6o4 



GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



September if % l8()8 



the species. No space is wanted in the houses, and long lines of pans containing 

 Mexican lcelias, sophronitis, masdevallias, barkerias, catasetums, bulbophyllums, 

 oncidiums in great variety, and many others too numerous to mention were seen 

 in various stages of growth. Readers need scarcely to be reminded of the 

 wonderful catasetums the Brussels firm have introduced of late years, plants 

 remarkable for strong growth, stout spikes, immense blooms, and wonderful 

 colouring, producing a series of natural hybrids at once as handsome as unexpected. 

 Vandas and prides, with other orchids of their class, uphold the character of the 

 establishment for vigour, and one is greeted with a fine odour upon entering, a 

 house of V. tricolor and V. suavis. 



I 



Orchids do not, however, absorb the whole attention of the establishment, as 

 my opening remarks prove, but one must be conducted to the smaller houses, 

 fl La Petite Galerie," to find what is happening behind the scenes. Here, in pretty 

 little houses, are new and rare palms and ferns, choice tropical foliage plants, both 

 raised from seed and imported, and curious plants not yet determined. Then you 

 see some scrubby sticks that may some day provide stock for a new sensation ; 

 they are what some enterprising collector has sent home with the hope that they 

 will hand his name down to posterity and create new honours for his firm. How 

 often such hopes and those of his employers fall to the ground is known only to those 

 who toil and wait, but how often success has attended the endeavours of Messrs. 

 Linden,/;/? et fils % is known to all horticulturists, for were all their finds, intro- 

 ductions, and creations taken from us, our stoves, greenhouses, and orchid houses 

 would be vastly poorer than they now are. 



The directcr of this big concern is Mons. Lucian Linden, a gentleman of wide 

 knowledge, great organising capacity, and genial beyond words. He is the 

 worthy son of a worthy sire, and his keenness of perception is seen in the creation 

 and successful issue of the Moortebeek Nursery, which is being enlarged for the 

 reception of orchids, and still more orchids. M. Linden, whose portrait accom- 

 panies these notes, is well known to a large circle of British horticulturists, for he 

 has as hearty a welcome for the casual as for the regular visitor, and generously 

 places his knowledge and experience at the disposal of his visitors. By the way, 

 L'Horticulture Internationale is readily reached from the Brussels Gare du Nord 

 station by electric tram to the Rue Belliard, from whence it is but a few steps. 



Servator. 



Hardy Salvias. 



n this country salvias are, with the exception of a few half ha H 

 such as Salvia patens and S. splendens, which are used for\S fLS^ 

 of conservatories or bedding-out, rarely seen. On the Coming? 8 

 daily the eastern part of Europe, many showy kinds are put to 

 uses with the greatest effect They may be seen planted in the open 

 which have invariably either a few trees or a plot of grass with a E ' 

 two of perennials of the most robust kinds ; or a rockery is formed 1°^ 

 these plants luxuriate where many others barely exist, their culture beint f 

 the easiest and simplest. Most salvias prefer an exposed, dry sumw 

 position m poor, stony soil, while others prefer a partially shady positi n 

 but none of them are very particular as to the quality of the ground The 

 are best planted out during the early autumn or early spring, and the 

 long-rooted kinds are best grown in pots and raised from seeds or offsets 

 because if lifted from the ground they usually suffer through removal and 

 do not make at once the show when planted out in gardens or parks 

 where often no protection aeainst wind or sun can be given. Although 

 the genus salvia is a very large one, many of those that inhabit the 

 tropics are half-hardy annuals or perennials, and will not be enumerated 

 here, while of the hardy kinds only the more showy will be mentioned. 



Although the ordinary Salvia austriaca is not very large-flowered 

 there are forms with very showy blooms. It grows one to two feet high' 

 and has radical, ovate or cordate leaves, wrinkled and pubescent ; the 

 flowers are yellow or white, and produced in May or June. S. argentea 

 is a biennial, grown on account of its large woolly and silky- white leaves. 

 The flowers are usually less showy, white and fleshy. S. azurea has 

 lanceolate or obtuse leaves, slightly serrate, the cauline ones linear, 

 upper ones diminutive ; the bracts are usually showy, and coloured like 

 the flowers, bright azure blue. This is one of the best of the genus. 

