May 5 , 1888. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
571 
Pinguicula caudata. 
“Whatever difficulty may be urged as a hindrance to 
the cultivation of several of the species of Butterwort, 
none can be urged in this case, as the cultural treatment 
is very simple. Fibrous peat and potsherds well drained 
will answer as a compost, but a good admixture of 
sphagnum with it proves even better. The sphagnum 
both retains the moisture and preserves the soil in a 
loose open state, resembling the boggy conditions that 
prevail in the native habitats of these marsh plants. An 
intermediate house is quite warm enough for it in 
winter, and a cool house where a somewhat moist 
atmosphere is maintained, is all that is required to 
render the plant perfectly happy in summer. We 
observed it already flowering in the nursery of Messrs. 
John Laing & Sons, Forest Hill; and who that has 
seen it, has failed to admire its deep rosy carmine 
blooms, with a white throat ? The leaves in winter 
form a dense bulb-like mass, but in summer they are 
larger, less numerous, and spread out in a flat rosette. 
Vitis heterophylla variegata. 
We have seen this plant applied to various purposes 
out of doors ; but it is equally serviceable for indoor 
decorative purposes, and when forced looks exceedingly 
well. The young stems and tendrils are red, while the 
leaves are variously blotched with creamy yellow and 
white. Plants of it now in full growth are very 
attractive in Mr. H. B. May’s nursery, Upper Edmonton. 
As an ornamental-foliaged plant we have seen it grown 
to a large size and trained to balloon-shaped wirework, 
being very effective for a long time. 
The Moutan Pseony. 
The usefulness of this most beautiful class of green¬ 
house plants is not so widely understood as might 
be. Where there is a strong desire for variety of 
cut flowers and plants in bloom to appear gay in the 
show-house or other structure during winter and spring, 
none are more ornamental and useful than forced 
Paeonies. There are so many colours, and numbers of 
them are sweet scented. If a border that is exposed 
to the sun can be spared (such as one likes to prepare 
for other forcing plants), and the Paeonies be planted 
firmly at about 1 yard apart, they will be in good 
condition for removing, and may be potted as soon as 
the foliage dies off. Plunged in ashes and kept tolerably 
dry helps the ripening process, and, like other plants 
to be forced, they are much improved by a good rest. 
The greater portion of the roots which we have forced, 
and have been of such value, were lifted from open parts 
of shrubberies. This class of tree Paeonies we have for 
many years forced for show during winter, and when 
kept at a good distance from the paths, so as not to 
offend the nasal organ, they look like fine Boses, but 
their generally offensive scent renders them undesirable 
for cut flowers.— Caledonian. 
--*»$<*- 
EMMERTON’S TREATISE ON 
FLORISTS’ FLOWERS. 
The following is a copy of the preface to Emmerton’s 
Treatise on Florists' Flowers (see p. 504), obligingly 
sent by Mr. J. J. Keen:—“The following treatise 
contains a series of plain rules, founded on many years’ 
practice and experience, relative to the culture of the 
Auricula, which I have been induced to publish for the 
benefit and instruction of every admirer and grower of 
that most beautiful and most delightful of all the 
spring flowers ; for it is generally admitted that there 
are fewer good growers of the Auricula than of any 
other flower, though no one, I believe, has been cul¬ 
tivated with so much care and pains as this universal 
favourite. There were not, when I wrote my first 
edition, I conceive, more than a dozen persons in the 
neighbourhood of London, who were in any degree 
celebrated for growing strong healthy plants of this 
universally esteemed flower, producing fine blooms, or, 
in other words, there were none who could bloom this 
flower to perfection ; yet they had to boast of recipes 
and nostrums—arcana unknown to all but themselves. 
And where is the man we find ready and willing to 
disclose the secrets of his trade, business or profession 
by which he obtains his livelihood, and by which he 
has acquired a superiority over his fellows ? If anyone 
should by chance succeed in obtaining a good and 
suitable compost, he most likely will fail in some other 
essential point. I have known many persons grow 
this plant tolerably well until the time of blooming, 
and then fail for want of knowing its proper treatment 
at that critical period. It is a mistaken notion 
altogether that the Auricula is of a tender and delicate 
habit; I always have found it as hardy as any of the 
Primula tribe, and to stand the cold as well. It can 
withstand, uninjured, the coldest dry air in winter, as 
well as in the spring. Its greatest enemies are the 
heavy rains in the autumn and the continuation of wet 
weather in the beginning of winter ; these frequently 
will destroy it, if then exposed, by what florists call 
the rot. 
