216 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ September, 
about a month, but as July goes out and August comes in, it will be the most conspicuous 
object in the flower-garden, and will draw every one’s attention, not only because of its bright¬ 
ness of colour, which is of an intense crimson-orange, but also because of its most graceful 
habit. It grows about 18 in. to 2 ft. high, and forms a fountain-like pyramid. 
- 2$y means of careful and judicious selection, Mr. R. Dean believes be 
lias obtained some useful novelties amongst Bedding Violas. They belong to 
three distinct types—true bedding Violas, true bedding Pansies, and Tom Thumb 
bedding Pansies, the latter repi'esenting an entirely new break of a remarkably dwarf and 
compact habit of growth. Among the bedding Violas, one natned Blue Bell , violet, shaded 
with blue, and with dark indigo lines radiating from a yellow eye, has continued flowering 
from the second week of March until August, and will no doubt continue through the summer. 
A seedling of the V. lutea grandi'flora type, which has been named Corisande, is pale primrose, 
and its flowers, which are produced freely and continuously, are of a greatly improved 
form. Of the Tom Thumb type, six varieties have been selected for distribution, all possess¬ 
ing a dwarf and compact habit of growth, and producing an abundance of small well-formed 
flowers throughout the summer. Blue Gem has pale violet-blue lower petals, the upper ones 
being also of a shaded violet tint. Little Gem much resembles it, but is of a brighter shade 
of violet; Lily White and Painted Lady are both white forms, the former having a few dark 
lines radiating from a small yellow centre ; the latter having the top petals blotched with 
violet-purple ; Yellow Boy produces a dense mass of clear pale yellow flowers; and Plum-ripe, 
bright shaded mulbei'ry, is the most novel in colour of the whole. 
- ®he researches of MM. Duchartre, Prillieux, and others have shown 
that under ordinary circumstances the Leaves of Plants have no power of absorbing 
Water or watery vapour, a conclusion which seemed at variance with the results 
of daily horticultural practice. These recent experiments have but confirmed this view, 
which seems now to be so well established, that it must take its place as an axiom of vegetable 
physiology; but while this doctrine has been fully confirmed, it has also been found that 
though leaves do not absorb water all the time the plants can get sufficient supplies by the 
roots, yet directly the soil gets too dry for the roots to absorb moisture, the leaves absorb what 
they can get to supply the deficiency. This is more in accordance with the experience of 
horticulturists. 
- ®he Phylloxera vastatrix , the too fruitful source of the Vine Disease, 
has now spread over England, France, and Portugal, and has also made its 
appearance in Switzerland, so that there can be little hope that the Rhine and 
the Moselle districts will escape much longer. Leaving Nature’s own operations out of the 
question, the trade and exchange of choice varieties of hothouse vines and hardy seedlings 
are now so extensive, that man is the real carrier of the pest. It has been suggested, in order 
to avert the threatened destruction of wine-growing over Europe and America, that the 
Governments which are enlightened enough to offer enormous prices for a sure remedy to 
destroy the insects should fight the enemy ah ovo , thus confining its depredations to its present 
centres of dispersal, and eradicating it there by stopping the distribution of canes and seed¬ 
lings from countries at present occupied by the Phylloxera. 
- £The seed of Primula japonica , which is very small, is very freely pro¬ 
duced ; the pods are about the size of those of a well-filled Polyanthus, and 
contain each about one hundred seeds of a dark brown colour. When sown as 
soon as ripe a fair crop is found to germinate in the course of a short time. This 
is the natural mode of treatment. 
-PfR. James Ivery, of the firm of Ivery and Son, of Dorking, Surrey, 
died on the 2nd ult., in his 49th year. Mr. Ivery had for many years been 
known as a raiser and exhibitor of Indian Azaleas; and of late years, as having 
worked up one of the most extensive and valuable trade collections of British and 
other hardy Ferns to be met with at the present day. 
