22 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ July 8, 1880. 
with the assistance of a great grower of these plants, compiled 
a list arranged as to colour, all of which bear gay and well- 
defined flowers. All these I can answer from personal ex¬ 
perience are worth growing, and nearly all of them are at 
present in my collection. 
White Flowers. 
Anemone japonica Honorine 
Jobert 
Hesperis Matronalis alba fl.-pl. 
(Double White Rocket) 
Centaurea montana alba 
Diantkus Marie Parr 
Lilium candidum 
Pyrethrum alba rosea 
P. Mont Blanc 
Spiraia Aruncus 
Campanula persicifolia alba 
Pentstemon The Bride 
Phlox The Pearl, Miss Robert¬ 
son , The Queen. 
CEnothera taraxacifolia 
Veronica mantima alba 
Pansy Great Eastern and Mrs. 
Felton 
Saxifraga granulata fl.-pl. 
Arabises 
Alyssums 
Irises, selected from the aphylla 
and amcena section of I. ger- 
manica. 
Blue, 
Aquilegia cserulea 
A. cserulea hybrida 
Delphinium formosum 
D. Belladonna 
D. Nahamah 
D. Barlowi 
D. Hermann Stenger 
D. Madame Lemoine 
Campanula Hendersonii 
grandis 
Harpalium rigidum 
Helianthus multiflorus 
Aquilegia chrysantha 
Rudbeckia Nevvmanii 
Lilium tigrinum 
Pintle, and Shades. 
C. Van Houttci 
Echinops ruthenicus, Senecio 
pulcher, Irises, selected from 
the Keglecta and Pallida 
sections of Iris germanica; 
Pansies in great variety. 
This list can be greatly 
augmented, but the above 
and include the best sorts for the 
purpose. 
Yellow. 
Coreopsis lanceolata 
Potentilla Phoebus 
Pyrethrum Solfaterre 
Pansy King Koffee 
Red, Crimson, and Scarlet. 
Pyrethrum Progress 
P. Hermann Stenger 
P. carminatum plenum 
Dielytra spectabilis 
Geum ccccineum fl. pi. 
Tritoma grandis 
Pentstemon Stanstead Rival 
Lychnis chalcedonica fl. pi. 
L. fulgens 
Paeonies in variety 
-Wyld Savage. 
Papaver orientale 
Potentilla Wm. Rollisson 
Centranthus ruber 
Dianthus magniGcus 
Phlox Deliverance 
P. Lothair 
P. coccinea 
Monarda didyma 
Lobelia fulgens 
STRAWBERRIES. 
Unfortunately for cultivators the effects of a bad season do 
not all disappear with it, and signs are not wanting that we have 
still to suffer, both indoors and out, for the sun’s absence during 
1871). True, the Strawberry crop indoors has been an agreeable sur¬ 
prise, but I suspect a great deal of the credit belongs to our newly 
introduced sorts. There are possibly more plants of Vicomtesse Heri- 
cart dc Thury and President grown in pots than of all other sorts 
together. Many of us indeed—myself amongst the number—grew 
nothing else during the season just past, and we have to con¬ 
gratulate ourselves on our choice. Had we stuck to our old friend 
Keens’ Seedliug it is more than probable that our early fruits 
would not have been so plentiful, for Keens’ Seedling and its 
near relatives do not succeed unless they are well ripened, and 
last autumn we knew that ripening Strawberry crowns was out of 
the question. Let us not say, then, that our old practice was wrong 
and that we need not take so much care in the future. I still 
think it was perfectly right, and that our present success is 
owing to our possessing more accommodating varieties than we 
formerly did. 
There are several peculiarities about Vicomtesse Hcricart de 
Thury which distinguish it from all the Strawberries, the chief of 
which are—it will fruit at any time it is required ; it is only when 
forced it can rank as a first-class fruit; it will ripeu almost as well 
without sun as with it; and so long as it is exposed to some amount 
of air while ripening it is as good gathered out of a hothouse as 
from an intermediate one, while placing it when ripe in a house 
with a lower average temperature than 55° actually makes the 
quality deteriorate, and yet it is only by placing them in a com¬ 
paratively low temperature with abundance of air that we can 
obtain the proper flavour of Keens’ Seedling and mauy others. 
