February 20, 1886. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
395 
visiting the beautiful show gardens, Woodstock, Mr. 
Gray agreed with Mr. Fairbairn. Acting as judge last 
year, my colleagues and myself had no hesitation in 
giving a 8-lb. specimen the 1st prize. Your corres¬ 
pondent should then be sure to include this variety.—- 
IV. J. Murphy, Clonmel. 
The Marechal Niel Rose. —I was very much 
interested in Mr. Bayne’s communication respecting 
this beautiful Rose, on p. 344, and should be glad if he 
would say whether, the plant he there describes, is on 
its own loots, or worked on the briar or some other stock. 
I am doubtful whether there are many plants of this 
Rose in the country, fourteen years old. Mr. Bayne, 
evidently, assumes that one of its chief reasons of 
success, is the fact of its being planted in an unheated 
structure, and I am inclined to think there must be 
some force in this assertion, from the numbers I have 
known to canker and collapse when grown in an ordi¬ 
nary greenhouse. In my own case I have had two 
plants canker and die in half the time Mr. Bayne’s 
plant has continued flourishing.— H. 
Narcissus Polyanthus var. G-loriosa.— 
This is one of the best and most striking varieties of 
the Polyanthus section ; it is a strong grower, and very 
distinct from the varieties generally forced. The 
perianth is white with bright orange cup, and looks 
very effective : the spikes being well thrown above the 
dark green foliage, and it perfumes the house with a 
very pleasant odour. Some fine 6 in. pots of this 
beautiful Narcissus are now in bloom in the gardens 
here, each containing four bulbs, averaging nine spikes, 
and many of them bearing ten blooms each.— G. 
Holmes, journeyman, The Gardens, Shipley Hall, Derby. 
Vines Bleeding-.— Mr. Fry’s remarks are both 
sound and practical, but he does not seem to believe 
that Vines will bleed in February that have been pro¬ 
perly ripened and pruned in November. My own case 
is not the only one I have heard of. Amongst several 
varieties which I planted here five years ago, Mrs. 
Pince’s Black Muscat and Trentham Black, the two 
best growers and bearers we have, have bled profusely 
every year at starting, more especially the first-named. 
Mrs. Pince’s Black Muscat has proved to be the best 
black Grape grown in this district the last two years, 
and always bears a fair crop, which could not be the 
case if the wood was not fairly well ripened. Except 
the two varieties named the others have not bled, and 
I believe, with many others, that the bleeding of Vines 
does not do so much injury as many suppose. I should 
say that the house we use for a Vinery is always filled 
with other plants, and no more heat is given in winter 
than is sufficient to keep out frost and damp. The 
Vines roots are entirely outside on a raised border with 
a gravelly bottom, and for over three months in winter 
the house never gets any sun until after 1.30 p.m., 
which may account for the knife wounds not healing so 
w T ell.— A. Grigor, Fairfield, Aberdeen. 
Late Chrysanthemum Blooms.— There are 
several ways of obtaining a few late Chrysanthemum 
flowers, two of which I will briefly describe. 1. Where 
plants are grow n on the natural system—that is, where 
stopping or cutting-back is not practised, and as usually 
adopted by those who grow for the production of large 
blooms—some very serviceable flowers may be obtained 
by placing some of the plants, after the first crop of 
flowers has been cut, into a slightly warmer house, such 
as a late Vinery, where a day temperature of about 50° 
is maintained. The tops should be shortened some 
12 ins. to 18 ins., and by being treated to a little extra 
warmth, a few of the dormant stem-buds will push 
and produce flowers which at this season of the year 
(December, January, and February) are not to be 
despised. Amongst varieties that produce flowers 
freely in this way I may mention Duchess of Albany, 
Roseum superbum, J. Delaux, Elaine, Fair Maid of 
Guernsey, Marguerite Marrouch, and Belle Pauline ; 
the latter, a somewhat new variety, seems specially 
amenable to this treatment. 2. Strike a number of 
cuttings (Japanese varieties preferable) in a cold frame, 
kept close and shaded from the sun, early in August. 
