May 30,1895. 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
475 
-Two Agees of Cabbages at Pensham were sold by auction 
the other day at Worcester, the price obtained being at the rate of £38 
per acre. 
■ We learn that Mr. George Murray has-been appointed Keeper 
of Botany in the British Museum, in succession to Mr. Carruthers, who 
retires on superannuation. 
- Bignonia Chirere. —For a cool conservatory having a lofty 
roof no climber is better adapted for beautifying that part of the house 
than this Bignonia. Allowed to hang downwards, the current season’s 
shoots produce a fine effect when freely studded with the orange red, 
tnbe like blossoms. Unless the branches are well matured the previous 
autumn, and the current season’s shoots pinched a joint or two 
beyond the cyme-like flower trusses, a full crop of blossoms cannot 
be expected. Abundance of moisture at the root is important.—E. M. 
- Iris eubro-marginata. —The flowering season of the rhizo- 
matous Irises commences in April with the flowering of this little 
Central Asia Minor Iris. I. rubro-marginata is allied to I. pumila, 
which is very familiar in gardens as a dwarf border plant, usually 
flowering in May. The leaves of this species are 2 to 4 inches high? 
usually margined with red. The rhizomes are short, and short-creeping. 
The flowers are small, of beautiful compact form, with large standards 
and of a peculiar vinous colour, with metallic reflections. They are 
borne in profusion, and the plants at flowering time are quietly, rather 
than strikingly, handsome.—A. C. 
- Single-flowered Pasonies. —Were it not that the blooms 
have so fleeting an existence they would run their double-flowered com¬ 
peers a hard chase for popularity in a decorative point of view. Many 
of them are very showy, flowering more abundantly, and are less tall 
in their growth as a rule than the double sorts. These single-flowering 
Paeonies make a bright display in the herbaceous borders during the 
month of May, and take less time to establish than do the double- 
flowered varieties. OfiBcinalis splendens (brilliant purple) and tenuifolia 
(brilliant crimson), with another variety of a pleasing pink colour, 
form a trio well worthy of attention by anyone interested in hardy 
flowers.—M. 
—— The Absence of Slugs. —Here with me, and in a walled-in 
town garden, a conspicuous feature is at present an almost entire absence 
of slugs. For six weeks we have had in the South of Ireland little or 
no rain. This may be one of the causes, but I attribute the chief cause 
to the severe winter, and chiefly the heavy snowfall. Great cold they 
avoid by burying themselves in the soil; but snow and snow water they 
cannot escape, as it trickles and percolates after them, and close 
observers say kills them in myriads much more than great cold. The 
crops look exceedingly well notwithstanding the persistent drought, 
which I attribute in a great degree to the moisture remaining in the 
soil after the afore-mentioned heavy fall of snow.—W. J. Murphy, 
Clonmel. 
- Veitch’s Climbing French Bean. — This Bean should 
prove an acquisition for growing early in the year in vacant spaces in 
houses where it can have room to extend. Having some spare room 
in a late Peach house I decided to give it a trial. The seeds were 
placed in lO-inch pots early in March, four and five plants being finally 
retained. They were grown steadily, and when sturdy enough removed 
to the house in question, in which place abundance of ventilation is 
given at all favourable times. The plants have simply had ordinary 
attention, and are now turning in a very serviceable crop of Beans, 
a sample of which I forward with these lines for your inspection.— 
J. J. Craven, Allerton^ Liverpool. [The sample of Beans sent was an 
excellent one, and proves the truth of our correspondent’s remarks.] 
- The Myrtle or Periwinkle. —In connection with the 
subject of plants that will do well in deep shade, it may be mentioned 
that few things are better for this purpose than the dwarf Periwinkle, 
Vinca minor. No matter how deep the shade, or how dry the earth 
may be under trees, this form of Periwinkle does admirably. It is found 
under the deep shade of Pine forests in the Old World. It is frequently 
used in America as a covering for graves. It then goes by the name of 
Myrtle, although very different from the true Myrtle of the poets. 
There are four marked varieties in cultivation ; one is the ordinary blue, 
another pink, a pure white variety, and a double form of the pink. The 
flowers come up in early spring, immediately after which the old leaves 
die away and a new set of leaves take their place. In many respects 
there is not a more useful plant in the list used by lovers of gardening. 
—(“ Meehans’ Monthly,”) 
- Horticulture will be fully represented at the Paris 
Exhibition of 1896, and will be located on the banks of the Seine, 
between the Alma and Invalides bridges. 
