568 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
May 5, 1888. 
FLORICULTURE. 
Pelargoniums. 
The value of the show and decorative Pelargoniums for 
spring and summer embellishment cannot he over¬ 
estimated, for their varied colours and free-blooming 
propensities make the flowering house exceedingly gay 
for a long time. They should now be in vigorous 
growth, and throwing up their trusses, if not already 
in bloom. For early flowering, which means a little 
gentle forcing, two white varieties—viz., Venus de 
Milo and Volonte Nationale—are well adapted. I saw 
at Mr. Cannell’s nursery, a few days ago, a pure white 
sport from the old rosy carmine-coloured Madame 
Thibaut, which, if it is fixed, will be valuable in many 
ways. As a purple, Lady Isabel is one of the best. 
Now, in order to make good specimen plants, the side 
branches should be tied out to neat stakes, those made 
from osiers being the best. It is surprising how plants 
fill out with their flower-trusses when the branches are 
tied out in this way. The plants should not be allowed 
to be crowded, or they will become drawn. A free 
circulation of air is necessary at all times, and as the 
leaves of the plants will sometimes become soiled, the 
foliage should be washed, using a syringe and soft 
water. If it be applied to plants in bloom, care should 
be taken that the blossoms are not saturated. As soon 
as green-fly puts in an appearance, the plants should 
be well fumigated with tobacco-smoke, taking care that 
while it is strong enough to kill the insects, it is not 
powerful enough materially to injure the blossoms. 
During warm dry weather, the plants will need careful 
watering, as they soon feel the effects of drought. A 
dose of clear weak manure-water will be found of great 
advantage, administered once or twice a week.— R. D. 
Intermediate Stocks. 
Plants of white Intermediate Stocks are now a 
good feature in my cold house. The plants bloomed in 
the open ground last summer ; in the autumn I lifted 
them carefully and potted them into 48-sized pots, in 
which they were wintered, and as soon as they began 
to put forth growth I shifted them into 24-sized pots, 
and since early in April they have given me good heads 
of bloom, and I have found them very useful for cutting 
from. As a matter of course all the flower stalks made 
last season were cut back hard to the plants, with the 
advantage that the plants broke out with a free growth 
and have bloomed abundantly. I do not get such fine 
trusses as from vigorous young seedling plants, but 
they are very acceptable notwithstanding. Treated in 
this way Stocks might go on blooming for years, but 
it would no doubt be asked, Is it worth while following 
such a practice ?— R. I). 
Dahlias. 
May is the month for obtaining green spring-struck 
plants from the nursery. For general purposes they 
are decidedly the best. They are sent out from the 
nurseries laid down in hampers, packed in plenty of 
light soft moss, which, when it is properly done, does 
the plants but little injury ; and as soon as they are 
received, they should be carefully unpacked, placed in 
a cold frame, sprinkled overhead, and then kept close 
for a day or two to recover from the effects of the 
journey, and be shaded from the sun. Thousands of 
plants are sent out in this way from the nurseries 
during May. They are in thumb pots for convenience 
of transit, and they soon fill the small space with 
roots. Then they should be re-potted into 48’s or 36’s, 
according to their size and strength, and be encouraged 
to grow on into size for planting out the first week in 
June. That is quite early enough ; but if it happens 
to be a dry time, watering should be carefully attended 
to. If the nights be frosty, the frame in which the 
plants are placed should be carefully covered up so 
that they are not injured from this cause. Slugs and 
snails should also be looked after. On no account 
should the plants be allowed to become drawn ; the 
aim of the grower should be to keep them as sturdy, 
dwarf, and tough as possible, so as to take as little 
harm as possible from cold weather after being planted 
out.— R. D. __ 
Golden Variegated Holly. —We learn from Messrs. 
Little & Ballantyne, of Carlisle, that they were the 
purchasers, at the sale on April 27th, at the Lawson 
Company’s Nursery, Bangholm, Edinburgh, of the 
entire stock of the new Golden variegated variety of 
Ilex Aquifolium Hodgensi. The stock consists of some 
two dozen plants, and with them were sold the plant 
of Hodgen’s Holly, from which the first grafts were 
taken. 
EFFECT OF IVY ON WALLS. 