The cuttings should be inserted singly in 2| in. pots, 
aud as soon as rooted potted on into 4 ins. size for the 
final shift. When growth commences stand them in 
an open sunny position until the approach of frost, 
when they may be sheltered for a time in a cold frame, 
or the earliest varieties forwarded in a warm greenhouse 
if required. These plants will be found useful for 
arranging on front stages in the conservatory. Mixed 
with other plants, they have a very pretty effect. By 
including early and late varieties, a long succession 
may be obtained. I should have said they require no 
stopping or pinching. The buds should be reduced to 
one, and in this way fairly good flowers may be pro¬ 
duced on plants not more than 12 ins. to 15 ins. high, 
and often less. I enclose a few of our last flowers.-— C. 
Herrin, Chalfont. [Very good indeed.—E d.] 
Late Chrysanthemums. —It does not depend 
so much on varieties as on the mode of treatment to 
obtain late Chrysanthemums. In the first place they 
must have a twelve month’s growth, without artificial 
heat if possible. Take off stout cuttings not later than 
the last week of the year of all the strongest-growing 
kinds. I put them in ordinary cutting boxes, three or 
four cuttings of each sort, and they are placed in a cool 
pit until rooted, then they are potted into 4-in. pots, 
three plants in a pot, and from that to a 7-in. pot, 
using tolerably rich soil. The last shift is given about 
May 20th into 10-in. and 12-in. pots. I may say that 
the most important point is the ripening of the wood ; 
the finest flowering shoots are made in strong fibry 
loam. The natural soil here is a brown sandy clay ; 
but I get old turf from the pleasure ground, and stack 
it for twelve months, then it is chipped into pieces 
about 3 ins. square, a few 7 shovelfuls of soot put over 
the heap, one or two of bone meal, and a little well- 
rotted cow-manure, and thoroughly mixed. We crock 
the pots with old bones from the kitchen, breaking the 
largest bits with a hammer and I pot them pretty firm. 
They are then placed outside fully exposed to the sun 
and air, and pinched close until the middle of August, 
as these strong growers as a rule are long jointed, and 
will require it to make nice bushes ; and, also, to help 
to keep them late, I keep off all buds that show until 
November, and give nothing but clear w 7 ater before the 
last week in October. I use liquid manure made from 
sheep droppings and soot (guano will do), and use this 
three times a week until the buds begin to open, w 7 hen 
clear water is again applied. The wood being firm now, 
the liquid induces a few 7 shoots to break from the top 
of each stem—that is where you get the return for your 
labour. Keep them out as long as you can until frost 
sets in. I keep my late batch out three weeks after the 
others are housed, in a sheltered corner where there are 
some high shrubs, putting mats on the open side of them 
at night. They are then put into an airy greenhouse 
where they get no fire-heat, except a little during frosty 
nights. I keep a little air on the front night and day 
in mild weather, as I have nothing beside them but 
Camellias, Epacris, Cinerarias, Tea Roses, Heaths, and 
such like. Water after ten o’clock, put on plenty of 
air in mild weather, as it keeps them late and free of 
mildew. Some of the sorts have been putting out fresh 
buds from the stems, and flowering almost dou 7 n to the 
rim of the pots—and nice sized blooms too—the stems 
being as hard and browrn as the young wood of Vines. 
By working the plants in this way, from three to five 
dozen of fine blooms on each plant will be the result, 
and at a time when flowers are scarce. —John Dick, 
Schaw Park Gardens, N.B. 
Forcing Vines.— “M. T.” gives sound advice at 
p. 375 when he advocates the forcing of late Grapes very 
gradually. Nothing is gained by hard forcing in con¬ 
nection with late Grapes, and no greater mistake can 
be made than to defer starting Vineries till it is so late 
that very rapid forcing has to be resorted to in order 
that an attempt may be made to seern-e ripe Grapes by 
the end of August, so that they will keep well during 
the winter and’spring. There can be little doubt that 
the secret of having late Grapes of good flavour, and 
that will keep well in a long season and plenty of heat, 
after the Vines are a certain length started into growth, 
combined with a free circulation of air w 7 hen such can 
be given without lowering the temperature too much. 
It is penny wise and pound foolish for anyone to try 
and grow late Grapes which are required to keep long 
without liberally dealing out heat to them at the proper 
time, but by all means avoid too much at first. There 
can be no doubt that the cutting and bottling of late 
Grapes has this one thing which chiefly recommends 
it, viz., that the Vines can be started again much 
earlier than otherwise they could be ; consequently, 
there is a better chance of a long season, combined with 
the proper treatment, resulting in good Grapes that 
will keep well. Never grudge a few extra loads of coal 
or coke if your Grapes are thoroughly ripened thereby. 
