August 15, 1891. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
799 
the garden, 
Good Early Cabbages. 
It will probably take many years to drive Ellam’s 
Early Cabbage entirely out of the market, but it is 
not now the only good early variety obtainable. 
Different growers may each have their favourites, 
and some varieties may do better in some soils and 
gardens than in others. It is advisable on that 
account to make trial of more than one early 
kind, in order to discern which behaves best. 
Continual selection is necessary to preserve any 
variety true to the original type, and it is possible to 
perfect or improve a sort, or to obtain a variety that 
will sooner attain full size or a usable size than those 
already in cultivation. Veitch’s Earliest of All is a 
conical Cabbage of the same type as Ellam’s Early, 
but it comes into use at an earlier date, even when 
both have been sown at the same time and treated 
alike. It is also distinguishable by its smoother and 
lighter green leaves, whereas those of Ellam's Early 
are much wrinkled and of a deep glaucous green hue. 
The difference in the two as to earliness could be seen 
during the first week of the present month, or even 
earlier, in the Trial Grounds of Messrs. J. Veitch 
& Sons, at Chiswick. A sowing was made and a 
breadth planted out last year with a view to 
obtain usable heads in spring. The autumn and 
early part of winter were so favourable to growth 
that the plants would have been fit for use by 
Christmas, provided the weather had remained 
tolerably good for a week or two longer. The plants 
were of good size, and looked the picture of health, 
till a combination of fog and severe frost destroyed 
them. Those who live in country places have little 
idea of the destructive nature of a metropolitan fog, 
which destroys all kinds of winter greens, with 
exception only of Sprouting Broccoli, and even that 
succumbed last winter. 
A New Late Pea, ” Sequel.” 
The last Certificated Pea at Chiswick this season is 
named " Sequel.” It is one of Mr. Laxton's seed¬ 
lings, and has great merit as a late variety. It is 
a green-wrinkled marrow, height 3 ft., and bears 
profusely, the pods being long, narrow, straight, and 
well filled, the peas of good colour and capital 
flavour. The " Sequel,” because dwarf, late, good 
and prolific, is a real good addition to our Pea 
stocks, and will doubtless, in spite of its odd name, 
make a popular variety. 
A New Early Potato : Early Short Top. 
Mr. Laxton is to be congratulated on having 
produced one of the best early white Potatos yet 
seen at Chiswick. It secured a Certificate of Merit 
a few weeks since, unanimously, for crop, and when 
a sample was cooked last week the quality was so 
good that the Certificate was unanimously approved. 
The variety, which is named Early Short Top, has 
short, stout haulm; the tubers are white, longish 
round; and it is a great cropper. This should 
make really the premier early Potato for all ordinary 
purposes. 
HUMEA ELEGANS. 
This old favourite is one of the most graceful of 
plants for the decoration of lofty conservatories or 
for the centres of large beds in the flower gardens in 
sheltered situations. Many years ago I had a good 
opportunity of noting the adaptability of the Humea 
for the latter purpose in the spacious flower garden 
at Riccarton, Midlothian, the seat of Sir James 
Gibson Craig, Bart. In the large circular bed 
which occupied what is known as the “North 
Bank ” several plants were grouped in the centre of 
the bed, the waving racemes of which when 
in bloom very much enhanced the effect of 
the Dwarf Dahlias, Pelargoniuns, etc., of which the 
outer portions of the bed consisted. 
To have plants of Humea elegans for decorative 
purposes next season seeds should be sown about 
the middle of August. An 8-in or 9-in seed pan, 
properly drained and filled with light loam and leaf 
soil in equal parts, with a free admixture of sand 
and passed through a fine sieve, will form a suitable 
bed on which to sow the seed. Sow thinly, and, 
after watering, place the seed pan in any frame or 
other structure where a mild temperature is kept up. 
When the seedlings are of a convenient size they 
should be potted off singly into 3-in or 4-in pots, then 
rejuvnpd to a frame for a few days, which should be 
kept close and shaded, if necessary, till free growth 
is apparent, when an abundance of air should be 
given by tilting the sashes of the frame when the 
weather is stormy, and keeping them off altogether 
when fine. When the small pots are filled with 
roots they should be shifted into 5-in or 5^-in size 
before they become pot-bound, otherwise injury to 
or loss of the foliage may result. In giving the 
plants this shift a smaller proportion of sand and 
leaf soil will suffice than is advisable at earlier stages 
of their cultivation. 
