October 10, 1885. 
THE HARDENING WORLD. 
85 
lias begun, the use of the gimlet oi knife to check the 
flow of the sap, these are some precautions which can 
easily be taken by anyone at all anxious to succeed 
with the Duke of Buceleuch. 
Criticism is not objected to when fairly done ; but 
sometimes evidence is not wanting to prove that some¬ 
thing more than mere professional difference of opinion 
is the cause of the appearance from time to time of 
paragraphs bearing almost unmistakeable signs of 
emanating from a certain writer, better known for his 
peculiar style of personal attacks, than for his impartial 
discussion of various subjects with a view to advance 
the interest of horticulture generally. — J. 
—-- 
CHRYSANTHEMUM NOTES. 
By the time these notes appear all Chrysanthemums 
should have been got under shelter, whether in the green¬ 
house, conservatory, or under some temporary covering 
to protect them from frost. If possible a dry day should 
be selected when they are being housed, for if the 
plants are housed when the foliage is wet they are 
liable to bo attacked with mildew. The time is now 
drawing near when the grower will be amply repaid for 
the months of careful attention he has paid to his 
plants, and what useful plants they are to the amateur 
with his unlieated greenhouse, for by their aid he can 
have a display of bloom from September till Christmas. 
All the plants should now be well set with buds, and 
should be kept regularly supplied with manure-water 
until they show colour. Air should be given freely, es¬ 
pecially in the daytime. If any signs of mildew 
should appear, the plants should be lightly dusted with 
flowers of sulphur. The summer-flowering varieties 
will make a good display until the late-flowering 
varieties come in, and these consisting of early and late 
sections are most valuable for prolonging the display 
of bloom. 
Among the earliest (of the late varieties) to open are 
Galatea, Emblem, Frizon, Colibri, &c., followed by 
Le Chinois, L’Africane, James Salter, Elaine, Mrs. 
Bundle, Mrs. Dixon, George Glenny, Bed Dragon, 
Gloria Mundi, White, Golden, and Lilac Cedo Nulli, 
and the single varieties such as Henry Irving, Magenta 
King, Sirs. Langtry, Coachman, and others. The 
later varieties following the above will keep up a good 
display of bloom and enliven the greenhouse until the 
Hyacinths and others bulbs commence to flower. — TV. 
E. Boyce, Yerbury Road, Holloway. 
■ -- 
LATHOM HOUSE, ORMSKIRK. 
A collection of Orchids is being rapidly formed in 
this establishment, and three compartments have been 
erected for their accommodation. The central division, 
which is much smaller than the other two, is devoted 
to plants in flower, so that they can be inspected with 
a greater degree of comfort than in the houses they are 
grown in. Here Cattleya erispa superba was in good 
health and flowering freely, and fixed at such an eleva¬ 
tion (like the others) that it required no effort on the 
part of the spectators to view it thoroughly. Oncidium 
varicosum was represented by several flowering speci¬ 
mens, and 0. fiexuosum, which is slightly inferior, 
though we prefer it to many of the dirty chocolate- 
coloured varieties. Cypripedium Sedenii had twelve 
strong spikes, and Zygopetalum Gautieri had four well- 
flowered spikes 12 ins. long. Small but healthy plants 
of Odontoglossum Alexandra were in various stages of 
inflorescence. Calantlie Veitcliii is remarkably well 
done, being grown by the score on one side of a span- 
roofed house, not intended for Orchids ; the remaining 
space in this division being occupied by Crotons, 
Dracsenas, Pandanus Veitehii, and other ornamental 
plants for table and other decorations in the mansion, 
and which are frequently conducted on an extensive 
scale. A batch of about three dozen of the leading 
O 
species of Phalamopsis were looking happier than they 
usually do in a snug corner of another division. 
As others may be tempted to pay a visit to Lathom 
House, it will be as well to state that it may be reached 
either from Burscough Junction, or Ormskirk, just as 
the traveller may be proceeding to or from the North, 
and the distance from both stations is the same, or 
about half an hour’s walk ; visitors who are unable to 
walk, however, should pass Burscough Junction, and 
drive from Ormskirk, where plenty of conveyances and 
willing drivers are ever ready to offer their services for 
about half the sum it cost us, a party of three, for the 
hire of a trap at Burscough. — Visitor. 
MICROLOMA OR WAX CLIMBER. 
Mr. H. Halleck, the President of the Naturalists 
Society of Port Elizabeth, South Africa, displayed his 
extensive knowledge of the Flora of South Africa, when 
in a recent address he selected this lovely plant as a 
worthy example of the beauties comprised in it, and 
saying of the Microloma that it is a lovely little gem 
as seen growing wild, and still more beautiful when 
brought under cultivation. 
For my part I consider it one of the handsomest and 
most desirable plants I ever saw, and I often wonder 
how it is that such a beauty has escaped the gardeners 
in England, for I never saw it there or anything like 
it. The variety I find in this locality has very narrow- 
dark green leaves, and stems like thin green wire. It 
is found growing in gravelly loam quite out in the open 
plain with no shelter for a distance of fifty miles. It 
is in flower all through our winter, and the flowers are 
not the least affected by wind or rain, always the same 
whenever you see them, and always clinging to some 
bush or other support near. The flowers are borne in 
clusters of from four to twelve, erect, after the manner 
of some of the Hoyas. Each individual flower resembles 
a tiny vase five-angled, bright scarlet suffused with 
pink, exactly as if made of scarlet wax and glazed. 
