300 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, February 14, 18G0. 
“ Quilled Aster. —Tlio single petals of the common blossom 
consist simply of tubes or quills, and the efterior crosses only 
are blossom-petals which are slightly reflexed; it is from 1 \ to 2 
feet in height, branches freely, and throws out many large 
blossoms ; its fittest use is for flower-groups in parks or general 
ornamentation in the flower garden. 
“Turkish Aster. —This very much resembles the quilled 
Aster, but it grows only to a height of 1 to 1£ feet, has many 
branches, and the flowers are smaller than the preceding. 
“Dwarf Aster. —-The individual blossoms of the blossom- 
tube are partly tube-like and partly leaf-like ; it reaches a height 
of from 4 to 1 foot, and is richly covered with moderate-sized 
flowers ; they are principally used for edging. 
“ Globe Aster. —The principal flowers of this Aster are very 
large, and so arched that they may be compared to a half-ball; 
most are quilled ; height from 2 to 21 feet; same uses as the quilled. 
“ Pyramidal Aster. —The beautiful large flowers appear on 
this Aster nearly all of one height; it produces very few side- 
flowers ; most probably received its name because it resembles an 
inverted pyramid ; some blossoms are quilled and others not; 
height from 2^ to 3 feet; same uses ns the preceding. 
“Bouquet Aster. —This Aster deserves its name, for each 
individual plant is so voluptuously covered with bloom that the 
green of the foliage is scarcely visible ; almost every plant forms 
itself into a perfect bouquet; height from £ to li foot; highly 
ornamental in pots ; blooms for a long time on account of its 
great richness in blossoms. 
“Truffaut Pyramidal Aster. —These Asters testify the 
great care and perseverance the grower has taken in rearing 
them; there are now five varieties of it:— Fleur Perfection 0 ; 
The flowers of this kind are enormously large ; petals very long 
and but slightly reflexed; height from 2 to 2\ feet -.—Fleur 
Fombee: The flowers of this variety are very lai’ge and full, 
and form almost a semi-ball; height from 2 to 2} feet -.—Fleur 
Chrysantlihne -. The flowers of this variety are not so large as the 
preceding; the petals are entirely reflexed ; height about 2 feet; 
produces more side-flowers than the previously described va¬ 
rieties :— Fleur Pivoine ; The Pseony-flowered Asters turn their 
petals towards the centre, and a flower not quit? in full bloom 
resembles a ball; height from 11 to 2 feet; produces hut few 
side-flowers :— Fleur Imbnquee and Pompone Imbriquee: The 
leaves of these flowers form themselves exactly like tiles, one on 
the top of the other to the centre of the flower; the Pompone 
produces smaller blooms, but of such beauty, that they resemble 
a perfect semi-ball, and being dwarf, look well planted in front 
of taller kinds. 
“ Giant Emperor Aster. —This variety has sprung from the 
Pyramidal Aster, and for size and form is unsurpassed. The 
stem consists in the middle of little tubes; outwaidly they are 
little leaves, and are so regularly formed as to leave nothing to 
be desired. It bears only a few flowers on a robust strong stem, 
from which the side-sprouts grow in the form of a candelabrum. 
In favourable cases it produces five flowers, of which the chief 
blossom is four inches in diameter; in spite of its size, all its 
flowers are of an equal height. The Sowing of the various sorts 
of Asters is done from the middle to the end of March, in cold 
beds, which are filled with good compost earth. The seeds must 
not be strewed too closely, because the plants require much space 
to get strong. The windows must be kept close until germination 
has taken place, and if necessary shade must be given. According 
to the growth of the little plants more a^d more air is given, till 
at last they become strong enough to have the windows open all 
day in favourable weather; in the middle of May the plants will 
be strong enough to transplant ihto their destined place. Asters 
may also be transplanted in a blooming state if they are carefully 
lifted out with balls of earth attached, and freely watered when 
implanted." 
LEAKY AQUARIA. 
