' 730 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
July 16, 1887, 
ARDENING fflSCELLANY. 
Austrian Briar. —Nothing can be prettier than 
a bed of the different varieties of this Rose on a lawn, 
or even planted singly or in clumps on the margins of 
the shrubbery. At Gunnersbury House, Acton, they 
are planted in a bed on the grass, and pegged down so 
as to cover the surface. Several varieties are grown, 
such as Harrisoni and Persian Yellow; but their 
flowering season has been curtailed, like that of many 
other Roses, by the intense heat and long-continued 
drought. The foliage is slender and beautiful, re¬ 
sembling that of the Scotch Rose, and when to this 
is added the distinct yellow flowers, we have, indeed, 
a charming combination. Harrisoni is a fine bright 
yellow semi-double, while the Persian Yellow is double. 
The Copper Austrian is another form well worth 
cultivation, with single coppery yellow flowers. 
The Tulip Tree. —The leaves of this tree in 
themselves are invested with an unusual amount of 
interest from their remarkable shape, being often 
compared to a saddle, and the tree itself is called the 
Saddle Tree. No other form of vegetation has this 
remarkable shape, peculiar to the leaves of the Tulip 
Tree, so named from the shape and appearance of the 
flowers, which, at a distance, are not particularly con¬ 
spicuous by reason of Jtheir most prominent colour 
being greenish yellow. Close at hand, however, they 
are seen to be most exquisitely marked with orange 
and yellow. Their fragrance is delicious, and flowers 
for decorative purposes would be in great request, pro¬ 
vided they were more accessible, and within reach of 
the flower collector as he goes round with his knife and 
basket. At Gunnersbury House, Acton, there is a 
large tree covered with a mass of bloom that would 
simply be magnificent if more under the eye ; but the 
effect is to a great extent lost owing to the height of 
the tree. 
Antirrhinum, White Swan.— Mr. J. T. Poe, 
Riverston, Nenagh, Ireland, sends us a beautiful pure 
alabaster-white variety of this popular old-fashioned 
garden flower under the above name. It is dwarf and 
attractive, and like all other varieties of A. majus so 
long cultivated in British gardens, must be propagated 
by cuttings. A pinch of seed from a well-selected 
strain gives us such an amount of different colours that 
few resort to the trouble of propagation by cuttings ; 
but they strike so readily, and require so little attention 
in the matter of housing, that good varieties well repay 
it. Several distinctive features, especially with regard 
to the colour, the form of the stripes, and markings, 
are not infrequent on the same plant ; but notwith¬ 
standing all their beauty, their cultivation is frequently 
neglected when the remnant take to the tops of garden 
walls and similar places, till their attractiveness is 
again recognised and taken under the protective care 
of man and improved. Mr. Poe grows the above 
variety in beds associated with a dwarf, double, 
crimson Sweet William, which is generally cultivated 
in England under the name of Dianthus barbatus mag¬ 
nifies. This also must be a very old garden form, 
seeing that it is so widely distributed. Both the above 
are fine, but the Antirrhinum is specially valuable. 
A Prolific Allamanda. —In a low span-roofed 
stove at Gunnersbury Park, Acton, is a vigorous 
specimen of A. Schottii, generally known as A. Hen¬ 
derson! It covers the roof at one end of the house ; 
but this area is comparatively limited, owing to the 
lowness of the structure. The flowers are produced in 
cymes from the axils of the leaves, attaining a diameter 
of 6 ins. to 7 ins. across the lamina, and are, as is well 
known, of a bright yellow streaked with brown in the 
throat. From this plant fifteen to eighteen dozen 
blooms are cut weekly ; and during the course of the 
season 150 to 200 blooms are expected, judging from 
past experience and the present floriferous condition of 
the plant. No other stove-flowering subject probably 
furnishes such a quantity of yellow bloom for the 
trouble incurred in its cultivation, and those who have 
to supply flowers for table and other decoration would 
find it exceedingly useful. 
A New Apple Pest. —As long ago as 1872 I 
found the larva of a little flea-beetle known as Haltiea 
punctipennis in Missouri, feeding upon Hawthorn. In 
1877 I found it again in Colorado, but the species has 
never been considered injurious until the present year. 
This spring, however, it has appeared in great numbers 
in the vicinity of Dallas, Tex., and of Gainesville, Tex. 
