118 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ Mi.y, 
small green-leaved sort, remarkable for the thread-like continuations of the midrib being 
furnished with peltate terminal lobes. Mr. Bull gained First-class Certificates for two 
Dracctncis of dwarf habit, and which in other respects might be grown as a pair, namely, D. 
insignis, which is naturally of small size and close-growing, and has erecto-patent, bronzy 
leaves, margined with rose or crimson. The other, named D. Candida , is also a dwarf com¬ 
pact-growing plant, with green leaves, the upper of which are freely variegated with white. 
A similar award wa3 given to Mr. Bull for Crinum brachynema , a tall stove bulb, with handsome 
drooping fragrant white flowers. Messrs. Veitch also exhibited the fine hybrid Sarracenia 
Stevuisii ; Camellia Maihotiana rosea, a good imbricated rosy-pink form which had sported 
from the white form ; and a white-spathed Arad or Orontiad of some promise, under the pro¬ 
visional name of SpathiphyHum Wallisii. Mr. G. F. Wilson had a well-bloomed plant of 
the pretty Indian Primula pidcherrima. Grand specimens of Dendrobium densijlorum, with 28 
flower-spikes, from Mr. Staples, gardener to Mrs. Candy, of Sevenoaks ; and of D. nobile 
Wallichianum, from Mr. Moore, gardener to W. C. Pickersgill, Esq., of Bexley, obtained well- 
merited Cultural Certificates. 
- 2Tiie Per-centage of Improved Novelties amongst Florists’ Flowers , that 
is to say, the results of cross-breeding amongst this particular class of plants, is 
thus stated by a correspondent of the Gardeners’ Magazine :—“ Mr. Keynes, of 
Salisbury, sows every year, and has done for many years past, 30,000 Dahlia seeds, and he 
has averaged about ten named flowers every year for some twenty years or more, which is a 
very small per-centage—it is one-thirtieth per cent.; in this case it would seem that many 
good flowers must be lost, for 30,000 seedling Dahlias ought to give at least thirty varieties 
worth naming, or, say, one-tenth per cent. The late Mr. John Salter estimated that seedling 
Chrysanthemums worth naming averaged one in 2,000 plants, or one-twentieth per cent. Mr. 
Downie grows 500 Pentstemons or Phloxes to get ten first-rate novelties, this being at the 
high rate of two per cent. In the raising of plants that admit of manipulation, such as 
Pelargoniums, the rate is still higher, the result, no doubt, of the control the raiser exercises. 
In the case of Dahlias and Chrysanthemums, the raiser has not much control, but he selects 
the seed-parents and watches over the growth of the seed, and that is control to some ex¬ 
tent. There are cases in which the cross-breeder goes direct to his work, and having in his 
mind’s eye exactly what he wants, ensures it right off; but this is not an every-day business.’’ 
- ^he subject of Double or Fasciated Hyacinth Spikes has naturally 
reappeared, now that the exhibitions have again come round. An objection 
was taken that these should not be allowed to be shown as single spikes, but 
every one knows that the finest spikes are those which come more or less fasciated, and 
surely no one would wish that the best spikes should not appear at our exhibitions. But as a 
fasciated spike, usually the result of extreme vigour, is but the early union of two spikes thrown 
up from one crown, it does not seem very reasonable to reject them, if a similar crown happens 
to throw them up more or less separated. And if fasciated spikes are admissible, why not 
those which in their early formation, instead of becoming united, continue as two, three, or 
even more distinct spikes ? It has been objected that the single or the fasciated spike are 
thrown up directly from the centre of the bulbs ; whereas if there are more than one, it is not 
a single bulb, but two or more confined within an outer sheath, showing in fact the first stage 
towards a natural division into effects. This is so far true, but surely the produce from what 
is grown and sold as one bulb, should be admissible for show purposes. The double spikes 
are no advantage from this point of view, for all judges would prefer the bold well-pro¬ 
portioned symmetry of a really fine single spike to any amount of aggregation. 
- ^he most noticeable of recent introductions to the gardens at Curragh- 
more, as we learn from the Gardeners' Record , is the Wellingtonia gigantea aurea , 
a fine specimen of which is planted on a circular piece of grass at the termination 
of a very broad walk, leading from the upper terrace. It is a really grand plant, and is 
beautifully variegated from bottom to top, and in robust health. Mr. Hartland’s stock of this 
Wellingtonia consists of hundreds of fine plants, all splendidly variegated, and growing as 
freely as its green congener, besides thousands of smaller plants in various stages, all doing 
well. Being lifted annually, they move well. The original plant of this Golden Wellingtonia 
being a seedling, and not a sport, the constancy of the variegation is not to be wondered at. 
- JHessrs. Baer and Sugden have recently shown how our town house¬ 
tops may be utilised as Roof Conservatories , by erecting a very handsome glass 
