158 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ August 21, 1890. 
greenhouse. Both G. latifolia and its relative G. pubescens require a 
compost of loam and peat with good drainage, and they can be increased 
either by seeds or cuttings, the latter receiving similar treatment to 
Heaths or other hardwooded plants. 
Events of the Week.— To-day (Thursday) the Exhibitions 
at Shrewsbury and Newcastle-on-Tyne are continued, the latter also 
lasting over to-morrow. On Friday the Devon and Exeter Exhibition 
is held, and on Saturday, Leith. On Tuesday (August 2Gth) the Royal 
Horticultural Society’s Committee meetings will be held at the Drill 
Hall, Westminster, and the Caine Horticultural Show and Floral Fete 
will be held on the same day. 
- The \\ eather in the South.—T he bright days of last 
week led many to hope that summer had come at last and to remain over 
the harvest, but on Monday the temperature fell and the sky became 
overcast, and on Tuesday rain continued, though not very heavily, nearly 
the whole of the day. Yesterday (Wednesday) was fine. 
- Alexander Teach. —The late Mr. Wildsmith, who knew 
what were the best sorts to grow of most kinds of fruit trees, had a very 
high opinion of this Peach, claiming dor it the position of being the 
best early variety in existence. From his suggestion we planted several 
trees of it last autumn in south and westerly aspects. They have made 
capital growth, and we hope for a limited crop of fruit next year.— 
E. M., Hants. 
- FOWLS and Fruit.— Terhaps the following may be of some 
interest, now that we have to deplore an almost total absence of fruit 
throughout the country :—A few days ago I visited Mr. Grant, market 
gardener, at Bracebridge, near Lincoln, who has an orchard several 
acres in extent. Very little fruit was to be seen, except in one corner 
about GO yards square. The trees there were literally breaking down 
by the weight of fruit, this limited space promising a better supply 
than all the other trees in the orchard put together. And why ? 
Because about 100 fowls had been kept—wired in—in that 
space for the last two or three years, and it appears to me that the 
poultry in question must have destroyed, or at any rate checked, that 
destructive pest—the caterpillar—in some stages of its development.— 
Albert Wipe. 
-Alexander and Alexandra Noblesse Peaches.—T hree 
years ago I wished to get a tree of some size of the Alexander to 
replace one in an early house, and was asked to take one of Alexandra 
Noblesse. 1 was supplied with a maiden tree of the variety wanted, 
which was planted against a west wall, where it is now, and has 
ripened a fair crop of highly coloured fruit, commencing about the 
25th of July. Many of the fruits had split stones. Is this a failing 
of the variety, or is it due to the wet sunless season, or for lack of 
something in the soil 1 It is now about to be moved indoors.—R. G„ 
Mid-Sussex. 
- Clitoria ternatea.—W e have grown this plant during the 
last seven years, and its brilliant blue flowers are much admired. There 
are three reasons which prevent its becoming more generally cultivated. 
First, its great beauty is so little known ; secondly, to grow it success¬ 
fully abundance of heat and moisture are requisite at all times : and 
thirdly, it is liable to be infested with red spider. Seed should be sown 
in the early part of March in sandy peat soil, plunging the pots in a 
brisk heat. If three or four seeds are put into 4-inch pots they can be 
shifted into larger pots without materially disturbing the roots. A 
compost of turfy peat and loam, with sand and leaf soil added, will 
grow this plant well, provided it receives abundance of moisture both 
at the roots and on the foliage, and occasional applications of liquid 
manure when the pots are full of roots. Ten-inch pots will suffice for 
rooting space. The growths need to be near the glass in the stove, where 
ample light can be secured and trained to wires stretched from rafter 
to rafter. The best show of plants and bloom which 1 have yet seen 
was in the Banana house at Sion, where Mr. Wythes manages to grow 
it well.—S. 
- Mr. Robert Owen’s Nursery at Maidenhead is worth 
a visit just now, the Begonias and Pelargoniums under glass, with 
the Dahlias out of doors, providing strong features of interest. During 
the time that he has been established in business Mr. Owen has got 
together a well-furnished and compact establishment, and nothing 
could excel the cultural excellence of his plants, which are without 
exception admirably grown, and no plants sent out in similarly healthy 
and clean condition could fail to give satisfaction. 