Mr. J. R, Johnson, of Dallas, writes that they appeared 
in great numbers about the first week in May, and that 
within two or three days thereafter they had destroyed 
his entire lot of Apple and Pear grafts. They then 
removed to his one and two year old Apple trees. Mr. 
Johnson had never been troubled with them before, 
although he remembers to have seen them in limited 
numbers in 1883 upon his young Apples. The habits 
and general appearance of this new Apple pest are quite 
similar to those of the Grape Vine flea-beetle, H. 
chalybea. The larva is rather slender, dark yellow- 
brown in colour, with darker head and prothoracic 
shield, and each segment bears four transverse dorsal 
warts. The legs are black, and project out at the sides 
of the thorax. The adult beetle is shining green 
rather than steel blue, and is distinguished from the 
Grape vine flea-beetle by its smaller size, and the 
numerous impressed dots on the thorax and wing 
covers. This insect, although exciting considerable 
alarm, will easily be subdued by arsenical poisons, the 
use of which is well understood in Texas.— Prof. C. V. 
Eiley, in the American Gardeners’ Monthly. 
Carnation, Souvenir de la Malmaison.— 
This beautiful Carnation is now in bloom, and a houseful 
of plants in their full beauty is one of the loveliest 
sights in the floral world. As cut flowers they are in¬ 
valuable, the perfume being so very agreeable and 
sweet. It is the exception rather than the rule to see 
them grown to perfection, either because their culture 
is insufficiently understood, or through want of con¬ 
venience for their proper treatment. The chief points 
to be noted can be briefly described thus :— Modes of 
Propagation : By cuttings or by the process of layering ; 
the latter mode is far preferable to the former, being 
safer and more effectual. A good time for layering is 
the beginning of August, or thereabouts. These should 
be ready for potting off into 60’s or 48’s, according to 
the size of the plant, about the middle of October. 
Through the winter a cold frame is suitable for them, 
the exclusion of frost being all that is required. A 
sharp watch for slugs should also be kept, as they are 
so destructive to the plants. In February another 
shift into 32’s should be accorded them, arranging them 
in the greenhouse in a light and airy position. The 
final potting should take place in August or the latter 
end of July into 8-in. or 10-in. pots, at which time the 
shoots will need staking, to prevent them breaking 
from the stem. Soil ; They succeed well in good loam, 
with a proportion of rotten manure or contents of an 
old Mushroom-bed, which must be made firm when 
potting. Watering : This is important, and must be 
carefully done. It is well to keep on the dry side till 
the plants are fully established in their pots, otherwise 
they are| liable to rot, and, consequently, to wither 
away. Stimulants can be safely given in the shape of 
liquid manure, guano, or soot-water, the latter helping 
to ward off the attacks of green-fly, and giving the 
foliage a dark green and healthy appearance.— F. E. S. 
Spiraea Aruncus at Buckminster Park,— 
This lovely border perennial is doing remarkably well 
on the lawns near the kitchen garden at Buck¬ 
minster Park, the seat of Earl Dysart, near Grantham. 
With the grass growing right up to the crowns of the 
plants, it does not seem to feel the drought this 
scorching weather. Mr. Sage told me the specimens 
had only been planted a few years, and when I called 
on the 6th inst., I counted several plants which measure 
about 10 ft. through, with from 80 to 100 flower spikes 
producing long white feathery plumes—most graceful 
specimens for a lawn or border. Considering that the 
plant is so cheap, it is strange that this lovely Spiraea 
is not more often seen.— J. D. 
Dwarf Foxgloves. — Mr. Lockwood is not 
correct in assuming that the dwarf Foxgloves to which 
I referred are so caused by drought. When some 
plants now are only 30 ins. in height, and have done 
blooming, whilst others have reached a height of 5 ft. 
close by, it is evident that the dwarfness is consti¬ 
tutional, and not due to other causes. A dwarf habit 
in the Foxglove may be desirable; but many like to 
have them amongst shrubs, and for that purpose prefer 
the taller growers. Still, all are beautiful.— A. D. 
