June 25, 1887. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
683 
three colours, while I showed the six perfectly distinct. 
I should like to know whether quality or size should 
be preferred ; also whether singles or doubles. I prefer 
doubles on all accounts, especially as they travel better. 
Again, at a local show I showed some zonal Pelar¬ 
goniums, trained like “big pancakes,” which you 
deprecate, but which is the way everybody round here 
at the best shows train them. I was beaten by red 
and white Vesuvius, &c., although I had Pearson’s 
novelties, with big trusses and pips from 2 ins. to 
2J ins. across. Now I am going to show in three 
classes, Begonias at Cheltenham, and probably in 
Begonias and zonals at Bath. I am from twenty to 
thirty miles from each place, and, of course, my 
stowage is limited, so that I cannot take two lots of 
each class, and I do not know which to take. If I 
take all Laing’s Jubilee Begonias I may be beaten by 
some trumpery stuff grown 6 ft. high. If I take 
Pearson’s last lot, I may be beaten in Pelargoniums by 
some ten-year-old plants in tubs. Well, the drift of 
this is, cannot you get some competent judges to agree, 
and lay down some set of rules that should bind the 
judges at all shows ; so that these rules should be as 
well known as "the Marylebone cricket rules, and be 
printed in every schedule. By the way, is itnot correct to 
train Pelargoniums like big pancakesany longer?— Heath 
End. [ The question raised by our correspondent is an 
important one, and the subject has often been discussed, 
but without doing much good. In the case of flowers, 
fruits, vegetables, &c., it would be impossible to lay 
down any hard and fast rules for general adoption, as 
under any circumstances the individual opinions and 
inclinations of judges will prevail. Judging is not an 
exact science, and it is not every man who has the 
critical faculty sufficiently well developed ever to 
enable them to become good judges, and thereby 
efficient teachers of those needing instruction as to 
the best models and types and the leading qualities 
generally of the things they grow. Local exhibitors, 
whose productions are judged by local men, soon get 
to know the latters’ weakness, and act accordingly. 
The same thing takes place also at the larger London and 
provincial exhibitions, where the judging is done by 
better-trained and more experienced men, and where, 
consequently, a higher standard of merit prevails and 
fewer mistakes are made. Novelty should undoubtedly 
be a strong point in estimating the merits of different 
productions, but in combination with other qualities, 
such as size, neatness in training, profusion of good 
flowers, or perfect development of healthy foliage, all 
of which afford evidence of skill in cultivation. If 
novelty only was considered, an end would at once be 
put to all inducements to grow plants skilfully.-—E d.] 
Scarlet Runners in Market Gardens.—I 
have recently been much interested in watching the 
method adopted by a neighbouring market gardener 
with his Scarlet Runners. The seeds are sown in 
48-size pots in early spring, and they are put into dung- 
heated frames, where there is warmth enough to cause 
them to germinate, and as soon as the plants begin to 
make shoots they are hardened off in cold frames, and 
planted out in the open ground about the last week in 
May or the first week in June. The ground in which 
they are to grow is previously well manured and deeply 
ploughed, then harrowed down fine and slightly rolled; 
then a labourer takes a 1 ft. dibber, one of those which 
was so much in vogue for planting Potatos thirty years 
ago, and with the aid of his foot, presses it into the soil, 
making a hole that will take the contents of one of the 
pots. Another follows, and plants the Scarlet Runners 
without disturbing the ball. Then some days after 
the soil is drawn up about them, and three stakes, 
about 4 ft. 6 ins. long, are planted to each clump (one 
to each plant), and they are drawn in together at the 
top and tied; the bine of the Beans soon attaches itself 
to the stakes, and, if the weather be moist and genial, 
they make a rapid growth. In this way a crop of 
Beans is had much earlier than from plants raised from 
seeds sown in the open ground.— R. D. 
Campanula pulla.— For rockwork no better 
species than this can be grown, and none give a better 
conception of an alpine plant than this denizen of 
Eastern Europe. The flowers are terminal and mostly 
solitary, but are large for the size of the plant, bell¬ 
shaped, drooping and of a dark violet-blue colour. 
