12 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ January 4, 1883. 
which are proverbially fickle, could be relied on for always 
producing fine fruit of superior quality. If our readers who 
grow these Pears will describe the conditions and circumstances 
under which they succeed or fail, the information will be of 
service to others besides our correspondent.] 
LILIUM LONGIFLORUM IN WINTER. 
Last winter I received a number of bulbs of Lilium longiflorum 
from Holland. They flowered very well in a greenhouse, the 
stems being 3 feet in height. After the plants in one pot con¬ 
taining six bulbs had flowered I planted the mass out in the 
garden, and finding in September that a number of very stout 
stems were again appearing I repotted and placed it in the green¬ 
house. I have fourteen good buds on the plants now, and three 
expanded flowers looking grand in this dismal weather. Is this 
the ordinary L. longiflorum or the variety called eximium ? 
Whichever it is, it seems to me that it must be very useful to gar¬ 
deners who have to keep conservatories looking well during the 
winter. My greenhouse is only a small one, and during the 
severe frost has been down to 38° Fahr. several times, but the 
flowers do not seem to suffer.— John Pearson, Radcliffe, 
ST. JOHN'S WORTS. 
This is the family name given to th# plants of the genus 
Hypericum. In spite of the wide difference of habit and habitat 
amongst these plants, there is a strong family resemblance 
between the flowers of all of them. The generic name is gene¬ 
rally mispronounced, and I have seen most improbable and far¬ 
fetched derivations suggested for it. The word is Greek, and is 
found in the writings of Dioscorides, a Greek doctor, who wrote 
on medicinal plants. He spells it Hypereilton; and there can 
be little reasonable doubt that it is compounded of Ilyp (in Latin 
sub) and ereike (Latin erica'), the diphthong being of course long 
by nature, as well as the i of the Latin name. Turned into 
English the name is “Under-Heath,” and if it is asked why the 
St. John’s Wort should have this name, we must give a few words 
of general explanation. Upon the revival of the study of 
ancient Greek and Latin, botanists and scholars did their best 
to identify the ancient names of shrubs and plants with those 
known to them. Though it was known that they had made many 
mistakes, more recent research has done little to correct them. 
The laborious attempts made at the beginning of this century 
by that distinguished scholar and botanist, Professor Sibthorpe, 
are well known. He spent several years in Greece with the 
special object of studying in their native country the plants 
mentioned by the ancients. He gave us in his “ Flora Grmca ” 
one of the most splendid botanical works ever produced, 
but made very little progress in the identification of names; 
the subject is therefore almost exhausted, and little new light 
can ever be thrown upon it. We cannot, therefore, be sure that 
the Hypereikcn of the Greeks was a St. John’s Wort at all, so it is 
quite superfluous to inquire why it was called “ Under-Heath.” 
As for the English name, there is a general consent that it was 
given because the commonest of the wild kinds, H. perforatum, 
comes into flower about St. John’s day ; or more properly, bear¬ 
ing in mind that the name was given under the old style, about 
the beginning of July. 
It is proposed in these notes to give an account of the mode of 
growing the kinds of St. John's Wort cultivated by me in my 
garden in Cheshire, about a dozen in number. The commonest 
of them is H. calycinum, generally and rightly called the Large- 
flowered St.John’s Wort, a plant better suited for the shrubbery 
border or the wild garden than-for mixed flower beds. It spreads 
rapidly, and in cultivated ground or favourable wild spots soon 
forms a compact evergreen mass against which no weak plants 
can hold their ground, and it claims undisputed possession. It 
must not, however, be expected to compete successfully with the 
roots of Elm or Ash trees, or similar surface-feeders. I have seen 
it most ornamental and luxuriant amongst wild walks in pleasure 
grounds in Surrey, but on cold soils, like the clay of Cheshire, it 
is more difficult to establish in wild situations, and when established 
it is liable to be cut to the ground and afterwards smothered by 
weeds by such winters as that of 1880. Though naturalised in 
several places, and often admitted in lists of British plants, it 
belongs to the south-east of Europe, and is, therefore, hardly 
likely to be a native plant. It is the only St. John’s Wort that 
is appreciated as it deserves to be, and there is hardly a garden 
of any extent in some part of which it is not to be found. 