The Mikado Flower Holders. — A very 
simple and artistic ornament for holding cut flowers in 
water has been made from the stems of a Japanese 
Bamboo by Mr. W. L. Hodgson, 9, St. James’s Square, 
Notting Hill, London, W. One or more joints of the 
wood may be used, and the transverse partitions at the 
joints, with the preparations they undergo, retain 
water without being specially lined. The flowers may 
be inserted at the apex or cut end, and also at the side 
in specially prepared notches or holes cut horizontally 
in the lower part, and slanting upwards and outwards. 
These pieces of Bamboo are made so that they can be 
hung up on a nail or suspended from aDy other 
ornament or piece of furniture at will. Variety may 
also be secured by getting pieces consisting of several 
joints, each acting as a separate water holder, and 
having its own lateral opening for the insertion of the 
flowers. The holders are prepared and supplied in 
different lengths by the maker, and are either simply 
stained and varnished, or they are ornamented with 
paintings of flowers or butterflies. They are further¬ 
more used in the same way as clear or coloured glass 
tubes for table decoration, and in the decoration of the 
fireplace in summer. 
Herbaceous Pseonies. —When looking over a 
collection of these a short time ago, I made a note of 
the following as being well worthy a place in the 
herbaceous border. There is now a very large number 
of varieties, and I endeavoured to select those that were 
quite distinct, and at the same time produced handsome 
full flowers. My selection is as follows :—Gloire de 
Douai, rosy purple, very fine ; L’Esperance, bright 
rose ; Lemoinei, pure white ; Noemi, delicate blush ; 
Prince Imperial, rich glossy rosy purple : Festiva 
maxima, white ; Amathee, pale blush-rose ; Glory of 
Somerset, delicate blush-pink, very fine ; Fabia, pale 
fleshy pink ; Empress Queen, white ; Cyclops, bright 
purple ; and Cabrero, deep rosy purple. As to the 
cultivation of Pseonies it is not necessary to say much. 
They do well in a good deep rich loam, and once 
established they grow to a great size if well looked 
after. The best time to get plants from a nursery is 
in early autumn, when the plants have been divided, 
and the sooner they can be planted where they are to 
flower, the sooner will they establish themselves in the 
soil before winter comes on. What can be more striking 
in the open border than Poeonies ?— E. D. 
Double White Dianthus.— For the first time 
last year I grew a few plants (seedlings very scarce) of 
a novelty in the shape of a pure white double Dianthus 
of the Heddewigi type. The strain needed some 
ranging, but the true type gave flowers very double and 
pure white. A large piece of several hundred plants 
this year has given the strain wonderfully true, not two 
per cent, being coloured. This is the more remarkable 
that within a few yards -was growing a large breadth 
of the beautiful single crimson kind Brilliant, thus 
showing that cross-fertilisation with these flowers is not 
the rule. One coloured double, and the only one out 
of the entire batch, is a beautiful magenta hue. These 
self-coloured forms are far more pleasing than are the 
variegated hues found in the ordinary doubles.— A. D. 
New Patent Glazing. —A sample of this was 
exhibited by Messrs. E. & F. Newton, Hitchin, Herts, 
on Tuesday last, at South Kensington. Simplicity, 
durability, and efficiency were claimed by the ex¬ 
hibitors. The framework of the structure, whether 
house or sash, consists of galvanised iron or zinc, which 
accordingly, from the small area it occupies, can offer 
but little obstruction to light. A ledge alongside the 
supporting-beam holds the glass, and as the sheets are 
laid on they are held in position by a brass spring 
running through the beam. The spring itself is held 
in position by an iron wedge or key that fits into a hole 
beneath it; and the squares of glass are, at the same 
time, effectually prevented from slipping downwards by 
this iron key. They are therefore held in position by 
an iron wedge at their lower ends, and by the pressure 
of the brass spring above them. The object of the 
brass spring is to allow of expansion by heat, while 
immunity from breakage is secured for the glass. The 
whole is of simple construction, and no putty is 
required. 
A Dimorphic Tree. — A singular feature is 
noticeable in a Horse Chestnut tree at Gunnersbury 
Park, Acton, bearing two kinds of leaves. The difference 
was readily discernible as soon as the leaves were fully 
expanded, and even now the most casual observer 
could not fail to be impressed with the difference in 
size of the leaves on some branches. There did not 
appear to be anything striking or unusual in the 
flowers, which were of the ordinary colour. All the 