Notwithstanding the many years this choice species 
has been in cultivation, it does not seem to be so 
common or widely spread in gardens as that other pretty 
and choice species, C. pumila and its white variety 
alba. If planted on a cool part of the rockery, the 
flowers will come into bloom somewhat later, but will 
keep a longer time in perfection. It may be seen at 
Chiswick in the gardens of the Royal Horticultural 
Society, in a frame with a north aspect, and also 
planted out on the rockery. 
Erratic Laburnum. —The plant to which Mr. 
W. J. Murphy refers (p. 666), and concerning which 
Darwin commented iii his book on Animals and Plants 
Under Domestication, is Laburnum Adami, a graft 
hybrid produced by Jean Louis Adam, of Paris, by 
shield-grafting Cy tisus purpureus on Laburnum vulgare. 
This resulted in a mingling of the characters of the two 
species, producing a plant exactly intermediate between 
the two parents. The most remarkable fact concerning 
this artificial production is that branches or sprays ot 
the same tree revert to either one or other parent. I 
have seen branches revert to the typical L. vulgare, 
which is more robust than either Cytisus purpureus or 
the hybrid. The latter is sterile ; but branches re¬ 
verting to L. vulgare produce not only fertile seeds, but 
seedlings raised from them in no way differ from those 
of a naturally-grown Laburnum. Branches bearing 
flowers of Cytisus purpureus on the hybrid tree I have 
not yet seen.— Taxus. 
Campanula Porfcenschlagiana. — This re¬ 
markably pretty species of Bellflower, so suitable for 
pot or rock-work cultivation, is worthy of a simpler 
specific designation than the one botanieally awarded 
to it. We are, however, so much indebted to German 
research in the matter of floriculture that it would, 
indeed, be strange if now and then German names 
were not appended to some of the gems of the 
vegetable kingdom. To those who prefer to label this 
plant in Latin, pure and simple, I would like to add 
that it may be so dealt with under the name of C. 
muralis, Wall Bellflower, and, in fact, is so grown in 
gardens generally. To English ears, undoubtedly, 
this latter title is preferable to the former as being 
more euphonius. But now to a brief description of 
the subject in question. The flowers, which are pale 
bluish purple, and bell-shaped in form with spreading 
segments, are produced in great profusion in terminal 
clusters. Indeed, to those unaccustomed to see this 
little gem, my pot plants have over and over again 
been mistaken for Lobelias, so full and freely is the 
bloom produced. Interspersed between this colour, 
and which, of course, tends to heighten it, are the 
delicate-looking leaves ; these are small, and take on a 
variety of shapes—from ovate to reniform. ' I find 
4^-in. pots ample for cultivation, and handy for 
moving about. The treatment it requires is of the 
simplest description.— C. B. G., Acton, TV. 
Vines with Barren Flowers.— Mr. Barron 
sent from Chiswick to the last meeting of the Scientific 
Committee, samples of flowers, some having the 
stamens spreading, which set fruit, others with the 
stamens reflexed, and which were always barren. Mr. 
Henslow reported upon a microscopical examination of 
the two kinds, and found that the pollen was shrivelled 
and utterly useless in the recurved stamens. Like 
those which remained erect after the corolla had fallen, 
they burst their anthers while in bud, but as soon as 
the flower has lost the corolla the filaments become 
reflexed. On examination of the stigmas, ovaries and 
ovules, nothing abnormal was revealed ; so that if these 
flowers be dusted with the pollen from a normal kind, 
a spray being gathered just as the corolla is falling and 
shaken over the others, the probability is that they 
would set fruit. Such an experiment would soon show 
if the pistils were unaffected or not. It appears that 
these barren flowers occur on rods growing side by side 
with fertile ones, and may occur on any variety, so 
what is the inherent constitutional cause of the “con- 
tabescence ” of the stamens would seem to be obscure. 
It is discussed by Darwin ( Animals and Plants under 
Domestication, ii., p. 165), but he could not suggest a 
cause, though some plants—Dianthusand Verbascum— 
thus affected grew on a dry and sterile bank. Dr. 
Masters called attention to the researches of Engelmann 
and Planchon on this subject, as well as to his own 
observations at Chiswick several years since. A 
tendency to assume a dioecious condition seems to be 
general in all Vines, and is completely attained in the 
American species. Allusion was also made to corre¬ 
sponding phenomena in Strawberries. 
