September 21, 1882.] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 279 
season since I first obtained it ; in fact this is the treatment the 
whole of my Peaches and Nectarines receive, and some of the 
trees have a spread of branches of 25 feet or more. It is sur¬ 
prising what fine healthy roots trees have that are lifted every 
year: they never lose a bud in spring, and seldom drop a fruit in 
stoning. These two faults were serious here when I took charge, 
the fruit also developing very unevenly during their first swell¬ 
ing ; but with annual lifting and working into the borders a 
quantity of clay, fresh turfy loam, and a good sprinkling of lime 
for the roots to work amongst, the whole of the above annoyances 
have disappeared. When trees are left undisturbed for a number 
of years their roots disappear from the surface, and soon present 
any but a healthy appearance. The soil, too, is liable to become 
dry, and if once allowed to get into this condition it is difficult 
to thoroughly soak it with water afterwards, and failure is sure to 
result. When lifted carefully and replanted the water passes 
freely through the soil and the roots are readily kept moist through 
the whole season, which is the secret of success. 
The Pine Apple is a very good Nectarine, which should be 
accorded a place in every garden. Few, if any, surpass it for 
richness of flavour, high colouring, or freedom of fruit-bearing. 
Its parent, Pitma'-ton Orange, is a grand variety of first-rate 
flavour, but for colour cannot be compared to the Pine Apple. It 
is said that Byron is an improvement on Pine Apple, and if it 
really is it must be superb. I have a young tree, but it has not 
yet fruited, and I shall be glad to see in the Journal the opinions 
of those that have tried it. Although Elruge is a valuable well- 
coloured free-fruiting kind, it cannot favourably compete with the 
Pine Apple, which is much better than any variety I am acquainted 
with. It appears to have one fault in some gardens, and that is 
cracking ; but whether this is really a fault of the variety or the 
system of cultivation I do not know. Here it has never produced 
a cracked fruit, but it is kept a little drier at the roots when the 
fruits are ripening than is necessary with any other variety I grow. 
This appears to suit the Pise Apple, and the fruits swell to a large 
size. It is a very accommodating Nectarine, and will do well at 
the coolest end of a second-early house as well as in later suc¬ 
cession houses, and is valuable for the latest house of all.— 
W. Bakdney. 
STRIKING EUONYMUSES. 
To succeed in striking the variegated forms of Euonymus, the 
care advised by Mr. W. Bardney at page 210 may be necessary; 
but E. japonicus, the commonest of the evergreen kinds, can be 
increased much more readily, as the following will show. 
Some years ago short pieces were taken off with a heel in 
October sufficient to fill two large handlights. They were inserted 
in sand, well watered once, kept shaded, and efficiently protected 
from frost. By the following May, with no other care, they were 
all rooted and growing, and, being hardened off, were planted in a 
nursery bed the commencement of June. They were shaded 
there too for a fortnight, and by the end of September were good 
plants. 
It is well to state that plants of that age require protection 
from frost during their first winter, so far as to prevent the soil 
being frozen. Careful mulching is sufficient protection against 
ordinary frost.—A. B. 
HERBACEOUS PLANTS. 
The great glory of my herbaceous border I think culminates 
in the end of June and on into July, when the grand masses of 
Delphiniums are in full flower, some Lilies are in their prime, 
and certain other plants have not yet passed away ; and it is for 
this reason that I do not at all agree with the prudery that banishes 
everything from the border but hardy perennials. The gaps that 
are made by bulbs which have died down and herbaceous plants 
which have died off I do not hesitate to fill up with Geraniums, 
annuals, &c. I can thus secure a certain gay appearance to the 
border, which I think is impossible when only herbaceous plants 
are issued. Dead stools of Delphiniums and flowerless stems of 
Lilies do not tend to make a border pleasant to look on, and 
therefore I think that it is perfectly allowable to supplement them 
with other plants. Single Dahlias come in usefully if sparingly 
used, and the slugs have this year taken very good care that I 
should not have too many of them ; and although I am not at all 
likely to be run away with by the fashion which now prevails 
regarding them, 1 yet think that they are very useful. If, how¬ 
ever, it is attempted to increase their size, their usefulness will be 
greatly destroyed. Their chief value is for cutting, and if you 
get them too large they are of no use. The white one, of which so 
much has been said, I do not care a rush about. It is not nearly 
so good as the white Japanese Anemone, and that is good enough 
for me. 
