June 23, 1888. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
679 
seeds have in getting their heads through if the season 
should turn out a dry one. Once up, and with a good 
hold of the soil, uncommon results are the general 
consequence, with not only garden crops, hut field 
produce as well. 
"What took my attention most were the Roses and 
Coniferce. The Rose is apparently at home here, and 
truly it has at any rate the merits of being as_ prolific 
in growth and inflorescence as its common associates— 
the Thistle and Shamrock—have in their native homes. 
In every cottage garden a plot is set apart for the 
cultivation of the queen of flowers, which generally 
is budded by the possessor himself. The standard 
form seems to predominate here, and, indeed, little 
room remains for astonishment when the almost 
unexcelled splendour of the plants presents itself to 
the admiration even of those who are constitutionally 
averse to that style of cultivation; 
The Coniferce do equally well here also. The fresh¬ 
ness and luxuriance of these as a whole, show at a 
glance that the soil is congenial to their requirements. 
Thujas of kinds, Thujopsis, Taxodiums and .Juniperus 
planted only twenty years ago, well nigh approach a 
height of 30 ft., proportionately furnished to the sod. 
Sequoias, too, seem to enjoy the soil, as do the 
Araucarias, which produce their Artichoke-like cones in 
abundance. The Picea and Pinus of varieties testify 
by their shining glaucous green that they take 
uncommonly kindly to the soil. Strange to say, these 
strong and soft growths produced annually very seldom 
suffer from the rigours of frost, yet the climate does not 
differ much, if any at all, from that of some parts of 
North Britain. 
Besides these few remarks, it may not be uninterest¬ 
ing to say that the garden Anemone grows in this 
locality most magnificently, producing heads of double 
flowers of almost every shade, more analogous in size 
to “ Pceony Roses ” than the Windflower. It is truly 
beautiful to gaze upon beds of this splendid spring 
flower when in its glory, from the middle of March 
to the end of May. All this time they flower here 
continuously. They come readily from seed, and any 
person who has not already got this spring flower 
should not remain any longer without becoming 
possessed of it.— D. Chisholm. 
-- 
GLOXINIAS AT MAID A VALE. 
The spotted varieties of this popular plant are evidently 
most in favour at the present day. Formerly, how¬ 
ever, we were accustomed to see the spotted strain 
beautiful indeed, but the flowers so large as to be 
altogether wanting in substance, and consequently not 
very durable. At Messrs. Hooper & Co.’s Pine Apple 
Nursery, Maida Vale, this has, to a great extent, been 
overcome, as well as the original horizontal or drooping 
habit of the flowers of the wild plant. We failed to 
observe a single specimen of this type, all the hlooms 
being erect and regular in outline, with a wide open 
tube. The spotted flowers are said to have originated 
by the use of Sinningia guttata as one of the parents. 
The habit of this subject is somewhat different from 
that of S. speciosa, from which the plants popularly 
termed Gloxinias have been derived ; and in Messrs. 
Hooper & Co.’s strain the plants are exceedingly dwarf 
in habit, while the leaves are all confined to the base of 
the very short stem, allowing the flowers free play to 
grow straight upwards. In the old type the blooms 
frequently have a great struggle to get clear of the 
foliage. This dwarfness of habit enables the grower to 
dispense with staking, an operation that used to be 
imperative, especially if the plants had to be moved any 
distance, or taken to an exhibition. 
We noticed many distinct varieties of a new type 
that is said to owe its origin more especially to S. 
guttata. The lobes of the lamina have a ground-colour, 
or a broad zone of some particular shade, with a broad 
white margin, and one or both of these colours are 
dotted, spotted or marbled in the most beautiful 
manner, with a perfectly distinct shade of colour. For 
instance, the body colour in one case was violet-crimson, 
spotted with clear violet on a white margin, while the 
throat was rose. Another was scarlet with a purple 
throat, and white margin, spotted with rose. Different 
from these was another type with violet segments, 
marbled with a much deeper tint of the same colour, 
and white all round the margin. Akin to these is a 
type in which the lobes of the corolla are simply 
heavily marbled and spotted, and the margin white. 
The limb of the corolla, although frequently consisting 
of from six to eight segments, was of moderate size 
and of good substance. 
