September 19, 1885. THE GARDENING WORLD. 37 
obvious, the ground must be properly drained and no 
stagnant moisture or decaying refuse should be left 
about. 
Although the rods of Bacilli may be killed by drying 
or in boiling water, it is known that neither drying or 
moderate boiling will kill the spores of these pests. 
The spores of Bacillus subtilis, when placed in boiling 
water ior a short time, are merely excited to a more 
speedy germination. A moderate immersion in boiling 
water does them no harm. An hour’s boiling will, 
however, cause many to die, and two hours’ boiling is 
sufficient to cause general death. Heating the spores 
to 80° C. is more fatal to them. Dr. Klein says, the 
great resistance of the spores “to low and high tem¬ 
peratures, to acids and other substances, is due to this, 
that the substance of each spore is enveloped in a 
double sheath ; an internal sheath, probably of a fatty 
nature, and an external one, probably of cellulose ; 
both are very bad conductors of heat.” Freezing kills 
the rods or cylinders of the Bacillus, but it has no 
effect on the spores. 
The evidence as to Bacteria, Bacilli, &c., being the 
true cause of disease is much more conclusive in some 
instances than others. There can be no doubt that in 
some cases mistakes have been made. The mistakes of 
masters and original investigators are, however, always 
excusable. In exploring new ground, explorers cannot 
be expected to be always right in their view; and it 
never follows, that because an observer has expressed 
a certain opinion one day, that he must have exactly 
the same opinion that day twelve months. 
The subject of the germ theory of disease has been 
brought into undeserved disrepute by the little profes¬ 
sional teachers, who copy what other people have said, 
and put the observations down as their own, or as the 
observations they have “confirmed.” A master often 
changes his opinion ; but a confirmer never—he sticks 
to his blunder till the end; having “confirmed” 
something he must stick to it, or his stock-in-trade 
will be gone, and his “confirmation” looked upon as 
—not to put too fine a point upon it—a fiction.— 
W. G. Smith, Dunstable. 
-*->:£<-—-- 
PLANTS FOR FORCING—BULBS. 
The demand for winter flowers increases yearly, and 
has now attained to such a magnitude, that the cost of 
production forms, in many establishments, one of the 
most important items connected with the garden 
expenses. It would be impossible to state what the 
amount of money is, which we in this country expend 
annually to gratify our innate love of flowers ; but for 
such as we are now more immediately concerned with, 
it must amount to many thousands sterling. 
Bulbs are now so cheap and so easily grown, 
that they need no longer be regarded in the light of 
being within the reach of the opulent or well-to-do 
classes only ; of course, they may very easily be made 
an expensive luxury, to do so, is merely a question of 
quality and quantity, at the same time, our artizans, 
mechanics, and fairly well-to-do cottagers may grow 
for themselves and enjoy such things as Hyacinths, 
quite as easily as those who are more favourably circum¬ 
stanced in regard to riches and conveniences for growing 
them. This brings us to the more practical part of our 
subject, which will deal mostly with cultivation, and 
the selection of species and varieties. 
Hyacinths. —To produce large handsome spikes, 
these require liberal treatment, and they will well repay 
any extra attention they may receive at the hands of 
their cultivator, providing it is of the right kind. The 
following compost, if the best results are desired, should 
be employed, viz.: two parts good turfy loam, rather of 
a rich and light texture than otherwise, one part of well 
decayed cow manure, and one part of coarse silver sand, 
and a little leaf mould may also be added, if the loam 
is of a calcareous nature. The whole should be 
chopped up fine, and well turned over two or three 
times, taking care to pick out all the worms ; the turf 
should, if possible, have been stacked up for at least six 
months previous to being used. Although we recom¬ 
mend this mixture as a suitable compost, it must not 
for a moment be supposed to be a sine qua non, or that 
bulbs will not thrive in a material differently composed ; 
in many instances, as we ourselves know from experi¬ 
ence, turfy loam is most difficult to obtain, and where 
such is the case, ordinary garden soil or road scrapings 
mixed with well decayed manure, leaf mould and sand 
will do, and with good after attention, very presentable 
flowers may be grown. 
