June 2, 1888. THE GARDENING WORLD. 
629 
a softer and more pleasing colour, such as Abel and 
Madame Thuvenin, which have large loosely double 
flowers of a warm deep rose, shaded with carmine. 
They are closely allied in every way, but the flowers of 
the last-named are somewhat larger and a shade darker 
in colour. The stems are short-jointed, branching, 
and dwarf. Another meritorious variety is General 
Briere de l’lsle, of good habit, with large leaves, and 
deep red flowers, shaded with scarlet. Massent has 
loosely double flowers of great size, and deep rose, 
shaded with lilac, and rather pleasing in general 
appearance. The flowers of Gloire de Nancy are of 
large size, and red, slightly shaded with rose, produced 
in a dense truss, and certainly render it a pleasing 
variety, but the stems are rather long-jointed, and 
might be improved in that respect. A most pleasing 
variety is Daniel Bros., having large trusses as well as 
flowers of a deep pure rose. It is also of close branching 
habit. 
Light-coloured Doubles. 
Besides the three tall, loose-habited, but free-flowering 
varieties mentioned above, there is a great number of 
dwarfer-habited plants exhibiting various noteworthy 
improvements. As to which is the best colour depends 
on taste, but Isidore Feral has large loosely double 
flowers—that is, slightly open in the centre, but they 
exhibit a beautiful combination of pink, shaded with 
rose at the base of the petals, which are slightly 
undulated, resembling some of the double Azaleas. 
The stems are rather straggling, but floriferous on the 
whole. Similar objections do not apply to A. F. 
Barron, which has fully double flowers, closely 
imbricated petals of a soft lilac, and darker at the 
base. The stems are also short-jointed, aad closely 
furnished with very characteristic leaves, having a 
small dark bronzy zone around the centre. Galilee 
and Mrs. Moore are closely allied kinds, with similar 
habit and foliage, and merely differ in a shade of 
colour. Galilee, for instance, has purple veins 
running through the pale ground. Of looser 
habit is Madame Cochin ; but a large plant bears an 
abundance of bloom, the individual pips of which are 
loosely double and pink, with purple veins on the base 
of the upper petals. A pure white seems difficult to 
obtain, although there are several that might be spoken 
of as double white. All things taken together, Sarah 
Bernhardt is the most vigorous of those now flowering 
in the society’s gardens at Chiswick, and capable of 
producing the greatest amount of bloom. The flowers 
ate loosely double and white, with the exception of 
some purple lines at the base of the petals, and which 
seem to be almost universally present in some form or 
other. Another kind, named Candeur, is chiefly notable 
for its extremely dwarf habit and dense truss of white 
flowers tinted with blush. The leaves have also lost 
the characteristic bronzy zone. 
Single Varieties. 
Great improvements have been effected on the old 
type, the flowers of which varied from red to white, the 
improvements consisting chiefly of a dwarfer and more 
compact habit, together with the enlargement of the 
flowers. A most attractive variety is Mrs. H. Cannell, 
which arrests the attention of the most casual observer 
on account of its very dark green and zoned foliage, and 
the compact circular outline of its flowers, which are 
pink with a shade of lilac. The habit of the plant, 
however, with regard to freedom of branching, might be 
improved. Next to this, for distinctness and merit, we 
should place Gem and Bridal "Wreath. The former is ex¬ 
cellently suitable for small houses on account of its 
unusually dwarf habit, free-flowering character, and 
attractive flowers. The latter are pink, with deeper 
coloured veins and two bright purple spots on the upper 
petals. Very little staking or tying is necessary, a 
matter of no small importance in gardens where labour 
is by no means plentiful as a rule. Bridal Wreath has 
so far lost its original character, that the leaves are of 
a pale green without the usual zone ; the flowers are 
white with a few purple lines. Innocence, though 
almost describable in the same words, has larger flowers 
with two conspicuous feathered purple lines at the base 
of the upper petals, and the leaves are small and Ivy¬ 
like. For the sake of variety, La Vesuve might be 
added on account of its brilliant red flowers and dwarf 
habit. Fairy Bells approaches the original or wild 
type, inasmuch as the flowers are pale lilac, though 
considerably enlarged upon that, and freely produced 
on short-jointed stems. 
The list of good things with which a collection might 
be made is by no means exhausted with the above, and 
if patience is exercised in the improvement of this type, 
especially with regard to habit, we may obtain a race 
that will vie with those of the show and fancy types, 
at least as decorative plants. The more legitimate use 
of this species, however, would seem to be that it should 
be grown as a basket plant, for which its trailing and 
drooping habit peculiarly fits it. The custom of uti¬ 
lising the roof of the conservatory by basket plants of 
any kind has not yet, however, become prevalent to 
anything like the same extent which holds good in 
Orchid houses. 
-- 
GENTIANA SEPTEMPIDA. 
The specific name of this Gentian is a stumbling-block 
to all who attempt to find a seven-lobed corolla, and 
the botanist who first named it could not have troubled 
himself to obtain normal and typical specimens. The 
flowers are borne in terminal clusters, and are of a 
bright blue, beautifully spotted in the throat. The 
leaves of the typical form are narrowly ovate or lance¬ 
olate, and three-nerved ; while in G. s. cordifolia the 
leaves are much broader, heart-shaped, and five-nerved. 
This very choice and distinct variety has rather larger 
flowers than the type, and is also dwarfer in its growth. 
