1884 .] 
CRINUM POWELLI.-GOOSEBERRY PRUNING.—REGISTER OF NOVELTIES, 
155 
some of the hardiest of them might he grown 
in such a manner as to give a large amount of 
real pleasure to the cultivator. 
I have little doubt but such kinds as 
Odontoglossum grande, Lycaste Skinneri, Den- 
drohiuin nohile, and perhaps others of the 
Odontoglossums, might be named as suitable 
for this mode of culture, and most probably 
other kinds of Gypripediuvi. The late Mr. 
Leech, of Clapham, used to grow Disa grandi- 
Jiora to perfection in a cold frame, merely 
keeping away frost; and I never saw finer 
specimens than he produced. I trust some of 
the readers of the Florist will give the results 
of their experience, so that we may learn how 
many of these beautiful plants may be treated 
with success in the way I have indicated.— 
G. Eyles. 
CPJNUM POWELLI 
S fHIS is a hybrid raised by Mr. Powell, 
I when at Bury St. Edmunds, between 
C. Mooreanum and C. longifoUiim. 
Having stood the test of years as a 
hardy bulb, it may safely be stated to be one 
of the finest and showiest hardy flowers of 
recent introduction. It varies in tint from 
white to pink, and it partakes much of the 
habit of C. Mooreanum, with its fine foliage 
and large open heads of bloom. Its flowers 
are about three inches across, and the flower 
spikes two feet to three feet in height. Like 
most Cape bulbs it requires deep planting; 
and that is the only secret of its success as a 
hardy plant. It has bloomed well with Sir 
Trevor Lawrence at Burford Lodge, near 
Dorking, this year.—J. O’Brien. 
GOOSEBEREY PRUNING. 
T is the opinion of some that the pruning 
of Gooseberries is an evil attended by 
non-fruitfulness, but the answer to this 
is that the evil is long in coming. We 
know where Gooseberries are to be seen in 
districts hundreds of miles apart, both in 
Scotland and England, on which pruning has 
been practised, and every season too, beyond 
the recollection of most of the oldest of the 
present generation of gardeners, and before 
the writer was in existence. They are still 
fruitful, and though not large, are of excellent 
quality. The wretched examples too often 
seen in market gardens are the patterns of 
success which we are directed to follow; but I 
think men who have for many years prided 
themselves in cultivating the justly popular 
Gooseberry will be tardy in adopting a system 
which may give plenty of fruit, compara¬ 
tively small and tasteless when ripe, difiicult 
to gather from bushes crowded and unsightly, 
which in the majority of cases are what we 
see in market establishments. I was employed 
when a youth in one of these gardens near 
London. The bulk of the crop was gathered 
and sold when in a green and unripe state, 
and those which were left never attained their 
true character either as to appearance or flavour, 
simply because light and air reached the fruit 
vary imperfectly. 
In some of the great fruit-growing districts 
it would be next to impossible to prune the 
forests of bushes, but where first-rate fruit is 
in request cut out a portion of old wood and 
allow young upright growths to take the place 
of old branches, leaving the shoots full length, 
or as nearly so as strength may dictate. If they 
are inclined to be “ woody,” the bushes may 
he lifted, replanted on a firm bottom and well 
mulched. The shape of bush may be like an 
inverted umbrella. The more upright and 
equidistant the shoots, the easier, proportion¬ 
ately, will the crop be to gather. Such bushes 
should bear every year without fail, and in 
such quantity that one might gather half a 
hushel without advancing a pace. There are 
strange and varied methods however of pruning, 
but with none of the old-fashioned growers' 
the report of failure is to be heard; and we 
certainly (the present generation of cultivators), 
with all our advantages and so-called improved 
systems, are at best slovenly and unsuccessful 
as regards hardy fruit cultivation, compared 
with what we are taught to learn of the men 
of the past.—M. Temple. 
REGISTER OF NOVELTIES. 
NEW PLANTS. 
Amasonia PUNICEA, Vahl {Gard. Chron., N. s., 
xxi., 342).—A handsome stove plant belonging to 
the Verbenaceous order, of shrubby habit, with oppo¬ 
site, oblong or elliptic-lanceolate, coarsely serrated 
leaves, having a smooth surface and a deep green 
colour. The flowers grow in long erect panicles, 
and have ovate-lanceolate persistent red bracts, five- 
parted red calyces, and tubular creamy-yellow corollas 
with projecting curved stamens like those of a Clero- 
dendron. The coloured bracts are very enduring, 
and remain for several months on the plant. The 
