7 8 4 



GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



December 3, 1898. 



in any one year was in April, 1894, when not less than one hundred and 

 twenty thousand were forwarded to all parts. 



Mr W Sydenham, the pansy and viola specialist of Tamworth, from 



Some Interesting Plants. 



Crinum zeylanicum. 



k "t^XTu^^^™^^^^* A RECENTLV imported plan, of this species is „ow flowering here. „ 

 S?. f?c!±f Hannah, Kitty Hay, and others, to show produces fully a dozen hgh glabrous green leaves, two and a-half f« 



his collection 01 xwu nuw™ , ^- . TJ j Iv I u 



Mary Stuart, Pembroke, Miss Hannah, Kitty Hay, and others, to show 

 what the viola has of beauty even in a cold and backward spring. 



An interesting communication from Messrs. W. A. Burpee, of Phila- 

 delphia, gives the position of the pansy from the American point of view. 



long, three inches wide at the base, with scabrous margins, a purplish 

 coloured scape thirty inches high, bearing a dozen sessile, sub erect 

 flowers, closely packed together, so that the segments of adjacent flowers 

 overlap each other. The segments are recurved, three and a-half inches 



aeipnia, gives yuom^.. ■ » . . . . ■ . . overlaoeacn oiner. auc asgiucms die recurved, tnree and a-half mrh«r 



« fcd^ESSR s'o Svi^Str n ?eng P ,h hy three-quarters of an inch in width, white in col u ! ^ 



01 new ana iuiuiuvcu forms w . rrv. 7 ; A , , r v* 

 owing to our hot, dry summer and high-priced labour, to grow our own 

 supply of seed. Each year our Mr. Burpee visits not only the leading 

 pansy growers in France and Germany, but also the specialists who are 

 engaged in the development of the flower. We are enabled m this way 

 to supply seed of the finest strains, and to secure all the latest improve- 

 ments in size and colouring in advance of other houses, and frequently, 

 by purchasing the entire crop of a new sort, to put it out in advance of 

 its introduction in Europe. A notable instance of this is our President 

 McKinley Pansy, which we offer this season. While we cannot raise 

 these fine strains in sufficient quantities for our trade, a few small growers 

 in the cooler New England States have developed quite fine strains. By 

 sowing the pansy seed early in the fall, and wintering the young plants 

 in cold frames, we are enabled to have flowers of the largest size and 

 finest colouring during the early spring months. Seed sown m the open 

 ground in the spring produce plants that flower freely all the summer, 

 and when the cool, moist fall weather sets in the flowers increase in size 

 and beauty of colouring. These plants can be trimmed back on approach 

 of severe weather, and well mulched with well rotted manure will 



deep crimson band extending from the tip to within one inch from the 

 base on both surfaces. The tube is four inches in length, and is coloured 

 crimson, as also are the style and filaments. The flowers, half of which 

 are open at the same time, possess a sweet fragrance when they first 

 open, but it is not so agreeable after a day or two ; they only last for a 

 week in stove house temperature, but if removed to a cooler and drier 

 house they keep in condition for ten or twelve days. 



C. zeylanicum requires plenty of water and a stove house temperature 

 when growing, although, as may be inferred from its wide distribution 

 over tropical Asia, Africa, and probably America (from whence this plant 

 was imported), it is of considerable hardihood, and may be grown much 

 cooler with success. The bulbs may be rested during winter in a tem- 

 perature of 50 degrees, keeping the soil but moderately damp. There is 

 but little difference between the flowers of this species and C. fimbria- 

 tulum (which has also just flowered here); the leaves, however, are very dis- 

 tinct, those of C. zeylanicum being recurved and radiating, whilst those 

 of C. fimbriatulum are sub-erect, distichous, and spirally arranged. 



Maurandya scandens. 



produce grand large flowers during the very early spring. During our This is an excellent climbing plant for the cool greenhouse, bearing 



ordinary winter flowers can be picked from plants in the open ground simple palmate leaves, from the axils of which spring solitary, purplish- 