The pots should be clean, and of a size usually known 
as 4 in. and 5 in., but if they are to be grown for 
exhibitions, 6 in. are the best ; the smaller size pots 
will require one crock only as drainage, to be placed 
the hollow side downwards, whilst those of the 6 in. 
size will be all the better for a few additional small 
ones. When potting'fill the pots full of soil, and press 
it down moderately firm, make a small cavity in which 
to place the bulb, and draw the soil up to the latter so 
as to half cover it. Some little judgment must be 
exercised in potting, for if the soil is pressed down too 
firmly, the roots will force the bulbs either on one side 
or clean out of the pots, and if it is made too loose, they 
will not thrive so well as they should do ; from this 
it becomes obvious that the “happy medium” is the 
great point to be aimed at in potting. 
When potted, they should be stood outside on a bed of 
coal ashes, and covered over to a depth of 6 or 8 in. 
with the same material, here they may remain for some 
few weeks, by which time the pots ought to be filled 
with roots, and the flower spikes just making then- 
appearance. As regards the time of flowering, that is 
a matter which concerns more immediately those in 
charge, and depends entirely on the time of potting and 
subsequent treatment in artificial heat. We may, 
however, here remark, that they should not be taken 
from outside and put in a high temperature, they must 
he gradually inured to both more light and heat, as to 
resort to extremes would be to court failure. If wanted 
CHIONODOXA LUCILLE. 
to flower at Christmas, they should be potted this 
month, and for succession a month later, but if a long 
succession is required, a batch should be potted every 
two or three weeks from now to the beginning of 
December. The following will be found 
A good selection of Hyacinths. —Single Red .— 
Amy, Charles Dickens, Fabiola, Garibaldi, Gigantea, 
Homerus. King of the Beds, La Superbe, Lady 
Palmerston, Lina, Macaulay, Mrs. Beecher Stowe. 
Single White. —Alba maxima. Avalanche, Baroness von 
Thuyll, Grande Vedette, La Franchise, L’lnnocence, 
Madam van der Hoop, Miss Nightingale, Mont Blanc, 
Princess of Wales, Queen Victoria, Snowball. Single 
Blue. —Argus, Baron von Thuyll, Blondin, Charles 
Dickens, De Candolle, Duke of Connaught, General 
Havelock, Grand Lilas, King of the Blues, Lord Byron, 
Lord Derby, Prince of Wales. Single Yellow. —Anna 
Carolina, Bird of Paradise, Due de Malakoff, Ida, King 
of the Yellows, LaPluied’Or, L’lnteressant, Obelisque, 
Primrose Perfection, Prince of Orange, Rowland Hill, 
Tamerlaine. Double Red. —Bouquet Royal, Bouquet 
Tendre, GrootVorst, Koh-i-noor, Lord Wellington, 
Louis Napoleon, Peabody, Prince of Orange, Princess 
Dagmar, Princess Louise, Regina Victoria, Sans Souci. 
Double White. —Anna Maria, Bouquet Royale, Florence 
Nightingale, Jenny Lind, La Tour d’Auvergne, Lord 
Derby, Madame de Stael, Prins van Waterloo, Princess 
Louise, Sceptre d’Or, Venus, Virgo. Double Blue .— 
Bloksberg, Charles Dickens, Garrick, Laurens Koster, 
Lord Raglan, Louise Philippe, Murillo, Prince Alfred, 
Purple Prince, Richard Steel, Thomas Moore, and 
Van Speyk. 
Roman Hyacinths. —Where these are required very 
early they ought to be potted- without delay, five 
bulbs to be placed in a 6 in. pot, and, like the preceding, 
they should be placed outside, and covered with ashes 
until the pots are fairly well filled with roots. 
Wherever these are esteemed, the blue as well as the 
white variety should be grown ; and will be found 
most useful for decorative purposes. 
Narcissus. —These require much the same kind of 
treatment as the foregoing, placing from four to six 
bulbs in a 6 in. pot, according to the size of the bulbs. 
Those of the Polyanthus type will be found much the 
best for forcing, and for this purpose the following 
varieties are perhaps the best to grow, viz., Bazelman 
Major, Early Paper White, Gloriosa, Grand Monarque, 
Her Majesty, Jaune Supreme, Lord Canning, Newton, 
Princess of Wales, Soliel d’Or, States General, White 
Pearl. Of Jonquils, the best will be found in Single 
Sweet Scented, and Queen Anne’s double. 
