518 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
April 14, 1888. 
animals that feed on her luxuriance are daily and 
hourly restoring to her the mulching she needs ; on 
the other hand, nature does not teach us to foul the 
soil, to clog up its porosity, to stint or limit the free 
passage of air and of water. She nowhere, except by 
accident, brings decomposing animal and vegetable 
matter into immediate contact with the roots of plants. 
She rather conveys to them, by means of heat, air and 
water, the manurial or stimulating elements they 
require in their sweetest presentable form. Our arti¬ 
ficial methods of culture, in so far as they relate to the 
best mediums for root action and root ramification, are 
considerably at fault if the foregoing reasoning is 
accurate. Perhaps in no particular lines is this 
so apparent as in those of sweetness and porosity in 
the soils. "We compound potting and rooting materials 
that serve to generate or develope fungoid growths, 
practical organisms, and stagnation of root action, 
owing to foulness and non-porosity in the soil. Is it 
not so ? A scanning of last week’s horticultural papers 
alone will amply verify the fact. Will any of the 
readers of this paper ask themselves if they can recall 
what has been the result on the first succeeding crop 
when they have been led to apply a heavy dressing of 
freshly slaked lime to a plot of dung-sick soil ? Foliage 
was rampant, was it not ? The liberation of formerly 
inert elements was too excessive, hence the results. 
I maintain that in ordinary pot culture we can avoid 
all these excesses. Why shohld we insist on using 
leaf-soil to the extent we do, seeing every season such 
lamentable results ? If we must add elements that are 
of a manurial nature we should see that they are not 
such as will foul the soil. The more intelligent and 
enterprising gardeners of the’present day are more than 
ever convinced of the truth of these assertions. 
Charcoal and burnt earth for giving sweetness and 
porosity are consequently more than ever in demand ; 
and where the want of such elements as phosphates in 
the structure of the subject under culture exists, these 
elements are supplied in a more natural and simple 
form than they were formerly. That fertilising moss 
will ever he so considered is not even an open question. 
From time immemorial it is more than probable that 
moss in its natural condition was used as a portable 
receptacle for growing plants. 
There is nothing new or uncommon in the practice 
of placing balls of moss around the roots of plants. 
One of the largest collections of plants in London for 
open-air bedding and decorative purposes is being so 
treated this season. That anyone should have succeeded 
in causing moss to take up and retain the more 
frequently required elements for stimulating the growth 
of plants, is a fact worth recording, if such be a fact. 
That moss—sphagnum or any other variety—has of 
itself an elasticity, and that it gives lasting porosity, 
and so affords free passage for air and water is quite 
freely admitted by all who havejused it. That sphag¬ 
num moss, expanded by fermentation, and charged, 
when in that condition, with the alkaline salts and 
nitrogenous matter—so necessary as plant stimulants 
—is so prepared may he new to many. Certain 
it is that such an element should he superior in 
every respect to leaf-soil as a provider of vegetable 
matter. 
It should also, on account of its absorbent and 
yet freely aerating properties, he preferred to peat; 
more especially in the winter, on account of the cold¬ 
ness of the latter. As to replacing or substituting 
loam, that is neither to he argued or contended, hut 
as an auxiliary to loam, or when used with equal pro¬ 
portions of it, it will be found all that is desired. Such 
disquisitions as this may not do much to promote 
more scientific culture it is true. It may, however, 
he argued that the well-loved pursuit of horticulture 
is a field of recreation. It can absolutely be said that 
none are too wise to learn ; and that if the study and 
pursuit of scientific methods are followed up there 
will he less of delusion in our little world, and more 
of harmony with and love of nature herself.— C. H. C. 
-- 
GREEN MANURING. 
There is some reason to suppose that sufficient means 
are not adopted to utilise properly the refuse vegetable 
matter of the garden. Probably this arises from the 
mistaken notion pretty widely spread among cultivators 
of the soil, that such matter is improved by fer¬ 
mentation. This refuse, as is well known, is, especially 
in gardens, scrupulously cleared off the ground about 
to be dug, and consigned to the too often neglected 
rubbish heap. Here a little reflection will teach a 
diligent observer that the chief components of plant 
tissue are decomposed and dispersed in the air. If, on 
the other hand, this organic matter was dug or trenched 
into the soil, all its constituents would be retained by 
the absorbing influence of soil, to supply the ensuing 
crop with an easily assimilated, and a most natural 
food supply. It is scarcely necessary to say that the 
process of fermentation leaves little behind save humus, 
which, strictly speaking, has no fertilising properties. 
