July 17. | 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
248 
Pansies in July! We have made notes of two or three, 
but the majority will not be heard of again. 
Pinks [Oxford). — British Queen is a fine round, full- 
faced, smooth-edged, well-laced purple, •with five lines of 
good petals. We have only seen the single bloom for¬ 
warded to us. (Mr. Trenfield). —By all means grow all 
that can be grown of Nos. 8, 2, 8, and 4; we must see 
the rest again. (Mr. Smith, Whitney). —All promising, 
but we have no names nor numbers to indeutify them 
by. Giddy's Jenny Lind specimens very rough; but 
some of our best and smoothest varieties are very ragged 
the present season. Parching winds do not agree with 
Pinks. 
Cineramas and Geraniums (W. X. W.). —The 
geraniums are pretty, and, notwithstanding they come 
in had condition, we believe them true. The Cinerarias, 
we hope, are not true; for they are good-for-nothing. 
Balsams (X.Y.Z.). —Very noble individual blooms 
as large as roses. They are not new. The straw-coloured 
one was introduced a year or two since from abroad 
under the name of Balsamina lutea, and was very nearly 
single; we have them this year as double as any. 
Pinks (Mr. Trenfield). —All but three are worth try¬ 
ing again; get somebody to grow two or three pairs of 
each, for Pinks have taken a start this year. Mr. Turner 
has thousands, and a vast number of them will shake 
some of our present favourites. (J. P.) —No. 2 is like 
Giddy’s Jenny Lind, hut not half so good; No. 1, too 
ragged ; No. 3 may be tried. 
Verbenas (J. S. James ).—No. 8 is Exquisite, there 
is no mistake, but it is not in character—have patience; 
Orlando is not out yet. Nos. 2, 3, and 4 are not worth 
keeping; No. 1 is pretty in colour, but a bad trusser, 
and we know nothing of the habit. (T. 31.) —It is 
absolutely necessary in these days of advancement that 
a Pink should hear, at least, three good tiers of ten 
petals each, and a crown, to he passable at all. That 
the petals should be rose-edged instead of rough; and 
that every petal should be laced with a narrow white 
edging outside the lacing. Now, there is not one of 
T. S.’s seedlings that come near this character. We have 
seen pinks with five distinct tiers ; and we think we 
noticed one of Turner’s Optima, with fivo tiers and a 
crown. 
Blooms oe Balsams (J. W.). —These are not always 
proper evidence of the quality of seed; poor starved 
growth will make the very best come nearly single ; the 
Balsam must be grown in rich compost, be shifted until 
it occupies, at least, a twenty-four-sized pot; and be 
grown so close to the glass as to prevent any drawing- 
up of the plant. In all jirobability, J. W.’s will come 
more double yet; but, as those who save seed gather it 
from all the plants that will bear it, we have no right to 
expect any very good bought in the ordinary way; go 
among Balsam-growers, buy lialf-a dozen of the best, at 
any price, and save seed yourself. 
FORM OF THE CALCEOLARIA. 
Many objections have been made at floral meetings— 
that is to say, meetings of genuine florists—that Mr. 
Appleby’s advice, as to the form of the Calceolaria, is 
retrograding altogether. Mr. Green was the first who 
wrote on the proper form of the Calceolaria, and his 
standard was taken from his own flowers, which were 
flat. The Properties of Flowers and Plants, by Mr. 
Glenny, upset this dogma altogether, by showing that 
the perfection of a flower was not to be measured by 
what we had got, hut by what we should like to get; and 
from that time we have all been working for the desired 
models, instead of the realised models. “ The bloom of 
' the Calceolaria,” says the work in question, “ should be 
I a perfect round, hollow ball; the calyx and orifice can¬ 
not be too small, nor the flower too -large.” The ques- | 
tion, then, among florists was this :—“ Is Mr. Appleby 
proposed to contradict or to set Mr. Green’s standard up 
against that which has been acted upon for years, and 
which, to this day, stamps as best those which approach j 
nearest; or does The Cottage Gardener dissent from 
the universally-accepted model?” The general feeling 
among all florists appears to be in favour of the autho¬ 
rity quoted; and, perhaps, The Cottage Gardener will j 
best please the mass by at least quoting the original, 
and leaving them to adopt which they please. Whether j 
it be right or wrong, there is nothing left indefinite ; but 
nothing has advanced floriculture so much as definite : 
standards of perfection ; nothing damages it so much as ! 
setting up different models. This question, however, 
can be settled soon. “ Would a perfectly globular flower 
look richer than a flat one, or one with a mere swelling 
to hide the throat?” The majority will say, Yes. 
Globulus. 
[We publish below the characteristics of a superior 
calceolaria from Mr. Glenny’s works, and which “ Globu¬ 
lus ” is quite wrong in thinking Mr. Ajipleby dissents 
from. When the latter says, at page 215, the flower 
“should be a complete circle without any indentation 
on the edges,” he evidently only speaks of the outline> 
and does not dissent from the opinion that a globular 
form is most desirable. 
For our own part, we entirely concur in the de¬ 
sirability of the calceolaria flower being spherical rather 
than flat, but we do not assent to the opinion that one 
having smooth-surfaced globular flowers, would be more 
beautiful than one of a perfect melon form—a form to 
which it shews a tendency.—E d. C. G.] 
“THE PROPERTIES OF THE CALCEOLARIA.” 
From “ Glenny’s Properties of Flowers,” dr. 
“1. The plant should he shrubby; the habit bushy; the 
wood strong; the foliage thick and dark green. 
“ 2. The flower-stem should be short and strong; and 
the footstalks of the booms elastic, and branching well 
away from each other, to form a rich mass of flowers, j 
without crowding. 
“8. The individual flower depends entirely on the form of 
the purse; it should be a perfect round hollow ball; the 
orifice and calyx cannot be too small, nor the flower too 
large. 
“ 4. The colour should be very dense; whether the 
marking be a spot in the middle, or stripes, or blotches, it 
should be well defined; the ground should be all one 
colour, whether white, straw, sulphur, yellow, or any other 
colour. 
“ 5. The colour of a self should be brilliant, and all over 
of the same actual shade; dark flowers with pale edges, or 
clouded and indefinite colours, are bad and unfit for show. 
“6. The bloom should form one handsome group of 
pendent flowers, commencing where the foliage leaves off; 
the flower-stems should not be seen between the foliage 
and the flowers, which latter should hang gracefully, and be 
close to each other; the branches of the flower-stems 
holding them so as to form a handsome surface.” 
FLORISTS’ FLOWERS CULTURE. 
The Fuchsia — (Concluded from p. 230).— Propaga¬ 
tion. By Cuttings. —The best time to do this is in the 
early spring months; the first week in March, for in¬ 
stance. Previously to commencing, it will be necessary 
to place the plants intended to be increased by this 
mode in a gentle heat to cause them to push forth young 
shoots. When these have attained two or three leaves, 
slip them off, and lay them to dry for a short time; and 
| whilst that is taking place, prepare the pots to receive 
