March 3,188?. } 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
173 
to grow, when all these will bloom from the first week in January until 
the end of March. 
It may be trained up a pillar under a roof, or over a wall. Recently 
when I cut as many flowers from a pillar plant as I could well carry, 
an 1 that too from a cool house, I could not help thinking I wa? dealing 
with one of the most useful of our indoor spring flowers. The plant is 
easily propagated by cuttings in spring, and it may be planted out now 
or at any time, in a substantial mixture of loam and a little manure. It 
can be grown in pots, but planting out is the better plan for producing 
abundance of flowers. A friend who owns a small lean-to vinery with 
Vines on the roof and a miscellaneous collection of plants underneath, 
fancied a Habrothamnus two or three years ago. I gave him a little plant, 
which he placed out under the shade of the Vines and on the back wall, 
and it has done better there than any other he ever tried in the position ; 
indeed its success astonishes me and indicates it may be safely planted 
m a shady position and at a distance from the glass.—J. Mu IK. 
ZONAL PEL iRGONIUilS FOR POT CULTURE. 
Although the Zonal Pelargonium may not be so generally met 
with as a few years since, and has no society now to foster its 
popularity, improvement has been so rapid in this type that 
scarcely a variety which was exhibited at the latest show of the 
defunct Pelargonium Society would pass muster with seedlings 
raised within the last few years by Messrs. Pearson, Windsor, Miller, 
and others. We have admired the gorgeous stands exhibited at the 
London shows by Messrs. Cinnell, and “ taken stock ” of the latest 
at the “ Home of Zonals,” Swanley. We also grow a good col¬ 
lection, and will venture a few cultural notes. For conservatory 
and other decorations the Zonal Pelargonium gives a brilliancy of 
colouring scarcely to be found in any other class of flowers ; but to 
fully appreciate the beauty of individual trusses and pips, it should 
be specially treated as a florist’s flower. To this mode of cultiva¬ 
tion the following remarks will apply. 
An ordinary greenhouse is suitable to their growth, and the 
present a good time to make a beginning. Plants in pots of the 
best kinds can be purchased for a moderate sum. Repot at once 
into their largest pots, which should be the useful 48-size, 
or 5-inch. Place over the hole of each a single crock, and finish 
with an inch or so of quarter-inch bones. We have found this a 
capital manure for the Pelargonium ; the roots ramble into such 
drainage, and by the health of the foliage and sturdiness of the 
growth one can tell it is enjoyed by the plants. Pot firmly in a 
compost of two-thirds loam, the other part leaf soil ; add to a 
bushel of the same a little sand and a 5-inch potful of bone d ist or 
Jensen’s fish manure. 
Once stopping will generally be sufficient to make the plants 
bushy, but should any shoot afterwards appear more precocious than 
its fellows take out the top. To get the plants in a strong con¬ 
dition capable of bearing fine flowers I would take away the first 
trusses that show. When the pips are fully open, with a pointed 
stick drop a little floral gum into the centre of each, an operation 
which demands some care so as not to disfigure the petals. 
Being in small pots, a plentiful supply of water must be given, 
and to maintain vigorous plants manure water will bo required 
occasionally. When in bloom a slight shading during the hottest 
part of the day will improve the flowers and assist their lasting 
qualities. The following selection well grown will not fail to 
please :—In crimsons, Mr. H. Canned and Metis are large and very 
fine ; in shape the latter cannot well be surpassed. Plutarch and 
Ajax, both scarlets of superb quality. Swanley Gem is a gem, 
perfect in truss and pip, while the colour is a most beautiful shade 
of salmon scarlet. Favourite, cerise, fine pipe and truss. Con¬ 
stance, the “ pink ” of perfection. Lady Reed, white, with scarlet 
centre, very fine. In salmons it is hard to choose between Lady 
Chesterfield and Fanny Catlin ; the former is the deepest in colour, 
and we select it, but both may be beaten by a splendid variety seen 
at Swanley, Lady Rosebery. No rah is a beautiful flower, blush 
white in colour, and in shape perfect. Queen of the Belgians, the 
best white, and Sophie Birkin, a mottled salmon of faultless 
shape, and a most attractive variety. 
Another twelve little, if any, inferior to the above are—Meteor, 
very dark ; Mrs. Gordon, crimson ; Lord Chesterfield, magenta ; 
Golden Glory, orange scarlet ; Kate Greenaway, pink ; Fanny 
Catlin, salmon ; Mary Caswell, blush white ; Edith Pearson, rosy 
red ; Ida Walter, crim=on ; Lizzie Brooks, rosy scarlet ; Lord 
Rosebery, cerise ; Edith George, bright pink. 
A dozen fine double Zonals are the following Spade Guinea, 
orange scarlet ; Paul Charbonnier, fine scarlet ; F. V. Raspail, deep 
scarlet crimson ; Australian Gold, cerise, tinted orange ; Lord 
Derby, rose ; Emile de Girardin, light pink ; Madame Thibaut, 
pink shaded purple ; Grand Chancellor Faideherbe, dark crimson ; 
Aglaia, purple ; Belle Nanceinne ; and James Murkland, mottled 
salmon, both fine ; Le Cygne, pure white.—H. Siioesmith, Salt- 
wood, Uythe, Kent, 
AMASON1A PUNICEA. 
