December 17, 1887. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
251 
best authorities) says they are distinct.” I then asked, 
“Would your authority stage the two together ? ” He 
responded, “Ho, Mr. So-and-so says he would not 
like to, but they are distinct! ”— E. Molyneux. 
Viola, Blue Bell. —It is very kind of my old 
friend, Mr. N. Blandford, to speak in such high terms 
of my bantling as he does. It is quite true that it 
originated in my garden, and that I sent it out; but 
it can scarcely be said that I raised it, as it came as a 
self-sown seedling—“Earth, of man the bounteous 
mother,” gave it to me without even the asking. One 
day I noticed in my garden a small tufted Pansy 
growing up—a chance seedling (it is curious how the 
seed grain got there, for I had never, to my knowledge, 
grown a Yiola there before) ; and being struck by its 
close compact habit I allowed it to develope, and, lo ! 
it blossomed into a pretty violet-blue Yiola, which I 
named Blue Bell. Mature, out of her great heart, gave 
me this gift, and I propagated it, and sent it out. 
I have since seen it in many parts of the country, and 
wondered how it got there. I have found it under 
other names—subsequently bestowed—but always my 
own Blue Bell.- The late Mr. Thomas Speed once told 
me that the Duke of Devonshire admired more than any¬ 
thing else, in the gardens at Chatsworth, a large batch 
of Blue Bell. Whether what has been grown at Kew 
is the genuine Blue Bell, I cannot say ; but if one of 
the employes at Kew will send a piece to the Editor of 
The Gardening World, that matter can be soon 
settled. I thank all friends for their kindly mention 
of this useful Yiola.— R. Dean, Ealing, IF. 
Propagating Carnations, &c. —It has been 
my practice for many years to increase this charming 
class of plants by cuttings or pipings, and have fully 
demonstrated the fact that they may be so multiplied 
at almost any season of the year, by the hundred or by 
thousands, by having the necessary appliances, and 
following the advice written years ago by me in some 
of your contemporaries. Plants with a profusion of 
roots may be obtained in from eighteen to twenty-one 
days with, I may say, a handful of roots, strong and 
robust in health. I send some samples that have been 
rooted at different periods during this autumn, and 
which are correctly labelled with the date of insertion. 
I may say that those put in on the 10th of November 
have been subjected to a low temperature owing to a 
leakage in my hot w'ater cement-tank. In my time I 
have been engaged, on very many occasions, in layering, 
exposed to the scorching rays of an August sun ; and 
those who may have been similarly engaged know full 
well that it is not an enviable avocation, nor is it one 
now absolutely necessary to ensure success, which is far 
more certain under our improved means and appliances 
than it was fifty years ago, when pipings were rooted 
under hand-glasses by the aid of, perhaps, fermenting 
material.— George Fry, Lewisham. [The plants re¬ 
ceived were abundantly rooted, and fully bear out our 
correspondent’s statements.— Ed.] 
New Chrysanthemum, Hans Niemand. 
—The name here given is applied to a distinct sport 
which was obtained from the Japanese Etoile du Midi 
about two years ago, and is now being largely pro¬ 
pagated for distribution next year by Messrs. Hans 
Niemand & Co., Harborne Road, Edgbaston, Birming¬ 
ham. Etoile du Midi has a medium-sized head of the 
reflexed Japanese type, and has orange-red florets 
tipped with yellow. The sport, Hans Niemand, under¬ 
goes such a transformation during expansion, that it 
might appropriately be named Variabilis. "While the 
young florets are expanding, they are heavily suffused 
with orange-red, but, as soon as they become fully 
opened and reflexed, they change to a deep golden 
yellow. This transformation takes place gradually, 
from the circumference of the head towards the centre : 
and when the whole of the florets have assumed the 
bright golden yellow colour, and the bloom is getting 
old, the outer florets again assume an orange-red colour 
as they die off. The sport is described as a free-grow¬ 
ing, free-flowering subject, and excellent for dinner- 
table decoration, as it shows off with magnificent effect 
by artificial light; the leafage is good, the individual 
leaves being once or twice deeply cut, and frequently 
conspicuously auriculed at the base as if furnished with 
stipules. 
Selaginella uncinata(S. caesia) —This species 
is placed among the stove Lycopods ; but when I was 
at the Elms, Hanger Hill, Ealing, a few days ago, the 
gardener, Mr. E. Fountain, pointed out to me a plant 
of this species growing upon a heap of leaf-soil in the 
open. It appears that it was a good specimen in a 
pan, but as the pan became broken, the plant was set 
down upon the bed of leaf-soil, and some of the soil 
drawn up about the roots. This was done in the 
summer of 18S6. There it remained all through the 
winter of 1886-87 without harm, and it grew freely 
during the past summer. It is still alive, having 
rooted into the leaf-soil. One remarkable thing is 
that the heap of soil is under a north wall where but 
little sunshine falls.— R. D. 
