November 6, 1886. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
155 
and, although I must admit it has a musky flavour— 
so much sought after in Grapes—yet I am by no means 
so certain whether it has not been considerably over¬ 
rated ; in fact, I assert, that had one half the care been 
bestowed on its compeer, Muscat Hambro’, Madresfield 
would never have held its own, and much consequent 
annoyance to both employer and employed would have 
been averted. I maintain, that when worked on a 
suitable stock, Muscat Hambro’ can be grown equally 
as meritorious as the Madresfield, added to which there 
is no fear of cracking, and I am quite certain it is of 
even better flavour ; and yet because it was subject' 
to shanking, it was discarded by most growers, 
when there can be but little doubt the roots of the 
Vine upon which it was worked were in an unsatis¬ 
factory condition. While men know how fickle is the 
Madresfield, and how great a risk they run in advo¬ 
cating its being planted as a permanent Vine, so long do 
they deserve, or rather court, failure. I was acquainted 
with the late Mr. W. Cox, the raiser of Madresfield, and 
when walking through the Yineries with him, remarked 
on the crop, “ Why, you are not able to grow your own 
Grape ! ” Once at Garston, when Mr. Meredith was 
at his best, I saw Madresfield really good ; but then it 
must be borne in mind the roots of the Vine were 
inside, and, consequently, under complete control, and 
had a structure to itself. Where one can cultivate it 
in this way, all well and good ; but I consider it 
wantonness on the part of any man to plant it as 
permanent in a mixed Yinery, as so many do. A great 
friend of Mr. Cox once remarked to him, shortly after 
he had disposed of the stock for distribution, “Ah ! 
William, my boy, that Yine will do you more good 
than any one else ” ; a remark fully justified in my 
opinion, so many and so complete are the failures in 
its cultivation. I previously alluded to the cracking 
having become chronic ; I am led to this conclusion by 
the season at which the controversy opens. Rheumatic 
patients generally dread the approach of autumn, and, 
consequently, take precautions ; so also do the advo¬ 
cates of this particular Grape, by lauding its qualities, 
so bolster it up, that it survives another planting 
season by the help of their pens ; but the sooner it is 
discarded for more reliable kinds the better, in my 
opinion, for all concerned.— Vitis. 
Chrysanthemum (Pyrethrum) uligi- 
nosum. —This very showy perennial attains a height 
of 6 ft., but is not so profuse a bloomer as Leucan- 
themum maximum. I have, however, hit upon a plan 
of securing this showy plant at about -3 ft. high, at which 
height it is far more suitable for many beds than at its 
usual height. It is very simple, and is done by cutting 
the plants down to within 9 ins. of the ground in the 
first or second, week in June, after which just pinch 
the top out of the foremost of the after-breaks to make 
them bush out. I treated the whole of mine this v r ay 
this season, with the result of a snow-white mass of 
flowers, barely 3 ft. high.— J. 
Cotoneaster frigida. —This is a useful tree 
and is extensively grown in the Darley Dale nursery. 
It is very ornamental for planting in shrubberies ; the 
berries are left alone by birds as long as most plants of 
its kind. Large bushes, 12 ft. high, arc loaded with 
berries in this neighbourhood, having an intense bright 
red at Christmas, the large branches and clusters of 
berries being fine for church decoration.— G. B., 
Hopton. 
Mr. James Upton’s Nursery at Irlam.— 
Some time last summer your pages contained a de¬ 
scription of a garden at Irlam, that of Messrs. Upton & 
Sons, and a few weeks ago, business calling me that 
way, I called to see the fine young Palms grown there. 
The houses are, as your correspondent “ N. J. D.” 
described them, very simply built structures ; but they 
are literally crowded with crops, such as Cucumbers, 
Tomatos, Palms, Ferns, &c., &c. The son, Mr. James 
Upton, who has been the leading man in the firm for 
some time, has the whole of the glass structures in his 
own hands now, and seems determined to excel as a 
cultivator. I was sorry not to find the Rose trees 
formerly described, as they have all been cut out and 
the space utilized for growing a handsome and prolific 
kind of Cucumber. In another house were some grand 
Tomatos, some of which weighed 14 ozs., and were of 
fine flavour. The Cucumber may be heard of again, 
as it is a good paying kind ; Mr. Upton had been 
cutting from the same plants since March last, and I 
should think there were at least 500 good specimen 
fruits hanging late in September. I hope our young 
friend will meet with success in his efforts to grow well 
and cheaply specialities which he takes in hand.— One 
on the Road. 