The same, however, cannot be said of that hardiest of St. John’s 
Worts H. olympicum, a very neat and ornamental plant, but 
neglected because it requires about as much cultivation as is 
generally given to a bedding Pansy. It is said to be a native of 
the Mysian Olympus; but Mr. G. Maw, who has searched that 
range for plants, told me that he had never seen it there ; still, 
whatever its native country, it is a most desirable plant, growing 
about 18 inches high, and producing in summer a profusion of 
flowers nearly as large as those of H. calycinum. Its cultivation 
is important, as it is of shrubby habit, never spreading at the 
root, but breaking into new growth from the base of the flower 
stalks before they die, which they do at the end of summer. 
This young growth is never injured by frost, so that the plant is 
evergreen. It is, however, short-lived, generally dying in my 
garden at three years old. The only way of increasing the plant 
is by small cuttings, about an inch long, taken from the eDd of 
the young shoots at any time from spring to autumn, which strike 
easily under glass. Those taken in autumn are ready to plant 
out by April, and make late-flowering plants the first season. 
The second year they are at their best, and always attract atten¬ 
tion at this stage. They cannot be safely transplanted if more 
than a year old, and I have more than once tried without success 
to divide them by cutting through the root. Established plants 
do well in any soil or situation ; but from what has been said it 
will be understood that they must not be lost sight of or forgotten, 
but a fresh stock propagated every year. Those who grow it 
know it to be well worth the little trouble it gives. 
I come now to three or four shrubs, to which I give the same 
treatment in propagation as to the last-mentioned, but for a diffe¬ 
rent reason—that they are not quite hardy. Though they lived 
through the exceptional winter of 1881, they can be depended 
upon to survive bad winters unhurt only in the more favoured 
gardens of the south-west of England or of North Wales. The 
largest of them is H. oblongifolium, which in Devonshire grows 
into an upright shrub 3 or 4 feet high, bearing bunches of large 
wax-like flowers with petals as thick and as solid as those of a 
Camellia. Better known is the elegant dwarf bush generally 
sold as H. patulum, but which botanists say is not the true H. 
patulum of Eastern Asia, but a hybrid. However this may 
be, it is a most desirable plant. Cuttings of it may be pre¬ 
served through winter in store pots like those of scarlet Pelar¬ 
goniums ; and these, planted out in May, grow as fast, but do not 
flower until August, from which time they continue to flower till 
checked by hard frost. A third shrub of similar habit, and doing 
well under similar treatment, but smaller both in its leaf and its 
flower, is named H. uralum. It is so like a dwarfed edition of 
H. patulum that I consider it hardly worth growing in addition 
to it; in fact, the so-called H. patulum is the best of the three, 
being more bushy and compact than oblongifolium, though the 
flowers are not quite so large. As there are at least seven or 
eight more St. John’s Worts of which I wish to speak, it may be 
better to defer mention of them to another issue.—C. W. Dod. 
DUKE OF BUCCLEUCH GRAPE. 
In reply to your correspondent who asks about the late-keeping 
qualities of the Duke, I beg to say that the Vine was planted in 
an inside border in a Muscat house, and was carefully attended to 
in regard to being kept drier at the root than is usual for most 
other varieties. Of course it was ripe much earlier than the 
Muscat, and was subjected to more heat than it ordinarily gets. 
It was fit for use on the 1st of August, and I cut the last bunches 
the la t week of January, having left several just to try how long 
they would keep. The berries had shrunk a little, were of a deep 
golden colour and a delicious sugary flavour. I do not mean to 
say that the Duke is fitted for a late Grape, but the fact remains 
that it can be kept long after it is ripe.— Northern. 
CULTURE OF RICHARDIA ^THIOPICA. 
This is now a valued plant in many gardens, and its cultiva¬ 
tion is likely to extend as its good qualities become better known. 
The plant is useful for decoration, it stands room treatment well, 
the spathes are highly appreciated, few last longer fresh, and it 
is very easy to grow. Provided certain conditions are carried out 
no plant can be more accommodating. A plant may be brought 
into bloom at a given time at any season of the year, or the same 
plant may be flowering the whole year. It may be successfully 
cultivated and flowered in a 5 or 6-inch pot, or placed in clumps 
in the largest size pot made. As to soil it is less particular than 
any cultivated plant I know. It can be propagated successfully 
at any season. The old-fashioned way of growing the Richardia 
was to dry the plants during summer, repot in autumn, and 
flower them in spring. I do not think this is the best way. 
Drying the plants may do no harm, it certainly does no good. 
