476 



GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



LlLIUM RUBELLUM. 



Yet once again Japan has been drawn upon for a new 

 hardy one of great beauty ; this is Lilium rubellum, a distinct and new 



t> . .i- «- — - ^ - ^-Messrs. R. 



species recently brought prominently before the public by 

 Wallace and Co., Colchester. This fine new lily more closely resembles 

 L japonicum (L. Krameri) than any other we know ; it grows about 

 eighteen inches high, is slender in habit, though robust enough in con- 

 stitution, as has been proved during the past two years at the M 



Wallaces nurseries at' Kilnfield, Colchester. The leafage is deep green, 

 and each stem carries about a score of lanceolate or linear-lanceolate 

 leaves, each about three inches long. The flowers are broadly funnel 

 shaped, about three inches wide at the mouth, and three inches long in 

 the tube ; the colour, or rather the shade, varies somewhat, for some 

 blooms are pale pink or rosy blush, and others quite a deep rose shade, 

 with flushes of red. The lilium is an extremely handsome one, and very 

 small bulbs will produce a flower, while those of larger size and greater 

 age carry from two to four elegant blooms. The species was imported 

 from Japan by Messrs. Bunting and Son, of Colchester, but the stock 

 was secured by Messrs. R. Wallace and Co., who are now offering it to 

 the public, and have exhibited some hundreds of spikes this year at the 

 Temple, Drill Hall, and several provincial exhibitions, where it has always 

 been greatly admired. The horticultural hall mark has been attached to 

 this new lily, for at the R.H.S. exhibition held at the Inner Temple Gar- 

 dens in May last a first-class certificate was awarded it. 



Hardy Nymph/eas. 



In the small lake on the lawn in front of Gunnersbury House some fine 

 specimens of these useful plants may now be seen in flower, and an inspec- 

 tion will readily give one some idea of their usefulness. The great beauty 

 of the flowers for table and house decoration is also evident. In reply 

 to my query Mr. Hudson informed me that blooms cut from these plants 

 will remain fresh and presentable fortwoand three days in a London man- 

 sion, and as that is the full limit of good'condition for most flowers that are 

 used for such purposes, and even longer than can be depended upon with 

 many, it will be conceded that in these lovely water lilies we have beauty, 

 distinctness, and durability. It is often the case that house decoration in 



dis- 



tinct departure is much appreciated, and doubly welcome. 



one establishment is very much of a repetition, consequently any 



If, however, 



hardy water lilies are just grown to add interest to the garden, in making 

 the lakes and ponds ornamental and beautiful, they will have served a 

 good purpose. 



When in Gunnersbury House gardens a few days ago I made a 

 note of several hardy nymphreas, some of recent introduction, and as yet 

 seldom seen, whilst others were of much older date, and not by any means 

 rare. 1 >efore passing on to the lake my attention was arrested by a small 

 tank outside one of the houses, in which the hot water pipes, just a flow 

 and return, were fixed, so that the water might be a little warmed ; there 

 was no covering over the tank, but this slight heating made the water 

 just sufficiently warm for one species that certainly responded to this 

 liberal treatment. This was N. stellata, a species that pushes up flowers 

 of a bright blue colour that stand nearly a foot above the surface of the 

 water. To have succeeded in finding out just the treatment this one re- 

 quires, and to find the plant respond so freely and vigorously to the 

 culture, is surely cause for satisfaction, and inducement to still further 

 experiments. In the larger piece of water there were grand clumps, some 

 of which had been in their present position for many years, others but 

 just a year or two. When during intense frost the surface of the lake is 

 covered with thick, bearing ice, Mr. Hudson cuts down some of the 

 rushes adjoining and scatters the stems .and leaves over the nymphreas, 

 so that the intensity of the frost may not strike too deeply and affect the 

 roots or stems. This is a simple means, and well worthy of adoption where 

 choice aquatics are grown. 