Tomato, Blenheim Orange.— Fruits of this 
variety are still hanging on the plants at Messrs. J. 
Carter & Co’s, nursery, Forest Hill, and even with the 
general absence of sunlight for some time past, they 
are by no means indifferently flavoured. They are 
round and smooth, or even with a shining skin, and 
bright yellow, or more or less tinted with red like the 
Apple of the same name when they have been ripened 
with an abundance of sunlight. During the summer 
part of the season they attain the size of the sort 
named Perfection, which is certainly large for a yellow 
variety. Some of the other large yellow sorts are 
deeply ribbed, which detracts materially from their 
value for dessert, and even more so for exhibition 
purposes. Very little seed is produced in an individual 
fruit, so that the flesh attains a very solid and rich 
consistency of good flavour. 
Nerine Mansellii.— I notice in The Gardening 
"World of December 10th, p. 231, a note on this plant. 
I send a few extra notes, as also a list of those Nerines 
which have bloomed here this season. One of the best 
qualities of N. Mansellii is its freedom of flowering. 
The bulb from which we have obtained our stock has 
bloomed six years in succession ; this year it has the 
largest spike I have yet seen, bearing twenty-five 
flowers. Another bulb has a spike with twenty flowers, 
and is now throwing up a second spike from the same 
bulb. Four other bulbs have a spike each carrying 
seventeen flowers. "When once a bulb has bloonie i it 
does so every year, which I do not find the case with 
other Nerines. The nearest approach to it in that 
respect is N. Fothergillii major. It has also abundant 
foliage, which is full grown about the time the flowers 
are in full bloom, which is a great advantage over 
those that bloom without the foliage. The following 
is a list of Nerines which have jbloomed here this 
season, in their order of flowering, viz.: N. Fothergillii 
major, N. venusta, N. atrosanguinea, N. O’Brieni 
ccerulea, N. elegans carminata, N. Plantii, N. japonica, 
N. pulchella, N. excellens, N. Fothergillii, N. corusca, 
N. undulata or crispa, N. amabilis, N. Humili angus- 
tifolia, N. corusca major, N. pudica, N. fiexuosa, N. 
elegans and N. Mansellii. Other varieties we have, 
which have not bloomed, are N. sarniensis, N. Cammii, 
N. rosea crispa, N. sarniensis carnosa, N. Elwesii and 
N. rosea.— E. Peters, The Gardens, Somerset Terrace, 
Guernsey. 
Luculia gratissima. —This beautiful greenhouse 
plant is a favourite with all who cultivate it, and 
thereby know its worth. Its flowers being sweetly 
scented enhances its value. They are rosy pink, and 
for button-holes or bouquets it is quite an acquisition. 
It can be grown in pots, but to be planted out in a 
greenhouse or conservatory it is far better, for in this 
w'ay it thrives wonderfully well, because there is plenty 
of root room. Propagation can be effected by seeds, 
which should be sown in sandy soil, placing them in a 
gentle heat. The usual method," however, is by 
cuttings, which, unless the conditions are favourable, 
are difficult to strike. Cuttings placed under a bell- 
glass, or in the propagating pit, ought to root in a 
short time ; and when rooted, be careful in potting 
them off, as the roots are very tender. Another way 
is by layering. The shoot should be notched under a 
joint, pegged down firmly in a pot, and the latter made 
secure to the trellis, that is, provided the plant in 
question is trained against a wall. — F. R. S. 
Early Turnips.—Fora first crop no earlier can 
be grown than Early Milan, which comes into use two 
or three weeks earlier than other kinds sown at the 
same time. It is one of the strap-leaved varieties, 
producing small round white tubers, more or less tinted 
with red on the top. Early Munich succeeds the 
former in point of time, and constitutes another of the 
strap-leaved forms ; the tuber is white, more or less 
conspicuously marked with purple on the top. This, 
again, is followed by the Red Strap-leaf variety, very 
similar save for a shade of colour and the time it takes 
to reach a usable size. A peculiarly-shaped Turnip, 
because to us unfamiliar, is that named Long Jersey 
Navet, which has an oblong or cylindrical white tuber 
piercing the ground perpendicularly ; being early, it is 
much used for the Early Paris Market. A good early 
yellow sort is that named Early Finland, with a napi- 
form, that is, Turnip-shaped tuber, which is cleaD, well 
shaped, with a small tap-root, pale yellow and good. 