When the plants are no longer safe from autumn 
frosts in an ordinary cold frame, they should be re¬ 
moved to a pit or other plant structure, where fire- 
heat is at command, but the less of it that is 
necessary the better for the health of the plants. 
Keeping them in an uniformly moist condition at 
the roots and exposing them to plenty of fresh air, 
also guarding against green fly, are the principal 
points connected with their winter management as 
well as at other periods of their culture. S-ome time 
in March, if the plants are in a thriving condition, 
they will require their final shift into 9-in. pots pre¬ 
paratory to planting out if wanted for that purpose. 
If some of them are to be reserved for conservatory 
work these should be shifted into 8-in. pots and 
finally into 12-in. size. For either purpose they 
should be grown in a position close to the glass 
where a free circulation of air can be admitted, and 
cool treatment afforded them in general. Each 
plant must be provided with a new green painted 
stake, whether for bedding out or for house decora¬ 
tion, to which they should be secured as their growth 
progresses. Those intended for planting out should 
be thoroughly hardened oft in common with other 
bedding plants usually turned out at the end of 
May.— M., Ayrshire. 
THE BEDDING IN HYDE 
PARK. 
Besides the extensive use of Fuchsias as bedding 
plants, as previously mentioned by us, a large number 
of different subjects are employed on the same system 
of treatment so as to avoid the monotony, sameness 
and uniformity that characterised the old system of 
bedding with Pelargoniums, Calceolarias, Ageratums, 
Lobelias &c. which were graduated from the centre 
to the outside, and became tiresomely formal. Not¬ 
withstanding this, Pelargoniums do receive a fair 
share of attention, and as a rule are flowering well 
this season. For instance, there are fine beds of 
Lucy, rose, Eurydice, rosy carmine with a white eye, 
Myrial, with very large scarlet flowers, Mrs. Hole, 
with narrow, red petals, Mrs. Holden, having narrow 
rosy-pinked petals, and Henry Jacoby, with intense 
scarlet flowers, but too brilliant to look upon when the 
sun shines. Near the latter bed is another of Aspasia 
with white flowers, but not very freely produced. 
Mrs. H. T. Baker is a large red sort, tinted with 
scarlet, and Charles Smith is a good scarlet. None 
of them are more floriferous than Omphalie, having 
large rose-coloured flowers shaded with white at the 
edge. 
All the beds of Begonias are wonderfully floriferous, 
including one of B. Lady Stanhope mixed with Viola 
Beauty of Chipping Norton, and another mixed with 
Viola Mrs. Turner. The contrast between the two 
in each case is well marked and very attractive. 
There are eight or more beds of seedlings, having the 
large flowers characteristic of the modern and highly 
improved types. Some beds consist of double rose, 
pink and parti-coloured varieties; others are all of 
scarlet sorts with large flowers and healthy dark- 
green, broad leaves. Other seedlings have white, 
pink, yellow, orange and scarlet flowers mixed. All 
the beds have a double or triple edging of plants suit¬ 
able for that purpose. 
Two large beds of Erythrina Crista-galli, on a 
ground-work of Fancy Pansies, are simply magni¬ 
ficent. The stems of the Erythrina or Coral-tree 
are 3 ft. to 3J ft. high, and grandly flowered. They 
are edged with the black leaved Coleus refulgens,' 
Lobelias and Alternanthera. 
A bed of Heliotrope President Garfield, 3 ft. to 
4 ft. high, and mixed with Carnations, is planted on 
a ground-work of yellow Violas. Each plant stands 
quite clear of its neighbour, thus showing off the 
individual character of each plant to advantage. In 
another bed the plants of the same Heliotrope are 
3 ft- and mixed with Chrysanthemum Etoilq 
d'Qr qr ^i-ovind-work of Viola Snowflakp. Thg- 
double-flowered Petunia alba fimbriata is the leading 
feature in another case. The stems are not pegged 
down, but tied up so that every plant stands quite 
clear of its neighbour. Single Petunias, with white, 
pink, rose, blue, purple and velvety-violet flowers, 
are treated in the same way at another place. 
