118 
JOURNAL OF SORIICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ August 7. 1884. 
qsestionably a beautiful variety, very free and of vigorous habit. The 
blooms are not quite so large as the ordinary crimson Clove, but they 
are full, well formed, and invaluable for cutting. 
- We are informed that the business of the late Mr. W. Crowder 
cf the Thimbleby Nurseries, Horncastle, whose death we noted last 
week, will be carried on by his two sons. 
- The usual monthly packet of publications from Messrs. Cassell 
and Co. includes the following :—Part 66 “ Familiar Garden Flowers ” 
gives plates of Polemonium reptans and Malva Creeana, with the usual 
descriptive notes ; part 89 of “ Familiar Wild Flowers,” which has 
plates of Eanunculus acris and Plantago lanceolata ; part 4 of “ Popular 
Gardening ” continues the chapters on “ Garden Walks and Roads,” 
“ The Life History of Plants,” ” The Kitchen Garden,” “ Rose Culture,” 
and other subjects, with several illustrations ; part 48 of “ Paxton’s 
Flower Garden ” contains plates of Mormodes igneum, a very distinct 
and peculiar Orchid, and Myosotis azorica. 
- The Eastbourne Flower Show will he held on Wednesday, 
August 13th, in the ground of Compton Place, Eastbourne. The schedule 
enumerates eighty-five classes, the first division of twenty-one classes 
being open to all England, and some liberal prizes are offered, the 
principal being for stove and greenhouse plants, the prizes varying from 
£8 to £2. The three other divisions are for amateurs and gardeners 
of Sussex, and cottagers within ten miles of Eastbourne. This Society 
has already gained more than local fame for the merit and extent of 
their exhibitions. 
- Holiday Handbooks (London : 125, Fleet Street).—These 
useful little guide books, edited by Mr. Percy Lindley, we have pre¬ 
viously commended at various times, and two more of the series now 
before us equally merit a word of praise. One is devoted to the “ Moselle 
from the Franco-German Battlefields to the Rhine,” and is freely illus¬ 
trated by views of Luxemburg, Treves, Berncastel, Beilstein, Cochem, 
Carden, and Aiken, together with descriptive matter and miscellaneous 
useful hints regarding hotel accommodation, &c. The other is entitled 
“ Tourist Table-talk,” and is a simple vocabulary of everyday expres¬ 
sions in English, French, and German, with money tables, distances, 
and other information of peculiar value to the uninitiated tourist. 
- Antigonon leptopus. —Mr. E. J. Lynch writes “ This is 
so interesting as a climber that it would be a pity not to correct a mis- 
-take concerning it in this respect at page 95 in last issue. It is there 
•said to be like the Vine and Virginian Creeper ; but though its tendrils 
are, as in these cases, the homologues of flowering branches, it is re¬ 
markably different. Supposing the Vine produced tendrils at the end 
of every bunch of Grapes, and was in the habit of suspending its fruit 
by several tendrils at the tip of each cluster, then it would be said 
correctly that there is resemblance. The Vine does not do this, but 
Antigonon never produces an inflorescence without giving it the means 
of clinging on its own account. There is no case recorded, I believe, 
exactly like it, and one only that is somewhat similar,” 
- Erratum. —In the report of the Forestry Exhibition, page 97, 
•^‘the Pennycock Patent Glazing and Engineering Company showed their 
new sashhar of zinc aid lead with combined system of glazing with putty,” 
should read “without putty.” 
CHRYSANTHEMUM CULTURE. 
Mr. Murphy seems to think I shall not get the majority of Chrysan¬ 
themum growers to agree with me in my assertion that rooted suckers 
make the finest plants. I have proved, however, to my own satisfaction 
that such is the case. The opinion he arrives at in favour of cuttings, I 
presume, is from his own experience, and this by his own showing is limited, 
when he only now comes to the conclusion that March is early enough to 
propagate for conservatory decoration. Mr. Murphy’s answer to my in¬ 
quiry for the names of the varieties that flowered with him under the 
treatment described on page 25, is rather a new way out of the difficulty. 
In one line he invites discussion—the next he tells you “ this would be an 
intrusion not to be permitted on your space.” I have always found any¬ 
thing that tends to the advancement of horticulture is willingly accorded 
spate in this Journal. 
I certainly did not want the names of 800. Mr. Murphy’s success 
might be put down at something under twenty varieties. He states, “ Mr. 
Cannell has 800 varieties. I have grown a large number of them, only 
failing with large Anemones.” Again, “ all the free-flowering and early 
Japanese kindsjsubmit to this treatment.” 
Well, out of 352 incurved and Japanese varietjes mentioned in Mr. 
