JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
528 
few would grudge any time and labour requisite for the desired 
end, but the majority of cultivators must be content with a more 
limited amount of success, and the most judicious treatment 
might fail to produce so well furnished a plant as that shown in 
the figure. Fortunately, however, Nepenthes ampullacea is not 
more difficult to grow than its relatives, tropical heat, abundant 
moisture, and a light compost of peat being its chief require¬ 
ments, and if a good crop of pitchers be developed the plant 
becomes one of the most interesting in its family. Even though 
the pitchers lack the brightness of colour and peculiarity of 
marking distinguishing 6ome Nepenthes, they possess other re¬ 
commendations, being very neat in form, and the plant is dwarf 
and compact in habit. Indeed compared with N. bicalcarata and 
similar large forms it is quite a pigmy, and perhaps on this 
account is the more attractive by the force of contrast. Wherever 
the curiosities of the vegetable kingdom are valued this Nepenthes 
should obtain a place, as it will unquestionably be admired if 
carefully grown. As a table plant the specimen figured was quite 
unique. 
HAMPERS AND BOXES. 
It is a question if any appliances of the garden cause more 
trouble and annoyance to both employers and gardeners than 
these. An employer naturally thinks that if he sends a present of 
flowers, plants, or fruit, and has also purchased the hampers and 
boxes for sending them, that these should be promptly returned ; 
and gardeners feel extremely annoyed when they find they can 
only use a hamper or box once, and have others to buy, beg, or 
obtain as best they may, because of the forgetfulness of people to 
return what has been lent to them. There are people who possibly 
think it is a small matter to retain a hamper from a nobleman to 
whom such an article is considered insignificant, but when a hun¬ 
dred are sent and not a tithe returned the matter ceases to be a 
small one, but, on the contrary, is of great importance, as many 
ladies, gentlemen, and gardeners know to their cost or disappoint¬ 
ment. The least that anyone can do when they receive a gift is 
to return the article in which it is conveyed, as it affords the 
means of themselves and others receiving similar presents the 
sooner. The articles, however, ought to be returned on higher 
grounds—the grounds of right and justice. I hope if any readers 
of these lines have hampers or boxes that do not belong to them 
they will return them at once, and they will be gratefully received 
by more than one— Victim. 
HOW SHALL WE MANAGE OUR BROCCOLI CROP? 
I HAVE no doubt that through the severity of the past two or 
three winters, and the almost total failure of the Broccoli crop in 
consequence, the above question has passed through the minds 
of many gardeners who like myself have a large family to supply. 
As this vegetable is rather an important one in most places, it 
will be as well to discuss the possibility of getting better results 
by a different system of cultivation, or I ought to say, to try and 
improve upon the present one. It is perfectly clear to all that out 
of the many different varieties of Broccoli in cultivation there is 
not one that can be selected to go through the rigour of our winters 
unscathed. Considerable space may be occupied and much time 
and labour bestowed, yet the uncertainty of a crop remains the 
same. I have thought much on the matter, and conclude that some 
good may be done by paying more attention to details of culti¬ 
vation, and not carry it out in that rough-and-ready way so much 
in practice now-a-days. I am of opinion that as a rule the seed of 
many crops is sown much too early and too thickly, and the plants 
are often allowed to stand in the seed bed too long, so that they 
suffer much when planted out. They should be pricked out early, 
whereas many times they are not pricked out at all. When 
finally planted out a much greater distance should be allotted 
them than is usually the case. I also think that as a rule Broccoli 
is grown much too luxuriantly, and instead of being planted in 
the richest garden soil one of very moderate quality is the best, 
of a more firm and tenacious character if possible rather than light 
and rich. If there is no alternative the soil should be made much 
firmer about the plants than is the custom. The object should be 
to grow them dwarf and slow, so that the tissues of the stem and 
leaves should be more hardy instead of soft and fleshy. It is not 
uncommon to see those plants that are dwarfest and at the out¬ 
side of a plantation stand the longest. It often happens, too, 
that market gardeners who have to grow their Broccoli in the open 
fields are much more successful than gardeners where, from the 
positions of their gardens, the plants are much more encouraged 
in the early stages of their growth. 
