210 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
June 22. 
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hail more of a block under it. Mr. Wooly bids fair to 
be at the top of the tree very soon; bis Sarcopodiutn 
Lobbii had thirteen full-blown flowers on; his Cattleyas, 
also, were in the very first stylo of good gardening, as 
were Shinneria intermedia and Mossice. There were 
three or four moderate plants of Oncidium lanceanum, 
which was well nigh lost to the exhibitions a few years 
hack. Lycaste niaeropkylla and Ctcloyyne Loirii owe 
more to the family name than to their own individual 
merits. 
In collections of Stove and Greenhouse Plants the 
specimens were just as one would wish for size, except, 
perhaps, three or four plants, which were a la Larcncia. 
Nothing new; hut two or three of the most difficult 
plants in the world to manage were here subdued to 
elegant domesticity; as, for instances, the bluo Lesche- 
naultia, Dracopliyllum yracile, and Bondelctia speciosa. 
In this class what can be more easy to manage than 
the Madagascar Periwinkle, or Vinca rosea and alba? 
Polygala cordifolia, acuminata, and Dalmaisiana, all 
good in their way, ought certainly to count hut as 
one plant in a first-rate collection competing for a 
twenty-guinea medal. The four Eriostemous should 
also tell hut as one; for what is the difference between 
one and the rest of them for competition? I have seen 
four far more unlike come out of one seed-pod. AVhat, 
again, can he more perfectly childish than the Alamahdas 
telling as four distinct species for competition; Catliar- 
tica, grandijlora, and Schotii, are the merest variations 
of one thing, and Neriifolia, a marked variety, and all 
as easy to grow as Sweet Peas. I should be ashamed 
to take the Society’s medals, or cash, for such easy work. 
The only use that I can see in these collections of stove 
and greenhouse plauts is to point out to amateurs, just 
on the point of trying their hands, what are the most 
easily-managed plants to begin with. Among all of 
them there were only about half-a dozen that are not 
named in the list for the May Show at page loti. A new 
Pimelia being one of them, and a pretty white flowering 
thing it is, and called Nieppergiana, after spectabilis, 
Dipladenia crassinoda and Ixora javanica, with the 
Alamandas and Stephanotis, being the principal addi¬ 
tions. 
Variegated Plants. —These were far more select than 
they were this time two years; beginning with three 
distinct kinds of variegated Pine-Apples, and ending 
with two collections of Anactochili from the Messrs. 
Veitch and Rollinson; two kinds of Sonerilla were quite 
new to me, and very prettily marked; three kinds of 
Crotons; an Aspidistra lurida, the handsomest leaf of 
all orchids; and many others. 
Tall Cacti. —Two good collections of them; one 
from Mr. Green, and one from Mr. Gillham, a new 
exhibitor since my time. 
Azaleas. —With the exception of some very good 
plants which made up the collections of stove and 
greenhouse plants, and which never should be allowed 
to form parts of a “ collection,” no separate remark is 
needed. 
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Heaths. —One called Ventricosa magnifica was the 
newest; Cavendisliii and depressa, two yellow kinds; 
Albert us, a creamy-flowered variety, and a regular wild- 
looking bush of the old Bergiana, were the most marked 
kinds. Heaths are like florists’ Pelargoniums; when 
they dress many of them for a public view they soon 
tire us by their sameness of growth, of training, 
flowering, colours, and shape; too much of a good thing, 
in fact. Albertus, by Mr Wells, is the best hit in crossing 
Heaths these twenty years past. Ventricosa superba, by j 
the late Mr.-the next best; and, probably, this third 
best, the above Ventricosa magnifica, is one of his 
numerous crosses also. At his sale, the original plant 
of 1 entricosa superba was contested for by two spirited 
nurserymen up to FlO ] 6s, and the one who “ gave in,” 
did so by arranging with his opponent that he should 
have the offer of the first plant that was propagated 
from superba. One of the parties told me tire tale. If 
it were possible to allow Heaths to grow out, and in all 
ways, as they do in the wilderness, and still to have 
flowers and leaves down to the pot, just as Bergiana 
was shown here by Mr. Peed, their family caste would 
not become tiresome so soon, and they might rise in 
public estimation. A thousand acres of Heaths in 
bloom at one view is a great sight to an English sports¬ 
man the first day be “goes out” in the highlands; but 
on the third or fourth day’ T have seen his big toe 
out through a thin boot brushing the braes, and he as 
tired of “blooming heather” as ever any of us were at 
the shows. 
Fruit.— Pineapples, from ;3lb to Gib. Grapes, as 
black as sloes, of which three bunches of the Black 
Prince were the best that were exhibited in my time; 
they were from Mr. Hill, gardener to R. Sneyd Esq., 
Keel Hall, Staffordshire; the very gentleman who 
named the celebrated “ shot silk bed.” Mr. Fleming, 
next door to Iveel Hall, took the leading prize in fruit, 
on this, the most trying competition which was yet 
contested at Chiswick. There were white and black 
Grapes, in pots, from Sion House ; the plants looking as 
healthy as the Alamandas in the opposite tent. This 
is a very old difficulty got over at last, and a great trial 
of skill; but by far the best trial of skill in fruit was 
effected by Mr. Lane, the great Rose grower. At one 
time of the day, I had five of the very best fruit¬ 
growers in her Majesty’s dominions round me, but we 
could not come to a vote as to how Mr. Lane managed 
four pots of Mayduke Cherries, which stood on a corner 
of the fruit stand. The four plants looked as healthy 
in leaf and wood as any of the “ stove and greenhouse 
plants;” every fruit was as black and shining as a May- 
dukc Cherry; the pots were flat 10’s, that is, No. 16 
nearly upright, and the soil a rich, yellow, strong loam. 
Some said these Cherry-trees were potted after the fruit 
was set; others, that the plants were loug established 
in the same pots. Some said one thing, and some 
another; but none of us hit on the exact mode. I got 
hold of the very man who managed them for Mr. Lane, 
and he said these pot Cherries were ticklish things, but 
that all of them were potted last autumn, as soon as the 
fall of the leaf. They were wintered in deep cold-pits, 
and well covered; they flowered there, and set their 
fruit, and then were removed to a more sunny place, or 
greenhouse for Roses, but they never had more heat, from 
first to last, than that of the sun. D. Beaton. 
CACTI NOT BLOOMING. 
“ These grow freely with me, but except some of the 
broad-leavecl kinds, I hardly ever get a bloom from them.” 
This is the result, generally, of two causes, which, com¬ 
bined, act in antagonism to the natural circumstances in 
which the plants flourish, namely, not giving the shoots 
sufficient sunlight in summer, and giving them too much 
water in winter. Most of them, in their natural dwelling- 
places, are found dangling over rocks and stones, where, 
during the dry season, the shoots are exposed to a semi- 
roastiug process. The rainy season succeeds, and swells 
out the integuments of root and stems, and, ere long, 
the flower-buds appear and expand. Now we cannot 
exactly do this in England, because our summers are 
too short to enable us to give the plants the full benefit 
of a growing and a roasting period ; but our success will 
be dependent upon the nearness with which we are 
able in this respect to imitate nature. 
Let us take this variety of speciosissima as an example. 
The few flowers are just faded, the plant altogether has 
become very thick; let us remove, with a sharp knife, a 
