January 21, 1888. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
338 
your inspection, by which you will see that both flowers 
are fully developed and of large size, which might lay 
claim to the extra title of pardinum. Several others, 
which are generally looked upon as normally bearing 
one flower on a scape, have here, this season, produced 
twin flowers on a spike. These include C. Harrisianum, 
C. Meira, C. mevium, and C. Spieerianum in quantity. 
It. C. Fraser, The Woodlands, Streatham. 
Phal/enopsis at Mote Park. 
Lovers of these plants visiting Maidstone should not 
fail to call at Mote Park, the residence of Lady Howard 
de Walden ; they will there see a fine lot of splendidly 
grown P. Schilleriana. There is a grand display of 
very robust flower-spikes on them, such a sight as this 
being too rarely seen on this glorious Orchid. Mr. 
Daril, the intelligent and very obliging gardener, grows 
his Phalsenopsis in rather less heat and more air than 
is generally the case with many less successful culti¬ 
vators.— A. J. 
Lycaste Barringtonia major. 
This fine plant, which is figured in the Botanical 
Magazine, tab. 5706, is now in flower with Mr. F. W. 
Moore,at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin. 
Its flowers, which are ivory-white, tinged on the petals 
with pale green, are 5 ins. in length, and being numerous, 
make it when in flower a fine sight.— J. B. 
Lycaste plana. 
A grand variety of this is also in bloom with other 
Lycastes at Glasnevin. The flowers are 4 ins. across, 
sepals wholly brown except the edges, which are mottled 
with green, petals and labellum pure white, spotted, 
except at the tips and edges, with bright crimson.— 
J. B. 
-—>X<—- 
The Gardeners’ Calendar. 
THE PLANT HOUSES. 
Forcing Pit. —Those who desire a display of Gloxinias 
as early in the season as possible, and do not possess 
old tubers, should lose no time in making a sowing, to 
be succeeded later on if need be by another. Tuberous- 
rooted Begonias and Cyclamens may also be sown. 
The former cannot be had for early work unless they 
are germinated early in the season, so as to have time to 
become strong well-established plants by the early sum¬ 
mer m onths. Some recommend making the main sowing 
of Cyclamen at this season, with the intention of 
flowering them the same year, but although we advocate 
a sowing to be made now by those who are short of 
stock, yet we consider that July is a much better time 
to make the principal sowing. They make a number 
of leaves by autumn, and may then be pricked off in 
boxes or potted off singly in thumb pots before winter. 
They have then a long growing time before them, and 
commence flowering by September or October in the 
year following. 
Bedding Plants. —These are often allowed to stand 
in Vineries or other houses that have been started till 
they are spoiled by overcrowding as a result of ill-timed 
growth. During the present unsettled weather hands 
from the outside department can often be spared to pot 
off bedding plants, when the ground is too wet either 
for wheeling or digging. If this kind of work be done 
now, the plants will be in a well-established condition 
by the end of May or the beginning of June, and be 
ready to start away into full growth and flower 
immediately. _ 
THE GREENHOUSE. 
Fuchsias.— Before the great rush of work comes on, 
those who possess large, standard, or pyramidal plants 
may now get them in readiness for next summer’s dis¬ 
play. Although commenced thus early, it should not 
be done with the intention of hurrying them unduly in 
any way, as the Fuchsia is a plant that resents forcing. 
Before potting them, prune into the desired form, the 
pyramidal being the most popular, and at the same 
time very natural one. Some cultivators prune and 
pot immediately ; but a better plan is to allow the buds 
to start, after which the plants may be shaken out and 
re-potted in a light, rich mixture, using good fibrous 
loam, a quantity of leaf-soil, and a liberal sprinkling 
of sand. 
Libonia, Salvia, and Sericographis. — For 
autumn and winter flowering, the young stock of these 
useful greenhouse subjects may now be increased by 
propagation. The most popular of the Libonias is 
that named L. Penrhosiensis (and sometimes L. Reedii), 
a hybrid between L. floribunda and Sericographis 
Ghiesbreghtii. Its dwarf habit has much to recom¬ 
mend it; but we fail to see why L. floribunda, which 
although somewhat taller is the more floriferous of the 
two, should be neglected. Both are flowering, and 
have been so for some time. Most of the Salvias are 
past their best, but a few of the species will keep up a 
show for weeks or even months to come. 
