70 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
October 2 , 1886. 
Hollies are tlie prime feature, and next to these the 
Rhododendrons. The collection of Hollies consists of 
some seventy varieties, old and new, and the avenue of 
single specimens of all the kinds that have been planted 
as they came into commerce is worth a journey to see 
in itself—the specimens being so large and perfect in 
their development. Many of them, indeed, are the 
original plants. The Rhododendron avenue, too, is 
not to be matched, so grand are the specimens, and so 
great is the interest attached to them. The golden 
Yews, too, also demand a word, some of the specimens 
being quite fifty years old. The practice of planting 
out examples of all the best things as they are intro¬ 
duced has also been carried out in the case of Roses, 
and here, in a large quarter, can be seen plants of some 
500 varieties ; other things are treated in the same 
way, which cannot now be indicated, but which would 
be found well worthy of inspection by all lovers of 
hardy plants. The Handsworth nursery is in every 
respect a remarkable establishment, and we shall hope 
some day to do it greater justice. 
-- 
THE STRAWBERRY TREE, 
ARBUTUS UNEDO. 
Despite what some heated politicians say to the 
contrary, let us gratefully acknowledge that some good 
came out of Ireland, for she gave us the Strawberry tree. 
AVe have many beautiful evergreens in our gardens, 
and this is one of them ; for its growth and foliage are 
alike pleasing and ornamental, its flowers hanging in the 
form of manifold bells of delicate white, giving an ad¬ 
ditional beauty to it, but when it is covered with a 
profusion of pendent scarlet berries, it is certainly one 
of the most ornamental trees we possess. The berries 
ripen slowly, and remain long on the tree, sometimes 
up to the period when it comes into flower. It is a 
generally received opinion that this tree, when young, 
does not fruit, and that it is only in its more advanced 
stage that the “Strawberries” ripen to maturity. This is, 
perhaps, hardly correct, as experience has shown that if 
this Arbutus is planted in common soil, with a damp 
bottom, it will grow vigorously, flower, and be in every 
respect healthy, though it will not ripen its fruit until 
the tree is old; but if it be planted upon a bed of 
gravel, or upon a sandy bottom, and in an elevated 
situation, so as never to be subject to any stagnant 
moisture at the roots—the gravel or sand continually 
acting as a drain, and consequently keeping the roots 
quite dry and warm—it will be found that the Arbutus 
brings its fruit to maturity whilst quite young, and by 
the time the tree attains a tolerable size, say four or five 
years after it is transplanted, it will, in a favourable 
season, be entirely covered with a profusion of crimson 
berries, forming an object of great beauty. At times 
it partially suffers from severe frosts, but is hardly ever 
killed outright. 
According to Mr. R. Folkard, the tree is one of great 
antiquity, for he informs us, in his book on Plant Lore, 
dec., that it was held sacred by the Romans. “ It was 
one of the attributes of Cardea, a sister of Apollo, wdio 
was beloved by Janus, guardian of gates and avenues. 
With a rod of Arbutus, Cardea drove away witches, and 
protected little children when ill or bewitched. The 
Romans employed the Arbutus, with other symbolic 
trees and flowers, at the Palila, a festival held in honour 
of the pastoral goddess Pales. It was a Roman custom 
to deposit branches of the Arbutus on coffins ; and Yirgil 
tells us that Arbutus rods and. Oak twigs formed the 
bier of young Pallas, the son of Evander. Horace, in 
his Odes, has celebrated the shade afforded by the 
Arbutus. Ovid speaks of the tree as ‘ the Arbutus 
heavy with its ruby fruit,’ and tells us that in the 
golden age, the fruit afforded food to man. This fruit 
is called unedo, and Pliny is stated to have given it 
that name because it was so bitter, ‘ that he who ate one 
would eat no more. ’ But I have met with people who 
eat the fruit and appear to like it. Some of the most 
fruitful specimens of this shrub I have ever seen, were 
growing on elevated positions, which appeared to suit it 
exactly.”— E. D. 
We learn from an exchange that something new'in 
vegetables is being brought forward by the well-known 
French seedsmen, Messrs. Yilmorin, Andrieux & Co., 
of Paris. It is called Choro-gi, and is a native of 
Northern Africa. Its botanical name is Stachys affinis. 
It fleshy roots or tubers only are eaten, dressed like 
string Beans or fried like fritters, and are said also to 
make an excellent pickle. 
