522 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
April 16, 1887. 
clusters terminating the stems and branches. The 
lamina is very minute, and consequently the flowers do 
not present the appearance characteristic of the Ixora. 
IVe occasionally see it as in the collection at Gunners- 
bury House. 
Lonicera sempervirens minor. —One often 
wonders why the cultivation of this fine Honeysuckle 
out of doors is so seldom practised in England. Many 
admirers doubtless grow it in conservatories and green¬ 
houses for its own intrinsic beauty ; but others do so 
probably from the mistaken idea of its not being 
hardy. It withstands the severity of a Scotch winter 
even on an open wall, and although it may lose its 
foliage, it grows and flowers freely during summer. 
Mr. Hudson grows it well in the conservatory at 
Gunnersbury House. 
Bignonia Tweediana. —Many of the Bignonias 
are often grown in houses that are too warm to develop 
their flowering properties to any reasonable or satis¬ 
factory degree, and are accordingly discarded in many 
cases as worthless. The species under notice is nearly 
hardy, but not sufficiently so to withstand our winters 
out of doors. The huge flowers are deep yellow or 
orange, and measure considerably over 3 ins. in length, 
while the five-lobed spreading yellow lamina is also of 
great breadth, and renders the flowers very conspicuous. 
Mr. Boss, gardener at Pendell Court, grows a plant in 
the warm conservatory and another in the cool one, 
but finds it flowers most'freely in the latter. 
The Puritan Rose. —Some fine blooms of this 
Bose, one of Mr. Bennett’s latest Pedigree varieties, 
were shown at South Kensington on Tuesday, and duly 
honoured with a First Class Certificate. The flowers 
created a considerable amount of interest, inasmuch as 
that they were grown in Philadelphia, and had been 
sent over here to Messrs. Paul & Son, Waltham Cross, 
for exhibition. The blooms, one half of which were 
packed with damp wadding in an air-tight tin case, 
and the remainder sent in an ordinary wooden case 
with the stalks in water, were despatched from Hew 
York in the s.s. Umbria, on April 2nd, reaching 
Liverpool on the morning of the 11th, and Waltham 
Cross on the evening of the same day. The flowers 
were wonderfully fresh, and certainly showed what 
advantages American growers have in the way of light, 
the blooms being of a size, and the foliage of such a 
depth of colour, that could not be matched here. The 
freshest and least damaged blooms were those sent in 
the air-tight case. The Puritan Bose has a history 
which is worth recording. Some four or five years ago 
we were walking through Mr. Bennett’s houses, in early 
spring, when he called our attention to a seedling plant, 
with an unexpanded bud on it, and which Mr. B. then 
thought would probably come yellow. It flowered in 
due time : was not yellow, but nearly white, and was 
propagated for further trial. When it bloomed for the 
second time it failed to please its raiser, who ordered 
his grower to throw it away. From sheer neglect, 
however, this was not done, and the next season 
another chance was given to it. It flowered, and, as the 
florists say, “came grand’'—the despised seedling had 
grown into a perfect beauty, and was so greatly prized 
that Mr. C. A. Evans, of Philadelphia, U. S. A., subse¬ 
quently bought all the stock of it for £500. The moral 
is evident:—Don’t be in too great a hurry to throw 
away well-bred seedlings. 
Nor thaw Brussels Sprouts. —Mr. Joseph 
May has sent us from the gardens, Nortliaw House, 
Barnet, a sample of the strain of Brussels Sprouts which 
he grows, and which, considering the advanced period 
of the year, well merit attention. The seeds were sown 
in February of last year in a cold frame, and the plants 
are consequently somewhat over a year old. The 
Sprouts sent were medium-sized, very firm, button-like 
heads, and, when cooked, mild and agreeable in flavour. 
Seeing that Sprouts from the same were exhibited at 
the November London shows, and are still good, the 
variety would seem to deserve extended cultivation for 
a late supply. 
Artificial Manures. —As potting time keeps 
advancing, I think it would be of service if some of the 
various experiences of your readers were recorded on 
this subject, including their failures, where they 
exist, either from negligence or want of knowledge. 
