JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
812 
very early but short visit and went away. I heard and saw two 
or three “ prospecting ” about my chimney-tops, but they did not 
like the harsh east wind and the look of the trees covered with 
snow. When they return and settle down to their business in life 
I shall think it the right time to put in seeds in the open ground, 
and not before that time. I remember when we had a mild 
winter the Starlings came, built and fed their youngsters with 
what they could get, and culled my Crocuses as salad. This 
year the Crocuses will escape that. A Swallow has been seen 
here, and I see that the Wryneck has also appeared as a pre¬ 
cursor of the Cuckoo. An old man near me says:—“ I reckon 
they’ve had a bad winter where they’ve been, and they want to 
see if they can’t better themselves by coming here.” There is a 
good deal of fact in his remark; the want of food “compels” 
many, if not all, birds to migrate.—G. 0. S., Lancashire. 
THE CRYSTAL PALACE. 
Among the numerous and varied attractions offered to the 
public by the Manager of the Crystal Palace Company, there is 
one that deserves a line of acknowledgment in the columns of 
the Journal of Horticulture. In the central transept there is a 
huge stage protected by an awning, upon which is the finest and 
most varied collection of spriDg flowers in pots that I ever saw. 
In the top rank are Palms and Tree Ferns, then Azaleas, Cjdisuses ; 
next a grand collection of Tulips, Hyacinths, Daffodils, Narcissi, 
and the front rank is filled with Begonias, Fuukias, and other 
foliage plants. The display of colour is really most attractive, 
and I would recommend any of your readers who want to see a 
beautiful sight to journey down to Sydenham one day this week. 
The small tropical department is now very pretty. The Tree 
Ferns round the fountain are very fine, and the other plants are 
skilfully arranged ; in fact the whole of the floral arrangements 
indoors are very good. 
Out of doors there is not at present much to interest the gar¬ 
dener, but there are several beds near the rosery which are full 
of bulbs, and which before these lines are in print will be in full 
beauty. Wallflowers are also much used, particularly the dark- 
coloured varieties, and the Golden Feather Feverfew marks out 
the patterns. Many kinds of bulbs are employed, and with the 
purple Aubrietia and white Arabis make very pretty beds. The 
few Boses that I have known for fifteen years are terribly cut, in 
fact half killed by the frost. The rosery, indeed, exists but in 
name, and Mr. Head would do well indeed if he could induce the 
Directors to spend a little money there. The huge panorama of 
the siege of Paris is nearly ready, and as the visitors to it must 
pass through the garden, and those who come from the station by 
way of the rosery, the latter will be much observed, and its for¬ 
lorn condition much commented upon. A school of floriculture is 
to be commenced on the 1st of May, and if Boses and florists’ 
flowers continue to be neglected I cannot see how the students can 
learn their business properly.— Wyld Savage. 
ROSES ON THEIR OWN ROOTS. 
Very few, I should imagine, of the constant readers of the 
Journal of Horticulture would think of doubting assertions made 
by Mr. Taylor. At the same time to see is to be convinced; 
aud could others visit Longleat and judge for themselves, as I 
recently have done, what the Rose on its own roots is capable 
of doing, there would soon be a change in the general practice. 
The splendid plants of Teas and Hybrid Perpetuals, both in 
pots and the open ground as grown there, compare most favour¬ 
ably with those specimens of the same varieties on either dwarf 
or tall stocks usually seen in other gardens. Many of the two- 
year-old specimens of the three varieties of Teas alluded to on 
page 208—viz., Souvenir d’un Ami, Catherine Mermet, and Devo- 
niensis in 12-inch pots, were G feet in height and remarkably 
healthy ; they had been flowering nearly all the winter and 
still had good blooms. Those in the open, and which I trust 
to see when at their best, may be likened to a strong stool 
of Manetti which the grower has inadvertently continued pruning 
year after year. In other words they are great bushes with 
medium-sized healthy growth apparently quite uninjured by frost. 
Mr. Taylor may well declaim against the “ mop-headed para¬ 
sites.”— Visitor. 
Hebeclinum or Conoclinum ianthinum. —Some years ago 
this plant was considered worthy of being exhibited in a collection 
of flowering stove plants, but, like many more, it has been cast 
aside for some that are less worthy. It succeeds best in an inter¬ 
mediate house, but flowers a month later than in a stove. It 
produces its large tufts of lavender-coloured flowers in great pro¬ 
[ April 21, 1881. 
fusion, and when shaded from the direct rays of the sun continues 
in bloom a considerable time. When not in flower the foliage is 
very ornamental. Small plants grown in 6-inch pots produce 
fine heads of bloom and are useful for decorating purposes. It 
is a good plan to set the plants outside in the summer months to 
have the wood well ripened.— Stifford. 
HIBBERTIAS. 
Climbing plants which possess either attractive foliage or 
flowers are both useful and ornamental in stoves, greenhouses, 
and similar structures, where the chief object is to produce a 
satisfactory display with as much economy of space as possible. 
The rafters of span-roofed houses and the back walls of lean-to’s 
can always be profitably covered with such plants, as they not 
only add to the general effect but often afford a very acceptable 
supply of flowers with comparatively little trouble. In the green¬ 
house and conservatory particularly the appearance would be 
very unsatisfactory without climbing plants to remove the for¬ 
mality of bare roofs and walls, the results being pleasing in 
proportion to the taste exercised in the selection and arrangement 
of the plants employed for that purpose. Diversity in the colours 
and forms of the flowers and some variations in the habit are 
the principal points requiring attention, and there are now so 
many suitable plants grown that it is not difficult to obtain a 
good collection combining all the desired qualities. One of 
numerous genera containing climbing species adapted for grow¬ 
ing in cool houses is that under consideration, of which at least 
one form is generally well known, some of the others being occa¬ 
sionally seen in moderately large collections. The Hibbertias 
cannot rank among the most useful plants as the flowers are 
somewhat fugacious, but as these are very freely and successionally 
produced a bright display is maintained for a much longer period 
than might be expected from the short duration of the individual 
flowers. The species present more diversity in habit and foliage 
than in their flowers, for the latter vary chiefly in size, the colour 
being uniformly light or dark shades of yellow—tints which are 
common in flowering plants, but in the case of the Hibbertias 
the contrast with the bright green leaves is rather pleasing. 