The year before last I saw a field of ten acres of Broccoli in the 
month of April, when very few had failed to stand the winter, 
[ June 30, 1881. 
though most of the gardeners in the neighbourhood had lost their 
crops. This field was manured and planted with Peas, and the 
ground well cultivated between the rows. After the crop was 
cleared off the soil was well horse-hoed and cleaned, and the 
Broccoli planted out. Owing to the ground being hard at the 
bottom the plants grew very dw T arf ; none of the stems appeared 
to exceed 9 inches out of the ground. The man to whom they 
belonged said his plan was always to grow the plants on a hard 
bottom, but to well cultivate the surface. This is the plan that I 
want gardeners to try in the coming season. I am aware that 
there are some sorts of Broccoli much hardier than others—those 
must grow ; and although we may not succeed in securing full 
success, we may at least prevent such a blank as we have had 
this spring in this all-important crop. 
There are some very excellent varieties of recent introduction, 
but there are some old sorts which I should put more confidence 
in if I could obtain them true. Miller’s Dwarf Russian is one, 
and Macfarlane’s, or what some called Leslie’s Late White, is 
another, some of which I never failed to save over the winter. 
I took a prize with the last-named at the International Exhibition 
in 1866, but have been unable to obtain it since. I grew the above 
two sorts when living in Suffolk in that severe winter of 1860 and 
1861, and I think they were the only two which gave us some good 
cuttings in the following spring.— Thomas Recobd. 
BOUVARDIA ALFRED NEUNER. 
It will be satisfactory to those who have purchased, or who 
intend purchasing, plants of the double Bouvardia which has 
received so much attention lately, to learn that the first flowers 
produced in England during the past week fully maintain the 
descriptions of the plant received from America. The flowers are 
fully as double as those shown in the woodcut on page 417 of this 
Journal, consisting of two or three corollas with from eight to a 
dozen pointed lobes arranged in a star-like manner, the inner 
whorl alternating with the outermost, and when the third is 
present the lobes of that are alternate with those of the second. 
There is not the slightest approach to contortion or deformity in 
the flowers we have seen, but, on the contrary, the most exact 
symmetry prevails ; moreover they are pure white, of good sub¬ 
stance, and are borne in moderately large dense trusses. The 
best example that has come under our observation is Messrs. 
H. Cannell & Sons’ nursery at Swanley, where a specimen in a 
48-size pot is bearing four fine trusses of flowers such as we have 
described ; the plant also appears to be of vigorous yet compact 
habit, and as floriferous as many of the single forms. Messrs. J. 
Carter & Co. also have plants in flower at their Perry Hill nursery, 
and no doubt visitors to the London horticultural exhibitions and 
the meetings of the Royal Horticultural Society will soon be 
familiar with the latest addition to the list of double-flowered 
plants. 
BRIEF NOTES FROM CHISWICK. 
The Royal Horticultural Society’s Gardens are now very at¬ 
tractive, although the beauty of the fruit trees has faded for the 
season. Plants both outside and in the houses are in excellent 
condition, and much that is interesting may be noted. 
Ivy-leaf Pelargoniums .—Most sections of Pelargoniums are 
largely represented at Chiswick, and of recent years the attention 
paid to the Ivy-leaf forms has led to the collection being greatly 
extended, all the best varieties in commerce being now included. 
Of the double varieties the best are Gloire d’Orleans, bright rose, 
fine truss, very free, compact habit; Sarah Bernhardt, bright 
pink and white, pretty : A. F. Barron, mauve pink, large compact 
truss ; Astre, purple ; Robert Fortune, similar to Gloire d’Orleans 
but a little daiker ; M. Dubus, very bright rose, excellent colour; 
and Mdlle. Jeanne Wouters, which received a certificate a fort¬ 
night since at Kensington as Seedling 29. The flowers are large, 
of a fine pink tinge, and the truss is also large and compact. 
Among the single varieties La Yesuve, scarlet; Bridal Wreath, 
white, crimson centre ; and Alice Lee, of a scarlet shade, were 
the most noticeable. 
Pelargonium tricolor .—The groups of old forms and species 
of Pelargonium occasionally shown at Kensington from this 
garden are invariably much admired, and it is surprising that 
some of these almost forgotten sorts are not brought again into 
general cultivation. The one named above and represented in 
fig. 119 is now flowering freely, and though comparatively 
scarce in gardens of the present day it was highly valued half a 
century and more ago. In 1796 the following remarks accom¬ 
panied an accurately coloured plate in the “Botanical Magazine,” 
and is of especial interest as showing the opinion then held of it: 
