762 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
July 30, 1887. 
ARDENING ffflSCELLANY. 
The Medals of the Royal Horticultural 
Society. — In Professor Foster’s able paper, circulated, 
among the Fellows of the Royal Horticultural Society, 
it is said, at p. 2, “ In the first place, the bestowal of 
medals is ridiculously superabundant ; being showered 
down as they are, they have lost all distinctive value.’’ 
For the information of those not thoroughly conversant 
with the working of the society, it may be well to state 
why medals are now given more frequently than was 
formerly the case. In the impecunious state of the 
society, it cannot afford to offer prizes, and as the 
visitors at the fortnightly meetings would be hardly 
satisfied with seeing only the plants sent up for 
adjudication, leading nurserymen, both of town and 
country, from time to time make most interesting and 
instructive large displays. Visitors will remember fine 
banks of Gladiolus, Rhododendrons, Eoses, Narcissus, 
spring flowers, &c. Some acknowledgment has to be 
made to these exhibitors, and the new medal of grade 
according to merit is awarded after very careful 
inspection. The use of medals has thus been diverted 
from being very rare awards to single highly remark¬ 
able plants, to rewards for making useful attractive 
displays in the Conservatory. When no great ex¬ 
hibitions are going on n-ext door, the visitors to the 
fortnightly shows are not sufficient in number to 
reward the exhibitors of groups for the expense and 
trouble of bringing up a large number of plants. 
According to my experience, which is not small, 
exhibitors still greatly prize the award of medals.— 
G. F. Wilson, Heatherbank, Weybridge, July loth. 
Everlasting' Peas. —Among these Lathyrus 
grandifloras takes a high place. It simply needs to be 
planted in some spot where it can increase at will, and 
not interfere with anything else. The flowers are very 
large and showy, and, as far as my experience goes, they 
do not burn so readily as those of L. latifolius. The 
last-named is the common Everlasting Pea, and it is 
curious to notice how much stronger it comes in some 
soils than in others. I have seen it in Kent growing 
in a good strong Hop-soil, and producing brilliantly- 
coloured flowers of large size. If I bring a plant of 
this near London it goes back to the old type ; therefore, 
I infer that soils materially affect Everlasting Peas. 
Then there is the white variety, and that beautiful 
form known as L. delicata, in which the white flowers 
are beautifully pencilled with pink. L. Drummondi 
is one of the earliest and freest of Everlasting Peas, the 
flowers being of a bright salmon-carmine hue, but they 
burn in the sun; yet it is wondrously free, and the 
plant soon grows to a great size. L. Sibthorpi is a rare 
species with crimson-magenta flowers, and very early ; 
it is also one of the most distinct forms in the genus. 
To succeed in the open, an Everlasting Pea should be 
planted in a good deep loam.— R. D. 
Sibthorpia europsea variegata. —No one 
can imagine the real beauty of this British, though rare, 
wilding when the leaves are variegated or margined 
with pure white, as they are in this case. In a wild 
state it affects moist shady places, and those who wish 
to succeed with it must adopt a similar situation and 
accord it the same moist treatment as it enjoys in a 
state of nature. Many cultivators fail with it from 
not adopting this simple method, but Mr. Shuttleworth, 
at Park Eoad, Clapham, seems to have hit the key of 
success happily, judging from a number of plants of 
various sizes in his houses, where the slender creeping 
stems hang over the sides of the pots in a very 
fascinating manner. The leaves are small, reniform or 
suborbicular, thickly clothing the prostrate stems, and 
are exceedingly pretty when not grown in a house with 
a dry atmosphere and full exposure to the sun. 
Utricularia montana. —This Bladder-wort is 
grown nowhere to greater perfection than in Baron 
Schroder’s collection, and I have never seen it so robust 
and floriferous. If Mr. Ballantine succeeds as well 
with U. Humboldtii, it will assuredly cause a great 
sensation. July is a comparatively barren month for 
Orchid blossoms, but at no time of the year can one 
visit The Dell without seeing something to rivet 
attention or excite admiration, and to the ardent lover 
and cultivator, the magnificent healthy condition of 
the plants affords ample compensation however long the 
journey may have been.— Leo. Gordon. 