Richardia (Calla) iEthiopica. —Why is this 
termed the Lily of the Nile ? One would suppose it 
was a native of Egypt, but its home is the Cape of 
Good Hope. It is an excellent plant for a window, 
where its beautiful white porcelain-like spathe and its 
golden spadix become conspicuous objects. I can grow 
these plants well in a cold house, but I have not yet 
succeeded in blooming them ; I am afraid that my 
chance of doing so this autumn and coming winter is a 
slender one. It is all but aquatic by nature, and, 
therefore, it is a plant needing a liberal and continuous 
supply of water. “ Keep the saucer always half full of 
water,” says one authority, “and the plant will grow 
vigorously, each succeeding leaf being larger and taller 
than its predecessor.” This is good advice for a plant 
grown in a window or greenhouse from which frost can 
be excluded ; but let no one attempt it during winter 
if the frost is in danger of reaching the water and 
changing it into ice. Thousands of spathes of this 
beautiful plant are grown for market purposes, and 
huge bunches of them can now be seen in the windows 
of the flower-shops. The growers plant their Trumpet 
Lilies, as the Richardia is termed, out of doors in early 
summer, and the plants are greatly benefited thereby. 
It is sometimes called the Hoon-flower, from the shape 
of its large white calyx.— II. D. 
Damp on Plants. —In cold houses that are 
within reach of the London fogs, damp is beginning to 
settle upon the leaves of the plants, and they should be 
gone over occasionally, that the cause of decay may be 
removed. "VYhile the present mild open weather con¬ 
tinues, air may be freely given, but as soon as the 
mists begin to rise, close the house and exclude as much 
of it as possible. Some daily attention is now necessary, 
and watering should be done with care. 
The Fall of the Leaf. —Already the leaves are 
lying ankle-deep in woodland ways, and those that 
remain on the trees are brown, russety brown, yellow, 
golden or brown red. Soon the deciduous trees will all 
be bare of leaves ; an autumn frost would send them 
down like rain. Y r hat is the cause of this phenomenon 
in vegetable life ? Dr. Lindley has lucidly explained 
it in his Theory of Horticulture “ In the course of 
time a leaf becomes incapable of performing its func¬ 
tions ; its passages are choked up by the deposit of 
sedimentary matter ; there is no longer any communi¬ 
cation between the parenchyma—the pith or pulp of 
plants—and that of the rind, or between its veins and 
the -wood or liver. It changes colour, ceases to de¬ 
compose carbonic acid, absorbs oxygen instead, gets 
into a morbid condition and dies ; it is then thrown 
off. This phenomena, which we call the fall of the 
leaf, is going on the whole year round, except mid¬ 
winter, in some plant or the other. Those which lose 
the whole of their leaves at the approach of winter, and 
are called deciduous, begin, in fact, to cast their leaves 
within a few weeks of the commencement of their 
vernal growth ; but the mass of their foliage is not 
rejected until late in the season. Those, on the other 
hand, which are named evergreens, part with their 
leaves much more slowly, retain them in health at a 
time wdien the leaves of other plants are perishing, and 
do not cast them till even spring has commenced, when 
other trees are leafing, or even later. In the latter 
class the functions of the leaves are going on all the 
winter, although languidly ; they are constantly 
attracting sap from the earth through the spongelets, 
and are therefore in a state of slow but continual winter 
growth.” 
Bouvardia Triomphe de Nancy. —This is a 
fine new double variety, which I saw at Messrs. 
Veitch & Son’s Nursery, at Chelsea, a few days ago. 
It has the bright red colour of B. elegans and the 
foliage of B. Yreelandii. I think it is one of Mons. 
Yictor Lemoine’s novelties—a continental horticulturist 
to whom we are indebted for so many good things. 
This new form will prove an excellent companion to 
the other double varieties in cultivation. Among single 
varieties I noticed Priory Beauty ; this has pale pink 
flowers, and they are very pretty indeed, and it is also 
exceedingly free blooming. Up to this time B. longi- 
flora flammea has been the best of this colour ; but it 
has to give place to Priory Beauty. Maiden Blush, a 
delicate-flowered variety, is very free and pretty also, 
and with Priory Beauty should find a place in a 
collection.— R. D. 
