108 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ February 0, 1890. 
the shoots were laid in their full length. The only protection used 
to ward off spring frost was a few laurel boughs, just at the 
most critical period when the flowers expanded. 
The result is that these Apricots are well worth looking at, and 
last year the crop was splendid. As soon as it was seen that these 
showed signs of “ doing well ” I was allowed to proceed to renovate 
and replant the Plums against the walls. Peaches and Pears, and 
even the Vines, were all lifted and replanted with similar results. 
I have permission to visit this place though I have been some 
months away from it, and if the editor will accept them I will give 
the readers of the Journal a few notes about the place in general.— 
A Pkactical Man. 
[We shall be glad to have the notes referred to by our 
correspondent.] 
BOUVARDIA?. 
Few flowers are more pleasing than the best Bouvardias, and 
few more easy to grow, a happy condition which is found to 
accompany both the beautiful and the useful in the case of so 
many flower.^'. Some plants we may have too many of and their 
flowers be lost, but the Bouvardia is not one of these, for either in 
pots or for various purposes when cut it is never unwel¬ 
come or despised. Bouvardias are of easy increase, which is 
effected either by cuttings made of the tips of growing shoots in 
spring or by pieces of the root cut up and started into growth. 
The latter is, I think, the method by which the best results are 
obtained. The roots can be taken any time from February till 
April, strong roots yielding the stronger growths. These need not 
be cut up into over-small pieces, as a root which starts two or 
three buds naturally makes a much better plant than those which 
start one growth only. The simplest mode of culture, and the best 
one, moreover, never allows the plants to be potted until they are 
wanted for flowering. For starting the roots ordinary cutting boxes 
are prepared by half filling them with light open material, nothing 
being better for the purpose than light flaky leaf soil. On this 
the roots are spread thinly .and merely covered with the same 
material, the whole being finished with a layer of mess, which is 
effective in keeping the soil in an equably moist condition with a 
minimum amount of watering. A little bottom heat is of service 
in starting growth, and this is secured by placing the boxes either 
on or oyer the pipes in a vinery or other forcing house. When 
growth is well started the moss is removed and the plants h.ave a 
better growing position. If placed in early in spring the plants 
will require shifting into other boxes, but if late they may be left 
until ready to plant out. Essenti.al at this period are plenty of 
light, a good temperature, and an unremitting attention to pinch- 
ing. If these points are attended to the plants will make rapid 
growth, which will be thickened by the continued pinching, and 
dormant buds will throw up from the root ard further add to the 
size and strength of the plants. 
By the middle or end of May they can be transplanted without 
danger into cold fr.ames, which for some time will be better kept 
close and slightly shaded, but as summer progresses the sashes will 
be much better dispensed with. Pinching must be continued, and 
it will be found a good practice to remove altogether all growths 
which are weakly, as these are really not of the slightest use either 
to the plant or to the cultivator, a less number of strong growths 
being of much greater value than any number of weak ones. If 
wanted to bloom early pinching must not be continued too late, 
indeed the beginning of September should see this discontinued for 
all the stock. At this time, too, it is necessary to partially raise 
the plant, choosing dull v.'^eather to do so, and if a few hot days 
follow, rather shade closely than water the soil, as the plants 
will be more benefited in one way than another, the wood made 
firmer, the young roots less watery, and the flower buds more 
regularly set. 
By the third week of September the plants must be transferred 
to pots, the sizs needful to employ much depending on the nature 
®f the compost in which the plants had passed the summer. If 
good plain loam smaller pots would do than were a light open 
compost used. Any way, the pots should not be so large as to 
have the roots aw.ay from their sides, a pot packed .full of roots 
in a few weeks being the object to aim at, and the fresh soil over 
the drainage and on the surface will be sufficient to carry the 
plants through their flowering season with the aid of a few dressings 
of manure. When potted place them in a sheltered corner out of 
doors until the second week of Octobsr, then get them into an airy 
pit where they can be kept growing, and where they will develope 
flowers rapidly. An average temperature of 50° to 55° suits 
them well until December is reached, when if it is intended to 
keep the same plants flowering they must have a stove heat in 
order to induce fresh breaks and to bring forward the trusses. 
