March 8, 1883 ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
195 
Imperator (Lytton), Lycurgus (Smith), Mrs. Clark (Trail), and 
Prince of Greens (Trail). 
Grey-edged Varieties .—Acme (Read), Alexander Meiklejohn 
(Lay), Charles E. Brown (Headly), George Lightbody (Headly), 
John Morris (Meiklejohn), Lancashire Hero (Lancashire), Marie 
(Chapman), and Richard Headly (Lightbody). 
White-edged Varieties .—Ann Smith (Smith ?), Catherina (Sum- 
merscales), Glory (Taylor), Ne Plus Ultra (Smith), Smiling Beauty 
(Heap), Sophia Dumaresque (Lightbody), True Briton (Hepworth), 
and White Rival (Trail). 
Self-coloured Varieties .—Blackbird (Spalding), C. J. Perry 
(Turner), Duke of Argyle (Campbell), Garibaldi (Pohlman), 
Eliza (Sims), Lord Clyde (Lightbody), Lord of Lome (Campbell), 
Meteor Flag (Lightbody), Pizarro (Campbell), Ruby, Topsy(Kay), 
and Yulcan (Sims).—R. P. B. 
As a lover of the Auricula, I with many others am very glad 
to see our friend “ D., Deal,” again penning some useful hints 
with regard to the flower itself and also its culture. The planting- 
out in a frame that he speaks of I can corroborate as a very 
useful proceeding, especially with one or two sorts that do not 
seem to do well in pots. I had some very fine green-edged flowers 
last year from plants standing in a sheltered border and covered 
in with a long glass light belonging to my frame, which I could 
easily remove on fine days. 
With regard to top-dressing, I am inclined to think it not so 
needful as some growers insist on, as I am sure no one could tell 
the difference in some plants of the same kinds when placed side 
by side that I had in flower last season, and as my time is much 
occupied I am omitting it with some plants this season. 
But most of all am 1 glad to see the subject of “strains” in 
Auriculas discussed. One question forces itself on us at the outset, 
How are these strains produced? By cultivation, soil, treatment, 
climate^.or what ? If any light can be thrown on this it may 
perhaps tend to help some cultivators with whom certain sorts 
seem never to do well. With green and grey edge varieties I have 
no difficulty, but I have only one or two white edges that do well 
with me. I have now a plant of Taylor’s Glory, which when I 
first had seemed to do as well as the rest, but for the last three 
seasons it has become “ smaller by degrees and beautifully less,” 
until now I have turned it out of my frame and intend to try it 
in the border above mentioned. White Rival, too, sorely puzzles 
me, producing long leggy growth, but no increase in size. Lee’s 
Earl Grosvenor is this year serving me the same as Glory. All 
have the same treatment. One thing has always forced itself on 
me—that is, that certain sorts have produced seedlings exactly 
like their parents, and from these better or stronger-growing 
plants have come. I have tried this with General Niel, and have 
seedlings that cannot be distinguished from the parent, but several 
of these do not produce offsets to anything like the extent of the 
original. Is this so with others ? If our friends will give their 
experience in this it may tend to throw a little light on the subject. 
If such be not the case I wonder how the demand is met for sorts 
that produce scarcely an offset.— J. Luck. 
VINES BLEEDING AND MELON STEMS SPLITTING. 
POWDERED alum rubbed on the cut or wound will stop the 
bleeding of Vines even in serious cases, and heal the wounds in 
the stems of Melons. I made the discovery last summer. 
First, I had some Melon plants in pits, Blenheim Orange and 
the Best of All Melons. The plants had set a good crop, and the 
fruits were swelling well for nearly a fortnight. I then discovered 
the stems badly split and the sap exuding like boiled pulp. As I 
gave them up as ruined, I resolved on drastic measures, kill or 
cure. I purchased some alum and crushed it, then applied it to 
all the affected parts thickly, then covered the places with sulphur, 
and I was agreeably surprised to find that the plants finished one 
of the finest crops ever grown. One fruit of each of the varieties 
was sent to a local show ; one was too ripe, and the other, 
almost perfect, was stolen, I suppose in envy for the fruit and 
seed conjointly. 
Secondly, I cut down two main rods of Black Hamburgh Vines 
just above where I had run up new rods. The old rods were 
about sixteen years old. 1 cut them in October as soon as the 
Grapes were removed, doing this early to help the young canes. 
Two days after the sap was streaming from the first, the other 
was not so bad. I rubbed the alum on, and then dusted it thickly 
over with more, and the dressing proved thoroughly satisfactory. 
—J. E. Waiting. 
THE CHRYSANTHEMUM ELECTION. 
The numerous readers of the Journal, whose pleasure or duty 
it is to make the cultivation of the Chrysanthemum one of the 
many studies arising from their calling, cannot but feel grateful 
to the Editor for having originated this election, if only to give, 
by the aid of the discussion that is sure to follow, such information 
to beginners as wili go far to remove the confusion which exists 
in the names and synonyms of the Incurved section especially. 
The result of the election illustrates the old saying that “ a little 
knowledge is a dangerous thing,” for it is evident some of the 
returns fell into the hands of a few whose knowledge of the varie¬ 
ties is not very deep. When we see as a fact seventy-seven 
varieties quoted as worth a place in a leading stand of twelve 
the result must be received with a certain amount of caution. My 
first impression was that Jardin des Plantes was in a false position. 
As a decorative variety in colour it cannot be surpassed, hence its 
popularity throughout the country ; but as an exhibition variety, 
its ragged sub-divided petals and somewhat flat form precludes it 
from a first-class exhibition stand, and it is very rare that we see 
in the metropolitan district a first-rate flower shown. In Mr. 
Bunn we have a good substitute of better form altogether, although 
the colour is not so rich. Then, again, in your tabulated list of 
sixty-two names I find there are only fifty-eight varieties, and if 
the names of the following—Venus and Pink Venus, Beverley 
and White Beverley, Pink Perfection and Miss Mary Morgan, 
St. Patrick and Beethoven, had been bracketed together and the 
total votes added they would have been in a different position. 
But, apart from this, the list is a good guide to the relative esti¬ 
mation the different varieties are held in throughout the country, 
and no one can deny but that it contains the best of the Incurved 
section. No doubt several varieties that have been mentioned 
but once or twice would have had a higher place had they been 
better known, and consequently more generally grown. Princess 
of Wales and Empress of India I consider are fully entitled to 
their premier positions in the first twelve ; and if the extra votes 
that were accorded to White Queen, Lady St. Glare, and Mrs. 
Cunningham had been added to the latter, to which beyond a 
doubt it was entitled, it would have placed Empress of ludia at 
the top of the list. 
As regards the second list (page 138), containing the too-much- 
alike varieties, I must confess to being as much amused as I was 
surprised, for there is as much difference between some of the 
varieties bracketed as alike as there is between General Jacque¬ 
minot and Gloire de Dijon Roses, and it shows how many there 
are distributed throughout the country under wrong names. I 
interpreted that you only wished for those varieties that were well 
known to be in existence under more than one name, and was 
therefore surprised to see that some electors had given names of 
certain varieties that were too near alike as regards colour to be 
shown in the same stand of twelve, although distinct enough in 
all other points, and might have been included in a stand without 
fear of disqualification. This I think might have been very well 
