488 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
April 3, 1886. 
Yuurbaak, Cavagniac, and King of the Reds ; the lat¬ 
ter very distinct, hold their own well, and take a lot 
of beating. The single blues comprise, King of the 
Blues, Charles Dickens, Marie, Queen of the Blues, 
somewhat modern, but very good, Blondin, Baron von 
Tuyll, Mimosa, a blue-black, and General Gordon, dar¬ 
ker still. In single whites, La Grandesse, Mont 
Blanc, Grandeur a Merville, Gigantea, and Queen of 
the Netherlands, still stand pre-eminent; and to these 
may be added Haydn, which is mauve in colour, and 
throws a tall compact spike. 
The best white Tulip is still Joost van Vondel, 
though the old Pottebakker White runs it very hard. 
Adeline and Proserpine take the lead among the rose- 
coloured varieties, and Vermilion Brilliant and Belle 
Alliance are the greatest favourites among the scarlets. 
Of what are commonly called striped varieties, Keizer’s 
Kroon remains unsurpassed ; and to complete the 
selection we may add Yellow Pottebakker and Yellow 
Prince are the best yellows, and Queen of Violets and 
Globe de Rigaud as fine violet-tinted sorts. 
Among miscellaneous subjects made much use of in 
the decoration of the show-house, were Camellias, forced 
Rhododendrons, Azalea mollis varieties, including that 
very fine novelty, Lord Shaftesbury, which was certi¬ 
ficated last week at South Kensington ; this marks a 
distinct advance in the neat compact shape of the truss, 
and the perfect form and substance of the brightly- 
coloured flowers. Staphylea colchica has been forced 
largely this season, and has again been found most 
useful. Cyclamens, Spirseas, &c., help considerably in 
the making up of a pretty display. 
--->X<-- 
THE INFLUENCE OF LOCALITY 
ON GARDENING. 
This is an important subject, though often over¬ 
looked, both by professionals, employers, amateurs, and 
cottagers alike. Sometimes the first-named finds him¬ 
self on the outlook for a fresh place, and cannot, as a 
rule, settle down or choose the county or locality he 
would like to go to, and if he should be so fortunate 
or unfortunate, as the case may be, as to obtain a 
situation the opposite in character to what he has been 
used to, both in regard to soil and climate, he finds 
himself situated in a trying position, especially if he 
has been located in some favoured county or district 
and should find himself in a picturesque or hilly 
country, or in the suburbs of one of the large manu¬ 
facturing towns of the northern counties,, it will take 
him something like a whole season to get accustomed 
to the altered circumstances. Nor is this all: some 
favourite fruits, flowers, and even sorts of vegetables 
will in many cases have to be abandoned as local in¬ 
fluences and experience will determine. Gardening 
may be said to be carried on under great difficulties in 
such places, for it may be that in many cases it is only 
of secondaxy importance, the pn-oprietor pitching his 
tent more for the convenience of himself and business 
in a locality favouring commerce more than vegetation. 
Nevertheless, there are hundreds of such employers 
who are fond and proud of their gardens, in spite of the 
districts in which they are placed ; but at times are apt 
to forget themselves when retur ning home after visiting 
in the south, where vegetation is under better influences, 
they demand of their gardeners an explanation as to 
why their things do not do so well as those they have 
seen. The gardener, in many cases, is held responsible 
and blamed for failures, the result of climatic or other 
circumstances over which he has no control. 
Many southern writers, both in the gardening papers 
and in the annual gardening calenders, are not alto¬ 
gether exempt from criticism, for while the advice given 
in the locality in -which they are placed may be right, 
and given in perfect good faith for the gardening 
community generally, to non-practical and cottage 
garden readers it may at times be misleading, and 
especially as regards northern districts, in the matter of 
the spring sowing of seeds. This is overcome by allow¬ 
ing a period of sixteen to twenty-four days later than 
the advice given by the writers. 
The sowing of seeds and the flowering of plants in 
various soils, even in the same locality, sometimes 
varies to the extent of from seven to ten days. As an 
instance of this, I may mention that a gardening friend 
of mine can sow the same sort of early Peas a week 
later than I can, and have them up before me ; whilst 
as regards general cropping, he is eighteen days ahead 
of me, his soil being on the sandstone, and mine on the 
clay ; but in a dry season I have the advantage of him 
in all other respects but earliness.— B. L. 
