May 7. I? 9* 



GARDENERS' 



MAGAZINE 



295 



Vegetables for Exhibition. 



Ach 



RHUBARB. 



beautiful 



. ... . coration of the stove or conservatory, and should commend themselves 



,nd it is highly prized in most households for Christmas, and until green 

 gooseberries are ready for use. It revels in a rich, light, sandy loam, but 

 any highly cultivated land will produce it in good quality. It is a deep- 

 rooted plant, consequently the land should be broken up t 

 depth. To produce rhubarb of the highest quality, a good 



deep holes should be taken out with the spade, so that the roots are not 

 crippled in planting. The finest of the soil should be carefully worked in, 

 and the crown should be just buried, after which the surface should be 

 mulched with some short stable manure, this being forked in about the 

 second week in April. On no account should any of the stalks be pulled 

 the first season, for the young plants must receive every encouragement 

 to become thoroughly established as soon as possible. Simply cut out any 

 flower heads that may appear, and keep the plantation free from weeds, and 

 this will be all the attention required unless the season should prove a very 

 dry one, and then occasional waterings will greatly benefit the crops. 



Early in the autumn, after the growth is completed and has died 

 away, apply a thorough dressing of half-decayed horse manure, which 

 should remain till early spring, when it may be forked in as before 

 advised. If the plants do well good rhubarb should be pulled the second 

 season, but this ought to be done with discretion, as a reasonable amount 

 of growth must be left to allow the plants to build up good crowns for 

 the following year. It is well to keep this always in mind, as it is a 

 common practice to pull rhubarb much too late in the season, and this 

 must considerably weaken the plants for their next production. 



Few subjects force more readily than rhubarb if suitable kinds and 

 strong, well-ripened crowns are prepared. Many modes of forcing are 

 practised, but for the earliest supplies by far the easiest and best plan is 

 to lift a few roots each year immediately the growth has died away, 

 hor this purpose a small plantation should be grown on a south border, 

 as here the crowns will become thoroughly ripened, and thus answer to 

 early forcing most readily. These plants, after hard forcing, are not 

 worth replanting, so that it is well each year to divide roots and keep up 

 he supply. I know of no more suitable place than the mushroom house 

 br bnngmg rhubarb forward, but failing this, the forcing house proper: 

 succe. L P T ' J re £ nhou , se > , or . cellar answer the purpose. For a 

 ubs w t ?LT C ^ forci ^ u the P lants ™ the grouAd. Suitable 



mteria JX £? m * ki° 1 F hubarb J P°ts. Just sufficient fermenting 



gem hea IZ^l S ? h V l T ^ leaveS ' which wil1 create a *wcet 

 ?erv fa £?' . P i ^ th . em > and from well-established roots 

 eSor ^ of ^rZh mLTK V^? 4 : » well to bear in mind that a 

 SSX the^ b6 allo r d r the .P la nts afterwards, to allow them to 

 Steffi forcl ? g season 5 the tubs and forcing 



and to ^ aS S ?° n a 5 the p,ants show si * ns of weakness, 



shou d the same lant Z n ^ and ° n no accoun 



further Snr^L^! * ^ two seasons in succession. For a 



other ^TU^^J°^ ng ° Ut - Slde ' tubs should be Pl a <*d over 

 sticks of ^xceltnr± 0 i; l^L*™™ 1 ^ m . aterial > ™* this will afford 



If the tubers are potted up in two or three successional batches in the 

 spring, the flowering season will be prolonged considerably. 



Achimenes make beautiful objects for baskets, for which purpose the 

 colours have a more striking effect if mixed, which may easily be accom- 

 plished by dibbling into the moss ^with which the basket should be 

 lined) such varieties as the following, which will be found amongst the 

 best for general purposes : A. Arobroise Verschaffelt/A. longiflora major, 

 and its companion, A longiflora alba, and A. Dazzle.' Another very ex- 

 quisite arrangement may be effected by mixing A. longiflora major and 

 L. alba with A. Sir Treherne Thomas. Other varieties which I consider 

 worthy of cultivation are : A. Aurora, A. Mauve Queen, A. Masterpiece, 

 A. Eclipse, A. Pink Perfection, A. Stella, and A, Williamsi. The 

 varieties enumerated here are all of good habit, being alike suitable 

 either for exhibition or general decoration, the colours varying from pure 

 white, through "all the shades of rose, carmine, and crimson, and a few 

 varieties are richly mottled or striped with a deeper colour. 



