April 7, 1888. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
507 
or diplomas to gardeners on election. Owners of 
gardens will not be slow in recognising the value of 
men who hold these certificates, and they will feel 
some confidence in entrusting the charge of their 
gardens to men who have some recognised authority to 
he called gardeners, and thus it will raise their social 
and professional position. 
How many gentlemen have had, at some .time or 
other, in their employment men who could “talk a dog’s 
hind leg off,” hut who were entirely dependent on their 
subordinates for the welfare of the plants entrusted to 
their charge. This class of men are a positive injury 
to the younger ones who have ability, and they too 
frequently occupy places of trust when they are only 
worthy of employment as garden labourers. I there¬ 
fore think that the council has acted wisely in requiring 
that candidates for Associateships should be recom¬ 
mended by two Fellows, who can speak of their 
professional ability from personal knowledge. 
I hope the day is not far distant when the council 
will require candidates to give satisfactory proof that 
they are worthy of election. The Associates will be 
eligible to serve' on fruit and floral Committees, and 
of course, they will have the right to vote on these 
committees. At present, there are members of these 
committees who are neither Fellows or Associates of the 
Society ; I therefore proposed to the council that in 
the new bye-laws it should be stated that no person 
should be eligible to serve unless he was a Fellow or 
Associate, but the council considered that it would be 
better to postpone it until the whole question of the 
duties and mode of election is under consideration. 
I trust, too, that societies which may become affiliated 
to the Royal Horticultural Society, will only employ 
gardeners to act as judges at local shows who are Asso¬ 
ciates of the Society. I do not think that 10s. 6d. is 
an excessive charge to ask for the privileges and benefit 
which I expect will result from gardeners becoming 
Associates. We want good and true men to join, but 
we must at the same time take care to exclude the 
duffers and the drunkards.— A. H. Smee, The Grange, 
Wallington. 
- —>:£<-• - 
Hardening Miscellany. 
Double White Everlasting Pea. 
Can any of your readers state that they have seen such 
a thing ? An amateur gardener told me that when in 
Jersey two years ago he was offered the seed of such a 
variety, and was assured it was a double one, and he 
has unbloomed plants from such seed. I can “hark 
back ” for half a century, and have been a good bit 
amongst herbaceous plants, but I have not yet met 
with a double white variety.— Perennial. 
Forced Hybrid Perpetual Roses. 
I barely see in private establishments, and I may say 
the same as to nurseries, young recently potted plants 
now in flower. In November, and at other times since 
then, I potted up strong young plants of good hybrid 
perpetuals, such as Alfred Colomb, A. K. Williams, 
Baroness Rothschild, and others, in 6-in. to 7-in. pots, 
cutting them back hard when potting them, and keep¬ 
ing them in a cool house until the buds began to push, 
then removing to a house which is kept moderately 
close and warm, and the plants are now in vigorous 
health, and blooming freely. Dwarf plants of hybrid 
perpetuals can be bought now so cheaply, that I 
recommend amateurs and others to try this by no 
means novel plan, and if adopted in November and 
December next, a goodly supply of lovely blooms will 
be secured in March and April, when fine dark Rose 
blooms command a good price in the market. After 
this gentle forcing, the plants can be planted out, for 
it is a waste of time to trouble with these in pots 
another year, as strong young plants can be bought so 
cheaply and take up so little room. — TV. D. S. 
Amaryllis at Holloway. 
At present there is a fine houseful of Hippeastrum, 
popularly known as Amaryllis, in full flower in the 
nursery of Mr. B. S. Williams, Victoria and Paradise 
Nurseries, Upper Holloway. One noticeable feature 
that strikes the visitor, is the dwarf character of the 
flower stems, which would imply that the plants had 
not been unduly forced into flower. There is great 
range of variety amongst the flowers themselves, but a 
very large dark crimson-scarlet flower, with six hroad 
white bands in the throat, stands out prominently 
amongst the others owing to its size and rich colouring. 
