288 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
April 4, 1895. 
about an inch across at the base, concave, the ends narrowing to 
a caudate point about 6 inches from the base. Inside these 
are hairy, the ground colour yellow, with irregular blotches of 
red and purple. The petals and lips are comparatively insig¬ 
nificant, white, the latter slightly protuberant, and serrated on the 
upper edges. 
M. Backhousiana is said by some authorities to be a variety of 
the last named. They are very similar species at all events, the 
chief difference being in the larger, brighter coloured flowers of 
M. Backhousiana and the longer, more narrowed lip. M. bellaia a 
remarkable and beautiful species, bearing its flowers singly on their 
pendent scapes. The tails of the sepals are about 4 inches in 
length, greenish yellow, thickiy spotted about the triangular bases 
with reddish purple. This blossoms in the autumn and early winter. 
M. Chesterton! grows about half a foot high, and also blooms in 
autumn. The flowers are smaller than those named above, and 
quite distinct, the petals cuspidate, yellowish with purple dots, lip 
dull red. M. Nycterina is often met with under the name of 
M. Chimsera. It is, however, quite distinct, being dw^arfer in habit 
and bearing smaller flowers, tails 4 inches in length, brown with 
blackish or deep purple spots on the broad portions. The lips and 
petals as in the last named kind. These are all natives of the 
mountainous regions of Equatorial America, and are the best known 
of this section. M. erythrochaite, M. macrura, M Houtteana, 
M. Roezli, and M. Wallisi are all interesting and beautiful plants, 
well worthy of the best care that can be bestowed upon them.— 
H. E. R. 
SEED SOWING. 
The late frost penetrated to a depth of 2 feet in places, and it 
may be well to remember that it must take the sun a con¬ 
siderable time to raise the temperature to its normal height. Last 
season was most unfavourable for the proper maturation of various 
seeds, and not a few will fail to germinate in a low temperature. 
Many old seeds will be distributed, especially among those who go 
in for cheapness, and these will be at a disadvantage when sown in 
a cold soil. We all ought to know that quite new, perfect seeds 
germinate the most quickly and strongly, and the plants resulting 
are rarely equalled by those coming from old seeds, but in either 
case not a little depends upon the treatment. 
William I., and the various round-seeded early varieties of Peas 
that were sown as soon as the frost departed may succeed, but 
the dwarf early wrinkled seeded varieties, and the taller growing 
Marrow Peas, if sown then, should be examined. If found sound 
and beginning to sprout no mistake will have been made, but if 
many of them give signs of perishing no time should be lost 
in sowing more seeds, and it may even be desirable to sow in pots 
to prevent a break in the supply. They will transplant readily, 
and the crops will be materially advanced. At Hatfield Mr. Norman 
grows an extraordinary breadth of the Dwarf Chelsea Gem every 
season, a peck or more of seeds being used, and this excellent variety 
is also extensively grown at Longleat by Mr. Trollope. In both 
instances many rows are planted out, and under high culture— 
that is to say, with the aid of well worked, very freely manured 
borders, this variety attains a height of from 2 feet to 3 feet, and 
produces enormous crops. Very early sown Broad Beans, hard as 
they look, often perish in a cold wet soil. It will be well to 
examine them, and act accordingly. 
Kidney Beans are naturally delicate, and though we may have 
much warm weather before the end of April it may yet be advisable 
to defer sowing in the open till the end of the first week in May, 
the earliest rows being formed by plants turned out of pots or boxes 
late in that month and roughly protected. Runner Beans succeed 
well under similar treatment. The seeds of these are so liable to 
fail when sown too early that I counsel keeping them out of the 
ground till the middle of May, the plants thereby obtained also 
escaping May frosts. 
Onion and Parsnip seeds do not often perish in the ground 
owing to its coolness. By far the best results, however, attend the 
exhibitor’s practice of raising a few hundred plants of Onions in 
boxes. These small plants scarcely feel the check of removal. 
Instead of a few hundreds, thousands of plants should be raised 
under glass, as they take up very little room, and there would be 
fewer failures from Onion maggot and mildew. AtMentmore, Mr. 
Smith grows remarkably fine crops of Onions on the ridges between 
Celery trenches, double rows on each being planted out. What is 
done so well in this case ought generally to be imitated. Choice or 
even ordinary varieties of Onions might yet be sown in pans or 
boxes and placed in heat with every prospect of a gain of a fort¬ 
night. With regard to Parsnips very early sowing is a mistake, 
unless m the event of some extra fine roots being required for 
summer shows. Good serviceable crops can be obtained by sowing 
at the present tin and the middle of April is soon enough for 
sowing the main crop of Carrots, also Beet, Salsafy, Scorzonera, 
and Chicory. 
