46G 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ June 7,18S3. 
servatory decoration in spiing it is difficult to conceive any plants 
more suitable where bright telling colours are required. 
CAMELLIAS. 
These s'mply astonish by their numbers, many long houses and 
pits being wholly occupied by them, mostly dwarf bushy plants 
in 4 and 5-inch pols, convenient for exportation. Liberality in the 
use of scions, two or three being attached to each stock just above 
the surface of the pot, and generous soil, contribute to well fur¬ 
nished plants in the shortest time. They grow, too, with the 
greatest freedom ; and to keep them dwarf the young growths are 
topped as if they were Verbenas. They are copiously watered, 
the pots being crowded with white fleshy roots, very different in 
character from those of half-dried and semi-starved plants that 
are too numerous in this country. Sandy loam and leaf soil is the 
staple compost. Such free growffh and thick glossy foliage could 
never be produced by hungry peat—a hint that perhaps may be 
worih the notice of some amateur cultivators where Camellias do 
not give them complete satisfaction. To submit Belgian Camellias 
to a roasting and starving process is simply to court failure, which 
is, however, “ good for trade ” on both sides of the water. 
HYACINTHS. 
The late Mr. Van Houtte determined on cultivating Hyacinths 
in his nursery the same as they are grown in Holland, and there 
is little doubt that there are districts in England where they 
might be similarly grown. The conditions requisite for success 
are sandy alluvial soil and an ever-present supply of earth 
moisture to be drawn upwards by the sun to the roots. They 
cannot be satisfactorily grown on a dry subsoil, and no exteut of 
surface watering can compensate for the absence of a naturally 
moist base. In Holland this earth moisture is ample. In the 
nursery under notice much liquid support is applied, but not in 
the orthodox manner. The Hyacinths are grown in a perfectly 
level part of the nursery in beds 4 or 5 feet wide with deep paths 
between them—needlessly deep for the ordinary purpose for which 
paths are devoted ; but they serve another purpose here, being 
flooded at night with sewage, and thus the requisite moisture is 
supplied to the roots without being poured on the surface of the 
beds. I he end justified the means, for the plants were vigorous, 
the spikes robust, and the colours clear and bright. Several acres 
were occupied, forming a great level expanse of fl iwers in blocks of 
colours of every hue produced by the Hyacinth, the general effect 
being magnificent. According to the evidence of some Dutch 
horticulturists there was no better example of Hyacinth culture in 
Holland than the one just cursorily alluded to. 
The above is a mere glance at the salient features of the nursery 
in April. Now and onwards the vast collection of Gesneraccous 
plants in charge of Mr. Charles Raes, the originator of so many 
new and beautiful forms, and a pioneer in the hybridisation of 
Begonias, which has resulted in the splendid varieties now in cul¬ 
tivation, will form a prominent feature of the establishment. To 
see everything the nursery must be visited at different periods of 
the year. I have seen it some half dozen times, but never to 
greater advantage and never in better condition than on the last 
occasion. It is one of those undertakings that to an outsider 
would appear to press with great weight on the proprietor. In 
this respect I only know one business that would seem even more 
trying to human resources, and that is the greater Chelsea estab¬ 
lishment and its ramifications, the responsibilities of which centre 
in one individual, Mr. Harry J. Veitch. Such gigantic under¬ 
takings could not be smoothly worked and successfully conducted 
without the aid of skilled and trusted foremen. These there are 
in all great nurseries, and to know these men is to respect them, 
not more for their undoubted skill and unfailing civility than for 
the deep, earnest, personal interest they take in the success of the 
firms by which they are employed. This is apparent in every 
great English nursery ; it is manifest, too, at Gendbrugge, and Mr. 
Louis Van Houtte and his industrious and accomplished sister, 
Mademoiselle Leonie Van Houtte, have the experienced aid and 
valuable services of Mr. Charles Van Eeckhaute, who is admittedly 
one ot the most competent and practical of Belgian horticulturists. 
—J. Weight. 
Thinning and Transplanting Onions.—T his is an operation 
that should be done as soon as the seedlings are large enough to 
handle,and when the ground is damp and the atmosphere surcharged 
with moisture—assuming such favourable conditions to exist at the 
right time—inasmuch as the work can then be carried out more 
expeditiously and without subjecting the young plants to much 
check in the process of t’ansplanting where blanks in the rows 
render the latter procedure necessary. The young plants, having 
had their roots shortened a little, should not be buried any deeper in 
the ground than they were before, and should have the soil made 
firm about them with the dibber in planting. Beet, too, may be 
transplanted, making the holes sufficiently deep to admit the roots 
in their entirety, without any perceptible difference in the result of 
the crop, the transplanted roots being quite as good in shape and 
quality as the non-transplanted ones.—H. W. Ward. 
