Oit bar 2 ', 1837. J 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
341 
suspicion of the grower’s great enemy, the Eucharis mite. After flowering 
the plants receive six weeks’ or two months’ rest, and it is found easy, 
with liberal treatment, and not too hard forcing, to flower them five and 
six times a year. Allamandas have been long grown with considerable 
success in this garden, and about twenty years ago a variety raised by 
Mr. Wardle, formerly gardener there, was brought into prominent notice 
under the name of Wardleana. Small plants were exhibited at South 
Kensington in 60-sized pots, and were much admired for their dwarf 
compact growth and free-flowering habit, as even those diminutive 
plants had several large flowers each. After comparison with A. Hen- 
dersoni, which was certificated in 1864, A. Wardleana was regarded as 
synonymous with that, or at least too much like it to be readily dis¬ 
tinguished. A. Hendersoni Has been said to be a hybrid between 
A. cathartica and A. Schotti, but the evidence is not quite clear respect¬ 
ing its origin, and some regard it as an introduced plant. Concerning 
its beauty and usefulness there cannot be any difference of opinion, 
however, and the best proof of this is afforded by the large numbers 
grown in British gardens. 
The fruit houses comprise several early and late vineries, the Vines 
in satisfactory fruitful condition, such late varieties as Alicante and 
Lady Downe’s bearing excellent crops of well-coloured Grapes at the 
THE STRUCTURE OF FLOWERS WITH REFERENCE 
TO INSECT AID IN THEIR FERTILISATION. 
In the year 1793 Christian Conrad Sprengel published his interesting 
treatise on the structure of flowers with special reference to insect aid 
in their fertilisation. This book was almost wholly neglected for more 
than half a century. Nevertheless, it contains, with some fanciful 
ideas, the germs of the doctrine now generally held, together with many 
excellent illustrations of it. That eminent naturalist, the late Charles 
Darwin, published in 1862 his admirable treatise on the fertilisation of 
Orchids by the aid of insects. Since that time a copious special 
literature has appeared on the subject. We may mention the names of 
Herman, Muller, Delpino, Hugo von Mohl, and Hildebrand, amongst 
Continental writers; Charles Darwin and Sir John Lubbock, amongst 
our own countrymen ; and Dr. Asa Gray and Dr. Goodale amongst our 
brethren across the Atlantic. 
Linnaeus and his immediate successors taught that the adjustments 
in hermophrodite flowers were such on the whole as to secure the appli¬ 
cation of the pollen of its stamens to the stigma of its pistil or pistils. 
“ The present view,” to quote the words of Dr. Asa Gray, “ is that this 
is doubtless strictly secured in certain flowers of a moderate number of 
Fig. 43 .—Holeyn Hall. 
i me of my visit. Madresfield Court is successfully grown, and little 
difficulty is experienced in obtaining well-coloured bunches of fine 
berries free from cracking by allowing liberal growth. There is a 
convenient Peach range, occupied by large vigorous but fruitful tre- s, 
Royal George, Noblesse, Late Admirable, Prince of Wales, and Grosse 
Mignonne being the best Peaches, with Elruge, Lord Napier, and Pine¬ 
apple as Nectarines. Several other smaller houses are devoted to various 
purposes-for instance, there is a Cucumber house where from two 
plants of the variety Duke of Edinburgh, 200 fruits have been cut. 
There is also a Melon house, where from Eastnor Castle, Read’s Hybrid, 
and Gilbert’s Scarlet Flesh a plentiful supply is obtained. The kitchen 
garden consists of four acres of land, mostly enclosed by walls, and 
upon a warm southern slope, a position that greatly increases the value 
of a kitchen garden in this part of the countrv. It is admirably cropped 
with all the most useful vegetables, and the walls are covered with 
trained fruit trees. Cherry trees are a special feature on the walls 
Morellos and May Dukes being grown very largely, the fruit being 
supplied for preserving and other purposes by the hundredweight. 
Newton Hall garden is under the charge of a thoroughly practical 
gardener, Mr. D. Macrae, and every department indicates the care 
exercised in its supervision. It was indeed a matter for regret that we 
could only spend so short a time with our hospitable guide, but prior 
engagements had to be kept, and in early evening we were therefore 
speeding back to Newcastle well satisfied with the day in the Wylam 
district.— Lewis Castle. 
species, but never in all the flowers of any such specks ; that in or¬ 
dinary flowers where it may commonly take place, it is not u niversal ; 
that in the larger number of species there is something or other in the 
floral structure which impedes or prevents it.” It will be gathered from 
this definition that some flowers are adapted for close fertilisation, some 
for cross-fertilisation, some for either. Before proceeding further, let 
me state for the information of those who have not given much atten¬ 
tion to the construction of flowers that they consist of two kinds of 
organs—viz., what have been apparently called protecting organs or 
floral envelopes, which when of two sets are named calyx and corolla ; 
and the essential reproductive organs which co-operate in the produc¬ 
tion of seed—the stamens and pistils. 
A complete flower,” to quote from Sir John Lubbock, “ consists of 
(1) an outer envelope or calyx, sometimes tubular, sometimes consisting 
of separate leaves called sepals ; (2) an inner envelope or corolla, which 
is generally more or less coloured, and which, like the calyx, is some¬ 
times tubular, sometimes composed of separate leaves called petals ; (3) 
of one or more stamens, consisting of a stalk or filament and a head or 
anther, in which the pollen is produced ; and (4) a pistil or an ovary, 
which is situated in the centre of the flower and contains one or more 
seeds or ovules. The pistil consists of a stalk or style and a stigma, to 
which the pollen must find its way in order to fertilise the flower, and 
which in many familiar instances forms a small head at the top of the 
style. In some cases the style is absent and the stigma is consequently 
sessile.” For our present purpose the stamen may be regarded As the 