I observed in your No. 592 an article headed as above. The 
aquarium is a troublesome amusement when leaky, and very 
difficult to stop; but as to gold size and the like remedies, they 
are like the Scotch gentleman’s opinion of the rifle corps, “ worse 
than useless. I have tried a plan which, I am most happy to 
say, answers admirably, and with which I shall have great plea¬ 
sure in acquainting you. First, empty your aquarium and allow 
it to get perfectly dry; then procure some red lead mixed to the 
consistency of thick paint. Take a piece of tape (grey is best), 
the length from tho bottom to the top of tlio tank; lay it out 
flat, and coat one side with the lead ; put it down the end, so as 
to go about a quarter of an inch on the glass ; when fixed in the 
proper place pass the fingers up and down, so as to press the 
superfluous lead from under the tape, and likewise cause it to 
adhere and remain water-tight. I will warrant this not to fail if 
care be taken in its management. In fact, it is so easy and 
effectual, that, should any person have one leaky, I shall be happy 
to do it gratis, as I have tried it three times, and have found it a 
lasting cure. It requires to stand about a month to dry after 
doing it.—G, M. Burton, Southtown, Yarmouth. 
POLYANTHUS “BEATON’S GOOD-GRACIOUS’ 
—THE 4 OXLIP. 
“ A Constant Reader ” of The Cottage Gardener will be 
much obliged to any other reader who will answer the following 
questions:— 
First. Can a plant of the new yellow Polyanthus, called 
“ Beaton’s Good-gracious,’’ be obtained for love or money ? 
Second. What constitutes the difference between a yellow 
Polyanthus and an Oxlip ? 
[First. You heard last autumn that the Messrs. Henderson, of 
the Wellington Road Nursery, bought the stock of that Poly¬ 
anthus. We believe over eight hundred plants from one seedling 
in four years’, or three years’ propagation, and you will probably 
see it advertised soon. 
Second. The yellow Polyanthus, and all Polyanths, are the 
florists’ varieties of the common Primrose. The Primrose flowers, 
a3 you know, come on single pedicels, or flower-stalks. The 
Polyanthuses come in umbels, or heads of so many flowers 
on the top of one stalk, and every flower looking up. Cowslips 
come like Polyanthuses, but all looking down the contrary way. 
The Oxlip, which is a hybrid between the Cowslip and Primrose, 
comes with the guard flowers, or outside flowers, of the head 
looking down, and the centre flowers looking up, or half way 
between the two parents. All these are of more colours than one.] 
CULTURE OE MONOCEETUM ENSIFERUM. 
I want to know the treatment, time of flowering of, and general 
information respecting 21 onochetum ensiferum. My plant was 
bought from Messrs. E. G. Henderson & Son last spring; was 
grown on through the summer under greenhouse treatment; 
pinched hard to prevent flowering and to make a bushy plant; in 
September it was turned out on a south border ; brought in early 
in October, and placed in a greenhouse ; afterwards into a small 
stove, temperature 55° to 70°. Since doing so it has perpetually an¬ 
noyed me by showing flower-buds but maturing no flowers, and by 
the dying olf of small lateral branches all over the plant.—N.H.P. 
[This pretty little rosy flower may now be seen in bloom in all 
the London nurseries which deal in such things. We brought it 
first before our readers in the spring of 1857 in the report of a 
meeting of the Horticultural Society, where it was exhibited from 
the Wellington Road Nursery (see Yol. NYII., page 392). 
Twelve months after that we gave all that was then known of its 
history and treatment (Yol XIX., page 290), in a report of the 
February meeting of the Horticultural Society; and again the 
following summer in our report of the Wellington Road Nursery 
(Yol. XIX., page 393). It is one of Linden’s plants from the 
Highlands of Columbia, according to the lecture given before the 
Horticultural Society ; but in the Pot. Mag. t. 5132, it is said to 
have been discovered by Ghiesbrecht on the mountains of Oaxaca. 
As we have no other plant from that range of Mexican moun¬ 
tains which requires the same treatment as this, wo rely more on 
Mr. Linden’s own account as given in that lecture. Two causes 
prevent the subject of these remarks doing well in the hands of 
our correspondent. It was kept from 5° to 20° too hot this 
winter; and like its cousin, Pleroma elegans, under similar mis¬ 
management, it resents it. Last autumn it had its very delicate 
roots dried by the sides of a red, but not quite a red-hot pot. It 
will do no good this spring, certainly. It must be pruned very 
close about the middle of April, and kept in a dry stove for two 
months, with 70° and 50° of day and night temperature. When 
it “ breaks " freely after pruning reduce the ball as much as you 
can, repot in a smaller pot, and give only one more shift in 
summer, and that not a large shift. Never let it stand out of 
doors again. A cold dry pit is the place for it till October ; and 
50° are the highest heat it will bear in winter, as you will see 
(Yol. XIX., page 290). 
