September 24, 1885. 1 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
275 
the growing season they will give satisfaction in the common border without 
special preparations. It is often urged against them that they are far 
from being hardy and unable to stand the test of an ordinary severe 
winter. In certain localities this may be so, but we in the south have 
never had any difficulty in preserving our plants through even trying 
a*ons. Our plan, which is being generally adopted where known, is to 
cover the crown with conical heaps of cocoa-nut fibre or rough coal ashes > 
types are L. splendens, cardinalis, and fulgens intense scarlet, and L 
syphilitica blue, from which we get innumerable varieties. 
To our taste there is no better way of setting them off to advantage 
than to plant them mixed in one bed ; the effect is charming, and at this 
season one not easily forgotten. By much the same treatment L. Tupa 
may be had in our borders. A noble species, with its tall spikes from 6 
to 8 feet in height, with about a yard on each of its peculiar scarlet 
Fig. 44 .—Nepenthes northiana. 
Never having lost a single plant, we can recommend with confidence to 
all those who have not yet tried it. 
L. cardinalis, splendens, &c., are of an intense scarlet, not forgetting the 
florist varieties, for here, too, the florist has shown no mean skill in selec¬ 
tion, the result of which may be seen in such plants as Queen Victoria, 
Prince Arthur, Painted Lady, Blue Beard, and others, some of which have 
extremely attractive foliage as well as striking flowers. One, however, 
that does not seem to be much in the trade we would like to draw atten¬ 
tion to— i.e. L. Milleri, a hybrid supposed to be between L. syphilitica and 
some of the cardinalis forms. It has the foliage of L. syphilitica with 
the habit of the other, which it also resembles in form of flowers. They 
are a most beautiful violet, and seem to blend the blue of L. syphilitica 
with the intense scarlet of L. cardinalis or L. splendens. It is a free 
grower, about 3 feet in height, with fine straight upright habit. The 
flower?. The large leaves are peculiarly attractive, covered as they are 
with a white down, and at a distance in contrast to the flower spikes very 
imposing. L. Wallichiana, or pyramidalis, a pretty Himalayan species, 
has bluish violet flowers ; a first-rate border plant. All those mentioned 
may be readily increased by division of the roots in spring, and when 
grown in a little heat make good plants for autumn. Their flowering 
season extends from the end of July until the frost sets in.—T. Y. 
AMERICAN BLACKBERRIES’. 
The qualities of these have often been praised, and I have more than 
once decried them. I have never yet seen fruit in this country equal to 
the American pictures. It was one of these which induced me to plant 
