1875. J 
GARDEN GOSSIP. 
263 
wGlJ i Vf’ w kmg a to T tal i °. f 40. In 1873, the bulb broke up, and threw out several stems, 
vi^but few blooms. In 18/4, there were on one stem 50, and on the other 20 flowers, 
making a total of 70. The present year’s bloom has been extraordinary : several stems were 
tin ov n out, but one m particular, 3|m. in diameter, bore the enormous number of 70 flowers, 
tlieie being on the res t of the plants 20, making a total in the third year of its growth of 90 
dooms, which is the greatest number of blooms that has been produced. [A plant at Melchet 
Gouit bore 152 flowers; and one at Quarry Bank, Liverpool, bore 225 flowers. Both had 
been grown on from single bulbs.] 
@The New Double Pelargoniums raised by M. Jean Sisley are stated by 
Mr. Grieve, of Culford, to be very great acquisitions, being exceedingly beautiful, 
and of quite a distinct race from tlie double sorts hitherto known. They are of 
dwarf and compact habit, with foliage of medium size, and distinctly zoned: the flowers are 
large, semi-double, the centres being loosely filled up with smaller petals, and they form 
huge globular trusses, thrown well above the foliage. Louis Agassiz has light shaded pink 
ei . 3 ’ Avlnc , h are £ ei T beautiful. Louis Buchner has light bright pink flowers, with salmon- 
loured centre. Henri Lecoq has flowers of a salmon-shaded pink, the plant dwarf, with 
heavily zoned foliage, Sylphide is, perhaps, the most beautiful of all, the flowers being of 
a rl r ^ k mauve or rosy-pink colour. Of older sorts Georges Sand, by the same raiser, is a great 
c lyance upon Alme Sisley; the flowers are large, the colour very light rosy-pink, or nearly 
white. When grown under glass the plant is of dwarf habit, with somewhat small and 
peculiarly foimed leaves, slightly zoned. Frangois Periusati has the centre of the flower- 
salmon, with lighter-coloured margins. Talabot is a rich deep velvety amaranth-colour, an 
improvement upon Gloire de Lyon. J 
£t is a commonly entertained opinion that Beaucarneas— plants which 
are specially remarkable for the great swollen or napiform base of their stems— 
are extremely slow-growing, and doubtless they are so under the restrictive treat- 
ment they usually receive which is almost that of succulent plants. We are indebted to Mr. W. 
B. Kellock, of Stamford Hill, for exploding this false notion. With his choice collection of Agaves 
and other succulent plants, he cultivates most of the Beaucarneas, and observation and ex¬ 
periment have induced him to reverse the usual treatment given to these plants. The result 
is a much more vigorous as well as much more rapid growth. The plants are deluged with 
water, often twice a day, during summer, and in the dull season, when comparatively at rest, 
they are never allowed to become dry. The beneficial effect of this treatment is abundantly 
shown m a fine example, which a year or two since came almost leafless into Mr. Kellock’s 
hands, but which is now freely clothed with vigorous healthy foliage. It is also apparent in 
the rapid growth made by young plants. / 
£The name to be borne by the splendid Lily mentioned at p. 215 is 
Lilium Parhnanm , after the raiser, Mr. Parkman, wbo is President of the 
Massachusetts Horticultural Society, and is also known as an author on early 
American history. 
— According to Herr Leichtlin, Lilium Ransoni is the proper name of the 
fine Japanese species which in this country has been exhibited and figured as L. 
avenaceum. The plant is easily distinguished from L. avenaceum by the bulb, which is 
laige and solid, like that of a Tiger Lily, while the bulb of L. avenaceum is composed of small 
loose and oat-like scales The origin of this Lily was unknown till Professor Maximowicz, the 
distinguished Russian botanist and traveller, recognised it as a plant which he had found 
at Victoria Gulf, and had supposed to be a yellow variety of L. avenaceum. 
& supply of good Heath Soil or Peat is of primary importance to the 
cultivator. It is the earth which is found where heaths grow naturally, and is 
the peculiai soil of those plants to which the title c American ’ is applied. This 
and f? S ame of ^g-eartk- Of late years, however, it has been called peat 
an poat-eaith. Peat, strictly speaking, is the black decayed vegetable matter dug out of 
bogs and turbaries; it is to most plants inert and useless, but to a few, as the Amaryllids, it 
a ffoids an aliment of great power. The writers of the day mean by the term “ peat ” to express 
heath-soil, the bog-earth of long ago; hence we read of sandy peat, turfy peat, black peat, 