The older strain was finely dotted rather than spotted, 
and is plentifully represented amongst the others, 
together with seifs in various shades, such as white, 
rose, scarlet, violet, and dark velvety purple in great 
variety. The dotted ones are, however, entremely 
attractive, and together with the spotted ones constitute 
the greater part of the collection. In some cases the 
tube was dotted all over with small rosy specks on a 
white ground, while the limb was dotted with violet on 
a pure white ground. This type was represented in 
various shades of colour, and was occasionally very 
attractively marbled. Some of the dotted varieties 
also possessed a distinct zone ; and others had the zone 
of some dark colour, such as rose, violet, scarlet, with 
the usual white margin. A singular curiosity and a 
desirable one had small erect flowers with a white tube, 
shaded with rose on the inner face only, while the limb 
was reddish scarlet, with a broad, pale blue margin—- 
on the whole a singular combination of colour indeed. 
None of the varieties were named when we inspected 
them, although more deserving of it than many that 
have been so at various times, both here and on the 
Continent. The whole were pleasingly arranged with 
plants of Maidenhair Fern. 
- ~>Z<- 
'Motes from 
The Season and Fruit Crops. —From what 
we have seen and heard, it would appear that the fine 
crops of fruit of all kinds, which were expected to he in 
such abundance this season, will not be forthcoming. 
Grubs, which are ruinous to Apple trees, seem to be 
very general and most destructive by their depredations 
on the foliage this year. It is impracticable to eradicate 
them by hand-picking, and many trees no doubt will 
suffer severely this season and will he injured for years 
to come. We notice that trees which were heavily 
cropped last year, in many cases overdone, are hearing 
lightly this season ; there are, however, certain kinds 
of Apples which rarely ever fail, and to such one must 
look for supplies. The kinds which seem to set best are 
Stirling Castle, King of Pippins, Lord Suffield, and 
others of the Codlin class, and when collections are 
planted it is advisable to have a large proportion of the 
kinds indicated. The long period of easterly winds, 
which have been so common and of such very severe 
character, have had a very untoward effect on all kinds 
of vegetation ; and among fruits in our district Apples 
and Plums have suffered most, while Cherries are very 
abundant. We do not ever remember seeing small 
fruits, Currants especially, promising so favourably as 
at the present time ; Gooseberries are plentiful, but 
have been thinned by the continuous frost and easterly 
winds. Apricots, which were so promising in the early 
part of the year, were thinned very much and the crop 
is poor. Strawberries are likely to be fairly plentiful, 
but on a number of kinds the crop will be rather light; 
President is the most promising kind we have seen this 
year, both for forcing and in the open ground. Where 
plants are strong, and mulching has been carefully done, 
fine fruit may be expected, as copious rains have fallen 
at a most favourable time, washing the nourishment 
down to the roots. Slugs have had the best of weather 
for increasing their species, and it would be well if a 
dusting of soot were given under the foliage and at the 
crowns, as the dislodgment of them now will save much 
of the best of the crop. In northern and late districts 
the earliest opportunity should be taken to get the 
necessary supply of runners for forcing ; it is believed 
by some that they should be taken from runners saved 
from last autumn. Knowing what can be done in 
some of the coldest districts in the kingdom, we have 
found that young vigorous runners of the current season 
are by far the best for forcing, and this season our stock 
of plants from early runners, rooted and potted by the 
middle of last July, has been throughout all that we 
could desire for quantity and quality. Early ripening of 
the crowns and complete rest are very important 
matters.— Caledonian. 
Vegetable Note3.—It has frequently appeared 
in print that one cultivator often profits by the 
experience of his neighbours by looking over their 
hedges. We confess to having noted mauy smart items 
of practice by looking over the marketmen’s hedges about 
Fulham and other parts, during our youthful days, as 
an employe in a London market concern ; and seldom 
do we go from home now without something worth 
noting is witnessed by looking over hedges and low 
walls also. A noted cultivator lives in a certain district 
near us, who does not know what it is to fail in any 
department of agriculture, and often when passing 
his highly cultivated fields, we have thought that 
many lessons to horticulturists might be learnt. 
