JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
July 20,1882, ] 
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53 
writer respecting this plant, “ It does like a weed in my garden 
and so it does, and in other places besides. The rockery is certainly 
its proper place, placed close to a ledge of stone so that the panicles 
can droop over ; but it may also be planted in the border if the posi¬ 
tion is thoroughly drained and the plants supplied with very free 
soil, then it will flourish.—N. 
FORMAN'S EXCELSIOR STRAWBERRY. 
Last year Mr. Laxton and other cultivators wrote approvingly 
of this variety, of which Mr. Gilbert has now sent us fruits. Two 
of these, showing the cockscomb (fig. 10) and conical form (fig. 11), 
are represented in the annexed engravings. 
Mr. Gilbert writes in reference to this Strawberry :—“This being 
the first year of this variety fruiting here I cannot confidently 
speak of it as I believe it deserves ; nevertheless, I may say it 
promises remarkably well. Forman’s Excelsior has one really 
good property—it ripens the later fruit and swells them off in a 
remarkable manner. The flavour is all that can be wished ; the 
size is also satisfactory, and the robustness of the plant is extra¬ 
ordinary. Small plants turned out of small GO-sized pots and 
planted on good land last August have now the appearance of 
two-year-olds. I may add that too much manure would, in my 
opinion, grow the plants too strong.” 
From Mr. Henry Boothby of Louth, Lincolnshire, we have re¬ 
ceived the following account of Forman’s Excelsior :—“ This 
variety was raised by Mr. Forman of Louth about eight years ago. 
Its progenitor was James Yeitch, and it partakes of the quality of 
its parent as to early productiveness. Its historical career com¬ 
menced in July, 1875, at the Nottingham Arboretum Show, open 
to all England, when the Judges awarded it a first prize for the 
best new variety of Strawberry, a good judge remarking at the 
time, ‘it certainly is the finest fruit yet raised for size, colour, and 
flavour combined.’ A correspondent in last week’s Journal says 
it is early like Garibaldi, and as large again in size, but some of 
the fruits are hollow. I have grown it for years, and must say I 
never saw any failing of this kind. One thing is to be avoided 
in its culture, and that is too rich soil. If this be given the plant 
makes growth to the detriment of the fruit. The weight of several 
fruits gathered this week was If oz., and the size 8f inches in 
circumference each.” 
We subjoin a description of the sample of Forman’s Excelsior 
which Mr. Gilbert sent to us. Fruit large, varying from a sym¬ 
metrical conical shape to a wide-spread cockscomb. Skin dark 
red, of uniform colour all over its surface, which is rather deeply 
pitted with moderately sized seeds. Flesh firm, tinged pale 
scarlet throughout, quite solid, juicy, rather briskly flavoured, and 
with a fine aroma. This is an early Strawberry, as large and as 
handsome as President, than which it is richer and rather more 
sprightly in flavour. 
This appears to be a variety of considerable merit; and the 
hollowness of the fruit, which was referred to last week, was pro¬ 
bably due to luxuriant growth of the plants and too generous 
culture, as we observe that both Mr. Gilbert and Mr. Boothby in¬ 
dicate that rich soil is undesirable for a variety of which the habit 
seems to be naturally robust. Now that Forman’s Excelsior is 
being distributed we shall probably hear more respecting its merits 
another year. 
COTTAGERS’ CROPPING. 
Noticing last year a successful example of cropping on a cot¬ 
tager's allotment I think it worth while to record it. It was 
adjoining a main road, and three good crops of vegetables were 
obtained with once digging and manuring. This piece of ground 
(about 12 perches) was manured and dug in February and the early 
part of March, and Myatt’s Prolific Potato planted in rows 2 feet 
asunder before the last-named month was out. In the middle of 
June, the Potatoes having been hoed and earthed up, and the toDS 
nearly meeting in the rows, Brussels Sprouts were planted between 
every alternate two rows, the haulm of the Potatoes being turned 
inwards into the furrow in which the Sprouts were not planted, 
thus giving them more light and air. Before the end of July the 
Potatoes were all forked out, thus leaving the rows of Brussels 
Sprouts 4 feet apart. The land when the Potatoes were cleared 
was levelled with a fork, the loose haulm removed, and w r hite 
Turnip seed sown broadcast thinly in the 4-feet space, but not 
close to the Sprouts, and being showery weather at the time the 
Turnips made good progress, and were in use from the end of 
September till January. Many gardeners, and cottagers too, no 
doubt resort to the same practice, but to any who have not tried 
it these remarks may prove of some service. For the Brussels 
Sprouts to succeed it is essential that the Potato haulm be turned 
away from them with the hand into the space where none are 
planted. My coarse-growing Potatoes would not be good for this 
kind of cropping, but the early Ashleaf kinds are very suitable. 
LILIUM PARDALINUM. 
Mr. George Wilson of Heatherbank, near Weybridge, a 
most successful cultivator of Lilies, when visiting my garden last 
spring paid a great compliment to Lilium pardalinura, which 
were then in an early stage of growth. He said that they sur¬ 
passed in size and vigour anything he had been able to produce 
in Surrey, and I must own that I have never seen them grow 
so fine anywhere else : I may venture, therefore, to give some 
account of their cultivation. 
L. pardalinum has an extensive native range in the moun¬ 
tainous districts of the United States. Several local or acci¬ 
dental varieties have received distinct specific names, but inter¬ 
mediate forms of every gradation show them all to belong to one 
species. Mr. Elwes in his Monograph of Lilies gives it the name 
Fig. II. 
of the Californian Lily. The name “ californicum,” however, is 
generally given to a very beautiful and distinct variety, of which 
the growth is less robust, but the flowers larger and deeper in 
colour, with the ground of the centre nearly white ; they are also 
produced in smaller numbers—seldom more than three or four 
on a stalk—than in the type of the species. 
The ordinary L. pardalinum grows to a height of from 7 to 
9 feet, sometimes bearing as many as fifteen flowers on a stem, 
which is more or less brand ed above the lowest flowers. Another 
distinct form generally bears the name of L. Michauxii. In this 
