766 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
August 1, 1891. 
The Amateurs’ Garden. 
SEASONABLE WORK inthe GARDEN. 
Dracaenas. —The young foliage of these useful 
decorative plants is now pretty well matured, and 
should be further prepared for use on the dinner 
table or other purposes under which the plants 
are exposed to a cool but arid atmosphere. 
This can be done by gradually inuring the foliage to 
a dry atmosphere in houses where an abundance of 
ventilation is given. When the plants are used for 
table decoration or indoor work generally they should 
be changed as frequently as possible! or at least at 
short intervals, so as to maintain the foliage in a 
healthy condition. 
Miconia magnifica and Tococa latifolia.—- 
These plants are best known under the names of 
Cyanophyllum and Sphserogyne. The delicate 
mechanism of their leaves is easily injured by 
exposure to bright sunshine, and for that reason they 
should be grown in a shady part of the house unless 
the latter is actually shaded by artificial means. 
Care should be taken however that the foliage is not 
overshadowed or placed in contact with the leaves of 
other plants, otherwise it will inevitably suffer. In 
other words no crowding should be permitted. 
Caladiums. —A certain amount of shade will be 
necessary to prevent the delicate leaves of this class 
of plants from getting burned ; but at the same time 
it must be remembered that sunshine to a limited 
extent is necessary to bring out the rich coloration 
for which these plants are noted. Pot on small 
plants kept in stock, and they will make useful stuff 
for decorative work where large plants would be in- 
admissable. Small tubers for this purpose may 
always be obtained when potting up the large ones 
in spring. 
Pelargoniums for Bedding out. — A commence¬ 
ment should now be made to propagate Zonal Pelar¬ 
goniums for bedding out next summer. Make up a 
compost of sand and leaf soil, and heavily dress the 
ground with it in some open and sunny part of the 
reserve garden. Fork this into the natural soil, and 
then insert the cuttings firmly by means of a peg, or 
take out a shallow trench, lay in the cuttings about 
3 ins. apart, and after putting some silver sand about 
the cut ends, fill in the trench, make the soil firm, and 
give a good watering. No further attention will be 
necessary, except watering in'dry weather, till the 
cuttings are rooted. 
Persian and Turban Ranunculus. —When the 
foliage and stems have dried up the tubers should 
be lifted and stored away in moderately moist sand 
in a cool shed or cellar out of the reach of frost. 
Annuals. —A sowing of several of the popular 
sorts, may yet be made for late flowering in pots for 
conservatory decoration. Ten Week Stocks, Scabiosa 
atropurpurea, Browallia elata, Rhodanthe Manglesii 
and Mignonette are useful for this purpose. 
Edgings for Beds. — Clip in such things as San- 
tolina, Saxifraga, and Cerastium which may be going 
beyond bounds. The two latter kinds should also be 
pressed down with a flat board where they are getting 
too tall for neighbouring plants, especially in carpet 
beds. To clip them back to the proper height would 
spoil their appearance. 
Peaches. —Young trees in houses should be 
allowed to carry a heavy crop in order to repress their 
vigour if inclined to make too much young wood 
Old-established trees on walls out of doors should be 
gone over every few days in order to tie back the 
young growths and expose the fruit to sunshine. 
Pinch back laterals pretty closely. In the case of 
young trees on open walls a number of laterals will 
have to be left in order to cover the wall as quickly 
as possible and properly furnish the tree. Gross 
young shoots should be tied down horizontally to 
repress their vigour, or entirely removed 
Apricots. — Shade is beneficial to the fruit of this 
tree, and neither the shoots nor the leaves should be 
tied back in order to expose it as in the case of 
Peaches. Use the garden engine pretty freely upon 
the trees, in order to dislodge insects and keep the 
foliage clean up to the time the -fruit commences to 
ripen. 
Figs under glass. —Fruits that are required for 
home consumption should be left on the trees till the 
skin is quite tender and fit for use. When they have 
to be sent to a distance by rail or post they should be 
gathered a little before being quite ripe. Trees that 
require shifting into larger pots or tubs should have 
the operation performed as soon as the fruit has all 
been gathered. Use a compost of good, fibrous loam 
and lime rubble. 
