JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
February 8, 1883. ] 
109 
what are popularly designated Everlasting Flowers they be¬ 
come objects of great beauty, altogether differing from the 
stereotyped bunch of dyed moss and artificially coloured 
flowers and Grasses. In addition to being useful in a dried 
state Grasses when judiciously introduced in epergnes of fresh- 
gathered flowers contribute greatly in producing the lightness 
that in a skilful arrangement is always so pleasing. Among 
those best suited for this purpose the following may be selected 
—viz., Agrostis nebulosa, Agrostis pulchella, Briza maxima, 
Briza media, Eragrostis elegans, and Lagurus ovatus ; and for 
dried bouquets, in addition to the aforenamed, A vena sterilis, 
Bromus brizseformis, Bromus patulus, Chloris barbata, Festuca 
rigida, Hordeum jubatum, Melica altissima, Penisetum longi- 
stylum, Phalaris canariensis, and Uniola paniculata. 
These may be treated exactly the same as hardy annuals, 
although some of them are of more than annual duration. 
Seed of any of them can be obtained at a trifling cost, and if 
sown in March or April in the open ground, the plants after 
being well thinned require lit lc attention. It is well to gather 
the flowers in different stages of development, rejecting ihose 
that are approaching ripeness, as when dry these will not be of 
good colour, and, moreover, will be disposed to fall to pieces. 
To dry them it is only necessary to expose them to the influence 
of the sun and air, and when fairly dry they should be tied in 
bunches and placed away in paper-lined boxes un il required 
for arranging into bouquets. It is best to procure plants of 
the perennial tall-growing species, but it must not be expected 
of them to flower the first season of planting. Being gene¬ 
rally supplied by nurserymen in po:s they can be obtained 
throughout the year. But perhaps the best month for plan ing 
them out is April, when the roo s are in active growth. 
Arundo conspicua, Erianthus Ravenna}, and Gynerium argen- 
teum represent the section, the former being an admirable 
decorative plant when in flower, and much resembles the 
Pampas Grass (Gynerium argenteum), but is of a neater habit 
of growth and possesses the advantage of coming into flower 
much earlier. 
The time to gather these is when the spikes are about to 
emerge from their sheaths ; by so doing the plumes when dry 
are of snowy whiteness, and present a very beautiful appear¬ 
ance. Nor should it be omitted to mention with regard to 
their blades, how much they contribute to the graceful appear¬ 
ance of an arrangement of flowers when introduced after 
having been carefully shreded, as seen in the exhibits of table 
decorations at our chief floral gatherings. 
The remarks made as to gathering Grasses applies equally to 
Everlasting Flowers, of which the subjoined may be chosen as 
deserving of being more generally grown. Acroclinium roseum 
and Acroclinium album are two of the prettiest of the com¬ 
paratively neglected annuals that can be mentioned, but the 
introduction of a new double form of the first-named, intro¬ 
duced for the first time this season, may be the means in some 
degree of bringing the merits of the older varieties into popular 
notice and favour. Ammobium alatum, Catananche bicolor, 
the many varieties of Helichrysum, the Rhodanthes and 
Xeran’hemums, if only for their profuse-flowering qualities, 
and independently of their value as dried flowers, have a claim 
on growers of annuals that appears to be not sufficiently 
recognised. 
Honesty (Lunaria biennis) is mentioned here on account of 
the pretty silvery silicles of its seed vessels, which are so 
admirably adapted for placing with some of the species of 
ornamental Grasses in large vases. Plants raised from seed 
sown during the ensuing season will produce their large lilac 
flowers the following summer, and these are succeeded by the 
seed vessels which contain the silicles. The stalks bearing 
them should be gathered before the seed commences ripening, 
so as to prevent discoloration, and when dried they are readily 
prepared for use.—S. P. E. S. 
PRUNING GOOSEBERRIES. 
I WAS pleased to see in the Journal several letters on this 
subject, and if I may give my experience I should say, Do 
not prune Gooseberries. I live in a rather windy locality, and 
as I found the storms injuring the crops of the Cabbage family 
I made a hedge of Gooseberries. That was done twenty years 
ago, and I can safely speak in favour of non-pruning, for when 
the bushes became about 3 or 4 feet high I gathered more fruit 
from this hedge than all the trimmed bushes in the garden. This 
induced me to discontinue pruning except those branches that over¬ 
spread the ground ; and I have now miniature trees or bushes with 
not a new shoot on them. They bear wonderfully well, they never 
fail, and the spring frosts do not affect the fruit when in blossom. 
I have always a good crop, and am so satisfied with the results 
that I have not pruned Red Currants for several years, which I 
am glad to say also answers. After the bushes become a certain 
age and size they do not make new wood, and the branches only 
produce spurs or fruit buds.—R. H. D. 
SENECIO PULCHER. 
Everyone who is once fortunate enough to see a good strong 
plant of “ Tyerman’s Groundsel” in flower in October generally 
falls in love with it “ right away.” Its flowers are larger and of 
more substance than our large Ox-eye Daisy, and are of a clear 
and bright magenta carmine with a golden disk, eight or ten 
blooms being borne in a corymb-shaped mass at the apex of its 
stout, succulent, leafy stems. As it rarely ripens seeds and divides 
but badly, I very soon found after its introduction that cuttings 
of its quill-like roots would grow if cut into lengths about an inch 
long and inserted in a sand-surfaced pan of soil as cuttings. We 
make and put in these cuttings in November as soon as the plants 
have finished blooming, and place the pan on a shelf near the 
glass roof of a warm greenhouse. In about three weeks each 
cutting first splits open as shown in our cut, then they turn green 
where their tops are exposed by the action of the watering-pot, 
and finally one or more green-leaved shoots appear, as also shown 
in our illustration. In this simple way an old plant yields forty 
or fifty cuttings, 75 per cent, of which will make plants to bloom 
the second or third year.—B. W. 
COLLECTIONS OF SEEDS. 
Absence from home, and consequently inability to refer to 
“our Journal,” has prevented my replying to Messrs. Carter and 
Co.'s letter on page 7 on the above subject. I quite recognise the 
fact that being able to prepare a large number of boxes before 
the busy season commences is a great boon, so much so, indeed, 
that I did not even mention it, thinking it must be patent to all; 
nor do I for one moment believe that any house can “ make up a 
box to please everybody.” I can also say, after having dealt with 
them for twenty-three years, that their seeds are generally very 
good. Thus far we are at one ; but I do object to be quoted 
wrongly. I said, “ There were enough of those valueless to me to 
sow a good portion of the garden whereas I am made to say, 
“ There were enough of those valueless sorts to sow a large garden.” 
They were “ valueless” to me because I did not require them, and 
“sowing a good portion of the garden” and “sowing a large 
garden ” are very different matters. 
As to the contents of the boxes, 5 quarts and 1 pint of Peas in 
six varieties would be preferable to the same quantity in eleven 
varieties, as two sorts seldom boil well together, and a sufficiency 
for a dressing cannot always be had from small sowings after the 
