336 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ May 5, 1892. 
- Aubriltia Campbelli. —One of the prettiest patches of colour 
on the rockery at the present time comes from this enlarged form of 
deltoidea and which is a synonjm of Hendersoni, with a much more 
vigorous constitution than the typical form. The colour is a deep violet 
blue, very effective in a mass. This variety is much superior for the 
embellishment of the flower beds in the spring garden than purpurea 
and grmca. A stock of plants can be as easily obtained as the above by 
dividing the roots.—E. M. 
- Botanical Stations in the West Indies. —Among the 
botanical stations lately founded in the West Indies, in accordance with 
a scheme propounded in the Kew Bulletin five years ago, that at St. 
Vincent claims, says a daily contemporary, the foremost place. St. 
Vincent is one of the Windward Islands lying about 100 miles west of 
Barbados. It is picturesque, fertile, and very healthy. The total area 
is 133 square miles, with a population of 50,000. At present only about 
one-sixth of the surface of the island is under permanent cultivation. 
The object sought by the establishment of a botanical station in St. 
Vincent is to provide a small centre for propagating and distributing 
industrial plants and information. 
- Californian Fresh Fruits. — An experiment of great 
importance is to be made with a view of introducing into this country, 
in fresh condition, the choicest Californian fruits, such as Cherries, 
Strawberries, Peaches, Apricots, Oranges, Apples, also Tomatoes, says a 
contemporary. The promoters of this scheme are the Californian 
Fruit Transportation Company of Chicago, who undertake, by means 
of their patent refrigerator system, to land the fruit in perfect con¬ 
dition, and so sanguine are they of this that arrangements have been 
made for the conveyance of large quantities weekly by the famous 
steamers of the White Star Line, the disposal and distribution being 
entrusted to Messrs. James Adam, Son, & Co., of-Liverpool, and Messrs. 
J. & J. Adam & Co., of London. The first shipment will be by the 
“ Majestic,” due in Liverpool next Wednesday, and the result of the 
experiment is anxiously looked for by those interested, particularly by 
the shippers, who desire to offer to the British public the fruits of this 
sunny clime. 
- A Rod for the Root Hunter. — In Switzerland, as in 
England, says the Daily Graphic, there are people whose general 
amiability of character does not prevent them from pulling fiowers up 
by the roots “ merely for wantonness.” So frequent has this mis¬ 
demeanour become in the Tyrol that the Diet has felt constrained to 
pass a special law for the protection of the Edelweiss. It is to be 
feared that the measure will only be occasionally and spasmodically 
enforced. It is not true, as many have been taught to think, that the 
Edelweiss is only to be found above the snow line ; but there is no 
doubt that its favourite habitat is in places where there are no police¬ 
men to be found on point duty, ready to take the names and addresses 
of the offenders, or drag them before the magistrates to be fined. For 
all that, however, the measure may do good. At least it may remind 
tourists that this most interesting of plants is in danger of extinction, 
and may induce them to refrain from buying it from the little children 
and old women who tear it up from mercenary motives. For men, the 
better way is to pick their Edelweiss for themselves ; for ladies, 
the proper plan is to get men to gather it for them as a token of 
regard. 
- Leeds Professional Gardeners’ Mutual Improvement 
Society. —We have received a copy of the rules and essay card 
of this Society, which has just been organised, and already consists of 
above forty members. Most of these were present at the inauguration 
dinner held on April 21st, at the Golden Cock Hotel, Kirkgate, Leeds. 
The toast of the evening was “ The Leeds Professional Gardeners’ 
Mutual Improvement Society,” which was proposed by Mr. Wilkinson 
of Bradford, and suitably responded to by Mr. Tyson, Viee-Chairman 
of the Soeiety. Saturday, April 23rd, was the first night for a paper, 
when Mr. Eichel, of Messrs. Charlesworth, Shuttleworth & Co., 
Bradford, gave a very interesting and instructive discourse on 
“ Orchids and Orchid Collecting,” describing the difficulties which 
collectors had to contend with in procuring the plants which they 
are in search of. He also alluded to the superstitions which exist 
in the different tribes, and to the modes of bartering with the 
natives with such articles as looking-glasses, brushes, cloth, and 
trinkets. Mr. Eichel exhibited several specimens to illustrate the 
various localities, climatic influences, and surroundings in which they 
were found. Several photographs by collectors added greatly to the 
enjoyment of those present. In enumerating the various species, the 
essayist spoke of the Rev. F. D. Horner as one of the most enthu¬ 
siastic and successful amateurs with whom he was acquainted, especi¬ 
ally in the cultivation of the difficult but beautiful Cattleya citrina. 
