January 14, 1888. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
315 
pagation is simple, and as it flowers at about this time 
of the year, it becomes doubly attractive to us, and 
helps to fill the vacancy in the house caused by the 
removal of “that queen of autumn flowers,’’ the 
Chrysanthemum. This particular Reinwardtia (com¬ 
monly called Linum) is very attractive when in flower, 
and I would urge all those of my readers who have not 
given it a trial to do so this spring, and they will be 
amply repaid for their trouble. The cultivation of the 
Reinwardtia is as follows, according to our own practice, 
which I can recommend to all :—Cuttings should be 
taken from the strongest growths in April or May, 
dibbled into pots in a compost consisting of two parts 
sand to one of loam, and then placed in a close pro¬ 
pagating frame. When rooted they must be grown 
singly in 3-in. pots, and kept close for a few days until 
they have got over the shift, when they will do better 
in an intermediate house or frame. Frequent pinchings 
must be resorted to, in order that they may assume a 
bushy habit. The best compost to grow them in after 
they are rooted is loam, leaf-soil, and sand, and for a 
final shift 5-iu. or 6-in. pots will be quite large enough. 
They will do better at this stage of their growth if they 
are placed in a frame where they can get plenty of 
sunlight, in order to ripen the shoots thoroughly, 
which is essential to their flowering effectively and 
freely. When in their blooming stage they must have 
a temperature of not less than 50°, and plenty of air 
and sun in order to open the flowers. They will require 
syringing every afternoon in summer, which will not 
only be conducive to the growth of the plants, but also 
keep in abeyance red-spider, which is the most 
destructive insect these plants are subject to. During 
very hot weather it would, perhaps, be advisable to 
shade in the middle of the day. I would only recom¬ 
mend the growth of Reinwardtia trigynum and 
R. tetragyna. Of course, old plants may be cut 
down and grown on again, using the same compost as 
before, reducing the balls, placing them in about 4-in. 
pots, and then finally into 6-in. or 7-in. ones ; but old 
plants thus treated will not flower so freely as young 
ones. I am vain enough to think that other gardeners 
beside myself would hail with pleasure the return into 
general cultivation of this old favourite. — TV. C. G. 
Stephanotis floribunda. 
I fully endorse the remarks made at p. 300, by your 
correspondent, Mr. Potts, respecting this invaluable 
plant, and should be glad to hear from any of your 
readers if the Elvaston variety, so highly spoken of a 
few years since, still retains its dwarf, free-flowering 
habit under ordinary cultivation.— A.'Ryder. 
--XCc-- 
THE BEST CONIFERS FOR 
PRESENT PLANTING. 
( Continued from p. 293). 
Amongst other Cypresses of value for planting, but 
not in too great quantity save for ornamental purposes, 
we may make particular note of C. torulosa, a pretty, 
distinct and fast-growing tree ; C. funebris, curious and 
interesting ; C. Nutkiensis, and C. sempervirens. 
The Deciduous Cypress (Taxodium distichum) 
attains to large dimensions when suitably placed as to 
soil and situation. It prefers damp soil and to be 
planted by a pond or lake, and is by no means parti¬ 
cular even though its roots are flooded for half the year ; 
in fact, in such cases the curious protuberances termed 
“knees ” are produced of the largest size and in greatest 
quantity. On the lake-side at Sion House these curious 
growths may be seen in quantity. It is a capital tree 
for planting in the damper soils of these Isles ; but it 
would seem, judging by the numerous old specimens 
to be met with in various parts of the country, that it 
received a far greater amount of attention in the days 
of our grandfathers than it does at present. 
The Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga Douglasii) for 
beauty of foliage, rapidity of growth, hardihood, and 
value of timber produced is, perhaps, unequalled in 
our long array of Coniferous trees. It has one fault, or 
may be two, in that as soon as the leading shoots are 
above the neighbouring trees it invariably gets broken 
over, and the tree assumes a flat, table-headed appear¬ 
ance. By planting the Douglas Fir in clumps or woods 
alone, or only in conjunction with other equally rapid- 
growing trees, such as the Silver Fir, the Giant Arbor 
Yitse, &c., this evil would, we have long ago pointed 
out, be greatly averted. The Douglas Fir is certainly 
a noble tree, but to produce it in its entirety it must 
be either planted as above directed or in lowland 
sheltered valleys ; for long experience has clearly 
pointed out to us that this is not a tree for our exposed 
grounds. 