What conduces to his success is doing his work at the 
right moment, running no risks that can be avoided, 
and adding to this, deep tilth and judicious application 
of manure. Certainly all his crops out-distance his 
neighbours. Potatos, Wheat and Grass are especially 
of great excellence at present; these are special at all 
times, and last year, when other cultivators were be¬ 
wailing their Turnip crops (though soil and other 
advantages equal to their successful neighbours were at 
command), the produce of the grower referred to was all 
that one could desire. Last March, while we were daily 
lamenting the untoward weather, continuous sleet, hail 
and frost which affected materially all cultural 
operations, the cultivator whose success we now record 
had a miserable piece of land to prepare for Potatos (a 
dozen acres or so), weeds of every obnoxious kind being 
en masse all over the ground. The usual means of 
clearing was executed with much haste and after great 
difficulty, but we noticed one morning, when passing, 
that the land was in fair order to receive the Potato sets, 
and when we returned at the close of the day the greater 
part of the land was under crop, men, horses and 
ploughs finishing up what had been well begun by 
numbers of active hands. This was at the end of March, 
and for more than a fortnight afterwards not a single 
day was dry or free from downfall of some kind. But 
the fact of not losing one opportunity in manipulating 
and planting this untoward field is showing its fruits to¬ 
day, in exhibiting by far the handsomest and most 
promising Potatos to be seen in the district. The work 
of cleaning and earthing-up has been done on the same 
lines of expediency, and no doubt the reward so 
well merited will be forthcoming. Acting often on the 
lines of “delays being dangerous” we have advan¬ 
tageously done the right thing at the right time ; as 
example, during the last week of February last we had 
an opportunity of getting in the Onion and Parsnip 
crop, but for nearly four weeks there avas not one 
opportunity of touching the ground. The seed was 
sown, and covered with fine soil mixed with a little 
soot and sand, but treading was out of the question. 
They have done well hitherto, and are very promising. 
All crops now look well, though heavy and continuous 
rains have fallen, but bedding plants have had a struggle 
for life.— Caledonian. 
Dielytras. —For fine effect during June there are 
few plants in the open ground that can surpass the 
Dielytras. Two long lines, acting as back rows to 
borders, are at present in fine form. Like herbaceous 
and many hardy plants, they must be seen in masses 
to be fully appreciated. For forcing, few plants are 
more popular and useful, but those of homo growth 
require to be carefully dealt with to get the crowns 
ripened by the proper time, and ready for early forcing. 
If potted in good time and placed in the full sun, strong 
forcing plants can be easily grown. Where only a few 
are required, it is a question of economy to raise plants 
for early forcing, the foreign roots being so comeatable 
and moderate in price. We hear complaints frequently 
that plants placed early in heat are often difficult to 
move into growth, but we think this is more from the 
unnatural practice of putting the roots suddenly into a 
high temperature. We find them do best when plunged 
in a mild bottom heat, and kept cool over the surface 
till the crowns are about to move, when plenty of heat 
and moisture is necessary to get them to throw up 
their bloom strongly. Like all other flowers for 
cutting, they should be taken to a cool airy structure 
to open their blooms.— Caledonian. 
Strawberry Crops. —We do not know wliat 
the characteristics of the Strawberry crops are in general 
this season, but with ourselves they cannot be said to 
be equal to those of some past seasons. Certain kinds are 
very promising this year—notably President, which 
out-distances all others, and under glass, too, it is doing 
very satisfactorily in succession to Viscountess Hericart 
de Thury. Early-rooted runners, together with a good 
rest after the crowns are well matured, and in good 
time during autumn, are very important matters in 
northern and late parts, and not a moment should now 
be lost in getting them into small pots. The sooner 
the plants are in their fruiting pots, and made 
thoroughly firm in the soil, success is more likely to 
attend them. Duke of Edinburgh in the open ground 
is very full of bloom, and bids fair to be fruitful. We 
intended to force this kind next season, but do not 
know how it fruits under glass, and would be obliged 
for information regarding it. Sir Joseph Paxton is a 
capital cropper on plants which fruit the first year, but 
not worth its room the second season. Earliest of All 
and King of Earlies have done but poorly for forcing, 
as well as for outside culture, and are not in high 
favour with us.— Caledonian. 
SCOTLAND. 