—— The Uses of Earth-worms. —A contemporary says: “A 
number of years ago a piece of arable land on the sea border of 
Lincolnshire lost its fertility in consequence of the destruction of all 
its earth-worms by the breaking in of the sea, but regained its fertility 
in consequence of becoming again over-run with earth-worms, after the 
effects of the sea burst had ceased.” 
- Eibes aureum. —This plant, which is found in many old 
gardens, has a rather straggling habit, but it is among the earliest shrubs 
to show its flowers, and these are of a singularly clear yellow colour. The 
great value of this plant, however, lies in the delicious fragrance of its 
flowers. No other shrub at this season has any odour at once so 
pleasing and so penetrating, and it is well worth planting for this 
quality alone. 
- Amelanchier FLORIDA. —This is a variety of Canadian Grape 
Pear, A. canadensis, flowering fully a month later than the type. It 
is perhaps less seen than this or the more showy Snowy Mespilus, 
although it deserves far more attention than it now receives. Culti¬ 
vated as a standard by grafting it on the common Hawthorn or Quick 
is perhaps the way most suitable for displaying its attractiveness. If 
it can be associated with evergreen subjects, especially underneath, a 
fine effect is produced by half a dozen trees. The pure white blossoms 
thickly set in a luxuriant mass of green of its own foliage appear 
especially pure in colour.—E. 
- Baptisia TINCTORIA.— For medicines Baptisia tinctoria has 
been found very useful. All medical writers, says ” Meehans’ Monthly,” 
from Rafinesque down, have much to say about it in this connection. 
Rafinesque, however, gives in a few words the substance of most that 
has since been said of it : “ It is a valuable remedy for all sorts of 
ulcers ; must be used externally as a wash or fomentation, or in poultices 
with lard or cream.” “ It is one of the most powerful antiseptics in 
putrid disorders.” “ It stops gangrene, and is useful in putrid and 
typhus fevers.” Griffith says, “ A decoction is made by steeping an 
ounce of the root in a pint of boiling water.” 
APPLES AND STOCKS. 
The closing paragraph of your able and interesting leader (page 419) 
makes a brief allusion to this subject, in which I heartily agree. Aa 
you say, some persons attach much importance to the stock on which 
the trees are growing, and really think that on this the whole secret 
of success hinges. This idea I do not concur in, because in some 
gardens excellent and equal results accrue from trees worked on three 
kinds of stocks—namely, the Paradise, seedling or free stocks, and, 
thirdly, the Crab. When all those named give equal results under 
exactly similar conditions of site, soil, and management, it seems idle 
to pin one’s faith to any one of the three named. 
I am acquainted with persons who say the Paradise stock is the best, 
while I might equally uphold trees established on seedling stocks. 
The latter are really the result of sowing the seed or “pips” from the 
cider mills. Some cultivators say trees grafted or budded on the 
latter do not come quickly into bearing. This I stoutly contradict, as I 
know from experience trees of various ages, from one year to ten years, 
will fruit the second vear after planting, and many of them the first year 
if it were desired. This, I hold is a good argument in favour of seedling 
stocks from the cider mills. Take, again, the Crab as an illustration. 
Even standard-trained trees will give fruit the first year after planting. 
This is really much too soon to be desirable for the future and early 
establishment of full sized trees. 
When trees are favourably started into growth their future cropping 
and growing propensities are largely governed by the method of 
management adop'ed. It is useless pruning hard every year trees 
that make vigorous shoots if the roots are not served in a similar fachion. 
This is a fact that needs little emphasising to practical men, but those 
who have not the benefit of experience find it hard to realise this 
truism. 
I am watching at the present time an experiment that is being tried 
by a cottager on the Swanmore estate on the subject of stocks for Apple 
trees. From many sources he collected the seeds of Apples during the 
winter o^ 1892, both English and foreign being included. The seeds were 
sown out of doors ; the trees grew rapidly, many of them making 
4 feet or more of growth last year. Last month 1 grafted seventy of 
these stocks with various kinds of Apples, and with apparently good 
results, not a sintjle graft having failed to grow. With a view of further 
testing the experiment I purpose budding an equal number during the 
coming season. The behaviour of the several kinds of Apples as stocks 
will no doubt prove interesting. Many of them at the present juncture 
appear all that could be desired as far as growth ii corcerned.— 
E. Molyneux. 