My experience in growing the Chrysanthemum for 
exhibition during the last few years has been consider¬ 
able, and I have been fairly successful with these 
manures, as far as the flowering is concerned ; but as 
soon as the roots seem to have fulfilled their part of 
taking in food, and driving it into growth and flower, 
the soil seems to act as poison to the continued existence 
of the plants, which are then expected to produce 
cuttings. They appear to be doing this ; but before 
they are fit for removal, in my case, the pots are full of 
small white worms, about J in. long, which settle at 
the base of the cuttings or offsets until they reduce 
them to a putrid watery mess. In turning out the 
soil of the pots there are thousands of them, which 
make short work of the plants left. Have any of your 
readers been troubled with them, and what was the 
remedy applied ?— H. J. F. 
Fungus on Azalea Leaves.—I send you a 
leaf out of a vinery, the borders in which have been 
top-dressed with cow-manure. Can you tell me what 
the black spots are, and do you think that the cow- 
manure is the cause ?— TV. S.. St. Helen-s. [The minute 
black spots on the leaves are extremely small globular 
cases or boxes packed full of microscopic fungus spores 
or seeds. You are right in attributing them to the 
presence of cow-dung, as the parent fungus, named 
Filobolus crystallinus, grows on dung. When mature, 
this fungus elastically projects a spore case through 
the air as a means of reaching other dung, and so 
propagating the species ; the cases being glutinous 
stick to everything they touch, but the spores will 
only grow on dung ; the fungus does no injury to the 
plants. Each perfect fungus (which is very small) 
produces one of the cases on the top of a short slender 
thread. The spore-case when growing looks like a 
black cap on a microscopic stick. As the fungus when 
ripe throws this hat or cap full of spores or seeds into 
the air, it has been called, on that account, Pilobus, 
which means “the hat thrower” ; crystallinus refers 
to the glassy or crystal-like appearance of the minute 
thread which supports the “hat.”— TV. G. .S'.] 
Kitchen G-ardening Made Easy. — All 
that Mr. Gilbert has advanced at p. 490 is un¬ 
questionably entitled to consideration and respect, 
coming as it does from a man of varied experience, and 
whose contributions I always read with interest. But 
may I venture to ask, has not Mr. Gilbert taken a mere 
outside view of the case when he says that we employ 
too much labour in preparing soils in kitchen gardening. 
Mr. Gilbert points conclusively that with him digging 
is a delusion. This seems to need an explanation, but 
may be as he describes, where soils are light, and 
climatic conditions favourable. The first study in com¬ 
mencing the culture of vegetables is the soil and 
situation. These will determine whether the application 
of the spade is necessary. What do we find with soils 
that are heavy ? Just the reverse of light ones, and 
therefore in order to assist the growth of plants on such, 
and to produce good crops, the soil must be well 
prepared. It must accordingly be loosened around the 
roots, when the latter will be better able to run amongst 
it than when left in a compressed state. Digging and 
forking rich soils is not a delusion, but ameliorates 
it by aerating and rendering it warmer. This also 
enables it to absorb heat from the sun, and gives the 
rains a better chance of penetrating to the roots. Easy 
gardening in such soils is a delusion. Personally, I 
have had to work both classes of soils, and have always 
found that heavy soils take more labour than light ones, 
simply because of their adhesive nature. It seems 
evident to me that the soil with Mr. Gilbert is light, as 
instanced by the quarter of spring Cabbages which will 
be cleared by the middle of June next. If Brussels 
Sprouts can be planted to follow these without digging, 
the class of soil tells its own tale. In heavy soils I find 
it good practice to manure and rough dig as much as 
possible before winter, and leave it to the action of the 
weather. This is left until about to be sown, when it 
is forked and broken up fine, a few feet at a time, 
working and sowing backwards, avoiding treading on 
the newly forked ground. The soil between all crops, 
when growing, is carefully forked again during summer, 
the result being far more satisfactory. Of course all 
this is labour.— B. L. 
Paraffin Oil as an Insecticide. —With Mr. 
Gaut (p. 487) I can, in a great measure, agree. The 
ravages of vermin are a serious consideration to gar¬ 
deners ; but the remedies, in many cases, take up too 
much time and are not always efficient. Cats are 
among the best preventives, but can scarcely be kept 
where game is preserved, especially if the usual pre¬ 
mium be forthcoming for the tail. Next to this we 
find paraffin oil very effectual for saving large seeds. 
