JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
532 
give the others room, but I have not tried it, although it appears 
possible.” What I had in view were large specimens to be retained 
as such, not to be divided ; as I am perfectly aware, if a plant were 
divided it would be folly to cut away the leafless pseudo-bulbs.— 
A. Young. 
NEW AND COSTLY VEGETABLES. 
Every year seedsmen’s lists contain some novelties in the way 
of new vegetables, which are offered for the first time at what 
appears to many a high price, and for this reason many will not 
buy new vegetable seeds for some years after they are sent out 
and until they become cheaper. This, no doubt, appears economy 
to them, but I question very much if it is so. The best and most 
valuable vegetables remain high in price for many years after 
their introduction, and in my opinion it would be cheaper for all 
to buy every new vegetable of merit the first year it comes out, 
and make the most of it afterwards. Those who this year bought, 
say, Evolution Pea at 5 s. per packet, and Paragon at 3«. &d., would 
not get much seed for their money, but they would have a small 
handful, and enough to form a good row sown thinly, and if half 
of the produce of this is allowed to ripen for seed, more may be 
saved than could be bought next year at 105. If the two Peas we 
have named are like some others we know, their price and quantity 
will be about the same next year, and those who have purchased 
and will save them this season will find themselves gainers to a 
considerable extent. 
I have taken Peas to illustrate what I mean, but the same re¬ 
marks apply to Beans and many other vegetables. In the month of 
March last I had about a thimbleful of a new Dwarf Kidney 
Bean seed sent me, but the seeds were so few that we determined 
to make the most of them, and on the day they came here they 
were sown in pots and the plants grown under glass. By the 
middle of May they had not only fruited but matured their seed, 
which was gathered and planted in the open quarters. The 
thimbleful of seed we had in March had become a good handful 
in May ; by September it will be a pint or more, and then we 
shall not only have made the most of our stock, but have proved 
the value of the Bean both as a forcer and a main-crop variety in 
one season. It is by working new seeds in this way that many 
persons might test their qualities and make the most expensive 
profitable. I merely throw out this hint for the benefit of any of 
your amateur readers interested in such matters.—J. Muir. 
DO FLOWERS EXHAUST PLANTS? 
There are numerous opinions on this subject, nevertheless it 
is one worthy of consideration and discussion. I am inclined 
to believe if the majority of practical gardeners were asked this 
question they would answer it in the affirmative. There are, 
however, others who would quickly tell us that the advocates of 
such views had yet to prove the exhaustive effects of flowers upon 
plants. A very similar declaration was made some time ago in 
this Journal, and from the most careful observation since that 
time I am more convinced than ever that a bountiful supply of 
bloom has a very exhausting effect upon a great variety of plants. 
Upon no class of plants is this exhaustive tendency more marked 
than amongst Orchids ; it is evident with many species and varie¬ 
ties even before the flowers fade. Take, for instance, a plant of 
Odontoglossum cirrhosum— one that has a pot full of living roots, 
and is in every respect healthy and vigorous. Suppose this pro¬ 
duces one or two large spikes of bloom, carrying, say, fifty flowers 
on the one spike, or eighty or more on the two. If allowed to 
remain upon the plant until they fade, what will be the appear¬ 
ance of the plump healthy pseudo-bulb ? It will be more or less 
dry and shrivelled, and the support the flowers have required has 
been the means of producing it. This shrivelled appearance can 
be prevented by the removal of the flowers some time before they 
fade, and the plant would be much benefited by such a course. 
If we allow only one or two flowers to remain until they fade 
on plants that have been imported twelve months, of such varie¬ 
ties of Odontoglossum as Alexandras or triumphans, or any similar 
variety, they will stand still for a long time before new growth is 
produced ; but if these flowers are removed as soon as they can be 
observed the plants immediately push forth their growth, thus 
clearly showing that the flowers take the support stored up in the 
pseudo-bulb. If the flowers are produced in such numbers as to 
draw from the plant the stored-up nourishment until the pseudo¬ 
bulb shrivels, the next season’s growth must naturally suffer. Is 
not this state of things equally as marked amongst Dendrobiums? 
