534 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ Jone 30, 1667. 
luration. We had eight sunless days. Total rainfall, 1'44 inch. Max¬ 
imum fall in twenty-four hours on ]9tli, 0-25 inch. Rain fell on 
eighteen daj s. Average velocity of wind, 10 1 miles per hour. Velo¬ 
city exceeded 400 miles on two days, velocity fell short of 100 miles on 
two days, A cold, dry, and very dull month, with a very large propor¬ 
tion of N. and N.E. winds. Vegetation unusually late.” 
- Potato Tercentenary.— Under the auspices of the Royal 
Horticultural Society a series of papers will be read and discussions pro¬ 
moted on various subjects, scientific and practical, bearing on the Potato, 
in commemoration of the third century of its introduction to this 
country. The meetings commence at South Kensington on July 13th, 
and continue at intervals till the 27th of the same month. 
-An Australian Herbarium.—I t is stated in Nature that 
Miss Oldfield has presented to the herbarium of the Royal Gardens, 
Kew, the botanical collections made in Australia by her late brother, Mr. 
Augustus Oldfield. This gentleman was, as stated by Mr. Bentham in 
the preface to “The Flora of Australia,” an acute observer as well as 
‘an intelligent collector.” His Serbs of Eucalypti are especially good,as 
he took great pains to obtain the various forms of foliage characteristic 
of each species, as well as the fruiting and flowering stages. Sir Joseph 
Hooker used his Tasmanian plants in his “ Flora ” of that colony. Mr 
Oldfield “ made large additions to the West Australian plants previously 
known.” These collections were placed at Mr. Bentham’s disposal for 
th j purpose of his “ Flora Australiensis.” 
-“ B.” strongly recommends Begonias hydrocotil^folia and 
manicAta for conservatory decoration, and remarks that “ The value 
of these Begonias for furnishing purposes is unquestionable, for they 
last in good condition for fully three months after their blooms are de¬ 
veloped. The best method of having healthy vigorous plants is to raise 
them from cuttings annually after they have flowered. The old foliage 
and flower stems should be removed from the cuttings before insertion 
singly in 3-inch pots in sandy soil, a good pinch of sand being placed 
in the centre for the base of the stem or cutting to rest upon. If the 
growing end of the plant is not destroyed they will soon form new 
foliage. The top of the cutting should only just be above the surface of 
the soil, so that the foliage will hide the pots. The cuttings root freely 
in a vinery, or in any warm structure where they can be shaded. Grow 
them in heat until they are ready for transferring into larger pots, and 
afterwards under cool frame treatment.” 
- At a recent meeting of the Scientific Committee of the Royal 
Horticultural Society examples of Vines with barren flowers were 
shown. Mr. Barron forwarded flowers, some having the stamens spread¬ 
ing, which set fruit, others with the stamens reflexed, and which were 
ail ways barren. Mr. Henslow reported upon a microscopical examination 
of the two kinds, and found that the pollen was shrivelled and utterly 
useless in the recurved stamens. Like those which remained erect after 
the corolla had fallen, they burst their anthers while in bud, but as soon 
as the flower has lost the corolla the filaments become reflexed. On ex¬ 
amination of the stigmas, ovaries, and ovules nothing abnormal was 
revealed, so that if these flowers be dusted with the pollen from a normal 
kind, a spray being gathered just as the corolla is falling, and shaken 
over the others, the probability is that they would set fruit. Such an 
experiment would soon show if the pistils were unaffected or not. It 
appears that these barren flowers occur on rods growing side by side 
with fertile ones, and may occur on any variety, so what is the inherent 
constitutional cause of the “ contabescence ” of the stamens would seem 
to be obscure. It is discussed by Darwin (“ Animals and Plants under 
Domestication,” ii., page 165), but he could not suggest a cause, though 
some plants (Dianthus and Verbascum) thus affected grew on a dry and 
sterile bank. Dr. Masters called attention to the researches of Engel, 
mann and Planchon on this subject, as well as to his own observations 
at Chiswick several years since. A tendency to assume a dioecious 
condition seems to be general in all Vines, and is completely attained 
in the American species. Allusion was also made to corresponding phe¬ 
nomena in Strawberries. 
