374 



CARD ENERS MA GA ZINE 



M 



Dwarfed Chrysanth 



NOTES OF OBS 



Ac Mr Frv has stated (page 326, May 21), the practice of striking Pansies.-Jud ging from the wonderfully fine blotched 

 cuttings JSr^ntSmum? fn May* or June for dw'arf plants has evi- tifn.lv in shoos and markets, there k/_» 

 dently been known and adopted for very many years, and even in the 

 country of Italy, where the chrysanthemum can hardly yet be considered 

 up to date, this system has been the usual practice of cultivation in pots, 

 propagation starting from the month of May. 



However, my object in trespassing on your space is in reference to an 

 ount which I read in the Magazine some months ago, I think, of 



con 

 labour. 



account wnim 1 i«w »" Z± J • it j 



exhibition cut blooms obtained by propagating m May and June, and the 

 sequent saving of several months, and the most uncongenial ones, of 



I do not know whether this article was in the mind of your 

 correspondent, Mr. George Fry, but in my opinion the two questions 

 should not be confounded. , . . 



If it be conclusively proved that, by starting with cuttings in May, 

 exhibitions blooms can be obtained to equal those the result of winter 

 propagation, a great change will come o'er the scene, but I suppose we 

 shall patiently go on as hitherto, and wait without anticipating such an 

 event. Nevertheless, should some varieties come really good in this way, 

 much credit is due to the originator, Mr. Lyne. 



Anything new as to experiments or methods of cultivating the chry- 

 santhemum is nowadays remote, and I will refer in this letter to the 

 article (page 332, May 21) on " An Experiment to Induce Sporting." 

 Some ten years ago, after an exchange of opinions, or rather my receiving 

 advice from a famous horticulturist (I refer to Mr. J. Laing, of Forest 

 Hill , I grafted, or more correctly inarched, several varieties, 

 change appeared, I imagined the second year of the plants so treated 

 would be more likely to show it than the first, and for this reason I retained 

 the plants for two or three years, but there was nothing to relate, except- 

 ing that the two best blooms of E. Molyneux that I have flowered were 

 from grafts on Guernsey Nugget. I well remember a plant of Bronze 

 Queen which I had grafted on an Empress in several places, and 

 wondering whether the sport might revert in any way. 



There is nothing new to record about the chrysanthemum in Italy, 

 except, as my friend Mr. Payne has kindly mentioned, that we have started 

 a National Society, and the starting change has been made to call the 

 < hrysanthemum the " King of the Autumn but I will leave this matter 

 severely in the hands of the hon. foreign secretary of the N.C.S., who, 

 I hope, will take up the matter, as I have done my best, but without avail. 

 I enclose a couple of circulars announcing existence of the society. 



Henry Briscoe- Ironside. 



If any 



Ma^ion\ Italy. 



N 



FROM IRELAND. 



OWING to the continual wet weather, with piercing cold winds, the 



season bids fair to be an exceedingly backward one. Plums appear to 

 have set a very scanty crop in these gardens ; some pear trees are carry- 

 ing a xood rrop so far, but other trees have none at all. Cherries and 

 gooseberries are a fair crop ; currants are excellent ; apple trees are a 

 wealth of blossom. Strawberries, too, promise to render a good account 

 of themselves later on. Early potatos came up well, but during the past 

 week there have been from five to eight degrees of frost, and I have seen 

 several instances where they were cut down to the ground. Late varieties 

 fortunately were not sufficiently advanced to be injured. Several clumps 

 of ( .unnera mam. ata are badly damaged from the same cause. I do not 

 remember to have seen a finer display of tulips than there is, or has 

 been this season. Narcissi have been very good, but in some districts 

 >e grub is .lomg great havoc. Can anyone suggest a certain remedy for 

 the complete destruction of this pest? The rockery is now very gay 

 with numerous phloxes, iberis, saxifrages, alyssums, &c. Saxifraga granu- 

 tttt ti. pi. is exceptionally fine this season ; so is Alyssum saxtile in masses. 