Some of the most useful climbers, and the most 
generally cultivated are the various varieties of Hedera 
helix (the Common Ivy), and very well does a wall, 
whatever may be its position, look when well covered 
and nicely kept. Ivy is especially valuable for north 
walls, where the choice of subjects is not so large as on 
other aspects. I am aware that I tread on somewhat 
dangerous ground, when I say, that if many a damp 
house was covered with Ivy it would be drier; I have 
often recommended it for that purpose, and beneficially 
in some cases to my own knowledge, although it has 
not yet in all cases become sufficiently established to 
prove itself. I have often read controversies on this 
subject, viz., whether it has a tendency to dry walls or 
keep them damp, and have from the arguments always 
inclined to the view that it is beneficially used when 
placed on any damp wall. 
During the past season my views have been con¬ 
siderably strengthened on that point. Owing to 
alterations here, it has been necessary to remove a 
limestone wall, 450 yds. in length and of various 
heights, which was covered with Ivy in places, some of 
it being very old, the stem at the ground-line and for 
1 ft. high being 5 ins. or 6 ins. in diameter. The wall 
at this spot being 12 ft. in height, the Ivy had grown 
3 ft. or 4 ft. above it, and not having been clipped for 
years, looked an old object that one would like to 
preserve. This part of the wall, which was highest 
and best covered, was in by far the better state of pre¬ 
servation, and almost as dry as the back of a chimney 
in ordinary use, the mortar being extremely good and 
sound throughout. I could not help noticing that 
wherever the Ivy had been any length of time, there 
the wall was soundest, and in places where there was 
no Ivy, but which had been exposed to the weather, it 
was worse. The mortar was very bad, and the wall, 
although not what could be called wet, was decidedly 
damp. As far as I could see, it had all been built at 
one time. 
While on this subject, I may say that walls here are 
not finished flat on the top, as is often the case in 
England ; hut the last tier of, say, about 1 ft. is sloped 
sharply to the outside—a very good idea, thus throwing 
the rain down the outside of the wall, instead of 
allowing it to soak into it. The facts referred to being 
so strong a case to my own mind, I cannot help 
bringing them before the readers of this journal.— 
E. Dumpier, Limerick. 
-- 
DAFFODILS AT TOTTENHAM. 
Ardent admirers of this beautiful class of spring 
flowers could not fail to be delighted by an inspection 
of the fields that are devoted to their culture by Mr. T. 
S. Ware. The variations are almost limitless in many 
of the common species, such as Narcissus Pseudo- 
Narcissus, N. incomparabilis, N. bicolor, N. moschatus, 
N. poeticus, and the numerous garden hybrids that have 
sprung from these, so that the intending cultivator, if he 
wishes to make a selection of the leading types, could 
have no better opportunity of doing it than by seeing 
them side by side in the open ground. For con¬ 
spicuousness, even at a distance, no class of spring 
flowers have a more telling appearance, whether in 
beds, borders, or on the grass, where they should he 
planted by hundreds and thousands on every demesne, 
and if associated with trees, all the better. 
Of the choicest of the various forms that have sprung 
from the common English Daffodil or are closely 
related to it, we can only mention a tithe, including 
such grand varieties as Maximus, Golden Spur, Ard 
High, Henry Irving, Rugilobus, Pallidus priecox, 
Lobularis, Golden Plover, known also as Golden 
Princess, Achilles, Cambricus, Major, Scoticus, Regina 
Margherita, with golden midribs on sulphur-coloured 
segments ; Blondin, the Tenby Daffodil (N. obvallaris), 
and Tottenham Yellow. The earliest to come into 
flower are the Tenby Daffodil, Pallidus prsecox, and 
N. minimus, which burst through the ground during 
the cold winds of March, which they seem to defy. A 
few flowers of the first two mentioned still linger, 
owing to the excessive lateness of the season. Although 
we cannot admire the double forms so much, yet there 
are many who would be delighted with Telamonius 
plenus, Capax or Eystettensis (Queen Anne’s Daffodil), 
Rip Yan Winkle (a singular curiosity), Pumilus plenus, 
with huge heads of two shades of yellow, and others of 
the yellow types. 
