1U 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[September, 
the winter. Early in Eebruary they may he re¬ 
potted into the same sized pots, this time three or 
four plants in a pot. "With care good large bulbs 
will be formed, which will almost be large enough 
to flower the next season; at any rate they may be 
potted singly in 5-inch or 6-inch pots, and will 
flower well the following season. The pottiug 
material that answers best for them is composed of 
two parts of good turfy loam to one of peat; a fourth 
part of rotten stable manure may be added to it, 
with some sand and powdered charcoal. 
- {J£hE SpARMANNIA AFRICANA FLORE- 
pleno has obtained some notoriety as a use¬ 
ful winter-flowering greenhouse shrub. This 
double-flowered variety was sent out a year or two 
ago by Mr. Bull, and its large clusters of blossoms 
are so fine and so freely produced when the plant 
becomes well developed, that it is really a very useful 
and pleasing object. 
— ^The so-called new Polypodium vul- 
gare trichomanoides has been described as 
unquestionably the most elegantly subdivided 
of all hardy ferns, and the fronds to be all but equal 
in their beautiful appearance to those of Todea 
superba, while being evidently a free-grower it is said 
to be destined to hold a prominent place in collec¬ 
tions of hardy ferns. On inquiry we learn that this 
variety is a selection from seedlings of the very 
handsome variety known as cornubiense; and it 
seems doubtful if the present variety differs from 
or is superior to that which is described in our 
volume for 1882 at p. 37, under the name of P. 
vulgare cornubiense Fowleri, the fronds of which are 
cut into excessively narrow lobes and segments. 
— iHR. Bennett’s Pedigree Boses, if 
not appreciated at their full worth in this 
country appear to be so elsewhere. It is 
stated that an enterprising Philadelphia plant mer¬ 
chant, Mr. Evans, has bought half the stock of the 
crimson Tea Bose, William Erancis Bennett, for 
£750, and has legally bound himself not to sell or 
otherwise dispose of any bud, cutting, or scion, but 
only the flowers, for a term of four years. The 
Bose in queslion is not much known, except to those 
who have visited Mr. Bennett’s Bose nursery at 
Shepperton, or previously at Stapleford, but it has 
made its mark in Covent Garden and other markets, 
many thousands of its bloom-buds having been sold 
at highly remunerative prices, it being one of the 
most persistent of winter bloomers. 
— 21 new Bed Mignonette has been in¬ 
troduced by M. D. Guiheneuf, of Nantes, as 
we learn from the Garden. It is unlike any 
other variety, the dense spikes being a mass of 
orange red. It is a vigorous grower and of good 
habit, and having a very powerful perfume our 
contemporary thinks it will be an acquisition. 
— She little Japanese Azalea obtusa 
alba exhibited last spring by Messrs. Yeitch 
& Sons as a new plant at the Begent’s Park, 
may be aptly described as chastely beautiful. It is 
a good counterpart of the type form introduced by 
Portune, except that the flowers instead of being 
Indian red are snow white. They are borne in pro¬ 
fusion even on small plants, and though individually 
small they clothe the plants so thickly as to make 
them look like nyisses of snow. We anticipate that 
it will prove valuable as a decorative plant. 
— In reference to the origin of the pretty 
name “ Sweet William,” St. Clair Baddeley 
writes in the Athenceum —I beg to adduce 
the following passage from an able essay on flowers 
in the Quarterly Review of July, 1863. SpeakiDg of 
the small red-pink Dianthus prolifer, the writer 
says :—“ This is perhaps the original £ Sweet Saint 
William,’ for the word ‘ Saint’ has only been dropped 
since days which saw the demolition of St. William’s 
shrine in Bochester Cathedral. This, however, is 
but a conjecture ; and we must be content to remain 
uncertain whether the masses of bright flowers which 
form one of the chief glories of old-fashioned gardens 
commemorate St. William of Bochester, St. William 
of York, or, likeliest of the three, St. William of 
Acquitaine, the half-soldier, half-monk, whose fame 
was so widely spread throughout the South of 
Europe.” 
— {IThe somewhat novel Nicotiana affinis 
makes a very pretty bed in the garden. It 
grows 2 feet or more in height; the large 
white flowers which are abundantly produced in 
succession are in their best condition in the evening, 
when they diffuse a powerful fragrance that is 
perceptible for a great distance. Consequently, for 
beds near the house as well as for culture in pots this 
plant is most valuable. 
— UTue tiny Water Lily known as Nymph cea 
pygmcea, is a pretty little species from India, 
China, &c. The Garden says, it may be grown 
out of doors in the summer, requiring only protec¬ 
tion from severe frosts to maintain it in health. The 
leaves are not much larger than half-a-crown, while 
the flowers are about the size of a shilling. The 
smallness and sturdy nature of the plant recommend 
it for cultivation in those small window aquaria for 
which appropriate plants are often sought in vain. 
— HThe Irish Farmer's Gazette calls to our 
recollection the once familiar Dwarf Double 
Crimson Sweet William, an old-fashioned 
garden favourite, not to be met with in every garden. 
It is a compact and pretty double crimson form which 
appears to be specially deserving of being grown. 
Scarcely raised more than a couple of inches above 
the soil, its heads of dark maroon, closely packed 
rosettes form a dwarf, compact, and glowing surface 
of colour that is very striking. It is very effective 
in border patches, but, doubtless, would be more so 
if massed. It is said to grow freely from slips. We 
should like to get hold of it. 
—- 3Two splendid plants of the Necklace 
Orchid, Zi enanthera (olim Vanda) Lowii, were 
exhibited by Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart., at 
South Kensington, July 24. The plants were from 
2—3 feet high, perfect in foliage, and bearing one 
six and the other four spikes of flowers, the longest 
of which measured nearly seven feet. 
in Jilcmortam. 
-m. Charpentier, head gardener at the 
Trianon Palace, Versailles, and the father of 
French gardeners, died recently at the ad¬ 
vanced age of eighty-seven years. He is described 
as the oldest of French gardeners, and as a hale, 
energetic man, who died in harness. 