Limnocharis Humboldti.— Those who are 
fond of aquatics would find in this Brazilian plant 
one of the most beautiful ornaments for the tank of a 
stove. Those who do not possess a tank, or other large 
body of water, may grow the plant in a large pot or 
tub, using a smaller pot for the soil and the roots. 
The reniform or heart-shaped leaves are much smaller 
and less bulky than those of a Water Lily, and float 
on the water. The flowers are large and handsome, 
of a fine yellow with orange spots at the base of the 
petals. The nearest representatives amongst British 
plants are the Water Plantains, one of which is very 
common in ditches, ponds, and streams. With the 
aid of a stove temperature and water, the plant grows 
freely, and flowers from May to November. Mr. Ross, 
gardener to Sir George Macleay, Pendell Court, 
Bletchingley, had it in flower very early. 
Hoya imperialis.- —Some cultivators fancy one 
species of Hoya, and some another, either for the 
beauty of the flowers, their fragrance, or the profuseness 
of their flowering ; but that under notice is truly a 
grand and noble plant, whose flowers are noticeable as 
much for their size as their jieculiar bronzy flesh colour. 
It is probably more frequent in gardens than people 
generally are aware, from the fact that the production 
of flowers is of rare occurrence. It attempted to flower 
during the dull foggy days of winter at Gunnersbury 
House, Acton, but the buds dropped, while from the 
same axis, flowers have now expanded in all their beauty, 
and Mr. Hudson is to be congratulated upon his success. 
There is a figure of this noble species in the Botanical 
Magazine, t. 4397. 
Euadenia eminens.— One of the most singular 
and interesting plants now to be seen flowering in the 
stove at Kew is a small specimen of the above-men¬ 
tioned species of Euadenia, a West Tropical African 
plant of recent introduction. It belongs to the Caper 
family—a fact strongly suggested by the young fruit 
being carried out of the flower by a long stalk. What 
strikes the observer most, however, is the singularity 
of the two upper petals, which have been compared to 
a couple of gas jets. They are 3 ins. to 4 ins. long, 
arched over the flower, and sulphur-yellow at first, 
fading to a pale green with age. The other two petals 
are very small and inconspicuous ; but the inflorescence 
occupying the whole upper part of the stem—and, 
indeed, the whole plant, for at present it is leafless—is 
very conspicuous with the two long petals arching on 
every side. The plant, moreover, is not only interesting 
but very ornamental for the stove. 
Veronica salicornoid.es. —The great range of 
variety in the shrubby New Zealand type of Veronica 
is remarkable, and the more we see and know of them, 
the more desirable they become. Had they been some¬ 
what hardier, so as to resist the occasionally severe 
winters with which we are visited, they would, no 
doubt, become common in every garden. The species 
under notice seldom flowers in this country, but a fine 
semi-globular bush, 12 ins. in diameter, in the gardens 
at Joldwynds, Surrey, flowered last summer in the open 
border ; it is of a fine yellow tint, and at a little 
distance resembles a Golden Heath. Upon closer 
inspection, the small closely adpressed leaves remind 
us of the Saltworts of maritime marshes ; and a literal 
translation of the specific name, shows that its author 
entertained the same idea. The species is much 
hardier than most others from the same country. 
Iberis Gibraltarica. — Of all the hardy- 
perennial candytufts, perhaps this variety is the finest, 
and will hold its ground against those varieties that 
have been sent out since its introduction. The habit 
of the plant is dwarf and sturdy, and it adapts itself to 
almost any situation, making itself at home on the 
rockery (where it shows to immense advantage), or as 
lines along the edges of borders or beds. The flowers 
are of the purest white, the petals being much rounder 
in form than many of the other varieties. For florifer- 
ousness of character it cannot be surpassed, the 
closeness of the truss of flower, and the great quantity 
in which they are produced, render it a very attractive 
variety at this time of the year. It is worth growing 
in large quantity for the purpose of cutting, and it will 
strike freely from cuttings inserted on a shady border, 
or put in a frame along with such plants as Violas, 
Pansies, &c.; the best time to insert the cuttings being 
about the end of July or commencement of August. 
Two-year-old plants make a nice display in a line, but 
to see the plant to perfection you must have large 
masses, when it brings out all the splendour of its habit 
and character. — TV, G. 