 Aubnetias in variety are particularly effective now. In the herbaceous 



tifully in shops and markets, there should be worked a ? Pansies 80 Pkfc 



lion in garden pansies assuming that these plants be° 1ST ^ te a rev °»« 



doubtless they are, and are planted in gardens A P"™^ largely, „ 



fine blotched forms is of the richest. Fe« ? named ^ n ft quaht y ^ » i£ 

 them. They are the produce of a seed strain of rem JSSS 22 «cd 

 needful to have seed produced in great abundance so thaf ; ? y V and « '* ^ 

 cheap, to have just such noble flowers in every garden w22 be . sold 

 that the bulk of the plants come from one source U 15 ass «*rf 



they can long be a select issue. Anyone can Durehav « <L I Y lh * 

 them, and if well cared for there is no reason why the strain s &» ^ **** 

 common. Beside these ordinary strains loo/ infc ?* ^ 



wonderfully free, and have large flowers. No doubt they ar i iJZS ■ ^ " e 

 so early by growing them in frames, but the quantity nut unn n th J"' 0 °° B 

 must be immense The method of product!^ SEwS 

 shows, however, how pansies appreciate high treatment in^J? u y manur **, 



culture is repaid. If we wanfmere i^'JS' tft"* 

 varieties or violas give, then high-class culture is S^SU^t^S^ 

 grow blotched pansies of any section we like to have them very fine ofJS 



itt*ZSZ$L£ r e T \ p e an o1dVo n w d SiS^SgPs 



plac S e to this bold, rich, striking section just as L^tS^S^C 

 gone down before the fine, varied, and beautiful Japanese. Such chanleS 

 popular favour are inevitable in floriculture. — D. m 



Dropmore. -If to be able to enjoy a visit to a garden or place, however 

 repeatedly made, is evidence of its attractiveness, then is for that reason I W 

 more singularly so. But if at any time delightful, even in mid-winter never ii 

 it more so than in the month of May, when the beeches, limes, and birches hav! 

 just put on their new coats of the loveliest possible shades of green-the svca 

 more are of the densest in foliage, the conifera dark foils to the new leader 

 leafeage, and the oaks give a rich golden hue that is wondrously effective in its 

 contrast with the heavier greens. Everywhere there is such a wealth of fine 

 trees of every description that it is not possible to walk a few yards without 

 coming upon some striking specimen or group that at once commands attention. 

 But just now, at the end of May, the vast masses of rhododendrons are becoming 

 brilliant with colour, and the azaleas, singly and in colonies, in every directio* 

 fill the air with perfume and the scene with beauty. There are grass and gnfd 

 walks and tracks, mile upon mile, that are to the stranger bewildering, yet all 

 is fraught with loveliness. Surely there are few places anywhere just like 

 Dropmore. No wonder so many lovers of the beautiful like to" visit it. Neva 

 has it been better kept than now ; it is under Mr. Herrin's fostering care. In til 

 its features it seems to be so far removed from the modern garden, where all is 

 so new and so mixed. Nothing at Dropmore seems incongruous. Even the 

 glass-houses partake of the general character of the place, and have the mcrr 

 that is, if it be such, of presenting adverse conditions for culture, because they 

 are not of modern construction. The quaint flower-garden is as it was in old 

 Frost's time, and its denizens have been materially added to without in any way 

 rendering it farish or formal. Anyone who wished, in easy reach of London, 

 to find complete abstraction from the outer world with all its care and excitement* 

 could not do better than visit the sweet solitudes of the Dropmore ({roves and 

 glades. What a heaven-like place of sepulture would it make for the wearied 



dead.— A. D. *B» 



When the mind is in a reflective mood it » 



It was so with me the oth« 



The Brassier Family.- 



strange to note into what odd channels it will run. 



day, when passing a table in the town laden with superb examples of wbitc 

 broccoli heads, and noting their solidity and perfection of form, lor they were 

 wonderfully good. My thoughts were insensibly diverted to that assumed parent* 



cowl 



hnrrW nr«n*r ;# ♦ ZT T , ; CUCUIVC 111 LUC neruaieous most delicious iood ? There was a time when the rurpie cape ' 



is D^rtSSZ£ y 1° , nd mUCh in flower ' but Diel y tra spectabilis known and much esteemed. That colour, or one of greenish hue, probably eg- 



•a purmuiany snowy now, the doronicums are rtn wan* oc fh»*, Ko» A *Htntwi th* r.i.. i — i; ^ <w»n th* wild cabbage. ™ 



f »«ushed a brave display for a long time past. 



bluebells are very effective in their varied si 



a mass of yellow 



Roses 



In the wild garden the 



»hif» »Mu.k-«'u :t shades of blue, pink, and 



ul me h !e the fields are golden with cowslips. The furze hereabouts 

 vitl.T u si ? ht ' acres and miles of it to be seen 

 «a. kthorns have been beautiful, but are now upon the wane ; they will 



bloom ^rSfrSfS 1>y \ he hawtWl1 - » hU * Promises a uch hLvest 



Sis vea ' [ Cnt and M ? llis azaleas are exceptionally floriferous 

 S J 1a A/alea amoena, too, is flowering well outside this year. 