Apples, Pears and Plums. — The crop this year 
will in many cases be a heavy one, and if large fruits 
are desired it behoves the gardener to thin out the 
fruit wherever it is crowded. This applies more 
especially to wall-trained trees, and also to those 
grown in the bush form and pyramidal Pear trees. 
Strawberry plants for forcing. —Plants that 
were layered in pots in good time should now be 
placed in their fruiting pots without delay. A piece 
of ground should be prepared for their reception by 
covering it with a good coating of clean ashes, and 
marking it off in beds for the better inspection of the 
plants. This ground should be in an open position, 
fully exposed to sunshine. 
Sea Kale. —Plantations intended for forcing pur¬ 
poses should be examined, and all the crowns 
removed except the best one. By this means the 
finest samples of Sea Kale crowns can be obtained. 
Keep the ground well stirred between the rows in 
order to keep down weeds. Remove alljflower stems. 
Asparagus. —Cutting will now have been stopped 
for the season. Keep the beds clear of weeds, and give 
a top dressing of some kind of manure. No better 
than fish manure with a little salt can be given. 
NIGHT-SCENTED STOCKS. 
About thirty species of Stocks are known to science, 
of which only a very small modicum is familiar to 
gardeners. Matthiola annua, M. graeca, and M. 
incana are the favourites, and may be considered the 
sum and substance of garden Stocks. More recently 
M. bicornis, and, to a smaller extent, M. tristis and 
M. tricuspidata have been taken in hand by a few ; 
but an old favourite, M. fenestralis, seems to have 
been neglected for some time past. The flowers of a 
large number of kinds are by no means showy, but 
a large proportion of them are very agreeably 
fragrant, particularly at night in the case of the 
smaller-flowered and inconspicuous kinds. They are 
natives of Western and Southern Europe, Western 
Asia, North Africa, and one species comes from the 
Cape. 
The night-scented Stock best known in gardens is 
M. bicornis, so named from its two-horned pods. It 
is described as a half-hardy sub-shrub, but is always 
treated as an annual when grown in this country. It 
is a native of Greece, where it grows in corn-fields 
and vineyards near Athens and Corinth. The leaves 
are oblong and entire or pinnatifid, being apparently 
as variable in this respect as those of the Shepherd’s 
purse. The flowers are of a dull purplish-red, and 
quite inconspicuous during the day, owing to the 
manner in which the petals roll backward; but as 
the sun declines and the dews begin to fall, the petals 
spread out, and the atmosphere for some distance 
around them becomes redolent with an agreeable 
odour, .whose origin is never suspected except by 
those who are acquainted with the properties and 
peculiarities of the plant. 
A stronger growing and sub-shrubby plant is 
M. odoratissima, which was introduced from Persia 
in 1795. It has a wide range of distribution ex¬ 
tending from the Caucasus and the Red Sea, through 
Persia, Sougaria, Afghanistan, and Belochistan, and 
is also found in the Iberian Peninsula. The hoary 
leaves are lanceolate, toothed, or pinnatifid, and 
mostly confined to the base of the stem, which in its 
wild state forms a woody rootstock. The strap¬ 
shaped or linear petals are of a dirty yellow changing 
to brown as they get old. During the day and up to 
about 7 p.m. or a little after the flowers are scentless, 
but after that they exhale a strongly aromatic and 
agreeable odour. Being rather tender, the plant re¬ 
quires greenhouse culture in this country, and should 
be more frequently grown than it is for the same 
reason as Boronia megastigma is cultivated. The 
long, compressed seed pods are distinctly stalked. 
Very similar to the above in general habit is 
M. tristis, but the leaves are narrower and generally 
entire although sometimes toothed. The flowers 
are sessile with pale violet, linear petals; the stems 
are branched near the base and vary from 10 ins. to 
18 ins. in length. The pods are 3 ins. to 4 ins. long, 
and are as round as a straw. The plant varies 
greatly in stature, but on its native sands or rocks it 
is dwarf and tufted. It is found in Portugal, Spain, 
Southern France, Italy and Palestine, and was first 
introduced in 1768. A greenhouse or frame is 
necessary for its preservation. 
