October 11, 1890. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
93 
this latter flower is cultivated. Snow Flake and Rob Roy 
especially deserve more attention than they receive at 
present. Arabis, of sorts, with its compact habit and 
profusion of bloom, has always been a universal favourite. 
The months of May, June and July have each their 
attractive flowers, of all shades and colours, of which 
the following are but a few :—Convallaria, the uni- 
. versal favourite with its delicate fragrance, Dictamnus, 
Dielytra spectabilis, so well known that it does not 
require any recommendation, Violas, and Veronicas in 
variety, are all desirable. Poppies with their rich 
colours, Phloxes in variety with their profusion of 
blooms, Astrantia, the old Double Rocket, Lithos- 
permum of sorts, producing brilliant masses of rich blue 
flowers, Myosotis, Polemonium, the variegated variety 
being very good. Pyrethrum, both single and double, 
are well worth cultivating. Scrophularia has fine 
foliage, and Ranunculus, so useful for cut flowers. The 
Globe flower is also useful for cutting, and thrives in 
almost any soil. Aquilegias are among the best of 
hardy plants, and all well worth growing, especially 
Aquilegia chrysantha and A. alpina aurea. 
The Campanulas are a most useful tribe of hardy 
flowering plants, so also are Centaureas, Delphiniums, 
most effective and hardy of plants either for border or 
shrubbery, Dianthus with their profuse and exquisite- 
blooms, Geraniums of sorts, Irises in variety, most 
desirable, Lychnis of sorts, one of the best of hardy 
plants, Lythrum with its fine flower spikes, Potentilla 
of varieties, some of them most lovely, Spirreas of sorts, 
one of the best known and decorative of hardy plants. 
Sweet William should be in every garden. Thalictrum 
adiantifolia is very graceful ; Aconitums of sorts, and 
Monarda didyma are well known old favourites. 
In the months of August, September, and beginning 
of October, although there is not such a display of 
herbaceous plants in bloom as there is in the former 
months, still, there are a few that are well worth 
cultivating, among them being Tritoma uvaria, Lilium 
auratum, Fuchsias, Cineraria maritima, Ajuga reptans, 
Aster longifolius, Anemone japonica, magnificent in 
all respects; the tall-growing Phloxes of sorts, 
Stenactis, Everlasting Pea, and the herbaceous Sun¬ 
flower. The bedding-out plants of all sorts and 
annuals being in full bloom at this season of the year, 
, the scarcity of herbaceous blooms is not felt so much ; 
but we have often noticed that the earlier sorts of these 
plants have flowered a second time the same year, and 
even this season there are in bloom for the second time 
some of the Spiraeas, Papaver, Delphinium, Campanula, 
single Pyrethrum, Veronica, Lupins, Centaurea, 
Hesperis, &c. It would be undoubtedly a great 
advantage to any garden to have i good collection of 
these useful plants, as annuals and bedding-out stuff 
do not succeed so well every season, and in wet seasons 
especially. When there is a good stock of herbaceous 
plants there is always something to fall back upon for 
cutting.— A. MacKintosh, Erchless, Beauly. 
--we*-- 
THE STIMULUS OP COMPETI¬ 
TION. 
Writing to the Manchester City News, on the subject 
of the fine Apples recently shown by him at Old 
Trafford, Mr. Barlow says The spirit of competition 
impels competitors to do their best to put the finest 
fruit which they can grow before the public. These 
fruits are educational ; they show what can be done. 
A hundred years ago the Auricula-growers of Lancashire 
grew their plants in frames over which they placed a 
cover of wood. This was put over the frame at night, 
and in the day-time when thunder clouds were hover- 
i n S- By-and-bye some advanced growers used glass 
lights for frame covers, and the wood cover men 
grumbled that they were placed at a disadvantage. So 
for years a lively controversy took place. The wood 
men did not succeed in dragging the glass men back to 
wood, but the glass men pulled the wood men up to 
glass, to the benefit of all. 