^e i rose ofYriiffi ex P an u dm « • 1 an. greatly pleased with a new hybrid 



he hrst'd™ rtj HE?' WhlCh ¥ been S rown in P° ts here this for 

 France in r, colour !S . coral pink, somewhat after the style of La 



UwXjt^ 1 *^ ,S a ? Iorious rose ' but is somewhat loose 

 it is a very stfnnf lhe name of this acquisition is Mr. J. W. Grant, 



infact ? if planted out it should make 



walls. „ 



ws are exceedingly pretty just now. 



rsrassicre oieracea, a very crude leafy vegetable, and marvelled mat irem oui 

 should have come, of course, over a period of hundreds of years, such a reraaiWJ 

 diverse family as we see now, is brassier, of which these line broccoli were not the 

 least valuable or interesting. Is there any other parent species in vegetable » 

 that can show such varied progeny, and one so valuable for human food as att 

 this original cabbage, specially cauliflowers and broccoli, the one tender, the otw 

 hardy, yet otherwise alike, heads white as snow, solid and handsome, consutm 



most delicious food? There was a time when the Purple Cape was com«»o»7 



' - • * * -- — obably cor 



bbage. Ii| 

 i, so ha*b 

 ; headi * 

 oldPorf* 



Cape now, and are not likely ever to revert to it. During the past titty >eao 

 have seen great advances made in the producdon of better forms of wn '^_ 

 but it may have been three hundred years since that either or botti ong»« 



Hedges 



Cre/ansto*** 



be 



^ ...a, nave ueen tnree nunareu yeais siui... — ( t u. km 



in a distinctive form. How remarkably do the two members oi vk 

 differ from all the others in development/ If we can conceive the nuni j>£ 

 creating a head-growth of marrow-like substance, called brain, iron 10 

 spinal cord, just so, from out of the marrow or pith of its spine or f^V^g 

 cauliflower or broccoli plant evolve its head of similar substance, » men ^ 

 to force up layer on layer of edible matter resembling brain, yet ae ^ m 

 bihty, and that matter becomes in the plants to us the highest 1 ori m ^ 

 Brassica? can produce. How wonderful is it all when we come to rcn*. ^ ^ 

 apparently, how mysterious ! There it is, as we know to our P' ^^y— 

 originated, and why, remains one of Nature's mysteries. If we turn ^ ^ 



proper, whether whi>^ r *A ^, M vnv. there the plant-forces arc u . ^ 



f 



K. Wkller. 



j - — ^ J v » 



leafy masses, which 



rojsmore Prolific T 



biMgethat carries vo u ^fcjJ J™* "'J 11 is r to speak well of the 



»>n»ato. From «cd i„^i ^ SO 1 wr,te hi 8 hl >' of Frogm 



bbag 



Pi 



chiefly grown in 16-sized 



pot*, our crop bu carried 1 W r» • , , v . - — 



J«*nr we have alwavs h ccn cuttuLT ^ ° f f ? r since th e first week in 



>-"?e. but the fruit. JL k!l"„ u " n ^ ri P« fruit. The size of this variety is not 



may say almost as much 



red, and 

 ighest place: mi* 



also.fof^ 



find that SS^l?^ « for this variety. 



most freely produced. A good few are 



cover nearly all the year. Then there are the kales, " hxc **?J°J^m*g* 

 leaf-heads, but large clusters of loose leafage, sometimes curiea, ^ 

 some more or less sprouting, but all differing ^""j-J^ breaks f£»* 



Possib v snrr,^ .l,-..r * ll. ,.,.,.ct arvnrnaches to origmai . . j, c-Jp, 



u m the ^ tua , ^ ^^f^rent tale is told. I have 'not mucn 



Z h f 01 !"* *"»«*. icmeth 



•h» variety of tomato is 



whid 



?" f: 1 op a ^ st °ut stem, a head of tnfling dimensio ^ ^ ^ 



is in work 

 and here 



Botfesfard 



small 

 In 



these, Nature . ( 



the sides of its stem a long, continual series 



heads that are, as food, of inestimable value. x» ^ 



have diverted food-production from head and pUh to q{ ^ ^ 

 num, again exemplifying the versatility of Nature in w u 



