-July 5, 1883. 1 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE .GARDENER, 
7 
until winter comes, is one of the best outdoor white flowers we have. It 
has been in bloom here for the past fortnight, but the double blue has 
■only just expanded. There is a rather disagreeable mixture of white in 
The petals that takes from its effect, besides the habit of not opening so 
fully and regularly as the white. However, both should be companions 
in every mixed border. The figure given in Mr. Ware’s catalogue does 
•not do justice to C. rosseflora alba fl.-pl. I saw better flowers at Hale 
Farm last autumn. Mine is as double as a white Camellia.—W. J. M., 
Clonmel. 
beginning of this has been excessively hot. On Monday the thermometer 
in the shade ranged from 87° to 89°. Yesterday (Wednesday) morning 
There was a steady rain, which was very acceptable. 
- We are informed that Mb. Foster of the firm of Foster and 
Pearson, Horticultural Works, Beeston, Nottingham retired from the 
firm on June 30th, after being forty-two years engaged in building 
■greenhouses. The business will be continued by Mr. Pearson. 
- A Marechal Niel Bose growing at Messrs. Dicksons & Co. of 
Edinburgh, is not unremarkable. Planted on the western side of the 
house, the tree branches out 60 feet by 20, and has often borne one 
■thousand blooms and buds at the same time. The main stem is 5^ inches 
in circumference, and it has been eight years in attaining its present 
gigantic proportions. It blooms from April to November, and is the 
■parent of many thousands of plants. 
- Mr. Gilbert of Burghley sent us last week a dish of Wilson’s 
Early Ashleaf Potato. He says it “may truthfully be described 
as a Myatt’s for cropping, but is at least ten days earlier.” The tubers 
resemble those of the valuable old Mouse-ear Ashtop, and the flavour is 
very superior. 
- A correspondent states that the Golden-leaved Cam¬ 
panula pyramidalis is very attractive in the College Botanic Garden, 
Dublin, the foliage being of a fine golden hue that is striking amongst 
other occupants. This plant is not very well known in England, and it 
would be well worthy the attention of cultivators. 
- We also learn that Nymph^ea alba var. rosea is flowering 
lor the first time in Ireland at Kalcarragh, Wicklow, the residence of 
Mr. Acton. This is a charming variety of a beautiful plant, the colour 
being most soft and delicate. 
- Dr. Stuart, Hillside Cottage, Chirnside, has sent us flowers 
-of some of his seedling Aquilegias from crosses between A. crerulea 
and A. chrysantha. Some of these are in form peculiar, and in colour 
most pleasing, though unfortunately the flowers arrived in a much-dried 
state. 
- At a seasonable time we have received a copy of the “ Tourist’s 
Guide to the Continent,” edited by Mr. Percy Lindley for the 
■Great-Eastern Railway Company. All travellers to Holland, Belgium, 
the Rhine, and Switzerland should possess this guide, which is printed 
on the dry-rolled American system, is attractive by its sepia plates and 
photo-etchings, is interesting, instructive, useful, and at its price, 6d., is 
marvellously cheap. This is the fifth annual issue of the Guide, and is a 
striking advance on the previous series. 
- At a recent meeting of the Sheffield Floral and Horticultural 
•Society, Mr. J. Udale, gardener to H. E. Watson, Esq., Shirecliffe Hall, 
Sheffield, read an exhaustive paper upon the history and cultiva¬ 
tion of the Chrysanthemum, which was greatly appreciated by the 
audience, and a desire was expressed that it be published. 
- A correspondent states that vegetation about Sheffield 
is looking remarkably clean, strong, and healthy. There is promise of 
splendid crops of hardy fruits, especially Pears, Strawberries, and bush 
fruits, and he never saw Peas looking more robust and healthy than is 
the case generally this season 
- The Celery Fly is unusually prevalent in the neighbourhood 
of London, some of the market gardens in the valley of the Tham 
being greatly infested with this pest. We hear that one method adopted 
to remove it is cutting the older leaves close down to the heart of the 
plant, the young growth being expected to come clean and uninjured. 
