42 
THE FLOfilST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ March, 
see no white about it. There is no doubt that 
the flower was the best in the class, only it 
ought to have been exhibited in the gre 3 '-edges, 
instead of the white. For my part, I would 
have the white-edged class—as long as there 
is a class for that colour—to consist solely of 
whites, rejecting any flower which shows a ten¬ 
dency to greyness. My experience of Smiling 
Beauig is that it is far oftener a grey than a 
wdiite, but still I have no objection to seeing it 
in the white edges, provided it is white. As 
the time is fast a|)proachiDg when the national 
shows of this earliest and oldest florists’ flower 
will be held, and no one having said anything 
on this subject, I trust I shall not be out 
of place in calling attention to the subject.— 
Geoege Etjdd, Undercliffe., Bradford. 
small-leaved, free-flowering, useful sort. The 
flowers being much smaller than other whites, 
it is a very useful variety for cutting. One may 
compare it to Eucharis in size, and hence it 
is adapted to many more ways of decoration 
than the old Double-white or others. Camellia 
II Cygno is another very beautiful imbri¬ 
cated white, of perfect form and fine sub¬ 
stance, which should be in every collec¬ 
tion mostly. As we have a very large col¬ 
lection of Camellias here consisting of nearly all 
the new and newer kinds, which were got from 
M. Ambroise Verschaffelt before he gave up his 
business, and of which he sent me good large 
plants, I am in a position to form an opinion 
of their various merits or demerits, and may 
refer to them at a future time. [Please do so.] 
—Heney Knight, Floors. 
SALT-WATER AS A PRE¬ 
SERVATIVE. 
)HE note at p. 31 of the Floeist and 
P oMOLOGiST reminds me of an interest¬ 
ing evidence of the possible uses of salt¬ 
water, in respect of which I ought long ago to 
have made some remark in the public interest. 
Twenty years ago, a lady sent me, for deposit 
in my museum, a tuft of sea-weed, taken from 
the “ Sargasso ” or “ Weedy Sea” of the Atlantic. 
The tuft consists chiefly of Sargassum hacci- 
feruin. The vessel containing it is an Indian 
chutnee-bottle, which is stopped with a common 
bung. The sea-weed is preserved in some of 
the water in which it grew, and to this day is 
as perfect as when taken from its steaming bed 
in the Gulf Stream. Surely salt-water must 
be a grand preservative, and none the less to 
be prized for its cheapness.— Shieley Hibbeed. 
FREE-FLOWERING CAMELLIAS, 
HAVE before invited attention to the 
p Camellia Jardin d’hiver., as being a very 
fine free-flowering dwarf kind, with rosy- 
coloured flowers. It is, moreover, a very early 
one, naturally so, which is a great point in 
its favour. It flowers with us very early, open¬ 
ing simultaneously with the old Double-striped. 
It is a finely formed imbricated flower, as 
beautifully formed as the old Imbricata itself, 
and of a much more beautiful and pleasing 
colour. 
Camellia Comtesse Calini is a pure white 
EARLY CABBAGES. 
S T is not often that Cabbages are sown 
under glass, as it is only in exceptional 
seasons like those of the present year that 
it answers the purpose ; but I am of opinion that 
if done at once it will pay well, as thousands 
may be raised in a very small space. A few old 
lights and a board or two, placed on a warm 
border where the soil is naturally light and 
dry, will afford the best accommodation for 
sowing where large quantities are required, as 
there they may stand till large enough for 
planting without further handling. In gardens, 
however, where only a limited number would 
be wanted, and where labour and time are not 
so much an object as a regular supply for the 
kitchen, a few pans or boxes sown and stood in 
gentle heat till the seeds germinate, and after¬ 
wards nursed on near the glass in a cold frame, will 
come in valuable, and be far ahead of any less 
favourably circumstanced. These, pricked out 
by-and-by in a sheltered situation, and finally 
planted, will go on without check, and turn in 
with firm hearts, of fine flavour, rich, juicy, 
and succulent, in which condition I know of 
nothing to be had in the vegetable way that 
will equal them, or that is more nutritious and 
wholesome. 
In order to grow them possessing these fine 
qualities, it is essential that the land in which 
they are to be planted should be highly 
manured, as a crop that comes to maturity so 
quickly and produces so much food must 