However, it, as is well known, acts an important part as 
a mechanical agent, by absorbing nitrogenous compounds 
from the atmosphere. This power is mainly due to 
the carbonaceous nature of decomposed organic matter, 
which consists largely of material resembling wood 
ashes. The process of fermentation and combustion 
are to all intents and purposes identical, and in each 
case the valuable parts escape in vapour and gases, 
leaving as a residue the inorganic ash constituents 
and carbon when merely fermented. It is clear, then, 
that the rubbish heap as generally managed furnishes 
the garden with little stimulating properties. Indeed, 
it is too often the case with stale dung, that by fer¬ 
mentation the great and most important fertilising 
principle it possesses escapes into the air. Much faith 
is placed in old and peaty remains of well-rotted or 
rather burnt stable manure, but as a rule it is not 
more efficacious than the decomposed matter in the 
rubbish heap. It has, like the vegetable refuse, lost all 
its nitrogenous principles, and when dug into the soil, 
necessarily acts the same part. It has yet to receive 
its fertilising properties by absorption from the air. 
Green manuring has many advantages to universally 
recommend its use, in addition, of course, as will he 
understood, to ordinary manure. By throwing out a 
ton of refuse vegetation, we rob the garden of an equal 
weight of more suitable manure than, perhaps, we are 
able to adequately replace. TVe often hear of soils 
becoming exhausted, not merely for the want of 
manure, and if laid out for a year or so as fallow, it 
recuperates its normal fertility. This requires no 
explanation, it is a fact which most agriculturists under¬ 
stand and take advantage of. Atom after atom is 
gradually released from its bonds as the slow and steady 
decomposing action goes on in the soil, and just in 
proportion with the growing crops’ demand for 
nutrition. Its decomposition evolves carbonic acid, 
which acts a very essential mechanical part by 
pulverising and breaking the soil, whereby many other 
necessary constituents conducive to plant life are 
unlocked. In conclusion, where circumstances deny 
the immediate application of green crops to the soil, 
they should be carefully mixed with lime and earth in 
the rubbish heap, to ensure the preservation of as 
much as possible of their volatile principles.— D. 
Chisholm, Edinburgh. 
-- 
AMARYLLIS AT CHELSEA. 
Lovers of this class of plants should not miss 
seeing the magnificent houseful of them now in full 
flower at Messrs. J. Veitch k Sons’ nursery at Chelsea. 
The house contains a total of 3,154 bulbs, all seedlings, 
of which over 1,000 a‘re flowering at present, and nearly 
all of them are new, having opened for the first time. 
The flowering plants occupy the central staging, while 
the younger seedlings that have not yet reached flower¬ 
ing size are ranged along the sides of the house. All 
pots are plunged to the rim in tan, looking neat and 
orderly, while the foliage is well developed, deep green 
and leathery, forming a suitable undergrowth and a 
good set-off to the flowers. A conspicuous feature of 
the plants this season is their dwarf habit— the flower- 
scapes ranging fom 1 ft. to 2 ft. in height, seldom more. 
This may be attributed to the unfavourable nature of 
the weather, and the comparatively low temperature 
kept up in the house by artificial heat. The house is 
a span-roofed structure, with abundance of light ; and 
shading is now always in readiness in case the sun 
comes out too brightly. 
Dark Varieties. 
The present race of seedlings has mostly been obtained 
by cross-breeding with Leopoldii and Empress of India, 
and again crossing the best varieties obtained from 
those. Some of the largest flowers no doubt owe their 
size to the shortening of the tube and the flattening 
out of the limb, as in Conqueror and Vivian Grey, two 
magnificent flowers of the first water, of an intense 
scarlet more or less suffused with crimson, and having 
a greenish white six-rayed star at the base. Sir IValter 
Scott, intense scarlet, and Acquisition, a lighter shade, 
equal, if not exceed, the former in size, being between 
8 ins. and 9 ins. in diameter, but are scarcely so 
flattened, and the four may he taken as the finest of 
their colour. Franklin, brilliant scarlet, and Terentian, 
of a deeper shade, are notable not only for their size, 
but the breadth of their greatly-overlapping segments. 