“Now I can safely venture to affirm, that if the 
directions which I have given are duly followed, both 
with respect to mould and treatment, it will be almost 
impossible not to succeed ; you will keep your plant in 
health, you will see them grow vigorously, and you 
will have little or nothing to apprehend from the rot. 
If you raise plants for sale, you will find your interest 
in adopting my plan ; and if you cultivate only for 
amusement you will have the pleasure of beholding 
large trusses of fine bloom to repay your care in the 
spring, the season when the mind, tired of the dreary 
scenes of winter, hails even the sight of the wild 
Primroses with joy, and contemplates the renovated 
beauties of nature with the most lively satisfaction. 
“ I have known several ladies and gentlemen at 
different times to come and view my stage of Auriculas 
when in bloom, who, struck with their magnificent 
appearance and dazzling beauty, have entered strongly 
into the fancy, and have been at considerable pains and 
expense to procure a collection of fashionable soils, that 
is to say, those in most request at the time, and in the 
course of one or two years have either lost the whole 
of them, or so mismanaged what did survive that time, 
that they have expressed to me their very great 
mortification, as well as surprise, that they could not 
succeed with them in the way I generally did. 
“There are many people who, for want of thought 
and observation, foolishly imagine that because a plant 
is set in mould it ought to grow in it, exposed in all 
seasons, wet or dry, hot or cold, whether it be tender 
or hardy, indigenous or exotic, whether it be a native 
of the mountains or an offspring of the valleys, never 
considering that different plants require different soils 
or earths, as also different aspects and climates. Some 
require strong soils, other slight, some like to bask in 
the sun, others thrive best in the shade ; some plants 
will stand any flood of rain, w 7 hile others require 
moisture only occasionally, from which it is pretty 
evident that one and the same general system of culture 
for every kind of plant can neither be right nor proper. 
To mix, temper, and harmonise different soils, so as to 
form a compost suitable to each plant, to know their 
peculiar situations and proper treatment, their best 
mode of propagation, &c., is what shows and dis¬ 
tinguishes the skilful and experienced gardener from 
the common blue-aproned pretender. 
“ My avowed object, therefore, is to give plain and 
simple instructions and directions upon the growth 
and culture of the Auricula ; and in doing this, I fear 
I shall now and then be guilty of a solecism, misapply 
an epithet, and offend against the rules of Dr. Syntax ; 
but I hope, nevertheless, that I shall receive that 
learned gentleman’s pardon. 
“As for those severe critics upon language, and 
common-place cavillers about words, I judge it best 
not to trouble and alarm myself too much about them ; 
but I am bold enough to challenge all criticism upon 
my system of growing the Auricula—for to prove it 
will be to approve. Yet I cannot help wishing that I 
had the requisite ability to produce my treatise as well 
written, to meet and please these critics, as I have 
been able to produce strong, healthy and beautiful 
plants of the Auricula in bloom at our prize exhibitions, 
to meet the minute inspection and severe criticism of 
our able judges—the high priests of Flora. 
“I have only to add, that the strongest recom¬ 
mendation this work at present can possibly receive, 
are the names of the subscribers to the former and 
present edition. They principally rank as the first 
nurserymen, gardeners, florists and seedsmen in and 
near London ; they have known me personally for years, 
and they are the best judges of its merits. Anxious to 
give every possible information, I have added to this 
edition a series of plain rules relative to the culture 
and management of those beautiful flowers, the 
Polyanthus, Carnation, Pink, and Banunculus.” 
A Weed Act in America. —Two years ago an Act 
was passed by the Legislature of Wisconsin entitled a 
“ Weed Act,” requiring all persons and corporations to 
destroy all noxious weeds in such time and manner as 
would effectually prevent them bearing seeds. Farmers 
are also required to destroy noxious weeds on roads and 
lanes that adjoin their lands, failing which they are 
subject to a sharp penalty. There is plenty of room 
for the application of a similar Act to this country.— 
Midland Counties Herald. 
