May 8, 1884. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
863 
at Leigham Court, Streatham, where it has been grown with Early 
Battersea, and has proved much superior to the older variety. It forms 
neat compact hearts, which were ready for cutting in the middle of 
March, proving deliciously tender and good-flavoured. Not one has 
“ bolted,” the whole quarter of 200 or 300 being as even as possible. The 
Battersea samples are good, but much difficulty is now experienced in 
obtaining this variety true. 
I umigating.—A correspondent (“ E. A.”) desires to know if 
there is anything as good as tobacco paper for fumigating, but cheaper. 
Our readers are quite at liberty to answer this question. 
- The Hull Horticultural Exhibition is to be held on 
July 2nd, 3rd, and 4th of the present year in the Botanic Gardens of that 
town. One hundred and five classes are enumerated for plants, fruit, 
and vegetables, the prizes ranging from £12 to 5s. In all the leading 
classes the prizes are very liberal ; thus for ten stove and greenhouse 
plants in bloom and six fine-foliage plants, £12, £8, and £4 are offered ; 
for eight varieties of fruit the prizes are £3, £2, and £1, and in others 
they are proportionately good. The Exhibition held last year gave 
promise of still further development under the same good management, 
and it is to be hoped that exhibitors will assist in rendering this 
Exhibition one of the best in the north of England, as the district is at 
present practically unrepresented. 
- A CORRESPONDENT writes that “in North Warwickshire the 
frost does not appear to have been very severe. Last year’s Calceo¬ 
larias are unhurt, and Petunias are not quite dead out of doors.” 
- “ A. Y." considers Iberis gibraltarica hybrida “ one of the 
most useful and showy hardy plants that have been introduced of late 
years, and its rosy-purple colour is very pleasing. It is very hardy, and 
succeeds well either in the open borders or on the rockwork. If seed 
is sown now in borders the plants will bloom well by this time next 
year.” 
- The fourth annual Exhibition of the Cardiff Rose Society 
is announced to be held on Wednesday, July 2nd. The prizes, of which 
about a hundred are offered, vary in amount from £5 to 5s. 
- Hardy Flowers in America.—A correspondent writing from 
New Jersey, U.S.A., states that out-of-door plants are now growing most 
vigorously, and sends the following list of plants in bloom Phlox 
amoena, Aubrietia olympica, Saxifraga virginica pi., Viola pedata bicolor, 
Houstonia coerulea, H. rotundifolia, H. serpyllifolia, Galanthus Elwesii, 
G. Imperati, G. plicatus, Scilla siberica, S. bifolia, S. bifolia alba, Iris 
reticulata, I. persica, I. pavonia (indoors), Leontica altaica, Chionodoxa 
Lucili®, Leucojum vernum, Thalictrum anemonioides and its double 
var., Adonis vernalis, Colchicum crociflorum, Trillium nivale, T. pusil- 
lum, T. sessiliflorum, T. grandiflorum, Helleborus in great variety, 
Puschkinia scilloides, P. sicula, Sisyrinchium grandiflorum, Dog’s-Tooth 
Violets, Erythronium americanum, E. albidum, E. grandiflorum and 
E. propullans, Pyxidanthera barbatula, Corydalis Kolpakowskiana, 
C. Ledebouriana, C. cava albiflora, Sanguinaria canadensis, Anemone 
ranunculioides, A. nemorosa fl.-pl., A. bracteata, A. caroliniana, Tulipa 
turkestanica, Mertensia virginica, and a host of Daffodils. 
- Chou de Burghley. —Mr. A. Harding writes :—“ Last May 
with nine or ten other varieties of Broccoli and winter greens, I sowed 
a packet of the above new vegetable, and when ready four or five 
hundred plants were placed out in well-manured soil. The rows were 
2 feet apart, and the plants 18 inches asunder. It was not till the 
first week in December that we began to use it, but from that time 
until the middle of April it was an excellent supplement to the other 
winter vegetables. When boiled for half an hour it is tender and has 
an agreeable flavour. The side sprouts also, after the main head has 
been cut, are better than the majority of spring greens. Like some 
others, my opinion last autumn was not very much in its favour, but 
I thought it too soon to either praise or condemn it; but since 
Christmas we have found it so useful that I intend to sow it again 
this year.” 