By the use of the preceding sorts, both earliness and 
variety are secured. They had been sown along with a 
number of others, after the memorable drought of last 
summer, in Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons’ trial-grounds at 
Chiswick, where they grew very rapidly with the warm 
autumn rains. 
Palms and Chrysanthemums. —Now that 
the Chrysanthemum shows are over, or nearly so, for 
another season, can we look back and say we have 
made any real progress, either in the staging of the 
flowers or the grouping of the plants ? To the latter, 
especially, I wish to draw attention now, and ask 
if something could not be done to make the grouping 
of Chrysanthemums a more pleasing and interesting 
feature at shows in the future than they have been. 
The banks of Chrysanthemums, sloping from back to 
front, as generally seen at our shows, are not so com¬ 
pletely satisfactory as could be desired. That there is 
room for improvement in the arrangement of groups, 
as at present carried out, few will deny. "What is 
wanted is a broader basis on which to work, and a 
clause inserted in exhibition schedules allowing Palms, 
Dracaenas and Ferns to be used. If the National 
Chrysanthemum Society would set an example, and 
add a clause to that effect concerning one of the groups 
for which they offer prizes, we would have a good 
opportunity at their shows of judging whether such an 
arrangement would be an improvement on the present 
system of massing the flowers. If committees in 
drawing up their schedules for another season would 
add such a clause, I think the general effect produced 
at their shows would be more graceful and pleasing 
than they have been. So long as exhibitors are not 
allowed to use any plants except Chrysanthemums for 
their groups, there will only be a repetition of what 
we have already seen, namely, plants of different 
heights—the dwarfest ones being generally the most 
effective. I trust that some of your able correspon¬ 
dents will take this subject up, and give us their 
opinion.— A. W. D. 
Apprentices v. Journeymen.— Much has 
been said in the gardening press from time to time on 
the growing deficiencies of the above. Is it true, and 
where lies the fault ? It is, I fear, on both sides. 
Many head gardeners obligate themselves to teach, and 
fail to do so through the stupidity or some other fault 
of the pupil. What is the Education Act doing, and 
has it a retrograde tendency on young men ? Has it 
not increased the average intelligence of the United 
Kingdom 1 But wailing seems to be its limits, as no 
further steps are taken to battle with this, we are 
made to believe, growing evil. Many head gardeners 
show the greatest reticence in explanation even of how 
they wish work performed ; and as for an under gar¬ 
dener, should he inquire into the details of anything he 
wishes to know, he gets told in a very off-hand manner 
in many cases. A gardener asked me the name of a 
plant during my term of apprenticeship, and not 
knowing it, I asked him whit it was. In return, 
expecting the desired information, his reply was, “ Na, 
I inunna tell ye that!” I thought it a slippery 
method of hiding supposed knowledge. My belief is 
that under gardeners are superior now to what they 
ever were in knowledge and as good workmen. As 
grumbling is seldom or never beneficial to mankind, 
some practical course should be adopted, such as an 
annual test of their knowledge by means of examinations, 
which could be held throughout the country at the 
greatest of the provincial shows, on a similar principle 
to the one in London. If such be really necessary, it 
would, at least, have a beneficial effect if put in force. 
It would originate a spirit of rivalry in the pursuit of 
knowledge, and from its local character, a greater 
spirit of interest would be centred in it. Those who 
availed themselves of its benefits would certainly be 
preferred to those who did not. To pass an examination 
with a testimonial as to workmanship, &c,, would 
offer to head gardeners a means of making a better 
selection, and also be the medium of raising the general 
status of gardeners.— A. M. 
Sutton’s Michaelmas White Broccoli.— 
This is a grand variety, succeeding Yeitch’s Autumn 
Giant Cauliflower. It has turned out well with me, for 
I have been cutting beautiful heads this last month, 
and shall have a supply up till Christmas. It is a 
variety that is well worth a trial, when it will proclaim 
its own merits.— G. Tyler, Plastirion, near Carnarvon. 
The Great Auk. —On Tuesday afternoon, Mr. 
Stevens, of King Street, Covent Garden, disposed of an 
egg of the Great Auk, or Gair-fowl {Alca impennis). 
The rooms were crowded, many ornithologists being 
present. The first offer was 50 guineas, which rapidly 
rose to 160 guineas, at which price it passed into the 
collection of Mr. L. Field. Something like a rare 
Auk-kid ! 