Numerous specimens of it were distributed through the 
house. A very dwarf variety, named Loveliness, has 
white flowers, attractively striated with crimson. Its 
light and cheerful appearance is its highest recommen¬ 
dation. Another very dwarf form, named Mrs. Raw- 
son, has deep crimson flowers, with a broad and distinct 
white margin around each segment. John Heale is 
also very distinct, owing to the segments of the crim¬ 
son flowers being tipped with white, and the throat 
deep green. Pitcheri is a magnificent new variety 
which has just flowered for the first time. It is a 
hybrid or cross-breed between Mrs. Garfield and Crim¬ 
son King, with intense dark carmine flowers, heavily 
shaded with crimson of a very distinct shade. It 
presents a distinct and uncommon shade of colour in 
this showy class of plants. 
Lomaria discolor bipinnatifida. 
At first sight this plant closely resembles Nephrolepis 
rufescens tripinnatifida, and bears the same relation to 
the type as the latter Fern does to its type, being a highly- 
developed form, in which the vegetative vigour of the 
plant has got the upper hand of its power to produce 
spores, as we failed to detect any the other day when 
examining the plant in Mr. B. S. Williams’ establish¬ 
ment at Upper Holloway. There are, notwithstanding, 
two very distinct forms of fronds, one being simply 
pinnatifid, with linear irregularly-toothed segments, 
while the other has broad much-overlapping pinnse, 
twice deeply divided. For general decorative purposes, 
the much-cut fronds have a leafy and very ornamental 
appearance, surpassing the type in the same manner that 
the Welsh Polypody does the common one. The 
plant under notice is close, bushy, and strictly tufted 
in habit. —»— 
Choisya ternata. 
Considering the hardiness of this Mexican shrub, and 
the beauty of its Orange-like sweet-scented flowers, we 
should expect to find it enjoying a wide distribution in 
this country, especially seeing that it was introduced 
as long ago as 1825. In the more northern parts of 
the country it requires the aid of a greenhouse, but in 
the neighbourhood of London and further south the 
protection of a wall is all that is necessary to enable it 
to form a bush 6 ft. or more in height. Long before it 
attains this height, however, it flowers abundantly, 
appearing like a mass of snow-white Orange blossom. 
A fine spray of it comes from Mr. Baylor Hartland, 
of Cork, who manages to flower it thus early in 
a cold greenhouse. It is admirably adapted for 
forcing purposes, requiring but little heat. The 
leathery evergreen foliage is full of glandular dots like 
the Orange, to which it is allied, and smells somewhat 
similarly to that when bruised. 
Cissus discolor. 
This beautiful subject is a native of Java, and well 
worthy of cultivation in any plant stove, for when in 
good health its lovely variegation is not surpassed by 
any other plant that is grown. It is a climber 
belonging to the Vitis family, and makes a charming 
subject for covering any unsightly walls that may exist 
in old-fashioned plant stoves or warm Ferneries ; also 
well adapted for furnishing pillars. I remember seeing 
some plants trained up the pillars of a warm house at 
Rangemore, and thought at the time that it made a 
beautiful object for such a purpose. It also looks well 
as an exhibition specimen, trained on a balloon-shaped 
trellis, in a collection of ornamental foliaged plants. 
The finest and brightest foliage is yielded by young 
plants, and to produce such, some of the young growths 
issuing from the old stems should be taken off with a 
heel, inserted in a light sandy soil, and then placed in 
a propagating frame or under a bell-glass in good 
bottom-heat. The old plants should be shaken out 
and repotted in new material, as sour soil and in¬ 
efficient drainage are the chief causes of non-success in 
the cultivation of this plant. The compost should be 
rich and open, composed of turfy loam, fibrous (not bog) 
peat and plenty of sharp sand, while some charcoal 
may also be added with advantage, to maintain sweet¬ 
ness in the soil. This is especially the case where a 
border is made up for planting this Cissus with the 
intention of covering a wall with its beautiful foliage, 
which wall, by the way, should be limewashed every 
spring, for the twofold purpose of destroying and 
keeping down insects, as thrips are very partial to the 
leaves, and to show up the foliage to the best advantage. 
This plant is not like the Hoya carnosa grown in a 
similar position, which thrives and roots on a damp 
dirty wall—the more so the better. The Cissus 
delights in heat, shade and moisture, though the latter 
should not be applied directly on to the foliage by 
the syringe, as that will destroy its charming and 
peculiar lustre.— George Potts, Jun. 