However, it is perhaps the better plan to dry the plants about 
the new year, keeping them cool, though not cold and dry. 
The second year the growths must be cut well back in the same 
way as Fuchsias and allowed to start in much the s.ame way. They 
may also require to be shaken out and repotted, and will make 
good plants either placed out in the same way as advised above, or 
the pots may be plunged and water supplied freely, when the plants 
will come in useful early in the season, and continue in bloom for a 
very long period. Bouvardias, it must be understood, have no 
antipathy to the knife of the flower gatherer, but the more trusses 
there are cut the more they are prepared to contribute, until the 
dimmed light of the winter season puts a stop to this charaeteristic. 
We grow only a very few sorts and may cultivate still fewer in 
the future. The best singles appe.ar to be Hogarthi and Vreelandi, 
respectively red and white, but of far greater value is the now old 
double white sort Alfred Neuner. Strong growths alone allowed 
to remain and perfect bloom places the trusses of this much in 
advance of others, and if extra fine examples are particularly 
wanted a little trimming out of the pips when in bud will yield 
good results. Green fly should be kept off the plants, as they prove 
fatal to the undeveloped trusses, rendering these quite worthless if 
allowed to gain a footing.—A Scotch Gardener. 
Ev'ents of the Week. —The Koyal Society meets to-day (Thurs¬ 
day) at 4.30 P.M. The Royal Botanic Society has a meeting on Saturday 
at 3.45 P.M., and the Royal Geographical Society at 8.30 P.M. on Mon¬ 
day. The chief horticultural event of the week will, however, be the 
Royal Horticultural Society’s gathering on Tuesday, February 11th, 
when the Fruit, Floral, and Orchid Committees will assemble at 
12 P.M., and the annual general meeting of Fellows will take place at 
3 P.M. 
- The Weather in the Metropolitan District has again 
been extremely variable during the past week. It has, however, been 
generally mild for the time of year, with slight frosts on two or three 
mornings ; rather dense fogs have prevailed in the earlier part of several 
days, followed by clear bright weather. 
- Gardeners’ Orphan Fund.—A t the monthly meeting of the 
Committee, held on Friday night last, Mr. G. Deal in the chair, 
the following special receipts were announced :—From a concert .at 
Worksop, £50 4s. From Chrysanthemum Shows at Reigate, £50; 
Edinburgh, £5; and Market Harborough, £1 Is. From money 
boxes—Mr. Cannell, Swanley, £1 ; Mr. Herbst, Richmond, £1 2s. ; 
Mr. Vaffance, Bristol, £1 11s. Gd. ; Mr. Hughes, Birmingham, £5 8s. ; 
Mr. Dodds, Herringswell, Mildenhall, Suffolk, 5s. 8d. ; Mr. Tubb, Minley 
Gardens, Farnboro’, £i 5s. Id. ; total, £10 123. 3d. ; making an aggregate 
amount during the month of £122 7s. 3d. A vote of condolence on the 
death of Mr. Wildsmith, who was a good supporter of the Fund, was 
directed to be entered on the minutes and sent to Mrs. Wildsmith. 
- Will some of your correspondents kindly tell me what is best 
to plant on the back wall op a lean-to vinery? The wall is 
about 10 feet high. I have Camellias planted there, buc the flowers 
flag and will not stand when cut. I am afraid the heat is too much, 
for I start the house on the 1st of January. I should like to grow 
Tomatoes, but I am afraid the Vines would shade them too 
much.—M. G. D. 
- Improved Blackberries. —Your correspondent “ Rubus,” 
page 01, has spoken very favourably of the Parsley-leaved Bramble, 
and I, for one, can endorse ad that he has said in its favour. It is a 
vigorous grower, a prolific bearer of large fruit, which have a brisk 
flavour. When we purchased our stock of Rubus laciniatus, at the same 
time we purchased an equal quantity of the American variety called 
Wilson Junior. The latter has died out, seeming to have a weak and 
puny habit, and not at all suited for our part of the country, although 
Blackberries of the common English varieties are plentiful and very 
fine hereabouts; and as an instance of how vigorously they grow, one of 
our men in digging round the edge of a Rhododendron bed near a 
spring in the pleasure grounds, called my attention to a shoot a Bramble 