We are frequently advised to sow Chou de Burghley early in 
March, whereas the best time to sow seeds of this winter vegetable 
is late in April or early in May. Sown much earlier the plants 
grow to a great size, and the hearts are apt to become much too 
coarse. Half the seeds of Broccoli distributed in this country are 
sown too early. Where is the sense of raising hundreds of plants 
much earlier than the ground can be got ready for their reception ? 
Sow the main and late crops late in April or the first week in May 
rather than a month or six weeks earlier. Borecoles and Brussels 
Sprouts require a long period of growth, and in all cases where 
room can be found for them raise the plants under glass or in a 
warm border, and get them out early. Not so Savoys. Treat them 
as advised in the case of Chou de Burghley, and thereby avoid 
waste and coarseness. Nor ought Tomatoes and Vegetable Mar¬ 
rows to be sown so long before they can be planted out, as generally 
advised. Starvelings turned out of small pots are a long time in 
recovering from the check given them. From a month to six weeks 
is time enough for raising the former, and three weeks ample for 
the latter.—W. Iggulden. 
THE FLORISTS’ TULIP. 
[By Jas. W. Bentley, Hon. Secretary to the Eoyal National Tulip Society.] 
CHAPTER VI.— Continued. 
( Continued from'page 203,') 
As five or six years must elapse before the seedling raiser can 
see any result of his labours in the form of bloom it is of the 
highest importance that every care should be taken that he starts 
well. To start well he must have bestowed considerable thought 
on the selection of the varieties he intends to use as the parents of 
his seed, and he must have used every care that his cross-fertilisa¬ 
tions have really been carried out in accordance with his wishes. 
It is hardly necessary to say that chance-saved seed is of no value 
at all, and should never be used, for the chances are that the only 
result would be a crop of mongrels, and the grower’s disappoint¬ 
ment would be intensified by the thoughts of the years wasted (as 
far as they were concerned) in their production. I do not deny 
that occasionally a good variety has been raised from chance- 
fertilised seed, for our most prominent bizarre. Sir Joseph Paxton, 
is said to have come from a casual pod of seed borne by a plant of 
Trafalgar, an old-time long-cupped red bizarre ; but such a case is 
so rare as practically to be the exception that proves the rule. 
As an instance of the value of careful cross fertilisation, my 
friend the late Mr. Lakin informed me that he was present in 
Storer’s garden when the latter fertilised a bloom of Pdot 
with the pollen of Shakespeare. Such care was taken on this 
occasion that from that famous pod of seed nothing but bizarres 
bloomed, and they were such improvements on what had been 
grown before that they threw out of cultivation nine-tenths of the 
bizarres which had formerly been highly prized, and although it is 
over thirty years since they made their appearance they still hold 
their own as some of the best bizarres in cultivation. 
• The length of time which must pass before Tulip seedlings 
bloom has doubtless deterred many persona from attempting to 
raise them. I fail to see why this reason should be held good, for 
although life is at the best uncertain, it is nevertheless quite 
certain that raising seedlings will do nothing to shorten it, but 
give it an added interest, and one of its beat of pleasures, that of 
anticipation. Should the grower be gathered to his fathers 
before his seedlings bloom or break, yet in other hands they 
may serve to keep his memory green for many a long year. 
There is not much difficulty in getting seed from the Tulip, 
for the parts of reproduction are so prominent, and the flower 
guards them so well, as to be a notable example among botanists. 
At night, or in bad weather, the petals shut so closely together that 
sooner will the stem be broken by the wind than the petals 
separated, and the formation of pollen thus injured or retarded, 
although when the weather is genial they open readily, so that 
the sun may mature the parts necessary to the formation of the 
seed. When the impregnation of the stigma has taken place the 
petals fall o£E and decay, leaving the seed pod to benefit by all 
the nourishment the stem affords, and to enjoy the light and air 
uninterrupted by their presence. 
In actual seedling-raising I prefer to use breeders when possible 
for seed bearers, as they are as a rule sturdier and more robust 
than rectified flowers and bear finer pods of seed, and to take pollen 
from well marked rectified flowers. In my opinion it is important 
that seedlings should be raised only from such varieties as are 
known to break well, and have some special merit which it is 
disired to retain in an enhanced form in the seedling. It is unwise 
