1S7£. ] 
GARDEN GOSSIP. 
287 
Madame Durenne, lilac with broad dark purple centre. These are all fine, of good habit, and 
striking colours. 
- 2The finely variegated Fuchsia Sunray , which is believed by many to 
have originated as a sport, is, it appears, a seedling raised by Mr. G. Rudd, Under¬ 
cliff e, Bradford, who has also produced some other fine Fuchsias. It was ob¬ 
tained from the variegated Cloth of Gold, fertilised with pollen from a single Fuchsia having 
a white tube and sepals and a red corolla. Mr. Rudd observed a spot of white on a leaf of 
one of these seedlings, and finding it to be a promise of variegation, he, in the autumn, cut 
the plant back to this particular leaf, and the following spring it broke out into the beautiful 
variegated form it has never lost. 
- ^ new t Hyrid Tacsonia, which it is proposed topiame Tacsonia Andersoni , 
has been raised by Mr. Anderson, of the Gardens, Sowerby House, Hull, being a 
cross between T. Van Volxemii and T. insignis. The colour is intermediate 
between those of the two parents, more a scarlet than either, the size of the flowers being 
from 5 in. to 6 in. in diameter. Out of about forty plants raised from two seed-pods, all, with 
one exception, have the divided leaf of the male parent. The internal conformation of the 
hybrid flower is very curious. The calyx, corolla, and corona are all normal, but the stamens, 
instead of bearing anthers, are surrounded by petals. Beneath, the filaments, previous to 
their separation one from another, form a tube, from whose edge springs an additional corona, 
just as the corona springs from the flower-tube at the base of the petals in ordinary cases. 
We have here not only a very interesting malformation, but the germ of a double Tacsonia. 
- ®he fine hybrid Lilium Purity , a cross between L. auratum and 
speciosum, raised by Mr. Thomson, and of which little has been heard since it 
was exhibited before the Floral Committee in August, 1870, and received a First- 
class Certificate, has flowered vigorously this year at the Knap Hill Nursery, and proves to 
be a good acquisition. It has quite the habit and aspect of a vigorous large-flowered form of 
L. speciosum , having lanceolate leaves and large flowers, the segments of which are at first 
spreading, then reflexed, the ground-colour pure white to the very base, and spotted with 
rich carmine-crimson dots and papillae. The fragrance is intermediate between that of the 
tw r o parents. It is a distinct Lily, and a well-marked improvement on L. speciosum album. 
- iA paper on the Destruction of Chlorophyll by Light , by Dr. Askenasy, 
has recently been published in the Botanische Zeitung. He finds that the parts 
of fruits and plants most deeply coloured are those most freely exposed to light; 
and that fruits of the same kinds if ripened in the shade remain green to the end. His ex¬ 
periments, so far, have not led to the discovery of anything positive with regard to the 
active agents in these effects, and their physiological importance. The facts mentioned by 
Hr. Askenasy have been well known to gardeners for years, and in cases w T here the value of 
fruit depends upon its appearance shading and exposure have often been resorted to. 
- (£)f the new Pea Dr. Maclean , Mr. Bailey of Shardeloes writes :—“It 
is a remarkably fine Pea of the Turner’s Prolific type, grows about o ft. high, is 
very productive, with pods which are large and well filled, and produced from 
the bottom to the top of the haulm. It is of excellent flavour, and is altogether 
a first-class Pea. 
- ©ne of the most interesting objects in the well-conducted kitchen- 
gai’dens at Thoresby Park, as we learn from the Gardener , is a Wall of 
Warrington Gooseberry-trees. They are planted some two or three feet asunder, 
against a north wall, and trained vertically, the branches being about 4 in. apart; the wall is 
now almost entirely covered with them. Mr. Henderson states that this wall of Gooseberry- 
trees is of more service to him than all his other bushes put together, the crops being 
certain, regular, and conveniently preserved on the trees till late in the autumn. The branches, 
having a considerable vertical extension on a wall 12 ft. high, are not disposed to make gross 
lateral growth ; and the summer treatment consists in simply shortening back the breast- 
wood, which in winter is finally pruned to short spurs in the usual way. 
