890 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ May 18, 189$. 
It would appear from the absence of any condition that the Committee 
accepted this as the legitimate name, while they did not accept that 
snder which Mr. Linden exhibited the same Dracaena ; yet according 
to the above letter it was admitted in the Berlin Botanical Garden in 
38S8. As the Royal Horticultural Society could not record the expres¬ 
sion of a doubt without an intention to investigate the matter with a 
view to the ratification or removal of such doubt, we may expect to have 
the final decision of the Society on the whole subject, and we shall be glad 
to publish it. As our artist happened to sketch one of the St. Albans plants 
the name under which it was exhibited is given, whereas Mr. Linden is 
equally entitled to employ the name which he regards as correct, at the 
head of his communication. It is for the Royal Horticultural Society 
4o say whether Mr. Linden’s name is correct or not, since the certificate 
was granted conditionally. This Dracaena is not only distinct from all 
others but attractive, and we should think easy to grow under suitable 
conditions. We may add that Dracaena thalioides, as first grown in the 
establishment of Jacob-Makoy, of Liege, about thirty years ago, was 
found to be a synonym of D. Aubryana. This name was given to the 
plant by M. Brongniart of the Museum of Natural History at Paris, 
where it was introduced from the Gaboon by M. Aubry-le-Comte.J 
PROPOSAL FOR AN INSTITUTE OF HORTI¬ 
CULTURE, MUSIC, AND THE FINE ARTS. 
Will you kindly favour us with space in your valuable columns 
to submit a project for the establishment of an Institution of 
Horticulture ? To-day, England is very much behind other great 
nations in this respect, and although efforts have been made to 
provide suitable accommodation for our ever-increasing needs, we 
have no Institute of Horticulture, but exhibitions must be held at 
sdd places, some of them very ill-adapted for such displays. 
The financial aspect has been the difficulty. In order to meet 
ibis we would suggest that with horticulture should be associated 
3ausic, the fine arts (all kindred in sentiment), and that the pro¬ 
posed institute should be designed especially to meet the require- 
paents of these societies. There is distinctly a need for a suitable 
institute for horticulturists, and there is also as great a need for an 
institute to receive and exhibit the large proportion of paintings 
which are not hung at the Academy. 
- going into details, we would suggest that a meeting 
might be held of horticultural gentlemen to confer upon this 
project, and perhaps meet representatives from the Royal Academy, 
Royal Albert Hall, Amateur Orchestral Society, Stock Exchange 
Orchestral Society, or other similar associations, and we believe the 
©utiome of such a conference would be the establishment of an 
Jbnstitute of Horticulture, Music, and the Fine Arts, where, all the 
year round, pictures and sculpture would be exhibited, concerts of 
music held, and lectures, conversaziones, 
and exhibitions arranged under the auspices of the Royal Horti¬ 
cultural Society ; and all these might, if desirable, proceed at the 
same timej m the sanie hall, affording attraction to everyone (for 
^uredly everyone is interested either in music, pictures, or 
owers), and the effect of the three in combination is always 
harmonious.— W. Wood & Son, Wood Green, N. 
[We readily insert this communication, and our readers are free 
jO express their opinions on the proposal of our correspondents.] 
SEASONABLE HINTS ON FLORISTS’ FLOWERS. 
I very much doubt whether the word seasonable is applicable 
410 anything one may write on the subject of the garden during 
this most extraordinary year, which has been both unseasonable 
and unreasonable. What can be said of a season when Tulins, 
which ought to be in flower by the 20th of May, are well nigh over 
y he lat of the month ; when the Hawthorn has resigned its 
sweet name “of May,” and is in flower at the end of April ; when 
the Laburnum is full of its golden tresses at the same time, and 
when there is a very great difficulty in imagining where we can 
possibly be in this year ? It is true we hear of a “ dismal down- 
pour in the North, but I feel sure if it only reached us in the 
bouth W6 should call it anything but dismal. It is all the more 
pit because we can contrast it with last year, a particularly 
Hte that amongst other things Rose growers got 
pelted over the dpes of the shows, and were for making them 
^ people talking of putting 
u ,_^o^tnight; there is this advantage in such a 
alter-at any rate, as to the time 
allotted for the various operations. 