 There are also varieties with white and rosy-purple flowers ; one species 

 flowers during the late summer and early autumn, and is well adapted for 

 the herbaceous border and pot culture. 



S. glutinosa grows two to three feet high, and has stout petiolate, ovate 

 or oblong, pubescent leaves ; the flowers are sulphur coloured, or even 

 deeper yellow, and spotted with brown. The stem is usually sticky 

 flowers appear during the summer. S. pratensis has stems one to three 

 feet high, and oval or oblong leaves, sometimes cordate, rough and 

 wrinkly, with long petioles ; the calyx and bracts are usually bluish, but 

 the flowers vary much in colour, and are either blue, purple, white, 



This plant is also a British species, the purple 



but the different coloured 



silky, 

 and 



The Dropping of Peaches. 



Among the evils attending the cultivation of peaches under glass, that 

 of dropping their fruit during the stoning period is perhaps the worst. 

 In travelling about the country one often meets with fine crops of well- 

 grown grapes, but good, well-grown crops of peaches are seldom seen. 

 The methods employed in the cultivation of peaches vary according 

 to the knowledge possessed by those in charge, but the general practice 

 is of a stereotyped nature, and this is in a measure responsible for the 



undesirable dropping of the fruit during the stoning period. Some 

 fifteen years ago I deviated from the general method of culture, and 

 since then may say that I have not had a dozen peaches drop in a season 

 out of a thousand grown annually. The chief causes of "dropping " of 

 peaches are undoubtedly a too high temperature, and much too close an 

 atmosphere, during the stoning period. Of course the erroneous idea of 

 leaving twice as many fruits on the trees until the stoning period is over 

 will considerably aggravate the evil. Unsuitable borders and bad 

 management otherwise will all tend towards unhappy results. 



If the fruits be reduced to one to every square foot of surface on 

 moderately strong trees before the stoning commences, and the tem- 

 perature not allowed at any time to exceed 60 degrees without ingress of 

 air until the stoning of the crop is completed, dropping would never be 

 heard of. The general practice of shutting up the houses with sun heat 

 in the afternoon, and running up the temperature even to 80 degrees, is 

 a bad one, and accountable for much of the mischief often seen and 

 complained of. By the cool treatment it, however, takes longer to bring 

 a crop to maturity, but the heavier yields and finer fruits more than 

 repay the extra time required. The pernicious practice of leaving a 

 double crop on the trees during the stoning period proves too great a 

 strain on them at a critical time, and, consequently, contributes largely 

 to the "dropping" which ensues. Not only does it do this, but it also 

 reduces the size of the fruits that are carried to maturity, and reduces 

 the strength of the trees for the succeeding year. Again, unless the 

 borders for the roots of the peach trees are well drained, composed of a 

 good, strong loam, and contain all the essential constituents to the 

 growth of the peach, and these be understood and utilised by the culti- 

 vator, unsatisfactory results will follow. Besides this, a knowledge ot 

 rational methods of training, &c, must be employed to ensure success. 

 Recently I saw one practitioner stopping the young growths at from six 

 inches to a foot long, and pointed out to him that in all likelihood the 

 fruit buds would either open in the autumn or drop in spring when the 



plants were started w ^ 



Referring to the practice of shutting up the houses and syringing exl Jjbiting these flowers "special ""precautions be taken 



the trees early in the afternoon, I have left the shutting up until the ^ ell l ^rted in water t ' - - - 



temperature fell below 60 degrees, but syringed between three and four 

 o clock when the weather was bright and dry. As the stoning of the 

 tiuits proves the greatest strain on the trees, stimulants can and should 

 oe supplied to them when this process is going on, and perhaps the best 

 a l pu J pOSC ! S a mixt , ure of nitrat e of soda and sulphate of ammonia, 

 two onniLT *£ artS ° f Cach ' Md a PP*y i4 to the border at the rate of 



two ounces to the square yard, washi™ it in with water nf the »*m* 

 temperature as the house, 

 fruits are the sue of bla< 

 fruits are stoned. 



