82 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ January 2), 1835. 
at the root, and sometimes by insufficient drainage. A good 
syringing with sulphur water, and attention to moisture or 
draina:e, as the case may be, will seldom fail in effecting a 
cure. Green fly is sometimes found oh trees, but can be 
destroyed by frequently syringing with water. A few of the 
best varieties for cultivation are the red and white Masculine, 
Eoman, Large Early, Royal, Brussels, Moorpark, Musch 
Musck, Turkey, and Orange, but the one most generally 
grown is the Moorpark. 
ALPINE PHLOXES. 
Under this head the several evergreen species, together with the 
varieties of Phlox eubnlata, and the now more numerous forms of 
P. setacea may be grouped, and they constitute a most valuable group 
among spring-flowering plants. They are hardy in the extreme, and, 
of perennial duration, not only remain uninjured for years, but 
annually increase in size and beauty. They are by no means 
fastidious as to soil or situation, and the primary outlay lasts for 
years. 
These Phloxes, while strictly spring-flowering, must not be re¬ 
garded in the same light as some other spring-flowering plants, which 
do not object to be removed once or twice during the season. With 
Alpine Phloxes, however, the case is quite different, since they are 
somewhat impatient of being removed, so that when planting them 
permanent quarters should be selected, with plenty of room to spread. 
For this purpose no place is more suitable than the rockery or the 
front row of the herbaceous border ; in the former position, especially 
when overhanging some ledge of rock, nothing produces a more charm¬ 
ing effect, and few plants are more deserving of attention. So 
profuse-flowering are they when in perfection ; indeed it is impossible 
to overestimate their value, and nothing is more effective than fine 
sheets of flowers a j 7 ard or more across. 
First we will take Phlox setacea and its forms, all of which so 
admirably adapt themselves for the purposes to which 1 have 
previously alluded. These are all perfectly hardy, of close compact 
habit, and for abundant blooms and diversity of colour are 
unequalled. The most distinct are atropurpurea, which has deep purple 
flowers produced with great freedom, strong vigorous habit, soon 
forming a close carpet of its spiny foliage ; this is the freest grower 
of this section. The Bride is of neat compact habit, flowers 
numerous and pure white with a conspicuous red centre ; this is a 
most charming variety. Compacta is what the name implies, and is 
covered with large and showy bright rose-coloured flowers. Fairy has 
creamy white flowers with a carmine eve, very freely produced. 
Grandiflora is a most telling spring plant, having conspicuous flowers 
of a bright pink with a crimson eye ; this is a very distinct plant. 
Model is a well-named variety, forming perfect cushions, which are 
covered with bright rosy-carmine flowers, which are very effective. 
Paliida is among the best, producing iu abundance its rose and lilac- 
shaded flowers ; habit very neat and dwarf. Vivid is conspicuous as 
the most brilliant of them all, and is equalled by none in this respect, 
much less surpassed, the colour being a vivid carmine rose. Of the 
effects of a few tufts of these here and there on the rockery or in the 
border among other spring flowers the reader will readily conceive, 
'there are still other varieties of P. setacea from the same source 
as those already mentioned, but the foregoing are the most distinct. 
For this unique race of hybrids we are indebted to the late J. G. 
Nelson, Esq., of Aldborough, whose long and earnest labours were thus 
well rewai ded. The variety Nelsoni must, however, not be omitted, and 
is still to be regarded as a first-class plant; the flowers are pure white. 
Whether this variety is a garden hybrid from P. setacea or not I can¬ 
not here determine. In habit the general appearance is a facsimile 
of P. frondosa. Be it what it may, it is a most valuable plant. The 
nearest approach to P. Nelsoni is P. nivalis ; the latter, however, is a 
tiue species and has been long grown in gardens. It is of snowy 
whiteness, not quite so vigorous as the majority, and still remains 
anything but a common plant, the plant invariably supplied as P. 
valis being P. Nelsoni. 
P. procumbens is of free growth, soon covering the surface with 
ts purpl sh green tufts, on which are supported clusters of large lilac 
flowers with dark centres. P. pilosa, an old species from North 
America, came into our gardens nearly a century and a half ago. It 
ts of dwarf habit with slender hairy stems and rose-coloured flowers. 