Take the old D. nobile, for instance, one of the freest of all, which 
may be strong and the picture of health. Ripen the growth 
thoroughly until every growth will flower profusely, and allow 
the whole to remain upon the plants until they naturally fade, 
[ June 28, 1883. 
and I ask those who ignore the idea that flowers exhaust plants 
whether the plant referred to would produce equally as vigorous 
growth and strong thick pseudo-bulbs the following season ? De¬ 
clining vigour is equally marked in other varieties, and there is 
no comparison between the growths made of imported plants 
of D. Devonianum D. Wardianum and others that have been 
allowed to produce a mass of flowers and retained until they fade, 
and those from which the flowers were removed as soon as they 
could be seen. What is more affected by continual flowering than 
the Phalaenopsis ? If a start is made with small plants, and strong 
vigorous specimens are the object, it is a mistake to allow them to 
carry all the flowers they will produce while in a young state. 
Under a continual flowering system the progress of the plants 
would be slow in comparison to those from which the flower 
spikes had been removed. 
If we glance at Azaleas and Camellias, will not an enormous 
quantity of bloom have an exhaustive tendency upon them ? Take 
two plants of the former, healthy continental specimens, that are 
imported annually and generally flower so profusely. They should 
be the same variety, and placed side by side, and given exactly 
the same treatment, with the exception of allowing one to flower 
and their removal from the other. At the end of the first year 
compare results, and the verdict will be in favour of the one from 
which the flowers were removed. Grow these two on the same 
principle for three or four years, and the non-flowering plant will 
be more healthy and considerably larger than the one allowed to 
flower annually. Do not the same remarks apply with equal force 
to Ericas and other hardwooded greenhouse plants ? 
Is not exhaustion equally apparent with that free-growing plant 
the Chrysanthemum ? Grow these strong so that the plants will 
produce 200 blooms each, and what will be the number and con¬ 
dition of the suckers that spring from the base after flowering ? 
Will they be as early, numerous, and strong as from a bush plant 
that has produced only a few inferior blooms ? This exhaustive 
tendency is even marked where the whole forces of the plant are 
concentrated towards the production of large blooms. Growers 
of this class of plants have often a difficulty in obtaining cuttings 
through the exhausted condition of their plants. 
Take two Zonal Pelargoniums, as I have done, and give them 
exactly the same soil and treatment; allow one to flower and re¬ 
move the flower trusses from the other, and what is the condition 
of growth and vigour of the one that flowers compared with the 
other ? 
I could go on enumerating many other plants that are exhausted 
by flowering ; but when we find from careful observation that 
plants of such luxuriant growth as Chrysanthemums and Zonal 
Pelargoniums are brought into an exhausted condition, it does not 
require much intelligence to realise the fact that plants are ex¬ 
hausted through the production of flowers, more or less according 
to their luxuriance and the length of time the flower3 remain 
upon them.—W. Bardney. 
PLANTS AND GRAPES AT LILLESDEN. 
The grand conservatory adjoining Lillesden House, Hawkhurst, 
Kent, under the able management of Mr. Channing, is always 
attractive. The climbers are particularly well selected and well 
grown. The whole structure is highly perfumed by a large freely 
flowered specimen of Rhynchospermum jasminoides; this well cover¬ 
ing one high pillar, and in addition a considerable portion of the 
trellis over the roof. The double-flowering Tropseolum Hermine 
Grasshoff also proves particularly well adapted for covering the 
pillars and trellises of conservatories whether planted out or in 
pots. At Lillesden the plants are completely covered with orange- 
scarlet blooms ; these, being very double, of large size and sweet, 
are serviceable when cut. This Tropseolum, being of the easiest 
possible culture, ought to find a place in every conservatory or 
greenhouse. 
The Rose-flowered Bramble (Rubus rossefolius coronarius) in this 
conservatory is very ornamental as a wall plant. It throws up 
suckers and spreads freely. The foliage is fairly attractive, and 
the double white blooms, from 2 to 3 inches in diameter, are pro¬ 
duced continuously throughout the winter and spring months. 
Altogether it is a serviceable plant, whether for conservatory 
decoration or for furnishing cut blooms for hand and buttonhole 
bouquets. Any ordinary soil appears to suit it, and at Lillesden I 
saw it growing freely planted out on a bank. 
Lapagerias are grown remarkably well. The strongest speci¬ 
men of the beautiful white-flowering variety I have seen is growing 
in a slate tub. A compost, consisting principally of roughly 
broken turfy loam and fibrous peat, abundance of moisture at the 
roots varied occasionally with liquid manure, and an ordinary con¬ 
servatory temperature, exactly meets its requirements. Many of the 
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