March 12, 1885. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
207 
narrow shelves, arranged at intervals on each side immediately under 
the roof, was placed the choicest fruits. In this store the temperature 
varied very little, and the openings at each end were never quite closed 
even in the severest weather. The fruit in this rough and comparatively 
cheap store always kept admirably ; not only were they comparatively 
free from shrivelling, but whether from the fact of having slight ventila¬ 
tion at all times, or that the thatched roof absorbed the superfluous 
moisture arising from the fruit, I cannot say, but there was not the usual 
tendency in the fruit to become discoloured soon after removal from the 
store, as is too frequently the case with late-kept fruits—an objection 
which is almost as bad as shrivelling. Mr. Bunyard refers to the tendency 
of fruit to crack, and if I understand him correctly he infers that this is 
sometimes occasioned by the cells being filled to repletion by being 
allowed to hang longer on the trees. This may be the case ; hut is m t 
this more frequently to be attributed to a too damp and not sufficiently 
ventilated fruit store ?— Vitisator. 
ANEMONE THALICTROIDES. 
" This species in appearance is more a Thalictrum than an Anemone, 
though botanists seem disposed to class it with the latter. It has beauti¬ 
ful Adiantum-like foliage, slightly glaucous, and not unlike that of Iso- 
pyrum. In April it produces umbels of white flowers each about an inch 
across. It appears to be rather fastidious as to soil, and a good plant of it 
is not often met with. Being an American woodland plant partial shade 
with deep peaty soil seems to suit it best, where it grows from 6 to 9 inches 
high. There is a double variety with smaller flowers, but it is in no way 
more ornamental than the normal form. It is usually propagated by 
division, but seed of this as well as of most of the other rarer Anemones 
can be had from the Erfurt seedsmen. To give a long season of growth 
the seed should be 6own early in March in gentle heat, the plants being 
grown on in boxes and planted out during June.—R. D. T. 
A Htbbid Echium.— The gardens of Madeira are remarkable for the 
neglect of native plants. This is due in part to indigenous indifference, 
and also to a preference for familiar forms amongst people who migrate 
hither from various regions, though chiefly to the temptation to test the 
facilities of growth and naturalisation in a moist and equable sub-tropical 
climate. Hence it is often easier to import species peculiar to Madeira than 
to find them in their native place; but none the less do these rocks abound 
with conspicuous examples of interesting genera. I have cultivated for 
many years two large Echiums upon the terraces of the Luinto do Yalle, 
300 feet above the sea—namely, E. fastuosum, the Madeiran littoral species, 
a perennial shrub 3 or 4 feet higb,with hairy light green leaves and branching 
stems crowded with scorpioid racemes of light-blue flowers with white 
stamens. _ And secondly, E. simplex, the giant Canarian species maturing in 
Madeira in the second year. This remarkable plant has large, smooth, 
silvery leaves, and terminates its growth in one unbranched stem densely 
packed with folded flower-stalks bearing pure white blossoms, and forming a 
pyramid reaching sometimes 14 feet in height. E. simplex dies after 
flowering. The flowers in both species last three to five weeks, and the 
unfolded flower-stalks measure 2 to 3 inches in length. Until 1882 the two 
Echiums, though growing together and having their scentless flowers freely 
visited by bees and insects for their abundant nectar, had remained distinct; 
but, in 1883, after introducing a swarm of Ligurian bees from England, I 
found that a cross-fertilisation had been effected, which has left me very 
few examples of E. simplex. The hybrid Echium possesses the leaves of 
the giant plant, and the stem merely bifurcates or branches sparingly. The 
flowers are tinged light blue, and the perennial habit of E. fastuosum is 
expressed by a continual growth of the flower racemes, which, after flowering 
for two years, measure 26 inches in length, and are still unfolding. The 
seeds of this hybrid have not germinated. I am now preparing to effect a 
cross between E. simplex and the handsome mountain E. candicans of this 
island at my country residence, 2000 feet above the sea. E. candicans and 
E. fastuosum have frequently blended, producing plants less new in structure 
than in habit; bub such hybrids have been quickly lost, either in sterility or 
reversion. —Michael Grabham, Madeira (in Nature). 
NOTES ON VEGETABLES. 
Chou he Burghley. —Through Mr. Gilbert’s kindness in sending 
me some seed I am now cutting the famous Chou. After reading so 
much in praise and in disparagement of it I was very anxious to form my 
own opinion, and a few days ago I was enabled to do so. I cut some 
rather too young perhaps, but still I was able to form an opinion, and a 
very favourable one it is, for I consider the flavour quite distinct from 
Broccoli or Cabbage, hut very delicious. The outer leaves were rather 
strong, but the blanched inside was not at all so, but very marrow-like. 
It comes in at a time when greenstuff is getting scarce, and does not 
necessarily occupy room for so long as one of your correspondents once 
stated. 1 planted mine out between rows of Potatoes in July, and shall 
cut them this and next month, after which I shall plant Celery, and in 
the meantime I am putting in double rows of Longpods at intervals of 
2 yards between the rows of Chou, so that for my part I do not think 
they will occupy the ground longer than any other vegetable, nor 
prevent us getting in another crop in grod time. 
Longpod Beans. —When planting second early Potatoes I invariably 
drop a Bean with every other Potato in alternate rows, and by so doing I 
obtain my finest pods for exhibition. No vegetable benefits more by 
having plenty of room than Beans, and if planted as above they invariably 
pod better than those planted in rows close together. Fur exhibition 
none can come up to Webb’s Mammoth. I have tried several of the much- 
belauded ones, but found they all failed to fill so well as Webb’s. The 
pods of many were equally long and much wider, but the finger and 
thumb soon found out that beans were wanting to make the pods satis¬ 
factory. John Harrison I have not tried, but shall do so this year.— 
H. S. Easty. 
EARLY CRYSANTHEMUMS. 
In fulfilment of a promise to the readers of the Journal of Horti¬ 
culture I will now say a few words on the semi-early or October-flowering 
Chrysanthemums I have been able to grow as new to me this season. The 
additions are good and useful—that is, as open garden sorts. My notes are 
chiefly intended for growers who have no glass houses, and who do not 
show plants or flowers, but who wish to have them under circumstances 
for which many of the ordinary sorts are quite unfit. 
Mr. John Laing (not James Laing, which is quite different).—Perhaps 
this Japanese variety is the most important of the novelties. It is rather 
a slender-growing plant, but is free and vigorous, with dark rather spare 
foliage. It is about 3 feet 6 inches in height, and bears attractively 
coloured flowers, which are produced in succession, so that they can all 
expand without disbudding. They are reddish crimson in colour, very 
showy in appearance, and of fine quality. The florets generally stand out 
straight or slightly reflex, forming flowers between 3 and 4 inches across. 
I believe this will prove to be an early sort upon a second season’s 
experience, but I did not receive my plants soon enough to test its full 
merits ; and as it was the first trial of the plant in this climate, probably 
it may behave differently this season. It is not a very showy plant, and 
requires a stick or support. 
Mons. Alexandre Dufour .—This is a very fine, free, and distinct 
semi-early Japanese sort, and has obtained a first-class certificate of the 
Royal Horticultural Society. It is a robust grower, rising to a height of 
about 30 inches, and has a stiff woody stem. The support of a stick is 
necessary, as the large number of flowers renders it heavy at the top. It 
is very good for the open garden, as it endures storms well. The colour 
is a red shade of violet, very bright indeed. Its flowers are about 3 inches 
across, and when the florets do not incurve they present a face of very 
pure and charming colour. When grown strongly very few of the blooms 
