March 5 , 1887 . 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
429 
order.” We have planted out Tripoli Onions, and 
made our main sowing of spring ones, too. It is rather 
earlier than usual, hut the weather has been so tempt¬ 
ing, and the ground in such capital condition, that we 
could not resist the inducement of taking time by the 
forelock. We are now busy with Potato planting, and 
we hope this week to complete the putting in of all 
early and second early varieties. We hope also to 
plant Jerusalem Artichokes, which, through force of 
circumstances, will be put in later than usual. 
The first batch of Peas are coming through the 
ground well, and we have given a coating of burnt 
refuse over the drills, which will stop the slugs. 
Should cold winds prevail, we shall place Spruce-twigs 
on one side of each drill as a protection until sufficiently 
advanced for sticking. Run the Dutch hoe through 
the winter Spinach and Cabbage squares, afterwards 
earthing up the latter to protect from the winds.— 
Walter Child, Croome Court. 
--- 
FLORICULTURE. 
Alpine Auriculas with White Centp.es. —Al¬ 
ready there is a brisk movement towards the time of 
which the poet Bryant sings— 
“-the changed winds are soft and warm, 
And heaven puts on the blue of May,” 
For all along the line in my Auricula house I can 
observe the onward movement; but they have yet to 
run the gauntlet of stormy March. Who cares ! for 
though March winds are loud and bleak, and there is a 
rushing of the cold blast through the valleys, March is 
yet a welcome month, for does it not, with all its rude¬ 
ness, “ wear the gentle name of spring,” and leads on 
the gentler and more tender April? The time is fast 
coming when the Auricula grower reaps the rich reward 
of his labours. 
How slowly our really good white-edged Auriculas 
increase. When Mr. R. Gorton raised his lovely 
delicate Mauve Queen, I hoped it would have become 
the progenitor of a section of charming flowers ; but it 
does not appear to have done so. I remember the 
Auricula dinner at Gildebrook, Eccles, when Mr. 
Gorton first showed us this beauty in all its soft sheen 
of creamy white and delicate mauve, and I have never 
since seen it so charming as it was that day. It is of 
delicate constitution, and I find that seedlings from it 
partake of the parental character. Last summer Mr. 
James Thurstan gave me a plant of old Conspicua. 
They occasionally show this very finely in the north ; 
it is a white ground flower with pale silvery blue 
shading, but compared with later developments, rather 
coarse. Still, I think this and George Lightbody—one 
of the most lovely white-ground flowers Mr. Turner 
ever raised—should bring a promising family of white 
grounds. When George Lightbody is in good form, I 
think that it comes as near to perfection in a white 
ground Alpine Auricula of any I know. I may say 
that I am using the term ground in the same sense as 
centre. Tenniel is another of Mr. Turner’s white 
centres, and very pretty it is, too, when caught right. 
I had it last year in charming condition, and everybody 
was delighted with it who saw it. Beatrice and Queen 
Victoria are two good old white centres well worthy a 
place in a collection. Duchess of Connaught and Mr. 
Phipps are two of Mr. Turner’s newer white centres. 
The former is of a rich reddish inaroon margin shaded 
with rosy violet ; the latter maroon shaded with violet, 
and both are of that fine quality that distinguishes the 
Slough flowers. 
I think we are far from having perfect white-centred 
flowers yet. We want white centres that are persistent 
like the white, or, say, grey edge George Lightbody, 
only minus the meal ; a white that will hold on to the 
last, and make the most marked contrast to the mauve- 
violet or blue which forms the shading on the circum¬ 
ference of the pips. So many white grounds open pure, 
but only to quickly change to sulphur or lemon, and 
something darker, and then they appear to lose half 
their attractiveness. Meanwhile, we will be thankful 
for what we have, and believe that we shall surely get 
something better ere long. 
I have a large number of seedlings of last year that I 
am hopeful will, in another season, give me somethin" 
good. They were pricked off in September from the 
seed pans into store pots in which they have remained 
all the winter, and they are beginning to start into 
growth. They will be potted off in May, and I hope to 
see many of them in bloom in the autumn. 
Let it not be forgotten there is one main and essential 
difference between the alpine and a show Auricula ; the 
ground or the centre of the former is, and should be, 
absolutely mealless ; but the white paste of the latter 
must be covered with a snowy farina which florists 
term meal. But those of us who raise seedlings 
occasionally find among them flowers with mealed 
centres and shaded margins. These are of an inter¬ 
mediate type ; they cannot be admitted either into the 
show or alpine divisions, and if they are really of first- 
class properties, they must be put into that all 
embracing, but somewhat indefinite group termed 
“fancies.”— E. D. 
