October 28, 1886. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
883 
and effective. The seeds are sown under glass, and may be either 
in boxes or on beds of prepared soil. When large enough the plants 
are lifted and dibbled out like Cabbages in the positions they are 
to flower in. The quilled is the most generally useful, and these 
may be employed either cut singly with long stalks for mixing with 
other flowers, cut in branches and used in the same way, or vases 
may be very prettily filled with one colour arranged quite natu¬ 
rally. Victoria Asters are also grand for cutting, the white variety 
being quite indispensable, so useful as it is for wreath-making, 
harvest festivals, &c. The dwarf Pseony White Aster, a form dis¬ 
tributed this year for the first time, is very good indeed, and such 
kinds in fact are of great value. Nothing prettier is to be had 
than some of the single flowers which crop up among the others. 
Nicotiana affinis, sown under glass and transplanted into borders 
forms very useful flowers for cutting, being pretty, graceful, and 
sweet. Humea elegans is a very old friend, and too much neglected 
nowadays. It requires to be kept during winter under glass. Its 
feathery-looking flowers are extremely useful for many purposes, 
and can be employed in any size of vase. 
Single Dahlias are somewhat less popular than they were a few 
years ago, but they are well worth growing, notwithstanding the 
recession of the full tide of popularity. It may be noted here that 
a very simple method of raising a large stock of plants is to do so 
by means of seed sown in the spring. We raise a good number 
thus, as we grow them by the hundred, and find that it is possible 
to reproduce varieties very closely from seeds. We have various 
shades of yellow toning of almost to white, and those of a scarlet 
shade which we find most useful. The flowers are rather fugacious, 
but if cut as soon as open they stand moderately well. It is 
necessary to pick off all seed pods in order to keep up a long-con¬ 
tinued bloom. 
Carnations, we may note here, also do well from seed and supply 
large quantities of bloom. We are at this date cutting from plants 
sown last January, and the same plants will continue flowering 
thioughout next summer. More will be said of these on another 
occasion.—B., North Britain. 
THE GOOSEBERRY AS A WALL TREE. 
To those who have wall space to spare and on which no choicer 
fruit will thrive I would say, Plant the Gooseberry. It is not often 
that overmuch pains is bestowed upon this class of fruit tree so as 
to make it an attractive one about a garden, yet it is amenable to 
training in almost any fanciful way without in the least affecting 
its fruiting qualities. I do not advocate its being planted in posi¬ 
tions which would be more properly and profitably assigned to choicer 
kinds of fruit, yet there are many gardens where the walls with a 
direct northern aspect, and having a soil unsuitable to such things 
as Plums, Pears, and Morello Cherries, which may well be devoted 
to the cultivation of the Gooseberry. Take for an instance the 
chalky soil of the northern part of Herefordshire and some parts 
of Cambridgeshire, where the surface soil is not more than 1 foot 
or 18 inches in depth with a substratum of solid chalk. Those in 
the most favourable aspects of the garden it is useless to plant 
Peaches, Nectarines, Apricots, or Cherries, unless in specially pre¬ 
pared borders ; on the other hand Pears and Plums as well as Apples 
do fairly well until they get rooted solidly in the chalk, after that 
they decay and die. I have seen some good examples of Gansel’s 
Bergamot, Brown Beurre, Marie Louise, and Glou Moreau among 
Pears, and Coe’s Golden Drop and Green Gage and Victoria among 
Plums, while the Gooseberry is thoroughly at home, and never 
fails to produce a crop, but then this tree likes a dry bottom. Some 
gardens have the entire length of the northern side of the wall 
planted with them. The trees are mostly trained fan-shaped, and 
when properly done a more neat or pretty appearance could not be 
wished for in tree training. They are mostly pruned on the spur 
system, which causes the branches to be thickly set with fruit buds. 
When growth commences in spring the shoots are often found too 
thick, when a disbudding takes place, and the remaining shoots are 
tipped or stopped when nearly their full length, thereby throwing 
the strength back into the fruit and buds. Another advantage is 
to be found by growing the trees on a north wall—that is, the fruit 
comes to maturity a stage later than those in the open ground, 
which therefore prolongs the season. —Thomas Record. 
THE CONSTANTINOPLE NUT. 
The species of Corylus known in gardens are comparatively few. In 
the west of Europe we have C. Avellana, the common Hizel, which in its 
numerous varieties affords us both useful and ornamental trees ; then in 
the east, Turkey and Asia Minor, is found C. Colurna, the C nstantinople 
nut. Nepaul gives us C. ferox, while North America yields 0. americana 
and C. rostrata. These may be taken as types of the Hazels, but except 
the first-named they are seldom seen in collections of trees, cither as 
curiosities or ornaments. C. Colurna especially might well receive more 
attention, for when planted in a situation adapted to its requirements it 
becomes a distinct and handsome tree, which is rendered still more 
remarkable when fruiting freely. Very rarely can it be seen so finely 
represented as in the Oxford Botanic Gardens, where an old large and 
well-proportioned specimen annually produces a heavy crop of nuts in 
pendulous clusters. The nuts are enveloped in and almost concealed by 
a large and deeply cut involucre, the segments of which are curiously 
twisted and curled, as shown in the illustration (fig. 56). This 
character is strongly developed ; but it is not peculiar to C. Colurna, for 
in the Frizzled Filbert, C. Avellana crispa, and the Indian Hazel, C. ferox, 
a similarly cut involucre is produced. A variety or hybrid named inter¬ 
media is thought to have resulted from a cross between C. Avellana and 
C. Colurna, and another form termed arhorescens is distinguished by its 
involucre being very finely cut, by the spreading habit of the tree, and 
its rapid growth. 
The tree of C. Colurna in the Oxford Botanic Garden is a large 
spreading specimen, old but healthy and well proportioned, and probably 
one of the best in this country. There are several at Kew, but we do not 
remember seeing such a large or handsome specimen either in the Botanic 
Gardens or the Arboretum. Mr. Baxter informs us that the Oxford speci¬ 
men of Corylus Colurna was in all probability “ planted in Dr. John 
Sibthorp’s time, about one hundred years ago. The height is 33 feet and 
the spread of the branches 44 feet. The stem, which is worked on 
Corylus Avellana, measures 5 feet 4 inches round 3 feet from the 
ground.” 
CHRYSANTHEMUM NOTES. 
Various Notes. —When growers disagree who is to decide ? Mr. 
W. J. Murphy’s plan of growing Belle Paul- is quite opposite to mine, 
and may suit in Ireland. I prefer growing this variety in a less rich soil 
than the general collection, and in a fully exposed position. I doubt if 
Mr. W. J. Murphy has the true variety, as he states his plant only grows 
4 feet, whereas the true one grows 6 to 7 (when not stopped). In habit 
it resembles Fair Maid of Guernsey more than any variety I know. 
When grown near a wall or build : ng it is mo™ liable to be attacked with 
