December 11, 1886. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
235 
and am inclined to think, further, that it is a lime or 
chalk soil that it needs. It is the more strange that it 
does not bloom here, seeing that the lovely Gentiana 
verna grows and blooms very well, as also do G. gellida, 
and several other species ; most of them are lovely, 
but none surpass G. acaulis when seen full of bloom. 
One often hears people complain of its not blooming 
satisfactorily ; any hints that will tend to make it bloom 
would be greatly appreciated, I am sure, by many 
besides the writer. It is a pity so lovely a plant 
should not be more extensively grown. My employer 
often speaks of seeing it as an edging to a walk in th'e 
north of England. It must be exceedingly beautiful 
when so grown. I should feel obliged to any reader, 
who blooms it satisfactorily, if they will state the nature 
of the soil, culture, &e., through the columns of your 
valuable’paper.— Con. [ If our correspondent, and those 
who, like him, do not succeed in getting Gentiana acaulis 
to bloom, were to plant it in good loam of not too 
retentive a character, and while planting it were to 
pave the ground tolerably thick with pebbles, or granite 
stones—such as are used on the highway—they will, 
perhaps, succeed better. Some years ago, in the garden 
of the late Miss Darwin at Shrewsbury, it used to 
flower grandly so treated.— Ed.] 
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Gardening IIjscellany. 
Aster hybridus nanus. —Michaelmas Daisies 
are known to everyone ; they form a group of hardy 
perennials, many of which are worthless, while some 
few possess great merit as decorative garden plants. 
Many of them are very tall-growing, and so are unsuit¬ 
able for some positions ; but the one under notice is 
quite the reverse of this. It only grows from 12 ins. 
to IS ins. high, has a neat habit, forming compact 
round bushes, and is covered with bright pink and 
white flowers. It was one of the most showy plants in 
our hardy plant borders this autumn. It is what may 
be called everybody’s plant, seeing that it grows in 
almost any kind of soil, and takes care of itself. "We 
think so well of it that we have increased its numbers 
all we could. It would be a grand kind for growing 
in pots for furnishing, and for this purpose would save 
many other more valuable plants. I would recommend 
all who have not tried it to do so, feeling sure that they 
will not be disappointed.— Con. 
White Pelargoniums.—Since the introduction 
of Madame Yaueher, many varieties have been brought 
under our notice, and each said to possess some charac¬ 
teristic merit far in advance of its predecessor, either as 
a bedder or for pot cultivation, and unquestionably 
this must be admitted as a positive fact ; but shall we 
be able to go on in this progressive way for an indefinite 
time 1 If so, it will be no easy task to forecast the 
labours of future raisers with reference to ulterior 
results. Some few years since, amongst other varieties, 
“Eureka,” “ I have it”—or, as many call it, “I’ve 
got it ’’—was sent out, and a very fine variety it is 
when the requisite pains are taken to grow it as it is 
capable of being grown. Evidence of this fact was 
given by the very fine large batch that was shown, 
some two or three years since, at the Lee, Blackheath 
and Lewisham summer show, by Mr. H. J. Jones, of 
the Hope Nursery. Lewisham. These, I remember, 
were very much admired, and considered by many to 
have been, as a group of whites, the very acme of per¬ 
fection ; but in the lapse of a short period the scene 
has shifted, and other favourites appear on the floral 
stage. Hence, as an example, exit “Eureka”—enter 
“Queen of the Belgians” ; and I think no one can 
dispute the fact of the latter rival being, in almost 
every essential point, under proper leadership, a better 
performer than its predecessor, inasmuch that the 
plant is of a dwarfer habit, the trusses good and of a 
pure white, and the flowers individually large and 
circular in outline. This variety was grandly exhibited 
in large numbers at the summer show of the Lewisham 
and District Floral Society, this season, by the gentle¬ 
man already mentioned. So perfect were the plants 
exhibited, that it was considered by many to be almost 
impossible to outrival Her Majesty the “Queen of the 
Belgians” ; but let us wait and see what the Jubilee 
year will usher in, after the scenes of the present year 
have been shifted and the curtain dropped.—“ Man of 
Kent." 
