180 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
Mf rch 8,1894. 
Elwesi, it must be classed as a form of the latter. A Snowdrop 
from Samos proves to be a small but neat variety of Elwesi, which 
will probably show some improvement next year. One from Kas 
Dagh, which Mr. Whittall considered the finest form of G. Elwesi 
he had ever seen, has hardly been long enough established to show 
its value, but some of the flowers have improved so much since 
opening that there is every probability that this will prove an 
exceptionally fine variety. G. Taurus I have not grown, but reliable 
authorities have formed very conflicting opinions regarding it, one 
describing it as a good form of Elwesi, and some others as very 
poor. G. Phaenika Samos and G. Anamas Dagh do not appear to 
have flowered in this country this year, but both have distinct 
looking leaves. Our gardens will be greatly indebted to Mr. 
Whittall for his disinterested efforts, as besides Snowdrops several 
Fritillarias, Tulips, Chionodoxas, and other bulbs have been dis¬ 
tributed to various public and private gardens. 
Among the best of the Snowdrops of the year is one which has 
been introduced as G. robustus, but which, like the others already 
spoken of, is only a variety of Elwesi, but with very large flowers 
and fine foliage. The bulb is large, and not unlike that of some of 
the Narcissi. I do not know to whom we are indebted for the 
discovery of this Snowdrop, but it was offered largely by an Italian 
firm in the autumn of last year. 
A Snowdrop which I received last year from a correspondent 
in Broussa as G. plicatus has, as I anticipated, proved to be a 
different species, and is pronounced by Mr. Baker to be nearest 
G. byzantinus. Mr. James Allen, our Snowdrop specialist (if he 
will allow me so to call him), observes several points of difference 
in the bulbs and leaves from byzantinus as first introduced. 
G. byzantinus seems to have come first from the European side of 
the Sea of Marmora. The Broussa form has fine large leaves and 
blooms on a good stout stalk. The flowers are mostly marked 
like those of G. Elwesi, but in some the basal blotch is absent. 
A single plant of a handsome little Snowdrop has appeared among 
a number of G. Elwesi I had from the Bithynian Olympus in 1892. 
This has the flowers of Elwesi, but the leaves are a bright glossy 
green, deeper in colour than those of G. latifolius, but only half 
an inch broad. The collector has been unable to find any others 
of a similar colour, so that this is probably unique. 
Mr. Allen kindly sent me a short time ago blooms of two of 
his new seedlings. One of these (G. nivalis “Demo”) is the 
finest Snowdrop I have ever seen, and is of the true nivalis type, 
with very long outer segments of perfect form. A great feature 
of this beautiful flower is the length of the drooping part of the 
flower stem, which is nearly twice as long as usual. The graceful 
effect thus given to an otherwise beautiful flower is very notice¬ 
able, and the nymph Demo has been honoured in the choice of a 
flower to bear the name. The other seedling (G. Victor) is under¬ 
stood to be a hybrid of plicatus and Elwesi, and is of a different 
type of beauty, with short segments of great substance and good 
form, and with the inner segments almost entirely green. It 
is an extremely fine flower, and worthy of its distinctive name. 
—S. Arnott. 
NOTES ON GRAPES. 
Madbesfield Court Grape. 
In the year 1879 a prolonged correspondence was carried on in the 
pages of this Journal concerning the cracking propensities of Madres- 
field Court. At that time I was employed at Brettanby Manor, North 
Yorkshire, where I first had anything to do with its cultivation. The 
remarks contained in the enclosed cutting taken from the Journal of 
Horticulture of November 20th, 1879, and which I contributed, prove 
interesting in connection with what Mr. Iggulden has written on 
page 142.— Thos. Richardson, The Gardens, Simonside Hall, South 
Shields. 
So much has been written lately in the Journal about the fruit of 
Madresfield Court cracking that I should like to give your readers my 
experience of this Grape. We have only one young Vine of this variety, 
this being its fourth season of fruiting. Previous to 1878 the fruit had 
cracked immediately it began to colour. In July of that year, when the 
fruit had fairly commenced to colour, the cracking commenced as usual. 
The weather was very fine, and in consequence no fire heat was 
employed. While trying to think of something that would prevent the 
further cracking of the Grapes the idea occurred to me that a higher 
night temperature, combined with an adequate amount of air, might 
have the desired effect. I at once lit the fire, and maintained a night 
temperature of from 65° to 70° till the Grapes were ripe, with the result 
that in the eight bunches on the Vine there were not more than a dozen 
cracked berries, and I am satisfied there would not have been any at 
all had I applied the fire heat earlier. This year the same treatment 
has been attended with the same results, except that there has been no 
cracking whatever, although, owing to the dull wet season, it has been 
much more difficult to keep up the required temperature. The Vine in 
question has its roots outside. In the same house are Muscat Ham¬ 
burgh, Black Hamburgh, Muscat of Alexandria, Chasselas Musqu^, 
Lady Downe’s, Buckland Sweetwater, Royal Ascot, and Trentham 
Black, all of which have been highly benefited by the extra heat. A 
miscellaneous collection of greenhouse plants are grown in the vinery 
all the year through, yet the Vines are clean and healthy. I think if 
growers of Madresfield Court would state under what conditions they 
grow it, it would be a great help in arriving at the real cause of the 
cracking.—T. R. 