--- 
HORTICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 
Manchester Horticultural Improvement. 
— Feb. lith. —Mr. Bruce Findlay, the president, took 
the chair at this meeting, and Mr. E. G. Hughes read 
a paper on “Horticultural Manures.” Mr. Hughes 
said the composition of horticultural manures, and the 
sources from which suitable manures are obtained for 
the use of plants and the better production of vegetables 
and fruit, must naturally be of great interest and im¬ 
portance to all who are concerned in gardening and 
fruit-growing. He thought it might be safely asserted 
that the success of horticulturists as a rule, is not so 
great as might be expected in an enlightened age like 
the present, and that this is owing to the fact that as 
yet many very practical gardeners are not intimately 
acquainted with the natural laws which govern the 
formation and growth of plants. There are fourteen 
elements, from which are built up all the innumerable 
varieties of plants, and the withholding of any of these 
will materially interfere with the healthy develop¬ 
ment of the plant. The distribution of the mineral 
elements is not a matter of chance, but is at all times 
subjected to a fixed law, so that in each part of the 
plant may be found certain mineral substances, con¬ 
centrated as if by preference for its special requirements. 
In the stem and bark of the tree will be found an 
accumulation of the minerals which are superabun¬ 
dantly present in all good loam soils, and which are 
necessary to give solidity and strength ; whereas the 
fruit and seed draw to themselves those minerals which 
are indispensable to the first acts of plant life, and 
which have to be supplied artificially, as the soil does 
not contain them in quantities sufficient to produce 
good results in either fruit, foliage, or flowers. In the 
leaves of all plants except evergreens, there is a large 
accumulation of mineral matter, which is accounted for 
by the absorption of sap and the evaporation of the 
moisture from the surface, leaving the solid matter, 
which comes up in larger quantities than is required, 
and made use of by the plant for its natural growth 
and the development of seed as it re-opens in the 
autumn. This fact enabled him to point out the 
importance of leaf-mould as a valuable source from 
which is obtained the mineral substance so essential to 
the cultivation of pot plants, and which should in a 
large proportion enter into the composition of all 
potting plants. 
After describing the chemical properties of the various 
elements upon which plant growth depends, he said it 
was not his intention to bring before them anything 
which was not practicable ; he would rely on the testi¬ 
mony of facts made known by actual experiments, and 
so put before them such particulars as would be sufficient 
for all practical purposes, and render it unnecessary for 
the horticulturist to concern himself about the choice 
or excellence of the innumerable varieties of unknown 
substances which are offered as “the best of all 
manures.” Phosphorous enters the composition of 
plants as phosphate of some base ; but, as a rule, it is 
applied either as phosphate of lime, which is very in¬ 
soluble, or as superphosphate of lime, which is soluble. 
The phosphoric acid which is contained in bones as 
phosphate of lime is liberated in the process of decom¬ 
position, and enters into the substance of vegetation in 
quantities more or less according to the nature of the 
plant; but the process of natural decay in bones is 
very slow, and therefore the liberation of its elements 
is not quick enough to supply the requirements of 
heavy crops when used for vegetables or fruit. It 
should therefore be supplied in a more easily assimilated 
form, such as superphosphate of lime, in order that 
plants or vegetables may, during their short period of 
development, readily absorb the quantity which they 
require. Next in importance to the phosphates is 
potash, which for all horticultural purposes will be 
found in the most convenient form as saltpetre—a 
compound of potash and nitric acid—and in this state 
it can be used with every degree of certainty. It will 
be readily assimilated by those plants and fruit trees in 
which it forms the dominant constituent, such as 
Grapes and Potatos. 
It is necessary that all manures for the growth of 
vegetables and fruit for the purposes of food should 
have a liberal percentage of potash, because on its pre¬ 
sence their quality and flavour depend to a great extent. 
Lime, which also plays an important part in vegetation, 
should for all gardening purposes be used as a sulphate 
or plaster of Paris; in this form it becomes more easily 
absorbed as plant food, and much more so than when 
applied as slacked burnt lime or old mortar. Having 
now considered the whole of the elements which enter 
into the composition of all vegetable substances, they 
would see that there were only four which required their 
special attention, viz., superphosphate of lime, saltpetre, 
plaster of Paris and sulphate of ammonia. After describ¬ 
ing how, by various experiments, they could discover the 
relative proportions of these elements necessary to 
successful cultivation of vegetables and other garden 
produce, he said that all practical gardeners should, as 
lar ?s possible, make themselves acquainted with the 
theory of the laws of vegetation, and then by actual 
experiments, learn to understand the predominating re¬ 
quirements of the different varieties of plants and vege¬ 
tables which they have under cultivation. 