Gaultheria procumbens as an Edging 
Plant. —I do not know whether Gaultheria procumbens 
has ever been suggested as an edging for a border. I 
tried it a year or two ago, at Oakwood, round a bed 
containing principally deciduous plants ; and now, at 
this dead season, the bright red berries and glossy green 
leaves have a very pretty effect. I was struck with the 
frost-resisting power of a Veronica with narrow leaves 
and white flowers, which I have as Y. salicifolia, but 
which, a good authority tells me, is wrongly named. 
The thermometer at Oakwood, the other night, went 
down to 23° Fahr., yet I could cut sprays from plants in 
full exposure perfectly untouched. Thenarrowleavesand 
feathery white flowers made a useful addition to a table 
nosegay chiefly consisting of Pernettyas, with different 
coloured berries, and the open seed-pods of Iris fcetidis- 
sima—both very pretty but rather solid. —George F. 
JFilson, HeatherbanTc, TFcybridge. 
Zauschneria Californica. —Although an old 
plant, this is but little known, judging from how 
seldom it is met with in private gardens. As a plant 
that will bloom in the tenth month of the year, it has 
a claim on all lovers of hardy border subjects, seeing 
the few things there are that bloom at this season. It 
grows about 12 ins. high, and makes a neat bush ; it 
was covered with scarlet tubular flowers here this 
autumn, and deserves to be more cultivated in private 
gardens.— Con. 
Primula sinensis. — "Will you kindly state, 
through your columns, the origin of the Primula 
sinensis, and how it grows in its native country ; also 
when and how the double Primula sinensis originated 1 
— R. IF. S. [Primula sinensis is figured in the 
Botanical Magazine, t. 2564 ; in Lindley’s Collectanea 
Botanica, t. 7 ; Regel's Gartevjlora, 1861, t. 346 ; 
Hoopers Exotic Flora, t. 105 ; Loddiges’ Botanical 
Cabinet, t. 916 and 1926. All these figures show a great 
variation in the flower, and many varieties were in 
cultivation before 1833. It was first introduced in 
1820 to this country by Captain Eawes, who brought 
it from Canton, in China, where he found it in gardens 
only. None of the above works pretend to know where 
it occurs in a wild state. It was first called P. sinensis 
in Sabine’s manuscript, but is figured in the Botanical 
Register, t. 539, under the name of P. pracnitens. This 
was taken from a plant that flowered in March, 1821, 
in Mrs. Palmer’s collection at Bromley ; and the plant 
was supposed to be the only one in the country at that 
time. AVe believe that the original double white and 
double red came also from China, but have been 
improved since under cultivation.— Ed.] 
Luculia gratissima. —This is one of the finest 
winter-flowering plants in cultivation for conservatory 
decoration. It does remarkably well when planted 
out, which is the best way to treat it. I saw a plant 
so grown the other day in the conservatory at Norris 
Green, West Derby, Liverpool, where it is in the same 
bed as some grand Camellias, and showing by its con¬ 
dition that the same treatment suits them both. The 
plant, a handsome bush about 10 ft. high, bore over 
200 beautiful trusses of its delicate rose-coloured, sweet- 
scented blossoms. Many of the clusters of flowers were 
9 ins. and 10 ins. through, and nothing could be more 
beautiful. Gardening, in all its branches, is most 
practically carried out at this fine place, and never at 
this season of the year have I seen a conservatorv so 
gay with various winter-flowering plants. Mr. Bardney 
is truly an enthusiast in his profession.— A. O. 
No plant better ornaments our greenhouses at this 
time of the year than Luculia gratissima, with its 
sweet-scented blossoms. It may be propagated freely 
from seeds ; but the plants so raised do not generally 
bloom rmtil two or three years old. The best way to 
propagate it is to put cuttings of the young shoots, 
about May or June, in sand and leaf-soil, insert them 
singly in small thumb-pots, and plunge them for a few 
weeks in gentle bottom-heat. When sufficiently rooted, 
pot them on in a compost of loam and leaf-soil, with a 
little dry cow-dung added, and place them in a cool 
frame or greenhouse close to the glass, excluding the 
full rays of the sun. Plants thus treated will bloom 
in the autumn and early winter in 48 or 32-size pots. 