Hydrangea rosea. —Two years ago we imported 
this plant from Messrs. Veitch, of London. It grew 
well, propagated easily, and we soon had lots of it. I 
grow it and other kinds in pots, and winter them in a 
3 ft. deep cold frame. Last May, for convenience sake 
as well as show, I planted out a lot of Thomas Hogg 
and rosea that were all about the same size, and had 
been grown, wintered and otherwise treated alike. 
Rosea came into bloom about the middle of June, and 
was in perfection about the end of the month ; Thomas 
Hogg did not come into flower till rosea was past its 
best. Many who saw and admired these plants of rosea 
in bloom bespoke plants of it, a fact which is surely a 
high recommendation. For my own part, I regard it 
as one of the finest of the genus. But like most tinted 
Hydrangeas, it does not confine itself to one shade of 
colour. At Halloclc & Thoiqie’s last spring, I saw 
several that had flowers of a bluish cast; others rose 
with white eye, and so on. Mr. Ferguson, of Phila¬ 
delphia, told me he also imported it, and raised and 
sold a lot of plants, but is disappointed with it. I am 
sorry for this, for really I believe Hydrangea rosea has 
come to stay.— Wm. Falconer, in American Florist: 
Bean Ne Plus Ultra (Cooling’s). —“A. D.” 
asks for further information, and for details, as to the 
colour of the seeds of the dwarf French Bean Ne Plus 
Ultra, noted by me in a former issue. The seeds, when 
mature, will average over h in. in length ; shape 
oblong or slightly curved, and not so very full at the 
sides ; dun-coloured, and not in any way speckled, as 
are most other dwarf and runner Beans. Judging by 
its seed alone, it is a dwarf, of which there are unmis¬ 
takably distinct types, although known under the same 
name, which is unfortunate, as it causes much con¬ 
fusion. “A. D.’s” remarks upon the poverty of 
invention shown in finding names I thoroughly agree 
with. I suppose, as a rule, it is the result of ignorance 
of the existence of another variety bearing the same 
name. I may mention that this particular variety was 
sent out by Messrs. Cooling, of Bath; and at the 
Chiswick trials, in 1877, it gained the only First 
Class Certificate awarded by the Royal Horticultural 
Society, when nearly 200 varieties of Beans were 
grown.— B. L. 
Judging Chrysanthemums.—I am indebted 
to “A. D.” for his courteous replies, and agree with 
him in the opinion as to the undesirability of such a 
case as he quotes on p. 132 ; but I do not think it is 
either necessary or desirable that such stands should be 
disqualified. It has frequently been my duty to assist 
in making awards in somewhat similar cases, and I 
have every reason to think that we succeeded in giving 
general satisfaction. I know numerous artisans who 
prefer the three forms of Mrs. Rundle to any number 
of more strongly-marked varieties -we could give them ; 
and so long as Mrs. Rundle, George Glenny and Mrs. 
Dixon retain their well-known distinct shades of colour, 
I fail to see why these very numerous growers and 
exhibitors should be compelled to grow something they 
do not like so well, in order to be able to compete in 
classes for “threes” and “sixes.” “A. D.” says, “If 
the term ‘kinds ’ signify, in all cases,” &c. ; it is the 
ambiguity frequently involved in these terms, and 
often their transposition, that creates the misunder¬ 
standings and confusion. That good schedules are 
fairly clear and concise I am fully aware ; but there are 
many that are not so, and it was to those I applied my 
former remarks.-— J. Udale. 
Iris stylosa. —Some lovely blooms of this most 
beautiful winter-flowering species have reached us from 
Mr. W. B. Hartland’s garden, at Temple Hill, Cork, 
■where a mass of plants in bloom now have a verj- 
pleasing effect. Its light blue flowers, with yellow 
blotches, are so pretty, that no garden of hardy plants 
should be without it. 
Chrysanthemum Notes.— Amongst some of 
the admirers and growers of this deservedly popular 
and very numerous class, abbreviated names of a some¬ 
what barbaric character are employed—a sort of slang 
nomenclature, which, to my mind, is an innovation by 
no means of a complimentary description ; in fact, a 
gross insult to the dignity of so much worth and beauty. 
I have attended floral meetings when the Chrysan- 