Chieftain, a crimson-scarlet, can scarcely be reckoned 
inferior, and is almost on a par with Landseer and 
Chevalier, the differences of which are readily dis¬ 
cernible when under the eye, much depending on the 
distribution of the crimson shading, and the length of 
the white or greenish white rays of the star, the flattening 
of the flower, shortening of the tube, habit and general 
appearance of the plant. The height of the flower- 
stems also is a matter of no small importance, for 
although cultivation has much to answer for in this 
respect, it does not solely determine the length they 
shall attain. Asteroid might be mentioned from this 
point of view. Three large crimson-scarlet flowers are 
borne on a scape only 10 ins. in height. 
Amongst the most intensely coloured varieties 
crimson and scarlet are the most predominant shades, 
but in Hazeldon we meet with a shade that cannot 
correctly be 'referred to either, and for the want of a 
better definition we should describe it as claret-purple, 
the latter shade being very evident, while the tips of 
the segments are whitish. An equally distinct, and to 
our taste a more attractive kind is Faust, hearing on a 
scape four flowers of a vivid carmine, set off by white 
rays. Of the darker flowers that are in any way 
variegated Sims Reeves is one of the finest, being of an 
intense crimson, reticulated with white and purple in 
the throat, independently of the basal star. Benmore 
is another grand variety of this type, netted with white 
on the basal half. To the size and brilliancy of its 
flowers, which are brilliant scarlet and netted with 
white in the throat, Rodney adds great breadth of 
segments, always a desideratum, as well as regularity in 
the shape of the flowers. 
Light-coloured and Variegated Varieties. 
A pure white, good, bad or indifferent, we have not 
yet been privileged to see, although several excellent 
pale forms almost deserve being classed as white, 
although more or less lined, netted or suffused with 
one of the darker shades. A striking and queenly 
variety in this group is Clothilde, bearing eight huge 
flowers, with revolute segments, on two scapes. The 
flowers are lined with scarlet, and suffused pink on a 
white ground, and very conspicuous on account of the 
space they occupy. Zephyr is pleasing, with crimson- 
red lines running through a white ground that is more 
or less tinted or suffused with pink and cream, while a 
broad white band runs along each segment. At first 
sight Cataline and Minos would almost seem too close 
to admit of distinction, but the former is reticulated 
with soft scarlet all over the white ground, while the 
latter is reticulated on the lower half only. From 
Cataline the variety named Phcedria would seem to 
differ chiefly in having a broad white midrib to each 
segment. Two of the palest flowers we noted amongst 
the new varieties were Antipho and Finette. Both are 
marked with crimson lines on the three upper segments, 
and on one longitudinal half of two of the others, while 
the sixth segment and the groundwork of all the rest 
is pure white. The filaments and style of Finette are 
also white, so that on the whole this variety exhibits 
a near approach to that much desired colour. 
Old Varieties. 
No better evidence of the advance that has been made 
could be had than an examination of some of the older 
sorts that were highly esteemed and admired in their 
day, and by making comparisons between them and 
the Belladonnas of the present day. Botanically 
speaking, however, we must not overlook the fact that 
none of them are descendants of Amaryllis Belladonna, 
which is the only true Amaryllis, and a native of the 
Cape. The Amaryllis of gardens, under notice, really 
belong to the genus Hippeastrum, from South America. 
The shortening of the tube, the greater size and expan¬ 
sion of the limb, and, above all, the breadth of the 
segments, and a tendency towards regularity in the size 
of the latter are characteristics of the modern improve¬ 
ments that have been made in these grand flowers. 
In the first rank of these old kinds we would place 
Empress of India, one of the parents of a magnificent 
progeny, as already mentioned; it is a brilliant crimson- 
scarlet with greenish white rays. Star of India is an 
attractive intense scarlet flower with a green and white 
throat, hut the segments are narrow and the tube long. 
The same might he said of the Duke of Connaught; 
while Rlrene is carmine, reticulated with crimson, but 
withal a fine variety. Abraham Lincoln is reticulated 
with scarlet on a pale ground, but has the long 
objectionable tube, and, consequently, lacks the size 
and conspicuousness an expanded flower would possess. 
The latter character, however, is not always a concomi- 
