290 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ April 14,1887. 
paratively clear state. It was an excellent paper, treating thoroughly 
the subject, and it was followed by a capital discussion by several 
practical gardeners present. 
PROPAGATING HERBACEOUS PHLOXES. 
April is a very suitable month for the propagation of these Phloxes? 
and a good place in which to strike the cuttings is a dung frame. I f 
freely supplied with water the cuttings will emit roots in a fortnight or 
three weeks, when the plants may be potted singly. After having fairly 
rooted into the new soil may be transferred to a cold frame, and even¬ 
tually planted out. The most suitable cuttings which it is possible to 
have are those young shoots, which at this season are being produced in 
quantity. Select these when 3 or 4 inches long, and insert in sandy well 
drained soil, Cither in pots or boxes. The cuttings of these Phloxes need 
so little preparation that they may be inserted almost as removed from 
the stock plant, for they root freely not only from the joint but up the 
stem between the joints, so that if the lower are removed the operator 
will have done all that is requisite. They thoroughly enjoy generous 
treatment, and if they have abundance of water during dry weather the 
result will lie a rich and varied display in the coming autumn of their 
massive heads of flowers. Like the Chrysanthemum, they should never 
receive a check. Few plants are more effective when well done, and 
none so miserable when neglected. Another point of importance with 
these plants is to make new plantings annually and discard all stools at 
four years old, as by this time they will have impoverished the soil, 
and will have become a thicket of young and weakly shoots. 
In planting dig deeply, apply manure freely, and plant somewhat 
deeper than usual with most plants, on account of their making a great 
quantity of surface roots. If they can be given a position where they 
may be saturated two or three times weekly so much the better. A 
good selection of these plants will be found in the following list 
Whites : Jeanne d’Arc, Independence, Queen of Whites, Virgo Marie, 
Thos. Chisholm. Of mauve or lilac shades, Hendersoni and Mauve 
Queen are good ; vermilion scarlet, Coccinea ; purple, Purple King and 
Pius Ninth ; salmon red, A. F. Barron, Lothair, Roi des Roses, and Louis 
Van Houtte. Of whites with coloured centres : Edith, David Syme, 
Richard Wallace, Jenny Grieve, Madame la Comtesse de Turenne are 
among the best ; while from crimson we would take Madame Verschaf- 
felt, Gloire de Neuilly, Countess of Breadalbane, and Splendour ; and 
apart from these there are numbers of intermediate and varying shades. 
—J. H. E. 
ROSE STOCKS. 
I gather from Mr. D. (lilmour, jun.’s remarks on this topic that 
he has not himsdf tried budding on the seedling Briar. If he has, 
surely he can understand why Roses thus budded should be some¬ 
what more expensive than others. The Biiar or Manetti cuttings grow 
out chiefly at the top of the cutting, not so the seedling Briar. Some 
years ago when I could stoop fairly well, mv kind friend, Mr. G. 
Prince, at my request sent me 200 seedlings in the autumn. Each 
hundred formed a little bundle about the size of my arm, and a crow- 
quill was much larger than the s’ze of many in the bundle, the length 
being ahout a font. My first impression was to throw them all away 
as useless ; but, however, 1 thought better of it, and having at that 
time plenty of room in mv garden I planted them in rows 3 feet 
apart from row to row, and G or 8 inches between the plants. There, 
thought I, you are not w< rth mu h, but you may take your chance. 
I did not expect any would be budded. Taking care that the earth 
kept close to them through the winter ttuy did take their chance, 
and when budding time arrived it was a sea of Rose branches 
Thorns! Yis, a few. Sharp, raiher. I was simply thunder struck 
at the growlh. These little crowquills were the following autumn 
sending out shoots in all din ctions, and many of these as thick as my 
little finger ; and th se shoots, instead of growing upwards as in 
cuttings, started from the ground ; not a few beneath the surface if 
the plant had been put in too deep. 
"Well, when I began to attempt budding, the scratches were lovely. 
Taking the end of a row, I began by clearing off the shoots that were 
near the surface of the ground and only leaving two or threo that 
grew upwards ; hut when I came to clear the stem for the bud I 
found another difficulty, that was that in half the stocks it was im¬ 
possible to find II inch of the stem sufficiently straight and smooth 
for an adept to bud in, let alone a tyro. Buds as pushed onwards in 
the slit soon slipped out and down, and the buds were on the gr. und 
and had to be sought for so frequently, and, if they remained, the 
tying them in bruised them in ad ipting them to the twisting stem, 
that I inwardly remat ked I did not wonder that Roses on seedling 
Briars were more expensive. Apparently they are so, but I believe 
in the end it is far and away the cheapest stock, and it. is also in my 
experience the best.—Y. B. A. Z. 
NOTES AT OXFORD. 
There is now flowering, for the first time in the Oxford Botanic 
Garden, a fine specimen of Beauc.irnea glauca that has been in the col¬ 
lection for many years. This interesting Yucca-like plant is growing in 
the succulent house, and measures from, the rim of the pot in which it is 
growing to its crown about (i feet, and is surmounted with a dense spike 
more than 3 feet in length, bearing myriads of miniature whitish flowers 
having anthers covered with clear yellow pollen, and present altogether 
a conspicuous cloud-like mass of creamy pale amber-tinted inflorescence; 
the effect of which is particularly pleasing. 
