426 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ May 24, 1883. 
nights and on dull days. This attention was only necessary for 
ten days, after that the lights were entirely dispensed with. 
By the middle of July the seedlings were large enough to he 
pricked out. This was done on another piece of ground in the 
kitchen garden, and they were afterwards well mulched with 
partially decayed manure. The only attention after this was 
occasional waterings and keeping all buds picked off until the 
first week in September, when they commenced flowering most 
freely. 
In October they were taken up with a good ball of earth and 
placed in the beds, from which bedding plants had been removed. 
Here they continued giving a few flowers all winter, and on the 
23rd of December I picked a good bunch, which was on our table 
for Christ mas-day. They are now a mass of bloom, as I have 
said, many plants carrying over thirty flowers. This has reduced 
the size of the flowers, but I enclose a few as a sample. I may 
add, we keep gathering the flowers every day in order to prevent 
the formation of seed pods. My grief is that the next few days 
will see their destruction to make room for bedding plants.— 
W. Hawley, Ash, Surrey. 
[We can understand the reluctance to destroy them, as we have 
never seen a finer assortment of seedling Pansies.] 
Mr. Brotherston writes :—“You are always glad to recom¬ 
mend something good to your large constituency of supporters. 
I, therefore, wish to say that those who are fond of Koses, 
and have means of growing them under glass, should grow 
the Bose Reine Marie Henriette. It was planted with others 
in a late Peach house here two years ago, and has this year yielded 
a most abundant crop. The colour of the flowers I would call a 
rosy crimson ; their shape in the bud state, when not too much 
opened, is simply perfect. In addition to these good qualities it 
is a strong grower and opens its blooms slightly earlier than 
Gioire de Dijon.” 
Mr. Ware informs us that so far from there being any 
decline in the public taste for single dahlias the demand for 
plants is this year greater than ever; and this, we believe, is 
also the experience of others who prepare these plants largely. 
A method of culture will probably become more general this 
year namely, pegging down the plants instead of securing them 
to stakes. Thus treated in large beds and borders dazzling 
masses of flowers are produced. In well-worked and fertile soil 
the plants for pegging may be 3 feet apart. It is satisfactory 
to find that double Dahlias are also increasing in favour, the 
National Dahlia Show having presumably given an impetus to 
the culture of these noble flowers. Both double and single 
varieties may well be grown by all who desire a grand display 
of flowers in late summer, and the present is the time for 
planting them. 
“ E. M. P.” writes:—“I have long been wishing to 
obtain some creosote to soak the bottom of my labels, espalier 
stakes, and garden wood with generally, as the rapid decay of 
the labels is a great inconvenience, and the rest of the woodwork 
a great expense ; but I cannot buy it, nor can I find out any 
address where 1 can obtain it in quantities of 1 quart to 1 gallon, 
as the makers do not supply such small quantities. My chemist 
could procure me some at 35. per pound, but this is of course of 
purer quality than I require. If any of the correspondents of 
your valuable Journal can give me the desired information I 
shall be very much obliged.” 
- At the time the Reading Show is usually held— 
namely, the second or third week in May, Messrs. Sutton 
and Sons invariably have a grand display of Calceolarias, 
and the present season is not an exception to the rule. The 
plants have passed through a most trying ordeal during the 
past two months, but they have regained their customary 
vigour, and the flowers are even more richly coloured and 
abundant than usual. In the house specially devoted to those 
plants a surprising diversity of tints is observable, and this, 
too, in combination with a symmetry of form that in the 
majority of cases would satisfy the most critical florist. Rich 
crimson, maroon, chocolate, rosy and yellow seifs are abundant; 
then in striking contrast to these are the delicately laced forms 
which are the most highly bred varieties, and the most difficult 
to maintain in a mixed strain. Some of these are exquisitely 
beautiful, most delicately pencilled or reticulated with the self 
colours on a lighter ground, often creamy or pure white. All 
the plants are marked by a sturdy compact habit, the flowers 
being borne in fine trusses well above the foliage, but without 
any approach to thinness. In fact, all the characters of this 
strain of Calceolarias are precisely what are desired, and so 
great an advance has been made with them in recent years that 
there is little further room for improvement. In other houses 
are large stocks of Gloxinias fast advancing and promising well 
for a grand display later in the season. Tuberous Begonias 
also occupy several houses, and large numbers of seedlings have 
been raised, amongst which many novelties are expected as the 
result of a series of careful crossings between the best of the 
varieties previously obtained. 
- At a meeting of the Maidstone Farmers’ Club on the 
17th inst. Mr. Charles Whitehead read a most exhaustive and 
interesting paper on mould or mildew on Hop plants. The 
lecturer discussed at length the history, characters, causes, reme¬ 
dies, and preventives of the disease. The sulphur remedy was 
fully considered, and it was specially advised that it be applied 
only in the daytime, 40 to 50 lbs. per acre of the lightest flowers of 
sulphur being sufficient, or 60 to 90 lbs. of heavy sulphur per acre. 
The lecture is printed in extenso as a supplement to the South- 
Eastern Gazette , May 19 th. 
- Mr. T. Entwistle, gardener o J. Broome, Esq., Didsbury, 
Manchester, who won the premier prizes in the classes for alpine 
and herbaceous plants at the Manchester Whitsuntide Show 
recently, sends the following list of the plants exhibited, which 
may be useful to intending competitors in such classes. The 
Alpine plants included the following :—Ramondia pyrenaica, 
Centaurea stricta, Saxifraga pyramidalis, Alyssum alpestre, 
Armeria setacea, A. alpina, Hutchinsia alpina, Saxifraga carin- 
thiaca, Sempervivum arachnoideum, Saxifraga cochleata, 
Ranunculus amplexicaulis, Anemone sulphurea, A. alpina, 
Globularia bellidifolia, Saxifraga tombiana, S. caesia, S. valdensis, 
Agave utahensis, Primula rosea, Androsace Vitaliani, Saxifraga 
muscoides purpurascens (S. atropurpurea, Steinb.'), Erysimum 
rhasticum, E. pumilum, Lychnis pyrenaica, Cochlearia alpina, 
Phyteuma comosum, Gentiana vera, Iberis granatensis, Androsace 
carnea, and Potentilla nitida. Most of these were in flower. 
-The herbaceous plants were as follows:—Saxifraga 
cordifolia, Narcissus odorus, Ranunculus aconitifolius fl.-pl., 
Xerophyllum setifolium, a graceful plant, exceedingly rare; 
Lychnis viscaria splendens, Trollius europaeus, T. asiaticus, 
Funkia ovata variegata, F. Sieboldiana, Geum aurantiacum, 
Geranium phasum, Hemerocallis fulva variegata, Orchis macu- 
lata, the good pan shown last year; Cypripedium parviflorum, 
Helonias bullata, Trillium grandiflorum, Arisaema triphylla, 
Thalictrum purpurascens, Polygonatum giganteum, Delphinium 
tricorne, D. nudicaule, Lilium Browni, Spiraea palmata, S. Ulma- 
ria fl.-pl., Anthericum Liliastrum, two spikes ; Orobus multiflorus, 
