114 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
pedigree of their seedlings, and to affix the 
same information in an abstract form to the 
plants themselves when staged for exhibition, 
with the view of throwing some light on the 
causes which have induced this leaf-colour¬ 
ation. 
French School of Horticulture. —It 
has recently been decided that a number of 
young men shall be received as Pupils in the 
garden at La Muctte. The students are re¬ 
quired to have some previous knowledge of 
practical horticulture, and to be not less than 
eighteen years of age ; they will be remune¬ 
rated for their work at the rate of 65 francs 
a-month ; and the arrangements are so framed 
that each pupil will he enabled to study all 
branches of plant culture. Application should 
be made before the 1 st of March in each year 
9 to M. Alphand, Ingenieur-en-Chef, Avenue 
d’Eylau 137, Paris. 
Rhododendron Dalhousle. —A very fine 
specimen of this Indian Rhododendron has 
been flowering during the past spring in the 
nursery of Messrs. Dickson & Co., of Leith 
Walk, Edinburgh. The plant was 8| feet 
high, and feet through, and the flowers 
which are of a rich cream colour, with a de¬ 
licate lemon scent, measured 4 inches across, 
and 3.£ inches in length. There were 94 trusses, 
averaging three flowers each, making alto¬ 
gether 282 flowers. 
Quercus Banisteri as Game Cover.— 
The smallest, the scrubbiest, and the wiriest 
of the Oaks, though perhaps not the most 
useless, is Quercus Banisteri, or ilicifolia. 
This little Oak M. Vilmorin has planted to 
the extent of about half an acie, chiefly under 
tall Pines. In that position it shows its 
merit as a cover plant, growing freely under 
the Pines, and forming a dense level surface 
with its upper shoots, and an almost impene¬ 
trable cover from the toughness of its boughs. 
It never presumes to go aloft like other Oaks, 
but remains a flat-headed scrubby subject 
at from 3 to 4J feet high. It begins to fruit 
at five years old, producing from that age 
onwards abundance of small pretty dark 
brown acorns, with light brown stripes ra¬ 
diating from their apex; these are greedily 
devoured by fowls, and would doubtless be 
equally useful for feeding game. This Oak 
may therefore be strongly recommended as a 
cover for game. It suits the poorest soils 
and coldest situations, and is perfectly hardy. 
Damp Walls. —A writer in the Builder 
says :—I have just effected a complete cure 
for damp exuding from a brick wall, upon 
which no plaster, much less paper, would ad¬ 
here, on account of its having been several 
times saturated with sea water. I have done 
so by using “ Italian plaster,” the cost of 
which is but little more than that of Portland 
cement, and the wall may be papered upon 
forty-eight hours after the plaster is used, 
without any risk of damp or discoloration. 
Pentstemons. —These have much improved 
of late years. Not only has variety of form 
and colour been secured, but the size of the 
flower has gone on increasing, and latterly a 
very great advance has been made by the ex¬ 
pansion of the limb segments, which gives to 
the flowers altogether a bolder character. 
Some of the new continental sorts leave the 
varieties of former years very far behind as 
regards size and form, while they show also 
a manifest improvement in foliage and habit. 
They possess, moreover, what is very desir¬ 
able in the case of flower-garden plants—a 
vigorous habit, and hardy constitution. The 
following varieties are among the cream of 
the novelties in question, and all first-class 
flowers :— Alfred De Musset —reddish-crim¬ 
son, with beautifully pencilled throat; 
Edmond About —scarlet, with large white 
throat; Georges Sand —bright purplish-lilac, 
with large white pencilled throat; Indispens¬ 
able —tinted rosy white, throat veined with 
rich crimson ; John Booth — rich crimson 
carmine, with beautiful pure white throat; 
L'Africaine —white, tinged with lilac violet, 
handsome throat; Melanie Lalauette —fine 
delicate rose, fringed with carmine, white 
pencilled throat, dwarf habit, extra ; Pauline 
Dumont — light rosy crimson, with white 
pencilled throat; Souvenir de Matthieu 
Fernet — amaranth purple, throat white, 
veined with crimson; Souvenir St. Paid — 
rich purplish crimson, with white pencilled 
throat; Surpassc Victor Hugo —fine reddish 
scarlet, with pure white throat, extra. 
French Watering Pipes. —A correspon¬ 
dent of a northern contemporary describes an 
ingenious mode of arranging the pipes used 
in Paris for watering roads and gardens. 
There are many parts, he observes, as near 
the Bois de Boulogne, and in the Place de la 
Concorde, where the roads are kept moist by 
sprinkling them from a hose. And now we 
come to the fact which may be of service to 
the managers of large gardens. With the ex¬ 
ception of the piece held by the man working 
it, the whole is made up of nine-feet lengths 
of iron tubing, like gas pipes, and united by 
flexible pieces of india-rubber hose. Each 
length is fitted with two little wheels at each 
end, thus keeping it up some 3 or 4 inches 
from the road, and enabling the man with the 
most perfect ease to take it in any direction; 
and, when he has finished, he folds them up 
and runs them off to some other place. One 
man can thus do the work of two, for 
he needs no one to help him, even if using 
150 feet of pipe ; and all the wear and tear of 
dragging the hose along the road is avoided, 
and we all know how soon, under such cir¬ 
cumstances, the best india-rubber or leathern 
hose will wear out. This apparatus is also 
used for washing the trees and shrubs so 
plentifully seen in the streets of Paris. In 
dry weather, it is necessary to water the turf 
in the parks, and this is done with the same 
kind of apparatus—certain lengths of the iron 