— * ~ ! 1J r crimson, gloxinia-like flowers two inches long, the spreading limb of the 



corolla measuring an inch across. There are two rows of tufted yellowish 

 hairs extending to the base of the tube. The green inflated calyx and the 

 seed pods resemble those of the Cotton (Gossypium). It continues to flower 

 and lasts in good condition for a considerable time if the seed pods are 

 removed as soon as formed. It is a plant of easy culture, making 

 growths from eight to ten feet in length, which are most effective it 

 allowed to depend from the roof. The coloration of the flowers varies 

 somewhat in seedling plants. The species appears to be quite uncommon 



nearly all winter, if we have clear, warm weather, while in cold frames 

 they bloom freely all winter unless frozen up tight. The smaller flowered 

 strains of pansies bloom most freely during the hot, dry summer, but 

 are soon surpassed by the large flowered when the weather is cool and 

 moist. The bright reputation of German pansies must be judged by 

 these brilliant drawings sent out by the noted raiser, E. Benary, of 

 Erfurt. These notes, however, might be almost indefinitely increased, 

 and I do not wish to end with a weary thought. The paper began with 

 a breath upon the Eildon Hills, with the chance finding of a pansy wild- 

 ling ; the making has found me many friends, without whom it hardly 

 could have been written with any sense of final words. To Dr. Stuart, 

 to Dr. Wittacck, Mr. Lynch, and Messrs. Barr, Dean, Grieve, Messrs. 

 Bath, Backhouse, Benary, Burpee, and Sydenham, I owe my best 

 thanks for the interest they have taken in my work, and these thanks I 



heartily give." Edward Peake. 



in gardens. 



Eranthemum Andersoni. 



Chrysanthemum Notes. 



Some Incurved Varieties. 



Tin: followicg are some of the best incurved forms of recent introduction that 

 have been s»en during the present season, viz. -.—Miss Godsmah, fine, deeply- 

 built blooms, solid, compact, but rather coarse, inside of florets crimson, reverse 

 golden-bronze. Ada Owen, a very pretty regular-looking incurved of good size, 

 having stiff florets, which are close and compact and rather broad ; colour pure 

 white. Major Matthew, a pretty little flower with narrow florets, of good depth, 

 globular in form, colour pink. Yvonne Desblanc, very large variety of French 

 origin, pure white ; and Topaze Orientate, one of Cal vat's, very deep in build with 

 numerous closely incurving florets, and the colour pure pale yellow. Em He 

 No/tin, rather Hatter in build than some, tut of value on account of its colour, 



which is a deep golden chestnut. 



In T. Lockie we have something in the form of Mrs. R. C. Kingston, very 

 close in build, with very regular, narrow florets, white tinted yellow ; outer florets 

 shaded pink. John Miles is another whose build leaves little or nothing to be 

 desired, colour golden orange-bronze, recently certificated. 



The following are not yet in general cultivation : - Thomas Singleton, a closely- 

 incurving and compact flower, pure white but the outer florets tinted. C. o. Jya/es^ 

 a deeply-built very regular flower, large in size, and of a pure golden chrome- 

 yellow. There is also Pearl Palace, a rather promising variety, colour pinkish 

 lilac ; and another called Mrs. IV. C. Sgam t very deep and solid, colour pink. 



Varieties for Cutting. 



Even so late as the middle of November there was in many suburban gardens 

 and nurseries a capital display of many of the early-flowering varieties in the open 

 border. Most of them are, of course, small in size when compared with what we 

 see at the parks and shows, and in trade displays, but they are none the less valu- 

 able, and I have been much interested in seeing the pleasure with which friends who 

 are not fin de stick chrysanthemum specialists have accepted an occasional bunch, 

 and the long time they last when kept in vases and other vessels in rooms. Freely 

 grown and flowered with this object in view the reward in such a season as the 

 present is great, and amongst some of the most striking Harvest Home, Orange 

 Child, and the old Roi des Precoces need no recommendation. Only a week ago 

 I saw some plants flowering in profusion of Mdlle. Eulalie Morel, a pretty golden 

 salmon coloured Japanese ; G. Menier, rather tall, colour pale rosy amaranth ; Ivy 

 Stark, a pretty delicate little Japanese, with narrow florets of golden bronze ; M. 

 Dupuis, Japanese, flat florets, deep golden bronze ; Mdlle. Marie Mass**, rosy 

 pink, very full ; Albert Galy, bright reddish crimson ; Ambroise Thomas, 

 Japanese, with long florets, a fine deep crimson ; O. J. Quintus, pink ; My f chett 

 White, Samuel Barlow, and several others. 



