290 
JOURNAL 
f fc'oUr 8, 1888. 
CF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
Both are good and well worth growing. I have grown Sensation two 
years under glass, but it sets badly, and does not grow so large as I 
expected. Vick’s Criterion has done as well as any with me. It is a 
handsome fruit, and sets well. Perfection is of great size, sets well, and 
is of a good flavour. Queen, a small Plum-shaped variety, fruits 
immensely, and is the best flavoured Tomato I know. It is a splendid 
dessert fruit.— G. Hilton. 
-Coleus Gil Blas.— During recent years several valuable 
additions have been made to Coleuses till wc have now varieties which 
are as remarkable for the elegant form of their leaves as are others for 
their diversified markings and brilliant colours. Gil Bias is one of the 
best among new varieties, either for growing into specimen plants or 
for supplying suitable material for decorative purposes. It is a strong 
grower, and if given plenty of room developes naturally into shapely 
plants. The leaves are large, and the groundwork of a pale yellow 
colour, spotted and suffused with crimson magenta when growing close 
to the glass in full sunshine. This variety is remarkably handsome and 
showy. Well-grown plants placed singly in water, and used for house 
decoration, cannot fail to find favour wherever plants noted for the rich 
markings of their foliage are appreciated.—H. D. 
- Salvia pratensis. —This native plant deserves a note of 
recommendation for the back row of the herbaceous border. If fairly 
treated its long spikes of blue flowers, often numbering two to three 
hundred, continue to rise for two months in succession, and form an 
agreeable contrast to the almost universal Compositre now in bloom. 
Like other strong growing subjects it should be divided at the roots 
every few years, watered in dry weather, and the stems which grow 
5 to 6 feet high tied up in good time. It is one of the best honey 
plants, as the bees swarm upon it during bright weather. It is equally 
attractive to moths, by visiting it at night with the lantern good 
captures may easily be made. There are said to be both red and white 
varieties ; these I have not seen, and should be glad to obtain.— Geo. 
Wall, Brealtspears. 
- Mandevilla suaveolens.—O n page 2G0 of last week’s issue 
attention is called to this grand old climber by Mr. G. Abbey, and he 
asks who has tried it in a cool house or against a wall. At Battle 
Abbey, Sussex, I have seen it growing outside and flowering most pro¬ 
fusely. I do not know if it still remains. Its greatest enemies when 
grown indoors are thrips. In the old nurseries of Messrs. Rollisson’s at 
Tooting when I was a boy it occupied a large space in their conservatory 
where it flowered magnificently, and beside a pillar adjoining the above 
was the old neglected Hovea Celsi, now seldom seen, which used to 
flower freely, its bright blue flowers being very attractive. I have seen 
Solanum jasminoides growing outside trained against a house in 
feoutbsea, and flowering grandly. Although there are instances of 
such plants growing outside it does not say they are hardy, but it shows 
what can be done with many of our so-called greenhouse climbers, 
&c., in favourable situations.— Alfred Outram. 
- The Wallflower.— The Wallflower in its cultivated state is 
perfectly familiar to all, but it may not have been the happiness of all 
to see it in its native habitat, the crumbling walls of some old ruin. 
\\ hile most plants delight in a good body of soil, others seem to thrive 
under the most adverse conditions, and amidst the cracks in the masonry 
of some old abbey, where we should expect the lack of earth, the in¬ 
sufficiency of moisture, the scorching sun, and the fierce rush of the 
breeze to render existence impossible, we often find a perfect garden. 
We have in such positions seen the Wallflower, the Bugloss, the Snap¬ 
dragon, Harebells, the Stonecrop, and even such plants as the Elder 
and the Dog Rose, growing in wild profusion. To this short list many 
other flowers might be added, and the stone fences that are so common 
in some parts of the country yield equally “ happy hunting grounds ” 
for the botanist and lover of plants. The common name of the plant, 
Wallflower, is, of course, bestowed upon it from its being so essentially 
a lover of old walls, but we sometimes find it referred to as the Gil’i- 
flower, or Gillofer, a corruption of the French Giroflier and Italian garo- 
fano. We need scarcely remind any who read these remarks that the 
etymology of our language was in mediaeval limes in a very chaotic 
state, and we’find the plant appearing in various old authors as the 
Gilofre, the Gvllofer, Jereflouris, and Garifilus, all more or less corrupt 
renderings of the Latin Caryophyllum, a name bestowed on it from its 
Clove-like odour. The name was, however, originally bestowed on the 
true Clove, a species of Pink ; and while some of our earlier writers 
refer to this latter plant as the Gillofer, later authors have transferred 
the name to the Wallflower.—( 'assell's Familiar Wild Flowers .) 
