October 26, 1892. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
353 
- Lilium martagon fl.-pl. —In a recent issue of the Journal 
I mentioned this Lily, and said that I had never met with it. Much to 
my surprise, within a few days of the publication of the note I had a 
post-card from a friend in Alexandria, N.B , in whose garden I had 
been only a few days before, with the information that he had the 
double Martagon Lily. It is, as one would expect, quite hardy with 
him ; but the flower heads when in bud are sometimes “ burned ” by 
spring frosts. The garden is close to the river Leven, and lies low, 
which will account for the destruction of the flowers so late in the 
season. In the revived taste for hardy Lilies this scarce variety will 
hardly be forgotten.—S. Arnott. 
- Fourcroya in Flower. —A large plant of Fourcroya is now 
in flower in the conservatory of the Royal Botanic Society. The 
Secretary of the Society referred to it at a recent meeting of the 
‘Council. The plant is sometimes called the Century Plant, the idea 
being that it flowers only once in a hundred years. In reality the flower 
•is produced only once in the life of the plant, the duration or term of life 
varying considerably, according to the treatment the plants individually 
receive. Specimens of the Agave americana have flowered in the Royal 
Botanic Society’s garden, the ages of them being well authenticated as 
over eighty years ; but the plant is known to flower in warmer climes 
before twenty years of age. The present specimen of Fourcroya is 
between twenty and thirty years old. It began on August 1st last to pro¬ 
duce its flower spike, which, although the plant is slow-growing gene¬ 
rally, developed at a rapid pace, so that on September 15th the tip had 
reached the glass roof. A square of glass being removed, the flower spike 
continued its growth, and it is now some 3 feet or 4 feet above the ridge, 
a total of over 30 feet in height. The leaves vary from 6 feet to 7 feet in 
length. 
- Agapanthus umbellatus.—I can endorse the remarks 
;{page 323) made by Mr. Parrant on the usefulness of this plant for such 
places as he mentions. I have a plant standing on the terrace where it 
was placed as soon as the spring frosts were over, and it has carried 
thirteen umbels of clear blue flowers, being a great contrast to the large 
variegated Agaves on each side. I have seen it employed with good 
effect in sub-tropical beds and remain out all the winter, but the foliage 
•dies down and a thick covering of ashes is needed to keep frost from 
their crowns ; but to see a plant in its real beauty it should have a place 
in a large conservatory, as the cutting winds damage the foliage more or 
less out of doors. We have two plants in pots ; the flower heads have 
Just been cut off, but the stems are still visible. One has had eighteen 
spikes of bloom, some carrying over 150 flowers, the average of the 
eighteen spikes being 123. This plant was exhibited at our local Show 
in July last in a class for four stove or greenhouse plants, and was 
specially mentioned by the press. The other is out of doors as before 
mentioned.— Wm. Spencer, Errismore, Birlidale Pai'h, Southport. 
- Montbretia crocosmaeflora. — This is mentioned on p. 329 
of the Journal of Horticulture, May I briefly remark (1) as to the 
spelling of the name crocosmaeflora ? I believe your correspondent spells 
it quite correctly as here, but it is not usually so spelt. The name 
Crocosma was given to a genus separated from Tritonia by the French 
botanist Planchon. Though in Nicholson’s Dictionary and in most 
•catalogues I find the name written Crocosmia, yet in Hooker’s “ Genera 
Plantarum ” it is Crocosma, a word coined on the same model as 
-Coprosma and Diosma. Though the only classical name I recollect of 
the same form Onosma, is of the neuter gender, the givers of the other 
names have exercised the privilege of making the names given by them 
of what gender they please, and have made them feminine ; therefore 
Crocosmaeflora is the correct form. (2), It is not clear whether 
^‘H. W. W.” recommends these as hardy plants. When I wrote lately 
to M. Lemoine of Nancy, who raised the varieties and from whom I 
bought most of them as they came out, complaining that none of them 
except Etoile de Feu had survived the winter in the open, he replied 
that they were not intended to be hardy ; that at Nancy none of them ; 
not even the less tender M. Pottsi, ever survive the winter without the 
protection of a cone of straw or of dried leaves, or some such shelter 
over them. Gardeners in England have no doubt had varied experience 
of them ; many I know have lost them, others protected them. One of 
my friends tells me that lifting in October dries the growth sufficiently, 
•even if they are planted again directly, to make them withstand the 
frost of ordinary winters. The safest plan, which I shall now adopt, is to 
treat them, as I used in old days to treat with success Crocosma 
.(Tritonia) aurea—namely, to pot them, and cover the pots with 6 inches 
or more of coal ashes, in any sheltered part of the garden.—C. Wolley 
Dod, Edge Hall , Malpas. 
