474 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAQE GARDENER. 
May 30,11895. 
-The Annual Show op the Hebefordshire Fruit and 
Chrysanthemum Society is fixed for 5th and 6th November. 
- Narcissus biflobus. —This is worthy of a place in the wild ' 
garden or in the herbaceous border if only to prolong the display of this 
lection of bulbs. The blooms are borne in pairs on stout stalks, dull 
white in colour, and fragrant. 
- We are requested to announce that Mr. J. Williams, late 
gardener at Penwortham Priory, Preston, and Brooklands, Garstang, 
has commenced business at Bowgreave, Garstang, as seedsman and 
florist. 
-Richmond Horticultural Show, — The schedule of the 
annual show of this Society, to be held in the Old Deer Park, Richmond, 
on Wednesday, June 26th, is just to hand, and contains particulars of 
several classes, in which excellent prizes are offered. We hope the 
exhibition will be as great a success as in previous years, and as the 
good management of it so thoroughly deserves. Anyone desiring 
information should write to Edwin Pragnell, Esq., London and County 
Bank, Richmond. 
- The Golden-crested Wren. — Though the smallest of 
British birds this is a great friend to both gardener and farmer, destroy¬ 
ing as it does myriads of troublesome creature pests, which infest cul¬ 
tivated plants. By watching its habits at this season it may be seen 
busily feeding on the aphis, or green fly, which is one of the most 
troublesome of insects. By looking in the right place the nest of the 
golden-crested wren will be found in some Honeysuckle or such like 
bush.—B. 
- Daphne cneorum. —Always an uncertain little evergreen 
here, says the “ Garden and Forest,” it seems to have come through the 
winter unusually well, and is now covered with its fragrant pink 
blossoms, and there is nothing better than this trailing shrub for rock- 
work. Flowering at the same time, but a good deal more hardy and 
trustworthy, are the half-shrubby perennial Candytufts. The flowers of 
these Candytufts are white as snow, and since the plants resemble the 
Daphne in habit the two make admirable companions. 
- The Vitality of Seeds. —I was interested in the article, 
page 436, on the vitality of seeds. It appears to me the vitality of 
many seeds is destroyed by storing, where at certain seasons they 
absorb moisture from the atmosphere or the receptacle they are stored 
in. Once seeds begin to germinate and are checked they make no 
further progress, while at the early stages of germination they are 
easily killed. In the spring of 1894 I took soil from a depth of 4 feet 
from which several plants sprung, one a Lathyrus or Pea, a new kind 
to me, and I have observed Charlock spring from material many fathoms 
deep.—W. T. 
- Restoring the Interior of a Tree.—A process of 
restoration has been carried out in the interior of the famous “ Rollo’s 
Oak,” which is to be seen within an easy distance of Rouen, France. It 
is BO old that it has completely lost its inside, and was liable to collapse 
at any moment. It has now been relieved of this liability. An arbori- 
cultural genius has, according to a contemporary, fitted it with a solid 
new inside of masonry. The masonry is made to follow and fit every 
turn and twist, and gnarl of the patient ; and there is the veteran, solid 
as a rock again. Then the fissures and cracks on his exterior have been 
neatly filled op with cement, and the cement has been artistically 
coloured, so that you would hardly know it from the natural bark. 
It is expected and believed that the tree will not know the difference 
either, and take to flourishing again as it did a few centuries ago. 
- Some Features of Plant Life, — Professor T. Johnson 
delivered a lecture on “ Some Features of Plant Life,” in the Royal 
Dublin Society’s Buildings, Kildare Street, recently. There was a very 
good attendance, and the lecture, which was adapted to a juvenile 
auditory, was closely followed by those present. The lecturer at first 
dealt with the main groups of flowering plants. He then described the 
Bean or Flax plant, and the Oak, as illustrations of dicotyledons. The 
structure of the stem was minutely referred to, after which the arrange¬ 
ment, nature, and functions of the veins or vascular bundles were dwelt 
on. The other portions uf the lecturer’s discourse were concerned with 
the tip or growing point of stem, buds, or tree trunk, and its mode of 
formation, the root system and its function ; the food of a plant; the 
” stringiness ” of some roots, and the “ bleeding ” of the Dandelion root. 
The lecture was listened to with great interest, and its different points 
were fully appreciated. 