^ already said, the season has been a very 
wbiffi^fn to mpy Auricula growers, and the very early 
the plants have gone out of flower necessitates a 
much earlier removal to their summer quarters. They should be now 
placed in frames on the north side of a wall or fence. Before 
removing them from the pits where they have been growing and 
flowering all through the spring, I always give them a dose of 
fumigation as it kills all the aphides, which are very injurious to 
the well-being of the plants. Each plant is afterwards examined, 
and if any woolly aphis is discovered round the neck of the plants 
they should be removed with finger and thumb, otherwise they 
need not, I am quite convinced now (although I once thought 
differently) trouble the grower. When they have been removed, 
and time can be given to them, the work of repotting may begin, 
commencing with the smaller plants and offsets first. Some sorts 
are very prolific in the production of offsets, and some just the 
reverse, and one may wait for years without getting one, and 
especially is this the case in the more valuable edged sorts. Some 
of the seifs readily yield offsets, and even the newer kinds such 
as Heroine, Black Bess, and Mrs. Potts, will soon be in every 
grower’s hands ; while for Magpie, Shirley Hibberd, and others 
they will have to wait patiently for years. 
In petting, whether it be old plants or offsets, the simplest 
compost is, I think, the best, and the chief ingredient, on which I 
believe, indeed, the future well-being of the plants depends, is a good 
sound loam, the top spit of a meadow or down. Did I not hear 
two of our growers having a confab the other day ? “ Where can 
I get some good loam ? ” was the eager request of the younger 
grower. “ Oh ! of course, down near Epsom, the best loam in 
England,” was the reply of. the more experienced grower. Well, 
we cannot all go there, and must only look out for it where we can. 
There is, however, a mistake sometimes made on this subject. I 
have heard people expatiate on their heaps of loam laid up for two 
or three years. I think this is too long. You lose then the fibrous 
roots of the grasses, which have by this time quite rotted away, 
and it is amongst them that the roots of the Auricula delight 
to find their way ; moreover, when the fibre is gone the loam is 
apt to be too heavy, so I think that a heap laid up for about a 
twelvemonth is in the best condition. If to two-thirds of this and 
one-third of decayed cow manure, one-sixth of leaf mould, and a 
little sharp sand be added, it is a compost good enough for anything. 
I well remember that old George Lightbody used to say that some 
plants required more loam and some more leaf mould, and he used 
to have the different ingredients of his compost laid separately on 
his potting bench and act accordingly ; but few, I imagine, will be 
inclined to take this trouble. 
I am inclined to think that it is better to under-pot than to 
over-pot the plants. I used at one time to think it better to use 
large pots, but one is never too old to learn, and I remember in my 
early days that the fine collection of John Dickson of Acre Lane, 
Brixton, than which I have never seen a healthier, was grown 
in small pots. Another point to remember is to pot firmly. This 
is more especially needful where there is a good deal of fibre in 
the soil, for as that gradually decays the soil somewhat shrinks, 
and if the potting is loose it makes gaps in the surface which 
are not good for the plants. When they are potted they had better 
be kept close in the frames for a few days and shaded, first giving 
them a good supply of water. They will of course soon lose their 
outer leaves, but the fresh heart will soon develop itself, giving 
them promise of the future year. 
Carnations and Picotees. —The influence of the season is 
shown amongst these plants as in others. I winter my small collec¬ 
tion, or rather selection, in pots, and plant them out in March or 
April. They have not had a drop of rain since they were planted 
out, and the great amount of sunlight and warmth has caused them 
to spindle for bloom fully a month before their time. We had had 
little of the cold cutting winds we too often experience at this time 
of the year, and this has to some extent compensated for the 
drought. I have noticed of late that when the talk is about Carna¬ 
tions, it is the border varieties that people have most in mind, and 
there seems to be an evident decrease in the interest felt in 
the more refined varieties of the florists ; but whether it be show or 
border varieties, all are much too early on the move. They are 
now spindling up for bloom, and will require staking at a much 
earlier period than usual; mine have been done some time. I find 
that where the plants have been attended to in the matter of water¬ 
ing that the grass is growing well, and that one may hope to have 
some produce by-and-by. 
Pansies. —This is a very trying time for these plants in the 
south of England, which is never vex*y favourable for them ; and 
where they have been planted in beds I should think very large 
gaps will be found. My few are in pots, where they can be more 
readily supplied with water and shaded. This is all the attention 
they will require now, except that the pots must be kept clear of 
weeds, and any long shoots tied to short sticks. The forthcoming 
Exhibition at the Drill Hall will perhaps give an impetus to their 
culture ; but here, as in the Carnation, it is not the old tow 