- Stevensonia grandifolia —A large specimen, probably the 
largest in Europe, of this rare Palm, and which has long been a feature 
in the Palm House at Kew, is now flowering for the first time, says the 
“ Kew Bulletin.” It is a native of the Seychelles, where it was dis¬ 
covered by Duncan, who sent three small plants of it to Kew in 1855, 
one of which was soon afterwards stolen. Probably the specimen now 
flowering is one of the other two, although in J. Smith’s Kew Records it 
is stated that “ four months after my retirement, in May, 1864,1 learned 
that these two rare Palms were dead.” The genus is monotypic and 
endemic in the Seychelles, where it grows to a height of 40 to 50 feet. 
The Kew specimen is 30 feet high, and has a slender, spineless stem. 
The leaves are cuneate, obovate, bifid, laciniated, 7 feet long and 5 feet 
wide, green, spotted with rusty red. The inflorescence is an erect 
branched panicle 3 feet long, clothed with yellow flowers. A figure 
of the plant has been prepared for publication in the “ Botanical 
Magazine.” 
- Hardy Plants at Kew. —The collection of hardy herbaceous 
plants at Kew, an exceptionally rich one, is accommodated mainly in 
the formal beds in the herbaceous ground and in the rockery, where 
collective interest rather than effect is aimed at. Many of the larger 
and showier species, however, require a bolder arrangement and more 
space than would be afforded in the herbaceous ground, and to provide 
this a large border, previously planted with mixed shrubs, was cleared, 
trenched, heavily manured, and planted in the spring with large flowered 
herbaceous perennials and annuals. The border, which is on the west 
side of the T Range, is 350 feet long and 20 feet wide, and from the end 
of June till the end of September it has been a great attraction to 
visitors. The plants grown in it are perennial Sunflowers, Dahlias, 
Phloxes, Hollyhocks, Gladioli, Sweet Peas, Rudbeckias, Asters, Pent- 
stemons, Stocks, Poppies, Poeonies, Foxgloves, and a large selection of 
other plants. Each kind is represented by a large bold mass. A few 
ornamental flowering shrubs, such as Roses, Spiraeas, Genistas, and also 
a few evergreens for winter effect are mixed with the herbaceous plants 
—(“ Kew Bulletin.”) 
- Seedling Potatoes.—T he large number of new varieties of 
Potatoes presented for adjudication at the recent Earl’s Court Exhibition 
proves that there is still very much of activity amongst raisers, and that 
the absence of ample opportunities to exhibit new Potatoes, and the 
comparatively low price of produce, has not materially checked enter¬ 
prise on the part of those who look for some return for their labour. It 
is very doubtful whether any form of hybridisation or cross-fertilisation 
has ever been less 'profitable to those undertaking it than has the 
raising of new varieties of Potatoes. It is inevitable that out, perhaps, 
of fifty or a hundred seedlings, all of which must be grown, probably, 
two years in succession before being fairly tested, that some 60 per cent, 
will have to be sacrificed. After a third year’s trial the remainder 
60 per cent, of these go, so that the varieties are ere being put into 
commerce whittled down to perhaps half a dozen. Fortunate is the 
raiser who has so many that are really good. For exhibition purposes 
we, of course, want diversity in colour a3 well as in general appearance. 
Still, coloured Potatoes find a very limited demand ; we want chiefly in 
addition to fine table quality and great productiveness, thorough dis¬ 
tinctness, as already we have, especially of the flattish round type, a 
dozen varieties at least of which were the tubers mixed up it would be 
impossible for anyone to distinguish them. A very strong feeling 
was expressed at the recent Potato Show that some form of national 
exhibition of Potatoes should be revived. I should very much like to see 
that wish realised. There is ample room, but it should be conducted 
solely by a responsible committee, and not by one individual. I think 
it would be an excellent plan were a meeting of all interested in 
Potatoes and their culture, held on one of the days of the next Aquarium 
Show, and a Potato Society or Exhibition Committee might be formed 
that would command confidence and justify it.—A. D. 
-Aristolochia gigas and A. g. Sturtevantii.— No doubt 
considerable stir was created in June and July. 1841, when Aristolochia 
gigas flowered for the first time in England at the Royal Horticultural 
Society’s Gardens, Chiswick. It had been sent home by Hartweg from 
Guatemala, and the first flower was produced on a small plant grown in 
a pot. For a long time little was heard of the Giant Birthworts, with 
the exception of an occasional example of A. Goldieana, until in the 
summer and autumn of 1891 a fine plant of A. gigas var. Sturtevantii, 
sent by Mr. E. Sturtevant of New Jersey, produced its enormous flowers 
in the Victoria Lily House at the Royal Gardens, Kew. This variety 
differs from the type in having larger flowers and much deeper colouring, 
as a glance at the figure in the “ Botanical Register ” for 1842 will 
readily show. The press, gardening, daily and local, noted the new 