COMING FLOWER SHOWS. 
The following are the dates upon which the principal horticultural 
exhibitiors and meetings of June and July will be held, of which we 
have received schedules, and Secretaries of other Societies will oblige 
by forwarding schedules to us of any shows not noticed in this 
list :— 
JUNE. 
Tuesday, 12th. —Eoyal Horticultural Society, Fruit and Floral Committees at 
11 A.M., and Promenade Show, South Kensington. Evening meeting at Bur¬ 
lington House at 8 o’clock. 
Wednesday, 13th .—York Floral F6te (three days). Eoyal Botanic Society’s 
Show. Colchester (two days) : Guildford. 
Thursday, 1 4lh .—South Essex, Knotts Green, Leyton. 
Tuesday, 1 9th. —Leeds (three days), Worcester (three days). 
Tuesday, 26th. —Eoyal Horticultural Society, Fruit and Floral Committees at 
11 A.M., and Pelargonium Show, South Kensington ; Diss. 
Wednesday, 27 th. —Cardiff Rose Show ; Croydon ; Royal Botanic Society’s 
Evening Fete. 
Thursday, 28th .—National Rose Society's Show, Southampton ; Richmond. 
Friday, 291/r.—Canterbury Rose Show. 
Saturday, 30 th. —Reigate (Roses); West Kent; Bromley. 
JULY. 
Tuesday, 2nd. —National Rose Society’s Show, South Kensington. 
Wednesday, 4 th. —Wimbledon Show ; Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent Institution, 
Annual Dinner, Teddington. 
Thursday, 5th. —Bath (Roses) ; Kingston ; Farningham; Highgate. 
Friday, 6th —Sutton (Roses). 
Saturday, Itli. —Chiswick, Crystal Palace (Roses). 
Tuesday, 10th. —Royal Horticultural Society, Fruit and Floral Committees*at 
11 a m. Oxford and Wirral Rose Shows. 
Wednesday, 1 1th. —Royal Caledonian Society’s Show, Edinburgh. Hull Show 
(three days). 
Thursday, 12 th. —National Rose Society’s Show, Sheffield ; Nuneaton ; Brain¬ 
tree. 
Friday, 13rt.—Ludlow (Roses). 
Tuesday, 11th .—Leek (Roses). 
Wednesday, 18 th. —Nottingham Floral FSte (two days). Darlington Rose 
Show. 
Thursday, 10th. —Evening Fete at Chiswick ; Aberdeen. 
Tuesday, 24/A.—Royal Horticultural Society, Fruit and Floral Committees at 
11 A.M. ; Carnation and Picotee Show, South Kensington. 
Wednesday, 25 th .—Colnbrook. 
Thursday, 26th .—Eastbourne. 
MAY BLIGHT. 
We frequently have to remark that a measure of truth under¬ 
lies some of the popular sayings about the weather, which modern 
science is apt to treat scornfully. It is so in respect to what is 
called “a blight.” On certain days that are heavy and calm, of 
which we always have at least one or two in May and September, 
country folk will tell you there is a “ blight in the air.” This 
gloom is, as they suppose, caused by the atmosphere being laden 
with insects. Such is not precisely the fact, but yet these peculiar 
days are connected with the migrations of aphides. There was a 
blight of this kind in North Kent on Sunday, May 20tb, and 
another on Saturday, May 2fitb, each followed by a migration of 
aphides in the winged form. They do not, however, travel far; 
their object apparently is rather a change of diet than change of 
place. It is by such dull and close weather that the flow of sap 
is checked in the plants upon which, until that period, the aphis 
tribes have been abundant in their wingless state. As Mr. Walker 
pointed out, the result of this is an emergence of winged females ; 
and these soon make use of their wings, preferring to take their 
journeys while there is little wind, but they will also travel when 
a moderate breeze is blowing. Of course the foes of the aphides, 
the ladybirds for instance, ate frequently led to migrations about 
the same time.— Entomologist. 
EUONYMUSES. 
Amongst outdoor evergreens, trees or shrubs there ia none 
more ornamental in habit or beautiful in foliage than the Euony- 
mus. They are green, silver, and golden in their variegation, and 
some of them might well be compared to hardy Crotons, as tbey 
are as beautifully variegated and showy as these favourite indoor 
shrubs. Some of the best varieties are E. flavescens, pale yellow ; 
E. argenteus variegatus, silvery; E. ovatus aureus, golden ; 
E. medius pictus, painted ; E. aureus, yellow; E. radicans alhus 
marginatus, white-edged ; and E. repens, pink. E. radicans albus 
marginatus is an excellent variety for edging any beds in the 
flower garden or pleasure grounds, as it grows dwarf, and is very 
