October 7 , 1886. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER, 
819 
- Change of Address. —Messrs Follows & Bate (Limited), 
announce that they have removed from Dutton Street to their new 
works at Gorton, Manchester. 
-- The interesting bulbous plant CyrtAnthus HYBridus roseus 
shown by Sir Trevor Lawrence at the meeting of the Royal Horticultural 
Society on September 21 st is quite distinct in colour from the original hybrid, 
which was certificated on August 25th, 1885, under the name of Gastro- 
nema hybrids. The latter was obtained from a cross between Cyrtan- 
thus (Gaetronema) sanguineus flammeus and Vallota purpurea; but 
though C. hybridus roseus is of similar origin, the colour, instead of being 
bright orange scarlet, is a clear rosy red, soft, yet bright and pretty. 
The flowers are about the same size, smaller than the Vallota, but 
apparently they are produced quite as freely. If a race of these plants 
could be formed with rose, scarlet, and white flowers, they would be a 
welcome addition to our early autumn-flowering plants. 
-There are several species of Hedychiums which are very 
useful in houses, but which are far too seldom seen. The merits of at 
least three of these have been well shown this season by some large 
plants in the old Lily house at Kew that have been flowering very freely. 
H. coronarium has large white flowers, very fragrant; H. Gardnerianum 
has orange yellow flowers, with a red filament; and H. flavescens, which 
has been blooming most profusely, has pale yellowish flowers. These 
plants are very easily grown, only requiring a good sandy turfy loam, 
with plentiful supplies of liquid manure, as they are very strong in 
growth. With these plants the Nymph mas, Nelumbiums, the fine old 
floriferous Ipomtea paniculata, and numerous other plants, have rendered 
the house very gay during the past month. 
- The October number of the Journal of Microscopy contains an 
interesting paper on the Fertilisation of British Orchids by Mr. 
W. G. Wheatcroft. This is illustrated by three plates of figures giving 
details of Habenaria chlorantha, Orchis mascula, and Ophrys apifera and 
muscifera. The mode in which fertilisation is effected by the agency of 
insects is fully and clearly described, both from original observations and 
the investigations of the late Mr. C. Darwin. In the same issue of the 
work named is a paper by Mr. A. Percy Smith on the “ Identification of 
Alkaloids,” which is accompanied by figures of the crystals of fifty 
alkaloids obtained from various plants. A third article upon “ How 
Plants Climb,” by Mr. H. W. S. Worsley-Benison, F.L.S., gives a resume 
of the phenomena in respect to climbing plants under the heads of 
I, Twiners ; 2, Climbers, including leaf climbers and tendril bearers ; 
3, Hook Climbers or Scramblers; and 4, Root Climbers. 
- The daily papers have lately stated that the Sultan of Turkey 
was presented with an Enormous Bouquet of Flowers on the anni¬ 
versary of his accession. It was described as nearly 4 yards in height 
and 2| yards in circumference, in the form of a Lemon tree, and that it 
had occupied ten persons a week in its construction. The flowers of which 
it was composed are not named, but they were evidently of a very 
durable character, for London bouquets are not of much value when a 
week old. 
- Success in Growing Grapes without Fire Heat cannot 
be claimed as a new departure, but some interesting experiments have 
been made in the Royal Horticultural Society’s Garden at Chiswick this 
year with a number of the best flavoured hardy varieties, and as a result 
the following have been selected as the most satisfactory. The Scotch 
White Cluster, which is known under several names, but especially as 
Diamant Traube, has good-sized berries, and possesses a capital flavour, 
being, in fact, one of the best tried. Chasselas Vibert, another good 
white variety, has a very agreeable flavour, the berries and bunches of 
good size. Early Auvergne Frontignan, one of the White Frontignan 
fype, of which it is considered an early form, with juicy flesh and Muscat 
flavour. Red or Grizzly Frontignan, very rich and sweet. Ferdinand de 
Lesseps, a hybrid obtained by Mr. Pearson of Chilwell between Royal 
Muscadine and the Strawberry Grape, has also proved very satisfactory 
both in crop and quality, the flavour being intermediate between the 
varieties named. The good point in the preceding varieties is that com. 
pared with Black Hamburgh, Foster’s Seedling, and others, under the 
same treatment, their flavour is much superior, while producing fairly 
good bunches and berries. Gros Colman is very unsatisfactory, but 
Madresfield Court is ta be tried another season, and is expected to succeed 
well under this treatment. Several varieties of American Grapes possess¬ 
ing the “ Strawberry” flavour are grown, of which Brighton seems to be 
the best. The house devoted to these Grapes is that which formerly 
contained the Figs. It is unheated, the Vines being planted in a central 
bed and trained up the roof. 
