326 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
January 22, 1887. 
tinct from Prolific July Apple. There are several 
varieties, it would seem, of Winter Hawthornden in 
cultivation, and that of Paul is larger than the ordinary 
sort, and green instead of pale yellow, as in the latter ; 
it is an excellent and handsome Apple for mid-season, 
and a heavy cropper. Woodstock. Pippin is a pretty 
Apple, and a good-keeping sort. 
-->X<-- 
TOP-HEATING GLASSHOUSES. 
I have read “ A. D.’s ” further remarks on this sub¬ 
ject (p. 294), and note with surprise the statement that 
this system is nowhere in operation, especially after his 
sweeping condemnation of the present system in com¬ 
parison with that which he recommends. He appears 
to have changed his mind by seeing a modification of 
this system, which is a very different thing—very 
simple, and, I believe, would be very useful in prevent¬ 
ing condensation ; but there the benefit ends. 
Before recommending so strongly a new plan, one 
would expect its author to have made some experiments 
on the subject, or, at the very least, to have studied it 
a little. Consequently, I asked “A. D.” to state the 
difference in the cost of the respective systems. This 
he seems unable to do; he only advises “tremulous 
gardeners to try the top-heating plan for themselves.” 
For the reasons I gave in a former letter, I consider 
this system a great waste of power ; you can only get 
among the plants that 'heat which has not time to 
escape-outside ; while, with the pipes under the stage, 
almost the whole good is got from them with the least 
possible waste. 
Another very tempting bait is held out under 
“A. D.’s” system, by the setting of the boiler on the 
ground-level, instead of in a sunken stokehole. But 
well as this looks, it will not bear a moment’s practical 
examination. Take first a lean-to house—most people 
would like to have the boiler fixed behind the wall. 
This done, how are the pipes to be got across the path¬ 
way to the roof in front ? Seven feet of head-room is 
usually allowed in the newer structures ; can the pipes 
cross at this height ? With the return on the stage- 
level this would be impossible. If carried under the 
floor, then the boiler must be lowered. Again, in 
heating a span-roofed house, with a door at each end, 
place the boiler where you will, there is the same 
difficulty to get the pipes to one of the sides. The 
system advocated seems to call for a boiler for each 
side. Likewise in heating a range of houses, each 
requiring a different temperature, how could the heat 
be regulated, and how carried through a cool house 
to a hot one ? Again, how could it be taken without 
the greatest waste and inconvenience to a second range ? 
But granted these difficulties were all satisfactorily 
explained, what would be the use of this system for a 
propagating bed, or bottom-heat for general forcing 
purposes ? These are questions which “tremulous 
gardeners ” have to face before trying this plan for 
themselves, and it will take both them and “A. D.” 
some time to solve them.— R. Bell, Morton Mall, 
Midlothian. 
-- 
NOTES ON APHELANDRAS. 
Aphelaxdra Chamissoxiana. — This beautiful 
Acanthaceous plant is an introduction from South 
America. It is a very serviceable addition to our 
winter-flowering stove plants, and along with several 
other varieties, deserves a place in every collection 
of good stove plants. This variety has a com¬ 
bination of variegated foliage and ornamental flowers. 
Its leaves are rather narrow and distinctly marked down 
the centre with a greyish white band, breaking up on 
the sides into numerous dots of the same colour. The 
plant does not exceed 12 ins. or 15 ins. in height before 
it shows its flower-spike, which, as it developes, becomes 
a deep yellow, and is very attractive, either grown with 
a single stem, or even more so when several stems are 
allowed to develope, all bearing flowers at the same 
time. The leaves are rather close set on the stem, and 
being somewhat of a drooping habit, give the plant an 
elegant appearance. Young shoots about 2 ins. to 
3 ins. in length, rooted any time during the spring 
months, and potted into some suitable compost, will 
make good bushy plants by winter if pinched back 
about twice during the summer season. Plants con¬ 
fined to one stem can be rooted at any time during the 
early summer. It seems to succeed best in a compost 
consisting of equal parts of loam and peat, and enjoys 
a good moist stove temperature. 
A. Fascixator is another good species that flowers 
freely in autumn and winter, and also has beautifully 
variegated leaves. The leaves in this variety are of a 
rich dark green colour, beautifully banded with silvery 
white, the underside being of a purplish violet; the 
inflorescence is bright vermilion in colour. 
