218 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. r March ie, isss'. 
water red spider soon attacks them. To guard against an attack 
the plants had better be sprinkled just before the sun’s rays are 
off the glass, closing immediately afterwards. The hot-water pipe 
is painted with sulphur as a further precaution, and even bricks 
painted with it and exposed to the sun will give off fumes of 
sulphur injurious to nothing but red spider. Should it appear, 
sponge the leaves with soapy water at once. When the plants are 
covered the case is hopeless. 
When the female blossoms open they are fertilised with pollen. 
Although in warm summers we have had them set freely without 
artificial aid, still it costs little trouble, and, if other conditions 
are right, it ensures a crop. Too many should not be allowed on 
any plant: but the number a given plant will perfect depends on 
the space the plant occupies, the ultimate size the fruit should 
reach, and the health of the plant. In my very restricted space 
I allow a plant to bear from two to a dozen fruits each. Those 
kinds which naturally, when well treated, grow to from 5 to 7 lbs. 
do well when they perfect the fruit. Smaller kinds bear more. 
Never have so many that all will be starved, or they will be 
inferior. When the fruit swells liquid manure is given, and it 
assists them surprisingly. In our climate the autumn is often 
dull and sometimes wet. Under these conditions they have to 
be kept rather dry as they ripen, otherwise they are apt to split 
and be insipid. When the midsummer crops are ripening under 
a hot sun more water is given. In this matter the cultivator 
needs to use his own discretion. 
When the fruit is of full size it is a good plan to raise them on 
blocks of wood, bricks, stones, or slates, so that they may be ripened 
all round. As the fruit ripens it changes its colour, swells, and 
finally cracks round the stalk. One bright or two dull days after 
this The fruit is ripe.— Single-handed. 
BELLFLOWERS. 
Amongst alpine plants suitable for cultivation on rock work 
I mentioned several of the smaller Campanulas, and in a recent 
number of the Journal of Horticulture I spoke of the class of 
which the common wild Harebell may be taken as the type, but 
there still remain unmentioned a large number of Bellflowers of 
tall or medium growth worth cultivating in the mixed border. 
In so large a genus as Campanula it is, I think, a mistake to give 
any general rules for cultivation, as their habits and requirements, 
and, what is still more important, the way of propagating and 
increasing them, are very different. Some run so freely at the 
roots as to become troublesome weeds if note onfined within limits; 
others multiply to any extent by division ; whilst some of the best 
of them send all their shoots from a single tap root, and must be 
increased by cuttings or layers. 
The most inveterate runners amongst Campanulas, and I might 
almost say amongst garden plants, except, perhaps, CEnothera 
speciosa, is C. nobilis. Its long narrow drooping bells, either 
white or light purple-spotted inside, would make it a good border 
plant but for this habit. It does not even admit of being cut 
round, as it travels away entirely from the spot where it is 
planted. It must be confined in an earthenware ring 4 or 
5 inches deep, inside which it must be occasionally fed to re¬ 
concile it to its prison. 
Still more weedy in its habits, because it sends up its straying 
shoots more thickly, is C. rapunculoides, which produces one of 
the neatest and best flower spikes of all the genus. In addition 
to its running it comes up freely from self-sown seed. It is pretty 
on old walls in shrubberies and wildernesses, and seems happy any¬ 
where. If you can confine it as recommended for C. nobilis it 
makes a very good border plant. 
Less erratic in its way of spreading, but still spreading won¬ 
derfully fast, is C. grandis. It makes a fine flower spike, though 
the wind often breaks it off at the ground line ; and the flower 
spikes, in my soil at least, are few for the size of the plant. 
The white variety is more vigorous than the blue. It is a pro¬ 
voking plant here, and one I could do well without, though my 
garden is full of it. In lighter soils I believe it behaves better. 
C. persicifolia, some forms of which come very near the last in 
appearance and habit, is nevertheless a far more elegant and 
satisfactory plant, neater and more compact both in leaf and in 
flower. There are many varieties of it—both in colour, from dark 
blue to pure white ; in the form of the flower, from a nearly flat 
disk to a bell 2 inches long ; and in its mode of doubling, adopting 
as it does, like the Canterbury Bell, the cup-and-saucer fashion, 
as well as the full double. But I own I have never seen such 
doubles of it as the nurserymen show us in the advertisements. 
The inner petals are generally short and irregular, and the flower 
has a stiff unhealthy look. 