- The signs of autumn are very apparent now in the changing and 
falling leaves of the trees. The Common Limes in particular are in some 
places nearly leafless already. The varieties of Tilia americana, however, 
such as pubescens and mississippiensis, are still fresh and green, showing 
but few yellow leaves. The former of these two, which is occasionally 
seen under the name of T. hybrida superba, is a very distinct variety, with 
large, bold leaves, forming a handsome tree. The great defect of the 
common Limes, which are otherwise such useful town trees, is the early 
period at which they lose their leaves; and this renders the other varieties 
more valuable. 
- The Horse Chestnuts are also changing colour, and old Elms are 
losing their leaves fast. In striking contrast with these is the Mont¬ 
pelier Maple, Acer monspessulanum, which is still as fresh and 
bright as it has been all the season. The shining green three-lobed leaves 
are thick and substantial, the habit close and dense, somewhat like 
A. campestre, forming very compact neat specimens of moderate height. 
Another Maple retaining its leav es late is Acer pseudo-Platanus opulifolia, 
of dwarf habit, the head round and bushy, with small fresh green leaves. 
The purple Maple, A. pseudo-Platanus purpurea, is also attractive still. 
The Liquidambers are fast changing, and are besoming very beautiful in 
their varied golden and red tints. The richly coloured Parrotia persica is 
handsome, and the Virginian Creepers are draping many walls with 
autumn-tinted leaves. 
-It has been proposed to purchase the Highgate Woods for 
the public, and at a recent meeting of the Hornsey Local Board it 
was moved by Mr. H. R. Williams—" That the Board’s solicitor be 
instructed to prepare a Bill for the next session of Parliament authorising 
the purchase by the Hornsey Local Board from the Ecclesiastical Com¬ 
missioners of the wood known as the Churchyard Bottom Wood for the 
sum of £25,000, provision to be made in the said Bill for a grant of 
£10,000 from the fund administered under the City of London Parochial 
Charities Act, 1883, with power to borrow the sum of £15,000, the repay¬ 
ment of which with interest to be spread over a period of fifty years.’ 
The resolution, after some discussion, was unanimously carried, and a 
committee appointed to carry out the details. 
EXTENSION versus RESTRICTION. 
I HAVE a recollection of someone, I think "John Bull,” writings 
very sensible article on the old-fashioned and well-tra : ned fruit trees, 
especially Pears, which at one time were to be seen in gardens, not 
exceptions, but common to most, if not all, and also to dwellings— 
tradesmen’s, farmers’, and cottagers’. I have an idea also that it was given 
as evidence of the extension system being ancient, and the restrictive 
system modern. I thought at the time that although root-pruning might 
be in its infancy, the restrictive system, so far as pruning the branches 
was considered, was inseparable from training. The restrictive system 
as we now accept it, is certainly, so far as the size of the trees is con¬ 
cerned, modern. If not originated, it was greatly encouraged by the 
practice and writings of the late Mr. Thos. Rivers, especially that part 
which related to restriction by root-pruning. That the extension trees 
in this sense were as fruitful and as satisfactory in the size and quality of 
the fruit and crop as dwarfs or espaliers on the dwarfing stock needs no 
particular exposition, inasmuch as the examples were treated the same— 
viz , the usual regulation of the shoots in July, cutting back breast and 
other shoots not required for extension to a few joints or leaves from 
their base, the object being to admit air and light alike to the fruit and 
spurs, to concentrate the future or midsummer growth on the fruit and 
buds desired to form fruiting ones—giving the crop of the ensuing season. 
It was not a case of arresting growth, for the simple reason that growth 
was already arrested, not by age, but by the completion of the annual 
growths, and the concentration of strength on ripening the fruit, the 
wood, and perfecting of bloom buds for next season. All growths not 
required for extension or filling space were cut away, which is restriction 
by pruning in the fullest acceptation of the term. The wholesale manipu¬ 
lation was, of course, contrary to Nature; the cessation of growth was 
natural, growth made with nucleus buds, depending on the elaborated and 
assimilated sap concentrated on them as to whether they became fruit or 
remained wood buds, but it was successful if the season continued 
favourable, as the continued year-after-year crops proved. But if the 
season proved wet the crop was poor, or perhaps nil, the nutriment 
transmitted by the roots becomes excessive, the atmospheric conditions 
unfavourable to evaporation, fresh growths are made, spur buds, instead 
of having the elaborated sap concentrated, are forced int j wo d, resulting 
in an array of breastwood little inferior to that cut away at midsummer. 
Two descriptions of trees result, one making little growth beyond that 
needed for extension or the furnishing of wood for contii ued crops, th e 
