February 5, 1885. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
109 
Sharpe's Victor. —Very early, handsome, of good quality, and a free 
cropper. Recommended especially for frames. 
Snowdrop. —Of the Snowflake type, but an improvement on that 
variety. 
Sutton's Favourite. —This did very badly with me, each tuber when 
half grown starting shoots bearing others. 
Reading Russet. —Excellent in every way, but this very dry season 
it was too russetty, for many tubers were deeply cracked all over. 
Vicar of Laleham. —A good cropper, handsome, and of medium 
quality. 
Clark's Maincrop. —Very productive. Immense tubers. It withstood 
heat better than all others, It took the disease, but will make a good 
field Potato. 
I grew many varieties, but I am afraid I am trespassing too largely on 
the Editor’s forbearance already. Turning for one moment to Peas, I 
would advise all to try Abbott’s Duke of Albany. It is excellent in every 
way, and is also a good Pea for exhibition.—H. S. Easty. 
THE ALLAMANDA. 
[The following es3ay by Mr. James Friend, foreman, The Gardens, Iwerne Minster, 
Shaftesbury, was awarded the prize as the best paper on the cultivation of plant3 i .. the 
recent competition for the prizes offered by Mr. Henry Oxley.] 
No other inhabitant of our plant houses furnishes us with 
such a grand display of bright yellow flowers as this family of 
Apocynaceous plants. They are all evergreen climbers, and all 
produce yellow flowers except A. violacea, which alone should 
secure them a place in every collection of stove plants. When 
once well established they will live for a great number of years, 
and continue to give a gorgeous display of their freely produced 
blossoms for at least six or seven months of the year, from 
early summer until far into the winter months. This is a great 
boon to those who have to supply a large number of cut flowers, 
as the blooms can be used in many different ways for room or 
dinner-table decorations. 
The Allamanda is a most valuable plant for exhibition 
purposes. Few plants are more easily trained into perfect 
specimens, and no other species furnishes the exhibitor with 
such a mass of yellow flowers, which, when seen resting on the 
gbssy green foliage, have a most imposing appearance. Although 
plants trained in this manner lose much of their natural beauty, 
yet it must be admitted that, like many others of our handsome 
flowering stove plants, such as the Dipladenia, Bougainvillea, 
Clerodendron Balfourianum, Stephanotis, &c., they would never 
reach the exhibition tent in the perfect condition we so often see 
them during the summer and autumn months. 
To see the Allamanda in its most natural manner of growth 
it should be permanently planted out where the temperature is 
never allowed to fall below 50°, and trained on wires placed 
horizontally along the roof of the house at a distance of 9 inches 
or a foot from the glass. When well established and covering a 
good space of the structure, the shoots being well regulated to 
show off the blooms to the best advantage, it is a sight not easily 
forgotten by all lovers of flowers. 
Allamandas can be easily propagated by cuttings, which will 
root freely almost any season of the year, either in a propagating 
frame or under a bellglass where a bottom heat of 70° to 80° can 
be obtained. The early spring, as soon as the shoots are from 
2 to 3 inches in length and can be taken off with a heel, is the 
best time to accomplish this work. Insert them singly in thumb 
pots, in a compost of peat and sand, pressed firmly, well watered, 
and plunged in the propagating frame, well attended as to 
shade, &c. In about a month they will have filled their small 
pots with roots, and should be transferred into 3-inch pots, 
adding to the peat and sand one part good fibrous loam, again 
returning them to the propagating frame. Do not plunge them 
as before, but stand them on the plunging material. In a few 
days they will have taken well hold of their fresh compost, and 
can gradually be inured to the general temperature of the house. 
As soon as the roots have filled the pots the plants should be 
placed in 6-inch pots, and at this and all future pottings peat 
should wholly be dispensed with; a compost I have found to 
answer well being three parts good loam to one of cow manure, 
with a liberal addition of charcoal. Being water-loving plants 
when growing freely, a thoroughly good and lasting drainage 
must at all times be given them. At this period of their 
growth it must be determined what position and shape they are 
finally to take ; if for training on the roof as before described 
they will at present need no stopping, but grown on with single 
stem until they reach the desired height where to be trained 
horizontally under the roof, when their points may be pinched 
out. As soon as they have started into fresh growth after being 
stopped, they should be planted in their permanent quarters, 
making a good drainage, and employing as a compost three parts 
good fibrous loam to one of cow manure. Do not give them too 
much soil at first, but occasional top-dressings as often as the 
roots come to the surface will be found more beneficial to them, 
as the whole mass given at one time would get into a sour 
unhealthy state ere the young roots had fully taken possession 
of it. 
