42 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
September 17, 1887. 
am afraid, be written down as quite disappointing ; 
others have tried it, and with the same results. I 
have not seen the semi-double form of the scarlet 
Phlox Drummondi, but I think that a double form of 
this Phlox can scarcely be anything better than a 
Phlox spoiled. 
I think that many persons who grow Phlox Drum¬ 
mondi make a mistake in sowing the seeds too early, 
and they keep the plants too long in the seed pans or 
boxes. March is quite early enough to sow, then prick 
off the plants in April so as to encourage a robust, 
sturdy growth ; pot off at the end of April if necessary, 
and plant out in May to flower. There should not be 
any check in the development of the plants. — R. D. 
-- 
ONIONS AT HACKWOOD. 
Looking over the fine breadths of this pungent but 
useful vegetable recently at Hackwood, I was struck 
with the remarkable evenness seen in the stock of 
Veitch’s Main Crop, a very fine form of the "White 
Spanish type, which Mr. Bowerman holds to be equal 
to Rousham Park Hero, admittedly the finest exhibition 
sample-producer we have. The bulbs were of the most 
even description ; indeed, out of hundreds there seemed 
not half an ounce of difference in the whole lot. All 
had just ripened off exactly alike also, differing in this 
respect appreciably from the Banbury, which, whilst 
giving a grand crop, still had a considerable percentage 
of late or green bulbs. 
Another good stock is Brown Globe, so very valuable 
for late work. Rousham Park Hero is very finely 
grown at Hackwood, the seed being sown under glass 
in warmth early in the year, and the plants dibbled 
out into rich soil, 1 ft. apart, as early as possible. Ho 
wonder, under such circumstances, the bulbs weigh 
over a pound each, and are exceedingly handsome ! 
Mr. Bowerman, however, does not trust to these 
monsters for stock. If he did, he would, with others, 
be greatly deceived, as they will not keep long, and 
would, in all cases, prove very wasteful. Medium¬ 
sized, thoroughly hard, matured bulbs are the best for 
all ordinary kitchen purposes. 
Ho doubt, if Rousham Park Hero or others of the 
large kinds be grown under ordinary conditions, they 
would produce good serviceable bulbs; but the big 
samples usually shown, whilst attracting attention on 
the exhibition table, do not encourage wide culture for 
ordinary uses. If the Rousham Park Hero be the same 
as Yeitch’s Main Crop, then it is certain that, under 
ordinary culture, it does produce a first-rate main crop 
with entire satisfaction. However, if obtainable as 
main crop at ordinary prices, it is obvious that fancy 
charges can hardly be sustained, even by offering 
attractive prizes to growers.— A. D. 
-—>X<-- 
NOTES FROM LIVERPOOL. 
What improvements the Liverpool people take in 
hand are usually carried out well. The old churchyard 
in Church Street has lately undergone a complete change 
in character ; the old much dilapidated and unsightly 
tombstones, which for so many years gave the place 
such a melancholy appearance, have been removed, 
and the ground laid out and planted. Grass has been 
put down, and flower beds now adorn the spot, making 
it cheerful and attractive to passers-by. The walks are 
broad and asphalted, and seats have been introduced, 
which are a boon to hundreds who take advantage of 
them to rest their weary limbs. The place is well kept, 
the design is as perfect as one can wish for, and reflects 
great credit upon those who had charge of the altera¬ 
tions. 
Liverpool has lost during the past few months good 
supporters of horticulture in the persons of Mr. and 
Mrs. Heuman, and Mrs. Heywood, who were much 
respected, and whose collections of plants have been 
sold ; and it is greatly to be regretted that their houses 
remain empty, no enterprising lover of plants having 
yet taken their places. Those who have had the 
pleasure of visiting either of these establishments in 
the past, have, no doubt, been struck with the grand 
collections of plants which each contained, and es¬ 
pecially the superb examples of cultivation at Wyncote. 
These will be sorely missed from local exhibitions, but 
I trust that both Mr. Bardney and Mr. Mease will soon 
find employers worthy of their undoubted ability. 
In many places about Liverpool Aristolochias are 
grown well, among them being A. elegans, which, just 
now, is flowering most abundantly. Its peculiar brown 
spotted quaint flowers are very attractive and novel, 
proving a welcome addition to our numerous stove 
climbers. 