- Professor Thurber thus describes finding Palafoxia 
(Polypteris) Hookeriana in his travels some time ago :—“ When 
we came to a water-hole on the road between El Paso del Norte and the 
City of Chihuahua, in Northern Mexico, surrounded by a thick growth 
of plants having bright, rose-pink flowers, we were glad to find it to be 
the same that we had known in cultivation as Hooker's Palafoxia, P 
Hookeriana, and quite as large and as showy as we had seen it in gar¬ 
dens. The plant belongs to the Aster Family (Composite), and bears 
numerous Aster-like heads of flowers upon branching stems of 1 to 4 feet 
high. The flower-heads have pinkish or rose-purple rays, making it a 
showy and pleasing hardy plant for the garden. Upon looking up what 
later botanists have had to say about this Palafoxia, a genus named in 
honour of a Spanish General, Jos6 Palafox, we find that the plant in 
question is not a Palafoxia, but has been placed in an allied genus, 
Polypteris, a name from the Greek words for many and wings, in refer¬ 
ence to the structure of the pappus upon the fruit. The proper botani¬ 
cal name is Polypteris Hookeriana, but this will not prevent the use of 
Hooker’s Palafoxia as its garden name. According to generally ac¬ 
cepted rules, it sometimes becomes necessary to refer a species to a genus 
different from that in which it was originally placed. It is always to 
be regretted, as many find it more difficult to unlearn a name than to 
learn a new one.” 
- Some attention has been recently called to the Choro-Gi, 
Stachys affinis, as a new vegetable, and the following reference to 
the plant (a native of China and Japan) in a work by M. Poillieux is 
interesting : —“ In the spring of 1882 we received from the Acclimatisa¬ 
tion Society a box containing tubers of Stachys affinis, which had been 
sent to the Society by Dr. E. Bretschneider, Physician of the Russian 
Legation at Pekin, but all but five or six tubers perished during the 
voyage. Such, however, is the ease with which it is propagated, that 
the loss of the greater part did not grieve us. From the first year each 
tuber planted on an old hotbed gave us a satisfactory increase, and 
from the second year the plants left on the bed yielded from 200 to 300 
per cent. By this means we were enabled to send plants to the vegetable 
section of the Acclimatisation Society, and, following the example of the 
Japanese, to introduce into our pickles a pretty large proportion of tubers. 
The result has been very satisfactory. For five or six years we had in 
vain asked for 1 Choro-Gi ’ in Japan. The plant is hardy, having stood 
without protection through the winter of 1882-83, though it is true that 
winter was not a very rigorous one. Belonging to Northern China, it 
will, however, probably stand the hardest winters. The tubers of 
< Choro-Gi ’ are used in Japan for pickling in Plum vinegar, but are not 
used in the same way in China. The tubers, which are small, French, 
white, and of fine shape, have no flavour of their own, but readily 
absorb the aromatic vinegar in which they are immersed. We recom¬ 
mend that they be mixed with Trichosanthes anguina, Tropseolum 
tuberosum, and Mioga (Zingiber Mioga). The sight of the small tubers 
of ‘ Choro-Gi’ is sufficient to induce us to consign them at once to the 
frying-pan, either in their natural state or plunged into paste and sea¬ 
soned with lemon juice. Cooked in the latter way particularly, they 
make an agreeable dish, which can be made use of the whole winter. 
We must observe, however, that the tubers cannot be kept out of the 
ground, or out of a sand heap under cover, as if exposed to the air they 
soon blacken and wither, and in a few days are lost.” 
THE COMING STRUGGLE. 
We are now getting within a very appreciable distance of our 
Rose shows, and it behoves us all to be upon the alert ; and as I am 
not personally engaged in the contest, may perhaps as an onlooker 
be able to add something to the items of information all are ready 
to advance at this time. 
We know what a flutter there was amongst Rose exhibitors a 
little while ago, when the long continuance of cold winds and a low 
temperature seemed to make the progress of our plants impossible. 
Secretaries of societies were in despair. They were badgered on 
every side to alter their dates, people never seeming to consider 
that thire were other interests to be thought of besides their own, 
and that if they altered a date it would probably be for one already 
taken up by some other society. There have been complaints 
enough already about the fixtures of shows, some days being 
crowded in, others left untouched. Especially is this the case with 
Thursday ; nor is the reason far to seek. It is the most usual day 
for the weekly half-holiday, and secretaries and committees, know¬ 
ing how very difficult it is to keep up the funds, choose that day in 
the hope that it may add to their exchequer. The result is, I 
imagine, a very doubtful one. I hardly think that the people for 
whom the half-holiday is intended are they who value or attend 
Rose shows. I know, for instance, one show in a city of upwards 
of 20,000 inhabitants where the proceeds after six o’clock, when the 
shops were closed, were exactly 15s. This concentrating of Rose 
