November 13. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
101 
will, no doubt, be glad to know the name that botanists 
have given to this most useful and important esculent. 
It is called Solatium tuberosum ; but it is not our inten 
tion to enter into the history and culture of that useful 
plant. Our business is with ornamental plants only; 
not that the tuberous-rooted Solanum is not a beautiful 
plant, for a field of potatoes, when in full flower, is very 
beautiful, but it is too common even for our friend Mr. 
Beaton to make a flower-bed of. This genus does not 
abound in plants worthy of cultivation for ornamental 
purposes; there are, however, a few. The S. jasminoides 
is a beautiful climber for the greenhouse, producing 
numerous heads of elegant white flowers. The S. 
crispum is also a handsome plant, nearly hardy, suitable 
to plant against walls or palings, and which, by its 
rapid growth, quickly hides any unsightly object. The 
plant, however, that we have to recommend on this 
occasion, is a native of South America, and, conse¬ 
quently, requires the protection of the stove. It is 
known by the name of 
Solanum amazontcum, and produces flowers, of the 
richest purple colour, about the size of a half-crown, 
from the axils of the leaves, on stems that bear tliem in 
succession for a long period, from May to July. The 
leaves are of a medium size, and hoary, having much 
the appearance of the leaves of the common sage. It is 
of a half-shrubby habit, and when well grown is really 
a handsome object. It may be had for the moderate 
price of 2s. 6d. 
Culture: Soil. — The compost we have found to 
answer satisfactorily for this charming plant, is made of 
turfy peat, loam, and leaf-mould, in equal parts, with a 
due addition of river sand. This should be well mixed 
together, but not sifted. Indeed, most plants thrive 
better in soil used moderately rough, than when sifted. 
Excepting for very small plants, sifting the compost is 
not only useless, but positively injurious. When used 
in a rough state, it allows both air and water to pene¬ 
trate into every part of the soil in the pot, and thus 
reach to every rootlet; but if the soil be sifted even 
moderately fine, it soon becomes a hard mass, impene¬ 
trable to the roots, the air, and to moisture; the latter 
escaping down the sides of the pots, leaving the centre 
of the ball quite dry and hard; and if, in order to wet 
it, the pot is placed overhead into water, till the soil 
becomes thoroughly saturated, the evil is not remedied, 
for it then retains the water so long that it becomes 
sour, and unfit to feed the plant, which then turns 
yellow and diseased. Beware, then, of sifting composts, 
and using the fine soil, excepting for exceedingly small 
young plants. 
Propagation: by Cuttings. —The leaves of this plant 
being covered with down, renders it very liable to damp 
off in the cutting-pot; therefore, in making the cuttings, 
reduce the number of leaves, and use only the young 
tops. The best season for this work is in early spring, 
about the middle of March. Prepare the cutting-pot in 
the usual way, by draining and well-filling' the pot to 
within an inch of the top with the compost, and the 
remaining inch with pure white sand. The size of the 
pot most convenient is about four inches. Water the 
sand gently to settle it and make it firm; put the cut¬ 
tings in round the edge of the pot, and place them 
under a hand-glass, in heat; bell-glasses are too close 
for this woolly-leaved plant. As soon as they are 
rooted, pot them off directly; replace them for a week or 
two under a hand-glass, and then gradually inure them 
to bear full exposure to the air and light of the sun. 
Summer Culture. —Like most summer-flowering stove 
plants, this species requires potting very early in the 
year. It does not thrive well in large pots, but flowers 
better, and keeps in better health, if under-potted. It 
is rather of a straggling habit, and, therefore, requires 
management to make it bushy. Let it be, when young, 
frequently stopped, and tie out the shoots with short 
sticks and mat, bringing them well down to allow the 
central new shoot space to grow. W r ater moderately, 
because, if the soil is kept constantly saturated, the 
ends of the roots perish, and the plants become un¬ 
healthy. The syringe must be used very rarely. 
Winter Culture .—When the blooming season is over, 
cut the plants down, but leave a few leaves on each, to 
draw up the sap, or there will be danger of the whole 
dying. Keep them rather dry, and moderately cool. 
Heat in summer, 70° by day, and 60° by night. In 
winter, 55° by day, and 50° by night. T. Appleby. 
FLORISTS’ FLOWERS. 
MR. GLENNY ON FLORISTS’ FLOWERS. 
The most remarkable Fuchsia, of the season is Banks's 
Diadem. We have already noticed it as reflexing in 
an extreme degree, fully as much as a Martagen Lily. 
The sepals are too narrow for perfection, and it is an 
instance of reflexing too much; but it must be grown 
by everybody who means to keep up the quality of his 
collection ; and it shows that our “extravagant notions,” 
as they were called, of the sepals reflexing back to form j 
a globe above the corolla, have actually been surpassed 1 
by the reality. It may well be conceived that the fuchsia, 
under such circumstances, assumes a new character 
The plant of Diadem well grown will be beautiful. 
Every florist who indulges in the cultivation of the 
tulip, will recollect our instructions for a new mode of 
arranging the bed by having the same flowers on each 
side of the middle row, that is, duplicating the sorts. 
The floricultural editor of a garden newspaper has re¬ 
published the idea as if it were a new discovery of his 
own, although we first published it nearly twenty yeaxs 
ago. In like manner he has republished our hints lor 
the arrangement of a dahlia stand, merely changing the 
words, and taking credit for the ideas. 
Fuchsia growers, in our opinion, are behind all other 
exhibitors in taste. They exhibit worthless varieties, 
grown however they may be ; and rarely have we found 
more than two or three in a collection that had any 
distinct character. Now we recommend all who intend 
growing, to get all they have not already procured of the 
following varieties :— Ne plus ultra, Fountain, Roseola , 
Coralina, One in the Ring, Elizabeth, Hebe, Standard 
(Mayler’s), Champion, Lady Dartmouth, Sidonia, Banks’s 
Leader, Bauks’s Diadem, Pince’s Princeps, Nil Despe- 
randum, Psyche, Clapton Hero, Prince Arthur, Scarla¬ 
tina rejlexa, Splendida, Voltigeur, Bride, Dr. Cross, and 
Great Western. If they show any of these well-grown, 
they will redeem fuchsia-showing, for it has been 
desperately bad. 
Hollyhocks are in the ascendant, and those who are 
going to begin may calculate safely on good flowers it 
they buy the following, or any part, beginning, however, 
as we begin :— Cornet, Elegans, Magnum bonum, Mr. C. 
Baron, Walden Gem, Enchantress, Obscura, Rosy Queen, 
Rosea, Grandiflora, Speetabilis, Meteor, Sulphurea per- 
fecta, Saffrant, Pillar of Beauty, King of Roses, Joan of 
Arc, and Triumphant. There are other good ones ; but 
these cannot mislead the grower. 
A new class of Pansies has been advertised by Salter, 
of Hammersmith, and singular enough they are. We 
need not look for first-rate shapes among them, but 
there is a most extraordinary combination of colour in 
indefinite stripes, and they will doubtless lead to as 
complete a fancy class as we have in Dahlias, which, 
when we begun with them, were most outrageous as to 
form; whereas we now have them approaching the 
proper shape. Keyne’s Triumphant is the finest formed 
of the whole class, and when it comes self it might be 
shown as a self, without hurting the stand. 
