February 12. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
311 
into this country in 1739. Sempervirens is a native of 
Candia, and was introduced in 1731. There are several 
other species of perennial Candy tufts, equally beautiful for 
either planting on the rockery or open border; indeed the 
whole family of them, whether of the annual or perennial 
kinds, are very ornamental plants. 
Alyssum Saxatile, or the Rock Mad-wort .—This plant 
belongs to the natural family Crossworts. It is a native of 
Candia, and was introduced into this country in 1710. This 
very showy yellow flower makes one of tlm best of rock 
plants, where it would stand and flower for years undis¬ 
turbed in the same spot, and it does equally well in the 
open, hot, sunny borders, forming a beautiful contrast with 
the before-mentioned Candy-tufts. These two plants alone, 
spotted about the flower borders, at an equal distance, or in 
any systematical order, would do much towards making the 
flower-garden look cheerful and gay in the month of May ; 
but in low, damp situations, two or three years’ old 
plants of this will often go off at once, and if the soil be 
rich, they the -sooner become straggly, and likely to do so. 
One of the best ways to deal with this very showy plant, is 
to put in any number of cuttings that may be required in 
the month of April, when the hotbeds, in which they root 
very readily, are at work; and when well rooted, prepare a 
little nursery bed for them, let them be pricked out six or 
eight inches apart every way in the bed; here they will 
make the best of stocky bunches by the end of the summer, 
when they may be lifted with balls of earth into their places 
to flower the following spring. Any number of these com¬ 
pact bunches might also be potted, to be protected in the 
cold frame, and brought into the forcing-house in succession, 
for this plant forces well, looks beautiful in the open 
borders, and looks equally showy brought forward in the 
forcing-house. T. Weaver. 
CLASSES OF THE DAHLIA 
I send you a list of the classes in our Dahlia show. In 
each class we have six winning flowers, that is, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 
4th, 5th, and 6th ; to the first three flowers, money prizes 
are awarded; and to the 4th, 5th, and Cth flowers, the prizes 
are merely honorary The classes are all distinct, except, as 
I said in my last, it be the lilac and rose, which, as colours 
are now named, it is difficult and, perhaps, only possible at 
times, to distinguish by taste or fancy. For instance, Fear¬ 
less is called a lilac, and that, doubtless, is its real colour; 
the Duke, of Cambridge is called a rose, and I am sure that 
sometimes no .judge in the world could distinguish the one 
from the other, judging merely by the colour of the flowers. 
The purple and crimson classes are perfectly distinct, though, 
as flowers are sometimes advertised in catalogues, they are 
not distinct—Purple Standard, and Standard of Perfection, 
forming the model of the purple; and Beeswing, Captain 
Warner, and Sir F. Bathurst, that of the crimson. I con¬ 
sider that class showing, with attention to the rules laid 
down by Mr. Glenny for judging of the quality of flowers, 
will be the means of classifying flowers much more than 
they have been, I mean of giving to each flower that colour 
which it properly possesses; and I am sure that it will soon 
be the means of distinguishing the best flowers in each class, 
and thereby giving the most substantial proof, both to ama¬ 
teurs and others, which are the flowers most worthy their 
attention. 
I am glad to say that this year we have added the follow¬ 
ing to the rules of our society :—“That the judges be guided 
in their decisions by Mr. Glenny’s judgment of flowers.” 
Maroon. 
Purple. 
Lilac purple. 
Crimson. 
Scarlet. 
Bose, or ruby. 
Lilac. 
Buff, or orange. 
Yellow, or sulphur. 
Blush. 
White. 
Yellow ground, tipped or 
edged. 
White ground, tipped or 
edged. 
Dark ground, shaded or tip- 
j ped. 
I 
An Amateur. 
[“ An amateur” (whose address we have) has followed 
up his hints on class showing, by mentioning fourteen 
colours, or shades of colour, into which he proposes the 
Dahlia shall he divided. I wish other amateurs and 
dealers would take a lesson out of his book, and, in the 
same way, suggest remedies as well as make complaints. 
I shall unhesitatingly subscribe to the classes he has 
particularised, until experience, which showed us objec¬ 
tions to the present mode, shall teach us something 
better. As class showing will become more general, 
there is one evil which I should like to get rid of; and 
it may not even now prevail everywhere, although it did 
last year at the London Floricultural Society. The 
blooms were not classed by the showers, but put alto¬ 
gether, and the judges had to select from the whole. 
