July 31, 1884. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
91 ^, 
it, to avoid the same thing again, and for a time be waters most assiduously 
—too much so in many cases, as giving large quantities of water when 
none is required, simply to make sure of the plant not bee iming too dry, is 
a most improper way of watering. There is a happy medium, easily found 
and followed, of keeping plants in a growing state without going to ex¬ 
tremes, and we would advise all men who have plants to water to adhere 
to it. Surface dribblings have often been decried, and must be so now and 
always. Sham watering of every description are delusions of the worst 
form, which will so^n become apparent. Watering pots full of soil before 
they contain many roots is a common practice, and a decidedly bad one, as 
it is at that time that the soil is most liable to become sour, and if it gets 
into this state before the roots have taken possession they cannot be expected 
to do much good in it afterwards. When plants have abundance of roots, and 
the pots, beds, and borders are well filled with them, it is more difficult to 
do harm with the watering pot than when few roots are there'; hut printed 
rules cannot be taken as invariable guides, but much can be accomplished 
by what one of your esteemed correspondents would call “ thinking.”— 
A. K. G. 
LINUMS. 
Although, perhaps, the greater number of the Flax family in culti¬ 
vation at the present time are annuals and comparatively useless as 
garden plants, the few perennials left are of coosiderable importance in 
assisting us to make our flower beds and mixed borders both interesting 
and attractive for a large portion of the year. 
In enumerating the best species we may commence with the dwarf 
Linum campanulatum, which has pretty shining yellow flowers. Some of 
the varieties of L. perenne are very beautiful, the intensity of the darker 
shades of blue being hardly approached by any other class of plants with 
such a free-flowering habit. They harmonise well with other bright tints, 
and assist in lighting up those of a duller hue. The short duration of 
the individual flowers has often been urged against their general culti¬ 
vation, and it is true that the flowers only last one day ; but no sooner is 
one gone than another is ready to take its place, the succession being 
maintained during the summer months. The ease with which they are 
cultivated may also be urged in favour of their admission into every well- 
kept coTection of hardy plants. The lighter the so 1 and the sunnier the 
position the better the plants are suited, and the more satisfactory will be 
the result. L. monogynum, a pure white-flowered specieof peculiar 
merit as a rockery plant, is also a perennial and a native of New Zealand. 
Nesting among or between stones it is quite at home, forming a large 
tuft of bright glaucous green leaves and beautiful large white flowers. It 
is easily propagated by cuttings. L llavum, a yellow-flowered herbaceous 
perennial species, distributed also under the name of L. luteum, is ex¬ 
tremely close to the next—-L. arboreum, although the diflerenoe in the 
one dying down in winter and the other being a shrub is great enough to 
make them at all times distinguishable. It has an upright stem from 12 
to 18 inches high, smooth, and angular. The flowers are produced on 
short peduncles at the ends of the branches, and the bright yellow petals 
veined or striated. Fresh flowers open every morning with the sun, and 
conthme in succession during June, July, and part of August. Native of 
Germany. L. arboreum, the Tree Flax, unlike all the others, forms a 
bush or shrub, and in sheltered situations will attain a height of several feet. 
Introduced to this country as early as 1788 by Dr. ^'■ibthorp, it is to be 
regretted that its free-flowering habit has not gained it a wider popularity 
than it at preseut possesses. It begins flowering early in April, and 
continues until the end of August. Native of the Levant.—D. 
IVY-LEAF PELARGONIUMS. 
I LIKE the double-flowered varieties of these very much. They do not 
take the place of either single or double Zonals, but they have such dis¬ 
tinctive features of their own as to give a tone to the conservatory. The 
single varieties I do not care so much for, and therefore grow very few of 
them. Their cultural requirements are very simple. Now is the time to 
propagate, in order to have good plants for next summer and autumn. 
They require to be kept growing through the winter months in much the 
same way as decorative Pelargoniums are managed. In March they 
should be placed into 7-inch pots, and in these they will form good 
plants. They will require to be pinched perhaps twice when young, so 
as to lay a good foundation. The shoots springing from the base thus 
formed are allowed to droop over the side of tho pots and down below the 
stage cn which they flower. We have them mixed with Begonia Sedtni, 
still one of the best of Begonias as a front-row plant, and the effect is 
both novel and pretty. Some of the strong-growing varieties, such as 
Madame Pages, are best suited for climbing up pillars. 
The sorts I prefer are Anna Pfitzer, Gloire d’Orldans, Madame Jeanne 
Wonters, Gazelle, Mons. Dubus, Album Plenum, Sylphide, Eurydice, and 
Finette.—B. 
EAST LOTHIAN INTERMEDIATE STOCKS. 
Om paying a hurried visit to Ockenden, the country residence 
T. W. B jord. Esq., M.P., I was much impressed with the usefulness of East 
L thian Stock.®, both as an effective bedding or border plant acd as a 
.'•ource of useful cut flowers. The habit in the various colours .are 
uniformly dwarf, compact, and branching, the colours bright and distinct, 
the flowers double and fragrant. I think it is a great mistake that such 
beautiful plants should be banished from the flower garden for the sake 
of masses of gaudy scarlet Pelargoniums or yellow Calceolarias, or, still 
worse, to give place to carpet beds, a craze which I hope is now on the 
wane. Mr. George, the able gardener at Ockenden, wishing his plants 
to be in perfection about the end of July, does not sow his seed till 
February, and I have no doubt, from the appearance of his plants, that 
they will continue to be a mass of bloom till frost cuts them off in late 
autumn. The strain is certainly an excellent one, supplied, I under¬ 
stand, by Messrs. T. Methven & Sons of Edinburgh. 
Amongst other matters worthy of notice in this well-managed estab¬ 
lishment is a very fine example of extension-trained Peach tree, it having 
covered some 25 feet of wall in three years.—R. Inglis. 
ALLIUM PEDEMONTANUM. 
The plant represented in the annexed woodcut (fig. 17), deserves all 
that can be possibly said in its favour, for it may be said to be truly 
an alpine bulbous plant of rare merit, and destined to assist largely 
in the embellishment of our hardy bulb borders all through the earlier part 
of the season. It is fortunately quite devoid of the disagreeable garlic 
smell usually characterising Alliums which must be tolerated with the 
showy flowers of the others. For mating clumps in the mixed border or 
Fig. 17.—Allium pedemontanum, 
the rock garden this bulb is undoubtedly a superb and exceedingly desir¬ 
able acquisition, as it increases quickly and without becoming in the 
least troublesome, so compact is its habit of growth. It is also a most 
useful pot plant, with a considerable advantage over other spring bulbs 
in the length of time it remains in bloom, and even after being cut the 
flowers are quite fresh for a long period. As in all probability it will bear 
forcing well, it might be had in bloom soon after Christmas. It forms 
tufts of from four to six narrow grass-like leaves, having a very graceful 
drooping habit, and above which rise in great profusion the charming 
umbels of drooping dark rosy-pink flowers. It is increased by division or 
seeds, which ripen plentifully.—M. S. 
Glass Houses in thf. Botanic Gardens, Sydney.—W e under¬ 
stand that the Arm of T. H. P. Dennis & Co. of Chelmsford have been 
entrusted with the carrying out of a series of glass houses for the Botanic 
Gardens, Sydney, New South Wales, under the superintendence of 