Tulips. —Similar treatment to the above will be 
found to suit these, but in regard to size of pots, we 
would say that 4 in. is plenty large enough, putting 
five bulbs in each. No collection of spring-flowering 
bulbs can be said to be complete without a good selec¬ 
tion of these pretty and useful flowers. It is un¬ 
necessary to give a lengthy list of these, suffice it to 
say that all the Due van Thol’s are worth growing, and 
force very well, as also do the following:—Pottebakker, 
scarlet, white, and yellow. 
Crocuses should always find a place amongst forced 
bulbs, and for pot culture we commend, Albion, Golden 
Yellow, King of the Blues, Othello, Queen Victoria, 
and Sir Walter Scott ; 3 in. pots are best for these, 
and from six to eight bulbs may be put in each. Of 
miscellaneous bulbs for small pots, Seilla Siberica, S. 
bifolia, S. campanulata alba, Tritelia uniflora, and 
the blue and white Chionodoxa Lucilife (see illustration), 
may be named as deserving every attention.— J. H. 
( To be continued.) 
-->£<:-- 
NOTABLE TREES AT 
WHITTINGHAME. 
Amongst the many fine trees and shrubs which 
abound in the beautiful grounds of Whittinghame, 
East Lothian, the property of A. J. Balfour, Esq., 
M.P., we noticed on a recent visit a handsome specimen 
of Araucaria imbrieata, bearing eight female cones, 
each as large as a cannon-ball. This tree like most of 
the Conifers at Whittinghame, was in vigorous health, 
about 40 ft. in height, and clothed to the ground with 
healthy branches. Not many yards distant stands, 
perhaps, the most remarkable tree of its kind in Britain, 
viz., a gigantic specimen of the “Swamp Gum Tree” 
of Australia (Eucalyptus viminalis), quite the dimen¬ 
sions of a forest tree. The tree in question was planted 
in 1846, and was brought as a seedling from Australia 
by a member of the family. It grew rapidly in its new 
home until the memorable winter of 1860-61, when it 
was cut down to the ground by the severe frosts which 
prevailed during that winter. During the following 
summer it broke away into four limbs, which have now 
reached a height of about 60 ft., forming a tree of a 
novel and striking character. The girth of the stem 
below where the massive limbs project is nearly 12 ft., 
and the branches are laden with flowers and an abun¬ 
dance of last year’s seed-vessels. 
The question arises, how has this gigantic Eucalyptus 
escaped uninjured during the severe winters which 
have occured since 1860-61 ? Is this a hardier species 
than others which have been tried in this country, or 
has the constitution of the tree become hardened by 
acclimatization ? Mr. Garrat, the able and intelligent 
head-gardener at Whittinghame, furnishes a more 
satisfactory explanation regarding this matter. Ho 
states that during severe seasons, when his neighbours’ 
thermometers register below zero, not more than 24° 
are registered at Whittinghame. The presence of such 
handsome specimens of Cupressus funebris and Picea 
Webbiana, the latter at least 50 ft. in height and 
bearing numerous cones, abundantly testifies to the 
mild and genial nature of the climate at Whittinghame. 
There is here also a venerable Yew tree of enormous 
dimensions. The stem is a little more than 10 ft. 
high, to where the branches are given off, the circum¬ 
ference being nearly the same. The branches, however, 
have a radius of about 100 yards, many of them having 
now become rooted into the ground, thus forming an 
immense bank of the densest foliage, and completely 
covering the raised knoll, on which the tree is planted. 
Tradition loves to linger round most of the old Yews 
in this country, and the venerable tree at Whitting¬ 
hame is no exception. The story runs that Bothwell 
and the other Scottish nobles opposed to Darnley, the 
husband of the ill-fated Mary Queen of Scots, repaired 
to the sequestered shade of this very tree, where they 
formally entered into a covenant to compass Darnley’s 
death. Be this as it may, the tree is certainly old 
enough to have rendered this possible.— R. L., in 
Forestry. 
