396 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ May 50, 1886. 
so it may be ; but having the assurance of so many that these brief notes 
are helpful to them I still venture to continue them. Small as it is, I do 
comfort myself with the notion that there is at all times something to see, 
and that when anyone does happen to come who knows what things are 
they do not go away quite disappointed, and very often carry away with 
them something they have not got, and thus even my little greenhouse, 
small though it is, becomes a source of content, and surprise is often 
expressed that I can do so much with so small a house. I think that one 
of the achievements I m"st pride myself upon is that of being able to grow 
things requiring such different treatment in the same house. One is often 
tdd, for instance, that it would be utterly useless to attempt growing 
hardwooded plants and Geraniums and other softwooded plants in the 
same house. Well, I have d< ne so. I have at this moment some small 
plants of Azaleas covered with bloom and in full flower, while I have 
also decorative Pelargoniums, such as Volontd Nationale alba, Madame 
Lemoine, Madame Thibaut, &c., in flower. Instead of repeating a thrice- 
told tale I shall content myself with enumerating a few of those things 
with which I succeeded well, recording at the same time my failures. 
Some time ago I was anxious to see whether I could grow a few of the 
cool hou°e Orchid 0 , and through the kindness of friends tried a few plants 
of Masdevallias and Odontoglossum Alexandra. For the first two years, 
as our winters were very mild, they did well and flowered nicely. I 
felt that last winter would be a test, and so it has proved. The 
Alexandras succumbed, but the Masdavallias have stood it well, look 
healthy, and are now showing flower. I mmt therefore conclude that they 
will stand a low degree of temperature, and when placed in a shady part 
of the house where they can get moisture will do well, but that I must 
abandon the hope of growing Alexandra. My only other Orchid, Disa 
grandiflora, has done admirably. I have now a pan of it which I can 
safely say is as fine and healthy as I have anywhere seen. It is in one of 
Mr. Dominy’s Orchil pans, which has holes round the sides. Not only is 
there a presence of five or six spikes of bloom, but shoots are protruding 
from most of these holes. I have been able to give to several friends 
pieces off these plants, but I find it difficult to impress upon them the 
■fact that Disa does not require heat, that it wants only peat and char¬ 
coal in lumps to be p tted in, and that it does not care how much it is 
syringed. It is now just at the door of the house, getting all the air pos¬ 
sible and not much sun—in fact, only getting it directly in the afternoon. 
Another pan that I have of it is not so vigorous, but this I account for by 
the fsct that it has broken itself c£E into a number of plants, and its 
vigour has been expended this way instead of in flowering. Another 
season they will be planted in smaller pans, where they will not have so 
mnch liberty for breaking ofl into small plants. I find that they do not 
object to being divided, and, in fact, they are as easily grown as any plant 
I have. 
Equally well did my Lapagerias succeed last year. Someone told 
me—I think in the Journal—that I should not go on much longer with 
them, and rather poked fun at my putting them into a box instead of 
pots. Nothing could be better than the way in which they did last year, 
giving me a profusion of bloom and growing very vigorously. I took 
care to shade them more than I did the previous year, when the hot sun 
took the colour out of rosea. Last season it was as well coloured as I 
could wish. Of course the plants are mere pigmies to those which are 
grown where there is abundance of room for both roots to run in and for 
the growth to ramble over. To me the great pleasure is that in a small 
house I can grow it successfully without disturbing the other plants. 
I have little to say on the subject of hardwooded plants, of which I 
have only a few. My small plant of Azalea imbrica'a has flowered pro¬ 
fusely, but I question if the flowers are so double as in former years. 
This is generally considered a miffy sort, and I find that it has been 
eliminated from some catalogues. It has done very well with me, and is 
remarkable for its doubleness. Indeed it would be difficult to imagine it 
to be an Azalea when a bloom is taken from it and mounted on a wire. 
Empress of India is very fine, but its colour is not so pleasing as some of 
the others. Among whites I see nothing to excel Apollon and Madeleine. 
I cannot say much about Camellias. My plants had grown too big for me, 
and I was obliged to get rid of them, exchanging them for smaller plants, 
and these have not done much in the way of flowering. I am rather 
inclined to think that I do not care quite so much for these very beautiful 
flowers as I used to do. Nothing can be more exquisite than the white 
varieties, but there is a preciseness about them which, combined with their 
lack of perfume, takes away something from them. 
Amongst softwooded plants there have been some things which did 
very well, and are very great acquisitions ; for instance, that capital 
decorative Pelargonium sent out by Mr. F. Perkrns of Leamington, 
Volontb Nationale alba ; in profusion of bloom, vigour of constitution, and 
purity of flower, it cannot possibly be excelled, and is without doubt the 
very best decorative plant of any sort that, has been introduced for some 
years. For cutting it is invaluable, their flowers do not fall as the Zonals 
do, and hence are much more useful, while for the stage they are equally 
desirable. The plant is one mass of flower, and its whiteness contrasts 
well with the brighter coloured varieties. Queen of the Belgians, sent 
out by Mr. Canned, is by far the best of the white Zonals, its flowers are 
well formed, substance is good, and the truss large. I do not think it 
would be possib’e to beat this in its class, what it might do out of doors I 
cannot say. Most of the white Z nsls have a tendency to acquire a 
pinkish tint when exposed to weather, and whether this would do so 
I cannot say. Ano!hi r most satisfactory Pelargonium has been Madame 
Thibaut, double Ivy-leaf. There is nothing in the way of hybridising 
that has been more wrnderful in its results than the improvement of the 
old Ivy-leaf Geranium. When one recollects what a poor little insig¬ 
nificant flower it was, and also the first attempts made to improve it, it is 
certainly amazing to see such a flower as this—a large handsome truss 
of flowers, as double as those of the ordinary double Zonal, and of a 
beautiful bright clear rose colour. Moreover, the plant is thoroughly an 
Ivy-leaf, and has the graceful habit they all possess, and gives its trusses 
of bloom very freely. Of Show Pelargoniums I have not much to say ; 
they seem to have reached almost their limit ; and taking those of the last 
three years, I do not think there is much advantage, while it almost seems 
as if the improvement in other sections, the Zonal Ivy-leaf, double and 
decorative, were driving them out of the field. 