My chief herbaceous border is about 100 feet long, and this I 
have for the first time edged this year with the pretty little Cam¬ 
panula pumila alba. I planted it amongst the Crocus early this 
year, and it has now made my border very pretty, as it is full of 
bloom with its pure little white bells, and will form a pretty 
carpet through which the Crocus will push their way. At the 
back I have had some grand masses of Lilies—testaceum with 
stems 6 feet high ; the lovely old white L. candidum ; the common 
Tiger Lily, bold and good ; while in the front there have been 
some other kinds recently planted, which I fear the wet winter 
did not suit, such as Humboldtii, superbum, Michauxii, Leichtlinii, 
and Batemaniae. 1 had a fine mass of the old Orange Lily last 
year, but this season it has not flowered, and looks altogether in 
a very dilapidated condition, I imagine owing to the wet. Some 
of these have flowered, but so small as hardly to be deserving of 
being noticed. I am hopeful that another year they may do 
better. But I think the chief glory of this border has been a 
magnificent plant of Campanula pyramidalis, white. I bad it in 
a pot and planted it out early this year. It has thrown up about 
a dozen flowering stems varying in height from 3 to 5 feet, and 
one mass of flower from the very bottom. Nothing can be more 
beautiful than the mass of snow-white blossoms standing so grandly 
up above the foliage and the surrounding plants. It is truly 
what some have described it—a noble plant. I have had also 
here a very common bulb which I have never flowered before— 
Ornithogalum arabicum, but which is certainly deserving of more 
extended culture. It is much prettier than the common Star of 
Bethlehem, taller in growth, pure white, with a black spot in the 
centre of the flower. Another white flower very useful for cutting 
is the old Achillea Ptarmica fl.-pl., which indeed is almost a weed, 
as it runs so far under ground and the clump requires taking up 
every year. I see a correspondent mentions this as being in 
flower ten months in the year. Surely this is a mistake. It does 
not come above ground until March, nor commence to flower until 
May. Nor must I forget the delightful Gypsophila paniculata, of 
which I have now a large bush with its light cloudy-looking 
blooms which make it so valuable for the upper part of a stand 
for the table, giving that lightness which is so desirable and so 
seldom achieved. Anemone Honorine Joubert has flowered early 
this year, and will doubtless continue for weeks to come, and 
contrasts well with Lychnis chalcedonica flore-pleno close by. 
Of yellow flowers I have had several of the Hypericums, some 
of which are very pretty. H. olympicum is a dwarf-growing 
kind, while the old garden flower H. calycinum is always showy 
and interesting. I had also two Senecios which ought certainly 
to go into the Index Expurgatorius of herbaceous plants. I 
received them under the names of empetrifolium and asterifolium ; 
but whatever their names may be they are unworthy of a place, 
as the common Ragworts of our lanes and fields are much brighter 
and prettier. Bupthalmium salicifolium is a very hardy and 
bright-flowered plant, and its blooms are very valuable for cutting. 
There is also a pretty little Coreopsis tenuifolia, interesting from 
the fact that it is a perennial. 
Blue flowers were not so plentiful with me as during June, 
when the Delphiniums were so fine. A few, however, of these 
were in flower ; while large masses of Echinops, though hardly 
elegant in form, were yet by their pleasing colour very attractive. 
Aster alpinus can hardly be called a blue flower ; still there is a 
grey shade in it which makes it desirable as a contrast. 
The rockery at this season does not present many objects of 
interest. There is, however, in flower the charming little Andro- 
sace lanuginosa, one of the hardiest and most easily grown of this 
pretty tribe. I see, moreover, that A. carnea and A. caruea eximea 
have v^ell established themselves, so I hope to see good blooms of 
them by-and-by. Dianthus Seguerii is pretty and interesting for 
its flowers after all the other Dianthi have ceased. Campanula 
pulla, too, lasted on well into July, and I doubt if there be amongst 
this very numerous class any prettier representative of it than 
this. 
There is one plant which has been a puzzle to me. I received 
the seed from a young friend in Canada, and on flowering it proved 
to me the white variety of Verbascum Blatta ; but I was assured 
by an eminent botanist that I must have been mistaken, as it was 
not indigenous to Canada, although my friend assured me that it 
came up on every piece of waste ground. Is it, then, one of those 
cases in which an introduced plant has taken the place of the 
indigenous plants ? It seeds, indeed, in sufficient quantities to 
fill up a whole country side, and it may possibly have thus esta¬ 
blished itself. It grows to a height of 6 feet and more, and is 
pretty enough in moderation ; but it must be carefully watched, 
or, like Borage, it will seed itself all over the garden. 