The old Gooseberry growers give another apt illus¬ 
tration of what can be done by loving care under the 
stimulus of competition. V oung trees, carefully selected 
and trained, well pruned, most carefully planted, with 
the roots caDefully spread out on the top of the bed (I 
have seen a grower use a comb in this operation), then 
the roots covered to the depth of about one and a half 
inches with a well-mixed good compost completed the 
planting. When the blooms appeared, covering with 
sheets from the frost, judicious thinning of the fruit 
when formed, and continual watchfulness and care pre¬ 
vailed up to the time of the show. By these means 
the grand fruits were produced, three or four times the 
weights of the average fruit for main crop grown in 
the same garden, with the same varieties. Now in this 
case there was no glass. They were all grown in the 
open garden, and the difference in the results was 
entirely due to the extra care and attention received 
by the selected ones, stimulated by the spirit of com¬ 
petition. 
And so it is mainly with my Apples, the covering by 
glass being only one of the many devices used to pro¬ 
duce the finest fruit. 
As to the national question : You may take it that 
where fruit such as I show is grown, whether under 
glass or in the open garden, it is a good place, where 
you may plant fruit trees and look forward with confi¬ 
dence to a good result. I have grown grand fruit and 
good crops in the open garden—many Apples weighing 
over a pound each, but choosing trees of the right kind, 
young and healthy, planting them in good soil, with 
the roots well spread out, and not too deep, and staking 
the tree firmly are important elements of success. The 
man who makes a square hole and crams in the roots 
of his trees in a mass, then covers the. roots with any¬ 
thing handy, and finally treads the roots well down, 
leaving the tree unstaked, will not achieve much 
success, nor will he deserve it. 
Referring to the important subject of planting, an 
old and very successful Gooseberry grower—the one I 
referred to as having been seen to use the comb—said to 
me, “Sam, there’s nobody i’th world con plant above four 
good-sized fabry (Gooseberry) trees in a day, and do ’em 
gradely. If theaw lets two roots lie one o’er tother, 
theawrt givin’ a point away.” 
-- 
ARDENING fjflSCELLANY. 
--t-- 
The Potato Disease. 
I was glad to read in your issue of September 27th, 
p. 52, the gentle rebuke you gave to those who are 
endeavouring to lay the cause of Potato'disease down to 
carelessness of cultivation or mismanagement. From 
my own observation in this garden and also in the 
gardens of others in this district, I am convinced there 
has been sad failures amongst the early Potato crops, 
and that too in the face of the greatest care being taken 
as regards selection of seed and planting. Never since 
I took charge of a garden did I take such care in my 
selections and planting as this year. I also tried single 
rows planted with the following manurial agencies 
applied, leaf-soil, old potting soil, turf fibre, and stable 
manure, taking the greatest care to have each of my 
experimental rows well apart, so that the germs of 
disease might not pass from one row to another. 
However, each row showed the same results as regards 
diseased tubers. The varieties I grew on this test 
ground were Myatt’s Ashleaf Kidney, Snowdrop, and 
Schoolmaster. In justice to the season I may say I 
never took up finer crops, both as regards quantity and 
quality, until the second week of August, that being the 
time when the disease first made its appearance here. 
It made sad havoc when once it commenced, and in 
seven or eight days there were whole rows of fine Potatos 
almost worthless. The fine weather we have had since 
the latter part of August has had a favourable effect on 
late crops in this district, as they are taking up a fair 
average crop and pretty free from disease. I read with 
considerable interest the remedy for Potato disease, 
contributed to your paper of August 9th, p. 778, by 
your Swiss correspondent, M. Louis Morhardt, also the 
replies it elicited, from which I could only glean that the 
remedy so far as England is concerned has never had a 
fair trial in combating Potato disease. It would 
certainly be a blessing to thousands of cottagers and 
gardeners also if a few applications of the solution 
would check or remedy the disease, even if it were found 
not practicable over large areas. In gardens the cost of 
material and labour together would be trifling compared 
with the inconvenience and vexation caused by the loss 
of a crop.— J. Charlton, Farnley Grove Gardens, 
Corbridge-on-Tyne. 
G-unnera scabra. 
This striking Chilian plant is not often seen in private 
gardens, and I think it is a pity it is not, for it is very 
effective ; there are, indeed, few plants more so by the 
side of an ornamental water or pond. It has a rough 
Rhubarb-like leaf of about 5 ft. across and the same 
long, and the fruit, which is cone-like in appearance, 
comes out from the middle of the plant, and has a 
most striking appearance. I saw a very fine specimen 
the other day in the garden of Major Foster, of 
Cullompton, in North Devon. The fruit was over 
21 ft. in length, of very handsome proportions, and the 
fine coral-red, bead-like flowers studded the cone very 
thickly. The fruit weighed 15 lbs., so it is evident it 
was a fine specimen. The plant is a fine subject for 
sub-tropical gardening, or for any similar purpose.— 
Devoniensis. 