Bulbs have a large share in my arrangements, and I rely very much 
on them from time to time, beginning with Hyacinths and Tulips in 
spring on to Lilies in the autumn. I used at one time to grow some of 
this latter beautiful tribe for autumn decoration, but have somewhat 
diminished my culture of them in the house and increased it in the open 
border. I have hitherto done exceedingly well with Cyclamens, espe¬ 
cially those of the Giant strain, but this year they were a comparative 
failure. I could not understand why, as I had, as far as I knew, in no 
way deviated from my former practice ; but on examining them I found 
there must be something wrong, as there had been but little root-action. 
On inquiry I found that an alteration had been made in the compost used, 
and I have no doubt this was the cause. Amongst the prettiest of these 
is Sutton’s Butterfly, a pure white. I have before now highly commended 
Freerias, but have been told I should find it difficult to get them to flower 
a second time. I have, however, I am happy to say, not found it so. I 
have had them blooming freely this year ; in fact, more freely than a few 
imported bulbs that I tried. My pots of bulbs were baked in the sun 
before being put by, and I am inclined to think that this had something 
to do with it. I had also raised a number of seedlings, many of which 
flowered, but I saw nothing remarkable amongst them. No one sees 
them that is not delighted with their appearance and perfume, and if 
there be no more difficulty with them than I have experienced they ought 
to be grown in every greenhouse. I wish I could say the same of Ixias ; 
they never do anything with me the second year, and even in the first year 
some of them are not satisfactory. Nothing could have been more 
vigorous and healthy-looking than they were until the flower stems were 
just on the point of opening, and then the foliage began to wither, and 
although the flowers expanded, yet the plants looked sickly. Why this 
is I am at a loss to imagine, especially as the kindred genera of Sparaxis and 
Babiana do very well with me. Ornithogalum arabicum, an old and almost 
forgotten bulb, is very useful and ornamental, and the flowers, pure white 
with their black bars in the centre, are very attractive, but why the shoots 
have not as yet made their appearance above ground I cannot understand ; 
they seem sound, but they wo’n’t move. Another bulb that has puzzled 
me is Milla biflora; it does not seem in the least inclined to move, and 
yet one hears glowing accounts of it from those who have grown and 
flowered it. Can anyone tell the secret of growing it? Another old- 
fashioned bulb I tried last year for the first time, Eucomis punctata ; it 
gave me great satisfaction, and is very enduring, the spike of flowers 
lasting some weeks. Tuberous Begonias were also a success, but everybody 
can grow them. I must own to a liking for the strain sent out by Messrs. 
Sutton called the Reading Beauty strain ; the flowers are not so large, 
there is a good infusion of Peareei blood in it I fancy, but they are very 
free flowering, and the flowers come away well from the heart of the 
plant differing in habit from the ordinary large-flowered varieties, which 
have now reached such a size as to amount in my mind to coarseness. 
I know nothing that tends more to make my small house fresh and 
gay in the spring months than a few pots of a very common annual, 
Schizanthus. The seed is sown in July or August, and the plants 
pricked off into 32’s, four in a pot, and their graceful slender growths and 
profusion of light and prettily marked flowers make them very desirable 
subjects. I have in larger places seen them suspended in baskets, and the 
flowers drooping over the sides and hanging down some 2 or 3 feet, but 
these are things I cannot attempt; “ small boats must keep nearshore,” 
and yet, perhaps, some will say I attempt a great deal too much; perhaps so, 
but it pleases me. Besides theEe thiogs that I have mentioned as specially 
deserving notice there are a number of odds and ends which from time 
to time make their appearance—Primulas, Cinerarias, Aquilegias, and so 
forth, but I have noticed those which I thought deserving of being 
mentioned for the encouragement of those who have small greenhouses, 
and in them, as in a small garden, selections, not collections, must be the 
rule. I might fill my house with a collection of one plant or another, 
and while they were in bloom they would look gay enough, but what when 
they were over ? Whereas now from early spring to late autumn I have 
always something to gratify me, and few greenhouses, I fancy, give their 
owners more pleasure.—D., Deal. 
SALADING. 
A DAILY supply of salading for the table is a speciality here, and 
always gets the highest encomiums pronounced on it; but, from statements 
of many visitors entertained here, it is not so everywhere, and no doubt 
the gentlemen that brought about the salad contest were quite aware of 
the paucity in the daily supply of home-grown salad fresh gathered a short 
time before using. But to confine it entirely to Lettuce, as some are con¬ 
stantly trying to teach us, is entirely wrong. Salad plants are gr wn 
to be used in many ways, without the usual dressings and m xing in the 
salad bowl. Sutton’s Crimson Flake is a good addition for the sa'ad 
bowl in the way of Chicory. Silesian, Brunswick, and Long Magdeburg 
Chicories are very wholesome and palatable eaten as Celery when well 
grown and blanched in a cool place. Rampions forms a very good adjunct 
