390 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
February 18, 1888. 
Dracaenas. 
For precisely tlie same reasons as the Croton these 
plants are cultivated, for specimen or exhibition purposes, 
with foliage to the pot, presenting a noble appearance. 
The culture is about the same as the foregoing; in fact, 
what suits one will suit the other. Plenty of heat and 
moisture to encourage vigorous growth should be given, 
and red-spider, to which they are particularly liable, kept 
down. Soil composed of loam and peat in equal parts, 
with a little charcoal and sand added, is well adapted 
for them. Plenty of light is required to colour them to 
perfection, but they must be shaded from the direct 
rays of the sun, otherwise the leaves will be scorched. 
Increase can be effected by cuttings off the stems, by 
the tops of old plants, or by the old stems cut into 
pieces and inserted in pots, which, if placed in the 
propagating frame, will soon root and make nice plants. 
Excess of pot room is to be discouraged ; at the same 
time, do not allow them to get in any way pot-bound, 
but give such a shift as will conduce to promote active 
growth. 
For table decoration the narrow-leaved varieties are 
the best, being more graceful than the broader-leaved 
ones, which, however, make the best for exhibition. 
The following sorts are excellent for different purposes, 
namely, Cooperi, Nigra rubra, Terminalis, Amabilis, 
Baptistii, Bausei, Shepherdii, and Chelsoni. 
Pandanus Yeitchii with its silver and green foliage is 
very ornamental, aud other stove subjects to -which 
these cultural details apply are Aralia, Panax, 
Dieffenbacliia, and many others.— F. R. S. 
-->X<-- 
THE UNITED HORTICULTURAL 
BENEFIT AND PROVIDENT SOCIETY. 
The annual meeting of the members of this society was 
held on Monday evening last at the Caledonian Hotel, 
Adelphi, when the following report was presented by 
the committee :—■“ The committee in presenting their 
annual report and balance sheet have to congratulate 
the members upon the continued prosperity and rapid 
growth of the society. During the past year fifty new 
subscribing members have been added—one of the best 
possible signs of the healthy progress the society is 
making. One member has been lost by death—the 
late William Heale, one of the original founders, and 
the first secretary of the society, which office he held 
for a considerable time. The sum paid to his widow 
amounted to £49 10s. 6|c7., the amount standing to his 
credit under the benefit fund. The sum of £13 15s. 0 \d. 
was also paid to the widow of Edward Southern, who 
had ceased to subscribe for four years ; thus illustrating 
one of the beneficial principles upon which the society 
is founded, namely, that subscribers do not lose their 
deposit when they cease to be members. The amounts 
standing to their credit on the books of the society are 
paid over to the representatives of the persons at their 
death. The widow’s heart has been made to rejoice 
when some such assistance was most needed. 
“ The amount of sick pay afforded to members during 
the past year has been unusually heavy, amounting to 
£61 Os. lid Of this sum £18 3s. 6d was paid to the 
late William Heale ; £26 4s. 7 d. to George Russell, of 
Maidstone ; £9 19s. 6 d. to D. Nightingale ; and the 
remainder to five others in small amounts. These 
payments are covered by deductions from members’ 
deposits of 7s. Id and 4s. 7d respectively, according 
to the scale under which sick pay is made. The three 
first cases are exceptional, and similar ones may not 
occur again for a few years. On the whole the cases of 
ordinary sickness are few. The benevolent fund has 
increased considerably during the past year, sixteen 
gentlemen having become honorary members, subscrib¬ 
ing one guinea per annum, and there are promises of 
additions during the current year. This is a matter 
for hearty congratulation. There is now a sum of 
£4,000 invested in three per cent. Consols, showing an 
increase of £350 during the past year. The calendars 
issued by the committee have proved most useful in 
drawing attention to the advantages offered by the 
society, and constant applications are being made for 
information. 
“In accordance with a suggestion thrown out at the 
last annual meeting, the committee arranged for a 
dinner in celebration of the society’s twenty-first anni¬ 
versary, which took place at the Caledonian Hotel in 
October last, Mr. Harry J. Veitch presiding, supported 
by several gentlemen interested in the society, and a 
large body of members. The committee cannot express 
too highly their sense of the valuable service done to the 
society on that occasion by Mr. Veitch, and they thank 
him most heartily for his generous advocacy of its 
claims. Reports of the proceedings, which appeared 
in the gardening papers, assisted largely in dissemi¬ 
nating a knowdedge of the society, which is bearing 
excellent fruit, as seen in the increased membership. 