- Tuberous Begonias form one of Mr. Owen’s strongest 
features. He has a large and good collection, comprising some 
hundreds of seedlings, many of considerable merit, and ranging in 
colour from white to blush, pink, rose, salmon, orange, vermilion, 
scarlet, and crimson. The majority of the singles, in fact, were 
unnamed seedlings, and among them many were noted of improved 
form, colour, size, and habit of growth. Hybridisation is being 
effected with a view to getting a strain throwing their flowers up 
boldly on stiff, erect stems. The compact Cyc’.amcn-like habit of 
growth of Mr. Owen’s Begonias is very noteworthy. Among named 
varieties may be noted Duke of Westminster, salmon-red ; Multiflora 
pendula, rosy carmine, useful for baskets ; and the following doubles :— 
Empress, salmon-pink ; General Gordon, light scarlet; Serapis, bright 
rose, light centre ; Leviathan, salmon-rose ; Rosette (Owen’s) blush, 
suffused with rose ; Eurydice, white, remarkably free ; Davis, fl.-pl. 
superba. and D. fl.-pl. superba alba, both good in habit, and very 
free. A large number of Begonias are also planted out in beds. 
■- Ivy-leaved Pelargoniums.—S omething has been done 
to popularise these remarkably useful greenhouse and conservatory 
plants by the excellent collection of them that has been grown at 
Chiswick this year. Mr. Owen grows them largely at Maidenhead, and 
he has devoted much attention to improving the section, with re¬ 
markably successful results. Many good judges consider his Souvenir 
de Charles Turner to be the best of the section ; it is certainly a 
beautiful variety, carmine in colour, the flowers large and very freely 
produced. A good trio of his are Edith Owen, carmine, dwarf and 
floriferous ; Robert Owen, a rosy red, the individual flowers very large ; 
and Beauty of Castle Hill, deep rosy red. It is to be hoped that the 
culture of this very valuable section of Pelargoniums will largely 
increase. 
-Lilium GIGANTEUM.—I consider this the most stately and 
beautiful of all the Lilies, yet it is seldom seen in good condition ; and 
as I have been fairly successful in its Culture I venture to give the 
following brief directions founded on the practice I have adopted. 
Procure good sound bulbs, and select a rather dry and warm corner 
facing south in which to plant them, using a mixture of loam, leaf mould, 
and sand, covering not more than 2 inches deep, about the middle of 
October, well mulching with manure during the winter. Slugs are very 
troublesome in the spring, and disfigure the plants very much if left 
alone. A sprinkling of ashes will stop them if afforded every other day. 
The plant represented in the enclosed photograph was grown from a 
bulb planted in October, 1887. It has three stems about 8 feet 6 inches 
high, with from twelve to fifteen blooms on a stem.—T. Tebby, 
Weljicld Gardens , Builth. [The plant closely resembles one grown 
by Mr. Tebby, which was engraved in the Journal of Horticulture , 
March 7th, 1889, and represents good cultivation.] 
- Mr. E. S. Dodwell’s garden in Stanley Road, Oxford, is a 
Carnation paradise. Time was when this veteran florist fought 
London fogs, smoke, and cats in a garden at the foot of a railway 
embankment in Clapham, and those who visited him there in years 
gone by will recall the wonderful results achieved under the difficulties 
engendered by such adversaries. In his pleasant provincial home Mr. 
Dodwcll has surrounded himself with his favourite flowers, and given 
them such chances of doing themselves justice as few gardens afford. 
He has thousands of plants, embracing the best known varieties, and, 
as he tastes deeply of the fascinations of seedling raising, he also 
has numerous varieties as yet unknown to fame. The majority of the 
plants are not so severely disbudded as to be rendered useless as deco¬ 
rative objects, each carrying several good blooms. They are grown in 
8-inch pots, the surface of the soil in each being covered with oyster 
shells, probably with the main object of conserving moisture. Structures 
of a somewhat novel character have been erected for the plants; they 
are quite open at the sides, but with glass roofs, now shaded with white 
netting, and the pots are stood on a stage about a foot from the ground, 
so that the flowers are at a convenient height for examination and 
inspection. For every Carnation lover, be he florist or not, there is a 