- We have received the first part of “ Cassell’s Popular 
Gardening,” a new work, which is to be issued monthly, and to be 
completed in about twenty-four parts. It is to include a wide range of 
subjects, fruit, vegetable, and plant culture, designing new garden^, 
constructing houses, See., and will no doubt form, when complete, a useful 
compendium of information relating to horticulture generally. The part 
under notice contains chapters upon garden pots, ground operations, 
florists’ flowers, the life history of plants, the kitchen garden, Rose 
culture, suburban gardening, and other subjects ; but it may be noticed 
that the arrangement does not appear to be the most suitable for a work 
of this character. These chapters will be continued in subsequent parts, 
and when bound the reader will have to follow some subjects through a 
considerable portion of the work, an obvious disadvantage that will 
necessitate a bulky index. Had the dictionary form been adopted, and 
one subject concluded before another was commenced, it would have 
been far preferable. 
- From the same firm we have also received the first parts of 
“The Book of Health” and “Cassell’s Household Guide,” 
the titles of which sufficiently explain their objects. The latter is 
an extremely useful work, quite an encyclopaedia of information 
relating to home management. 
- Parts 2 and 3 of “ The Illustrated Dictionary of 
Gardening” (L. Upcott Gill, 170, Strand) continue the subjects 
from Allium to Apple in the same style as the first part previously 
mentioned. It is abundantly illustrated, several of the engravings 
being familiar catalogue cuts. 
HELIOTROPES FOR WINTER FLOWERING. 
For the successful flowering of Heliotropes in winter there should 
be a night temperature of 55° in order to secure a continuous growth, 
and if the plants occupy a light position each young shoot will 
terminate in a truss of flowers, and a long succession will be thus 
obtained ; but if they do not occupy a light position, so that a 
certain amount of vigour and ripeness may be imparted to the new 
growth, the shoots will be weak, soft, and consequently flowerless. 
A shelf near the glass at the end or at the back of the house near the 
wall (if the house be a lean-to) will be a suitable position. During 
the summer the plants must have undergone a suitable preparation, 
therefore when the stock of Heliotropes is propagated for bedding 
in spring a few dozen of the most vigorous plants should be selected 
and grown specially for winter flowering. 
They should not be allowed to become root-bound in small pots, 
but be shifted into a larger size before they receive any check, and 
as soon as all danger from frost is over they should be plunged in a 
bed of coal ashes up to the rim of the pots in the open air. All 
shoots must be pinched back to induce a bushy habit. The bed 
should occupy an open situation, and the plants must stand far 
enough apart individually to permit of a free circulation of air around 
them, thus insuring robust short-jointed growths. Such plants when 
placed on a shelf in a warm house in winter will produce a large 
number of flowers for cutting from October to February or March. 
Neat little bushes may be had in 5-inch pots, but the strongest will 
require a size larger. Plunging the pots in summer will save watering 
and prevent the hot sun acting so forcibly on the roots at the side 
of the pots, from which cause plants sometimes lose their leaves. 
All plants grown for winter flowering are better plunged in the open 
air in summer than placed on the north side of hedges or walls. It 
is a mistake to suppose the tops will be injured by bright sunshine 
if the roots be protected. This applies also to many other plants 
besides Heliotropes. A few of the most vigorous may if desired be 
trained as standards with stems 12 inches long. By attention to 
pinching good plants may be had in one season. 
The dark purple-flowered varieties are the best for winter bloom¬ 
ing, as the pale-coloured flowers become still paler in brisk heat, but 
the dark varieties still retain a delightful tint of purple, and are much 
prized. Heliotrope flowers may also be had in abundance in winter 
from old plants planted out and trained against a wall in a warm 
light house ; indeed this is the best plan to adopt if the flowers are 
wanted in quantity. The plants should be pruned well back about 
the end of August, or a little later or earlier according to the time 
the flowers are required. The syringe should be used freely to 
induce a free and vigorous break, but when once the shoots are grow¬ 
ing less syringing will be required, as this, when autumn is approach¬ 
ing, only tends to promote weak growth. 
After a good break has been secured the size and number of the 
trusses of flowers will be in proportion to the direct light that reaches 
the plants, accompanied, as it should be, by a corresponding amount 
of hea*’. These are the two prime factors in the production of 
Heliotrope flowers in winter, and should always bear some relation 
to each other in forcing.—J. H. Walker, Hardwiclce House 
Nottingham. 
Tying Down Vine Shoots. —I wish to supplement the notes by 
“ Vitis ” on the above by advising young gardeners when tying down 
Vine shoots to train them at one angle, and at the final tying-down 