-Carnation Valencia is one of the most useful of the whole 
family of perpetual flowering Carnations. In habit of growth its 
characteristics are great vigour combined with sturdiness. The flowers 
are large, full, and deep crimson. Among the many varieties we have 
grown at various times, Valencia easily bears the palm for producing 
the greatest quantity of flowers from a given number of plants. Unfor¬ 
tunately some of the most beautiful varieties of the family under 
notice flower but little till the early spring months, although the period 
during which Carnations are the most appreciated is from the present 
time till Christmas, and all who require a good supply of these 
deliciously scented favourites should make a point of striking plenty of 
cuttings during next February and March. Those who possess plants 
set with flower buds should now place them near the glass in a light 
structure, give abundance of air on all favourable occasions, and keep a 
gentle heat in the pipes when the weather is cold and foggy. To secure 
flowers of good size and colour, diluted liquid manure should be given 
two or three times weekly, with an occasional supply of soot water.— 
H. Dunkin. 
- Ealing District Gardeners’ Mutual Improvement, 
Society. —The annual general meeting of members was held last 
Monday evening, when a very satisfactory report and balance sheet was 
presented. On Wednesday evening next, the 9thinst., the opening of 
the autum n session will be in the form of an address to the members 
and their friends by Shirley Hibberd, Esq., to be given in the Victoria 
Hall, Ealing, at eight o’clock. Some interesting exhibits will also be 
staged, and it is the intention of the Society to encourage the production 
of these at the weekly meetings by awarding marks according to their 
quality, and at the end of each session the holders of the greatest 
numbers of marks will have gardening books presented to them as prizes. 
Mr. Hibberd’s address will be followed by others from Dr. Masters, the 
Rev. Percy Myles, Messrs. R. Dean, J. Hudson, A. Wright, A. Dean, 
Geo. Gordon, and J. Fraser. On Wednesday, October 30th, a concert 
and entertainment in aid of the Gardeners’ Orphan Fund will also take 
place in the Victoria Hall, under the patronage of several of the leading 
inhabitants of Ealing, and a great success is confidently expected. There 
will be no meeting of the Society on November 6th, as that is the date 
of the annual Chrysanthemum Exhibition by the Ealing, Acton, and 
Ilanwell Horticultural Society. 
- In Consul-General Tlayf air’s report to the Foreign Office on the 
agriculture of Algeria, it is said Viticulture in that country is beset 
with many dangers. In spring, hailstorms frequently destroy the young 
shoots ; the flowers arc often ruined by fogs ; and the ripe fruit by the 
sirocco. The most serious enemy is, of course, the Phylloxera, but the 
officials have been fairly successful in dealing with this pest. Another 
is the Altise, a small beetiethat causes great destruction, particularly 
rvhen in its larval condition. The mode of killing the Altise commonly 
adopted is to place bundles of grass and Vine cuttings around the vine¬ 
yard when winter is approaching ; in these the insects conceal them¬ 
selves in large compact masses, and the whole is then set on fire. Other 
diseases are the O'idium, Anthrachnosis, Peronospora, and Chlorosis. It 
is calculated that the want of intelligent treatment of these diseases 
causes the owners of the vineyards to lose annually nearly a third of the 
crop. The Olive seems to grow everywhere in Algeria except in marshy 
ground, and attains dimensions quite unknown on the northern coast of 
the Mediterranean. At present, however, from careless cultivation, the 
plant has not proved as remunerative, nor have its products been as 
good, as in Europe.—(A T ature.') 
- The British Consul at Bogota, in his last report to the Foreign 
Office on the Agricultural condition of Colombia says that 
for Tobacco cultivation in that country no manure is used, and the same 
land is used over and over again for an indefinite number of years. In 
some districts, where disease has completely exterminated the Tobacco 
plantations, it has been found that when plants are brought from other 
districts they are not attacked for a few years, but ultimately they are 
also destroyed. This, perhaps, might be avoided by constantly im¬ 
porting fresh seed ; but the experiment was tried on some of the best 
Tobacco land in Colombia, with the result that as the seed brought from 
inferior districts began gradually to improve by transportation to the 
better soils, it became more liable to disease, while the plants grown 
from seeds brought from the better districts were attacked at once. 
Another instance of the ignorance of scientific agriculture in Colombia 
appears in the case of Cocoa. It is most carelessly cultivated, though it 
is a crop which requires constant care and labour to weed and clean the 
ground, and free the trees of the numerous insects, especially the cater- 