This is an unwarrantable tax upon their judges. The 
exhibitors ought to be compelled to place their flowers 
in the classes in which they intend them to compete. 
There are some points which may be mentioned to the 
judges in class showing. A self-colour is indispensable 
in a scarlet, purple, or any other distinct shade, and the 
judges ought to place all those which are true seifs above 
tlioso which have pale sickly centres. Some purples 
have a dirty white; some reds have a dirty buff or yel¬ 
low centre ; and this state of faded colour is frequently 
brought about by the artificial means of shading; but, 
as there is no checking the means of growing, or of 
dressing by any remedy but the effects, any such defi¬ 
ciency of colour that is palpable should be visited by 
putting the specimen lower down in consequence. I do 
not mean to infer that a paler centre is to disqualify, 
but that it certainly is a blemish, and that it should be 
placed below one which is a perfect self. 
Another word to exhibitors. They should be very 
careful to place their flowers in the classes to which 
they belong, because the colour must be a great point. 
Although certain reds come into the scarlet class, the 
brighter the colour, that is to say, the nearest to the 
Scarlet Geranium colour, the better. I feel persuaded 
that these classes, published in The Cottage Gardener, 
will be generally adopted.—G. Glenny.] 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Roses (A Subscriber). —The leaves becoming mildewed and dropping 
off, when grown in pots in a dry room, with a fire every day. Mildew 
is generally the result of dryness at the roots when the atmosphere is 
moist, but it will arise when the roots are kept wet and the leaves dry. 
Unless you wanted flowers very early, the plants would be all the better 
to have the leaves mostly off at present. Any dry place, where the roots 
would be moderately moist, not soaked, and kept from much frost, would 
do quite as well as any other. See what Mr. Fish says about fuchsias 
to-day. Your roses would do all the better for getting a rest. We pre¬ 
sume you grow them in good rich loam in the growing season : they are 
regular gluttons. 
Cacti Covered with Scale (Senilis). — A bad job, but not hopeless. 
Dissolve two ounces of soft soap in a quart of water, and steep two 
ounces of shag tobacco in the same; apply the liquid briskly along the 
stems with a clean painter’s brush, the liquid at 120°, and preventing 1 
any from falling on the soil. Set the plants in a shady place for a week, 
and then bring them out, lay them down on a board or mat, and syringe 
them as strongly as you can with clear water at 125°. If this does not 
destroy all, repeat the dose. The plants must be kept cool and shaded 
until you wash with the clean water, when they may be exposed again 
to the light. If sulphur and clay is added to the wash it will be more 
effectual, but then it is bad getting the dressing away from the spiny and 
prickly sorts. If either of these modes are too troublesome, you must 
just hunt the scales out with a stiff hair brush. 
Cochin China Fowls. — W. Lewis asks “Whether the brown or the 
white Cochin China fowls are the most productive, and whether the latter 
are so superior to the former as the great difference in price would lead 
one to expect '! ” No marked difference in productiveness has yet been 
observed; the extra price is demanded and obtained for the rarity of the 
colour, many fanciers being willing to pay a few extra sovereigns to 
obtain a thing which their neighbours are not possessed of. The same 
conventional value is attached to White Guinea Fowl, White Pea Fowl, 
White Elephants, White Rats, and possibly, among Timbuctoo ama¬ 
teurs, to White Negroes.—D. 
Vine Forcing (S. It .).—Your vine will, doubtless, vegetate about the 
usual time, but you can give abundance of air, and persist in a low tem¬ 
perature until the shoots are an inch or so long, when you must advance 
your thermometer slightly; aim at 40° to 45° before the buds thus 
advance, then allow 45° to 55° until the “ show,” when you must advance 
towards 60 ° to 65°; thenceforth, let C5° be your lowest, and 85° your 
highest point. 
Roses (C .).—Your selection is not at all good. The Batiksians will 
do no good on the arches, unless you are in the south of Ireland, in a 
warm sheltered place, but they will grow fast enough no doubt. Maria 
Leonida is not strong enough to cover much space. Princess Meckten- 
berg is not a climbing rose, at least we never heard of it as such. De 
Lisle is a large, ragged, lightish flower, belonging to the Boursaults; its 
chief merit is its hardiness, and growing very strong and fast. Purple 
Bnursault is hardly worth planting, if you mean the nearly single one. 