ADIANTUM OUNEATUM. 
We have so often heard of the uses and valuable 
properties of this Maidenhair that it would appear 
superfluous to add anything more. It is, however, im¬ 
possible to over-rate its value, and as your correspondent 
“ W. C.,” p. 411, has referred to it as a pot plant, I 
will briefly direct attention to it in another direction— 
this time as a wall plant. This to many will be a novel 
way of growing it. It is, however, a most profitable 
one, as by so doing the walls of lean-to structures, 
and especially those with a north or north-west aspect, 
may easily be turned to good account, and which 
hitherto have been occupied with plants valueless 
from a pecuniary standpoint, and which, by dense 
foliage, have only served to hide whitewashed walls 
from view’. 
The process is easy and simple, and w’ell repays the 
trouble. This is the modus operandi Procure some 
diagonal wire with a 2 in. or 3 in. mesh and fix to the 
wall, leaving a cavity for soil of about 2 ins. Place 
the first width from the ground floor, and when secure 
fill in with soil, repeating the operation till the top of 
the wall is reached. If moss can be obtained, the wire 
may be faced with it to prevent the soil falling out. 
Little, however, will fall out if rough lumpy peat and 
fibrous loam and rotten manure is used, pressing it 
firmly together. Dormant plants are best for inserting, 
that is plants whose fronds have all been used, and 
which are taking a little rest. If these are to be had 
the planting may be done as the work proceeds ; if not, 
small plants in thumbs or old stools broken up will do. 
These will soon make furniture for the bare w’alls and 
be remunerative also. 
So far as I know, Mr. J. Ellam, of Cliveden, is the 
founder of this new means of growing Maidenhair, and 
w'ho speaks highly in its favour. From my own ob¬ 
servation of it at Cliveden, considering the length and 
breadth of the fronds and their deep colour, I am 
certain it might be turned to good account. I wonder 
how many miles of walls in lean-to structures there are 
in the United Kingdom which give no return at all, 
and how many more which are only clothed with some 
such plants as Ficus repens, which, compared with the 
Maidenhair, is valueless. Why not turn them to 
account ?— J. 
-—>X<—- 
LENTEN ROSES. 
Ix commencing this brief note it maybe well to explain 
that the Lenten Roses are that section of the Hellebore 
family which usually flower during the period of Lent, 
and from which they have taken that distinguishing nam e. 
They form, perhaps, oneof the handsomest groups among 
our spring flowers ; of such bold and noble aspect, even 
as foliage plants, that presuming then' flowers were in¬ 
conspicuous, they would form a very attractive and 
valuable group for their foliage alone. Fortunately, how¬ 
ever, there is no need for such speculation, for with their 
extremely handsome foliage, come their equally hand¬ 
some flowers, remarkably diversified in point of colour, 
many of them being quite new, while others are remark¬ 
able for the intensity of their markings or spots. 
Among those of recent years are many very 
handsome hybrids, scarcely known to cultivation at 
present, but all more or less beautiful, and which in a 
few years will occupy foremost positions among hardy 
spring flowers. They delight in a deep rich loamy soil, 
and are greatly benefited by an annual dressing of 
well decomposed manure. 
Though hardy in the extreme, the foliage of these 
Lenten Roses suffer to a very great extent in very severe 
winters, that is, provided they are planted out in open 
quarters where no shade or shelter from trees is afforded 
them. This was the case during the past winter—in 
exposed situations they are terribly cut, the foliage 
completely destrojmd, and the flowers suffering much 
the same fate—not so, however, where planted in shel¬ 
tered nooks, or where they have special quarters under 
glass. So exceptionally handsome and valuable are 
they, that they well deserve and repay any extra care 
which is bestowed upon them ; and being quite distinct 
from all else in the flower garden at this time, their 
cultivation, which is now far too limited, seems to 
merit extension. 
