THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
December 11. 
166 
1 plunged. Plenty of air must be given, and the night tem¬ 
perature should seldom he below 40° in winter. In the 
' following season they may be potted separately in line 
fibry sandy peat, and kept close until fresh growth lias 
taken place, and then be gradually exposed to light and 
air. I forgot to say that this must be particularly 
attended to in first pricking off. Fine sandy fibry peat 
must be used on both occasions; afterwards the usual 
routine will suit them. B. Fish. 
FLORISTS’ FLOWERS. 
MR. GLENNY ON FLORISTS’ FLOWERS. 
A new Epiphyllum was exhibited at the Horticultural 
Society’s meeting, of rather an improved character from 
E. Russellianus and E. roseus, both being of the Trun- 
catus species, or family. It differs from the latter in an 
essential character, though not in colour. The petals, 
instead of being close-hugging and irregular, form two 
or three complete flowers growing one out of the other, 
and it is in that a great improvement on the E. trun- 
catus family, numerous as are the varieties from seed. 
We have had from different nurseries E. Russellianus, 
E. violacea, E. roseus, and others, all of the habit of 
truncatus, and as every one who grows them will re¬ 
member there is no shape to the soft and flabby blooms, 
but merely two or three tiers of petals round a soft 
elongated centre, it may be presumed, therefore, that, | 
pretty as all these things look as a whole, when in full | 
bloom, it is a decided improvement to have a regularly 
built series of flowers with their petals equally expanded 
all round. No name was given to it, but as a medal 
was awarded, we shall hear of it again. There was a 
part of the green leaf cut with every flower, so that 
whoever gets these would have a stock as soon as the 
owner. A collection of Epacrises, from the Society’s 
garden, exhibited no peculiarity except being wrongly 
named, and, for the most part, being old and discarded 
acquaintances. 
Penstemon variahilis, a new and excellent variety, 
raised at the Versailles Nursery, and expected out last 
spring, was withheld, because some of the spring blooms 
were rosy instead of cream-colour, edged with rose and 
veined with blood-colour. The owner having now 
satisfied himself, will, of course, execute his orders, but 
he ought not to have been in doubt a moment; for a 
plant which is essentially an autumnal bloomer will 
not come in proper character in spring any more than 
an Auricula, which is a spring flower, will come right 
in autumn. Nevertheless, if every nurseryman would 
be as particular, we should not have so many worthless 
things let out. Penstemon variahilis is the most re¬ 
markable, and the prettiest of the family. 
Chrysanthemums (S). —New, Yellow-fringe; a bril¬ 
liant yellow, large size, tolerably full, and every petal 
divided into four or five points at the end, like a hand. 
It will be very striking as a plant, and is well-named. 
Versailles Defiance, after the model of Annie Salter, but 
purple. Oonspicua, a large, extraordinary flower, flat 
on the face, but perfect to the centre, and of splendid 
habit in the plant; a rich purple in colour. Delicate, 
a pretty flower, and desirable as a novelty, though not 
to be compared with Queen of England, which, in our 
estimation, stands among the best half-dozen. The 
other blooms not in condition to pronounce an opinion 
on. The Pompone Chrysanthemums make a very pretty 
show when put up in bunches like small roses; and 
they are becoming favourites, because they take so much 
less room than the others. There was a collection at 
Begent-street, which looked very striking, and took the 
attention of the meeting a good deal. [We are promised 
an essay on their culture by Mr. Beaton. Ed. C. G.] 
A question has been put concerning The National 
Floricultural Society, which does not quite touch the ( 
material point, because nobody will admit comparisons j 
in judging seedlings, except with old flowers. If forty i 
seedlings were presented, say of Pelargoniums, and one ! 
had a great preference over the other thirty-nine, the 
judges would have no right, injustice to the public, to 
look a bit more favourably on that than on the rest, if 
it did not possess merit enough to warrant its coming 
out; and to warrant this upon the authority of collective 
wisdom, it must be better in form or substance than 
anything we already possess of its colour, or it must be 
as good, and a new colour. Anything short of this 
should be left to individual recommendation, and not 
be stamped with an artificial value by public censors. 
That better things have been passed over than some 
which have been favourably noticed, we are prepared 
at any time to prove, but the fact will prove itself. 
FLORISTS’ FLOWERS CULTURE. 
the rink.—general management. —(Continued from 
page I52J 
The Blooming Season. —Every attention having been 
bestowed upon the plants, they will, by the time the 
flower-stems begin to spring forth, be in good health, 
and strong in grass—grass is the term florists use for the 
leaves and shoots before the flower-stems appear. A 
good criterion to go by, in judging upon the health of 
any plant, is not only the size and quantity of foliage, 
but its colour. The leaves of most kinds of the Pink 
are of a light-green—a greyish-green would be, perhaps, 
a more expressive description. If they are of different 
shades, some parts light-green, and others approaching 
to white, the plant is not right; or if there are spots of 
a lighter colour on the leaf or leaves, though the plant 
may appear strong, it certainly is diseased. No time 
must be lost in trying to recover such plants. It may 
arise from a too rich and light soil, in connection with a 
wet dark spring. Should that be judged to be the case, 
remove the soil from around each sickly plant, and replace 
it with some sound, sweet, light loam, twelvemonths old, 
pressing it down lightly to the root. As soon as the 
new fibres begin to feed upon this fresh earth, a visible 
improvement in the colour of the leaves will take place, 
which may be still further improved by an occasional 
watering with very weak guano-water, but this must be 
applied very cautiously, or the remedy would be worse 
than the disease. 
Insects. —As the warm days of summer approach, 
these vermin will begin to appear, and if not imme¬ 
diately checked, they will multiply amazingly, and soon 
render the plants sickly. The insects or vermin that 
infest the Pink, are the aphides, or green fly, the com¬ 
mon slug, and the wireworm. The green fly may be 
effectually destroyed by smoking with tobacco. Apply 
it in the following manner:—Invert a tight hand-light 
over the plant. Fill a common tobacco-pipe with com¬ 
mon shag tobacco, light it, and blow a sufficient quan¬ 
tity of smoke under the hand-light to fill it, close it 
down immediately, and leave it all night. In the 
morning the insects will be all dead—wash them off 
with a syringe or watering-pot, and the plants will be 
relieved from the pest. If the insects are not very 
numerous, a little Scotch snuff dusted over them will 
destroy them. When the flower-buds appear, if any 
insects are observed on them, they may be destroyed 
by bending the stems carefully down into a vessel con¬ 
taining tobacco-water, allowing the infected buds to 
remain a few seconds immersed in the destructive 
liquor. Some florists syringe the plants with the tobacco- 
water, but this is a wasteful process, which may be 
avoided by dipping the flower-buds in the tobacco-water. 
Whichever method of destroying these pests is adopted, j 