The committee thank the honorary members for their 
welcome support, the auditors for their care in examin¬ 
ing the accounts, the trustees, and the treasurer and 
secretary for their painstaking and diligent discharge 
of their important duties. ” 
-- 
Hardening IIiscellany. 
Clematis indivisa lobata. 
The magnificent display of flowers produced, both by 
the type and the variety under notice, should induce 
those who do not already possess it to add to their 
collection what is capable of enlivening the roof of the 
conservatory, where even a low temperature is main¬ 
tained. We are unable to state which of the two 
plants is the more floriferous or ornamental, as, when 
allowed to grow rampantly and hang freely from the 
roof, an immense quantity of flower is produced. 
Both forms are now a mass of pure white bloom with 
dark stamens, in the nurseries of Messrs. J. Laing & 
Sons, Forest Hill. C. indivisa has somewhat the 
larger flowers, with longer and more acute sepals and 
entire leaflets ; whereas in C. indivisa lobata the sepals 
are shorter, broader and blunter, and the leaflets are 
deeply and coarsely serrate or cut. The latter form is 
considered the best by many growers, who, however, 
frequently cultivate the typical form under the name 
of C. indivisa lobata. Both of them may be seen at 
Forest Hill planted under the same conditions, so that 
those who have not already distinguished between the 
two have an excellent opportunity of doing so, and of 
deciding which is the best or most to their taste. 
Megasea (Saxifraga) ligulata. 
This is a very favourite plant of mine for cultivating 
in pots to flower early in a cold greenhouse. I have 
two fine specimens in large pots that are now beautifully 
in flower, having thrown up fine spikes of clear pink 
blossoms. The plants have not had a shift for two or 
three years. As soon as they have gone out of flower 
they will be placed in the open air, and during summer 
stood in pans of water ; excepting that they are well 
supplied with water, this is all the treatment they 
receive. They make my cold greenhouse look very gay 
at this season of the year, the spikes of bloom keeping 
fresh for a considerable time. The plants have so out¬ 
grown the pots they are in that I shall have to divide 
and repot them in the coming spring, which act will 
in all probability spoil their effectiveness for a year. 
M. Stracheyi is a very distinct form also, and well 
adapted for pot culture under cover, but is much later 
in blooming. I dare not leave it out in the open, for 
the frost almost destroys it, and it suffers in a cold 
house. I have two good specimens in pots that will 
presently give me fine heads of bloom.— R. D. 
Spring Flowers and the Mild Winter in 
the South of Ireland. 
1 cannot remember for thirty years a milder winter. 
Until to-day we had neither snow nor frost, and seldom 
rain since ’88 commenced. 1 notice the new dark 
magnificent Rose, Earl Dufferin (Dickson), with buds 
2 ins. long and very robust. Hundreds of others are 
nearly as forward with me and my gardening neighbours. 
They will be ruined, I am afraid, should severe weather 
ensue. I am about collecting for a friend a handful of 
the blooms of the Giant Empress strain of Anemone 
coronaria, together with a few of that named St. Bridget, 
both sent out by Messrs. Carter, of Holborn. The 
effect is much enhanced by mixing the blooms with 
the handsome, dark green, finely-cut foliage. I have 
also Crocuses, flamed and feathered, in great variety ; 
Iris reticulata and I. stylosa, Galanthus Elwesii, 
Narcissus nanus, N. minor, and N. Ard-Righ, with 
N. princeps, N. cernuus, and several doubles preparing 
to expand ; Snowdrops, Pansies, an odd Carnation, 
double yellow Wallflower, Cyclamen coum, and Poly¬ 
anthuses.— VF. J. Murphy, Clonmel. 
Soot-Water for Cucumbers. 