In the sick room there are few flowers more cheerful or more lasting, and just 

 now more acceptable, than a bunch of chrysanthemums if the colours be well 

 selected. The pinks, yellows, bronzas, purples, and crimsons are best, leaving 

 the white varieties as much out of the number as possible, as that colour is likely 

 to produce morbid thoughts in the mind of a person lvine BL Only a few days 



inn T mr**\rmA ~ a • • • -*T- . J i° _ A.-- X T ^«;« \i\ac 



A small shrubby plant producing broadly lanceolate leaves six inches 

 long, and terminal spikes of about forty white flowers, about an inch 

 across, the lower petal of the whole being spotted with crimson in a 

 manner suggestive of some orchids ; the two stamens are curved upwards 

 and much resemble the pollen sacs of some orchids. It requires a warm 

 greenhouse temperature, and is worthy of a place in any collection of 

 warm greenhouse flowering plants, the flowers possessing a peculiar 

 charm, and lasting a month or two in good condition. It grows best in 

 a compost of two-thirds loam and one-third peat, potting very firmly ; 

 cuttings of the young shoots taken off in spring make nice plants for early 

 winter flowering ; they root best in a mild hotbed under a bell-glass. 



Hymenocallis eucharidifolia. 



This is a very handsome stove house species of Hymenocallis ; it 

 bears a stout scape of flowers, resembling those of a small form 01 

 H, speciosa. There is so great a similarity in the flowers of some ot the 

 broad-leaved species that it is by no means easy to determine one Irom 

 the other, which may account for the confusion now existing in tne 

 nomenclature of these plants in the gardens where they are grown, me 

 leaves also are very variable, being largely influenced by the district from 

 which they were imported. Those in the present case are alternately 

 arranged around a short, stout stem, composed of the sheathing bases 

 of the petioles, and measure a foot in length by eight inches in 

 width, some leaves being nearly as broad as long. The petioles aie 

 very short and stout, in some instances almost wanting ; it is a compact, 

 sturdy-looking plant, and may be treated in the same manner as n. 

 speciosa. The flowers are deliciously fragrant, of great value lor 

 cutting ; the plant itself when in flower may be used for indoor decora- 

 tion, as the flowers last a week or two in good condition. 



Isleworth. Geo. B. Mallei. 



ago I 

 mauve 



received a box containing Crimson Pride, Madame Aug. Nonin, 

 ; Nellie Brown, golden bronze ; Mdlle. Melanie Fabre, pink ; 



lilac 

 M. 



' 1 h"' ^" ftVSU*.*., ) 1T±U.1IC# iuv- iivu*w *-» 1 V 



Dufosse, golden yellow ; Triomphe de Lyon, bright rosy mauve ; Madame de 

 Sabatier, Mytchett Beauty, Martinmas, and Crimson Source d'Or, all very pretty 

 and useful sorts for such a purpose. C. Harman Payne. 



Road Sweepings as Manure.-This material certainly ^ does g contain, 

 from gravel or macadamised roads, full 50 per cent, of gritty matter, lll " e °' 

 may have manurial properties, but the other consists chiefly of n°^-°'°PP" fJ 

 and is in that respect good manure. All the material is of ffeat value 10 

 corporate into stiff soils, and for such purposes seems to be too seldom "»" s 

 Still, it makes good manure for light soils, as I have seen ample evidenc e ™ 

 Richmond allotments, where large quantities of it are used by the a . , 

 holders yearly, and they, especially when they cultivate deeply, ob tarn icapi^ 

 crops. I am having such material, got at a trifling cost, carted on w » 

 Richmond and Surbiton, feeling assured from what I see on every hand 

 occasional good dressing of it? especially when it has lain for a few momns 

 partially fermented, to be excellent manure.— A. D. . .j 



Blackened Potatos. -That potato tubers should sometimes not on y 

 black in flesh, but should also blacken very much when even b«tmoae «*jr 

 bruised, is a matter with which growers have long been familiar. ' ual , 



never yet had explained why it is that on the same soil some va "" ie c s lear . tles hed 

 blacken, whilst others very much like them never do so, but Produce c le ^ 

 tubers. There must bs in these varieties some chemical dlfference ™ rVablv fine 

 diversity in the flesh. I used, when in Middlesex, to grow a Kmartaoj 

 kidney that became well known -Chancellor. It was a Magnum Bonm n * & 

 but the tubers from the Middlesex soil used to blacken when cooked, ai ejjough> 

 it useless to grow as a market variety, although so fine a cropper. 7 much 



Prime Minister, from the same seed apple, and, of course, P 9 "" ' ch ancellor 

 like the other in growth, never blackened. I found that in Berkshire un 

 tubers never blackened when cooked.— A. D. ■ 