Noting the plants as we passed them, the first was N. Laydekeri 

 iilacea, pale carmine, with stamens of bright orange ; N. alba, large 

 masses of the old well-known species ; N. alba rosea, the very rare variety 

 of the preceding, and of a rosy-pink colour ; N. lucida, soft vermilion-red, 

 clear, and very large ; N. Marliacea chromatella, beautiful clear yellow, 

 witn bright orange stamens, very sweetly scented, and a continuous 

 Dioomer, having large flowers ; and N. Marliacea, rubro-punctata mauve- 

 purpje spotted with carmine, also a large flower. N. sanguinea has 

 intensely dark carmine flowers, very distinct ; N. odorata rubra, flowers 

 or a dark rosy-pink, sweetly scented, as its name implies ; N. Marliacea 

 amida, pearly white flowers, very large and fragrant, a strong grower ; 

 iv glonosa, rich carmine purple ; N. odorata sulphurea, very large yellow 

 hrZT "I 11 1 inch u e .\ acros ^ Vagrant ; N. o. exquisita, cup-shaped flowers, 

 dlZ fl.Sfi ' J*? A rf a dee P rose-carmine ; N. Marliacea rosea 



S! P a «i pm S ; * Ma r liacea car nea, with delicate pink flowers of great 

 si/e and sweetly scented XT - - 



sulphur yellow ; and N. 

 fragrant Yet another I 

 with carmine. 



to all 



N. pygmaea helveola, small flowers of a bright 

 pygma a, pure white, small flowers, and very 

 noticed, N. Seignourette, bright yellow tinted 



m U who°hIve tnf nl^ 1° thC gar u dens will > 1 trust ' «»«nend themselves 



will nave an intlr^? ^ t0 ^ r T the,D > atld then even P onds and ^ 



P a «s of the garden 



ssssss isst t w h a e te b r ett: r b ?ne f T t° i i*s f e r deep ' if 



and stood in the water • or if £ ' the plants put m baskets or P°ts 



made just inside th ^ margin of S Tf" 5 S^eacs of soil could be 

 they will soon become Sirffjf! ? atCr ' a " d the P Iants P ut on them > 

 little further than ZS.S^T?? a " d S row freely, and once established 



Plants even now mav be nlmt. i ':V"' W >- uluC31 *wwon win pe necessary. 



are the best for this operation gh the months of Ma ^ and J une 



' Han Jl r0t L ecti0 . n duri "S the coldest 



season will be necessary. 



W. Swan. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH POTATOS. 



The Department of Agriculture of the Provinc f o 

 out many very elaborate and useful experiments wuh nS h / s .^ti 

 past seven years, from which the following has been P i dunn 8 the 

 of iqc, varieties have been experimented «ritK selected, a tm»i 



Different Depths of Planting Seed Potatos. 



in succession potatos have been planted one^'hree" W^*** six 



There has been no less than eighteen separate tes?s ST inch * 



used m this exoenmpnf ^ c ^j>is, and seventy. 



deep. 



two plots used in this experiment 



Depth of planting. 

 One inch... 

 Three inches 

 Five inches 

 Seven inches 



• • • 



• • • 



• t • 



• • « 



• • • 



• • « 



• • • 



• • ■ 



• • • 



• t « 



• ♦ 



• • « 



• mm 



per acre, 

 oix years. 



1927 bushels. 

 198*4 



• • • 



• t « 



• • • 



• • • 



2037 

 190-4 



>» 



99 



It will be observed that the greatest yield has been obtained « 

 depth of five inches, and those planted three inches deen stanr I 1 \ 

 in the yield per acre. In seasons of drought it has been found that n,? 0 . nd 

 planted near the surface suffer severely from lack of moisture It i 1 

 of interest to note that the crop of tubers produced from the d£n!« 

 planting was nearly hve inches under the surface of the soil when th 

 crop was matured, while those produced from the seed of the shallow* ^ \ 

 planting was less than two inches below the surface While it 

 objectionable to grow potatos too deep in the soil, and thus cause ereatf 

 labour at the time of harvesting, it is not desirable to grow them 

 too near the surface, as many of them are liable to be injured by exposure 

 to the direct rays of the sun. The planting of five inches below the 

 surface has given very satisfactory results throughout. 



