216 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ September 8, 1882. 
- PLUMBAGO CAPENSIS. —Gardeners usually look upon this as a 
greenhouse or stove plant, and consequently treat it as such; under these 
conditions it succeeds very well. Few treat it as a summer bedding 
plant; but it is wonderful how well it succeeds planted out in the 
Royal Horticultural Society’s gardens at Chiswick. Planted at the 
same time as other bedding stuff the plants commence at once to grow 
vigorously, and soon fill the bed with young growths, each of which will 
bear a terminal spike of pale blue flowers about the beginning of 
September. P. capensis was introduced from the Cape of Good Hope in 
1818 ; it is readily propagated, and after flowering in the beds the plants 
should be taken up, cut hard back and potted, keeping them rather dry 
during the winter. If repotted in spring and kept hardy the plants will 
be useful for several seasons. When planted out P. capensis grows 
about 2 feet high.—C. K. 
- Summary of Meteorological Observations at Hodsock 
Priory, Worksop, Notts, in August ; 56 feet above the mean sea 
level. Mean temperature of the month, 58'9°. Maximum on the 23rd, 
78'2° ; minimum on the 11th, 39 2°. Maximum in sun on the 22nd, 
132° ; minimum on grass on the 11th, 32 , 1°. Mean temperature of the 
air at 9 A.M., G0’6° ; mean temperature of the soil, 1 foot deep, 58 6°. 
Total duration of sunshine in the month, 130 hours, or 29 per cent, of 
possible duration ; we liad two sunless day®. Total rainfall, L79 inch. 
Maximum fall in twenty-four hours on the 29th, 0 85 inch ; rain fell on 
eleven days. Mind, average velocity, 8‘6 miles per hour; velocity 
exceeded 400 miles on two days ; fell short of 100 miles on eight 
days. Approximate averages for August :—Mean temperature, 59'7°. 
.Sunshine, 149 hours. Rainfall, 2'36 inches. A cool and rather 
cloudy month, but with very little rain up to the last three days.— 
J. Mallender. 
— Flower Show at Ilkeston.— On Saturday last the annual 
Exhibition of vegetables, fruit, and flowers in connection with the 
Shipley and Cotmanhay Floral and Horticultural Society was held at 
Ash Street, Ilkeston, and was well attended. The produce shown was 
declared by the Judges to be the finest displayed in Ilkeston for many 
jears, and the equal merit of most of the exhibits, particularly in the 
vegetable classes, was very noticeable. Mr. J. Webster had grand 
kidney 1 otatoes, Messrs. T. Winfield and T. Neath showing the premier 
*' rounds.” The other firsti prizetakers in vegetables were Messrs. A. 
Cockayne, T. Hallam, R. Cook, J. Cook, sen., W. Norman, W. Wheatley, 
J. Taylor, A. Stirland, and W. Whitehead. In fruits the premier prizes 
fell to Messrs. W, Whitehead, J. Cook, sen., W. Norman, E. Roe, A. 
Stirland, and A. Cockayne; and in flowers, plants, &c., to Messrs. J. 
Wheatley, E. Roe, W. Norman, J. Cook, sen., A. Stirland, W. Wheatley, 
J. Webster, S. Calladine, W. Whitehead, and W. Small & Sons. 
Asters for Indoor [Decoration. — Just at. the present 
time the various types of these handsome flowers are particularly useful 
for the purpose above indicated. We use them freely in window boxes, 
jardinettes, large vases, and bowls, in which they make a good show, and 
are a welcome change from the class of plants employed for some weeks 
picviously, such as Marguerites, Celosias, Pelargoniums, and Begonias. 
The dwarf types are especially,‘prized when arranged alternately with 
Panicum variegatum or other striped Grasses, and dotted with Palms, 
Acacias, or Celosias the effect [is very sti iking. Asters lift so well that 
it is not necessary to place them in pots till the flower buds are formed. 
If they are then potted and placed in a shady position they quickly 
establish themselves, and are ,in a few weeks ready for use. Dwarf 
Chrysanthemum - flowered and Victoria are capital varieties for the 
purpose. Daniels’ Dwarf Perfection is also excellent, and produces very 
large flowers for a dwarf sort.—H. D. 