If any of your readers be in Liverpool soon, they 
should not fail to visit Messrs. Her & Son’s nursery, 
where they will find a sight worth going a long journey 
to see in their Croton house, which contains the finest 
collection of well-grown and highly-coloured plants I 
have ever seen. All the varieties worthy of cultivation 
are represented by most handsome specimens, varying 
in size from 9 ins. to 3 ft. or 4 ft. in height, and 
coloured to perfection. I could see, on a recent visit, 
that the plants are not grown in the stifling heat which 
a great many growers subject them to. Their Cyclamen 
houses, too, are full of admirably-grown plants of this 
most popular winter flower, which, in the proper 
season, will be worth seeing. 
The same firm have on exhibition, in their shop 
window in Basnett Street, a dozen tubers of the "White 
Elephant Potato, from the gardens at Croxteth, which 
weigh 18J lbs. They are, indeed, fine samples, and 
if their quality is as good as their appearance, it must 
be a grand Potato for domestic purposes. 
"While travelling about, we see things that sometimes 
agreeably surprise us. I called upon an old friend from 
the north, who recently came to the neighbourhood of 
Birkenhead, and while looking round I found, in a 
high, lean-to, old-fashioned plant stove, a magnificent 
specimen of Phaltenopsis grandiflora, with four or five 
pairs of fine, long, thick, healthy leaves, fully 1 ft. 
long. The plant was suspended from the roof, and 
growing upon a piece of a tree—evidently the same as 
imported from its native habitat. This plant—about 
the only Orchid in the place of any note—has flowered 
freely, and is a perfect specimen, similar to which I 
should like to see more frequently in collections of 
Orchids. — Rusticus. 
-- 
MIMICRY IN PLANTS. 
Feet and Slippers. 
We have already reviewed many cases of plants, or 
some part of them, being likened to the feet of divers 
birds ; but many other animals have their pedal and 
other extremities more or less strikingly or fancifully 
represented. Testitudinaria elephantipes has a massive 
root-stock, covered with a thick corky rind, which 
splits into squares, giving rise to the generic name 
which comes from testudo, a tortoise. The specific 
name of Elephant’s-foot is as deservedly applied to the 
same unwieldy mass. Gnaphalium Leontopodium, or 
Edelweiss, may also be described as the Lion’s-foot, and 
Pasonia foetida as the Bear’s-foot. The woolly bracts 
radiating from a soft woolly mass of flower-heads of 
Leontopodium may not inaptly be compared to a lion’s 
paw. For a similar reason, the cottony heads of 
Antennaria dioica have earned for it the name of Cat’s- 
foot. In this case, however, the similarity is not so 
excellent as in the former instances. 
In the clubbing of Turnips—a disease caused by a 
fungus—we have some remarkable outgrowths from 
that vegetable and its roots, popularly known as 
finger-and-toe. The whole Turnip and its ramifications 
sometimes resemble the human hand ; while in other 
cases fingers and toes seem wonderfully natural. The 
disease in question appeared some time after the intro¬ 
duction of bones as a manure, and simple country 
people believed that many of the bones so used were 
brought from the tombs of Egypt or from battle-fields 
of more recent date, and those who were inclined to be 
superstitious were fully persuaded that the hands, 
fingers, and toes on the Turnips were none other than 
those of the slain destroying them and crying out for 
vengeance on the living for being put to such a vile, 
unfeeling, and unreverential use. Science has, how¬ 
ever, now explainel the phenomena as arising from 
natural causes. 
The Slipperworts are numerous in species, but applied 
to few genera only. The chief of these are Cypri- 
pedium, Selenipedium, and Calceolaria—nil very 
familiar flowers in British gardens. The Cypripedium, 
in English, is known as the Lady’s Slipper ; but is 
derived from Kupris and pedion, two Greek words, 
signifying Yenus-slipper. Hot satisfied with this, 
Linmeus named our native species C. calceolus, or the 
Small-shoe Venus-slipper. Some have suggested that 
the allusion is not very appropriate, on account of the 
ungainly shape of the so-called slipper or lip of the 
Cypripedium, which is doubtless true if we refer to 
Cinderella or to the article as made in this country ; 
but the Chinese slippers, or whatever the 3 T are called, 
are almost or quite as clumsy as the lip of a Cypri¬ 
pedium. Calceolaria is the Slipperwort, from calceolus, 
a small shoe or slipper ; and here the similarity is often 
far fetched, as the lip mostly resembles a bag with its 
mouth drawn together with a string, or it may be 
compared to a tobacco-pouch. In Calceolaria violaeea, 
however, the lip resembles a slipper very much down at 
the heel—a circumstance of frequent occurrence.— J. F. 