A most interesting discussion followed the paper, after which a hearty 
vote of thanks was accorded Mr. Eichel for his valuable services, 
thus terminating the first of what, it is hoped, will be a series of 
interesting and instructive essays. 
- Scarcity of Slugs. —When I stated the opinion that slugs- 
had suffered from frosts during the past winter much more than usual, 
several correspondents, including one in my own neighbourhood, cast 
doubts upon the correctness of my conclusions. They thought it must 
be too good to be true. Some time has elapsed since I first wrote upon 
the subject, quite enough to test the truth of my assertions, and I am 
glad to be able to state that I never remember such an absence of slugs, 
especially the small black species, at this time of the year. Hitherto 
nothing was safe from them. Now quite small Lettuces, Brussels- 
Sprouts, Cauliflowers, and such plants are much as they were when put 
out a week or more ago, a showery time notwithstanding. We usually 
follow Brussels Sprouts with Celery, and if slugs are found anywhere it 
is on the ridges between the trenches. Most of the latter are already 
prepared, and several lines of tender young Lettuce plants dibbled along 
some of the ridges. Of these not one in thirty have been interfered with 
by slugs. That all of the latter have not escaped destruction I very 
well know, but what has become of the great majority f Have they 
“ gone over,” or simply shifted their quarters to “ pastures new ?”—I. 
ACHIMENES. 
Flowers “all the year round” must be provided in green¬ 
houses and conservatories, or the structures fail in the purpose 
for which they were erected. Perhaps the spring and early 
summer, or from the present time ti'l July, is the period when 
such structures are in their zenith of beauty ; for besides forced 
flowers, some of the finest genera of plants are in “ fullest natural 
beauty” at the season named. But these families of plants— 
Cyclamens, Cinerarias, Calceolarias, and Pelargoniums—must have 
their successors, and the more distinct these are in habit and 
colour from the flowers blooming in the open air the more effective 
will they be when arranged in the houses. 
Achimenes are thoroughly dissimilar from all outdoor-flowering 
plants in habit and the majority also in the colours of the flowers. 
The plants are, farther, of easy culture, provided they can, 
especially in the early stages of growth, be afforded artificial heat. 
Many valuable additions have recently been made to this handsome 
genus of plants, and no garden of importance can be considered 
completely furnished with summer decorative plants which does 
not contain a collection of Achimenes. 
Where tubers are plentiful the work of producing fine pots, 
pans, or baskets of Achimenes is comparatively easy, for the 
tubers can be planted sufficiently close together that without any, 
or very little, stopping of the plants fine masses of growth and 
flowers can be obtained ; but where tubers are scarce, as, for 
instance, in purchasing new sorts, greater cultural care is required 
to produce plants of an effective size the first season. Yet with 
even a limited number of tubers good plants may be perfected, as 
I will proceed to show. 
Some years ago I ordered two dozen pots of Achimenes, which 
arrived during the first week of May. They were in 3-inch pots, 
each pot containing three plants about half an inch high. With 
this small beginning I determined to make as good an ending as 
possible, but did not anticipate the large results that followed. The 
tiny plants were growing in peat, and were placed on a shelf in the 
Cucumber house. They were carefully watered and syringed, and 
were slightly shaded in bright weather. When 3 inches high their 
points were taken out, and shortly, instead of having three shoots 
in each pot, I had in the case of some sorts six, and in others nine 
shoots. When these had pushed half an inch the plants were 
transferred into 5-inch pots in a mixture of two-thirds of peat and 
one-third of old Mushroom-bed manure, with a free admixture of 
sand and lumps of charcoal. After becoming established in these 
pots the plants were again stopped, and the shoots increased in 
number from fifteen to twenty-seven in each pot, according to the 
sort- 1 , some breaking three eyes and others two. The plants with 
careful attention grew rapidly and were pinched a third time, and 
some of them produced as many as a hundred shoots. These were 
trained thinly out from the first, so that each grew sturdily. The 
plants were eventually shifted into 8 inch pots, and were afforded 
a compost of loam, leaf mould, old Mushroom-bed manure, and 
bruised d a’coal in equal parts. 
By the end of June the plants were too large for the shelf 
