32 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[FKIsafARV, 
a cross obtained by grafting the Cytisus purpureus 
on the C. Laburnum; but M. de Candolle concludes 
that it is not a hybrid, but simply a degenerate 
variety of the laburnum. This conclusion, which 
might be admissible if the only sports produced 
were different coloured flowers of the common 
Laburnum, appears sufficiently negatived by the 
breaking out of tufts of pure C. purpureus on the 
trees of C. Adami. 
— ^HE Gardeners’ Year-Book for 1884 
is, as usual, full of handy reference matter, 
such as one often needs at the writing table. 
The lists of Novelties in the way of Plants, Plowers, 
Fruits, and Vegetables, are among the things accept¬ 
able for ready reference, as also are sundry tables and 
receipts, and other notes of general utilit}". 
— ^Ender cool treatment the flowers of 
Eucharis amazonica come much larger than 
those brought on rapidly in heat. This 
Eucharis cannot, indeed, be grown satisfactoiily in a 
cool temperature, but if as soon as the flower spikes 
show themselves the plants are taken to another 
house in which the temperature is 15 degrees lower, 
those so treated have much larger flowers than those 
which remained where they were. 
— (IThe Journal of Horticulture mentions 
a New Chionodoxa, G. sardensis, in the fol¬ 
lowing terms Another species, Chionodoxa 
sardensis, has been introduced to notice. The col¬ 
lector, who found the bulbs, it is said, near the ruins 
of Sardis, at an elevation exceeding 4,000 feet, de¬ 
scribes the flowers as ‘ larger and more numerous 
than those of C. Lueilisc, and, with the exception of a 
very small white eye, are of a uniform intense 
Nemophila blue.’ If this description proves correct 
the plant will undoubtedly soon share the popularity 
of its better known beautiful relative.” 
— (©NE mode of Destroying Tree Stumps 
adopted with success in the American back- 
woods is the following:—In the autumn bore 
a hole in the stump one or two inches in diameter 
and eighteen inches deep, put in oz. of saltpetre, 
fill with water and plug up close. In the following 
spring put in the same hole half a gill of kerosene 
oil, and then light. The stump will smoulder away 
without blazing, even down to every part of the 
roots, leaving nothing but ashes. 
— of Azaleas for Forcing, a 
correspondent of the Garden states that the 
variety named Pauline Mardner is undoubtedly 
the best , of all Azaleas for this purpose. Its 
flowers are very large, and of a pleasant light rose 
colour, many of them being semi-double. Plants of 
A. amoena, Fielder’s White, Old White, and this one 
were all started together, but Pauline Mardner was 
in full flower by the time the others bad begun to 
swell their buds. Azaleas in flower are valuable at 
all times, but one which so readily submits to forcing 
deserves to be brought prominently into notice. 
— H beautiful andnovelCmNESEPRiMULA, 
Queen of the Whites, was recently shown at 
South Kensington by Mr. Cannell, of Swanley. 
It belongs to the fern-leaved section, and is one of the 
purest whites yet obtained. It is of stout sturdy 
habit with fine trusses of well displayed flowers, 
which are very large, beautifully frilled, and of 
snowy whiteness. One of their great beauties is the 
presence of a well defined orange-coloured eye which 
imparts life and brilliancy to the flower. We believe 
it is the first fern-leaved white which has been 
obtained. 
— JffROM the Xeiv York Times we learn 
that Flower Farming has growm into a great 
industry in that city, almost the whole supply 
•passing through brokers’ hands. “ The sale room is 
that of one of the largest commission dealers in 
flowers in New York. ‘I w'ant 50 Jacs,’ said an 
elderly gentleman with a capacious basket who had 
come for his daily supply, ‘ a dozen Mermets, 100 
sprays of mignonette, 200 carnations, 200 camellias, 
50 strings of smilax, 25 lilies of the valley, and 50 
bouvardias.’ The articles were counted off as he 
named them and put into the basket, where they 
hardly covered the bottom, and yet the wholesale 
price of the order was £16. The basket would easily 
hold £100 worth of roses or £200 worth even of lilac 
sprays, which at this season of the year are among 
the most valuable of flowers. Orders followed 
rapidly, and by noon the counters were as bare as 
Mother Hubbard’s cupboard. The business of 
growing fine flowers for the market has become a 
great industry ; hundreds of thousands of dollars are 
invested in hothouses, and the product amounts to 
over £400,000 a year at the wholesale prices. A 
good rose bud is always saleable.” 
ill irHrmoiTam. 
- Thomas Speed, gardener to the 
Duke of Devonshire at Chatsworth, died, by 
his own hand, on December 26. He was one 
of the best of gardeners, and one of the kindest 
hearted of men, but he was a martyr to gout, and it 
has been suggested that the medicine he had taken 
had so far affected him as to produce mental de¬ 
pression, with the sad result above indicated. He 
was born at Abingdon on December 19, 1832, his 
father being at that time gardener and steward at 
Abingdon Hall, and here he commenced his garden¬ 
ing education, subsequently removing to thePymmes, 
Edmonton, and toWrotham Park, where he was in 
due time promoted to be foreman, and afterwards 
became foreman at Belvoir Castle. In 1859 he was 
engaged as gardener to the late Sir Edward Walker, 
Berry Hill, Mansfield, where he made a name for 
himself as a Grape grower of the highest repute, 
producing annually fruit of such size and general 
excellence as surpassed all that had been seen before 
in the Midland districts. In 1868 Mr. Speed was 
engaged to succeed Mr. Taplin at Chatsworth, and 
there he well maintained his professional reputation. 
He has left a family of six children. 
— ififlR. Benjamin Maller, of the Burnt 
Ash Lane Nurseries, Lee, Kent, died on 
January 1, 1884. He was a native of Ashling, 
in Sussex, and in early life was employed as a 
journeyman in the gardens at Stanstead Park, from 
whence he came to London, and some years ago 
commenced business on his own account in the 
nursery line, in which he soon won the respect of 
his compeers, being a first-class cultivator, and a 
thoroughly straightforward man. His particular 
branch was the cultivation of winter and spring 
flowering Heaths, and other plants, for what is 
known as the autumn trade, in which he met with 
great success. 