The white and lemon-coloured Daffodils of the 
N. moschatus type, on account of their exceeding 
grace and prettiness, should not be omitted from any 
collection. Foremost among these are Cemuus, C. 
tortuosus, C. plenus, the double form, and others, 
most of which are characterised by strikingly nodding 
or drooping white flowers, with a long yellow trumpet, 
fading almost to white. Some of the largest and 
grandest of all Daffodils have sprung from N. bicolor, 
and already include Bicolor Horsfieldi, Empress, 
Emperor, Princess, and Dean Herbert. The last has 
the exterior surface of the segments yellow, while those 
of Emperor are wholly yellow. The others have white 
segments, and all have huge bright yellow trumpets, 
which are truly the pride of any garden. 
There seems no limit to the variation of N. incom¬ 
parabilis with the hybrids that owe their origin in part 
to it. The huge flowers of Sir Watkin and Nelsoni 
major, together with Hume’s Giant and Leedsii 
amabilis, would be hard to beat. In the wake of these 
follow a long list of the short-trumpet types, differing 
in the relative width of segments, and the length, 
breadth and colour of the crown, while it is hard to 
find fault with anything except the number of names 
applied. The following are very distinct and worthy 
of cultivationN. i. Stella, Hudihras, Cynosure, 
Glow, Frank Miles, Pallidus, Mary Anderson, Semi¬ 
partita, Princess Mary, Barri conspicua, and Flore 
pleno. Of hybrid forms there are Hume’s Sulphur, 
Hume’s Concolor, Leedsii, Burbidgei, and Macleayi, 
with white segments and golden crown. 
Above all these are numerous species and varieties 
that lend a charm to every nook of the garden, and 
cannot be omitted from the list. The fragrant N. 
poeticus keeps up a show from April to June in different 
parts of the country, and varies with the season, com¬ 
mencing with N. p. angustifolius and N. p. ornatus, 
and terminating with N. p. flore pleno, with double 
Gardenia-like flowers. Then there is N. Johnstoni 
(graceful and pretty), N. odorus, N. o. rugulosus, 
N. o. minor flore pleno, and the many and beautiful 
forms of N. triandrus, including N. t. albus, N. 
cyclamineus, N. calathinus, N. bulbocodium, N. b. 
citrinus, and N. rupicola—the latter being allied to 
N. juncifolius—all of which, if they would take kindly 
to our climate, would be valued as are the Violet 
and the Primrose. 
-->2:o- 
CARPENTERIA CALIFORNIA. 
Some idea of the beauty of this Californian shrub may 
be gleaned from our illustration, which shows the flowers 
natural size. To those unacquainted with the plant, 
it may create some surprise when we say that it belongs 
to the Saxifrage family ; yet such is the case, and our 
best authorities place the Currants and Gooseberries, 
Deutzias and Mock Orange (Philadelphus) in this order, 
so that there is nothing anomalous in shrubs being 
placed here. Jamesia a'mericana is a hardy shrub 
also belonging to the order. Only one species of Car¬ 
pentaria is known, and that is a shrub attaining a large 
size in its native home, the Sierra Nevada, California, 
from whence it was imported to this country in 1SS0. 
In the more favoured parts of Great Britain we may 
fairly expect it to prove hardy, and we have seen it 
against a wall in the neighbourhood of London, where it 
flowered. The leathery dark green leaves are persistent, 
about 2 ins. to 3 ins. in length, and quite entire. The 
pure white flowers are developed in the axils of the 
leaves along the branches, and are shown off to the best 
advantage by the dark green foliage. When it becomes 
more common, which we hope it will soon be, a more 
definite idea as to its relative hardiness in different 
parts of the country will be obtained. It grows readily, 
although comparatively slowly, in any good loamy 
garden soil. 
-- 
MR. BULL’S ORCHID EXHI¬ 
BITION. 
Notwithstanding the unusually cold nature of the 
spring, and the lateness of the season generally, the 
annual show of Orchids made by Mr. William Bull, of 
King’s Road, Chelsea, was opened on Tuesday last, 
and an early visit enables us to say that it surpasses 
any of its predecessors, a magnificent display greeting 
the visitor on entering. The plants are arranged on a 
groundwork of Maidenhair Fern, which shows them 
off to the best advantage, and furnishes a hint that 
might be turned to profitable account by Orchid growers 
in general. All pots and the stems of deciduous kinds 
are concealed from view, and the general effect is 
charming. 
It is impossible in a short article to do full justice to 
the occasion, or to enumerate more than a fraction of 
the choice subjects now in flower. The graceful arch- 
