80 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ Mat, 
sorts. We did Dot detect any peculiar smell in S. 
Drummondii, nor in S. crispata; but S. flava had 
the characteristic ungrateful odour attributed to it, 
and which was in this case strongly feline. On the 
other hand, the blossoms of S. rubra have the 
fragrance of Violets very strongly developed. 
- £n the Epitome of Gardening (A. and 
C. Black), we have a reprint, with additions, 
of the article “ Horticulture,” written for the 
Encyclopedia Britannica , the section on the Science 
of Horticulture by Dr. M. T. Masters, and that on 
the Practice of Horticulture by Mr. T. Moore. The 
object of the original article, which was not intended 
for separate issue, but has been reprinted on the 
suggestion of some of its readers, was to give a 
sketch of the whole subject as complete as the 
space to be occupied would permit. This neces¬ 
sarily involved brevity, and hence the little volume 
has been styled an Epitome. In this separate form, 
it will, we believe, be a useful manual for amateurs 
and others to whom a handbook is more acceptable 
than a bulky volume. The subject is set forth 
in such a manner as to supply all that is wanted by 
many readers, and to lead on in the case of others 
to the consultation of more extended treatises on the 
general subject of special books on special subjects. 
The larger or more practical section of the work is 
divided into chapters on Garden formation and 
preparation, Garden structures, Garden materials 
and appliances, Garden operations, Flowers, Fruits, 
Vegetables, and Calendarial Instructions. Our 
personal share in its production precludes us from 
recommending it beyond poiuting out its extent and 
intent. 
- iflR. Riley, in tlie American Naturalist, 
thus gives the life-history of the Vine-louse, 
Phylloxera vastatrix :— u Starting from a stem- 
mother, it multiplies agamically through an indefinite 
number of generations, either in galls on the leaf, or 
in cavities, or on swellings on the roots. Its spread 
is naturally slow in the unwinged condition, whether 
on the surface or beneath the ground. But winged, 
agamic females are produced during the late summer 
and autumn mouths, and these are the true migrants 
of the species, and disperse and spread from vine¬ 
yard to vineyard through the atmosphere. They lay 
some half-dozen eggs only, in such situations as 
afford shade and moisture, and from these come the 
only true males and females, which are mouthless, 
feed not, and are born simply to procreate, the 
female laying, either below or above ground, a single, 
and the only directly impregnated egg, which has 
been termed the winter egg, and which in the spring 
following gives birth to the stem-mother, which may 
either found a colony in a gall on the leaf, or upon 
the root—the latter being the more common habit.” 
- *Hr. Jenkins, writing in the Gardeners' 
Chronicle , recommends Scilla campanulata 
alba maxima, an enlarged form of the common 
white Squill, as being well adapted for forcing in 
pots for early spring work. It is of pearly white¬ 
ness, and its spikes somewhat resemble, when in 
flower, the early white lloman Hyacinth, and might 
with advantage be used as a substitute for it, the 
single bells being most useful, if wired, for small 
button-hole bouquets. It should be grown in pots 
constantly, as it will then force hard. Those who 
may wish to try this, may adopt the following plan : 
—Lift and select the largest bulbs as soon as they 
are matured, which will be about July, and pot the 
larger bulbs, say, six in a large 60-sized pot, and 
eight to ten in a 48-sized pot, according to the size 
of the bulbs ; when potted, they should be plunged 
in ashes or similar material, and introduced into 
warmth about Christmas, or even earlier, and 
brought on gradually. 
— ®he rare and pretty Colchicum luteum 
has been flowering in the collection at Kew, 
and its hardiness seems sufficiently demon¬ 
strated, inasmuch as the plants have not been pro¬ 
tected in any way during the exceptionally severe 
weather of the past winter. The flowers are of a 
bright yellow, and about the size of those of Bulbo- 
codium vernum. It is a native of Afghanistan and 
some of the surrounding countries. 
— ®he Hardiness of Ciiam^epeuce dia- 
cantha has been well attested by some of the 
correspondents of the weekly papers. At Tun¬ 
bridge, in Kent, five plants stood out through the 
winter of 1879-80 in an open flower-bed on the lawn 
without aDy protection, and seemed to be as hardy 
as a Scotch Thistle. At Shiffnal, in Shropshire, it 
flowered and seeded after standing out unprotected 
the whole winter of 1879-80. At Winchmore Hill, 
it has stood out for the last three winters, and those 
that stood out during the winter of 1879-80 flowered 
last summer and ripened seed. 
— JFew stove climbers are more graceful 
and more charming than the Brazilian Solanum 
venustum, when it is allowed free development. 
At Kew it is trained to the rafter of a house, so 
that its large pendulous panicles of handsome 
laivender-blue flowers exhibit themselves in all 
their native grace. It is one of the loveliest of the 
climbers which has been blooming during the past 
spring in the Palm-house. 
— @The elegant Palm Leopoldinia pulchra, 
known also as Cocos Weddelliana, evidently 
does not require so much warmth to keep it in 
health as is generally supposed. At Oakley, Fallow- 
field, a couple of handsome specimens, some 5 ft. or 
6 ft. high, grown in pots, are reported to have 
stood in the rockery of a fernhouse, where the night 
temperature through the winter has been from 40° 
to 50°, and the plants have not apparently suffered 
in the least, being of a fine dark-green colour, equal 
to those usually met with in much warmer houses. 
— JFew subjects can vie with the Hima¬ 
layan Primula rosea in simple beauty and 
brilliancy of colour. The flowers at first are a 
clear bright rose-carmine, but later on they gradu¬ 
ally become paler, with a shade of purple. Dr. 
Aitchison states that high up in its native Afghan 
mountains, where it is found in flower from June 
to August, the species affects boggy spongy places, 
like those in which our Bird’s-eye Primrose is gener¬ 
ally found. In winter, it is protected by a thick 
covering of snow. 
— IITessrs. Jackman’s Clematis show is 
to be held this year at the Alexandra Palace. 
The plants are in excellent trim, and give 
promise of a very fine bloom. The exhibition will 
take place during the present month. 
— W- Ed. Pynaert van Geert has been 
named a Chevalier of the Order of Leopold— 
a well-deserved public recognition of merit. 
