates m iuu*gi n - 

 This stops the producing energy from bringing forth shoots 

 and to use its other faculty in producing flowers. Much nourishment 

 results in giving too much vigour for the floral process, but induces 

 ramifications and leaves. With less food it employs itself in the more 

 delicate and beautiful operation of framing its corolla with the attendent 

 stamens, stigmas, and pollen. This explains the apparent phenomena ot 

 floral organs changing into leaves, and of green leaves transmutatinginio 

 those of the flowers. Only one instance is recorded of petals changing 

 into stamens, which occurred in the black currant, but nothing is more 

 common than the alteration of stamens into petals. It is really indinerc" 



" All 



wo'fl- Tn/ 351 ^ ngU ^. we are a11 ^miliar with the saying 



true th\ t al^ouf/nr^ ^ 3 du " ^" But * is equally ?'r more 

 or street LlT U n ° thmg end in making garden, orchard, park 



who w?s ^?mh7 P T> worthl «s. I once asked a fruit grower 

 oreh^ ffh?SS g L l0 ^ ly aS l ° i he raiserable state and profits of his 



gathered nnrin^K^r 151 a " y rCCOrd of the man y tons of { ™'« he had 

 KivenThi t ™V * T y - yt T Had hdd ^ and hoW much he ^ 

 kepi no record of f ™ g that J , ° ng P eriod ' He confessed that he had 

 knew they had had ntX™*' ^ *? l ° feedin S the trees > so far a * he 

 drinking l.ke Christian^^K N ° r had he ever heard of trees eating or 



thought^e nad the W' of rS^ 5 ' 0r bullocks beforC ' and he evident, y 

 trees is one of those ThWs wf^'u The feeding and P lantin - of 

 In l'aris and other fo re "n tn y d ° T ch ***** abroad than at hon '«- 

 feeding trough and dnnw2 7nuJ^ h be Said to have its ow » 



of good things. Air is a "o S C% and both are ke P l more or less f "» 

 or iron gratings, and this air Su£ the roots through open spaces 



absorbed and assimilated and 5, 2? food » water ' and manur e to be 

 the eve of sultry days is amnn?fi° Verhead waterin & of trees abroad on 

 to Britishers. Were all our mV n It '? {r * shin S s '^s and sounds 

 for themselves our present 2 £ and a f « w leading councillors to see 

 among a hard and huje netwnrt i ■ of thrus t«ng tree roots down 

 then sealing out all the feeding °Jj'T\ gas « and sewa S e P'P es > and 

 an impervious, impenetrable ui'rh? ,nfluenc es of earth and sky by 



Under such cruel environmenL thi C ° nCret , e ! some S ood mi 8 ht te don e- 

 languish and die than thitT" .; e m arvel is [less that so many trees 



though to the living principle into which the nutrition is converted, as 

 either answer equally well for the purpose. In fact, it is a matter u«c 

 mined by circumstances. If interrupted in the elongating process 

 resorts to the floral. Interfered with again it returns to its 'oliage- 



forms 



or stigma, and forms a stamen at another time, or a leaf pernaps «• 

 The living principle, it is clear, has the choice of doing either, and wo « 

 seem to do that which it considers best or easiest to perform, its u. 

 to multiply, and it religiously follows that law. ijrowS. 



Cactus Dahllas.--In the garden one of -he .worst f^^ffiam 



no doubt be even 



belt 



varieties : Harry Stredwick.~dirk" crimson-maroon fStarnsh^ orange^det^pj^ 



Cycle, ruby red; Keynes' White, good 



on pm* • 



,it : l^J 

 Mawley, 



Radnor 



, * mncr, aeep yellow, me ow"»"- ^ ma ii 



also very useful for garden decoration and for cutting, the sinau 

 wiry stems being always admirably adapted for the latter purpose. 



Dropmorc. 



Countess oi r-uu-.. 

 .ring pompon 



C Hss* 1 * 



Yetf 



con taming practical articles on th? cultivaUon of Flowers, trui 

 Gardeners Magazine" Office, 4, Ave Maria Lane, London.-[AD 



ear is the " Gar ^V Fnc. 



Vecetable - 



Book.' 



