THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, October 5, 1858. 
11 
this subject; and any hints as to the best mode of forming the 
proposed waxen plates, communicated through its pages, will 
be esteemed a favour by—A Devonshire Bee-keeper. 
GRAPE GROWING. 
I have just been reading an article written by Mr. Appleby, 
who, after a preface, which must be familiar to every good 
gardener, goes on to say, that he saw some vineries, belong¬ 
ing to Mr. John Meredith, of Garston, near Liverpool, and 
that in no other place is the Vine so largely cultivated, or so 
successfully brought to a bearing state in so short a time. 
Surely Mr. Appleby could not have been in the habit of 
visiting many gardens in the country, away from Garston, 
or he never would have made such an assertion. It is quite 
a libel on English Grape growers. Let me recommend him 
to go the gardens of Isaac Harrison, Esq., of Belgrave, near 
Leicester, and inquire for Mr. Henry Baker, the respectable 
and intelligent gardener there, who I think will show hitn 
such a house as, perhaps, he never saw before, and the Vine 
as largely cultivated and brought to bearing in quite as 
short a time as those at Mr. Meredith’s. There is one house, 
sixty-four yards long by twenty-two yards wide, planted with 
Vines,—inside, of course ; he will see sotnc Grapes grown 
there, and many other places besides. Why, there is 
Sir George Goodman’s gardener, Mr. Heywood, of Round- 
hay, near here, can show him some bunches of Grapes 
worth looking at, if he can find time to come and see them, 
and they are not all cut. As to getting a Vine to hear fruit in 
two years, that is easy enough to he done.—H. Duncan, 
Leeds. 
EDGING PLANTS, BEDDING ULANTS, AND 
MULING. 
One of our correspondents on the east side of London 
asked about a rare bulb last wilder. The name of the bulb is 
Gastronema clavatum, which blooms very much like a large 
white Crocus,—if the white of the Crocus was striped regu¬ 
larly all round with crimson stripes, rising from the bottom 
of the flower. Our friend bought his bulb, by that name, 
from a first-rate London house, and he kept it in the green¬ 
house for the last five years without seeing a blossom on it; 
then his patience could bear it no longer, and he wrote about 
it. The description he sent would not tally With the name, 
and, on learning that he sent a small bulb, I found the little 
bulb told its own tale,—a pitiful tale it was, too. An ever¬ 
green bulb, which is more hardy than the Scotch Crocus, was 
treated, for five long years, like a most delicate South African 
bulb. ' 
An evergreen bulb requires water all the year round, if it is 
in a pot, and four or five times more water during the summer 
months than for the rest of the year. But Gastronema, for 
which this bulb was bought, is not an evergreen bulb, and re¬ 
quires no water at all after the summer sets in, so that the 
difference in the treatment must have been very hard indeed 
on the evergreen subject, which, I believe, was stated last 
spring to be an Argyropsis,—the Zephyranthes Candida of our 
books and bulb lists.' The little bulb had two leaves on when 
I had it last spring. It has now sixteen leaves, and if the 
correspondent will send me his address I shall be able to send 
him a flower of his bulb, as it will probably go on flowering 
in my border till after Christmas. 
There are three reasons why I mention this bulb. The 
first is, that it woidd make a far better edging to a bed of 
Tritoma uvaria than the other bulb, which I recommended 
for the beds at Kew^tho Tritonia aurea. Why it is better is, 
that it remains evergreen, and that the leaves take no hurt in 
winter, nor take up more head-room than the bulbs occupy 
below, as they are stiff, and not unlike those of Jonquill, only 
not so tall. After it is once established, it will bloom 
from May to October, as white as the driven snow, and in 
wonderful abundance where the soil suits it. But it will do 
in nine places out of ten where Tritonia aurea would fail, as 
the latter is so thirsty that, unless it has a moist bottom, and 
is partly shaded from the sun, the flowers soon fade, and the 
leaves get the red spider ; but none of these ailings ever affect 
the Zephyranthes Candida. However, it will not bloom freely, 
or hardly at all, on chalky land. 
