600 
May 21, 1887. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
will stand out without injury, and leave more time for 
attention to the tenderest subjects. Stocks, Asters, 
Saponaria calabrica and similar things never lose by 
being planted in their flowering quarters as soon as 
large enough.— F. 
-- 
DANGER IN DRAINING GREEN¬ 
HOUSE BORDERS. 
In the admirable paper upon “ Rose Culture under 
Glass,” by Mr. Clark, published at pp. 519 and 537, 
allusion is made to drainage being of the first im¬ 
portance, and I admit that it is so. But the essayist 
makes no reference to the dangers likely to ensue, 
in connecting borders in greenhouses with outside 
drains, whether of Roses, Yines, or any other borders 
or beds. These outside drains, especially in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of large towns, are in communication with 
larger or sewerage drains, and in these underground 
roadways rats establish themselves, and following 
up the tributary drains, easily get into our houses 
and plant borders, where they do an incalculable 
amount of mischief. Once their entrance is effected 
they are difficult to dislodge. I have yet a painful 
recollection of living at one place, where in making a 
new vinery border the drainage was connected with an 
outside drain, and a check to the ingress of rats, 
unfortunately, was not taken into consideration. 
The years of bitter experience I had then to suffer, 
taught me a sad lesson, making me extremely cautious 
ever since. J have no doubt but that many of my 
fellow gardeners have had a similar experience. Every 
precaution and means taken afterwards were of no avail; 
the borders were honeycombed, and the rats getting 
into the flow and return flues from the boiler connecting 
the other houses, they bred all the year round. The 
fernery at one end was stripped of every vestige of 
green, and carried into the flues and rockwork to make 
their nests. It is anything but pleasant to see such 
work as this, and them scampering over the borders or 
rockwork as I have many times watched them, with a 
mouthful of Adiantum cuneatum, A. gracillimum, and 
a mixture of other fronds. They also had a taste for 
Grapes ; but, unlike the fox, they can climb and reach. 
I actually set spring traps and caught them in the 
trellis-work, but the remedy was far worse than the 
disease, the brutes fairly gnawing the Vine plants in 
two. To give you an idea of their numbers, we caught 
ten in a wire trap in one single night, and as many as 
thirty-two in one week. 
Communications with large drains will always lead to 
the filling of our houses and borders with these pests, 
so that all drains should accordingly be of earthenware 
piping with sockets for at least 20 yds. prior to their 
entrance to the houses. Inside this a few tight-fitting 
grates (Tat-proof) should be fastened ; this will be 
effective, so far as ingress by drains are concerned. 
Walled drains, unless well built of bricks and mortar, 
are of no use, as on encountering the grate they com¬ 
mence burrowing into the wall, getting out on the 
other side. This I have actually proved, over and over 
again, at the above place. Gardeners “wishing to save 
themselves future trouble and mortification should take 
heed ; a word to the wise is sufficient. 1 hope Mr. 
Clark will forgive me for referring to this missing link 
in his admirable paper ; but this is a matter which 
cannot well be overlooked, as it concerns us all. 
Need I say that at my present place a vinery has had 
to be disused because the drainage of the border was 
actually connected with the Hall drain, admitting rats, 
although not to the same extent as in the other place. 
The house in question is now tightly flagged, and made 
to do service as a fernery, fresh quarters being found 
for the Yines. — B. L. 
-- 
FLOWERING TREES AND 
SHRUBS AT DEVONHURST. 
The visitor who can admire hardy trees and shrubs 
must be delighted with the great variety and charming 
tints of the expanding buds, whether of leaf or blossom. 
It cannot be denied that plants of this class have been 
much neglected in recent years, and except where 
gardens retain the features imparted to them by planters 
belonging to the old school of gardeners, we lose much 
of the pleasure a garden is capable of producing in the 
way of old-fashioned flowering trees and shrubs. 
This is to be regretted, and landscape is dull indeed 
when not diversified by flowering, and bold or hand¬ 
somely tinted-leaved deciduous trees, as well as the 
more sombre hues of the evergreen Conifers now so 
popular at many places. 