THE FORCING HOUSES. 
Vines. —• Whether the plants are grown in pots or 
planted out, great care must be exercised during the 
prevalence of such adverse weather as we suffered last 
week ; and considering that a considerable area, if not 
the larger part of the British Isles, was enveloped in a 
dense fog, others must have had the same unpleasant 
experience as ourselves. Keep the temperature at the 
lowest degree compatible with safety during the pre¬ 
valence of dark and sunless weather. As the flowers ex¬ 
pand in the earliest houses, keep the atmosphere perfectly 
dry during the best part of the day so as to encourage 
a free distribution of pollen, and the consequent regular 
setting of fruit. When they have reached this stage, 
however, a night temperature of 65° should be kept up 
to encourage setting. 
Peaches.— The disbudding of trees in the earliest 
house should be seen to at an early stage, so that all 
breast wood and unnecessary shoots may be removed as 
soon as they show themselves. It is no economy to 
allow the growth of wood that must inevitably be cut 
away afterwards. At the same time it is bad policy 
to remove a large quantity of shoots at any given 
time, as it temporarily checks growth. 
Figs.— There are many who still force the large 
planted-out specimens, but better results would be 
obtained from the latter, if the earliest supply of 
fruit is taken from pot plants. If put into heat 
now the pots should be mulched over the top with 
rich but well-rotted stable manure, watered moderately 
at first until growth is progressing freely, and then 
amply supplied with water at the root and syringed 
overhead till the fruit commences to ripen. 
THE KITCHEN GARDEN. 
Potatos. —When a favourable opportunity occurs, that 
is, when the weather is dry and the soil in workable 
condition, plant some of the earliest kinds of Ashleaf 
Kidney, selecting tubers most suitable to the locality 
as experience may dictate or choice may favour. 
Use whole sets, as they will keep best in the present 
raw condition of the soil. 
Pruning, Digging, &e. —Many have not yet finished 
the first of these operations, and should lose no favour¬ 
able occasion to prosecute the work. It is bad policy 
to wheel manure except during the prevalence of frost 
or when the walks are hard and dry, as the latter get 
cut up and soil is carried on to them from the squares. 
Digging may be prosecuted vigorously, as the weather 
for the past few days has been of a drying nature. 
-- 
FLORICULTURE. 
_ ♦ _ 
♦ 
Carnations as Greenhouse Plants. 
Some recent writers in one of your contemporaries have 
been rather severe of late upon growers and exhibitors 
of named varieties of Carnations and Picotees, charging 
them with “ coddling ” them, and making them into 
greenhouse plants, whereby they have lost a good deal 
of their hardy character. It is remarkable how little 
is advanced beyond mere statement in defence of this 
position. Because during the time the plants are in 
flower they are put into a greenhouse for the purpose 
of protecting the blossoms from harm from weather— 
although doors and windows of the house are thrown 
open as widely as possible—it is assumed that the 
plants have greenhouse culture. It may be that a 
few plants it is desirable to fertilise are placed in a 
greenhouse, so as to be more under the control of the 
fertiliser. Still, they are cultivated in a greenhouse, 
though they are placed there only for a short time, 
and for a special purpose. Anyone paying Mr. E. S. 
Dodwell, of Oxford, a visit at the Carnation-blooming 
time, might say that he grows his plants in a green¬ 
house ; whereas they are simply raised on platforms or 
stages, without any covering at the sides, but with 
glass or tiffany roofs. What seems regretable is that 
the florist, so called, cannot be permitted to grow his 
plants whichever way he thinks best in order to secure 
the end he has in view, without being attacked by 
some person who fancies all the knowledge and 
experience is on his side. The florist is misrepresented 
by means of mis-statements made on the authority of 
persons who are supposed to know. The directions 
given by Mr. E. S. Dodwell in his book on the 
Carnation and Picotee under the head cf January, are 
conclusive as to hardy treatment of the Carnation. 
“ The plants being in their quarters in cold frames, or 
cold house, give plenty of air, never, indeed, closing 
the frames or house day or night, excepting during the 
severest frosts. In my experience, no severity of cold 
has been injurious unless the plants had been previously 
made tender by injudicious confinement, but guard 
sedulously against icy, cutting winds.”— R, D. 
-- 
^Sifuari?. 
We deeply regret to hear, as we go to press, of the 
death of Mr. John Day, of Tottenham, on Sunday 
evening last, after an illness of about a week’s duration. 