The President, Messrs. W. J. Upjohn, R. Tait, H. 
Driver, A. Stansfield and Lunt took part in the discus¬ 
sion which followed. 
-~>X<-- 
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS. 
Ai.oysia citriodora. — Hants: In reply to the above query, p. 
413, “Hants” may plant out the lemon-scented Aloysia with 
reasonable hope of success. In case of exceptionally severe 
winters, a reserve plant or two should be kept in stock. It 
should be planted against a wall, house or other object in a sunny 
position, where the shelter afforded will induce flowering; so 
treated it thrives and flowers in several parts of the Isle of Wight 
as well as in Surrey.— A. D. F. 
Cowslips.— ill: Seeing that your plants are yet quite small, 
we would advise you not to plant them out till towards the end 
of the month, especially if they are not particularly well 
hardened off. Plant them out with a ball of soil if possible 
when the weather becomes a little warmer and more settled. 
Cinnamon. — A Subscriber : If your plant is the true Cinnamon 
(Cinnamomum zeylanicum), it must needs attain some consider¬ 
able age and size before it will flower. You may manage to grow 
it in a greenhouse, but stove temperature is essential to its best 
development; the foliage when growing freely is very handsome. 
Good fibrous loam mixed with a little peat or leaf-soil and sand 
will meet its requirements when it wants re-potting. The flowers 
are small, produced in large clusters, and are probably fragrant. 
Eutoca viscida.— M: The flowers of this annual are numerous, 
comparatively large, and of a fine deep blue colour. For border 
decoration it is certainly very showy, and well worth growing. 
The viscidity of the plant and the odour of the stems and 
foliage hinders it becoming a favourite with some people. 
French Honeysuckle.— M. : The plant in question, Hedy- 
sarum coronarium, is a hardy herbaceous perennial, not a climber 
like the true Honeysuckle. Sow the seeds in the open ground 
in April, and the seedlings will flower in the summer of the fol¬ 
lowing year ; they bear numerous heads of crimson flowers and 
are very showy. There is a white variety in cultivation. 
French Marigold.—AT; French Marigold (Tagetes patula ) 
may be sown in pans or boxes on a hot-bed or in a cold frame or 
in the open air in April with about equal certainty of success. 
By putting the seeds in heat —as on a hot-bed —they will 
germinate much sooner, and flower much earlier when finally 
planted out, than when allowed to come on slowly by the aid of 
sun-heat alone. 
1\ hite Czar Violet. — M: Seeds of Viola sometimes lay a 
long time in the soil before germinating. We would advise you 
(as you say the seeds are still good) to give them another three 
or four months, during which we should expect they would 
make their appearance. Cover the exposed seeds lightly in 
order to keep them moist, and do not allow the soil to become 
dry. 
Richea pardanifolia. A. L. G.: No mention is made as to 
where the plant noticed was grown, but in all probability the one 
so named would be correct, as there are now numerous seedlings 
of this strange Epacrid in the country ; it is closely allied to the 
Epacris itself, but has foliage like some Bromeliaceous plant 
produced in tufts terminating naked stems and branches, re¬ 
sembling a Cordyliue, Dracsena or some similar-habited plant.— 
F. H. 
Tuberoses. — James .Voir: Removing the side shoots would 
favour the development of the flower stem rather than hinder it, 
and the cause of failure should be sought elsewhere. We cannot 
tell with certainty without inspection or further information, 
but would suggest that they had received a sudden check when 
removed from the plunging material; furthermore, if they have 
been forced too hard since potting them, the leaves and flower 
stem may have been produced at the expense of the bulbs with¬ 
out a proper development of the roots; or they may have been 
over-watered when in the plunging material. 
Fungus on Camellia Leaves.— IF. G. : The filthy condition 
of the leaves sent us is due to the presence of scale, possibly 
aided by other pests. It first makes its appearance on those 
leaves overhung by others affected with scale, whose excrement 
drops on the leaves beneath. The outer leaves are clean— 
another significant fact. The excrement accumulates, both in 
a solid and viscid or adhesive form, and fungi or moulds, finding 
it a suitable medium, grow there, producing the white appearance 
you mention. The fungus is not parasitical, and does not affect 
the leaves beyond what dirt of any sort would. Oranges are 
often similarly affected. Give a good washing with soft soap, 
Gishurst Compound, or Fir-tree Oil. The Camellia branches 
sent us are perfectly healthy. 
Staphylea colchica.— G. D.: Allow your plants to flower, 
and then cut them back. If you cut them back now you will 
have no flowers. After cutting back encourage young wood, 
w’hich will make the plants close and bushy, and flower next 
season. 