All the large trees, and many of the smaller ones at 
Devonhurst once constituted part of the collection of 
the Royal Horticultural Society, and are now preserved 
with great care by E. H. "Watts, Esq. The golden 
tints of the expanding Maples are noticeable, not so 
much for their flowers as their leaves, and the white and 
red variegated form of the common Maple is particularly 
conspicuous just now. The fruit trees, particularly 
Pears and Cherries, are strikingly noticeable from the 
quantity of snow-white bloom, but the purely ornamental 
subjects are productive of greater interest to lovers, 
both of landscape and of those things that by judicious 
planting, may be made to adorn it. 
At the present time, it is interesting to note that the 
bulk of the trees and shrubs producing conspicuous or 
showy flowers belong to the Rosace* or closely allied 
orders. Besides the fruit trees already mentioned, 
Prunus Persica flore pleno, or the scarlet Peach planted 
about amongst dwarfer evergreen shrubs constitutes a 
striking feature by the brilliancy of its semi-double 
flowers, rendered most conspicuous by their close ar¬ 
rangement on the still leafless branches. The colour 
of the blossom is much darker than tliat'of the'Almond, 
of which a double form has also long been known. A 
semi-double white variety also flowering is no less 
ornamental, and might be preferred by some on account 
of the purity of its flowers, produced in snowy masses on 
a low tree or large bush that seems more vigorous or free- 
growing than the scarlet form. Not only are the 
individual flowers noticeable for the multiplication of 
parts, but a great proportion of them bear twin ovaries 
which are free from one another in accordance with the 
characters of the order. Although a mere botanical 
curiosity, and in no way adding to the beauty of the 
flowers, they are not devoid of interest. The double 
rose-coloured form is also flowering here. 
Cherries and varieties apparently of the common 
Plum carrying a great profusion of bloom, swell the 
list of plants belonging to this useful and ornamental 
family. A large bush of the Chinese Prunus triloba 
now laden with masses of delicate rosy pink blossoms, 
is a sight not to be despised nor soon forgotten. This 
is admissable in choice collections where the larger ones 
could not be accommodated, and the flowering sprays 
might be utilised amongst cut flowers to great advan¬ 
tage. Prunus japonica multiplex, suitable either for 
forcing or outdoor decoration, is also bursting into 
flower and will be gay in a short time, and would have 
been earlier had it been planted elsewhere than on a 
border with a northern exposure. Ribes sanguineum 
belonging to the allied Saxifraga family needs no 
comment. — Taxus. 
-~>x<-- 
MIGNONETTE.* 
The Mignonette is considered one of the most sweet- 
scented greenhouse annuals we have during the winter 
and spring months—namely, from November till 
May, and where there is a demand for cut 
flowers during these months there is nothing more 
attractive and beautiful. It is greatly admired in 
bouquets, wreaths, &c. ; no matter in what position it 
is placed it always has a tendency to put its head 
perpendicular, and will outlive any cut flowers you 
like to mention. I have kept it in water for four and 
five weeks in a cool room. It also makes a fine plant 
for conservatory decoration, and its sweet fragrance 
scents the whole house. 
"With regard to the cultivation of this plant, the 
best plan is to get it by sowing seed the last week in 
April or the first week in May, using small pots, and 
placing them in a temperature of 50° to 55° on a shelf 
near the glass. In the course of a few days it will 
make its appearance, and when the plants are strong 
enough I select five of the best and strongest ones to 
grow on, and the others are cast away. Be careful 
they are not over-watered ; but a slight damping over 
with a fine syringe is very beneficial to them, and 
their roots will soon find the bottom of the pots. 
Give a moderate amount of air, and they will be ready 
to be potted by the middle of June into 6-in. pots, 
using a compost of two-thirds yellow sandy loam and 
the other part manure from an old Mushroom-bed. 
* A paper read at a meeting of the Sheffield and Hallamsliire 
Gardeners' Mutual Improvement Society. 