Abies Nordmanniana, popularly known as Nord- 
man’s Fir, is a tree of very rapid growth, and one 
that has justly found favour with the majority of 
extensive tree planters in this country. It produces a 
nice clean timber, which, when the tree is grown in 
quantity, will, we have little doubt, be largely used for 
various constructive purposes. As an ornamental 
tree this is one well worthy of culture, its deep green 
foliage and neat habit of growth rendering it a 
favourite wherever it is used. 
A. grand is is another worthy representative of the 
tribe, and one of the handsomest trees in cultivation, 
for whether in a young state, or when it has attained to 
fully 60 ft. in height, it at all times maintains that 
stately grandeur and easy gait for which it is more 
remarkable than any other species of the genus. It 
wants good loam and vegetable refuse in which to 
grow, but for all that it must not be considered as at all 
a fastidious tree as regards choice of soil. 
The noble Silver Fir (A. nobilis) must not be 
omitted from our list of useful Coniferous trees. For 
strength its timber may not be of first-class quality, yet 
its hardihood and ornamental aspect render it of great 
value for mixing up with other more useful kinds. 
The Lebanon Cedar (Cedrus Libani), although 
not a very profitable timber producer, at least in this 
country, is nevertheless a tree of great beauty, un¬ 
doubted hardihood, and one of the easiest to cultivate. 
"We have cutup and converted home-grown timber of 
this Cedar, but found it brittle though long in the 
grain, and almost worthless for the purpose of fire¬ 
wood. It succeeds in almost any quality of soil; 
indeed, there is hardly a square mile of country in 
Britain that does not possess one or more specimens. 
— A. D. TV. {To be continued.) 
-~>X<- 
THE APIARY. 
Bees, Their "Work in the Garden, and 
Profitable Management. * 
The object generally in planting fruit trees is to ensure 
a good supply of fruit ; and we endeavour to have them 
in bearing condition in as short time as possible, and 
to obtain that end we have recourse to grafting and 
budding on dwarfing stocks, &c. "We can admire a 
fruit tree well flowered quite as well as an Orchid, or a 
fine specimen stove or greenhouse plant. "With the 
latter, that is the height of our ambition, but not so 
with the fruit tree ; we must often wait long and 
patiently after the tree is in flower before reaping the 
reward of our labour. I remember well on going 
through a garden in Scotland where the gardener, 
stopping in front of some young healthy well-trained 
Plum trees in full flower, said, “I do not think a 
gardener ought to be held responsible for the crop of 
fruit if the trees fail after such promising prospects as 
that ”—pointing to the trees. However that may be, 
it would be difficult, I am afraid, to make our employers 
come to the same conclusion. It is, therefore, most 
essential that we should use every means at our com¬ 
mand at this critical period to secure success. The 
weather at this time is generally so uncertain, that we 
often have to cover the trees by some protecting 
material—it may be old herring nets, tiffany, frigi 
domo, or branches of Fir trees or Laurels ; but what¬ 
ever the covering may be we cannot secure a crop of 
fruit unless the flowers are fertilised, and to secure 
this in a satisfactory manner, I strongly recommend 
the keeping of a few hives of bees in the garden ; they 
do the work thoroughly, and you can share the reward 
of their labour in an increased supply of fruit, and a 
plentiful store of honey for the table. 
It is, therefore, to their work in the garden and 
their profitable management that I wish now to draw 
your attention. That bees are of great use, and per¬ 
form most useful work in the garden no one will deny 
who knows anything about the untiring efforts of this 
little insect. 
‘ 1 The busy bee with cheerful hum, 
Flies round from flower to flower ; 
Her little load she carries home 
And seeks again for more.” 
"Who has not heard that old familiar nursery rhyme, 
and had the bee pointed out to them as an example worthy 
of being followed ? In speaking of the work of bees 
in the garden, I mean the employment of them as 
agents in the fertilisation of flowers. Let us turn to the 
flower, study its construction and how it is fertilised. 
