March 10, 1888. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
443 
Over-feeding Market Plants. 
I have read with interest the remarks made in your 
columns upon the over-feeding of market plants, and I 
agree with Mr. Jacob Rose in thinking that if the 
market growers were to use a little more of the natural 
soil, and not so much manure, the plants would last a 
great deal longer with the purchasers. You will see 
some of these market plants, such as Pelargoniums, 
Fuchsias, &c., grown in a 48-sized pot, fed up with some 
chemical manure to bring them to perfection, and the 
overdoing of this treatment causes the roots to gradually 
decay away, and when the purchaser has had them a 
little time they gradually die off, and find their home 
on the rubbish heap. Referring to the remarks made 
by Mr. Edward Coleman (on p. 426) upon giving them 
proper treatment on coming from the nursery, en¬ 
couraging them, and hardening them off gradually, I 
myself believe, without a doubt, that once those roots 
begin to decay from the overfeeding of some chemical 
manure, you may treat them how you may, hut they 
will never recover .—.Edward Barber. 
Fine-foliaged Abutilon. 
The large Maple-like foliage of Abutilon Sellowianum 
marmoratum is very striking, not only from its hand¬ 
some proportions, but on account of the numerous 
irregular - sized yellow blotches, with which it is 
marked or marbled in a very handsome manner. In 
some cases, in addition to the yellow blotches, the 
ground colour of the leaf becomes of a pale green, 
irregularly blotched with dark green, as in some species 
of Cypripedium that are normally handsomely tessel¬ 
lated with different shades of green. The plant under 
notice is grown purely for the sake of its foliage, and 
as such is never, perhaps, seen in better condition than 
when grown from cuttings to a useful size for table 
decoration, when the foliage attains handsome dimen¬ 
sions, and is attractive from its variegation. The 
plant likes stove temperature, which it gets at Forest 
Hill, where it is grown by Messrs. John Laing & 
Sons. 
Three Distinct Carnations. 
Amongst a houseful of Carnations that have been 
flowering all the winter in Messrs. Cannell’s Nurseries 
at Swanley, Kent, there are three which at the present 
time seem to call for special attention on their own 
merits for cut flower purposes. These are Madame 
Schwaller, Madame Jules Menoreau, and Pride of 
Penshurst. The last is old certainly, but withal a 
beautiful Carnation, and the pity is, it is not more 
fragrant, being faintly discernable in a house when 
bright sunshine has raised the temperature. The 
specimens are from 3 ft. to 4 ft. high, well furnished with 
broad, deeply glaucous foliage, all in the best of health. 
Madame Schwaller has large flowers, fully double, 
white, shaded all over with rose, heavily flaked with 
carmine, and withal a striking perpetual-flowering or 
tree Carnation. The flowers of Madame Jules 
Menoreau are similar in size to those of the last, but 
curiously mottled and flaked, or variegated (so to speak) 
with soft purplish red on a paler ground. The petals 
are also toothed or shallowly fringed at the margin, 
making the flower on the whole a very distinct and 
striking kind. 
Primula obconica. 
Surely something good will come of this useful 
Chinese species of Primula that now finds a home in 
hundreds of establishments throughout the British 
Isles, although only introduced about six years ago. 
As yet there has been comparatively trifling variation 
in any direction, and, consequently, little improvement 
has been made from a horticultural point of view. 
Occasionally, however, seedlings produce flowers that 
are nearly white, while others are a shade darker than 
the ordinary pale blush or pale lilac form. Sometimes 
the flowers are produced twice the size of the type or 
nearly so, and the plant is by some distinguished as 
P. o. grandiflora. "We noticed a large form of this 
description the other day in Messrs. H. Cannell & Sons’ 
Nurseries at Swanley, Kent. When kept slowly 
growing in a cool temperature P. obconica is a perpetual 
flowerer, and is extremely useful for cut flower purposes, 
for which their long stalks and lasting properties render 
them suitable. —* 
A Winter-flowering' Begonia. 
Some of the improved forms of Begonia scmperflorens 
are really very handsome, and flowering as they do in 
winter as well as summer, they might be more generally 
cultivated for conservatory decoration than they are at 
present. An exceedingly handsome form we noticed 
in the nurseries of Messrs. John Laing & Sons, Forest 
Hill, is named B. semperflorens gigantea rosea. We 
have no desire to see names multiplied, and regret that 
shorter ones should not be used. In the present case 
the third name refers to the greater size of the plant 
and flowers, while the fourth name implies that the 
flowers are rose ; but we should say they are of a deep 
rose-carmine, and really both effective and beautiful, 
while they are at the same time freely produced even 
in the dull winter and spring months. 
Camassia esculenta. 
A certain amount of interest attaches to the bulbs of 
this Liliaceous genus from the fact of their being eaten 
by the North American Indians, as Lily-bulbs are in 
other parts of the world. Not only so, but they are 
stated to constitute nearly the whole of the vegetable 
food of those people, where it occurs in a wild state, 
namely, Columbia and Vancouvers’ Island, off the main 
land. The bulbs are entirely collected by the women, 
when the plant comes into flower. A hole is dug in 
the ground and paved with stones, upon which fires 
are burnt till the stones are red hot, after which they 
are covered with alternate layers of branches and bulbs, 
the whole being covered with a layer of earth. Fires 
are then kept burning on the heap till the bulbs become 
roasted or baked, after which they are dried for use 
when required, or they are immediately mashed up, and 
made into bread. The Quamash, as it is called, is per¬ 
fectly hardy in this country, constituting a beautiful 
border flower in gardens throughout the country, 
where herbaceous plants get a modicum of that 
Camassia esculenta. 
attention which they deserve. It is figured in the 
Botanical Register, 1486, and a white form of it in the 
Botanical Magazine, 2774, under the name of C. e. flore 
albo. 