As, perhaps, the oldest of English amateur Orchid 
cultivators, and at one time the possessor of, by far, 
the richest collection of Orchids in the country, the 
announcement of his death we are sure will be received 
with sorrow by all Orchid lovers. 
W e regret to hear of the death, on December 21st last, 
of Mr. Charles H. Marot, of Philadelphia, U.S.A., 
aged sixty-two years. Mr. Marot was well known in 
the horticultural world as the proprietor and publisher 
of the American Gardeners' Monthly, which for so 
many years has been ably edited by Mr. Thomas 
Meehan. Mr. Marot carried on a large publishing 
business, and was the American agent for this and 
several other Engl sh publications. 
It is with great regret that we also have to announce 
the recent death of Mr. F. G. Day, the popular hon. 
secretary of the Banbury Chrysanthemum Society. 
Mr. Day was connected with a business firm in the 
town, and was generally regarded as a young man of 
considerable promise. The Chrysanthemum Society 
loses a very able official, whose energetic discharge of his 
duties had much to do with the success that has 
attended the society during the two years it has been 
in existence. 
->X<-- 
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS. 
Begonia Tubers. — G. A. Myers : Removing the tubers from 
the soil after the stems have died down would certainly aid in 
ripening them, by inducing them to part with superfluous 
moisture. We should not, however, recommend you to keep 
them in that position till time to re-pot and start them. As you 
say, they shrivel by parting with that quantity of moisture 
necessary to keep them plump. After being moderately dried in 
this way, a good plan would be to place them in alternate layers 
of moderately moist Coco-nut fibre or sand. Place the box 
containing them in a cool place, but quite safe from frost. Even 
leaving them in pots in which they had grown, and plunging in 
ashes in a cold frame will rot the tubers, owing to the low tem¬ 
perature and excess of moisture. 
Books.— R. Cale: We presume you mean Thompson’s Gar» 
deners' Assistant, as that is the work published by Blackie & 
Son. The price of the new edition is 32s. 6i., bound complete. 
If you take it in monthly parts, it will still cost you the same 
amount, and you will have to pay for the binding extra. 
Chrysanthemums. — Enquirer : W consider the following to 
be the six largest Japanese varieties Lady T. Lawrence, 
Edwin Molyneux, W. G. Drover, Mr. H. Cannell, Madame C. 
Audigueur, and Carew Underwood. 
Cinerarias Damaged. — H. Corlet: Many have the same 
experience as you have had in the transference of plants from 
house to house during frosty weather. The leaves of Cinerarias 
are so susceptible of injury from frost that they may be, and are 
often, irretrievably damaged in this way. The temperature of 
the atmosphere must be above freezing before you attempt 
taking such tender-leaved subjects into the open air, unless 
they are closely covered up. If their leaves are allowed to 
touch the glass during severe frost, injury is also certain. We 
do not consider the kind of injury the result of fog in so short a 
time. 
Cockroach.— W. C.\ You are quite right in sa_ing that the 
insects sent are not the common black cockroach Blatta 
orientalis). They are those of Periplaneta americana, an 
American insect capable of doing a great amount of mischief to 
plants of all kinds, and even to destroy the leather of boots, 
whenever such are left in their way. They carry on their de¬ 
predations chiefly at night, breed with enormous rapidity, and 
should be destroyed by every possible means. Phosphorus 
beetle poison should be laid about for them on pieces of slate, 
using it carefully, and removing it during the day. They may 
also be caught by the hundred by using a liquid and strong¬ 
smelling syrup in deep glass or earthenware jars, standing the 
latter against the side of a pot, or using pieces of wood by which 
the insects may gain access to the mouth of the'jars. By strain¬ 
ing the syrup through close-meshed wire-netting or something 
similar, it may be used over and over again. 
Musk Tree.— Under-gardener: If you mean the Musk Tree of 
New South Wales, the recognised name is Eurybia argophylla. 
It is certainly allied to the herbaceous Asters, and was at one 
time grown under the name of Aster argophyllus. The reason 
why your plant never flowers is because it naturally grows to 
the size of a large shrub, or even the dimensions of a tree. The 
flowers are small, white, and individually not very attractive, 
but when produced in masses on a large plant they are by no 
means devoid of ornament. If you can afford room to plant it 
out, the best results will ensue. 