The second reason for mentioning this bulb is, to record 
the first instance of its having attempted to seed in Europe 
without artificial impregnation, as far as I am aware, although 
it has been in cultivation nearly thirty years. It will readily 
seed, if it is touched with its own pollen, but will not take 
the pollen of any of its nearest relations. The question is, 
therefore, did the five years mistreatment alter its constitution 
so far as to make it naturally fruitful on regaining its liberty ? 
or was it that it had too much room, or good soil, or in¬ 
dulgence, when it failed to seed with me formerly ? Has it 
been seen to seed spontaneously elsewhere ? 
And, thirdly, I mention this bulb, because as it is as hardy, 
or more so, than the Crocus,—flowering and seeding at the be¬ 
ginning of winter, when it is covered with snow, or hold 
firm in the frost,—and increases as fast as the Crocus, there 
is no reason why it should not be sold as cheap as the Crocus, 
. except that it is not asked for in the trade, to make it worth 
the trouble .of growing it in quantities. All Lily-like plants, 
as Gladioli, Tritoma, and the Japan Lilies, ought to have 
the beds for them edged with some other Lily-like plant. Even 
an American bed of Rhododendrons, Kalmias, and such like, 
whero most of the Lilies do better, or, at least, look better, 
than simply by themselves, ought to be edged with this very 
plant. How much more in character those American- 
beds at the Crystal Palace—in which they flower so many of 
the Japan Lilies—would look, if they were edged with Zephy¬ 
ranthes Candida, in broad bands,—say, a foot across,—and as 
close together as their cylindrical and rush-like leaves could 
stand. These bands would be loaded, most part of the 
summer, with the purest white flowers, after the manner of 
white Crocuses. In very dry seasons, such as this and the 
preceding summer, these argentine bands woidd probably 
rest from flowering during the hottest periods ; but then their 
leaves woidd hold up as firm as ever ; and there is not another 
bulb in cultivation, whose looks and style of growth is more 
perfectly architectural, or symmetrical. 
I would engage to increase my stock, from that little bulb 
which I received last spring, to 100 plants in three years ; 
and, if I had a demand for all I could rear on an acre of 
ground, I could well afford to pay £30 rent for that acre, and 
sell the bulbs at one penny each ; and any nurseryman could 
make a good living of Tritonia aurea at twopence the 
“ root,” if he had sale enough, from half an acre of it. 
Therefore, instead of drawing me before the Lord Chancellor, 
or under petticoat government, for wishing these beautiful 
plants to be had so cheap, and for telling how they could be 
so managed, and also for giving the wrong scent, in order to 
make a “ cry ” for them, 1 ought to get a first prize for every 
attempt of the kind. 
The next subject, to bring up the arrears of the last few 
weeks, will be from a yearly report which is sent in by one of 
the most successful cross-breeders in the country, with some 
observations of my own, drawn from a long experience in the 
same field. 
The report begins with Daveyanum Geranium, a seedling, 
which was sold, in 1822, for a couple of guineas. It was 
about the first Geranium I over saw crossed, by the late Lady 
Gordon Camming, after whom the bulbs Cummingia are 
named. I believe no one ever obtained a seed from that 
Geranium till this season, and I have only two seeds now. 
“ One is up, and another is in.” It is a strain of purple, a 
colour we want most particularly for beds, to balance our 
excess of scarlet kinds; and a perpetual bloomer. Lot us 
hope a run of it with stouter petals. 
“ Old Pavonium seedling up.” This is another of the 
good old kinds of Geraniums; a different strain, which was 
lost in the hurry of the florists to get rich. 
“ Delphinium sinense, crossed with Delphinium grandi- 
jlorum, up and growing.” Very good news. Depend upon 
it, this is what we must all come to at last, for blue bedders. 
You shall have them some day as compact as Calceolarias, 
and as blue as blue bottles. 
“ Two double seedlings of Delphinium sinense, this season, 
and a much improved lot of single-flowered seedlings of it. 
I enclose seed from tills improved breed for your Experimental 
Garden.” I think I saw a double sinense long ago, when the 
kind was supposed to be an annual, and it was allowed to die 
out in winter, as the rest used to be, in those days. 
“ Begonia parviflora (Dregei), crossed with Begonia an- 
nabarina, a true and undoubted bedder, of great beauty.” 