The typical flower consists of four circles of organs, 
namely, calyx, corolla, stamens, and pistil; but almost 
* A paper read by A. Wright, Devonhurst, at a meeting of the 
Chiswick Gardeners’ Mutual Improvement Association, January ' 
4th, 18S7. 
every kind of deviation and combinations of deviations 
from this type are met with, which may arise from 
excess or arrest of growth, one or both, separately or 
combined. But the essential parts of a flower are the 
stamens which bear the pollen, and the pistil which 
bears the ovules. As you all know, the grains are 
carried to the stigmatic disk of the pistil by the agency 
of wind or insects, or it may be, as in the self-fertilising 
flowers, by the pollen falling on the stigmatic disk of 
the same flower. 
Among the different kinds of fruit grown in the 
garden for general use, the most of them have her¬ 
maphrodite flowers, i.e., flowers having the essential 
organs —stamens and pistils—present in the same 
flower; exceptions being found in the Filbert and 
Walnut. At one time it was generally supposed that 
all hermaphrodite flowers were self-fertilised, that is, 
the pistil was fertilised by the pollen from the stamens 
of the same flower. Darwin has done much to prove 
that though a flower may be structurally hermaphrodite 
it is usually, but not exclusively, functionally bi-sexual; 
that the stamens may reach maturity before the pistil, 
or the pistil before the stamens, so that one flower has 
to be fertilised by the pollen of another. Bees are 
active agents in the carrying of the pollen. As they 
visit flower after flower they get covered with pollen, 
and the pistil is generally so placed that they must 
come in contact with it before they can extract honey 
from the flower. It has been pointed out that bees 
generally confine themselves to one genus or even 
species of flower till they get their load ; so that here 
we have a wise provision made for each flower to be 
fertilised by its particular kind of pollen. 
Darwin further points out that a greater number of 
healthy seedling plants are produced when cross 
fertilisation between the stamens of one and the pistil 
of another flower of the same species takes place. 
There may be room here for great difference of. opinion 
whether self-fertilised or cross-fertilised flowers are the 
more prolific. That, however, I am obliged to pass 
over, as time will not allow me to go into it. But I 
may point out, in passing, that I have known instances 
which bears out Darwin’s theory of cross-fertilisation. 
One instance I will relate where a hive of bees was 
placed in an early Peach house when the trees were in 
bloom to fertilise the flowers ; and they did their work 
well, with the result that there was a splendid set of 
fruit, where in previous years, before bees were intro¬ 
duced the set of fruit had been anything but satis¬ 
factory. But, let me add, this is a cruel way to use 
bees ; although they may do useful work placed in an 
early Peach house, it is generally at the expense of 
losing the whole hive. 
One of the greatest pleasures to the gardener and 
bee-keeper is to walk along a Peach wall on a bright 
spring day when the trees are in flower, and to hear the 
hum of the bee at work—and it is work of no niggard 
kind. Here, at any rate, his w T ork is being done 
thoroughly and well. Some may be inclined' to say 
that work of this kind could be done by other insects; 
but the Apricot, Peach, and Nectarine flowers burst 
open at the approach of the first few fine days in 
spring, when insects able to fertilise them are not 
plentiful, so here lies the importance of having a few 
hives of bees to do this w'ork, which may be the means 
of securing a good crop of fruit, where without them it 
would have been a failure. 
That they are not always an unmixed blessing only 
proves the exception to the rule ; for if you have a few 
plants set aside for seed raising they will visit them, 
and unless means are taken to keep them away the 
results may be anything but satisfactory. This applies 
more especially to the members of the Brassica tribe, 
when different varieties are grown in the same garden. 
On the other hand we may often have good seedlings— 
crosses for which the bee alone is responsible—springing 
up where least expected. 
Here I may say that I am convinced that bees do an 
immense amount of good in assisting in the work of 
fertilisation ; and in the early spring, when other 
insects are yet scarce, the work they do is most 
important. You have only to glance at the kinds of 
fruit that come into flower to be fully convinced of 
this, namely, the Apricot, Peach, Nectarine, Cherry, 
Plum, Pear, Apple, Gooseberry, Red and "White 
Currants, Strawberry, Raspberry, &c. If we can assist 
by keeping a few hives of bees in the garden for the 
fertilisation of those flowers, and in so doing secure a 
better crop of fruit, no one will ever grudge the small 
amount of labour their keeping entails. I wi:l there¬ 
fore try and make that part of the work as clear to 
you as possible, to show that their work in the garden 
is a necessary and most important one, and for which 
they are naturally well qualified. 
( To be continued.) 
