JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
October 5,1882. ] 
327 
flower garden should be planted with those flowers which are at 
their best in autumn. 
In commencing the culture of hardy plants both annuals and 
ordinary bedding plants may be employed, but with a sufficient 
number of plants perennials should be strictly kept to themselves. 
They require a mode of treatment inimical to the well-being of 
their shorter-lived relatives. A word of warning may be here 
given to beginners or those who have not had a long experience 
of these plants, and that is this : A system of merely striking the 
plants in the ground and leaving them unattended, with the ex¬ 
ception of tying up stragglers, cutting over dead stems, and an 
annual doing-up of the border, is not the sort of cultivation to do 
these flowers justice. It has been our experience that more 
labour is required to keep them in good order than is needed for 
ordinary bedding plants—that is, to keep them in the same con¬ 
dition. To do justice to the plants we find it necessary to lift 
them every second or third year, well manure, and either dig the 
ground deeply or trench it. The plan we have found best has 
been to propagate as many plants of each kind required at this 
season. During winter the remainder of the plants are destroyed, 
with the exception of bulbs which are merely transplanted, being 
also divided if required at the same time while the ground is being 
cultivated. In spring the plants are put in these places closely 
enough to be effective the first season. The majority of the plants 
are divided, and the divided pieces laid in like Box in a trench 
along which a little manure, such as that used for Mushroom beds, 
has been placed. Cuttings are also inserted at this time, being 
covered with old sashes. Seeds of such things as Aquilegias and 
Alpine Poppies sown now, and the young plants obtained kept 
growing through the winter, also do well to place out with the 
others. 
It is strongly advisable to limit the time of the display. If you 
have a good decorative effect from March till July, then trust to 
tender bedders after that time. It is possible to have a continued 
display until winter sets in, but the majority of gardeners cannot 
do so. The cultivation must be of the highest order, early-flower- 
ing plants kept free from seeding in order to flower again in 
autumn. A large place in the ground must be occupied with 
Tritomas, Michaelmas Daisies, and other late-flowering plants, 
necessitating a broader space of ground than can generally be 
obtained for this purpose, and above all an amount of attention 
which it is often impossible to secure. 
Just a few words a3 to the kinds of plants to grow. I have 
seen more than one so-called collection of hardy plants bought at 
a somewhat heavy expense, and not over 20 per cent, of the plants 
were worth growing. To those who are unacquainted with these 
flowers it is of course difficult to decide as to the sorts to pur¬ 
chase. Such improved flowers as Antirrhinums, Delphiniums, 
double Pyrethrums, English Irises, and Phloxes should be very 
largely employed, as they are sure to give satisfaction, afterwards 
the commoner hardy species may be added. Curiously enough 
forms of British wild plants are amongst the very best of hardy 
plants.—B. 
Hales’ Early Peach I can say but little about. I have a young 
tree from which, from its size and quantity of blossom, I antici¬ 
pated a dozen and a half or two dozen fruits, but it only ripened 
six. The tree is still in a temporary position. 
Two years ago I was recommended to obtain a tree of Early 
Alexander, as being the best and most satisfactory of all the early 
Peaches. It is a large-flowering variety. I shall be pleased to 
see stated the merits of this Peach, for I shall hesitate to destroy 
a good tree of Royal George to make room for it until I know 
more about it, and it can only stand one more year in its tem¬ 
porary place. I do not expect it to fruit next season, as the 
position in which it is in is not very satisfactory.—W. Bardney. 
Loed Napier Nectarine is one of the most valuable Nectarines 
ever raised. 1 am sure Mr. Taylor need not fear to plant it in an 
early house, as it sets its fruit very freely indeed in our orchard 
house. I have grown first and last at least thirty varieties of 
Nectarines, and if I was allowed to select three varieties only 
for planting they would be Lord Napier, Stanwick Elruge, and 
Pine Apple. If by any chance there could be room made for 
another one it would be Victoria. By substituting Victoria for 
Stanwick Elruge the season would be prolonged, but then you 
would omit a much more beautiful variety, for appearance is of 
great importance, although it will scarcely do to place it before 
flavour. But from the market-growers’ point of view high colour 
would be placed before flavour, and Stanwick Elruge would 
always command a higher price than Victoria. Besides, high and 
rich colours look best on the table when the fruit is arranged for 
dessert. The good old Nectarines Violette Hative and Elruge are 
out of it now, and Hunt’s Tawny, which used to be the earliest, is 
nowhere.— J. Douglas. 