-- 
NEW PLANTS CERTIFICATED 
By the Floral Committee of the R.H. S. 
September 13th, 1887. 
SCHCBERTIA GRANDIFLORA. 
This can be hardly called a new plant, seeing that it 
was introduced from Brazil some fifty years ago. It 
was at one time grown to a considerable extent, but 
seems to have dropped out of cultivation. It is a 
greenhouse climber with opposite leaves, yielding 
umbels of fleshy, white, hairy flowers, which are 
fragrant. Exhibited by A. C. Bartholomew, Esq., 
Park House, Reading. 
Oplismenus albidus. 
This is a very dwarf Panicum-like plant, growing 
only to the height of 3 ins. or 4 ins., with pale creamy 
white foliage. It promises to become a useful plant 
for growing with Selaginella and such-like subjects on 
the stages of stoves, and for other decorative purposes. 
Exhibited by Messrs. James Yeitch & Sons. 
Rhododendron Thetis. 
One of the beautiful set of garden hybrids raised at 
Chelsea, and remarkable for its handsome trusses of 
large clear lemon-yellow blossoms, which are of great 
substance and refined form. Exhibited by Messrs. 
James Yeitch & Sons. 
Hepenthes Ctjrtisii. 
This is a species from Borneo, and has the appearance 
of being a free grower. Its pitchers are long, and 
taper regularly from the broad mouth, and 
heavily mottled with blood-red. Exhibited by Messrs. 
James Yeitch & Sons. 
Odontoglossum Schroder ianuh. 
This is a very distinct and good species, the growth 
of the plant somewhat resembling that of 0. hastila- 
bium ; the sepals and petals are green, heavily 
blotched with purple-brown, and the labellum broad, 
contracted in the centre, the lower half white, and the 
upper portion rich violet-purple. Exhibited by Mr. 
Ballantine, gardener to Baron Schroder. 
Dendrobium stratiotes. 
A singularly beautiful and distinct species, with the 
narrow greenish sepals twisted and erect, resembling 
horns ; the sepals white, and the three-lobed lip white 
also, but beautifully veined with purple. Exhibited by 
Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart., M.P. 
Habenaria militaris. 
A welcome addition to -this interesting genus of 
terrestrial Orchids, the plant, like the rare H. ciliaris, 
not exceeding a foot in height, with a short, dense, 
terminal spike of vermilion-red flowers. Exhibited by 
Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart., M.P. 
Iresine Colemanni. 
This very fine bedding plant originated as a sport 
from I. Lindeni, with Mr. Coleman, of Eastnor Castle, 
some three or four years ago. It is of the same style 
of growth, but remarkable for its beautifully soft, yet 
brilliant colour. Exhibited by Mr. "Yildsmith, Heck- 
field Place. 
Dahlias. 
Miss H. Henshaw.—A single variety of the now 
popular medium size, very pleasing in its well-rounded 
form and clear pale lemon colour. Exhibited by Mr. 
T. S. "Ware. 
Maude Millett. —A pretty single variety, of a light 
ground colour, heavily flushed with dark rose on the 
outer halves of the petals. Exhibited bj T T. "VY. Girdle- 
stone, Esq., Sunningdale. 
Lustrous. —A beautifully-shaped show flower, of 
medium size, and of a pleasing shade of crimson in 
colour. Exhibited by Mr. Turner. 
Purple Prince. —Also a handsome show flower, of 
a light shade of purple. Exhibited by Mr. Turner. 
Glowworm. —A show variety of the same size and 
shape as the latter, but rich dark scarlet in colour. 
Exhibited by Mr. Turner. 
Olivia. —One of the prettiest of show varieties, being 
of a rich shade of pink, though, perhaps, not quite so 
distinct as the other three. Exhibited by Mr. Turner. 
"W. Carlisle. —A very pretty Pompon, of a light 
pink ground colour, and the petals flushed at the 
margin with rosy purple. Exhibited by Mr. Turner. 
