JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. r October 5 , ie 82 . 
H in eh or 2 inches long. B. oligantha has closer umbels and 
shorter peduncles, the colour being orange-red spotted with brown. 
Both are of moderate growth, free-flowering, and extremely grace¬ 
ful trained to the roof of a greenhouse or conservatory, the trusses 
of brightly coloured flowers showing to much better advantage 
when pendulous above a path, as the markings of the tubes can 
then be seen. 
1 wo of the larger-growing species maybe similarly compared 
—namely, B. Carderi and B. conferta. The former was intro¬ 
duced about six years ago by Mr. W. Bull, having been discovered 
by Mr. Carder, who was then travelling in South America collect- 
mg plants. It was also, I believe, introduced to Kew about the 
same period, but was grown under the name of B. Jacquesiana 
for some time, before it was identified as the same as Mr. Bull’s. It 
has flowers between 2 and 3 inches long, of a pleasing rosy tint, 
spotted near the points with brownish purple. They are borne 
in large trusses of thirty or more, and the fruit when ripe is of a 
fine rich yellow colour. B. conferta, though long known to 
botanists, has been only recently introduced by Messrs. Shuttle- 
worth, Carder & Co. of Clapham Park, who have already added 
several beautiful forms of this genus to those previously in 
cultivation. It has large trusses like B. Carderi, the blooms being 
of a clear bright rosy crimson hue. Both are of strong growth, 
as already noted, and are especially suitable where there is a large 
space of roof to be covered. 
Other forms introduced by this firm, which I have not yet seen, 
are B. vitellina and B. Sbuttlewortbi, both said to be attractive 
in no ordinary degree. Several older species not referred to in 
the above notes, such as B. acutifolia, are well worth attention, 
but those named would form a good representative collection.— 
L. Castle. 
“ WOMEN FLORISTS.” 
In an article bearing the above title, ,l Vick’s American 
Magazine” gives the following:— 
“ There is now a lady florist in Quincy, Mass , who, to indulge 
her own love of flowers and improve her health, built a small 
greer house, and took the care of it and a garden beside. People 
wanted to buy flowers, and the business grew upon her hands, 
till now she has four forcing houses, a Fern house, and large garden 
crowded with flowers, herbs, and splendid fruit. She has three 
young women m training, who find it easy to do all the work of 
the place, the only other help being a boy in the busy season. The 
sight of Mrs. Packard’s dwarf Cactus and leaf plants, her thicket 
of Roses and screens of Ivy, her Pears and Lawton Blackberries, 
and the Fern house draperied with clouds of greenery, would 
lead any unoccupied woman to resolve to devote herself to 
floriculture. 
“ That gardening pays everywhere was shown by the success of 
a German woman, out on a newly settled prairie in Wisconsin, some 
twenty years, ago. Her husband, a nursery gardener, was struck 
with paralysis, when his stout-hearted wife took up the business, 
and made it support th m well for years. In a neighbourhood 
twenty miles from market, and where houses were a mile apart, 
she raised all the seeds and plants in demand, all the Onion and 
Cabbage seed, Cabbage and Tomato plants, Pie Plant and Horse¬ 
radish roots,. Currant and Blackberry sets, and Strawberries. 
People stocking new gardens for fifteen miles around went to 
Christina Johnson for these things, and while they were about 
it were often tempted to add a Flowering Currant and Prairie Rose, 
a Pm my root and Snowball for the door yard. 
Every established florist knows of modest ventures made by 
women which advanced to gratifying success. I can recall more 
than one in a small way. like the two old maid sisters who kept a 
greenhouse buih from the sitting-room of the old homestead, which 
added to their slender income for years, and the quarter-acre of 
Amaranths, which brought in most of an old woman’s spending 
money, to keep her in the long winter. The ‘ Fern farm ’ in 
Connecticut, which, supplies the trade in the region, is largely 
known to enthusiastic cultivators; and there were the two friends 
one a school teacher, the other a needle-woman, who went to 
Michigan and made themselves a home and an independence, with 
a capital of 300 dollars, off a fruit farm, worked, all save the plou°h- 
mg and harrowing, by their own hands.” 
ALPTNE FAVOURITES. 
Linaria pallida is frequently called L. Cymbalaria major, al¬ 
though I do not see the reason for such a name, for it is certainly 
very distinct from that species. In my opinion it is much nearer 
.L. hepaticaefolia and L. pilosa. It is a very pretty plant, creeping 
beneath the surface, and it is v«-ry apt to crop up where it is un- 
welcome , but for all that it is really an. alpine gem. Very dwarf 
in habit, with crowds of purple and white flowers twice the size of 
those of any of the above-named species, extending over several 
months of the year—in fact I have known it in flower this year 
from May until September. If it is planted on the rockery, w r hich 
most certainly is the proper place for it, select a dry position, when 
it is not so likely to spread so rapidly. In a mass it is a charming 
little plant. 