Cannell’s catalogue for 1883, not forty would be suitable for the purpose 
Mr. Murphy recommends, and even with these there must be no root- 
cutting, or they would not flower.—C. Waring. 
I certainly grow Chrysanthemums for decoration merely (see page 93), 
and the majority of gardeners do the same. The soil I use is strong 
loam without fibre, and I only add a third of manure to it. This is 
rammed into the pots as firmly as it is pos?ible to do. Mr. Davis is quite 
right in saying that when the roots reach the sides of the pots when 
treated as above, the plants are not in a root-hound condition. In one 
case I find that the firm potting induces the formation of quite a different 
class of roots from what is made when a light soil is employed, and the 
potting is more or less loosely done. These roots are quite fibrous, and 
ramify through the whole body of soil slowly but surely. The plants are 
regularly supplied with stimulants and manure. We do not grow an 
enormous number of plants, still they amount to several hundreds, and 
the results satisfy me financially and otherwise that my simple system of 
culture might be followed with benefit.—R. P. B. 
MELONS DECAYING. 
The houses in which Melons are grown here are 300 feet from the 
boiler, and up to last autumn it was impossible to maintain a very high 
temperature, being often 5° lower than I wished in the morning. The 
bottom-heat pipes were raised 14 inches nearer the surface, while the top 
p'pes were re-arranged so that the house could be kept warmer. The night 
temperature of the house this season would average about 70°, varying 
according to external conditions—the guide by which all our temperatures 
are regulated—being higher when mild, and a few degrees lower in the 
morning when the temperature externally is cold. Since the heat has been 
raised the thermometer stood at 75° in the morning, and often 78° and 80° 
when last examined at night. This I consider is a higher temperature 
than is really needed in the majority of houses for the successful cultiva¬ 
tion of Melons, but if they are to be grown here free from disease in a damp 
house the above degree of heat must be maintained. Instead of chiding 
“Thinker” I wish to thank him for his friendly criticism of my note on 
the above subject.— ^Wm. Bardney. 
NOTES ON H4EDY EEODIUMS. 
This genus seems to be one of the many which have fallen 
into disrepute amongst cultivators. Possibly it has been thrown 
into the shade owing to the strides taken in the improvement of 
the Pelargonium. This is really unfortunate, as the plants com¬ 
prised in this genus possess a refinement and grace peculiarly 
their own; whether the pretty colours of their freely produced 
blooms or the light and graceful foliage (seeming to imitate in 
miniature many of the Umbellifera;) of the majority of the species. 
They are of ei; ecial use to anyone who has a sunnjr bank or 
slope of rockwork too hot and diy for the majority of 
plants to grow with any degree of luxuriance, and where 
something to relieve the rather formal outlines of Sempervi- 
vums, Sedums, encrusted Saxifragas, Cacti-, &c., is desirable. 
With all due deference to their able champion in these pages be 
this written, for though not an ardent Cactophile, yet I believe 
some very charming effects might be produced in such places by 
the free use in summer of Cacti, Kleinias, Stapelias, Senecios, 
and the smaller succulent Euphorbias. 
The genus is distinguished from the Pelargonium by its 
regular flowers, and from Geranium by the bearded spiral awn 
with which the capsules are surmounted. The generic characters 
maybe given thus—Style one; calyx of five sepals; corolla of five 
petals; stamens ten. slightly monadelphous at the base, alter¬ 
nately sterile ; glands five ; fruit beaked, separating into five one- 
seeded capsules, each with a long spiral awn bearded on the 
inside. The chief habitat of these plants is in the countries 
bordering on the Mediterranean from Spain to the Levant, al¬ 
though three species are found in this country, one or two in 
Siberia, and a few at the Cape of Good Hope, that great home 
of the Geraniacese. A large proportion of the species are 
annuals, and of the perennials many are so difficult to procure 
that it would be of no great use to mention them. The most 
convenient division will be into two groups—viz., those with 
leaves pinnately parted, and those with leaves undivided or three- 
lobed. 
LEAVES PINNATELY DIVIDED. 
Erodium alpinum, Lin/r. — A native of the south of Europe, 
first introduced into this country from Italy in 1814, but was figured 
in “ Geraniologia ” of L’Heritier published at Paris in 1878-7. 
The plant attains a height of from 6 to 9 inches, having smooth 
bipinnatifid leaves, the midrib being distinctly toothed. The 
flowers are borne in umbels of from six to ten ; petals decidedly 
obtuse, of a peculiar violet carmine shade; calyx small, with 
pointed sepals. The whole flower is about an inch in diameter, 
and they are produced continuously from April until severe frost 
comes. In mild winters I have seen this species and also 
E. Manescavi flowering at Christmas. 
