1880. ] 
GARDEN GOSSIP. 
109 
and no fewer than 111 flowers, large in size, of good 
substance, and of a rich dark colour. At the York 
Nurseries, Messrs. Backhouse aud Son have a mag¬ 
nificent variety, named floribundum, with nine 
flowers on the spike—last year it produced twelve— 
the individual blossoms being 5| in. across. Mr. 
Bull, of Chelsea, showed at the Regent’s Park a 
variety called picturatum, with whitish sepals and 
petals, and a fine rosy lip bordered with white. Mr. 
F. Yates, of Pleasington, and others have the richly- 
coloured form called superbum with deep pink 
blossoms, measuring over 4| in. across ; and another 
resembling Mr. Bull’s picturatum, but with more 
rose-colour on the sepals and petals, the lip being 
margined with white, and having a rich crimson 
trifid spot at the base, the middle lobe of which 
is much the longer. Other fine forms are con¬ 
stantly appearing, so greatly do the individuals of 
this noble species vary amongst themselves. 
— <£)f late years we have heard little of 
Persian Ranunculuses, and we began to fear 
they had almost gone out of cultivation. We 
are, however, delighted to hear from Mr. S. Barlow 
that he has the promise of the finest bloom of these 
beautiful plants that he has ever seen, perhaps 
2,000 blooms, and “nearly all from poor Carey 
Tyso.” If it fulfils Mr. Barlow’s anticipations, this 
bed will presently be a sight worth seeing. 
— Some little Books, which in the several 
departments to which they apply can be re¬ 
commended to those who read French, have 
been recently sent to us by M. Rothschild, publisher, 
of Paris. La Culture Maraichere (4th edition), by M. 
A. Dumas is a condensed practical treatise on 
market gardening adapted for the south and centre 
of France, and is written for gardeners by one who 
daily handles the spade and the dibble. The book 
deals with the aspect of the garden, with soils, with 
garden operations generally, and the special culture 
of the particular plants, winding up with a calendar 
of operations. It is a very trustworthy treatise.— 
Traite de Botanique Fldmentaire, and Elements de 
Matiere Mddicale, by Dr. Leon Soubeiran. These 
are small treatises compiled for the use of the stu¬ 
dents of pharmacy. The first comprises a summary 
of structural botany, and a brief account of the 
natural orders, and such genera especially as are of 
importance to the druggist. The second is a con¬ 
densed account of the plants yielding the principal 
medicinal substances and of the drugs themselves, 
the arrangement being according to the use to which 
each substance is put. A large number of woodcuts 
is given, and altogether, as a students’ compendium, 
it seems likely to be serviceable.— La Pisciculture, 
by M. Jules Pizzetta, and VOstreiculture en France, 
by M. de Bon, form together a useful little manual, 
on the interesting subjects of Fish-culture and 
Oyster-culture. The principal contents embrace 
the structure of fishes in general, practical fish- 
culture, the collection and fertilisation of the eggs, 
and the incubation, hatching, and treatment of the 
young fry, &c. There are also descriptions and 
illustrations of various sea and fresh-water fish. 
Oysters are treated on in a similar manner. 
— &n impi’ovement in Tubular Fencing 
lias been introduced by Messrs. Bayliss, Jones, 
and Bayliss, of Wolverhampton. The patterns 
have hitherto all been circular, but as a result of 
careful study and experiment, this firm now brings 
before the public a further improvement, which 
consists in making the horizontals of flat-sided, 
instead of round tubes, which is said to greatly 
increase the strength of the fence, and permits it to 
be readily bent round curves, whether obtuse or 
acute. In this shape it has only been found neces¬ 
sary to adopt two distinct sizes. The smaller 
section, measuring an inch in the longer diameter, 
is found of ample strength to meet all ordinary re¬ 
quirements, but a larger size is made. The standards 
are of very substantial girder and T iron, and the 
work, when completed, appears a solid and durable 
structure, the T-iron uprights being fitted with broad 
ground bed-plates, which effectually prevent them 
moving by the rubbing of stock or other pressure. 
— She New H. P. Rose, Red Dragon, 
originated among some seedlings in Messrs. 
Paul’s nurseries at Waltliam Cross in 1875, 
and was admirably figured in the Rose Annual for 
1878-79. The flowers are of great substance, cupped, 
and of an intensely rich crimson colour in a young 
state, becoming tinged with purple as they advance. 
The plant is extremely vigorous, with handsome 
foliage, and its habit renders it well adapted for 
training to pillars and similar positions. 
— Fn the Tropjeolum tuberosum we have 
a grand garden decorative plant, which has 
been most unworthily neglected. To grow it 
well, the tubers should be planted at the end of 
March in any ordinary garden soil, in clumps of 
some half-dozen, and around them a cone of stout 
stakes, intermixed with some spray, should be fixed ; 
to this the shoots attach themselves, and presently 
cover the whole cone, making a grand display of 
flower and foliage, some 8 ft. high and 4 ft. wide at 
the base. Though it may be cut down by the late 
spring frosts, it comes up again with vigour, evid¬ 
ently little injured. The tubers are best lifted 
every year, but it is not absolutely necessary to do 
so, for if they are well covered over w r ith ashes, they 
may be left in the soil with safety. 
— ®he following Double-flowering Rho¬ 
dodendrons are noted in the Gardeners 
Magazine : —The old Fastuosum Jiore-pleno , a 
good variety, with the flowers semi-double, pale 
lavender, sometimes deepening to a rich warm lilac, 
and lasting in good condition for a considerable 
time; Due de Brabant, hardy enough and pretty 
good in its way, although not a grand acquisition; 
usually primrose-white with red spots, sometimes 
deepening to a rich primrose-yellow. Hyacinthi - 
florum, one of the catawbiense section, the colour 
bluish-purple, and the flowers more decidedly double 
than any ; catawbiense fiore-pleno, a handsome lilac 
flower, semi-double, attractive, and long-lasting. 
— Fn the Freesia odorata, which has 
been flowering with Messrs. E. G. Henderson 
and Son, at the Bine-apple Nursery, we have 
an exquisite little bulbous plant, in the way of F. 
Leichtlinii, but distinct, on account of the delightful 
perfume emitted by the blossoms, which surpasses 
that of even the sweetest-scented orchids. The 
flowers are tubular and funnel-shaped, about two 
inches long, arranged on slender stalks in a dense 
one-sided spike, and expanding in quick succession ; 
they are pure white, with a dash of orange colour 
on the lowest division of the corolla. The plant is 
admirably adapted for cutting purposes, and for its 
scent alone it is well worth growing. 