- By a printer’s error, the address of Mr. G. May, who showed 
Uriah Pike Carnations at the Temple show, was given in our report ai 
Upper Edmonton instead of Upper leddington, 
- Messrs. B. S. Williams & Son write :—“ We have much 
pleasure in informing you that the Lord Steward has appointed us 
nurserymen and seedsmen to Her Majesty the Queen. The warrant 
conferring the appointment is dated 8th of May, 1895.” 
- Horticultural Buildings. —Mr. C. Cox, Tunbridge Wells,. 
has favoured us with handsome reproductions from photographs of the 
structures he builds, and which clearly depict lightness and elegance 
with substance and utility. All forms of glass houses are represented, 
from the small frame to the ornate conservatory. Amateurs are not 
forgotten, as several “tenants’ fixtures’’are pourtrayed, and amongst 
which “ The Hercules ” appears everything desirable. 
- Wistaria ploribunda. —In spite of many new additions to 
the floral world, we have no creeper more beautiful at this period of the 
year than Wistaria floribunda. When recently passing a cottage in a 
London suburb I was struck to see the walls covered with large clusters 
of its purple coloured blooms, and could not help thinking how many 
bare walls might be made beautiful if covered by this old but charming 
creeper. Considering the ease with which it may be propagated by 
layering the long shoots, it is somewhat surprising that it is not grown 
to a greater extent.—G. 
- Primula Sieboldi Pluto.—A midst the wealth of hardy 
flowers and plants shown at the Temple few kinds more readily 
arrested the attention than did a group of this beautiful hardy Primula 
blooming profusely in small pots, and exhibited by Messrs. Barr & Son. 
The flowers were of good size, partially laciniated, a very desirable 
feature in these flowers, and of a rich reddish magenta hue. How 
effective would clumps of such a hardy Primula as this is be in 6-incb 
pots in a greenhouse if well grown ! the colour is uncommon and the effect 
charming. Primula Sieboldi, to have it in good form, should have the 
root crowns divided every year, the best selected and potted, whilst 
the weaker may be grown in pans to make strong crowns for the 
following season.—D. 
- Fatal Violets.—A well-known botanist says ths root of the 
fragrant Violet is so poisonous that a very little of it causes nausea,, 
interrupted heart action, diflSculty of breathing, and other organic 
complications, which may result in serious illness. In this connection 
it is significant that an intimate relation has been discovered between 
the strong perfume of the fragrant Violet and the venomous qualities 
of its root, for the root of the scentless, or Dog Violet, is not venomous. 
More recently, cases of heart failure and defective circulation have been 
traced to the influence of Violet perfume. Since the fragrant Violet 
and its extracted perfumes are becoming all the vogue, it might be well, 
in view of these sinister reports concerning them, to consider the 
propriety of their indiscriminate and lavish enjoyment, particularly 
as they seem liable to injuriously affect not only those who use 
them, but also susceptible persons who may be in their immediate 
neighbourhood. 
_ Nymphjea Laydekeri Rosea.—T his is one of the best of 
the small-flowering Water Lilies for general use either as an ornamental 
plant or for cut flowers. While it grows as freely as any of the other 
kinds, it has baffled all attempts at propagation, so far as known. The 
plants keep growing from the same crown, forming a thick succulent 
stem, the lower part of which is continually decaying as the top makes 
new growths. I have tried to increase it in various ways, but never 
have succeeded in even starting a lateral growth, and the worst of it is, 
the plant usually dies if disturbed too much. I have killed four plants 
already, and am as far from a solution of the problem as ever. Several 
other people have tried to propagate it, with like results. It sometimes 
produces seeds, but they do not come true. I am inclined to believe 
that the best way to raise it is to cross-fertilise the two parents every 
time seed is wanted, and thereby renew it in the same manner in which 
it was originally produced. Its parents are said to be the Chinese 
Nymphma pygmsea, fertilised with pollen from the pink variety of 
N. alba. I am the more inclined to believe these to be its parents, 
because for want of the flowers of the last-named kind, I have tried 
pollen of a dark form of N. odorata rosea on flowers of N. pygmma with 
successful results. The flowers of this hybrid are nearly of the same 
colour as those of N. Laydekeri rosea ; there are more petals to the flowers 
and the shape is more star-like.— G. W. Oliver (in “Garden and 
Forest.”) 