A re-arrangement of the hardy plants is being carried out in this 
garden, the beds throughout having been designed anew for this purpose,, 
and when their transformation is completed lovers of this old garden— 
and there are many—will hail with satisfaction improvements on what 
has been cherished by them as ' representing that which has now 
become the historic order of things in the one-time Oxford Physic- 
Garden. 
One of the alterations effected that may be noticed by visitors is. 
that affecting the hitherto Ivy-clad trunks of trees which have been so- 
systematically denuded of their superincumbent growth as to severely 
alter their aspect. One may/however, hope in respect to these old 
trunks that their present appearance will not be allowed to be 
permanent. 
It is here, as is the case with other gardens of its kind, we always, 
see something that sets one longing to write in praise of to some par¬ 
ticular plant-loving friends, although it may be that, their names are by 
no means unfamiliar to them. At the present time a few gems may be 
seen in flower that would delight the most fastidious cultivator, and they 
should be remembered by those who do not already possess them, so that 
they may be secured when an opportunity offers. They are as follows : 
—Narcissus minimus, Iris reticulata, Chionodoxa Lucijias, Saxifragas 
oppositifolia alba, and Bur'seriana, Galanthus plicatus, and Primula 
rosea.— A Correspondent. 
INDIAN EXPERIENCES. 
,{Co<itinucd from page 60.) 
I RELATE the following as instances of how rapidly some plants 
foreign to a country when once introduced will adapt themselves to their • 
new conditions, becoming eventually as closely identified with the 
scenery of the country of their adoption as plants of indigenous growth. 
During the early days of Coffee planting around Manantoddy, a good 
number of flowering trees, shrubs, and plants were introduced from the 
plains, Ceylon, and elsewhere, and cultivated in the gardens surrounding 
the houses of Europeans. Amongst these plants were several varieties • 
of Lantana, v’hich at once found a congenial home, flowering and 
seeding most profusely, and quickly extending from isolated garden 
bushes and hedges surrounding gardens and patches of cultivated- land,, 
to covering hundreds of acres of land with a dense mass of thorny and 
all but impenetrable scrub, giving shelter to numerous reptiles, vermin,, 
and many dangerous wild beasts, eventually changing the character of 
the landscape for miles around in a marked degree. The bushes forming 
this Lantana scrub reached an average height of about 10 feet, and 
included some three or four very pretty varieties, so that wdien the 
plants were in flower—-and they are nearly always so—the ever- 
increasing area taken possession of by the plant presented a most 
striking appearance. But this intruder was by no means welcomed 
either by Englishman or native, the floral display not being considered 
sufficient compensation for the drawbacks it entailed. In addition to- 
liarbouring noxious animal life, the scrub was supposed to have an 
injurious effect on the salubrity of the climate. When I first knew 
Manantoddy it was a very pretty town, the native portion of which 
formed one long street half a mile in length, running down to the 
banks of the river Cubbany, a large stream rising on the eastern side of 
the western Ghaut range, taking a winding course through the Wynaad 
country, and eventually joining the sacred canvary in the province of 
Mysore. The houses of the European officials and resident Coffee 
planters were situated on the tops of the neighbouring grass hills, the 
green and beautiful slopes of which were dotted with clumps of 
graceful Bamboo, Rose Apple,.(Eugenia) Jack, and other trees. From 
the tops of these hills views could be had of the winding Cubbany, its 
banks fringed with belts of the liveliest green, produced by diversity of 
plants from the Osmunda regalis up to the wild Mango tree. The soil' 
of these hills is of a very poor kind, but with the assistance of the 
invigorating rains of the south-west monsoon, they produce an abundance 
cf grass for the native cattle and goats which browsed on them. But so • 
steady had been the advance of the Lantana that before I left India in' 
1877 all the beauty of these hills and grassy slopes had vanished, or at 
least given place to the steady encroachment of the interloper: and 
doubtless this advance still continues, and will continue till perhaps 
every open space in the Wynaad is taken possession of by the Lantana 
shrub. Something of this kind of encroachment has, I am told, taken 
place in Ceylon at the lower elevations, and it is considered there that 
the plant, in the course of time, improves the nature of the soil. This 
may be the case, as the scrubby plants always present such a mass of' 
evergreen foliage, reaching from their tops down to their ground, no 
jungle fire seems to run through or damage the thickets, so that a large- 
deposit of decayed twigs and leaves must be yearly produced, which in 
the course of time may form a sufficient coating for the efficient cultiva¬ 
tion of such plants as Coffee and Tea. It may not be a very wild idea 
to suppose that in some future time a new race of planters may find 
profitable employment in the clearing and planting of land held so long 
iu possession by the renovating Lantana plant. 
A tree, Poinciana regia, was almost unknown in the Wynaad till 
about 18(17, at which period it was planted on many Coffee estates at 