Different Methods of Preparing Seed.— An experiment has 



been conducted for five years in succession by preparing seed potatos 

 for planting in different ways, in order to find out which methods will 

 give the best satisfaction. The quantity of seed per acre varied 

 according to the manner of preparing the seed. 



each case were about twenty-seven inches apart. 



Preparation of Seed. 



seed per acre 

 The rows of potatos 



;n 



Large, 



• t • 



• • t 



• • • 



• • • 



• • • 



Average Yield 



Per cent of 



per Acre, 



Marketable] 



Five years. 



Potatos. 



3367 bushels 



... 79-9 



247*4 n 



... 84*6 



1996 „ 



87-2 



271-0 „ 



... 83*0 



210-9 „ 





197*6 „ 



... 



I98-5 11 



... 84*1 



143*9 m 



... 91-5 



9i'7 11 



... 92-3 



95*6 ,, 



... 



Large, whole, one foot apart 



Large, whole, two feet apart 



whole, three feet apart 



Medium, whole, one foot apart 

 Medium, whole, two feet apart 



Small, whole, one foot apart 



Medium, cut in two, one foot apart 



Medium, two eyes in a piece, without seed 



ends, one foot apart 



Medium, one eye in a piece, without seed 



ends, one foot apart 



Medium, seed ends, one foot apart 



These results furnish some important data in reference to the pre- 

 paration of potatos for planting. It will be observed that decidedly the 

 best yield per acre has been produced by large potatos, one foot apart ; 

 and the second largest yield from medium-sized whole potatos one foot 

 apart. In the percentage of marketable potatos it will be seen that the 

 pieces of tubers containing two eyes each, obtained from medium-si/ed 

 potatos, gave the best satisfaction in this respect. The largest amount 

 of small potatos was produced from the large whole tubers, which were 

 planted one foot apart. 



Influence of Gypsum and Lime when Sprinkled on 

 Freshly-cut Potatos.— In order to obtain data which would form a 



serviceable guide in regard to sprinkling freshly-cut pieces of potato for 

 seed before planting, an experiment was started in 1894, and was con- 

 ducted for three years in succession, in which freshly-cut potatos have 

 been sprinkled with gypsum or with lime, or have been left untreated 

 before planting. 



To get as accurate a result as possible, two varieties of potato were 



used for each experiment each year : 



Preparation of Sets. 

 Potatos sprinkled with gypsum 



»> lime ... 



99 



99 



• • « 



• 1 



• • ■ 



\verage yield per acre, 



three years. 

 ,.. 251*4 bushels. 



not sprinkled ... 



* • • 



243 4 



208 6 



>» 



The yield per acre was quite uniform 

 experiment. 



The potatos sprinkled with gypsum (plaster of Paris) gave the 

 results, and those sprinkled with lime gave the second highest yield, 

 will be observed that, in the average yield of potatos per acre, the seea 

 dressed with gypsum gave about 43 bushels per acre, and the seea 

 dressed with lime about 35 bushels per acre more than the seed wnicn 



in the three years of the 

 of Paris) gave the best 



was untreated. 



Seed potatos treated in this way are less liable to be attacked by m- 



urious 



is insects in the soil, than those having a freshly-cut surface expos 

 Harpenden. 1. T. WlLU>. 



J- J 



Waterlog Vioes and Veotilatioo. 



hrst few bright 



_ days of June were very trying to the vines 

 suffers under such conditions, and, if so, it is the precursor of red 



After a cold, wet, dun May, the 



The foliage ohen 

 spider ; so a 



good soaking of the border," with"earl*y air-giving, is Very necessary. Seal* tig 0 

 berries cannot well be avoided with young vines, because the sunshine reacne, 

 berries direct between the scanty foliage. It has been difficult to give the necessay 

 root- waterings, because of the changeable weather, as with large vineries navu^ 

 saturated borders at a time when there are low night temperatures, »»« w te 

 bound to follow. Bright continuous sunshine will work marvels, but we nnm 

 satisfied that vine borders, especially inside ones, are well watered. In «i 

 cases of foliage being distressed by hot weather following cold, give a tborou^ 

 drenching of the foliage, as the gkpes, if green, will be none the worse tor 

 water — Stephen Castle, F.R H.S., Bottesford Vineries Notts. 