It is a native of Asia Minor, and has been widely dis¬ 
tributed in gardens under the erroneous name of 
G. gelida, a species having yellow flowers. Both type 
and variety may be grown upon the rockery, where 
they can enjoy a moist cool medium for their roots, 
while the foliage and flowers are fully exposed to the 
light. An eastern aspect would be better than a 
western one, as the plants would then escape the drying 
influence of the afternoon sun. 
-->!<--- 
EFFECT OF IVY ON WALLS. 
I WAS much pleased to read the remarks of Mr. E. 
Dumper on this subject as printed in your issue for 
May 5th, and right glad to find how thoroughly his 
experience is in accord with the fact that Ivy will keep 
walls dry and sound, when it is allowed to cover them. 
I fear many are deterred from beautifying their 
dwellings with this grand and universally admired 
creeper, because of a widely extended but most erroneous 
notion that it makes walls damp. To me this seems an 
extraordinary mistake, which many have fallen into, 
and I can only account for it on the supposition that 
there have been cases in which the rain-water gutters 
on Ivy-covered houses have been carelessly neglected, 
and, instead of being periodically cleaned, have been 
allowed to become full of leaves, dust, &c., until the 
water is forced to overflow, and run down the walls, 
thereby making them damp, for which the Ivy has 
been blamed instead of the person who should have 
seen to the gutters being kept free from dirt—a work of 
only a few minutes in many cases. 
The natural tendency of Ivy is the very reverse of 
causing damp in walls, for should walls become damp 
where Ivy grows, it would immediately begin to increase 
by thousands the feeding mouths or masses of roots, 
which it would form for the purpose of drinking in that 
moisture, just as if it were in the earth. I could show 
to-day roots of Ivy which have travelled from the 
outside many feet into the interior of a greenhouse, for 
the purpose of utilising the moisture on the walls 
inside. Let it not be supposed, however, that this use 
of Ivy in drinking damp out of the walls of houses 
would enable it to swallow all that would run down 
those walls from a stopped-up gutter at the top of the 
house during heavy rain. In that case there would be 
more than enough to make the walls damp before the 
Ivy could absorb it. 
There is the further advantage, that Ivy must 
necessarily prevent rain reaching a wall covered with 
its leaves, because they overlap each other pretty much 
like slates or tiles on the roof, in such a manner as to 
throw off the rain, and thus keep the walls much drier 
than they would be without them. When it is 
remembered that the roots of the plants take up 
moisture from whatever damp substances they come in 
contact with, and that a large share of this moisture is 
exhaled or thrown off by the leaves, and carried away 
by the wind, it should be clear to every one that walls 
covered with Ivy will be drier than those exposed to 
the rain, and this at all seasons of the year.— TV. 
Birkenhead, Sale, near Manchester. 
-- 
NOTES FROM AMERICA. 
( Continued from p. 554,1. 
Rochester, New York. —Last year I gave you a 
description of Mr. W. S. Kimball’s fine collection of 
plants, which I again had the pleasure of seeing at the 
end of March, when I found the photographers at work 
taking some groups, and notably one of Lycaste 
Skinneri, which included over 500 finely-expanded 
flowers—a very fine display. There was a grand lot of 
Orchids in flower, many more, indeed, than I can 
enumerate. The collection now includes over 200 
species and varieties, and Mr. Kimball is still adding 
to it. The forms or varieties grown are of the finest 
that can be obtained, and the plants are magnificently 
grown. A species of Brassavola with over two dozen 
waxy white sweet-scented flowers, in the way of B. 
nodosa, was very beautiful suspended in a basket. 
Among the Cattleyas and Lielias, of which there are 
some enormous specimens, I noticed dozens of fine 
forms of C. Triame ; C. intermedia, with twenty-four 
fine spikes, and five flowers on each ; C. Lawrenceana, a 
fine variety with six spikes ; and the rare and beautiful 
C. Lindleyana. Phalrenopsids are grown as well as at 
any other establishment in the States, and six species 
were in flower by the dozen. 
Amongst the Odontoglossums, of which there 
is a very fine house full of healthy plants of all sizes, 
I noted all the leading kinds in profusion, and in other 
houses are hosts of various good things, which it 
was a pleasure to see in such fine condition. 
Mr. Kimball cuts great quantities of his flowers for 
charitable purposes, and one such gathering had taken 
place a few days before my visit, or the display of 
bloom would have been even grander than it was. Let 
me advise all lovers of plants—and Orchids in par¬ 
ticular—to pay Mr. Kimball a visit if they have ihe 
chance, for I am sure they will be agreeably surprised 
to find in his houses a finer lot of healthy plants than 
can be seen anywhere else in America. Mr. Kimball 
most liberally throws open his houses daily to visitors, 
and the good folks of Rochester have thus a great 
opportunity of admiring nature’s beautiful productions 
without trouble or expense, as the place is close to the 
city. I need not say that thousands avail themselves 
of Mr. Kimball’s kindness, and it is gratifying to state 
that considering the number who visit his greenhouses 
annually—poor and rich alike, for all are welcome—it 
is seldom that damage of any kind is done. To Mr. 
George Savage much credit is due for the perfect con¬ 
dition in which he maintains the collection ; and his 
English training and long practical experience of the 
American climate stamps him as one of the most 
practical gardeners in the States.— A. Outram. 