On the other hand, should the young plants be required for 
trained specimens, they will need stopping twice or three times 
the first season to ensure a thorough foundation to work upon. 
At each potting process the soil must be thoroughly and firmly 
worked between the ball and the sides of the pot, using the same 
compost as before described, with the addition of a little charcoal. 
By the end of the season they should have filled pots 10 inches 
in diameter, with good active healthy roots, which will be found 
large enough to winter them in, as they will make but little 
progress from October until the end of January, during which 
time but little water should be given—just sufficient to keep 
their wood plump and to keep some of their foliage in a healthy 
state. 
By the end of January each of the growths should be lightly 
pruned to encourage fresh breaks from the best ripened wood. 
As soon as they are well started into growth, the breaks being 
about an inch in length, place the plants in their flowering pots, 
about 16 inches in diameter, which will be ample for the devolop- 
ment of a good-sized specimen. As soon as potted the trellis or 
training sticks should be added, that of a balloon shape being 
preferable, the growths being carefully tied on. No farther 
training will be necessary while making their growth, allowing 
them plenty of light and space to encourage strong, sturdy, and 
well-ripened shoots. As soon as they commence to show flowers 
their training must be taken in hand, which must be done very 
carefully and periodically, being so arranged, that when the 
flowers are fully expanded they will show to the best advantage 
in the position allotted to them. 
Old plants will not require larger shifts every year', but after 
being well cut back to about three eyes of the old wood and 
started into fresh growth in the spi-ing, they can be taken from 
their pots, and some of the old ball reduced with a pointed stick. 
Their drainage must be newly arranged, returning them to the 
same sized pot as before. When well into active growth they 
will require some stimulant, either in the shape of liquid manure 
or top-dressings with chemical manure. 
Allamandas require but little shading? only just sufficient to 
keep their foliage from scorching during July and the beginning 
of August. Another great point in their successful cultivation 
is cleanliness, which in fact applies to all plant life, and unless 
carried out thoroughly and effectually it is impossible to procure 
them in good condition at any period. Allamandas are not so 
subject to insect pests as are many of our stove plants, being 
most liable to the attacks of thrips and red spider, both of which 
can be kept in check should they appear, the former by fumi¬ 
gation with tobacco paper, the latter by the liberal use of the 
syringe. Should scale or mealy bug gain a footing, the bug can 
be washed off with soft water and petroleum, using a wineglass¬ 
ful of the latter to four gallons of water, thoroughly mixing it 
before applying it to the plants. Scale should be picked off by 
hand. The cultivator must always keep a sharp look-out for all 
such pests when attending to the daily wants of these plants, and 
should any be perceived their destruction should at once be 
attended to. 
There are several well-known Allamandas, and most of them 
are worthy of cultivation, the best, in my opinion, for the purposes 
above described, being A. Hendersonii, A. Chelsonii, A. nobilis, 
and A. grandiflora. The last-named is much weaker in growth 
than any of the others, and is much improved by being grafted 
on one of the robust varieties, but where space is a consideration 
it is invaluable, as it can be grown much more limited in that 
respect, being less scandent in habit. 
BRUSSELS SPROUTS. 
The time will soon be here again for sowing seed of these, and it 
should be ordered at once, but in considering this it must puzzle many 
what to do. True, Brussels Sprouts have not yet become as numerous as 
Cabbages or Peas, but there are several named varieties which may be 
placed under two very distinct types. One is the small old-fashioned 
Sprout with buttons closely set from the bottom to the top of the stems, 
firm, hardy, and excellently flavoured. The other type grows 4 feet or so 
in height, produces sprouts almost as large as one’s fist thinly along the 
stems, which are never very hardy, and when boiled they look like a dish 
of mashed Cabbage. Size alone is the recommendation of these, and those 
who put this above everything will know what to grow, but all lovers of 
perfect Brussels Sprouts should grow the small type, as it is in every way 
the best. We have tried all the new and improved varieties, and speak 
from experience. 
Brussels Sprouts are a very important crop with us as our main supply 
of vegetables, and a very extensive one is wanted in the winter months, 
