48 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[March, 
— £The Maidenhair, Adiantum cuneatum, 
has long held the first place with the makers 
of bouquets, buttonhole flowers, and most 
other combinations of a like description. The 
Gardeners' Chronicle tells us, that any one who has 
had an opportunity of seeing how the Adiantum 
which the London street vendors of buttonhole flowers 
use, stands when exposed to the cold cutting winter 
winds, or the flagging effect of the summer sun, will 
at once notice the difference between the same kind 
of Fern, when grown with the especial object of 
enabling it to keep fresh when subjected to the most 
tryjng conditions, as compared w T ith w'hat it is when 
ordinarily treated. There are several matters con¬ 
nected with the cultivation of Ferns for cutting, 
which the growers for the London market studiously 
follow. In place of cultivating them in over-darkened 
houses with too much moisture, they are kept from 
the first in structures as light as it is possible to 
make them, and the even more important condition 
of being stood close to the glass is attended to. 
Another essential is that the plants should not be 
in too vigorous a state ; to avoid this the soil, whether 
the plants are large or small, should be completely 
filled with a mass of roots, added to this the fronds 
must be fully matured. It is only when the whole 
of these conditions are present whilst growing, that 
Ferns possess, to the full extent, the substance in 
their fronds requisite to enable them to stand as they 
shovdd when cut. After cutting, before being used, 
they should always be immersed completely overhead 
in water for several hours; the moisture they thus 
absorb keeps them fresh much longer than they 
would remain without being so treated. 
— £The modern Begonia Madame Fanny 
Giron, which is of the same habit as B. 
insignis, but a much more profuse flowerer, is 
spoken of as being a gem of the first water, and 
perhaps unequalled by anvthing as a table or 
room plant for winter u*e. The flowers are of a deep 
shade of scarlet, changing to pink, and the plant 
comes into flower in the early part of the winter. In 
forming a group of low-flowering plants, a row 
of this bushy drooping-liabited Begouia, leaning a 
little forward, would make a background that would 
be simply incomparable. 
— (Dne of the pests of Cool Orchids, 
indeed it has been called the greatest pest, is 
a small Black Slug, of which Mr. Williams 
remarks that it takes up its home in the moss and 
about the plants, and often eats away the young 
flower spikes when they first appear. These slugs 
should be sought after night and morning, as it is at 
those periods that they do the mischief. They seem 
to enjoy the temperature of the cool Orchid houses. 
He tells us that the method he adopts for catching 
them is to look the moss carefully over as soon as the 
spikes first appear, so as to be sure there are no slugs 
secreted among it; then to place a wire round the 
pot, and suspend it from the roof. This is done 
when they are young, which is the favourite time 
for these marauders to attack them, and in this 
manner the flower spikes are made secure. 
— 5The Cambridge Botanic Garden pos¬ 
sesses in Nymph^a candidissima, a magnificent 
hardy water lily. The flowers sent last year to 
the Gardeners' Chronicle, by Mr. Lynch, the Curator, 
measured 16—18 inches in diameter when expanded* 
and were similar to those of N. alia, hut larger and 
clearer in colour. The plant is said to grow under 
the same conditions as N. alba, and to have been in 
bloom all the summer. 
■— ([There are now many strains of Striped 
Petunias, but Veitch's Superb Striped is one 
of the best. It has been carefully selected 
for many years and is very constant, producing 
beautifully striped and spotted flowers of the usual 
colour—not all, be it noted, regularly marked. It 
has the merit, too, of not beiDg over large, but 
moderate in size, and in consequence the more 
effective and more continuous-flowering. 
— {[The Ja'sminum gracillimum, says the 
Gardeners' Chronicle , is incomparable both as 
regards its chaste beauty and charming frag¬ 
rance. No plant of modern introduction can be at all 
compared with it; it is even more beautiful than 
the Gardenia, which loses its purity of colour in a 
short time, and is not so pleasantly fragrant. Grown 
as a bush for the warm greenhouse or conservatory it 
will always be admired, but it is as a cut flower that 
ladies will cherish it most. Gardeners who toil year 
after year to have sweet-scented flowers in winter, 
and seldom succeed, either for want of means or 
proper material, should turn their attention to the 
cultivation of this plant, than which there is nothing 
more beautiful among all the beautiful exotics that 
we possess. 
fit JUtcworifim. 
— JtftR. William Horsefield died at 
Whitefield, Lancashire, on January 17, aged 
67 years. He was for many years President 
of the Prestwich Botanical Society, and well known in 
the neighbourhood as an excellent practical botanist. 
— JFIr. Michael Rochford, of Page 
Green, Tottenham, died recently, in his 65tli 
year. Mr. Rochford was greatly respected 
amongst the London market gardeners, in which 
business he had been long engaged. He was 
originally connected with a private establishment, 
having been associated with the garden of Lord 
Faversham at Oak Hill, East Barnet, which was 
famous for the magnificent Grapes, Pines, and other 
fruit, 'which for a lengthened time held a leading 
place at the great London exhibitions. Mr. Itoch- 
ford for some years had the Oak Hill Garden on 
his own account, and there grew for market; after 
which he purchased the land at Page Green, which he 
has covered with extensive glass erections devoted 
to Grape and plant growing. He is said to have 
been the first to try the system of glazing which 
dispenses with the use of top putty, except for bedding 
in the glass, now so generally adopted by the market 
gardeners. 
— JFIr. William Miles, of the West 
Brighton Nurseries, Cliftonville, Sussex, died 
on February 4, aged 49 years. He was born at 
Ashstead, Surrey, and in early life served under the 
late Sir Joseph Paxton. He was a man of great 
energv, and by dint of skill and perseverance had 
established for himself a good business in West 
Brighton. 
— jRflR. Thomas Snelling, gardener to 
the Hon. Society of the Middle Temple, in 
which post he succeeded the late Mr. Dale, in 
1879, died suddenly on February 20. 
