December i4, 1882 . ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 543 
and it should be the planter’s care to unpack them and cover the 
roots thoroughly with fine soil as soon as he receives them. Plant¬ 
ing cannot always be done at once, nor need it be pressed on till 
a favourable opportunity offers, if the roots are only so protected 
from the drying shrivelling action of the air. 
Plant only in soil that you know to be fertile. Do not mind 
not having that “sweet upland loam,” which we would all get if 
we could. It cannot be too often repeated that soil which will 
grow good vegetables answers equally well for fruit, only take 
good care there is enough of it. Never plant in a shallow soil 
because of the great risk—in many sorts the certainty of canker 
and premature decay. Every tree should have a station G feet 
square and 2 feet deep. Excavate a hole of that size. If the sub¬ 
soil is of a close heavy texture likely to retain much moisture, lay a 
2-inch pipe drain across the middle of the bottom, and connect it 
with the nearest drain or outfall; then ram hard a 4-inch laj r er of 
broken stones all over the bottom, and fill with good soil, from 
which remove every particle of roots or pieces of wood, decaying 
wood being a nidus for fungus, which spreads to the roots and 
destroys the tree. Remove all bruised roots with a clean cut, 
spread out the others evenly and at full length ; pack the soil 
closely among them and trample it firmly, taking care that the 
surface of the station about the collar of the tree is 6 inches above 
the common level to allow for its sinking. Secure the tree firmly 
in its position by stakes or wires ; fasten a weather-proof label 
with its name and date of planting to it; cover the entire surface 
of the station with a mulching of any rough litter—then, and not 
till then, may you consider that you have done all that is neces¬ 
sary at the time of planting. Do not put off the naming, as is so 
often done ; enter it also at the same time upon its place in the 
garden plan, and then if a label is lost you can always replace it 
correctly.— Edward Luckhurst. 
SERICOGRAPHIS GHIESBREGHTIANA. 
This plant has long been known and valued by gardeners as 
a winter-flowering plant for the warm greenhouse, but I believe 
it is not generally known that it is a most valuable plant for 
covering the back walls of vineries or other fruit houses. 
We have here three plants, each about 6 feet high and the same 
in diameter, trained over the back wall of a lean-to vinery, the 
roof of which is quite covered with the Vines. They are planted 
out in a narrow border, which is separated from the Vine border 
by a stone-flagged pathway. The growths they have made during 
the past summer are very strong, much more so than we ever see 
them when grown in pots, and they have throughout the summer 
been very ornamental with their ample Laurel-like foliage of a 
dark and glossy green. During the whole of last month they 
have been one bright glowing sheet of scarlet, as from near the 
ground to the topmost points they are quite covered with long 
spikes of Salvia-like scarlet blooms. 
Although the house is kept quite cool, as the Grapes are now 
all cut and the Vines at rest, yet the blooms expand freely and 
last well when cut. We find them most useful for arranging with 
Chrysanthemums ; and although we are cutting them in quantity 
nearly every day, the display is yet as bright as at first owing to 
successional spikes taking the place of those cut. The ladies here 
are much pleased with it, and are proud to show it to their friends 
and visitors.—W. K. W. 
CRAB v. PARADISE STOCKS FOR APPLES. 
Dwarfing stocks have been for a long time recognised a9 
suitable for Apples ; nevertheless, I feel sure that the Crab stock 
has been banished from some gardens when it would have been 
better retained. In my own case I am planting young trees budded 
on the Crab, as I find almost without exception that the stocks used 
by nurserymen do not live in this soil. The only exception I can 
name is Ecklinville Seedling, which does well ; but even such 
popular kinds as Lord Suffield and Stirling Castle continue in 
health for a few years only. One of the very worst is Hawthorn- 
den, which will not grow at all. Our soil is rich and light, with 
a substratum of gravel near the surface. It would be interesting 
to know the experience of others with soils of a similar character. 
The plan adopted to remedy this disappointing state of things has 
been to purchase stocks of the common Crab at this season, grow 
them on for a year, cut them down, and bud on the young wood 
of the following year. We have old and healthy trees on a free- 
growing stock, and expect that young trees on a free stock will 
do as well now as they did half a century ago. The best Apples 
for the particular garden should alone be propagated, no matter 
whether the name is known or not. When a gardener is expected 
to keep an average daily supply of, say, half a bushel Apples for 
four or five months, it does not so much matter knowing the 
names of fifty varieties, as it does to know the half-dozen sorts 
that are practically sure to yield a crop year after year and enable 
him to meet such demands with ease.—B. 
LINARIA VULGARIS VAR. PELORIA. 
The plant, of which a flowering spray is represented in fig. 92, 
and which is referred to in the article on page 552 as growing 
in the gardens at Keir, is an example of a peculiar phenomenon 
that is occasionally observed in flowers, and is termed Peloria. 
This consists in the transformation, or, according to some botanists, 
the reversion, of what are usually irregular corollas to a regular 
form. For example, in the Linarias and Antirrhinums the corollas, 
as is well known, have commonly a two-lipped form, to which 
the term “personate” is applied, the chief difference between the 
two being that the corollas of the Linarias are furnished with a 
spur at the base and those of the Antirrhinum are without this 
appendage. In the case of the variety Peloria, however, this two¬ 
lipped form quite disappears, the upper part assuming a conical 
shape with the extremity five-cleft and sharply revolute, the base 
