30 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ February, 
lias been said of it. Like most of the family, 
it is easily propagated and very easily grown ; 
so that its distinct bright pink colour and pro¬ 
fuse flowering habit cannot fail to make it a 
general favourite when more widely known. 
When well grown, it continues blooming for a 
long time. It is a variety of Salvia involucrata , 
and is named after the raiser, Mr. George 
Bethell, gardener at Nonsuch Park, Cheam, 
Surrey. 
Mr. Bethell has obligingly sent us the fol¬ 
lowing particulars of its origin :—After remark¬ 
ing that he was much pleased to learn that 
this Salvia, which some of his friends had 
named after him, had been so much admired 
at the Royal Horticultural Society’s meeting, he 
goes on to say that the plant in question was 
raised by him several years since, from seed 
of a Salvia which was of similar character, 
except that it was much paler in colour, and 
very straggly in habit, but of which he did 
not know the name. This parent kind was 
evidently the old Salvia involucrata, a fine 
plant for a large conservatory, but too coarse- 
growing for pot-culture. The new form which 
is the subject of this note, Mr. Bethell states, 
is a very compact, free-blooming variety, and 
most useful for the autumn decoration of the 
conservatory, as well as for cutting, for which 
indeed he prefers it. 
The exhibition of this variety wall perhaps 
serve to recall attention to a genus which 
embraces many other free-growing subjects, 
which are unrivalled amongst cultivated plants 
for their brilliancy and beauty.—T. Moore. 
GARDEN GOSSIP. 
Societies do well to issue their 
;ize Schedules early, in order that 
e exhibitors may prepare for the trial 
of strength which competition involves. Our young 
florist Societies, the southern branches of the National 
Auricula and the National Carnation and Picotec 
Societies, have recently distributed their prize 
lists for the year 1880, while the more ambitious 
Pelargonium Society had its schedule in the field 
some time ago. The Auricula Society, besides the 
usual classes, offers prizes for Fancy Auriculas, 
Fancy Polyanthuses, Double and Single Primroses, 
and for Hardy Primulas other than those re¬ 
presented under the several types of Auriculas, 
Polyanthuses, or Primroses. We may, therefore, 
hope to see the beautiful and popular and varied 
o-cnus Primula well represented. The show is on 
April 20th, at South Kensington. The Carnation and 
Picotee Schedule again differs very little from that 
of last- year, except that not only certificates, but 
prizes, will be awarded to Seedlings, if any should 
be shown woi’thy of those distinctions. This show 
is to take place at South Kensington on July 27th. 
— (Concerning Peaches on Walls, a 
Roxburghshire gardener, writing in the Journal 
oj Horticulture , states that on his walls, 14 ft. 
high, south aspect, he has had good crops of fruit 
during the last ten seasons. The Royal George and 
Noblesse are the two varieties which succeed best. 
In spring, after being pruned, they are syringed 
several times with black soap and flowers of sulphur 
diluted in hot w T ater. This destroys the eggs of 
grecn-fly, &c., located on the bark, and especially in 
the nail-holes and crevices of the wall. A dressing 
at this period tends to keep the trees clean all the 
season ; it is of little use syringing, when the leaves 
are all curled up and unsightly. This must bo pre¬ 
vented, and success will be the result. The blossoms 
are protected at the proper period with Frigi Domo, 
drawn up every morning, except when stormy, and 
let down every night. 
-— Amongst the many modes of Destroying 
Aphides and other plant-pests of that kind, 
the Natal Mercury mentions a very easy one, 
which is also said to be efficacious. It consists in 
stewing in water the leaves and stems of the Tomato, 
and with the liquor thus obtained, when cleared and 
cooled, to thoroughly syringe the infested vegetation. 
The destruction is immediate, and the odour which 
clings to the syringed plants is of a character most 
distasteful to the insects ; so that a plant once freed 
from them will remain a long time unaffected. 
— have Zonal Pelargoniums at 
Christmas, one has only to follow the practice 
of Mr. Cannell, who exhibited a brilliant series 
of cut blooms in December and January, the flowers 
being large in size, massive in substance, splendid 
in form, and rich in colour. There were some four 
dozen sorts, all of superb beauty and varied in 
colour. Mr. Cannell’s style of growth is most re¬ 
markable, the effect, doubtless, of keeping up a 
genial heat, and of heating the atmosphere by a 
series of pipes fixed across the glazed part of the 
roof. The plants of White Vesuvius were marvellous 
productions for abundance of bloom and 'closeness 
of truss. Of the varieties represented by cut 
blooms the following were specially noticeable:— 
Crimson shades : David Thomson, C. Schwind, John 
Gibbons, H. Jacoby, Commander-in-Chief, perfect 
in form; H. H. Crichton, Titania, and General 
Grant. Scarlet shades : Polyphemus, with large 
white eye, fine; Tom Bowling, Mrs. Whiteley, 
Gnome, C. Teesdale, Robert Burns, very fine ; Lizzie 
Brooks and CEnone. Purple : Dr. Denny, which, for 
its splendid glow of purple, like a star of surpass¬ 
ing magnitude, stands alone in its exquisite colouring; 
Mr. Chandler. Cerise shades : The Baron, Hettie, 
Mars, very fine; Circulator and Mrs. Brown, also 
very fine. Orange-Scarlet: Guinea, which, with its 
glowing breadth of yellow, stands by itself with 
strongly marked individuality; its best summer 
character could not transcend its December bright¬ 
ness. Pinks : Heather Bell, Mrs. Strutt, Olive Carr, 
Lady Sheffield, Sybil Holden, and Louisa—all fine. 
Salmons: Laura Strachan, President MacMahon, 
Sophia Birkiu, Mrs. Clifton, Marguerite Ponton, and 
Gustave Morlet. Whites : Evening Star, Remus, 
and Miss Gladstone. No other class of flowers could 
yield so much beauty and brilliancy at Christmas as 
these charming Pelargoniums. 
