August 19, 1880. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 1G5 
the present buildings, and is fire storeys high, each floor having an 
open space of 88 feet by 40 feet. Steam lifts and staircases are 
provided, together with offices for warehousemen, &c. The com¬ 
munications betwixt the new and present warehouses are to be 
closed by fireproof doors. Speaking-tubes are provided to all the 
offices, and the telephone i3 to connect them with the seed ware¬ 
houses, which are on the opposite side of the courtyard. The 
buildings are being carried out by Mr. Lovatt from designs pre¬ 
pared by Mr. J. E. Yeall, architect, Wolverhampton. The mate¬ 
rials used are red pressed bricks, with Holjington stone dressings. 
The cost will be nearly £7000. 
-- On the 10th inst. Mr. Alfred Sutton and Mr. M. J. Sutton, 
of the firm of Messes. Sutton & Sons of Beading, accompanied 
their employes by special train to Portsmouth. As it is now a 
matter of difficulty on account of the size of the party (400) to 
find a suitable place for all to dine together, so in addition to the 
railway and boat tickets Messrs. Sutton gave to each man 5,y. to 
provide himself with refreshments. Each married man had also 
a ticket given him for his wife. A number of the tourists passed 
over to the Isle of Wight, and all greatly enjoyed the day of 
change and wholesome recreation. 
—— Me. R. Kippist held the post of Librarian and not 
Secretary to the Linnman Society, as was inadvertently stated 
last week on page 141 in a paragraph referring to his retirement. 
— We cite the following from “ The Gardener,” relative to 
the value of Hales’ Early Peach for forcing “ The first week 
in June we received from Chatsworth a ripe fruit of this Peach, 
the forcing of which was commenced on the 28th of January. A 
sample of Elruge Nectarine, from a tree growing beside Hales’ 
Early Peach, was just stoned, but not commenced to swell a 
second time. Eojml George Peaches, started in the early part of 
November, were fourteen days behind Hales’ Early, started 28th 
November. There are still earlier Peaches than Hales’, but they 
are much less, and not so fine in other respects.” 
-* The same paper contains the following note on the 
Duke op Buccleuch Grape —“Those who would like to see 
what can be done with this magnificent Grape should visit Tweed 
Vineyard and Drumlanrig, before the crops of it at these places 
have been encroached on with the knife. Mr. William Thomson 
informs us that the side of his corridor occupied by the Duke 
has the worst border of any in the Vineyard, and the treatment 
is nothing different from what he usually practises in the case 
of Black Hamburgh. Here there is an even clean crop from top 
to bottom, on spurs and young wood alike. Mr. Thomson 
reckons his weight of it at half a ton ; and he always gets a 
shilling or two more per pound for the Duke than for any other 
Grape he sends to Covent Garden at the same season. At 
Drumlanrig the whole of a sunken, semi-pit-like, span-roofed house, 
running east and west, is devoted to it. The effect of such 
enormous berries near the eyes is unique. There is scarcely a 
spotted berry in the house. Mr. D. Thomson says the border 
is very indifferent, having been made a month or two after he 
went to Drumlanrig, to produce a temporary crop of Grapes. 
Three years ago four grafts of the Duke were put in, and last 
year all others were cut away and the house filled from these 
grafts. The only difference Mr. Thomson makes in the treat¬ 
ment of the Duke is, that he gives a little more heat when it is in 
bloom, and, as a rule, all through gives more air. All who have 
seen these two crops of the Duke cannot but regret that so mag¬ 
nificent a Grape is so often met with in a bad state ; and it is to 
be hoped that gradually it may take a more popular position in 
all Grape-growing establishments.” 
- A neat dwarf species of St. John’s Wort is Hypericum 
empetrifolium, which rarely exceeds 9 inches or a foot in height. 
The leaves are linear, about half an inch in length, and closely 
set on the stem. The flowers are small but very numerous, and 
of a bright yellow hue, each plant of moderate size forming a 
dense mass of colour that appears to excellent advantage among 
the numerous plants now flowering in a border of well-selected 
herbaceous plants. We recently saw a number of handsome little 
specimens in a suburban garden, where it is greatly prized. 
-- An Ipswich correspondent writes us that the Potato 
DISEASE is making serious havoc in that part of Suffolk. The 
progress of the disease was especially noticeable during the first 
week of August. Both early and late varieties are affected. 
- A remarkably distinct species of Pentstemon is now 
flowering at Kew—viz., Pentstemon Murrayanum, which rises 
to the height of nearly 7 feet, and bears in the axils of the glau¬ 
cous stem-clasping or perfoliate leaves numerous tubular red or 
scarlet flowers. The peculiar form of the leaves, the bright colour 
of the flowers, and the extraordinary height of the stems render it 
very noticeable. 
- In the same garden Gunnera scabrA is now in most 
vigorous health, the leaves being of enormous size. The excep¬ 
tionally fine clump at the upper end of the herbaceous grounds 
is now most conspicuous, and indicates the value of the plant 
for prominent positions in gardens. 
-An attractive plant is Nigella iiispAnicA, and one of 
the best of its genus. The flowers are comparatively large, the 
sepals being roundish in form and of a dark purplish blue tint, 
which contrasts curiously with the reddish stamens and pistils. 
The petals, as in other Nigellas, are of peculiar form, but small and 
inconspicuous. The leaves and bracts are divided into numerous 
segments, but not so finely as in Nigella damascena, which is 
popularly known as Love-in-a-Mist or Love-in-a-Puzzle, both 
appellations referring to the involucre that is immediately below 
the flower. Another pretty species is N. sativa with very pale 
blue or white flowers, but it is inferior in decorative value to the 
two first named. They all flower abundantly during July and 
the present month. 
- Wasps v. Wall Fruit. —The advice in “ Work for the 
Week,” August 5th, 1880, for suspending bottles near the places 
the wasps frequent, leads me to mention the experience of two 
years, which was attended by great success. About a score 
bottles, half filled with a well-sweetened mixture of treacle and 
beer, were placed on a pyramid Pear tree in the middle of my 
large garden at a considerable distance from an orchard house 
and walls. Wasps and flies were attracted to the bottles, the 
contents of which were sought in preference to wall fruit.— 
J. J. T., Herts. 
KALOSANTIIES COCCINEA. 
This old inhabitant of our greenhouses is not cultivated in such 
large numbers as it really deserves to be. Wren well grown it 
would be difficult to find a more lovely flowering plant than the 
old Kalosanthes. It is suitable for market purposes, for room 
decoration, as well as for the ornamentation of the conservatory, 
and lastly as an exhibition plant it is very effective. Its adapta¬ 
bility to bloom from June to the end of August, or later if retarded 
in its early stages, renders it more worthy of attention, especially 
when we consider Pelargoniums of the French and fancy type 
and Calceolarias are over, and Heaths are on the wane. At this 
time there is frequently a scarcity of flowering plants for the 
conservatory. In addition to the individual beauty of each truss 
it possesses a sweet fragrance. 
Propagation is easily effected at any season of the year, either 
during the spring or at the present time ; the latter in all proba¬ 
bility is best as the plants go out of flower. Any shoots that have 
not produced a truss of bloom this year should be taken off and 
rooted, either singly in pots 3 inches in diameter or four or five in 
5-inch pots, or more in larger sizes if required. Young shoots 
4 inches long are preferable for cuttings, as they grow more freely 
