1884 .] 
CELEBY FOB SPBING.-DIANTHUS NAPOLEON III.-CLASSIFICATION OF PEACHES. 119 
leaflets, stalked and rounded at the base, 
instead of sessile ones, and its pure white 
flowers are nearly twice the size of those of 
L. Horsfalli(E, with a subinfundihuliform tube, 
and an obscurely five-lobed limb three inches 
across ; the stamens and two-lobed stigma 
just protruding. Messrs. Ireland & Thom¬ 
son, of Edinburgh, imported it from the East 
Indies, but it appears to have been for some 
time in the hands of Mr. B. S. Williams, to 
whom we are indebted for the illustration.— 
T. Moobe. 
CELERY FOR SPRING. 
this excellent vegetable can be 
had fit for use from the end of July 
till the following April its culture 
surely deserves more attention than 
it generally receives, especially its treatment 
in the trenches after being planted out. By 
treating it according to the nature of the soil 
much can he done to prolong its season for use. 
The soil here is very heavy, and for a sup¬ 
ply in the spring months we sow the seed in 
April, and grow it in the usual way till ready 
for planting out. We then make trenches 
not very deep and 3 feet wide, which allows 
sufficient space for planting three rows in each 
trench. After being a month or six weeks 
planted, or according to the progress they 
have made, the plants receive a slight earth¬ 
ing up of about two inches deep with the 
natural soil. They receive no other attention 
except watering in dry weather, and tying the 
plants with matting to prevent the wind break¬ 
ing their outer leaves, until the month of 
October, when we collect the new-fallen beech 
leaves, and when dry we pack them in the 
trench to blanch the celery instead of using 
the soil; but before doing so we make a wall 
of soil about the height of the plants on each 
side of the trench to keep the leaves in their 
place, and to prevent them from being blown 
about we cover with sawdust. 
By adopting the above plan, we have, at 
present (April 10), fine fresh celery quite dif¬ 
ferent fronj that obtained by the old practice 
—namely, surrounding the plants with heavy, 
wet soil. The advantage gained by using the 
leaves when lifting the celery in frosty weather 
will bo easily seen.— David Mubbay, Culzean 
Gardens, Mai/bole. (Journal of Ilorlicidture.) 
DIANTHUS NAPOLEON III. 
S his variety D. hyhridus multiflorus is a 
plant of undoubted continental origin. 
By whom it was raised I know not, 
but if he gave nothing else to flori¬ 
culture, he established a claim to the warmest 
gratitude of all lovers of hardy flowers. I 
think this most useful plant was first exhibited 
by Mr. C. Turner, and awarded a First-class 
Certificate of merit by the Royal Horticultural 
Society. It deserves twenty such awards. It 
is one of those very useful hybrid mule pinks, 
and whether it be grown in pots or in beds, it 
is so wonderfully free as to be surprising in 
its floriferousness. The flowers are of 
medium size when compared with those of a 
Carnation, and of a rich deep purplish crimson 
colour. It almost flowers itself to death, and 
after doing so, throws up some young growths 
from the base that give cuttings out of which 
to construct plants. I saw a bed of it not 
long since ; there was in the centre a huge 
disc of the Dianthus, and round it a margin 
of the white Malva moschata alba. It was 
very effective indeed, and the latter is also a 
plant worthy a place in the garden. Besides, 
it does well in pots.—E. Dean. 
CLASSIFICATION OF PEACHES, &c. 
THE floral characters of the tree have 
long been used in the classification of 
Peaches and Nectarines, but the result 
was not always satisfactory, for as 
pointed out by M. Carriere (Rev. Hort., 1884, 
260), in an article we here give in- a con¬ 
densed form, what would be small-flowered for 
one person would be medium-sized for another, 
or vice versa, and the medium-sized of one 
would be large-flowered of another. All this 
he proposes to remedy by making use of other 
characters in the flowers not hitherto employed. 
He then goes on to say— 
When one examines the flowers of the 
Peach it is at once seen that they present 
two general forms; in the one form the 
flowers are long and attenuate at the base, 
and in general but slightly expanded at the 
tip, which rather gives them the shape of a 
little bell—whence the term campanidaccous: 
these are the ‘ ‘ small flowers ’ ’ of horticulturists. 
In the other group, the flowers are spread out, 
and have a relatively short base, the broadly 
oboval, sometimes broadly subelliptical petals. 