That is my advice to all who ask me about the matter. 
— S. 
Aralias. —I quite agree with your correspondent 
“W. ” (p. 344), with regard to the usefulness of the 
Aralias for table decoration, or for any other purpose 
where light foliage is required, there is no other plant 
that can be used more effectively ; but with regard to 
the names, I think “ W.” has made some mistake when 
he compares A. Veitchii with A. reticulata, as the latter 
has simple strap shaped leaves, and the former has 
digitate leaves, with about eleven distinct leaflets. 
With regard to A. Veitchii, and the variety A. V. 
gracillima, there is certainly a great variation to be 
found ; but this arises chiefly from the different con¬ 
ditions under which the plants are grown. If the 
plants are grown in a rich compost they will develop 
larger leaves, and the leaflets will be much broader, and 
as the plants attain to a larger size they may easily be 
taken for a distinct variety ; to retain the light slender 
habit, the plants should be grown in light sandy soil. 
I do not know the origin of A. V. gracillima, but I 
have sometimes doubted if it could be a true variety, as 
I have grown plants that have appeared quite distinct 
when young, which have afterwards appeared identical 
with A. Veitchii.— A. Hemsley. 
-- 
The Gardeners’ Calendar. 
♦ 
THE PLANT HOUSES. 
Yet another week of dull cheerless weather, not so 
much to be lamented in this department as in the 
forcing, but still sufficiently depressing in its influences 
to affect both animal and vegetable life. Keep the 
house in which those plants are staged which have 
been forced rather close, and allow fire-heat for an hour 
or two every morning, water in good time and keep 
perfectly clean, removing all dead and falling blossoms 
a,s they affect all flowers near them, and if the weather 
is too damp to admit of the lights being opened for 
ventilation, open the doors for half an hour at mid-day 
so as to purify the air within. 
Should green fly make its appearance upon Cinerarias 
or Pelargoniums, or, in fact, any of the greenhouse 
stuff, fumigate without delay, as if it once becomes 
established the foliage is damaged and becomes at once 
an eye sore for a long time. The Pelargoniums which 
were stopped, as advised some short time since, should 
now be sufficiently advanced to require a shift; use 
a good sound compost as that will conduce to a good 
stocky firm growth, very much to be preferred to a 
sappy one, and much more certain in its results for 
flowering. 
Look carefully over the stock of tuberous Begonias 
many of which will be starting into growth, and if 
unnoticed will suffer ; give the old pots a soaking of 
water a few days before it is determined to shake out 
the bulbs, which will enable the old soil to be removed 
more readily, and also greatly refresh the tubers after 
their long rest; the same remarks will apply to 
Gloxinias, in fact, until fairly started, both mil require 
similar treatment and may be staged together. 
Keep a sharp look-out as to whatever seeds may need 
to be sown for flower garden work, and also for in-door 
purposes ; and do not forget to make a good sowing of 
Mignonette, in 6-in. pots, thinning the plants when 
sufficiently advanced to four or five in each pot, this 
will be found to succeed the autumn sowing, which, as 
the sun obtains more power, rapidly goes over ; we find 
the crimson-flowering the best for all purposes. 
FORCING HOUSES. 
Work in this department will be confined principally 
to the Vineries and Peach houses, and they will need 
constant attention in the way of ventilating, syringing, 
disbudding, stopping, tying, and so on ; where the 
Peach trees are in bloom, do not syringe in the morn¬ 
ing, damp down the house, keep it at a temperature of 
60”, and ventilate as freely both top and front as the 
weather will permit ; go over the flowers at mid-day 
with the rabbit’s-tail, after which, tap the trees or 
shake the trellis to help to distribute the remaining 
pollen, shut up about 2.30 p.m., and give the trees a 
syringing with rather warm water, this will be found 
to encourage growth, so much to be desired when the 
fruit is setting. I have always noticed that where the 
trees grow and flower simultaneously, there is always a 
greater amount of health and vigour in the trees, and 
consequently much better fruit. 