The plants last a wonderful time in bloom, you see 
them in May, and still, while I am writing in September, 
they are always the same—ahvays bright and pretty. 
As a cold frame, greenhouse, or conservatory plant I 
have never seen anything more likely to form a 
favourite, and easily cultivated plant for growing in 
English gardens. I often think what a treasure it 
would be for trailing over vases for table and indoor 
decoration, it being as graceful in foliage as the 
Mrysiphylliun, and has, in addition, its beautiful and 
lasting flowers. It may be grown as a trailer for 
trellises or in pots either as small or large specimens, 
all that is necessary being to place a requisite number 
of light twigs for it to trail over, they will soon be 
covered and almost hidden from view. Anything short 
of actual frost cannot hurt it, and I hope to hear some 
day that it occupies a place in gardens at home.— 
Janies Hall, Port Elizabeth, South Africa. 
-- 
TOMATOS AT READING. 
A few weeks since we gave some particulars of a very 
interesting trial of Tomatos made during the present 
season in the Messrs. Sutton & Sons’ London Road 
Nursery, Beading. The peculiarity of this trial lies in 
the fact that the plants were grown absolutely in the 
open, and very much as market gardeners cultivate 
Tomatos for sale ; but probably the style throughout 
was neater, and that abundance of manure for mulching 
purposes, so common in market gardens, was altogether 
wanting. We may mention in evidence of the trial 
that some forty or more kinds, inclusive of most of the 
best known sorts, were included ; that it comprised 
eleven beds, each containing 156 plants put out in pairs, 
three pairs in a row, and each plant trained to one main 
stem only, and supported by a stout stake 5 ft. in 
height. Thus there was a total of some 1,700 plants, 
quite a remarkable collection. As the utmost impar¬ 
tiality has been shown in the trial, the firm being only 
anxious to obtain a true line as to the merits of sorts 
under this mode of culture, the test naturally possessed 
material interest, especially as no fruits had been 
gathered, and the crops, whether as respects earliness 
or prolificacy, were left to tell their own tale. 
Taking them in the order of planting, we found an 
entire bed devoted to that now popular variety, Chis¬ 
wick Bed. Probably this wondrously prolific and plum¬ 
shaped kind is universally known, and here its cropping 
qualities were well shown, for the produce was of the 
heaviest. All the ripe fruits were fine, and had thinning 
been practised, no doubt these would have been larger 
still. Here it showed not only great cropping qualities, 
but also earliness, for its fruits compared well with those 
of any other kind for colour, except a specially early 
and very meritorious sort, Earliest of All, which cer¬ 
tainly seems to be admirably named, for here it was 
much the earliest and carried far more of ripe fruit than 
any other kind. It ought to make a very popular 
variety for market growers for this kind of outdoor 
culture, as precocity is of the very first importance. 
The fruits are of good size, flattisli round, rich red in 
hue, and a trifle sutured, though later ones improve in 
form. It is a peculiarity of many kinds that the earliest 
fruits are the most corrugated. There was an entire bed 
of this kind to show character, and nearly an entire bed 
was filled with Sutton’s Main Crop, which, if a little 
later, is a fine kind, fruits large and handsome, and is 
an enormous cropper ; indeed, it is wonderful how the 
single stems can produce and carry such an exceeding 
weight of fruit. This kind gives a rich colour, and is 
one of the best in the whole collection. 
Powell’s Early follows, a fairly early and once popular 
kind, now much superseded by improved and more pro¬ 
ductive kinds. Vick’s Criterion, with its egg-shaped 
fruits of a carmine or brick-red hue, carried a good 
crop, and must be ranked as a second early ripener. 
Bliss’s Paragon gave but a moderate crop, but the fruits 
were fine, handsome, and of a rich colour. Acme had 
a moderate crop, and was apparently lacking in consti¬ 
tution for outdoor work. Stamfordian, which has so 
often been represented on show tables by fine and hand¬ 
some fruits, here showed a weak constitution, cropped 
well, but the fruits were exceedingly sutured and large. 
Hathaway’s Excelsior is so well known as to need little 
reference, but here it cropped but moderately, whilst 
the fruits were very handsome. Trophy gave a mode¬ 
rate crop ; indeed, judging by the numerous racemes of 
flower-stems hanging, seems to have been a shy setter 
outdoors. Golden Trophy is a yellow reproduction of 
the previous kind, but like all the yellow sorts here, 
seemed to lack the average robustness shown by the red 
ones. Large Yellow came very near indeed to Golden 
Trophy, though seemingly a little better cropper, but 
here neither displayed any particular merit. 
The Large Red so well known in the market trade gave 
but. moderate growth, indeel, as weak as any kind in 
the entire trial. The fruits were much sutured, and 
ripened fairly early, but on the whole was considerably 
behind the stock of Main Crop. Sutton's Cluster is a 
