274 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. t September 21 . isss. 
fluenced by importations of improved seed, the sort most common 
is the tall one with one large tiower. In other gardens there are 
to be found tall ones somewhat improved, and lesser ones. The 
general division after a reference to height is dark-centred and 
light or brown-centred, the darker as a rule being the smaller. 
People differ as to their liking for dark-centred and light-centred. 
I own I prefer the latter; I think the colours, though less con-' 
trasted, are purer, clearer, and brighter. But there are improved 
varieties ; these are from seeds procured from the larger nursery¬ 
men. They are not more than 4 feet in height, stout-stemmed and 
strong. The first centre flower is decidedly large, but unlike the 
old tall variety is not the only flower, but from side branches come 
other flowers ; perhaps six, eight, or even ten may be seen in 
bloom at once. These improved sorts are both dark-centred and 
light or yellow-centred, and these are flowers worthy to be grown 
at the hack of a border in any garden however large or aristo¬ 
cratic, and are in every way superior to the old varieties. There 
is yet another sort to be had—the double, which comes direct to 
us from Texas ; the seed not ripening in this country, or, if it does, 
producing a very inferior small flower. The plants are tall, and 
have only one flower each, quite double, and of course without the 
usual centre. At the best they are a sort of coarse-handsome, at 
the worst they are poor in the extreme. 
The revival of these flowers in their improved condition is a 
gain to gardening and gardens. Giving them a very high place as 
flowers is absurd. They deserve a better use than their ancestors 
of forty years back, which were planted to hide an ugly old wall 
or a pigstye. The Sunflower mania is owing quite as much to 
the farce called “ Patience,” intended to ridicule the aesthetic 
movement, as to the aesthetic movement itself. 
Let me transcribe one little passage more from old Gerard. 
“ The beds before they be flowered may be boiled and eaten with 
butter, vinegar, and pepper.” “ Oh, fie ! ” an aesthetic would say, 
“ Boiled 1 I scream, I faint ! Boil and eat what I desire to live 
up to ! ” In conclusion I would say, Only cultivate the improved 
varieties, and plant them in suitable situations. They are hand¬ 
some flowers and deserve to be grown, but not in hundreds, any¬ 
where.— Wiltshire Rector. 
POTATO WHITE BEAUTY OF HEBRON. 
Beauty of Hebron has now proved itself to be a most valuable 
early market Potato, as in produce it is quite equal to the Early 
Rose, whilst in colour, shape, and precocity it is decidedly an 
advance on that variety. A crop of Beauty of Hebron grown this 
season between Scarlet Runner Beans produced more than double 
the w T eight, and making in the market only one-fourth less in 
price than Hyatt’s Prolific Ashleaf grown under similar circum¬ 
stances. The value of Beauty of Hebron may now be enhanced, 
as this excellent variety has given off here a white or rather 
colourless (if the want of red or purple on the skin may be so 
termed) sport, the sport in all other respects possessing the good 
qualities of its parent; and as the difference in value in the 
market between a white and coloured Potato is considerably in 
favour of the white variety, it follows that the white Beauty of 
Hebron is likely to be an acquisition. Anent coloured Potatoes, it 
has often been a matter of wonder to me why our principal raisers 
aim so much at the production of pretty-looking coloured varie¬ 
ties, and why the authorities and 'judges at exhibitions give so 
much encouragement to colour ; for as yet, so far as quality, pro¬ 
duction, and power of resisting disease go, no coloured Potatoes 
are equal in these respects to our best colourless sorts. Why, too, 
are new sports from Potatoes practically excluded from the Inter¬ 
national Potato Society’s Show, seedlings alone being recognised 
as worthy of being certificated 1 I have a suspicion that some of 
the best new American sorts are but sports from Early Rose, and 
yet are equally as good and more distinct than some seedlings.— 
T. Laxton, Bedford. 
AUTUMN NOTES ON RASPBERRY CULTIVATION. 
Amongst small hardy fruits few if any are more useful than 
Raspberries, and none can be relied on for a crop of fruit with 
more certainty. In the majority of seasons, when Gooseberries, 
Currants, and Strawberries are injured by early spring frosts, 
Raspberries invariably escape through coming into flower later 
in the season. When in luxuriant health a long succession of 
fruit can be obtained ; in fact, I have been gathering for nine 
weeks, and could still gather a quantity of small fruits suitable 
for cooking purposes, but prefer sacrificing these for the sake of 
next season’s crop. Where Raspberries are judiciously managed 
the young canes not required for producing next season’s crop of 
fruit have been thinned, so as to admit light to those remaining. 