In reply to “J. L. F.,” p. 378, who writes regarding 
soot-water applied to Cucumbers being likely to cause 
bitterness in the fruit, I may say that I have not 
myself perceived or had any complaints of Cucumbers 
possessing that characteristic when they had been 
treated to soot-water. My own opinion is that bitter 
fruit is the result of low temperature and the conse¬ 
quent long time the fruit is swelling off, having found 
frame Cucumbers so affected late in the autumn. Soot 
is an excellent stimulant when properly used, and also 
as a preventive against the ravages of slugs, &c. On seed 
beds outdoors it is very useful, but then it requires a 
slight dusting, and net throwing on by the handful, or 
the evil effects will soon be apparent. Soot-water should 
be applied as a stimulant when clarified, as lime-water 
is used for dislodging worms from pot plants, which 
no one should apply in a whitewash state. Stimulants 
are often used in excess, and consequently fall into 
disrepute. We heard of a Primula grower that used a 
well-known fertilizer too freely, and because it did not 
work wonders with his plants, but rather the reverse, 
he sorely blamed the article, and was almost ready to 
bring an action for damages.— Geor'je Potts, Jv.nr. 
Holothrix (Tryphia) secunda. 
Permit me to claim the responsibility for the note on 
this little Orchid, to which you refer in your last 
week’s issue under “Horticultural ‘Tips’from Kew” 
(p. 376). The plant now flowering at Kew is a fair 
example of what this Orchid is when wild—at least, 
such a conclusion i3 warranted by the following 
measurements :—Kew plant, in flower : Leaves two, 
spike 5 ins. high, bearing five expanded flowers and 
three buds. Specimens in the Lindley Herbarium at 
Kew : Spike varying on different plants from 3 ins. to 
8 ins. in height, the last exceptional. Number of 
flowers on a spike varying from five to ten. In seven 
specimens—all wild, of course—the numbers are five, 
six, seven, seven, seven, eight, and ten flowers respec¬ 
tively. Plant represented in Thesaurus Cajjensis : 
Spike 6 ins. high, bearing eight flowers and four small 
buds. The size of the flowers is a little exaggerated in 
this drawing, judging by specimens and the plant now 
in flower at Kew. Tryphia is now placed as a sub- 
genus under Holothrix in the Genera Plantarum, and 
I used it for the same reason that justifies the retention 
for garden purposes of such names as Palumbina (now 
Oncidium), Barkeria and Nanodes (now Epidendrum), 
Pleione (now Crelogyne), and many others beside. 
Names like these are still used by botanists for sub¬ 
genera, and they will always be retained by horticul¬ 
turists, and I believe botanists see no serious objection 
to this, although the writer of the article probably 
does. I said in my note that the “Tryphia is interesting 
botanically.” Whether it is so horticulturally may be 
judged at the next meeting of the Horticultural Societ) T , 
when the Kew plant will be exhibited. Possibly your 
writer has seen some other and better plant under the 
above name ; otherwise I cannot understand how he 
can stand up so stoutly in its favour. — JF. TJ atson, 
Kew, Feb. 11 th, 1SS8. [The plant in question is really 
the Holothrix Lindleyana of the Kew Herbarium, and 
we can say that it does come even finer than the 
specimen figured in Thesaurus Capensis. Its leaves, 
when well grown, are at least four times as large as 
those on the Kew plant, and it need hardly be said are 
not usually spotted with yellow, as were those on the 
plant in question.— Ed.] 
Epiphyllum speciosum Jenkinsoni as a 
Window Plant. 
This Cactus is quite a common plant in this country 
on account of the rough treatment it will bear, hence 
it is well adapted for window cultivation. How seldom 
we see well-flowered specimens of this beautiful Cactus, 
although fine plants are to be found here and there, 
with stems a yard or more in height, and as green as 
grass, which is the effect of a too liberal treatment. 
In order to make it bloom, the starving system, at 
certain periods, must be adopted. In the home of this 
Cactus there is a moist and a dry season ; during the 
former, vegetation receives a surprising impetus, and 
during the latter it flags and appears almost burnt up 
and destroyed. The Cactus may be seen shrivelled up 
through the heat of the sun and the dryness of the soil, 
but it is to this circumstance that they owe their 
abundance of flower-buds. How different is this natural 
treatment from the plan adopted in windows ! The 
plants are kept wet all the year round, having no 
resting period of their growth, hence the reason of no 
flower-buds. Place the plants in a cool dry place in 
the beginning of winter, giving them little or no water 
until about the beginning of March, then supply them 
with water gradually, when they will soon get quite 
plump and covered with flower-buds. Keep them well 
supplied with water until after flowering, then put them 
outside against a sunny wall and leave them until the 
cold weather, when they should be removed into the 