New Peas. —Eight glad was I to read your leader 
last week upon the Peas on trial at Chiswick, and also 
to note that the old friends under new names had not 
escaped detection. I hope you will give us an extended 
list of the trial when completed, and that the Fruit 
Committee will give their awards without fear or bias. 
I do wish we had less of the evil practice of sending 
out poor sorts under high-sounding names, or old sorts 
under new appellations. Chelsea Gem, I notice, has 
got a Certificate, and it deserves it, for it is a fine dwarf, 
with twelve to fifteen peas—rather dwarfer, in fact, 
than that good Pea, William Hurst, which it very 
much resembles. It may prove to be a slight improve¬ 
ment upon that variety. Among other varieties with 
me, Magnificent, Eoyal Jubilee, Abbott’s Duchess, and 
Prodigy are promising well, and, so far, are the best. 
The last-named is somewhat similar to Magnificent, 
but rather longer in the pod, and, I am afraid, will not 
fill up so well. But more of these and others anon.— 
B. L. 
A Sportive Gloxinia. —A curious instance of 
two differently coloured flowers proceeding from the 
same tuber has occurred at Style Hall, Gunnersbury. 
They are borne on separate shoots produced from buds 
arising in very close proximity to the tuber, and 
aroused the suspicion of there being two different 
tubers, the result of two seedlings, until turned out of 
the pot and the soil removed, which set the matter at 
rest. The flowers are of that shape intermediate 
between the original drooping tubular form and the 
erect, wide-mouthed, nearly regular, improved varieties; 
the flowers on one shoot are white, with the tube 
violet-blue all over internally ; while in the other case 
the violet-blue colour is confined to a broad band 
along the lower side of the tube only. 
Bigmonia Chirere. — I send you samples of 
trusses taken from a plant of this handsome climber. 
It was planted out five years ago in the centre bed of a 
span-roofed greenhouse, trained up one of the sup¬ 
porting columns, and after reaching the roof, was 
further trained in various directions, covering a space 
4 ft. wide and 40 ft. long, with scores of pieces like the 
samplesentdroopinggracefully from theroof. There was 
no particular preparation of compost beyond a barrow- 
load of loam and leaf-soil to start in, since which 
the roots have had nothing further than ordinary garden 
soil. I have seen several Bignonias in various places, 
including the subject of this note, but more often 
without flowers than with them, being simply utilised 
to cover the back walls of conservatories and green¬ 
houses, or trained under a roof of opaque glass instead 
of in a structure where they can have the maximum 
amount of light. Our plant has been free from all 
kinds of insect pests until this year. Some of the shoots 
became infested with green-fly ; but as we do not 
fumigate the house in which it is growing, we syringed 
the plant with soapy water and tobacco-juice, which 
proved effectual.— TV. P. R. [The specimens sent us 
were simply magnificent, each truss or cyme being in 
itself a conspicuous and attractive object of floral beauty. 
The individual flowers were close upon 5 ins. in length, 
and six to ten of these were in full bloom at one time, 
with other unexpanded buds in various stages of 
development. It is interesting to note the change of 
colour that takes place from the time the flowers first 
expand till they are just about to drop. The tube at 
first is of a rich orange-yellow, and this gradually 
changes to a deep bronzy or orange-red. Externally 
the lamina is orange-red, changing to a soft rose colour 
in the mature flower ; but internally it is a brilliant 
scarlet, changing to a deep rosy red. The interior of 
the tube is clear bright yellow, finally changing com¬ 
pletely to a decided orange-brown. These changes that 
take place with regard to colour are no less remarkable 
than the size, brilliancy, and beauty of the flowers 
themselves. The leathery evergreen foliage sent us 
was clean, healthy, and bright.—E d.] 
Cissus discolor. —This stove climber, on account 
of its effective colouring, is universally admired. It 
thrives well in pots, but for training on the roof, or 
over trellises, it is better planted out. It succeeds well 
in soil composed of two parts of peat to one part of 
loam and leaf-soil, with a sprinkling of sand. It is 
easily propagated in the spring by means of cuttings, 
which strike the more readily with a piece of old stem 
attached to them. When the plant is in good health, 
weak doses of manure-water can be safely given with 
good results. It is a native of Java.— F. R. S. 