The early thinning of the growths is as important in the cultiva¬ 
tion of the Raspberry as with the Vine or Peach, and if unneces¬ 
sary growths are allowed to grow until the end of the season they 
rob those left of both strength and light. The thorough matura¬ 
tion of their canes is an important object if a large crap of leally 
fine fruits is anticipated. The freedom with which the Raspberry 
fruits annually under the most unfavourable circumstances is 
often the main cause for not treating them liberally and well. 
If the old fruiting canes are not already removed it should be 
done without delay, and the young canes retained made secure to 
the stakes or wires employed for supporting them. A wire trellis 
such as that used for espalier trees of Apples and Pears, is more 
suitable for supporting Raspberries, and decidedly preferable to 
the use of stakes. A suitable trellis will not need so many wires 
as is necessary for the above-named fruits, three moderately 
strong wires being ample. The first should be about IS inches 
from the soil, the second in the middle, and the third near the 
top. The height of the trellis will depend upon the length of cane 
to be left; here they are left from 6 to 7 feet. The canes to fruit 
next season should now be permanently secured to the wires, so 
that no more tying will be needed until the following autumn. 
With a trellis of this description, and the canes early thinned, 
they have every chance of ripening well before winter ; but when 
stakes only are employed it is not wise to permanently tie them 
now, for if tied closely together they have no chance of ripening. 
Where pruning the top of the canes is practised it is a good 
plan to carry out the operation some time before the foliage falls, 
say towards the end of the present month. By so doing the buds 
plump wonderfully, and with free exposure to light fruit much 
nearer the ground than would otherwise be the case. Where 
early autumn tying and pruning can be done it will be found a 
decided advantage towards aiding the winter work, especially if 
very severe weather follows. 
The soil here is very light, resting on a sandstone formation, 
and the variety I have found to succeed the best is Cutbush’s 
Prince of Wales. It is a strong robust grower, and produces 
abundance of large well-flavoured fruits. In a season canes are 
produced 12 and 13 feet long, and would undoubtedly in more 
suitable soil attain even a greater length. This excellent variety 
does not appear to be generally known or grown, but from my 
experience of it here it is admirably adapted for a light soil. 
It is easily recognised, having almost a smooth stem with a 
few black spines, the stem being very silvery in autumn.— 
Lancastrian. 
NEPENTHES MASTERSIANA. 
Pitcher Plants appear to be gaining increased popular 
favour, and they are now regarded as something more than mere 
vegetable curiosities, for better cultivation, the introduction of 
handsome species, and the raising of numerous distinct hybrids 
having attracted much attention to the genus, proved also the 
beauty of such plants in a decorative point of view. In conse¬ 
quence we find hundreds of gardens where Pitcher Plants are 
grown now for every one that could have been named fifteen or 
twenty years ago, and further interest is added to collections by 
the diversity of forms, colours, and markings which distinguish 
the various species, varieties, or hybrids now in cultivation. The 
gradations in form and 6ize are very striking. From pitchers 2 or 
3 inches long to the gigantic N. Rajah there is every inter¬ 
mediate stage ; and in form there is a similar range, some being 
long, thin and tubular, others cylindrical, and still others nearly 
globular. The colouring varies from green to the deepest red, 
nearly black, either what may be termed self-coloured or spotted, 
mottled, or streaked. An excellent idea of all these characters, 
their diversity and attractiveness, may be gained by inspecting 
Messrs. J. Veitch k. Sons’ extensive collection of Nepenthes at 
Chelsea, and a better time than the present could not be chosen 
for the purpose. The houses devoted to these plants now present 
quite a unique spectacle, the vigorous growth and thousands of 
pitchers hanging in all directions being suggestive of a tropical 
thicket. The pitchers, too, are finely coloured, and it is doubtful 
if there has ever been a finer display of these plants at Chelsea or 
elsewhere. 
Prominent amongst the newer forms is that represented in the 
woodcut (fig. 44)—Nepenthes Mastersiana, which is one of the 
most distinct, richest-coloured, and freest-pitchering hybrids yet 
raised. A row of some twenty or thirty plants in small baskets, 
each about 5 or 6 inches square, indicate the above characters 
admirably, most of these comparatively small specimens having 
six to nine pitchers each, of an exceedingly deep red hue, very 
neatly formed, and clustering closely round t e sides of the 
baskets, the leaves being shorter than in many other forms. 
N. Mastersiana is a hybrid, having been raised by crossing 