After fresh potting them keep them close for a few 
days in a cool frame or pit, and shade from hot sun¬ 
shine in the middle of the day. Stopping is necessary, 
as well as removing all flowers that are showing. 
They will grow strong, and plenty of water must be 
given, never letting them get dry, or great damage will 
be done to the foliage by turning it yellow. 
I give the final potting the third week in July into 
9-in. or 10-in. pots, according to the desired size of the 
specimens. I use clinkers from the stoke-hole as crocks, 
covering them with a sod broken up, then a few 
i-in. bones, filling up with the same compost as before 
mentioned. Staking is necessary and important, 
otherwise they would fall down on the sides of the 
pots, and by so doing they get brittle and liable to 
snap ; so I prefer staking at once, leaving the sticks 
2 ft. 10 ins. above the top of the pot. Use as many 
sticks as you like, but my plan is to make a ring of 
galvanised wire placed nearly to the top of the sticks ; 
then you can put them in uniformly with one in the 
centre. I run fine raffia across and across and round 
till it resembles an inch mesh net one story above the 
other, and the plants grow straight up and no further 
trouble is occasioned, except stopping the plants all at 
one height till the third week in September. Remove 
them to a cool house, where light and air must be given 
abundantly. I then use manure-water twice a week, 
preferring drainings from a manure heap, and have 
found them far before guano, and by the middle of 
November the plants will be in full bloom. 
I shall' also say a few words on small pots for our¬ 
selves, or for market purposes, as in this part of the 
country Mignonette is not so easy to cultivate as 
southward. I make a practice of sowing the seed in 
small 60-size pots—not filling them quite full before 
sowing, but leaving a little space for water—the first 
week in August, and place the pots in the open air. 
The plants come strong with little trouble, and when 
ready for potting into 6-in. pots, I place them in a pit 
or on a shelf near the glass, where they will make bold 
specimens by November. By pinching them once they 
will be ready at Christmas, and by giving them an 
extra shift into 8-in. pots, you will have them up to 
the present time. The variety I grow for pots is 
Miles’ Spiral, which is well known to be one of the 
best. For outdoor sowing, I recommend “Parsons’ 
Tree,” sown in the middle of April in well-trenched and 
manured ground on a south aspect. — TV. Eedmill, 
gardener to J. G. Loicood , Esq., Five Oaks, Sheffield. 
-- 
PHRYNIUM VARIEGATUM. 
The variegation occurring on the leaves of this 
handsome Aroid is extremely variable in different 
specimens, as may be seen also in other Monocotyledons, 
such as Alpinia vittata. ,The habit of the plant under 
notice is, however, very different from that of Alpinia, 
and resembles some of the better known Calatheas. 
The leaves are borne in a horizontal or drooping 
position on erect petioles, which gives the plant 
character, and enables it to be used for decorative 
purposes, either as a single specimen or in groups of 
other plants. The leaves are of a cheerful green colour, 
variously striped or lined with a creamy white or 
ultimately white variegation. Frequently the entire 
leaf assumes this striking colour, and although the 
variegation on the whole is variable, there is always a 
sufficient amount to render the plant a striking and 
desirable subject for a collection of stove plants, with 
which it associates admirably. It was certificated in 
18S6 by the Royal Horticultural Society under the 
name of Phrynium jueundum, and is one of the new 
plants offered this season by Messrs. Yeitch & Sons. 
Few of the twenty known species are grown in 
gardens ; but the cultivation of those few is simple. 
They delight in an abundance of moisture during the 
growing season ; but must not be kept in a stagnant 
condition at the roots, otherwise they are liable to 
suffer. Peat, loam, and leaf-soil, in equal proportions, 
form a suitable compost for this plant and its allies ; 
and the whole must be used in a lumpy state, with a 
quantitj r of sharp sand to keep it in an open and 
porous condition. Propagation is easily effected by 
division of the crowns, retaining a sufficient quantity 
of roots so that the pieces may start into fresh growth 
again directly. If not frequently pulled to pieces in 
this manner, the plants must often be re-potted, to 
encourage a free healthy development of the foliage, 
using larger pots where necessary. 