Another species that might be confused with the 
last is M. varia, which, in a wild state at least, is 
readily recognisable by its dwarf and densely-tufted 
habit with the narrowly linear and hoary, entire 
leaves mostly crowded at the base of the flower stem, 
and appearing in opposite pairs. The petals are 
pale violet, and obovate, not linear as in M. tristis, 
and the short, compressed pod is somewhat tortuous. 
It was introduced from the Levant in 1820, but is 
also a native of rocky places in the Tyrol, where the 
soil is of a calcareous character. In sandy places of 
the Sierra de Mijas it ascends to an altitude of 
6,000 feet or more. 
The three-horned Stock (M. tricuspidata) is a 
hardy annual, a native of both sides of the Mediter¬ 
ranean, and may be mentioned here as a suitable 
companion for M. bicornis. The oblong leaves are 
very hoary, particularly in a wild state and repandly 
lobed. By these characters, also the three-homed 
stigma and the large bright lilac or rosy purple 
flowers, it may generally be recognised. In its 
native wilds on the sandy sea shores it is remarkably 
dwarf, rising only one, two, or three inches above the 
soil with large, compactly arranged, and bright 
purple flowers. In British gardens the stems run up 
to 12 ins. or 16 ins., with scattered flowers, thus 
losing more than half its beauty. This might be over¬ 
come by sowing it in light sandy soil trod firm. 
The glowing account that would be given of it by 
travellers would induce cultivators at home to try 
it ; but this would end in disappointment if sown in 
rich well-tilled soil. The leaves also would to a 
certain extent be less hoary. 
ALPINE RHODODEN¬ 
DRONS. 
Several of the Alpine species of Rhododendron 
constitute very beautiful dwarf shrubs for beds, for 
culture in the shrubbery, or as isolated specimens on 
grass in suitable positions. Unfortunately for those 
who live in the vicinity of smoky towns, many 
evergreens, including these hardy denizens of the 
mountains, refuse to thrive satisfactorily under such 
conditions. Nor can it be wondered at, seeing that 
the filthy deposit of unburnt carbon left upon them 
last winter has scarcely yet disappeared from the 
leaves. Outside the smoke radius there is however 
little difficulty with them, provided they are planted 
in peat or soil largely mixed with peat. Where the 
soil is naturally damp and fairly friable, and the 
atmosphere moderately moist so as to imitate alpine 
conditions, they will succeed admirably without the 
aid of peat. The small evergreen leaves resembling 
Box or Myrtle,'or even a Rock Rose (Helianthemum), 
render these plants specially interesting. 
The Rusty-leaved Rhododendron (R. ferrugineum) 
may readily be recognised by its lanceolate-elliptic 
leaves being densely covered underneath with rusty 
brown scales giving the whole surface a uniform 
appearance. The flowers are of fair size and vary 
in different individuals from rose to a deep crimson- 
red. Its usual height is 12 ins. In its native 
habitats, the mountains of Central and South 
Europe, it ascends to the highest limit at which 
ligneous vegetatio'n is found, and furnishes the 
shepherds with the only kind of fuel at their com¬ 
mand in those regions. There can therefore be no 
question as to its hardiness in this country, and if it 
gets killed it must be from some other cause than 
cold. 
The intermediate Rhododendron (R. intermedium), 
whether a natural hybrid or not, presents inter¬ 
mediate characters between the above named and 
R. hirsutum. The leaves are similar in shape, but 
often relatively broader, and the rusty scales on the 
under surface are comparatively thinly scattered 
over the under-surface, giving them a dotted appear¬ 
ance. The flowers are very similar to those of R. 
ferrugineum, and vary in the same way as to colour, 
but the calyx teeth are much larger and fringed with 
coarse hairs. The species, if species it may be 
called, is probably more frequent in gardens than 
any of the other species under no.ice, for I frequently 
receive specimens to name. It makes a pretty bush 
and varies from one to three feet high. 
The Hairy Rhododendron (R. hirsutum) has 
somewhat smaller and thinner leaves than the last 
