22 
THE FLOBIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[Febeuart, 
Miss Beckwith : White, shaded with lilac- 
blush, and broadly tipped with deep rosy lilac; 
medium-sized, lightly cupped; distinct. 
Miss Cannell (Big. 8) : One of the best, the 
flowers medium sized finely formed, pure white, 
with distinct yellow centre, free and effective. 
Miss E. Teeey (Big. 2) : One of the finest of the 
varieties, with long florets of a bright magenta 
colour and a clear yellow disk; free and fine. 
Monte Cheisto : A pretty and distinct variety, 
deep rosy lilac, with a broad band of pure white 
round the centre ; free. 
Me. Toole (Big. 3) : Small, well-formed flowers 
of a clear yellow, very free, distinct and useful. 
Mes. Kellock (Big. 1) : Large flowers, of a rosy 
lilac shade, the florets quilled at base of a lighter 
colour; quite distinct. 
Mes. Langtey (Big. 10) : A decided acquisition, 
which will be found very useful for decorative pur¬ 
poses ; flowers medium-sized of a pleasing shade of 
silvery blush ; free and effective. 
Yellow Gem (Big. 6): Bright clear golden- 
yellow, with distinct orange centre; free and 
showy. Heney Cannell, SivanUy. 
GKOS MAKOC GRAPE. 
LTHOXJGH this remarkably fine Grape 
has been in the country nearly thirty 
years, it is much to be regretted that 
its merits are as yet so little k nown. 
We are indebted to the late Mr. Thomas 
Rivers, not only for its introduction, but 
also for bringing it into notice by placing 
examples of the fruit, worthy of a First-class 
Certificate, before the Royal Horticultural 
Society a few years ago. It was not, how¬ 
ever, until the opening of the great Interna¬ 
tional Exhibition at Manchester in 1881 that 
its value as a first-class Grape for private use 
and exhibition became known to the million. 
Since that time many of our large growers 
have introduced it into their vineries, and my 
experience of it justifies me in saying they 
will never regret having done so. 
In the excellent papers from the pen of 
Mr. A. F. Barron, which appeared in these 
pages, he says, “It has been much confused 
with Gros Damas Noir and Black Morocco,” 
two totally distinct Grapes, and further, that it 
is “difficult to propagate and establish.” 
With me there has been no difficulty ex¬ 
perienced in getting it to grow freely enough 
from grafts, or on its own roots, and I think 
I may venture to say its obstinacy in the pro¬ 
pagating pit will in a great measure give way 
when thoroughly ripe wood only is used, and 
not less than two inches of the stem is left 
below the bud to rest upon the crocks placed 
in the small pots used for propagating vine- 
eyes. I have thought it necessary to point 
out the way in which a large per centage of 
the eyes may be made to grow—under good 
management of course—lest some might be 
deterred from giving it a trial, as it grows 
vigorously when once started, and sets and 
colours well in company with all other kinds 
of grapes, be they early, late. Muscats, or 
Hamburghs. But the treatment usually given 
to Hamburghs undoubtedly suits it best. 
Amateurs and others who do not know the 
Grape should be careful to secure their young 
plants from a reliable source, as the name un¬ 
fortunately closely resembles that of another 
now popular and profitable Grape, Gros Col- 
man, and the berries, which are very large, 
although decidedly oval when the vines pro¬ 
ducing them are young, become almost round 
and not unlike Gros Colman as they get 
older, and produce from spurs on established 
vines. Here, however, the resemblance ends, 
as Gros Maroc is tender in the flesh, vinous, 
and eatable as soon as ripe, while Gros Cul- 
man is firm, fleshy, and requires keeping, if 
it is to be eaten at its best, some weeks after 
the leaves fall, and if possible well bottled in 
a dry warm Grape-room. As the planting 
season is now approaching let me advise all 
who have not already done so to find room for 
a vine in an early or midseason house.—W. 
Coleman, Eastnor Castle Gardens. 
CROCUS IMPERATI. 
THINK that if this lovely species was 
more generally known, it would be much 
more extensively grown. I have now a 
pot of this Crocus containing six bulbs 
that has produced ten flowers of singular beauty. 
They are cream-coloured on the external petals, 
and are marked with a few dark lines ; the 
interior divisions are clear mauve of a parti¬ 
cularly pleasing shade, and when these expand 
and recurve the mauve colour is tinted with 
pink, and there is displayed to view a safiron- 
coloured centre, with stamens of the same hue. 
This and C. speciosns, which blooms in Octo¬ 
ber, are most valuable species, and if followed 
by C. hifiorus (the Scotch Crocus), and C. 
reticulatus (Cloth of Gold), they pave the way 
for the fine varieties of the spring Crocus which 
succeed them. But both C. speciosus and C. 
Imperati flower at a season of the year when, 
if they are growing in the open air, the blos¬ 
soms are exposed to vicissitudes of weather 