Rosa rugosa Jelly. 
As requested, I send recipe for Japanese Rose preserve— 
Rosa rugosa jelly :—To 7 lbs. of fruit add two quarts 
of water. Boil the whole until quite soft, then strain 
through a sieve, and again through a jelly bag. To 
each pint of juice add 1 lb. of lump sugar, and boil for 
three-quarters of an hour. The juice of two lemons 
improves the flavour.— George F. Wilson, Heathcrbank, 
Weybridge Heath. [Many thanks.— Ed.] 
Herbaceous Plants. 
When framing our schedule for the spring show, the 
committee decided to introduce a class for six hardy 
herbaceous plants in pots, with the view of encouraging 
their culture, and showing their utility to cottagers 
and amateurs who have cool greenhouses. Some of 
the plants they had before their minds at the time 
were Alyssum saxatile, Iberis, Aubrietias, and Arabis. 
After the schedule appeared, one of the members wished 
to know from the writer and others what herbaceous 
plants could be got in flower that would be eligible, 
and the above were mentioned. Our friend replied, 
that if he exhibited he would protest against them all, 
as not one was a true herbaceous plant ; and I think 
he was quite right, for, strictly speaking, an herbaceous 
plant is one that loses its stems annually, whilst the 
roots continue alive in the earth. The following year 
the class was altered and stands now as “ Herbaceous 
and Alpine Plants.” If exhibitors introduce bulbs into 
their collections the committee will have to add a note 
that “bulbous plants will be excluded,” as these are 
well provided for in the other classes. The change, 
perhaps, is not a satisfactory one, as it might be justly 
said that the plants referred to above are no more 
alpine than they are hardy herbaceous. It has been 
suggested in your columns that hardy border plants 
would meet the case of one of your correspondents, but 
there are numbers of small shrubs grown in borders 
that would, I think, create dissatisfaction. Hardy 
perennials, excluding hard-wooded plants, and in our 
case bulbous plants also, would convey the meaning of 
those who wish to encourage what are commonly under¬ 
stood to be herbaceous plants. — W. P. Pi., Preston. 
The Winter Moth. 
On the 15th of January, 1889, I showed before the 
Scientific Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society 
a band of green scrim, smeared with cart-grease, in 
which were imbedded numbers of wingless females and 
some males of the winter moth, caught in the autumn 
before while crawling up our fruit trees. This season 
our bands, instead of green scrim, which has the defect 
that even when used threefold some of the grease get 
through to the tree, is a sort of brown canvas made by 
the Willesden Paper Co. It is not expensive, as the price 
is Is. 6d. a yard of 35 ins. wide, in our bill it is called 
“D D extra brown ” ; one thickness of this seems to 
answer every purpose and to hold the cart-grease well. 
A few of our trees, which last year escaped treatment, 
showed in the most marked way the advantage of the 
protecting bands ; the width we use is 4 ins., tied on 
by thin tarred twine. The trees should have the bands 
on before the end of the month.— George F. Wilson, 
Heatherbank, Weybridge. 
-— >X< »- 
ORCHID NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 
L/ELIA Eyermannii. 
In general appearance this recalls Lselia furfuracea, but 
instead of one to three flowers, generally the smaller 
number, as in the latter species, we have a raceme of 
four to six flowers or thereabouts. The sepals and 
petals are oblong-ovate, pale rosy purple, short, flat, 
and spreading, but not recurved at the tips, and 
therefore broader than those of L. furfuracea. They 
are, however, scurfy on the back, as in the latter 
species. The lip is three-lobed, with short, rounded 
lateral lobes, and is of the same pale colour as the 
other parts of the flower. Two yellow ridges or lamellaj 
run along the centre of the lip. The pseudo-bulbs are 
short and ovoid or sub-conical, but blunt ; and the 
leaves are oblong and lanceolate. A flowering piece 
grown in a basket was exhibited by Messrs. Pitcher & 
Manda, Hextable, Swanley, Kent, at the Dahlia and 
Grape Exhibition and Conference at Chiswick, when an 
Award of Merit was accorded it. 