While in a growing state the achimenes luxuriate in a warm and 

 moist atmosphere, but during the flowering season they should be re- 

 moved to a cooler situation, such as a greenhouse or conservatory pro- 

 vides. The compost I have found admirably suited to the achimenes 

 consists of two parts peat, two parts leaf-soil, and one part each of loam 

 and well-decomposed cow or sheep manure, with a liberal addition of 

 coarse silver sand, the whole to be well mixed and passed through a half- 

 inch sieve. For all ordinary purposes pots will answer well, but for ex- 

 hibition rather shallow pans are preferable, which should be amply 

 drained, placing over the crocks a good layer of moss, or the rough 

 riddlings from the soil, over which fill in the compost to within two inches 

 of the top ; the tubers may then be sown thinly and evenly on the surface, 

 and covered with an inch of soil. Water must be applied judiciously 

 and sparingly until the plants commence to show that growth has 

 actively begun ; in fact, at no time must they be over- watered, for I 

 know of no plants more impatient of stagnant moisture at the roots than 

 achimenes. Some cultivators recommend shifting the young plants when 

 two or three inches high. I prefer to plant the tubers where they are to 

 remain, grow, and flower. As soon as they have become established air 

 must be admitted on all favourable occasions, keeping them at all times 

 near to the roof glass. A temperature which suits well to start the tubers 

 ranges from 65 to 75 degrees with sun heat, giving a thin shading during 

 the hottest part of the day. When the plants have attained the height 

 of about six inches, and before they begin to fall about, they should 

 be staked, commencing in the centre with the longest shoot, and 

 gradually insert the others, so that they slope outwards over the rim of 

 the pot or pan ; the stakes should be left about a foot beyond the 

 point of the shoot at the time of tying, and frequent attention will be 

 required in keeping them tied from this time until they commence to 

 flower. 



Frequent applications of weak manure water will be very beneficial 

 after the plants have become well established, with an occasional water- 

 ing with soot water ; but as the plants begin to show signs of decay, 

 water must be gradually withheld, eventually placing the pans in a 

 dry airy house, that the tubers may be thoroughly ripened before storing 

 for the winter ; a position under the staging of a greenhouse will suit 

 them, or failing this, a cellar, the pots or pans being laid on their side and 



st.cks of excellent quali ty, and the tabs can be r?L™2 •, ke Pt W te dr y until the time arriveS for re P ottin ^ 



one root to the other, and sothe daWr «f r , em ? ved very easily from r J HfBAnK inrrftase verv raDid lv without ar 

 to any great extent k r™*\A ti . g of , weak emng any of the plants 

 easil/increased Neither C .°" s J d ^ b, y less ened. The stock of rhubarb is 

 Plan.' Anyone howeve / t\^* W 1 much P refer the f °™er 



stock from Ted thS tT. g ,? try their hand ma y easil y raise a 



should be sown on s ? wfrn^^Sm h^T COn ? true t0 name ' The seed 

 early in Am-il. 



boum Doraer, or better still in a cold frame 



Achimenes increase very rapidly without any artificial propagation, 

 especially when liberally treated, but in the event of the cultivator de- 

 siring to increase any particular variety in a short time, the cuttings taken 

 off in the ordinary way and inserted in pots of sandy soil and plunged in 

 the propagating bed will root quite freely. 



Stoneleigh. 



H. T. Martin. 



Pactions staged me r T s ?£ »™« ° f !. en seea Like many other 



certainly 



many 

 aim and practice 



P r <!ferabl- 



* these should be staked c3f, llST^ 1 ^ . Sticks should be s ^cted, 

 jay thy they are no n the £as" lltrS ^ but in such » 



penerallv evhiM^j , ™ ieast scratched nor bruised Six sticks are 



^^^ t f^^J^^^ about Lo inches 



The variet ef t* Wlth broad P ie <*s of bass. 



Martin's 



Sponge in clean water 



3 JS?2?2 *•* Johnston 



ducti 



•een 



We 



« nower-head on it wh rh 7 ,n7 l ea ^» and 1 have nev er once 



E. Beckett. 



Dwarfed Chrysanthemums. — I do not intend to say one word derogatory 

 of the system so ably employed by Mr. Lyne in dwarfing chrysanthemum plants, 

 a method so well expounded on page 246. I would point out, however, that this 

 system has been practised, in perhaps a small degree, to my knowledge, for the 

 last twenty-five years. The editorial allusions made to the plants in November 

 last would lead us to believe this was entirely a new departure. As far back as 

 twenty-two years, however, I remember seeing in St. George's Hall, Liverpool, a 

 group of dwarf plants growing in 



sixty size In each instance the plants earned but one bloom. These, as may be 

 supposed * were all of the incurved section, the Japanese were but few in number 

 in those days. Many times since that period I have grown batches of these dwarf 

 plants flowering many of them in three-inch pots, merely for the sake of testing 

 the capability of certain varieties, as to the amount of nourishment required to 

 produce blossoms in any form. In the Liverpool districts it is a common practice, 

 in one garden especially, to cultivate these single-stemmed dwarf plants, especially 

 the new varieties, not only for the sake of their flowers, but to enable the cultivator 

 to obtain a full supply of sturdy cuttings in the succeeding autumn, as it is well 

 known as Mr Lyne points out, that young plants in smaller pots that have not 

 been subjected to so much excessive feeding as the ordinary grown plants, produce 

 cuttings in a more desirable condition. In many of the handsome chrysanthenum 

 groups at the Brighton show, are to be seen specimens of this mode of culture. 

 Four years ago, I noted some wonderful examples of Viviand Morel dn the first 

 prize group there. At Windsor, too, can be seen yearly some of these desirable 

 specimens. With the rapid increase in variety in the Japanese section, a wide 

 scope is provided for the cultivation of these dwarf plants. The incurved section 

 does not lend itself so well to this system of culture ; at least, for grouping, either 

 in the exhibition room or conservatory, the Japannese varieties are much to be 

 preferred the graceful habit of unfolding their drooping florets making them 

 general feyewites.— E. Molyneux, 