WILD AND DOMESTICATED 
PLANTS. 
Dawn of Cultivation. 
There is every possible reason to believe that man 
was originally a frugivorous animal—a fact which is 
attested by history, by science, and by his bodily 
structure. As the population of a country increased, 
however, and in times of scarcity or famine, he would be 
driven, out of dire necessity, to try various plants, or 
parts of them, to relieve the pangs of hunger, and in 
this way, no doubt, the nutritious properties of a great 
many valuable fruit products were discovered, as well 
as the properties of various medicinal plants. The 
behaviour of savages under similar circumstances at the 
present day affords ample illustration. Many also pay 
the penalty of eating unwholesome or even poisonous 
subjects ; and the savage inhabitants of South Africa, 
where no valuable food products are indigenous, have 
been known to observe what plants are eaten by 
baboons and monkeys, so as to be guided in their 
choice. 
The rise of a community, tribe, or nation from a 
purely barbarous condition to that of culture and 
civilisation in its lowest sense must have taken a long 
period of time. When once the useful properties of a 
plant were discovered, experience would lead the savage 
to sow seeds near his usual abode, and therefrom reap a 
scanty harvest. In the rich soil produced by the 
decay of vegetable matter, chance seedlings of a better 
variety would, perhaps, spring up, and if detected by 
the keen eye of an observant savage, would probably be 
preserved and sown. Here we have the beginnings of 
agriculture ; but pastoral life was an older form of 
civilisation. The life of a shepherd is that of a 
wandering nomad, even should he evince an attempt 
at agriculture by sowing small patches of Corn, which 
could be reaped and carried away with him that same 
year. The planting of a tree is an immense stride in 
the advancement of civilised life, and practically means 
possession, and that man has at last become domiciled ; 
for in order to reap the benefit of his labours, he must 
tend and care for it an indefinite number of years. 
The adage that “he who plants Pears plants for his 
heirs” is well known. 
The next step to the planting of an orchard is to sur¬ 
round it with a hedge, which is the complete sign of 
private property. Pasturage, agriculture, horticulture, 
arboriculture—or the planting of trees for use or orna¬ 
ment—and floriculture are but successive stages in the 
progress of cultivation and civilisation, and with these 
the whole face of the country changes, and the manners 
and habits of the inhabitants with it. We must not 
suppose that the high state of cultivation and the 
civilisation of Europe at the present day was the first 
that existed ; on the contrary, there is every reason to 
believe that many civilised nations have existed, and 
that the plants have been improved, disseminated, and 
that the general aspect of large tracts of the earth’s 
surface has from time to time been greatly altered or 
modified by man’s agency alone. 
As an instance of former high cultivation we are told 
that the Yine stems at Maurusia, in Morocco, were 
thicker than two men could span, and that they bore 
bunches of Grapes 3 ft. long. The largest bunch of 
Grapes produced in Britain with our boasted improve¬ 
ments, was a bunch of the variety Trebbiano, which 
weighed 26 lbs. 4 ozs. The Semitic race, whose cradle 
was near to the home of the Yine, must have made 
remarkable progress in its culture, and are credited 
with having invented the distillation of alcohol from 
the juice of Grapes by stopping the process at the stage 
of fermentation. Vine culture gradually extended to 
Greece, which anciently became famous for its wine, 
but is so no longer. From thence the new culture 
extended to Italy, where the Komans were previously 
agriculturists, and milk was their national drink. 
Corn gave place to vineyards, and milk to wine ; the 
latter was exported and corn imported. In most 
countries where viticulture first originated, its rise, 
progress and decline have been like that of other 
historical events generally, and the best Grapes and 
wine are obtained from countries where viticulture is 
comparatively recent. 
Domesticated Plants. 
The term is applied to plants whose cultivation has 
been undertaken by man irrespective of whether they 
have been grown in a house (as the word would seem to 
imply) or not ; and they become the more completely 
subjugated the more their original forms or natures are 
changed. The latter, like animals that have long been 
domesticated, are, in most cases, unable to maintain 