NOTES ON BEANS. 
We have three distinct forms of Beans, which are 
popular and widely grown—Broad or Long Pods, 
Runner Beans, and Dwarf or Kidney Beans. Of the 
former, fewer are grown than formerly, because the 
taste for them seems dying out. They are rather strong- 
flavoured, apt to stain, and soon become hard and 
lacking tenderness. Because of their great length, the 
selected forms of the Seville have been favourably re¬ 
garded on the show table. For garden purposes, by 
far the most prolific and useful is Johnson’s Wonderful 
or Giant Long Pod, and for market growth the fine 
Harlington Broad Windsor is the best. It is curious 
that whilst in private gardens the long-podded kinds 
arc the most esteemed, market people will have only 
the Broad Windsors. If we turn to dwarf French 
Beans, we find that the long-podded Red Flageolet or 
Canadian Wonder seems to have usurped the place of 
popularity, owing, again, very much to its effectiveness 
as a show' vegetable. 
Forcgrs of dwarf Beans will use some of the earlier 
or shorter-podded kinds, but for general crop almost all 
gardeners grow' Canadian Wonder. If henceforth they 
will obtain seed of the Long, podded Negro—by some 
rather absurdly termed Monster, or Giant Long-podded 
Negro—they will find a much better, more prolific, and 
tender-eating Bean, very long and handsome in pod, 
and altogether the best dwarf Bean in commerce. 
With respect to runners, the most useful of all Beans, 
we have a considerable selection in Champion and Ex¬ 
hibition White and Scarlet—sorts all very prolific and 
producing fine pods. If we want something bigger and 
more sensational, we can have Girtford Giant or The 
Czar ; but the prettiest and handsomest of all runners, 
so far as I have seen samples, is Ne Plus Ultra—the 
pods long, straight, and even, and of a rich green hue. 
So far, it has been seen in London only at the cot¬ 
tagers’ show held at South Kensington, in August, 
.where it w r as by far the best sample shown. Can any 
reader tell us anything farther about such a fine selec¬ 
tion as Ne Plus Ultra is ?— A. D.- 
-- 
THE AURICULA.* 
The Auricula has long been cultivated in this 
country, and prized by florists as one of their finest 
flowers. The date of its introduction is not exactly 
known, but it w'as a cultivated plant in this country 
prior to 1597, when it was described by Gerard, who 
mentions several sorts of Bears Ears (by which name 
the Auricula was formerly known) as being then com¬ 
monly grown near London. Since that time great im¬ 
provements have been effected in the flower, through 
the efforts of such florists as Campbell, Lightbody, 
Page, Leigh, Franklin, Booth, Trail, Morris, Litton, 
Oliver, Holden, Headly, Ashton, Pollit, Thompson, 
Turner, Sykes, Waterhouse, Clough, Royston, Read, 
Cunningham, Butcher, Grime, Kenyon, Wilmer, Spal¬ 
ding, Smith, PohlmaD, Martin, Neatherwood, Sims, 
Simonite, and last, though uot least, the Rev. F. D. 
Horner. It should also be stated that much of the 
improvement that has taken place has resulted from 
the active competition which has existed for many 
years amongst the operatives in the manufacturing 
towns of Lancashire and Cheshire, and w'ho have 
carried the culture of this plant to a high degree of 
perfection. In the language of the florists a single 
flower is called a “ pip,” and several of these borne on 
the same stem constitute a “truss.” The individual 
pip is divided into four parts. The centre of the flower, 
in which are situated the sexual organs, is called the 
“ thrum ” ; the circle of white surrounding this is 
called the eye or “paste 1 ’; the next band, which 
should have a feathery edge, is. termed the “ground 
colour ” ; aud the margin, according to its colour, is 
called green-edged, grey-edged, or white-edged, as the 
case may be, while those which have no edge or distinct 
band of colour surrounding the ground colour constitute 
a fourth class termed 1 ‘ seifs. ” Besides these there is 
another section called alpines, in which the paste, or 
centre, is yellow or white, and the body colour either 
“self” or shaded. These may be had in a great 
variety of colours, but they are not much cultivated by 
florists. 
Propagation. 