Peach " dropping 

 same causes 



rosy-purple, or pink. 



or blue form, however, predominating, 



varieties are often found in Germany or Switzerland, and still more 

 frequent under culture. Less strong kinds are S. silvestris, S. nemorosa, 

 with smaller flowers, violet, reddish, or white ; another variety of 

 S. sylvestris is L. verbenacea, of Southern Austria, with purple-blue 

 dowers and large ovate leaves, the stem being covered with woolly or 

 densely pubescent hairs ; it flowers from May till September. S. 

 clandestina is another variety though well defined, differing in the more 

 wrinkled and divided leaves. 



S. officinalis, the Common Sage, with its varieties, having violet, 

 purple, or white flowers, is well enough known, and more grown for its 

 culinary worth than for its decorative value. In the more genial 

 climate ot the south this species grows into a good-sized shrub, in 

 the same way S. verticillata is grown, a species with small pale blue or 

 pale violet flowers and almost cordate leaves. S. hians has an erect, 



or pubescent stem one to two feet high ; leaves ovate 

 petiolate, often arrow-shaped ; flowers racemose, calyx beli^ 

 shaped, and corolla of a bright blue colour ; this is one or 

 the prettiest members of the genus Salvia flowering in June and Jul). 

 S. canescens, with lanceolate, wrinkled, white and woolly leaves, has a 

 stem one to two feet high, covered with a woolly down ; the flowers are 

 purple, and less showy than the leaves. S. nutans grows two feet hign, 

 pubescent, with bright violet or purple flowers, that appear during June 

 and July. S. ringens is a shrubby kind with ovate, often pinnate eaves, 

 and purple flowers. S. taraxacifolia has rather long pinnatesect leave 

 the cauline leaves being broader and shorter, irregularly tootjea,^ 

 covered with white down beneath ; the flowers are rosy or pink, upp* 



with yellow, an I often purple spotted. ■ . , c „ llfhprn 



patens, and its form S. patens alba, are only hardy in the souim. 

 part of England. They are best lifted in the late autumn, and store 

 away like begonias. Their large bright blue or white flowers art ; 

 showy, and should be produced by every one. S. splendens and its var 

 are greenhouse plants, but they are very useful for bedding out aw 6 

 the summer, and, like S. patens, also well adapted for P ot cu ^ r ^ THE . 



, Cactus Dahlias.-Reading your remarks on the development andjx ^ 

 ing of these now very beautiful flowers I am induced to specially ihl ^ 

 compilers of schedules that they make it a condition that in any mc 



exhibiting these fln«,„« :tt ^onfinnc he. taken 'to have 



cases 



ime to apply this stimulant is when the 

 e ggs, and at every watering until the 



and peach stones « splitting " are both due to the 

 buds of early varieti>s° ° f ^ flower buds is due mainly to the 

 then receiving a check ecomin S to ° much developed in autumn, and 



Pkach Grower. 



same remark applies to all cut flowers. I have observed in hottf « 



summer where arrangements have been set up looking fresh enough or ^ 

 two, and have in that way caught the eyes of the judges favou ^' y, flowe rs that 

 the afternoon had far advanced: and the tent had become wna. "> e exh ibiting 

 honoured had utterly collapsed. That is such an unsaUsfactory wajr o ' ^ ^ 

 (lowers that it cannot be too strongly deprecated. All cut flowers rnig ^ 

 judged early for quality and arrangement, and later for freshness u 



disappointment to visitors when they find, perhaps not ■ I 

 Jock, that large quantities of prize flowers have utterly ^ c k~ ^ 

 nouced recently in a great show a first prize lot of what were by ; ^ tcs ' nd 0* 

 (actus dahlias in a state of miserable collapse at four c » uoc , ^ 



show was of two days' duration. " ^ ^ <**hl*s, 



stands of numerous tinware 



of 



or 



was 

 that 



Bouquets of sweet peas, d«nl£' ovis k* 

 . the lame plight, and » » °° Eo„diuon 



to supply ample moisture to the flowers. I ^ d .^ t fry at 1*** 

 cases in whirh fk» a^.r< Md not keep fresh for the nrsi 



•« mm ««« iu wmcn the flowers 

 all prues should he withheld —A. D. 