A. xixens is a very showy species, both with its bright 
vermilion flowers, and also on account of its peculiarly 
coloured foliage which is of a deep claret tint, and egg- 
shaped in outline. 
A. auraxtiaca Roezlii is a dwarf-growing variety, 
with ample foliage of a bright silvery green, and 
produces large spikes of orange and scarlet flowers 
abundantly. All the forms mentioned require stove 
treatment, and deserve rather better attention than 
they receive at the hands of growers at the present 
day. They are all easily grown, and, as a rule, not 
subject to many insect pests if kept in a good moist 
heat. Yearly all the species may be obtained from 
seed, and all root easily from cuttings. The high- 
coloured flowers they produce at this dull season should 
induce growers to take them in hand for the decoration 
of their plant stoves. — TV. G. 
-- 
A FEW GOOD TABLE PLANTS. 
Coxtixcixg my remarks, from p. 310,1 may add, that 
the following greenhouse plants are very suitable sub¬ 
jects for this purpose, but the whole of them would be 
better in an intermediate house during the winter 
months. Nothing can exceed in beauty nice plants of 
Lomatia elegantissima, the leaves being produced from 
slender stem, and also very finely divided ; it is an 
elegant plant for any purpose. L. polyantha is a very 
useful variety, but much coarser in the leaf, and of good 
habit. Why these two varieties should not be more 
generally grown I cannot conceive, for they are not 
bad to manage, and with care they root freely enough ; 
but are somewhat slower in growth than such things 
as Grevillea robusta, which is another plant I must 
select. Dractena congesta and gracilis are always right 
plants in the right place. Casuarina ericoides must 
claim a place amongst table plants—it is so very fine in 
its foliage that it will always be a favourite ; Sisym¬ 
brium millefolium is a charming little plant, and when 
once used will not readily be despised, while for a little 
golden colour amongst the greenhouse section I would 
adopt nice young plants of Abutilon vexillarium 
variegatum and Coprosma Bauereana variegata, plants 
grown up about 9 ins. to 1 ft. in height giving a very 
pretty effect. 
All plants intended for the purpose of table decora¬ 
tion should have a nice covering of Selaginella Kraus- 
siana growing on the surface of the pot, as it adds very 
materially to the effect to be produced, and soon gives 
a fair indication if the plants are suffering from the 
want of water. — TV. G. 
-- 
CUPRESSUS YOUNGII. 
How long a raiser has to wait between the two 
periods when a seedling plant is raised, and when it 
can be sent forth to the public, is curiously illustrated 
in the case of Cupressus Youngii, which Mr. Maurice 
Young, of the Milford Nurseries, Godaiming, is just 
distributing. About eighteen years ago, it was raised 
from seed received from north-western America. It 
would appear to be so thoroughly distinct in character 
that Mr. Young makes a new species of it. “ It is of 
very rapid growth, robust character, thoroughly hardy, 
and bears transplanting well. It will make a large 
tree of close conical habit, the points of the young 
shoots being pendulous ; in colour it is of a rich bright 
green, the bark of a rich brown.” This is Mr. Young’s 
description of it, and he further states that it is well 
adapted for a specimen plant, or for forming belts or 
hedges, and he predicts for it a very extended use. 
It need scarcely be added that all the Cypresses are 
tall or medium-sized evergreen trees. There is much 
diversity of habit among the different species, the 
branches of some being erect, and of others spreading. 
The Chinese C. funebris, known also as C. pendula, 
has an erect habit of growth until the tree arrives at 
maturity, when the branches become pendulous at 
their extremities ; and from these main branches others, 
long and slender, hang down towards the ground, giving 
the whole tree a weeping and graceful form. 
The hardiest Cypresses are C. Lawsoniana and 
C. nutkaensis, as they come from a higher latitude than 
the other species ; and they are found to withstand our 
severest winters without injury—a fact which tends to 
greatly increase their usefulness. Though all the 
sorts prefer a light loamy soil, they are found to do 
well and form fine specimens in almost every variety of 
garden soil, if the ground is thoroughly drained and 
the sub-soil warm and moderately porous. In every 
case it is well that they should be so sheltered as 
to protect them from violent winds, from which, in 
common with many other perfectly hardy but densely- 
branched evergreens, they are liable to suffer damage. 