Root Crops and the Dry Season.— The 
effect of the drought upon root crops is causing much 
comment in every district, and especially where the 
ground is at all heavy. The intense heat has baked 
the soil into a solid hard mass, and crops, such aa 
Potatos, Parsnips, Carrots, &c., are full of holes and 
indentations ; in fact, some Potatos cannot swell to 
their proper size, and are “ growing out ” or sending 
forth shoots about 3 ins. or 4 ins. long in all directions, 
which render the crops perfectly useless. I send you 
herewith some Carrots I lifted out of a large field, 
from 'which you will see the grotesque shapes they are 
assuming. These are a fair sample of the crop, which 
were all taken out in a heap, and it is fair to assume 
that the whole field is in the same condition. They 
are stunted and full of dents, and unless rain comes to 
their rescue within a few days to soften the soil and 
allow them to fill out, they will be useless.— Practical. 
Musa cocoinea. —This is a handsome foliage 
plant, and grown in 10-in. pots will be found very 
■useful for decoration during the winter time. It is one 
of the dwarf-growing species, having a brightly 
coloured inflorescence. The flowers are produced 
terminally, with spathes of a bright scarlet tipped 
with yellow. It requires a stove temperature, and 
should be liberally treated. A resting period should 
be allowed it, water being sparingly given. Propaga¬ 
tion can be effected by seeds or by suckers, which offer 
a ready mode of increase.— F. R. S. 
Torenia Fournieri. —This pretty annual is very 
suitable for conservatory decoration as a pot-plant at 
this season of the year. It belongs to an interesting 
family (the Scrophulariacefe), and its monopetalous 
corolla being sky-blue, with a bright yellow throat, the 
lower and side lobes being tipped with deep indigo-blue, 
renders it very attractive and pleasing. The seed 
should be sown about the middle of April in a shallow 
pan in a mixture of leaf-soil and loam in equal quantities, 
with a little silver sand, and as soon as the young 
seedlings are large enough to handle prick them off 
into thumb-pots (-3 in a pot), and afterwards shift 
into 48’s, adding one-third well-decayed farm-yard 
manure to the compost above mentioned. Grow them 
in a stove temperature, and pinch them once or twice 
to induce them to grow bushy. As soon as the plants 
commence to flower remove them to an intermediate 
temperature until required for the conservatory. They 
will keep on flowering for some time under favourable 
conditions, and a succession of bloom can be kept up 
until late in the autumn by one or two successive 
sowings, and by giving a portion of the plants an extra 
pinching .—Alfred Gaut, The Gardens. Copped Hall, 
Totteridge. 
Campanula psrsicifolia alba plena. —There 
are several forms of this useful hardy perennial in cul¬ 
tivation ; but none are more useful or pretty, either for 
cultivation in pots or out of doors, than this one, 
which finds a place on the new rockery at Devonhurst. 
The flowers are pure white and double, resembling a 
small Kose of the Rosa multiflora type. Another form 
on the same rockery is also pure white, and generally 
known as C. p. calycanthema alba. The calyx is 
greatly enlarged and white, as also is the corolla in this 
case. The typical form is blue, and is occasionally met 
with in a semi-wild condition in several northern 
counties from the fact of its being planted alongside 
drives or other half-kept places, and has strayed or 
otherwise become naturalised, and recorded in several 
British floras. A peculiarity of this Campanula is that 
it opens the terminal flower first, and in semi-wild 
specimens the whole inflorescence is frequently reduced 
to this solitary terminal flower. 
Fasciated Stems. —At the meeting of the Scien¬ 
tific Committee on Tuesday, Mr. G. F. Wilson remarked 
upon the prevalence of fasciated stems in Lilium 
auratum. Professor Church corroborated his observa¬ 
tions by mentioning a similar occurrence in Kew 
Gardens. Mr. O’Brien observed that the habit has 
become more or less fixed in L. laneifolium when raised 
from bulbs, but nothing is known of the variety, L. 
monstrosum being raised from seed. Apropos of 
raising Lilies by seed, Mr. O’Brien remarked that if 
seeds of Lilies be saved and sown in South Africa they 
will flower within six months, whereas in England it 
takes over twelve months. Also, if English-saved seeds 
be planted in South Africa they will not bloom under 
a year ; showing the influence of climate upon the 
development of the plant. The only Lily, Mr. Wilson 
remarked, which comes up quickly is L. tenuifolium. 