After blooming, they may be cut hard back, and either 
be grown on in larger pots or planted out ; the latter 
way they succeed very well. Large plants of L. gratis¬ 
sima, and the other kind, L. Pinceana, are planted out 
along with the Camellias in the Camellia-house at 
Chatswortli, and are both covered with bloom at this 
time of the year, perfuming the house with their 
fragrance. One great fault the flowers have — they do 
not last long when cut, although they do so when on 
the plant. — G. Holmes, Harefield Grove Gardens, 
Uxbridge. 
Berberidopsis corallina.—I send you two 
spikes of the very attractive Berberidopsis corallina, 
which has been in flower here for the last four months, 
and may, as you can see by the specimens sent, con¬ 
tinue flowering for some time to come. The plant is 
grown on a wall facing the south-west, and has stood 
out for years without any protection, so that it may be 
considered perfectly hardy. As I have not seen it 
mentioned in any of the gardening papers, it would be 
interesting to know if it succeeds in the south. I find 
it propagates slowly by means of cuttings, as some put 
under a hand-glass, in a cool shady place, in September 
of last year are only now rooting . —James Russell, 
Poltalloch Gardens, Lochgilphead, N.B. 
Fuchsia, Madame Cornellison.— This old 
Fuchsia still has some good points to recommend it to 
growers, and, although it is surpassed by many of the 
newer kinds in size, there is still the freedom and grace 
of habit in this that is lacking in many of the newer 
kinds. When looking through the gardens at Culford 
Hall, Bury St. Edmund’s, with Mr. Smith, the present 
gardener there, in October, I was pleased to meet with 
the old variety, growing outside. It was planted at 
the foot of a low wall facing south, and was just 
high enough to be seen over the top of the wall. It 
was blooming most profusely, and looked the picture 
of health. I was told that it had not the least pro¬ 
tection during the last two winters. This goes to show 
that Fuchsias are much hardier than they are often 
supposed—that is to say, those kinds usually grown 
under glass, as most people are fully aware of the 
hardiness of such as Globosa and Eicartoni, &c. ; but 
beautiful as these are, they are far out-distanced by 
such kinds, as the subject of this note, for the effect 
they give.— Con. 
Chimonanthus fragrans. — While writing 
about Culford Hall, I cannot leave the subject without 
saying a word about the grand specimen of this lovely 
sweet-scented, winter-blooming, hardy wall plant. It 
is growing on the wall in front of the gardener’s 
cottage, and covered a very large space ; and most 
beautiful it must be in the dull days of Christmas 
time, when covered with hundreds of sweet-scented 
blooms. It is a plant everyone, who loves fragrance, 
should grow who can give it a warm aspect on a 
wall.— Con. 
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The Gardeners’ Calendar. 
THE PLANT HOUSES. 
Hard-wooded Plants. —-Extra caution must now 
be used in the house devoted to hard-wooded plants, 
and more particularly if many Heaths are staged 
therein. With the continuation of weather as variable 
as it is disagreeable, the employment of fire-heat is 
absolutely indispensable. With Cape Heaths much 
rather allow the thermometer to remain near freezing 
point than to maintain a warm temperature, as it will 
assuredly induce them to start into growth, and so 
spoil the effect they should produce when flowering ; 
in fact, this class of plants are most impatient of heat 
at all times, and will not thrive unless plenty of air is 
admitted. 
Careful Watering. —Much care is also necessary 
that the plants do not suffer from a want of water at 
the roots ; should the ball by any means become quite 
dry, rather than trust to an ordinary watering, remove 
the plants from the stage, and immerse the pot in a 
tub, allowing it to remain for an hour or so, so that a 
thorough soaking may be assured, for I am quite certain 
from experience that much harm arises from careless 
watering at this season. The same remarks apply to 
the general stock of hard-wooded plants, such as 
Epacris, Leschenaultia and a host of others too 
numerous to mention. In the house devoted to 
Floivering Plants, much care must be taken that 
no unnecessary water is spilled about; maintain a 
comfortable atmosphere, and by all means ventilate 