A Collection of Olivias (Himantophyllum). 
If cultivators would universally adopt the name Clivia, 
it would not only be the oldest and correct term, but 
much more easily remembered and pronounced by those 
who are not botanical. A well-grown plant of one of 
the improved forms is a show in itself ; but a houseful 
is worth going some distance to see. C. miniata is that 
which has become most popular in this country, and 
the only thing to be desired is that we might get some 
entirely distinct shades of colour infused into it. These 
are at present orange, scarlet, white, and yellow. 
Sanguinea, one of the named varieties in a houseful of 
plants in full bloom in Mr. B. S. Williams’ nurseries at 
Upper Holloway, is notable for its large trusses of 
intense scarlet flowers. That named Ambrose Vers- 
chaffelt differs chiefly in its soft orange-scarlet flowers, 
with a white and yellow throat. The immense size of 
the truss shows what may be done when well grown. 
For richness of colour, Meteor is comparable to San¬ 
guinea, but the flowers have much broader segments, a 
character that is most conspicuous when contrasted 
with the original unimproved form. Aurantiaca is 
another meritorious variety, of a soft orange with a 
yellow throat, the flowers being produced in large 
trusses. The dark leathery evergreen leaves of this 
class of plants enable them to be grown and staged 
without the use of accessory subjects with which to 
hide the flower stems. —♦— 
Rudgea macrophylla. 
There are about forty-five species at present known in 
this Rubiaceous genus ; but it seems that only one has 
been introduced, and grown as a stove decorative fine- 
foliaged plant, and for this purpose it is generally 
grown. Plants of small stature, however, flower pretty 
frequently, producing dense globose fascicles or heads 
of flowers, that are waxy or fleshy in consistency, and 
creamy white. Notwithstanding their fleshy character, 
however, curiously enough they are not of great dura¬ 
tion. The foliage of a well-grown plant is highly 
ornamental, especially after the new growth has been 
made, as it is then clean and of a silvery appearance. 
The individual leaves are opposite, and on vigorously 
growing specimens attain considerable size, and being 
of leathery texture with a smooth shining surface may 
easily be kept clean by washing. We noticed medium¬ 
sized specimens the other day flowering in the nur¬ 
series of Mr. B. S. Williams, Upper Holloway. 
Lethorion. 
I HAVE given this new insecticide a fair trial in the 
Peach, Cucumber, Melon, and plant houses here, and 
can speak of it in the highest terms—fully carrying out, 
in fact, the many qualities set forth by the inventors. 
It is sure and sudden death to all kinds of fly and 
thrip, without causing the slightest injury to even the 
tenderest fronds of a Maidenhair Fern. I look on 
these vapour cones as a boon to gardeners, particularly 
for smoking pits and frames. Ladies will be able to 
smoke their greenhouses ; in fact a child six years old 
can light them without the least danger. They should 
be lit with a taper, and care should be taken to have 
every aperture in the house stopped. Should it be 
possible for the inventors (Messrs. Corry, Soper, Fowler 
& Co.) to send it out at a lower price, I have no 
hesitation in saying that Lethorion would be im¬ 
mensely popular, and at no distant date.— IV. G. 
Pragnell, Sherborne Castle, Dorset. 
Westbrook, Sheffield. 
Calling at this establishment a few days ago I was 
invited to see the collection of Orchids, many of which 
are now gay with flowers. Amongst them are some of 
the finest varieties that money can purchase, and evi¬ 
dence is not required beyond an ocular demonstration 
to prove that the owner, Mr. A. Wilson, buys no “pig 
in a poke.” The flowering house contains several very 
fine varieties in bloom of Cattleya Triante, with their 
colouring of many shades. Cymbidium eburneum 
also adds beauty and fragrance. Dendrobium nobile 
is represented by several large plants, also the rare 
and beautiful variety, Cooksoni, which is a charming 
thing and a great acquisition to the nobile family. D. 
Wardianum and D. luteolum also add to the display. 
Of Cypripediums there are but few now in bloom, there 
being only C. niveum, C. villosum and C. venustum 
.in the show house. Masdevallia Shuttleworthii, 
and Sophronitis grandiflora are also in bloom. Of 
Odontoglossums there is a rich profusion of bloom, 