Campanula latifolia, which is abundant as a wild plant in many 
of the midland and northern counties, has all the varieties of 
colour usual in this class of Campanulas, and is a fine handsome 
border plant. Good varieties of it are sold under several names, 
the finest I have met with being called C. macrantba. If anyone 
says this is a distinct species 1 will not contradict him, for I have 
never yet been able to learn what constitutes a species, but cer¬ 
tainly a name does not. Another very variable native kind both 
in form, colour, and doubling is C. Trachelium : many of its 
varieties are well worth growing in their proper place. 
The Clustered Bellflowers form another class, of which the 
native C. glomerata may be taken as the type. Those who only 
know this plant from seeing it growing a foot high in the hayfields 
would hardly recognise it when well cultivated, as it becomes 
3 or even 4 feet high, the size of the flowers being proportionate. 
In all its colours—purple, and lavender, and white—it is a good 
border plant. A double form is very common in cottage gardens 
in Derbyshire, but I have seldom seen it here. It has many 
varieties or near relations, named C. dahurica, C. aggregate, 
C. capitata, &c. C. pyramidalis, though not strictly a biennial, is 
most easily treated as one. It is best known as a very handsome 
conservatory plant, but with shelter and tyiDg-up it is a showy 
late-flowering plant in the mixed border. Another very desirable 
kind not generally seen, but as easily raised as a Canterbury Bell, 
is C. barbate. Both this and C. pyramidalis have good white 
forms, though they do not always come true from seed. However, 
I must omit many of this very large genus, and speak of three or 
four of the best which I have reserved to the last. 
C. carpatica is a good old useful border plant, growing about 
18 inches high, producing abundance of flowers in July either blue 
or white. A variety of it dwarfer than the parent and bearing larger 
flowers is called C. turbinate. A large plant of this in full flower is 
one of the prettiest objects in a garden, even when flowers are 
abundant. The commonest colour of it is dark blue, but a packet 
of seed will produce great variety both in form and colour, many 
being white. The seedlings flower the first year, and in the second 
year the plants admit of almost endless division, as the side shoots 
root freely. Mr. Froebel of Zurich has sent out a variety with 
very shallow bells, almost flat, which he calls pelviformis, and 
which is one of the most distinct forms. 
Another of the best Campanulas is C. Hendersoni. It belongs 
to the same class, is a clear good blue, flowers very freely, and 
lasts a long time in flower. This and the two next I mention are 
rather difficult plants to divide, being one-rooted. They grow 
best from cuttings taken in spring. I have twice divided large 
plants of C. Hendersoni in autumn and lost every piece. I see 
this year in a nursery catalogue C. Hendersoni alba. If genuine 
it will be a great acquisition. 
Perhaps the most beautiful of all the larger Campanulas, its 
only fault being the brevity of its flowering season, is the hybrid 
C. Van Houttei—a hybrid between C. nobilis aud perhaps C. 
Medium. It grows from 2 to 3 feet high, bearing spikes full of 
drooping bells at least 4 inches long of a clear satiny blue, and is 
a very remarkable flower. Another form of it, approaching wffiite, 
but not pure white, is named C. Burghalti. Both of these flower 
in July. The flowers are too frail to stand bad weather, and, 
like many other Bellflowers, do not live well in water. I have 
omitted to mention that fine plant Platycodon (alias Campanula) 
grandiflorum, because it does not grow kindly in this ungenial 
climate.—C. W. Dod, Edge Hall. 
BRUSSELS SPROUTS—“THE AIGBURTH." 
Mr. Iggdlden on page 150 expressed a desire for the opinion 
of those who had grown this variety. I consider it a decided 
acquisition, the sprouts being of remarkable size, which, though 
nearly twice the size of Scrymger’s Giant, are very firm and solid 
and of excellent quality, the plants being wonderfully productive. 
From a packet of seed sown last March I had several hundred 
plants, and these when ready were planted in good rich soil in 
rows 3 feet apart and 30 inches asunder in the rows, and they 
have succeeded admirably. We have had plenty of sprouts from 
September, and although some of the plants are now (March 6th) 
“running,” we are still able to gather a peck a day of as firm 
solid sprouts as we had in October.—G. A. 
In the Journal for February 23rd Mr. Iggulden, writing about 
Brussels Sprouts, asks anyone who has grown the Aigburth 
Sprouts on comparatively poor soil to communicate results. Last 
year I planted between one and two hundred of the Aigburth. 
The soil is light and stony, which has to be manured yearly to 
ensure satisfactory results. I did not plant till late, consequently 
the sprouts formed late, but I have had a very fine lot of sprouts 
large and firm, and am still gathering some of excellent quality. 