A New Form of the Golden Polypody. 
Notwithstanding the popularity which this Fern lias 
enjoyed for many years as a decorative plant (and this 
means extensive propagation), it is remarkable that 
little or no variation has hitherto apparently been 
noticed amongst seedlings. It is true that we have 
Polypcdium a. pulvinatum and P. a. areolatum, but 
the former comes from Brazil and the latter from 
Mexico, while they are, according to some authorities, 
considered as species. The variety under notice we 
saw the other day at Devonhurst, Chiswick, where the 
name of P. a. Mackayi has been proposed for it. The 
chief distinctions between it and the typical form lie 
in the pinme being narrower, rather more coriaceous, 
and variously indented or coarsely toothed, as if an 
attempt were being made to become bipinnatifid, while 
the whole frond is more erect. It occurred in a batch 
of seedlings, and if propagated from spores it might 
originate into a variety with bipinnatifid fronds, having 
the same relation to the type as the Welsh Polypody 
to the common one amongst our natives. 
A Monstrous Rose. 
It is not surprising that amongst the hundreds of 
garden varieties of the Rose raised from seeds by cross¬ 
breeding, hybridising and otherwise, there should be 
frequent instances of freaks of an abnormal kind. 
They serve to show the origin and relationship of 
the parts of the flower with those of the ordinary 
green leaves. A specimen comes to us from Mr. John 
Dick, Schawpark Gardens, Alloa, which shows the 
sepals metamorphosed or developed into true leaves, 
divided up in the ordinary way into leaflets. The 
five sepals that should exist naturally have been 
reduced to three, unless the inner two have become 
petaloid, which seems likely to be the case judging 
from their structure and relationship to the rest. 
The stipules are imperfect, and the structure of some 
of them would seem to imply that they originated in a 
basal pair of leaflets that have become confluent with 
the edge of the petiole, forming a kind of sheath. 
The pistil is very imperfect or rudimentary, and the 
familiar hip or fruit-bearing part is almost absent, 
owing no doubt to the unwonted vigour of the calyx, 
and the non-development of the portion of the flower- 
stalk that constitutes the hip.— J. F. 
Cabbages Eaten by Larks. 
Seeing Mr. Lane’s remarks at p. 427, I am reminded 
that when at Bicton Gardens, Devon, in the spring of 
1867, several large beds of Cabbage plants were almost 
ruined by larks in the manner described by your corre¬ 
spondent. The late Mr. Barnes, who was then head 
gardener at Bicton, had some Pea boughs laid over the 
plants, which checked the depredations of the birds 
considerably. I myself have been served in the same 
manner by these birds at Issel Hall, in Cumberland, 
when I thoroughly stopped them with Pea boughs and 
white cotton tied to sprigs of the boughs about 9 ins. 
from the ground. The cotton the larks do not see 
until they alight on the ground, and the motion of the 
cotton caused by the wind frightens them away.— 
J. IF. Shrives, The Lodge, Preston Park, Brighton. 
Anemone angulosa. 
In spite of the weeks of bitterly cold north and east 
winds, with frost, to which we have been subjected, this 
beautiful rock-work or border plant has been flowering 
for some time on the rockery in the gardens of the 
Royal Horticultural Society, at Chiswick. No pro¬ 
tection is given, nor is any required, the plant being as 
hardy as A. triloba, better known as Hepatica triloba, 
just as the present species is best known where it happens 
to be cultivated as H. angulosa. The flowers of the 
latter are twice as large as those of the former, bright 
blue, and exceedingly attractive when the weather is 
genial, so that they become fully expanded, and appear 
in their best form. The leaves are also larger and more 
divided than in its common and more variable relative. 
New Peas Tried Last Year. 
I had a trial of some new Peas last year, all Marrow¬ 
fats, and which were sown about the middle of March. 
I well remember that I could not get them ready 
properly by the 12th July, and the sorts were British 
Lion, Dignity, Magnificent, and Victoria. Four rows 
of better-looking Peas I never saw, they are all worth 
a good trial, but the dry weather was against their 
finishing off well. The first pods were all well filled, 
but the later ones did not fill up well at the finish. I 
could recommend these four Peas to anyone to grow, as 
they are rather dwarf-growing, about 4 ft. high on good 
ground, and this is a great thing where people have to 
buy sticks. To grow them well they should not be 
planted too thickly ; I had four rows 18 yds. long from 
four half-pints of seed, and they were plenty thick 
enough. I put them in myself, planting each Pea 
singly on each side of the drill, and I can truly say that 
I never saw Peas do better ; they came up strong, 
branched out well, and made four grand rows. I shall 
give these a good chance this year. — J. L. P. 
Saxifraga Burseri. 
Without any protection whatever, this species flowers 
on open exposed rock-work before any other Saxifrage, 
not even excepting the Megaseas, some of which 
naturally bloom very early. Instances might be given 
of Crucifers that mature even earlier ; but their flowers 
are comparatively small and weedy in contrast to this 
Alpine gem, whose merits, from a decorative point of 
view, can hardly be overrated. The chief difficulty in 
cultivating it appears to be the same as that affecting 
many other Alpine subjects when brought to our low¬ 
land and changeable climate. The dry atmosphere 
and the heat of summer seems against it unless plenti¬ 
fully supplied with water. Flowering specimens of it 
may be seen on the rockery, and also in pots stood in a 
cold pit with a northern exposure, at Chiswick, iu the 
Gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society. 