Linaria Anticaria is one of the more erect-growing species, or 
sub-trailing, with stems 6 to 9 inches high, covered with narrow 
glaucous leaves and terminal racemes of white flowers marked with 
two bars of deep purple. Sometimes the bars are absent, but the 
flowers are very much prettier when they are present. This species 
I obtained in the first instance from Froebel and Co. of Zurich, and 
now it exists in several gardens. I am rather doubtful as to the 
correctness of its name; but it is a pretty alpine, flowering very 
freely, and is quite hardy and perennial, although I have seen it 
noticed in a contemporary as an annual. It is easily increased 
by dividing the roots, or raised from seed, which it produces 
freely. 
Arnebia cchioides is an extremely interesting Boragewort, 
quite hardy and perennial, with large lanceolate leaves. It flowers 
early in the year—during April and May, and again in August and 
September. The flowers are produced in racemose cymes on stems 
about 9 to 12 inches high, sometimes higher, according to the 
position it occupies, of a bright primrose yellow, with brownish- 
purple spots when first expanded, but which gradually die out, and 
on the third day after the flowers are open they are scarcely visible, 
so that the heads present a very peculiar appearance with flowers 
quite clear of spots, and others with them in varying degree ; and 
as it is particularly free-flowering it is a very showy plant. It 
does well in a warm border, but most cultivators will find a place 
for it on the rockery, where it flourishes extremely well. I have 
not raised it from seed, although Mr. Max Leichtlin of Baden- 
Baden has, seed ripening freely with him; and I learn from three 
sources of seed having been saved in this country this season. Side 
shoots will strike if taken ofl with a good heel and placed in a cold 
frame, although rather slow in doing so, yet if treated carefully 
they are sure to root. It is a plant which will be much more 
frequently seen when better known. 
Campanula Alliunii. —This is certainly one of the prettiest of 
the.Bellworts, very dwarf, with small rosettes of foliage, from which 
spring the large solitary blue flowers, nearly equal in size to a 
Canterbury Bell. These are freely produced when the plant is 
thoroughly established, and a most handsome little carpeting it 
makes. It seems rather capricious, for I have heard of many 
failures with it, though I have had no difficulty with it. If it grew 
with everybody as with Mr. Ewbank of Ryde it would find a place 
in the garden of all alpine fanciers, for it thrives admirably in the 
rich rather heavy loam in which it is planted, and in which it 
delights. A cool, moist, and rich loam is the soil it requires to 
establish itself, and in which it gives satisfaction. 
C. Haineri is a scarce and very pretty species, but very fre¬ 
quently misnamed, C. turbinata and its varieties being often sup¬ 
plied to purchasers as the true form, from which, however, it is 
quite distinct. It is much dwarfer in habit, very woolly, and the 
flowers are more bell-shaped, being deeper, on short foliaceous 
stems, whereas the flower-stems of the C. turbinata section are all 
but naked. The flowers are pale sky blue, and very large for such 
a diminutive plant. It delights in rich gritty loam and leaf soil, 
in a sunny position. At the foot of the rockery I have known 
it to do well. Slugs are extremely fond of it, leaving other 
species untouched near it, and they will clear it quite away if not 
disturbed. 
C. Tenorii has slender trailing stems, with racemes of more or 
less contracted blue flowers, pendulous in disposition; it is ex¬ 
tremely pretty and well suited for drooping over a ledge on the 
rockery. Easily raised from seed. 
Neja gracilis, although not quite hardy, is nevertheless well 
worth the trouble of keeping in a frame or cool greenhouse, as it 
is very showy for the rockery and warm borders during the summer, 
blooming for a very long time. The leaves are very narrow and 
deep green, and the bright yellow capitula are produced upon 
slender stems, and about an inch across, copiously produced It 
is most easily grown, and cuttings striking freely any time of the 
year; a store pot kept through the winter in a house would be quite 
sufficient to make a good show in the following summer if they 
were potted off early in spring, and planted out in April or May. 
It is very striking, and certainly well worth growing. 
Potentilla dubia is a comparatively rare species, although a very 
free grower, for when once planted it always maintains its position, 
forming neat masses, of dwarf habit, and when such are a deside¬ 
ratum it is well worth having, as it is very bright and lasts for 
some months in bloom. The flowers are bright yellow, round, and 