C. Lawsoniana and its numerous varieties are so well 
known that it is scarcely necessary to say much about 
them. In our shrubberies and pleasure grounds C. Law¬ 
soniana is a rapid-growing plume-like plant of a 
symmetrical conical form, abundantly clothed with 
branches ; the dense branchlets slender and drooping, 
and of a light green, sometimes slightly glaucous, 
colour. The cones—which even on very young plants 
are produced in great profusion—contain, very fre¬ 
quently, fertile seeds ; and in early summer add to the 
attractions of the plant by their beautiful golden—and, 
in some varieties, purple—colour. C. nutkaensis was 
introduced to Britain as Thujopsis borealis, in 1S51. 
Of its merits as an ornamental tree it is impossible to 
speak too highly. In almost every kind of soil it makes 
a free growth, while it has proved thoroughly hardy in 
the coldest situations during our severest winters. It 
is found to grow most freely where the soil is a peaty 
or rich fibry loam, and rather moist.— R. D. 
-- 
FLO RICULT URE. 
Selectioxs of Carxatioxs axd Picotees. —March 
is the month when Carnations and Picotees are placed 
in their blooming-pots; but ere this can be done, 
plants and compost must be ready. Supposing it is 
necessary to obtain plants of both Carnations and 
Picotees, it may be asked, “ "What are the best sorts 
for culture for exhibition purposes ?” I propose to 
anticipate this question by giving the names of half a 
dozen or eight varieties of each section of Carnations 
and Picotees, presuming that an amateur is desirous of 
forming a suitable collection to start with. For a long 
time past, Carnations and Picotees have been sold in 
pairs, probably on the assumption that it is better to 
have two plants in case one should die. It is best to 
have plants from the nurseries in pots ; but if they are 
to be taken from those in which they were layered, 
they should be had at the earliest opportunity, and 
potted singly in small pots preparatory to placing them 
in those in which they are to flower. 
And now for my selection. I take first the highest 
order of Carnations—the scarlet Bizarres. A good six 
will be found in Admiral Curzon (Easom), Arthur 
Medhurst (Dodwell), Edward Adams (Dodwell), George 
(Dodwell), Fred (Dodwell), Master Stanley (Dodwell), 
and Robert Lord (Dodwell). Crimson Bizarres : E. S. 
Dodwell (Hewitt), Harrison Weir (Dodwell), John 
Harland (Adams), J. D. Hextall (Simonite), Master 
Fred (Hewitt), and Rifleman (Wood). Pink and purple 
Bizarres : H. K. Mayor (Dodwell), Sarah Payne (Ward), 
Sir Garnet Wolseley (Hewitt), Squire Llewellyn (Dod-. 
well), Thomas Anstiss (Dodwell), and William Skirving 
(Gorton). Purple Flakes: Dr. Foster (Foster), Florence 
Nightingale (Scaley), George Melville (Dodwell), James 
Douglas (Simonite), Martin Rowan (Dodwell) and 
Mayor of Nottingham (Taylor). Scarlet flakes: Clip¬ 
per (Fletcher), Henry Cannell (Dodwell), John Ball 
(Dodwell), Richard Gorton (Dodwell), Sportsman 
(Hedderley) and Tom Lord (Dodwell). Rose flakes : 
James Merryweather (Wood), Jessica (Turner), John 
Keet (Whitehead), Mrs. Dodwell (Lord), Miss Erskine 
Wemyss (Dodwell) and Sybil (Holmes). 
And now as to Picotees. I commence with eight 
varieties of the red edged class ; and the four heavy 
edged flowers are Brunette (Kirtland), J. B. Bryant 
(Ingram), John Smith (Bower) and Princess of Wales 
(Fellows). Light edged : Mrs. Bower (Bower), Thomas 
William (Flowdy), William Summers (Simonite) and 
Yiolet Douglas (Simonite). Purple edged, heavy: 
Medina (Fellowes), Mrs. A. Chancellor (Turner), Mrs. 
Summers (Simonite), Muriel (Hewitt) and Zerlina 
(Lord). Light edged : Ann Lord (Lord), Clara Penson 
(Willener), Her Majesty (Addis), Mary (Simonite) and 
Minnie (Lord). Rose and scarlet edged, heavy : Con¬ 
stance Heron (Fellowes), Edith D’Ombrain (Fellowes) 
