220 
THE FLOEIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ OCTOBER, 
as stagnant moisture must not be allowed to remain about the roots, they must 
have good drainage, so that the water may pass off quickly. On the other hand, 
they should never be allowed to get dry at the roots, as this extreme may kill 
them, or if it does not, the fronds will shrivel and the plants will become 
unsightly. • 
The propagation of Gleichenias is effected by division when the plants are 
in vigorous growth; they must be kept shaded from the sun, and be kept free 
from insects, such as scale, thrips, &c., which are liable to infest them if they are 
not kept in a healthy state.— B. S. Williams, Victoria Nursery , Holloway. 
EARLY TOMATOS. 
f DO not know a more profitable crop than Early Tomatos. They require so 
little attention, and are so difficult to destroy by ordinary treatment. The 
? wonder is that they are not more plentiful in the spring and early summer 
months than they are. The fruit is used in so many different ways, that if 
more attention were given to their culture very different results than those we 
now commonly see would be realised. The present is a good time to plant for 
spring crops. If the plants are raised from cuttings they do not grow so freely, but 
they produce fruit earlier than if grown from seed. I prefer growing them in pots, 
filled with fibrous loam and well-rotted leaf-mould. When they are in their 
permanent quarters, the roots may be allowed to grow through the bottoms of the 
pots, and the plants will thrive and bear fruit up to the following winter if necessary. 
As regards training, single stems, from which all the laterals are rubbed off as 
soon as they appear, offer the most simple way of treating them, and they should be 
allowed to run as far as they can find head-way. We have had fine fruit ripe in March, 
the pots having stood on bricks over the hot-water pipes in vineries; and having been 
well fed with manure-water, the same plants have yielded abundantly throughout 
the season. In newly-planted vineries, where grapes from “ supernumeraries ” are 
not really essential, Tomatos trained between the rafters as cordons, and kept within 
bounds so as not to injure the vines, will give returns many times more valuable 
than those from the temporary vines. In an early vinery here, with Tomatos planted 
between the young vines, we have had excellent crops since April, and they are now 
bearing as abundantly as ever.—M. Temple, Blenheim. 
CYPRIPEDIUM JAPONICUM. 
EW plants can compete with this in the combined qualities of hardiness* 
beauty, singularity, and rarity. Till bloomed last spring by the New 
Plant Company, it was only known in this country by drawings which 
bore so little resemblance to other known Lady’s-Slippers, that some 
hesitation in accepting them as genuine representations was not only pardonable, 
but justifiable. The annexed sketch, for which we are indebted to the Company 
above named, and which has been prepared from fresh flowers, leaves no further 
room for doubt. C. jajoonicum may now be accepted as a fine hardy perennial, 