Sweet Peas are not usually considered as bedding 
plants, but isolated tufts are so employed alternately 
with Ivy-leaved Pelargoniums, and the plants in 
each case are 3 ft. high. There are also several beds 
of Lilium auratum mixed with Ivy-leaved Pelar¬ 
goniums. A singular and striking bed is planted 
with Ficus elastica and Dracaena congesta, on a 
giound-workof Alternantheras. Interspersed through 
the latter are isolated plants of Oxalis floribunda, 
Begonia Rex var, and Geranium sanguineum. A 
triple edging completes the whole. 
The capet bedding is neatly executed and well 
kept, but not extensive. About the middle of the 
flower beds are two neat examples of carpet bedding. 
The beds are oblong, and in one of them the central 
patch consists of Sagina pilifera aurea, and one at 
either end is planted with Herniaria glabra, dotted 
all over with Echeveria Peacocki. Surrounding 
these central pieces is a broad, irregular band or 
scroll work of Alternanthera amoena, followed by 
another of A. magnifica. Then comes a ground¬ 
work of Herniaria, with detached patches of 
Alternanthera paronychoides major upon it. Four 
lines of edging surround the whole, consisting of 
A. amoena, A. paronychoides aurea, A. magnifica, 
and Echeveria secunda glauca, the latter being on 
the pependicular face of the raised margin of the 
bed. Central and dot plants of Dracaena, Echeveria 
metallica, Carex Morovii variegata, here called C. 
Americana variegata. and others are used here and 
there through the bed. The companion bed to this 
is equally neatly executed on a slightly different 
plan, with a ground-work of Sedum glaucum. 
Tall plants in groups and isolated specimens are 
used here and there with good effect upon the grass. 
A group of Pelargoniums of different colours and in 
bush form, shows what might be done in this way, 
for old specimens are generally very floriferous. A 
clump of narrow-leaved Bamboos, 3 ft, to 12ft, high, 
is also very bold and effective. Isolated specimens 
of the Common Coral-tree, 3 ft. high, Clematis, 3 ft. 
to 4 ft., columnar specimens of Ivy-leaved Pelar¬ 
goniums, 4 ft. to 5 ft. high, Plumbago capensis, 6 ft. 
to 10ft., Heliotropes, 4ft., Petunias, 2ft. to 3ft., 
Cobaea scandens variegata, 6 ft. to 8 ft., and fine old 
pieces of Begonia heracleifolia, besides the Fuchsias 
already mentioned, stud the grass here and there 
with fine effect. Much more might be done in this 
way, both in public parks and on private estates. 
CARNATION LAYERING. 
The advice given by the old growers was—have all 
your layering done by August the 20th. I think I 
am justified in saying it is practically impossible that 
layering can be completed by that time; in some 
cases, I fear, scarcely commenced. A late growth 
and bloom also mean a late ripened growth ; and it 
is not wise to commence the work until the growth 
of the shoots to be layered is sufficiently matured ; 
and as maturation of the wood is, owing to the late¬ 
ness of the season, delayed beyond the usual time, all 
that can be done in the way of exposing the grass to 
sun and wind in order to hasten ripening is very 
desirable. But the layering compost can be pre¬ 
pared—say, equal parts of turfy, loam, leaf soil, 
and rough sand, all to be finely sifted, for a fine 
compost is of the first importance. Sand is neces¬ 
sary to impart a gritty character to the compost, as 
it materially hastens the putting forth of roots. To 
make room for the fresh soil, ’the old should be re¬ 
moved to the depth of an inch or so, the plants 
cleared of all decayed foliage; and the leaves of all 
the shoots to be layered cleared up to the third or 
fourth joint. Then the layering soil being added, 
the layer is taken between the thumb and forefinger 
of the left hand ; and the knife, the blade of which 
should be small, thin, and sharp on both sides, is 
thrust through the third joint, drawn downwards to 
about a quarter of an inch below it, and then brought 
out. Then a horizontal cut, if possible, from the 
inside removes the point of tfle wedge at the base of 
the layer, and it is ready for layering, the layer is 
then gently pressed into the soil, and secured by 
means gf a layering-pin, It is an operation soon 
?nd wjtlj practice, a, lj^ht b§nd flnd, due pars 
