THE HYDRANGEA AND ITS CULTURE. 
565 
Brutus. — A rich crimson self, possessing 
a little of most of the properties, but not re- 
markable in any; has the appearance of being 
constant, size medium, and the petals pretty 
symmetrical. 
Lady Sale. — A rich fancy flower, pui'e, 
yellow, and white tips, good average form, full 
medium size, double, symmetrical, and a good 
centre. 
Bella Donna. — A fancy flower, a singular 
red with white tips, size medium, very double, 
symmetrical, and well up, outline not first-rate, 
but the flower is an acquisition. 
Jeanie Deans. — A really fine and well- 
formed deep red and white fancy flower, very 
double and symmetrical, very distinct, and a 
pretty variety for one or half a dozen; size 
medium. 
Fire King. — Bright red, not however so 
bright as the first Fire King we noticed, but 
much darker shade; size average, nothing re- 
markable in the form, but centre pretty good. 
Maid op Honour. — A light blush with 
occasional shades of darker colour, without 
any very remarkable properties, a sort of 
common-place form, but very delicate colour. 
Shylock. — A bright red flower, with every 
appearance of being constant and uniform; 
outline moderate, face and centre excellent, 
petals rather large than otherwise for the size 
of the flower, which is medium, and likely 
enough to be in every stand next autumn. 
Canary. — A large dull sulphur yellow or 
canary-colour, very double and symmetrical, 
full average size, outline not perfectly round, 
centre very good, face rather flat than other- 
wise. 
Attraction. — A rich shaded flower of 
dark and light purple or crimson, something 
like Bedford Surprise, treacherous in the eye, 
good general form, well up in the centre, and 
if the eye be not too apt to come cross, will be 
a rich variety. 
Forest flower. — A large dark lilac, thick 
petals, petals large and coarse, every ap- 
pearance of being grown too strong, and of 
being better adapted to moderate cultivation, 
outline moderate, face pretty good, and nothing 
amiss with the centre but being a little too flat. 
Jane. — A blush white or paper white, 
shown too large and coarse, a fault which too 
many growers of the dahlia are now guilty of. 
Varieties which are very large, very coarse, 
and useless under very exciting growth, will 
come better formed, a better size, and more 
compact with ordinary cultivation. 
Mrs. Shaw Lefevre. — A fancy flower of 
more than ordinary pretensions, a curious dull 
red tipped with white, size average, form ex- 
cellent, very double, very well up on the face, 
and perfect in the centre. 
Sir Robert Peel. — Dull red, good centre, 
size medium, or rather below, outline not very 
good, face middling, upon the whole no great 
acquisition. 
Yellow Perfection. — Only two blooms 
shown, one all it ought to be, compact, round, 
full, symmetrical, good centre, and medium 
size; the other not so full in the face, shoulder 
higher, petals somewhat coarser, but outline 
just as good. 
Eliza Meillez. — Fancy flower, of con- 
siderable novelty and merit, crimson and yel- 
low, double, symmetrical, and highly useful to 
exhibitors. 
Privateer. — Bright yellow with a blood- 
coloured edge, moderate outline, fair face and 
good centre, a likely flower to be useful. 
THE HYDRANGEA AND ITS CULTURE. 
Few plants show so readily the advantage 
of good culture over ordinary growth, as the 
Hydrangea kortensis : in common it is a 
flowering shrub with a number of heads of 
pink or bluish flowers, handsome and tolerably 
lasting ; with care and proper treatment it is 
a small plant with a noble bunch of flowers as 
large as a man's head, the individual flowers 
that form the bunches are as fine and as superior 
as the bunch itself. The plant is not hardy, 
but is at least what is called half-hardy; indeed, 
by protecting the roots with litter it may be 
grown like a fuchsia in the open air, merely 
cutting down the branches and covering up 
the plant with tan or other stuff to keep out 
actual hard frost, for a little will not affect it. 
They are to be grown two ways, one for the 
quantity of heads of bloom and the other for 
the size of a single head. The former way 
first: — As soon as a cutting is struck pinch out 
the eye, and thus induce side ones; as these 
advance pinch out the ends of them also, that 
they may in turn push out side shoots, and 
continue in this way stopping until you have 
as many branches as you want blooms; mean- 
while you are shifting it into larger pots as 
the others fill with roots, and if any branches 
come out where they are not wanted they 
should be taken off". In this way the plant 
may make its full growth, and if it bloom the 
same season, well, if not, no matter; but at the 
fall of the year the leaves will drop, and the 
plant may be allowed to rest. As the buds begin 
to swell the plant may be repotted in a pot 
considerably larger than the one it has filled, 
and it may be set growing. Remove all the 
small branches that look weakly, and shorten 
any that have grown uncouth and out of shape 
and keeping with the rest of the plant; gentle 
heat will force them earlier, but the green- 
house is the proper place for healthy growth ; 
let the plant have plenty of air and light, and 
it will continue to grow fast without drawing ; 