These peculiarities of Hericart de Thury make it altogether the 
best friend to the Strawberry forcer that he has had introduced 
for a long time; and I would suggest to the raisers of new varieties 
that they take this one in hand, and add size to it, which when 
grown indoors is the only quality it lacks. I have had several 
fruits this season which would turn the scales with an ounce 
weight; but these were, I should say, exceptional for this sort, and 
I have never had the average approach such a weight. 
President, in my opinion, is the best variety to come in from the 
middle of May till the outdoor fruit ripens, it having every good 
quality at that time ; but whatever others may have done, I have 
never been able to make sure of it before the time named. I still 
layer all the runners in the fruiting pots, and believe I gain a 
fortnight’s time by so doing, besides the economy of labour in a 
busy part of the year. And there is another very important 
thing which is often overlooked: under this system one person can 
place all the soil in pots for fifteen hundred or two thousand 
plants, as it does not take long to ram them firm, and one 
pot is not likely to differ very much from another, while for 
repotting that ny.mber of plants two persons at least are necessary 
to accomplish it in a suitable time, and no two persons ever can 
do them exactly alike, consequently the watering which suits 
those potted by one person may not be just the thing for those 
done by another. Were I to take charge of a number of plants 
of any kind, however common and easy to grow they might be, 
which I wanted to do to the best of my ability, I should prefer 
potting every one of them myself rather than trust them to be 
done by the best gardener in England. 
The Straw’berry seems to be one of the few fruits which are 
independent of bad seasons. Let the preceding summer be ever 
so bad, we may be tolerably sure of having some Strawberries in 
the open ground if it pleases the birds, slugs, and spring frosts. 
Insects are not troublesome to them, and therefore their cultivation 
when so many other fruits are a general failure is not likely to 
decrease. President is without doubt the best midseason Straw¬ 
berry. Eleanor does well with me for a late kind, but I will not 
say it is the best for everybody. I am still on the look-out for a 
better early one than Keens’ Seedling, as although it generally 
does well here it is not without its faults, but I cannot yet see my 
way clear for discarding it. If a very early variety is wanted 
Black Prince is undoubtedly the best, but in large establishments 
Black Prince of less than half an ounce in weight can hardly pass 
muster close on the heels of President forced to the size of an Egg 
Plum, and of better flavour than its lilliput brother. 
I find the red and white Alpine Strawberries exceedingly useful 
in autumn, and there are people who prefer their flavour to that 
of any other Strawberry. Alpines are best treated as annuals. 
Sown in warmth in February, and planted out in April, 15 or 
18 inches apart, they will fruit freely the same season, and con¬ 
tinue bearing till frost stops them. Runners planted in spring, 
having the flowers kept off till July, will do almost as well as 
seedlings, and can be grown by those who have no house or frame ; 
but in this case, too, a fresh plantation should be made every year 
if fruit an inch long is wanted.— Wm. Taylor. 
THE RHODODENDRON. 
Most welcome was the note upon Rhododendrons on page 479 of 
vol. xxxviii. The few sorts named were good, but the list was too 
brief even for a selection, for there are some of the older varieties so 
excellent as to be quite indispensable. Such distinct and magnifi¬ 
cent sorts as Grand Arab, Barclayanum, Warrior, Geranioides, 
Queen of the West, Majesticum, and Lady Eleanor Cathcart should 
never be overlooked, although hardly any of them have had many 
flowers this year—another of the baneful effects of gloomy, chill, 
dripping 1879. Lady Eleanor Cathcart has been a brilliant excep¬ 
tion with its profusion of bright rosy pink flowers. I have planted 
several of this charming variety in mixed beds of Rhododen¬ 
drons, and luckily placed one strong plant on turf near some 
Conifers and Portugal Laurels to see if it would form a specimen 
worthy to occupy a conspicuous position ; and glad enough am I 
that this was done, for it and some dozens of other kinds so 
situated are becoming more shapely and larger than they ever 
could do in crowded beds. Once established, in two or three 
years they become a thicket, so that one has to re-arrange and 
transplant for years in order to give all of them a chance to grow 
and become fully ornamental. Gladly is this work turned to 
again and again, for it repays the pains bestowed upon it doubly, 
affording grand materials for the formation of new clumps, the 
boundaries of which in turn become enlarged and extended. 
The popularity of the Rhododendron is now thoroughly esta¬ 
blished. Everybody admires it. It forms a prominent feature 
in every new garden, and is a novel and delightful innovation in 
many an old one, whence it has routed the dull heavy-looking 
common Laurel. I lately saw a leading article loud in its praise 