Another species and somewhat rare is P. amoena ; this has bright 
rose-coloured flowers. Other species worthy of note are suaveolens, 
Stelleriana, and subulata. Then we come to the creeping section, of 
which there are, I believe, two species—P. stolonifera and P. reptans 
—among which there has and still remains some little confusion. The 
former has to my knowledge been sold scores of times for the latter 
and vice versa. The true P. stolonifera, however, has violet mauve or 
bluish slate-coloured flowers, which in point of colour resemble 
P. divaricata. P. reptans, on the contrary, has large attractive heads of 
deep rose-coloured flowers, and which are produced earlier in the season 
than the first named ; the latter, however, is generally known as P. 
verna, and which is by no means an inappropriate name. In P. ovata 
we have a good plant growing afoot or more high—a giant form, so to 
speak, of P. reptans, devoid or nearly so of the characteristic of that 
species, which roots at every joint in its onward course. There is also 
a variety of ovata called Listoniana ; both are summer-flowering and 
good front-row plants. All the varieties of P. setacea, P. frondosa, 
P. subulata, P. procumbens, and others of like character are best pro¬ 
pagated by means of cuttings. There are many failures in the propa¬ 
gation of these plants by inserting late-autumn cuttings, at which 
time the wood has become somewhat wiry and hard. The proper 
time to select cuttings of these is in the late spring months, when 
abundance of new growths can be obtained. When these are from 
1 to 2 inches long they should be stripped off with a heel attached, 
and without further preparation they may be dibbled into sandy loam 
either in pots, pans, boxes, or under handlights. Water well and keep 
them close, when they will form roots in about a month ; in less time 
if they can be accommodated with a duDg frame, wherein they will 
receive gentle bottom heat. A great gain in striking a larger 
number of cuttings than are actually required is that they may when 
ready for transplanting be made to form small colonies either in the 
border or on the rockery, and so produce good effect the ensuing 
season.—J. H. E. 
HISTORICAL JOTTINGS OA VEGETABLES. 
THE MUSHROOM. 
Our English word “ Mushroom ” certainly comes from the French 
mousseron, and that again from an old word of doubtful derivation, 
yet which is possibly traceable to “ mucus’' in the Greek and Latin, 
alluding therefore to the moist or slimy characteristics of plants 
belonging to the Mushroom group. The Latin generic name—viz., 
Agancus, points us to a region of Sarmatia, where this and other 
species akin thereto grew plentifully, probably do so at the present 
time. The English seekers for Mushrooms are aware that they may 
be found in many fields and open parks, especially in those where 
horses are turned out to graze ; and the habit of the wild plant would 
justify its specific name of campestris, though it also grows plenti¬ 
fully in some places that are more secluded. The “champignon” 
of the French and the “ pratioleof the Italians suggest the same 
idea, and the earliest historic associations of the Mushroom attach to 
Italy; yet it does not appear to have been cultivated by the Roman 
gardeners, but a dish of Mushrooms was made the vehicle of a deadly 
poison by the vile Agrippina when she wished to remove her husband 
Tiberius Claudius. A remark made by Pliny shows in what esti¬ 
mation Mushrooms were held amongst the gourmands of Imperial 
Rome. They regarded them as appetisers, besides liking them for 
their own qualities of flavour. “ A dish of Mushrooms,” says he, “ is 
the last device of our epicures to sharpen their appetites and tempt 
them to eat inordinately.” And again he says, “ there are some 
dainty fellows of such fine taste, and who study the appetite to such 
excess, that they dress Mushrooms with their own hands, that they 
may feed on the odour while they are preparing the food.” It is a 
singular circumstance, that although the Italians of our time eat 
several species allied to the Mushroom we cultivate, that is not grown 
by them, and is mostly avoided when they are gathering edible fungi. 
The common Mushroom is not, however, a plant which can be 
referred to any particular locality. It is found wild throughout 
Europe, even in the cold Lapland, also in Asia as far as Japan, in 
both Africa and America. This is easily explainable by the extreme 
minuteness of the spores and the fact that the air is ever full of them ; 
hence the breezes waft them in all directions, and they settle upon 
the earth or attach themselves to plants and to animals. Frequently 
they are swallowed by the latter, but these spores pass through the 
digestive apparatus of some if not of all animals unimpaired as to 
their power of germination. Low as the fungi are in the scale of 
life, they preserve their distinctness, and the Mushroom never dege¬ 
nerates, although there are some varieties ; so it is always separable 
from several poisonous species which yet resemble it nearly. Thus 
it is easily distinguished from a Toadstool with dark gills, that is 
otherwise very similar, by the circumstance that the gills change from 
pinky red to a dull brown ; about the same time the cup, from being 
convex, becomes flattened, while it also turns brown and scaly. 
Of the millions of spores that are, as we have observed, distributed 
through the air, only a part germinate to produce Mushrooms, and the 
place where they are developed is to appearance a matter of accident; 
but the cause of their deposition may sometimes be traced, and the 
horse is conspicuous amongst domestic animals as a propagator of 
the Mushroom, at least seemingly. There is the notable circumstance 
that Mushrooms used to be frequently picked on or near the ground 
daily perambulated by mill horses, when these were employed instead 
of mechanical means for continuous action. Similarly was explained 
