HORTICULTURAL NOTES. 
335 
liquid manure may be of great service occa- 
sionally, to supply what has been washed away ; 
but it should be manure adapted for the plant, 
and the direction plain. 
HORTICULTURAL NOTES. 
Phloxes. — The Phloxes are now attracting 
much attention among the continental and 
English nurserymen. Since the introduction 
of Van Houtteii, Princess Marianne, and other 
new ones, a collection of the best is considered 
indispensable to the amateur cultivator. Some 
of the French and Belgian catalogues number 
more than forty kinds. During our tour, we 
saw many of the best in flower; but none of 
the striped ones excel the seedlings of our 
friend, Mr. Carter, of the Cambridge Botanic 
Garden, whose Henry Clay, and Frelinghuy- 
sen, not to name several others, are more 
beautifully variegated than Van Houtteii. No 
tube can be more valuable than the Phloxes : 
they need no protection like a Camellia or 
Pelargonium, and will grow in any soil, and 
almost in any situation. — Hovey's Magazine. 
Eockwork. — The advantage of Eockwork 
is the power of relieving the sameness of a 
level surface by such a judicious arrangement 
of its structure, as will correspond with the 
position it is intended to occupy; the assisting 
by artificial means certain natural advantages, 
which will admit of its introduction for effect, 
or for growing particular plants ; the oppor- 
tunity of growing plants within the limits 
assigned to them, in which aspect, soil, and 
other minutia3 required, can be arranged, 
without interfering with such as may occupy 
the adjoining divisions ; the facility of shade, 
or of exposure to the hottest sun, with protec- 
tion from winter and spring frosts ; and the 
perfect power of drainage, so especially essen- 
tial for the growth and luxuriance of all, but 
especially of half-hardy and tender plants. 
The only objection which can be urged against 
rockwork, is its tendency to harbour snails 
and slugs. This may be easily remedied by 
watering early in the spring with ammoniacal 
liquor from the gas-works, diluted with water; 
or, in the summer time, with lime-water, some 
time after sunset, when these creatures come 
from their hiding-places to feed during the 
night. Such a process, with the ordinary care 
of picking off" any that may be seen at inter- 
vals, will, by perseverance, effectually destroy 
them. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 
Electro-culture. — This subject is occu- 
pying a considerable portion of attention at the 
present day. Some experiments have been tried 
at various periods, which have been thought 
to furnish good evidence of the powerful 
influence of the electric current, when arti- 
ficially directed to growing plants; and the 
plants within the range of the experiment 
have been found to be sensibly and very con- 
siderably benefited. Some persons, however, 
deny that these effects are owing to the cause 
to which they are assigned. The experiments 
which are being made this season, in various 
places, are very numerous, so that it may be 
hoped that the question will be satisfactorily 
decided. In the meantime, the evidence is 
rather in favour of a beneficial influence ; and 
the following remarks, by Mr. Forster, of 
Fendrassie, a successful experimenter, are 
worth transcribing, for the use of those who 
may feel desirous of attempting similar experi- 
ments. Speaking of the scene of one of his 
experiments, Mr. F. says — "It was electro- 
cultured with poles four feet high ; when the 
barley was six inches high, it was very de- 
cidedly of a darker green colour than the 
surrounding barley. On reaching a foot in 
height, it lost this deeper colour, as its points 
collected all the electricity within the reach 
of the suspended wires' power of attraction ; 
and the colour was partially, but equally, 
clearly restored to it, by two suspended wires, 
and more lofty poles being adjusted." "As 
to the proper height of the poles, or rather of 
the lowest suspended wire, where more than 
one is employed, the rule is to have the lowest 
wire, fully six to eight feet above the highest 
probable altitude of the vegetable under experi- 
ment, when at its full growth ; and if more than 
one wire is required for wider or larger plots, 
there ought to be a space of three feet in ele- 
vation between them. The reasons for these 
proportions depend on the relative attractive 
powers for the electric fluid, that many elec- 
tricians have proved to exist between the points 
of plants and points or edges of metals, the 
former being three to four times more power- 
ful than the latter ; and the preference given 
for one line of wires, arises from the conve- 
nience of being then enabled to harrow and 
plough [agricultural experiments] without 
removing any of the arrangement, and of 
having far larger areas in one plot." — M. 
Azalea Indica exquisita. — This variety 
was let out by Messrs. Knight and Perry, of 
the King's Eoad, and has been figured in a 
recent number of Paxton's Magazine of 
Botany. It was said to be superior in the 
distinctness of its colouring, to the variety 
called variegata, which is considered to be one 
of the lest in form, of a delicate blush-pink tint, 
with an irregular border of pale colour, almost 
white. I have seen it several times during 
the present spring, and always have observed 
it to have a peculiar paleness of tint, as though 
it were faded, and to be far less distinct in its 
markings than variegata. I am, however, glad 