In reply to Mr. Taylor’s inquiry respecting the earliness of 
Hales’ Early Peach compared with Royal George and others. 
My experience of it is that, growing in a second early or midseason 
house facing east, it ripens from a fortnight to three weeks before 
Royal George, and nearly as much before Early York. I certainly 
consider it far before Early York in size and appearance, and 
better than Royal George, except, perhaps, the vigorous constitu¬ 
tion and free-bearing properties of the latter. 
With regard to ‘‘Lancastrian’s” inquiry respecting Lord 
Napier Nectarine, I find it to succeed well in a late house. Upon 
taking charge of these gardens in July of last year I found the 
border of one of the late Peach houses in a particularly bad state 
with regard to drainage, and the trees in a poor condition. I 
lifted the whole of them, redrained the border, carefully replant¬ 
ing. Two of the trees were Lord Napier Nectarine. I allowed 
one of the above and one Peach to carry a crop this year, which 
they finished well. The change in the appearance of all the trees 
in this house is very marked this season. If I were going to plant 
Nectarines in a late house I should certainly give Lord Napier 
a place. My employer says there is no Nectarine like it.— 
W. Jenkins, Aldin Grange, Durham. 
LORD NAPIER NECTARINE AND HALES’ EARLY 
PEACH. 
I GATHERED from the warmest end of my early house Royal 
George Peaches on the 23rd of May, and the first fruit of Lord 
Napier Nectarine on either the 14th or 15th. This tree is situated 
in the middle of the house and is young, not having filled the 
space allotted to it. The fruit it bore this year was its first crop, 
and I was perfectly satisfied with the results. I first saw this 
Nectarine fruiting freely on a very small tree at Court Hey near 
Liverpool, and in consequence obtained a tree. The Court Hey 
tree grew rapidly and fruited freely each season, having ripe fruit 
in May. Mr. Elsworthy considers it a fortnight earlier than 
Royal George Peach in his house. This is only two examples of 
success with Lord Napier, and Mr. Elsworthy’s experience with it 
is much greater than mine, and I shall be pleased to see the 
opinions of others who have established trees, and have fruited 
them with other varieties in May. 
Like Mr. Taylor I have always had a dread of large-flowering 
varieties for early forcing ; but since I found out the deficiency 
that appears most marked with those varieties, the fear of not 
obtaining a crop from them is passing away. I find they are 
short of pollen at a time when it is wanted, and the pistil is too 
far advanced before the pollen appears on the stamens. Lord 
Napier is not so badly affected in this way as some, but I carried 
the pollen to it from my Royal George trees in the same house. I 
have a tree of Noblesse in my third house, and have failed more 
than once in securing a crop, but never since I discovered it 
required the aid of pollen from neighbouring trees. 
SOME USEFUL PALMS. 
During the last half dozen years our knowledge of these valu¬ 
able decorative plants has been considerably increased by the large 
number of new and rare species which have been introduced by 
enterprising nurserymen, in whose houses one may see thousands 
fast approaching that size which is most desirable in plants for 
decorating the dinner-table. Few cultivators are unacquainted 
with the value of such Palms as Cocos Weddelliana, Areca 
lutescens, and A. Verschaffeltii, which from their graceful and 
robust habit are so well adapted for decorative purposes. The 
rough treatment these, and in fact almost all Palms, will bear with 
impunity renders them of especial service, it would be difficult 
to find any plant even among Palms which would surpass such as 
the above for general purposes, yet among the newer introductions 
there are many, the claims of which are quite equal to the best of 
the older kinds; and as there is a great range of variety of 
character in the members of this large order, it will be found that 
some of these less known species possess both beauty and distinc¬ 
tiveness that must win for them general favour. 
To commence with the genus Cocos. We have in addition to 
C. Weddelliana a very ornamental and rather rare species in 
C. plumosa, which is perhaps one of the most graceful and noble 
Palms known. One of the most effective groups ever arranged 
by Mr. Wills owed much of its beauty to the presence of several 
noble specimens of this Palm, their dark green plume-like leaves, 
towering up and curving over the smaller plants, having a most 
beautiful effect. Along with this species may be mentioned 
another almost similar one—viz., C. flexuosa. Both these kinds are 