The Auricula is propagated by seeds for the pro¬ 
duction of new varieties, and by division of the offsets 
*A Paper read on Sept. 21th, at a Meeting of the Walkley 
Amateur Floral Society. 
for the perpetuation of individual sorts. The seeds 
may be sown in December, January, Februarv, or the 
early part of March, but the sooner the better, as if 
sown at any other time the chance of keeping them 
through the winter is not so good, owing to their 
liability to damp off. The seeds should be sown thinly 
in pots or pans, well drained and filled with light rich 
soil, composed of two parts of sandy loam, one part of 
leaf soil, passed through a fine sieve, one part of 
well-decayed manure about three years old, and plenty 
of sand. When sown, cover the seeds thinly with sand 
or fine compost, and place them in a frame or green¬ 
house in a position where they can he shaded from the 
sun. A proper degree of moisture must be maintained 
in the soil by gentle waterings. When the plants are 
up, care should be taken, when watering, not to wet 
the foliage ; and when the young plants have made 
three or four leaves they may be placed singly into 
3-in. pots in a similar compost to that before mentioned. 
In the following spring some of the seedlings will 
bloom, when those that prove to be worth growing 
should be retained, and the others thrown away. 
Yarious seasons are recommended for propagating by 
division, but to my mind the best time is when the 
plants are being re-potted, and this should be done as 
they are going out of flower, or be left until July, when 
the growing season commences again. The Auricula 
has two seasons of growth—viz., from August to the 
middle of October, and from February till about the 
middle of June. Active growth is at other times sus¬ 
pended, and while they are in this state they will 
require very little water, and certainly none overhead. 
They cannot, however, have too much air; conse¬ 
quently, whatever kind of structure they are grown in, 
it must be thoroughly ventilated. Although the 
Auricula may be grown in a shady border, yet the finer 
varieties can only be flowered in perfection in pots and 
under glass. For this purpose, after much thought, I 
decided to erect a small span-roofed house, ventilated 
according to my own ideas, and which was constructed 
as follows :—The house is 9 ft. long and 7 ft. wide, 
and measures 7 ft. from the floor to the ridge. The 
brick-work at the sides and ends is 4 ft. high, and 
a single brick in thickness. The fourth course from 
the ground consists of a brick'and a ventilating grate 
placed alternately the length of the house on both sides, 
and the glass is so arranged as to give about half-an- 
inch of ventilation all along the top and bottom of 
each side, so that there is but little chance of any 
stagnant moisture accumulating. Where it is not con¬ 
venient to have a house, a frame, such as is recom¬ 
mended by the Rev. F. D. Horner, would certainly 
give pleasure to the amateur cultivator. The dimensions 
of the fiame are as follows i—It stands on legs between 
2 ft. and 3 ft. high ; it is open at the bottom, and the 
back is of wood; there is also a door in it to give 
access to the plants, and for the admission of air. The 
ends are of glass, and are - fixed ; the front is also of 
glass, but this being hinged to the frame, it can be let 
down at pleasure for giving air. The top is protected 
with lights, which can be tilted, or entirely removed 
when it is desired to completely expose the plants. In 
the interior there are five rows of shelves, the rise between 
each shelf being 2 ins., and the distance from the glass 
is 15 ins. Each shelf is 5 ins. wide, and a piece about 
1 in. in width is cut out along the middle to within a 
short distance of each end, to permit the water to escape 
from the pots. The dimensions are :—height from the 
ground at back, 4 ft. 8 ins. ; in front, 3 ft. 8 ins. ; 
width, 3 ft. 8 ins., and length, 7 ft. 2 ins. 
Repotting. 
It is most essential that the Auricula should be 
repotted every year, so that the tap root may be 
examined and be cut back as required. This, I think 
is best done in July, when each plant should be 
shaken out, and the roots washed clean and examined, 
so that if there be any canker or disease it can be cut 
clean out and the tap root shortened back to the 
previous year’s flower stem ; the side shoots should be 
taken off, and all the wounds dressed with finely 
pow dered charcoal. The pots best suited to the Auricula 
are those called Long Toms ; and for a full-sized plant 
the pot should not exceed 4 ins. at the top, 3 ins. at 
the bottom—inside measurement—and 54 ins. deep, to 
allow of abundant drainage. The compost should con¬ 
sist of two parts of pasture turf (two years old), one 
part of cow or horse manure (three years old), half a 
portion of leaf-soil and half a portion of coarse sand 
thoroughly mixed together. Put in at least H ins. of 