Where rats and mice are plentiful it will be found per¬ 
fectly useless if diluted with water as Mr. Gaut 
recommends. It is of little service unless used pure, 
and the seeds allowed to remain overhead in it for 
twelve hours at the least. At the present time we have 
a break of Peas coming through the ground. Half of 
the seed having been steeped for a night in pure 
paraffin, they are scarcely touched by mice ; the other 
half were only in the oil about ten minutes, and are, 
for the most part, destroyed.. Beans treated in the 
latter way are a total failure. I find many people are 
afraid to use pure paraffin on seeds, but it is perfectly 
safe. We have steeped Beans overhead in it for a 
whole week, and grown them afterwards. On the 
farm here Wheat is always steeped for forty-eight 
hours previous to sowing ; Peas, as a rule, from twelve 
to twenty-four hours, with perfect success. I once, by 
accident, upset a teacupful of pure paraffin into a pot 
of Davallia Mooreana without injuring it. This ex¬ 
perience shows that paraffin is not such a dangerous 
ingredient as many imagine. As to small seeds of the 
Brassica tribe, we would prefer using red lead to 
paraffin ; but netting is a simple process, and in most 
well-regulated gardens one net, free from holes, might 
be found for this purpose, and if suspended on a 
few hurdles or Pea-trainers run round the square the 
protection is complete.— E. Bell, Horton Hall, Mid¬ 
lothian. 
Jacaranda xnimosifolia. —I often wonder this 
Brazilian stove evergreen is not more grown as a table 
plant. It appears to do well during summer in an 
ordinary greenhouse. In appearance it is like Grevillea 
robusta, and small well-furnished plants are very 
effective indeed. I find that Mr. Thomas Baines makes 
no allusion to it in his recent book on Greenhouse and 
Stove Plants. Perhaps it is another instance of a good 
useful pilant of excellent quality falling away into the 
ranks of neglected subjects.— P. D. 
Verge Gutters. —Will some of your corre¬ 
spondents kindly give me their experience of any of 
the patent verge cutters now advertised. I am very 
anxious to try one now that all the verges are fresh 
edged, and in good condition. Like many others, no 
doubt, I prefer to have much of the time now spent 
in edging employed in the kitchen garden. I have 
not met with any of the verge-cutting machines in any 
garden to my knowledge, and yet they must be quite 
on a level for saving labour with the lawn-mowing 
machine, if they will only do what they are credited 
with.— Salopian. 
Clioisya ternata.— A Mexican plant, that was 
classed amongst the inhabitants of the stove for a very 
considerable period after its introduction ; but in 
southern latitudes it is now found to succeed best in 
the open air. North of London it succeeds admirably 
under the protection of a south or westerly wall. 
Under such conditions it would piroduce its beautifully 
fragrant white flowers in great abundance during April 
and May ; but our object is to make it fit for the 
adornment of the conservatory during February and 
March, and this can be accomplished by growing a few 
plants in pots, using rich fibrous loam, with a little 
leaf-mould and sand, as the best composition. In 
January place in a moderate heat, and they will afford, 
abundance of fragrant flowers during February and 
March.— M. Barker, The Gardens, TVatcombc Park, 
Torquay. 
Gymnogramma schizophylla gloriosa.— 
The feathery elegance of the ordinary form of this 
handsome, easily-grown and'propagated Fern, is well 
known to cultivators who have to furnish decorative 
plants in variety, and it may interest those concerned 
to know that the garden variety here noted is more 
vigorous than the type. A figure of this plant is given in 
L Illustration Horticole, 522, and Mr. Bones grows it 
at Tower House, Chiswick. It grows freely in pots, 
but it never looks more attractive than when grown in 
a basket with its leaves drooping gracefully on all sides. 
Sancliezia nobilis.— The foliage of this orna¬ 
mental stove plant constitutes its chief value for deco- 
rative^ purposes ; but the flowers, although by no 
means abundantly produced, have an uncommon look 
about them, which adds considerably to the appearance 
and value of the plant. They are aggregated in close 
branched terminal panicles, and are surrounded with 
yellow bracts. The long tubular corolla is also yellow. 
The plant is easily and usually cultivated in pots ; but 
Mr. Boss grows it planted out in a stove at Pendell 
Court. 