Black Hamburgh Varieties. 
Mr, Iggulden in writing about Black Hamburgh Grapes in the 
Journal of Horticulture, February 8Lh, page 101, mentions three 
varieties. I think he must be mistaken, and venture to say that he has 
two kinds wrongly named. I have seen the Black Hamburgh Vine in 
many places in this country, and seen the fruit in various forms brought 
about by different soils and methods of cultivation. Many times I have 
thought that our modern built vineries and the high cultivation followed 
at the present day are not so well suited to this variety. I am 
strengthened in this opinion, too, by the fact that some noted Grape 
growers fail to produce it in its best form. The liberal treatment 
necessary for such varieties as Black Alicante, Gros Colman, and others 
of the same class, results in too strong and pithy wood in the Black 
Hamburgh, Fine handsome bunches are usually produced from such 
wood, but the berries are always wanting in finish, and lose colour soon 
after ripening, 
Mr. Iggulden is not likely to go far wrong in this direction with his 
old Vine over a flue in a Muscat house. We have been told more than 
once in this Journal by some of the older gardeners that the Black 
Hamburgh Grape is not so well grown as it used to be. As far as I 
remember in places where I have been, say twenty years ago, very little 
attention was given it as regards the roots, therefore they rambled about 
outside the border getting food and moisture where they could. Often 
three or four rods were taken up from the same Vine, and if the natural 
soil happened to be favourable to them, fairly good results followed. 
Where I think we fail to get this Grape in perfection, is because we grow 
it too strongly, Mr. Taylor in his “ Book on Vines at Longleat ” tells us 
of the rampant growth of the Hamburghs ; but after the adoption of 
the extension system, I am told the Vines have been noted for the 
smallness of their wood and fine clusters of well finished fruit. 
A few years ago we were told, I think by Mr. Iggulden, of the 
success of some young Vines planted in a very narrow border. If my 
imagination does not deceive me, the fruit from these Vines have taken 
first prizes three or four years in succession at some of the largest shows 
in the country. These facts tell us that vigour in this variety does not 
mean success with the fruit.—J. B. 
ORIGIN OF THE SOUVENIR DE LA MALMAISON 
CARNATION. 
I DO not presume to give the origin of the Souvenir de la Malmaison 
Carnation, but with your permission I offer the following to “ E. C.” 
(page 128). In the early ’GO’s the late Mr. Robert Parker of Tooting 
used to visit me frequently in France. I then cultivated this Carnation 
pretty well, and I sent him several plants of it. I understood then that 
it was of Nancy origin. Mr. Parker, as was well known in those days, 
was instrumental in distributing many new andrare plants—rare plants 
chiefly, as he visited gardeners freely and outlandish places ; and I may 
here mention one plant of which I could then have sent him cartloads— 
but he was content with a few basketfuls—I allude to the large Niger 
Hellebore, not by any means common yet. When I went to Floors in 
the later ’GO’s I again took to growing this Carnation, so much so that 
the present Dowager Duchess of Roxburghe had nosegays of them sent to 
the Queen at Balmoral, and even to Windsor. It was also found in 
perfection in many of the East Lothian gardens, and no doubt some of 
those gardeners who are siill living—to wit, Mr. Thomson, of Drum- 
lanrig—could add to these notes. Mr, Parker acquired the Countess of 
Haddington Rhododendron from the late Mr. Thomas Lees of Tyning- 
hame, the raiser, and he may have sent this Carnation to him for aught 
I know.—K., Laehen. 
RUBBISH. 
In the economy of Nature philosophy will not admit any such 
designation within her dominion. In either province of the kingdom, 
animal or vegetable, there is no surplus matter to which we for our own 
use apply the term of rubbish. In life or in death all is necessary, in 
the latter decaying matter contains those elements without which the 
constant rebuilding would be stopped, and our planet become like its 
lunar satellite—a dead world; And so through the vista of ages has the 
vast work been carried on down to our own times with the many 
variations that geology shows. The same material, nothing added 
beyond those inappreciable quantities of meteoric matter that do at 
times find their way to us from interstellary space. Nothing taken 
away, nothing to spare; the Great Builder requires all the material, and 
has no rubbish heap. 
We builders and constructors on a small scale have, or think we have, 
this surplus matter—this rubbish, the disposal of which is a matter of 
some moment to us, and are now awakening to the fact that even this 
department of our gardens is being clothed with interest by the light 
thrown on it by scientific observation. Hitherto it has been the rule to 
remove this so-called rubbish to the heap outside the garden walls. 