This appears to be an extreme measure, but it is said to prove efficacious, 
and that is sufficient to recommend it when a whole important crop is in 
danger of being destroyed. 
- It may be useful to some gardeners to know that a pleasant 
and wholesome beverage for the hot weather can be readily made 
by mixing a little fine oatmeal in water, adding if desired a little sugar 
or a lemon. Larger quantities of this can be safely drunk than either of 
water alone or beer, and in some public establishments around the 
metropolis where a large number of men are employed a considerable 
quantity is used. 
- A correspondent writes :—“The long drought in Scotland 
is now at an end. For some time slight showers have been prevalent, 
but only damping the surface. A steady downpour, however, followed, 
and with warm weather it will do immense good. The rain just came 
in time for Strawberries in the garden and Turnips in the field—indeed, 
for everything, as most crops were suffering.” 
- Mr. W. Taylor’s work on the Vines at Longleat, as we 
have previously announced, has been translated into French by M. H. 
Fonssey, and published in the “ Bulletin de la Federation des Socffitds 
d’Horticulture de Belgique,” and it is now issued in separate form of 
royal 8vo. size, containing seventy-four pages, bound in paper covers. 
We understand that Mr. Taylor’s idiomatic English caused the 
translators considerable difficulty in some cases, but the meaning has 
been very truthfully rendered. 
- Mr. J. Crossling, The Gardens, Felton Park, Acklington, 
sends us fine branches of the beautiful Philesia buxifolia, of which 
we gave an illustration on page 493, vol. iv. The flowers were 
large, of fine colour, and borne freely on the branches, and they have 
lasted remarkably well, keeping fresh out of water for three or four 
days. It is a handsome shrub, and the durability of its flowers well 
entitles it to notice. Mr. Felton’s plants are evidently exceedingly well 
grown, the fine foliage and vigour of the specimens being remarkable. 
- Some of the finest specimens of the bright and charming 
Begonia fuchsioides are in the handsome conservatory at Sundridge 
Park, the residence of Sir E. Scott, Bart., Bromley, Kent. They are 
trained to the pillars, forming dense bushes upwards of 20 feet high, and 
laden with their rich coral-scarlet flowers they have a magnificent effect. 
For such places this distinct Begonia is admirably adapted, and when 
trained on arches over a path the drooping clusters of bright flowers are 
very telling. 
- In the same house Gladiolus Colvilli and its variety 
Albus are largely grown for decorative purposes, and they have a fine 
effect, also proving useful for cutting. Mr. S. Lyon finds the white 
variety very useful, and intends growing it much more extensively 
another season. 
- A Scottish gardener writes :—“ Here is a curious fact in con¬ 
nection with planting IN leaf SOIL. We had a good deal of shrub¬ 
planting to do the past winter and spring. Several large clumps of 
Rhododendrons were also formed. The beds for these latter were covered 
9 inches thick with rough leaf soil, and amongst this the plants were 
put out. It takes four men and two horses one to two days every week 
carrying and supplying water to the other shrubs in order to keep them 
growing. These Rhododendrons are producing strong young growths 
without having received any water. I examined them the other day 
and found the soil quite moist, and doubtless the roots of the plants are 
taking to it.” 
- Figs in the open air are still successfully cultivated in 
both Kent and Sussex, and nowhere probably better than in the 
garden of the Rev. Canon Jeffreys at Hawkhurst. Old slow-growing 
trees are the best, and in this state require and receive a liberal 
top-dressing of manure. The growth they make seldom exceeds 
6 inches, and is very stout and short-jointed. Vigorous young trees 
are not hardy, and in districts where frequently cut down by frost 
they seldom form sufficiently ripened wood to produce fruit. To 
insure short-jointed prolific growth on comparatively young trees 
they should be planted in a rather poor compost, consisting of at 
least one-third old mortar rubbish. The hottest corner of the garden 