This is unquestionably a very beautiful plant, and bound to become 
popular for the embellishment of our stoves after Poinscttias, Euphor¬ 
bias, and other similar plants arc past. We obtained a plant early 
last spring and took a cutting from it some time afterwards, and had in 
autumn two splendid plants in fi-inch pots. Not knowing exactly the 
treatment required, they unfortunately were checked by too low a tem¬ 
perature, and by receiving too much water at their roots. The plants 
were placed with a number of Poinsettias and other winter-flowering 
plants that were being retarded as long as possible, and this treatment 
proved too cold for the Amasonia. When removed to more heat one 
plant flagged and could not be induced to rise again, so we at once cut 
it up for the purpose of raising a stock for another year. I am 
acquainted with one or two who have lost their plants through failure 
at the roots, which undoubtedly is due to too much water. 
The plant cut up was shaken out of the soil, and the root portion 
with a pair of eyes plunged into cocoa-nut fibre refuse in the propagat¬ 
ing box, and it quickly began to make fresh fibrous roots and to push 
two growths. The remaining portion of the stem was cut, and each 
portion inserted singly in small pots. Each portion contained two eyes, 
for the leaves are opposite, and there is an eye in the axil of each. 
These eyes or joints were pegged, so as to secure them into the pots, and 
they are all in that stage that we are certain they will form roots. 
Now it is possible that only one eye will break from each, and if so it 
will be allowed to grow until it is sufficiently long to he taken off for a 
cutting. This plant evidently strikes very freely from young shoots, 
and there appears to be no difficulty with eyes. If the joints only pro¬ 
duce one shoot it will be taken off, and the other will then be compelled 
to push, and thus form a plant with a single stem. This I know will 
take place, for our first plant had been raised from a joint pegged in a 
pot, and it was just making its first shoot when it was received. When 
long enough for a cutting it was taken off, for we had previously 
observed it possessed a dormant eye, and after the top was removed it 
quickly.started into growth. 
It appears to be a plant that will be easily propagated, and when 
once its culture is thoroughly understood there will be no difficulty in 
maintaining a good stock of young plants annually. It is one of those 
plants that I believe will be grown in quantity, and I intend to make 
the most use of the plants here for stock purposes this year, even if we 
only allow a few to produce their brilliant bracts of rich crimson and 
creamy white flowers beneath. During the summer it requires plenty of 
heat, a moist atmosphere, and abundance of light. Our plants were 
arranged close to the glass, which appeared to suit them admirably. It 
might be advantageous to many, if cultivators who have grown this 
plant successfully would give their experience in the Journal, and the 
lowest temperature they have found it would endure without injury 
during the autumn and winter. Partial failure during the past year 
has certainly taught us how to cultivate this plant in the future. My 
experience leads me to the conclusion that it should not be subjected to 
a lower temperature than 60° to 65°, according to external conditions, 
until its bracts are produced, and whether it will bear without injury a 
lower temperature after that by being kept somewhat drier at its roots, 
remains to be proved. If others have tested this matter the information 
will be gladly welcomed, for if it will stand in conservatories where the 
temperature ranges from 45° to 50° at night during the time it is in full 
beauty, its value as a decorative plant will be materially increased.— 
Wm. Baedxey. 
[This plant was figured in the “Botanical Magazine” for January 
this year under the name of Amasonia calycina, which Sir J. D. 
Hooker has determined is its correct name. It is said to differ from the 
true A. punicea in the bracts and calyx.] 
“JRdYSANTREVlUflS AND TJE’R CULTURE’’—ANSWER 
TO MR. GARNETT’S CRITIQUE. 
Allow me in the first place to thank Mr. Garnett for the tone he 
displays in his critique on my book, which I hope to answer in the 
same spirit, as honest criticism often leads to improvement. There 
has been a vast increase in the number of growers of the 
Chrysanthemum during the last three or four years, there¬ 
fore the smallest piece of new information on the subject will be 
welcomed by all, and by beginners especially. The latter I had par¬ 
ticularly in my mind when I described my experience, my object being 
to detail cultural instructions as plainly as possible. I did not employ 
“ scientific” terms, because I thought them unsuited for those for whom 
the book was intended. At the time the articles were appearing in the 
Journal of Horticulture, and since their publication in book form, I was 
led to believe by the numerous letters I received from all parts of Great 
Britain and Ireland that I had succeeded in doing what I had in view— 
viz., being explicit in the necessary details of culture. I could point to 
many men, and these situated hundreds of miles north of Svvanmore, 
even much farther north than Mr. Garnett’s locality, who had not pre¬ 
viously grown Chrysanthemums in an exhibition manner, but by 
following the directions given in the Journal they were enabled to grow 
the plants successfully, and with the flowers produced take leading 
positions at some of the best shows in England, and they assured me it 
was purely by following my advice that they were so enabled to succeed. 
This I consider the truest test of clearness of detail contained in in/ 
instructions, hut judging from what Mr. Garnett’s attempts to point out I 
am a long way from gaining the end I had desired, \V hat I wrote was 