- Water Plants in Japanese Gardens.— From Mr. Lafcadio 
Hearn s article, called “ In a Japanese Garden,” published in the July 
number of the “ Atlantic Monthly,” we quote the following “ The 
garden contains no large growths. It is paved with blue pebbles, and 
its centre is occupied iby a pondlet, a miniature lake fringed with rare 
plants, and containing a tiny island. Here and there at the edge of the 
pond, and almost level with the water, are placed targe flat stones, on 
which one may either stand or squat, to watch the lacustrine population 
or to tend the wateriplants. There are beautiful Water Lilies, of which 
the bright green leaf-disks float oililv upon the surface (Nuphar 
]aponica), and many Lotus plants of two kinds, those which bear pink 
and those which bear pure white flowers. There are Iris plants growing 
along the bank, of which the blossoms are prismatic violet, and there 
are various ornamental Grasses and Ferns and Mosses. But the pond is 
essentially a Lotus pond ; the Lotus plants make its greatest charm. It 
is a delight to watch every phase of their marvellous growth, from the 
first unrolling of the leaf to the fall of the last flower. On rainy days 
especially the Lotus plants are worth observing. Their great cup¬ 
shaped leaves, swaying high above the pond, catch the rain and hold it 
awhile; but always after the water in the leaf reaches a certain level 
the stem bends, and empties the leaf with a loud splash, and then 
straightens again. Rain w r ater upon a Lotus leaf is a favourite subject 
with Japanese metal-workers, and metal-work only can reproduce the 
effect, for the motion and colour of water moving upon the green 
oleaginous surface are exactly those of quicksilver.” 
- Flowers of the Indiarubber.—A correspondent sends us 
(“ Meehan’s Monthly ”) some buds taken from the axils of the leaves of 
an Indiarubber, which he took to be an abortive flower bud ; but which, 
on being cut open, appeared more like the immature Fig. This is all right, 
because the plant usually known as Indiarubber is really a Fig—that is 
to say Ficus elastica. These little buds frequently appear in India- 
rubber plants ; but we have not known them to perfect themselves in 
our country. We should be glad to know whether this does occur at 
times under cultivation. An examination of these buds is very interest¬ 
ing to those who would understand the structure of the Fig. We may 
say in common language, that the Fig is a bunch of flowers turned 
inside out. The flowers of the Fig are all on the inside of this bud— 
some of them are purely staminate and others pistillate. It is a frequent 
subject of controversy whether the common garden Fig has fruit wholly 
of one kind or wholly of the other kind. We are quite sure, notwith¬ 
standing the opinion of some botanists, that we have found both the 
barren and fertile flowers in the same Fig ; and this will be found 
occasionally in the fruit of Ficus elastica. When examined with the 
lens, these little flowers inside the Fig will be found very beautiful and 
well worthy of study. 
-Seakale from Cuttings.—A lthough this may not be quite 
a seasonable time to talk about Seakale from root cuttings, I am led to 
the subject by the closing note of the report of Oakley Hall Gardens, 
page 191, where “ A. D.” says, “ Curiously enough Seakale from root 
cuttings is first class.” From this remark I can only conclude that in 
“A. D.’s ” experience this method of growing Seakale is a novelty. I 
may be wrong, but from the wording 1 can infer nothing else. If he 
saw the quantities grown in this neighbourhood for market purposes he 
would cease to think it curious. It would be difficult to find better 
examples, and all grown from root cuttings inserted in the early part of 
the current year. By the beginning of next March they will all have 
been cleared off and forced. Seakale is considered to be one of the best 
paying vegetable crops in these parts, the soil apparently suiting its 
requirements to a nicety. The method adopted is to collect all spare 
pieces of roots 4 inches long when digging them up for forcing, com¬ 
mencing early in the autumn. The roots are cut into the lengths named, 
tied in bundles, and covered over with soil, where they remain until it 
can be seen which end of each root promises the best growth ; the 
pieces are then ready for planting in rows in the open, the tops of each 
piece being just covered with soil. The land is well prepared by 
manuring freely, which induces a free growth, and by the autumn 
splendid crowns are available.— South Hants. 
NEW YARIEGATED FERNS. 
The three new variegated Ferns exhibited by Mr. H. B. May at 
Chiswick on August the 23rd and 24th, and for which first-class 
certificates were awarded by the Royal Horticultural Society, are 
valuable additions to our greenhouse Ferns. They were all raised from 
the same batch of seedlings, and a curious point is that several plants 
of each variety were obtained. They all came from a batch of seedlings 
of Pteris Victoria, which consisted of several hundreds of the true 
type. 
Of the three distinct varieties the most remarkable is Pteris tremula 
variegata. This has the true character of tremula; the pinnae are perhaps 
a little narrower than the variety of tremula now mostly grown, but 
exactly the same form exists among green varieties of tremula. The 
variegation consists of a silvery grey linear marking, which also runs 
through in stripes nearly to the margin of the pinnules. As Mr. May 
already has several plants of the same variety there is every reason to 
hope that there will be little difficulty in getting it true to character 
from spores, and if so it is sure to become one of the most popular Ferns 
for decoration. 
P. reginte partakes more of the habit of P. Victorias, but is of more 