Some ot the finer kinds among the old varieties are to 
be found in antiquorum and its major form, the flowers 
of which are pure white, and inclined to be globular in 
outline ; atro-rubens, bright rosy purple ; colchicus and 
its forms, the type being of deep rich plum colour, the 
varieties of this as well as the type being densely 
spotted ; guttatus, creamy white, with reddish spots • 
abchasicus, flowers deep purple, and one of the earliest 
to bloom ; and also the white variety of this species. 
Beside the white there are several other equally good 
forms of abchasicus, such as luteseens, metallicus, pur- 
purescens, roseus grandiflorus, and rubra. Then comes 
the orientale section, containing many very handsome 
forms, among which we have atro-rubens, with bold 
majestic flowers, of a rich plum colour inside, the 
exterior being of a reddish purple; and following this are 
punctatus and purpurescens, the former with purplish 
rose flowers, densely spotted, and the latter a deep 
reddish purple, and heavily veined. 
Prominent among those of more recent date may be 
mentioned Apotheker Bogren, having dazzling purple- 
rose flowers, very large and free, and well thrown over its 
leaves ; Commerzienrath Benary, which is snow-white 
margined with reddish purple spots—a most handsome 
form; F. C. Hienemann is of a dark deep purple, with 
slate-coloured reverse, very freely spotted and veined ; 
Willy Schmidt has flowers of a fine pure white, 3 ins. 
across, supported on bold towering stems, which show the 
flowers to additional advantage. These are only a few 
of the many good things which are to be found in this 
much diversified and valuable group of spring flowers. 
In planting them, choose a somewhat sheltered and 
partially shaded spot, dig deeply, and manure heavily. 
Beyond this nothing more is needed, save to let them 
alone, for what is true of the Christmas Rose is equally 
true of the various species constituting this spring¬ 
flowering section. They are most impatient of removal, 
and as they root very deeply, the operation cannot be 
well performed without great loss of valuable fibrous 
roots. 
A good time for procuring small plants for a begin¬ 
ning is the present, and so enable them to make the 
whole of their new growth (the majority of the old 
having been cut off, or, rather, very much damaged 
by frost), and be in condition for flowering twelve- 
months hence. The modes of propagation are by di¬ 
vision and seeds, and as the latter are somewhat freely 
produced, those of your readers who are endowed with 
abundant patience, may do well to endeavour to 
obtain still further improvements on already existing 
kinds. — J. 
-->X<-- 
APRIL. 
Oxe of our poets has thus described the month of 
April :— 
Now, Proteous-like, smiling, and now in tears, 
Comes changeful April, mingling hopes with fears ; 
The soft, warm rain-drops scarce to fall begun, 
Like diamonds gleam beneath the smiling sun ; 
The meadows now a robe of fresh green wear, 
The lark’s sweet song with music fills the air ; 
Faintly as yet, now nearer and more near, 
The cuckoo’s cry falls softly on the ear ; 
The Sloe’s dark branch with snowy flowers is hung, 
Ere yet a leaf has burst its wintry cell; 
The sweet wild Violet shows itself among 
The hedge-row verdure in the shady dell; 
And from her home beneath the half-clothed trees, 
Gives forth her incense to the passing breeze. ” 
But this is the poet’s license of song. He looks at 
April through rose-tinted spectacles, and paints it as he 
would have it be-not as it really is. AVe have had 
experience of April as a cold, miserable, nippy month, 
with snow and frost, chilblains and chapped hands. 
We sometimes get a bit of March—and the worst bit of 
it, too—dovetailed into April, and then one realises 
Hood’s “Pleasures of Spring.” 
In the real, not the poetic, April there is usually a 
large range of temperature, the thermometer varying in 
some years from 75° to several degrees belowthe freezing 
point of water. The mean temperature is about 49J 3 , 
and it is found that upon an average of many years 
there are six frosty nights in this month. Other cir¬ 
cumstances being equal, the temperature is in this, as 
in other months, lowest a short time before sunrise. If 
there has been a dry March, a wet April is, on the 
whole, most advantageous to the gardener, and a 
quantity of rain in April is thought to iudicate a dry 
season for the harvest in August and September. One 
thing is quite certain, that as the month of April is so 
full of uncertainties as to the weather, the gardener 
should be on the alert to protect fruit-tree blossoms and 
half-hardy plants when required. — E. IV. 
