176 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOOIST, 
[November, 
fraternity. We may record, as au interesting fact 
that for the first time in the history of the shows 
one exhibitor swept off the Ist prizes in all the chief 
classes—Mr. Hughes, gardener to Colonel Cartwright, 
Eydon Hall, Eyfield, Notts, having taken, not only 
the 1st prizes in the classes for twenty-four, eighteen, 
twelve, and nine kinds, but being also 1st in one or 
two smaller ones, and 2nd in the six kinds. Mr. 
Hughes’ exhibits were all first-class, and as he 
showed some seven or eight dozen dishes, his success 
marks him out as the champion grower of the year. 
— ®!he Dictionary of Gardening, pub¬ 
lished at the Bazaar Office, keeps up its 
character as the most complete and useful of the 
publications of its particular class. The information is 
very varied, embracing the whole round of gardening 
matters, and it is quite as full as can be expected in 
a publication of this popular character. Its alpha¬ 
betical mode of arrangement makes it very easy to 
consult. The illustrations are numerous and for the 
most part useful, but a little too uneven as to scale. 
— $VY Lawns, says the Fanner's Gazette, 
are known to but few among the many who 
are interested in gardening economy. They 
consist, as the name implies, of ivy only, and they 
offer some peculiar advantages in cases where grass 
lawns are apt to occasion more trouble than they are 
worth. An ivy lawn may be well made in one sea¬ 
son, and if the primary operation of planting he 
properly performed the lawn will make itself; it will 
want no cutting, no sweeping, no watering, no pro¬ 
tection from the birds that eat the grass seeds to-day 
and to-morrow scratch up the tender plants, as 
though it was their mission to make grass lawns impos¬ 
sible. And when made, being, as it were, self-made, 
au ivy lawn will take care of itself for any number 
of years; but if in need of repair or trimming, the 
knife, the shears, or the spade may be used with un¬ 
skilful hands, and with the least imaginable cost of time, 
for it is not au easy thing to kill, or even to seriously 
injure, a lawn consisting of ivy solely. Such lawns 
are unfit for games, and indeed should not be trodden 
on. They will not, therefore, supersede grass. 
— ®HE National Rose Society has just 
issued a second and revised edition of its 
Descriptive Catalogue of Exhibition Roses, 
to which is appended a Catalogue of Garden Roses. 
The list is a tabulated one, and gives the name, date, 
raiser’s name, form, colour, habit, and remarks on 
each admitted sort; and when any two or more sorts 
are considered identical, or nearly so, their names 
are bracketed together. 
— iao doubt the Althaea frutex [Hibiscus 
syriacus) is one of the finest of hardy decidu¬ 
ous autumn blooming shrubs, though it is 
sadly neglected, as are many other of our best garden 
plants, which just now are elbowed out by cut flowers 
and dinner-table decorations. We have often ad¬ 
mired these plants, in Mr. Waterer’s Knap Hill 
Nursery, where they have been blooming finely 
during the present season. One of the finest is 
Celeste, figured a few years back in our pages, a 
lovely variety, with blue petals, marked with a crim¬ 
son blotch at the base, running out into radiating 
streaks of the same colour ; it is a charming flower. 
Amaranth is similar to it, but the flowers are of a 
pale lilac colour. Totus albus again is a flower of 
great beauty, being, as the name implies, pure white. 
These are all single. Amongst the doubles Duchess 
of Brabant has the white petals striped with reddish- 
lilac ; and Alba plena has very full white flowers, in 
which the petals have a magenta blotch at the base. 
— ®!he Pinching of Peas is recommended 
in the Lyon-Horticole. It consists of pinching 
or clipping them as soon as they begin to 
bloom. This operation gives the shells a larger 
development and causes ramifications tq be borne at 
the axils of the leaves, which does not take place 
when this operation is not performed. The first crop 
is hardly taken off when other pods, promoted by 
the clipping, succeed from the flowers borne on 
the secondary branches. A second pinching will 
sometimes produce a third crop. This procedure is 
recommended by M. Delhomme, gardener at Autun. 
— Che interesting Galtonia clavata has 
been flow^ering and attracting attention at Kew. 
It is not indeed to be compared with the 
stately G. candicans, but still it is as interesting, and 
even more curiously beautiful. The flowers instead 
of being straight, pendulous, and pure white, are 
somewhat curved, and beautifully marked along the 
middle of each segment with three green lines. These 
plants differ from Hyacinthus, under which they 
are often classed, by the numerous flattened seeds, 
whereas in Hyacinthus they are few and globose. 
— ^T the recent meeting of the British 
Association, the case of Utricularia as a fish 
TRAP was the subject of a paper by Professor 
Moseley. The common Utricularia vulgaris, which 
grows in ditches and stagnant pools, bears a number 
of small bladders, the size of a pea, which act as traps, 
in which very small fishes are caught and killed. The 
bladder has an opening secured by an elastic door, 
w'hich yields to the pressure of the fish, and immedi¬ 
ately rebounds with force. If the fish are very small 
they get completely inside, but generally they are 
caught either by the tail or the head, being held till 
dead. 
— Che Forcing of the Moutan P^ony is 
thus described by a writer in the Field :—“This 
pieony is very easily brought into flower at 
any time from December onw'ards. A very little 
artificial heat suffices to expand its flowers. Mo 
have a good stock of plants, which are grown in the 
reserve garden, from which we draw three or fonr, 
plants every year for forcing. A rather large stock 
is required to keep up the supply, because 'it suffers 
more than any other plant from early forcing, as it 
takes three or four years to recover after being 
forced. This is the more surprising seeing how 
readily it responds to artificial heat, as in a tempera¬ 
ture of 45 by night and 60 by day it will come into 
flower in three weeks in the depth of winter. But, 
notwithstanding this, it is only the flower buds that 
are excited; the wood buds remain dormant, and 
frequently refuse to grow afterwards, which is much 
to be regretted, for, if it was as amenable to this 
kind of work as some other plants, it would be most 
valuable. When large plants can be had they are 
very noble in aspect, and have a very effective appear¬ 
ance in the conservatory. The single varieties are 
very pretty, but the double ones are the most showy. 
We allow our plants to remain in the pots in w'hich 
they flowered, under some sort of protection, until 
the month of May, when they are planted out again 
in their old quarters. Small plants are of no use for 
early flowering, as they only produce two or three 
flowers. Our largest are probably more than a quarter 
of a century old, from which we get from eighteen to 
twenty flowers open at one time. We have some 
half dozen varieties, but, except that some of them 
are single flowers and of a slightly different shade in 
colour, there is much sameness about them.” 
