1875 .] 
GARDEN GOSSIP. 
71 
- Turing the past autumn we saw at Blythefield a very remarkable 
illustration of the Effect of Close Pruning on the constitution of a plant, as com¬ 
pared with a free extension of growth. In one part of the pleasure-grounds was 
a Hornbeam hedge of considerable age, and about 8 ft. high, presenting the usual appearance 
of a hedge of this kind, the individual trees bearing a multitude of slender twigs. From some 
cause or other the end tree of this line of Hornbeans had been allowed to grow unmolested, 
and while the constantly pruned plants were no thicker than one’s wrist, the freely grown 
tree was a fine umbrageous specimen with a stout trunk, and a head at least 40 ft. high. It 
formed a capital illustration of the truth, that constant repression is exhausting, and the 
accidental juxtaposition of the hedge and the tree, brought out strongly the different effects 
of the two systems of pruning. 
- t^HE Benanthera coccinea growing in the Conservatory at CLatsworth 
has not been out of blossom for four years, and that the stems had blossomed 
abundantly the panicles (past and present) attached to them bear evidence. The 
plant has several stems, which grow up to a considerable height. It appears to have a 
decided preference for growing on Birch poles, and in the case referred to the roots have in 
consequence acquired great vigour. 
- fftR. Brehaut remarks that his crop of early Potatos under glass 
has been completely saved by the use of newspapers spread over the haulm 
during the late severe weather, while' that of his neighbours without this pro¬ 
tection has been lost. The extent of defence afforded by Paper Protectors is almost unknown 
as yet. The newspapers were suffered to remain on during the succeeding sunshine, so as to 
avert sudden changes of temperature. Where additional protect'on is needed, it would be easy 
to paste together any convenient numbor of newspapers, and fold the edges over twine, (as a 
boy does for his kite), and these, suspended some inches above the others spread over the 
haulm, would oncloso between the layers enough fixed air to protect anything. 
- She Vriesici regina , a fine Bromeliaceous plant, of which a figure is 
given in a recent number of the Gardeners' Chronicle , flowered for the first time 
in Europe last summer, in the Emperor of Austria’s private garden at Vienna. 
Professor Morren, the learned investigator of the Bromeliacoai, and whose collection of living 
plants is, we believe, the most numerous in point of species of any that now exists, regards 
this as being the same as Lemaire’s Vriesia Glazioucina. The leaves are about 4 ft. in length 
and 7 in. broad, and the flower-stalk 7 ft. high, the flowers being arranged in two-ranked 
curved spikes, disposed in a branched panicle, and springing from the axis of rose-coloured 
bracts. The flowers are white, and have a strong perfume of jasmine. The plant is a native 
of Rio Janeiro, where it grows in the clefts of the rocks, flowering from October to December. 
- J^ome time since, Professor Karl Koch called attention to a New Varie¬ 
gated Plane ( Platanus orientalis Bosenthalii ), which he had seen in Mr. Rosenthal’s 
Nursery in Vienna. u True,” he says, “ we have had a variegated Plane in cultiva¬ 
tion for some years, but it is far inferior in point of beauty to the one in question, being of a per¬ 
manently shrubby habit, and possibly belonging to Platanus cuneata, Willd.,a species I found 
on my second trip to the Caucasus, in 1844, growing on the banks of rivers and rivulets on 
the south-eastern slopes. The unequally five-lobed leaves, too, remain small, barely attaining 
4 in. in length ; and the variegation consists of yellowish-white patches or stains, most 
abundant near the circumference. Of Rosenthal’s Variegated Plane, which is a variety of the 
Oriental, only small, shrubby specimens were seen, but should it prove to retain its variegation 
in the adult stage, we have here one of the most beautiful ornamental trees imaginable. 
It has ample leaves, usually somewhat broader than long, its broadest diameter reaching 
about 10 in., whilst from the top of the petiolo to the opposite extremity of the blade it is only 
about 7 in.; it has an abrupt base, each half of the blade forming a right angle with the petiolo. 
The agreeably conspicuous yellowish-white markings cover by far the greater portion of tho 
surface ; but tho white is interspersed with green streaks.” 
- Uarieties of different kinds of fruit often get a bad name in conse¬ 
quence of adverse treatment, and this is tlie case with certain Unpopular Grapes , 
