830 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
January 24, 1891. 
The Amateurs’ Garden. 
T ♦_ __ 
SEASONABLE WORK in the CARDEN 
Gloxinias.—The best way of starting Gloxinias is 
to bring the pots containing them into a slightly 
warmer temperature than that in which they have been 
wintered, and then slightly damping the soil. As soon 
as they show leaves above the surface, give a good 
watering an hour or two previous to re-potting them. 
By such means the soil will separate freely from the 
young roots without breaking them. At first, the 
tubers should be put in pots proportionate to the size 
of the former, so that another shift or two may be given 
them as the plants increase in size. 
Aclaimenes.—The best way of starting the scaly 
tubers or rhizomes of Achimenes is to rub down the old 
soil with the hand, carefully removing the tubers, which 
should then be inserted in pots or pans of sifted leaf- 
soil with a small quantity of loam and a little sand. 
After the plants are fairly into growth they may then 
he transplanted into their flowering pots, giving them 
more room in proportion to their size and the vigour 
of the variety. 
Cyclamens.—From seed sown now, plants may 
be obtained sufficiently large to flower about this time 
next year ; the seed must, however, be sown without 
further delay, as growth in the early stages is very 
slow. Old plants now in flower should be watered with 
care, and kept in a dry atmosphere to prevent the 
rotting of the buds, and spoiling of the flowers. 
Heaths and Epacris.—These, as a class, dislike 
a dry parching heat, and suffer particularly if placed too 
near the hot-water pipes when much firing i3 required. 
They should be kept in the coolest part of the house, 
and as far from the direct influence of the hot-water 
pipes as possible. Should the roots get desiccated by 
the proximity of the pipes, small flowers will be the 
result. 
Calceolarias.—A bench covered with ashes so as 
to form a cool moist bottom will offer the most advantage 
to this class of plants. In order to keep them in good 
condition, no check to growth should be given. Batches 
requiring potting on should have the operation per¬ 
formed before the roots get pot-bound. Use a compost 
of rich fibrous loam and leaf-soil, and should some well- 
mellowed scouring of ditches, rich in sand, be used, it 
will keep the compost sweet and porous ; in any case 
use plenty of sand. A temperature of 45° by night will 
be quite sufficient, with a rise by day. 
Cinerarias.—Late batches should be potted on as 
in the case of Calceolarias. The foliage should be 
lightly syringed on the afternoons of fine days. Liquid 
manure may be given to those throwing up their flower 
stems. They are gross feeders, and require liberal 
treatment to attain anything like their full develop¬ 
ment. 
Euclisias.—Old plants may now be all pruned back, 
as the wood is now well ripened, and there is no danger 
of damping. If required for early work, some of them 
may be put in a vinery or Peach house, not long started. 
The buds will soon break out afresh, when the plants 
may be shaken out and potted in fresh compost. Some 
growei ’3 re-pot before the plants are started, but if 
placed in heat before the operation, the shoots start 
away stronger and more regularly with the roots in 
the old soil. 
Cytisus racemosus.—Owing to the scarcity of 
flowers, some cultivators may be inclined to force or 
hurry their plants more rapidly into bloom ; but it 
must be remembered that Cytisus racemosus does not 
conform readily to this mode of treatment, therefore 
they must be brought on gradually. 
Vines.—Continue the tying down and stopping the 
shoots of the early Vines until all the space available 
for foliage has been covered. Shy-setting kinds may 
be set with the pollen of Hamburgh. As a rule early 
forced varieties consist of the latter, but in some cases, 
Muscats and Alicantes may be grown along with them. 
In such cases the two latter should always have the 
warmest end of the house. Madresfield Court succeeds 
well under the treatment accorded to Hamburgh. 
Syringe the Vines in succession houses two or three 
times a day when fine. 
Melons.—These, if sown when recommended, will 
now have formed some rough leaves, and be ready for 
shifting into 32-siz9 pots. In turning out the plants 
the ball should not be broken. Plunge them in bottom 
heat again near the glass, keeping the temperature 
moderately high, if the weather outside is not very 
severe. If they are intended for planting out in pits, 
the beds should be made up at once. Use good turfy 
loam that has been allowed to lie in a heap for a year, 
to become mellow. Plant as soon as the soil attains 
the same temperature as that of the house. 
Cucumbers.—With the increase of light, Cucum¬ 
bers will grow more vigorously and require more 
feeding. Supply liquid manure that is rendered tepid 
by being mixed with warm water. Close the house 
early in the afternoon if the sun is sufficiently warm to 
have necessitated ventilation. At the same time 
syringe the plants and damp down the pathways. 
Young plants should receive a stick when newly put 
out, to keep the stems straight till they reach the 
trellis-work. A compost of three parts of good loam 
and one part of old well-decayed hot-bed manure, with 
some road scrapings to keep the whole open, answers 
well for Cucumbers. 
Strawberries.—Introduce successive batches to 
heat, in order to keep up a supply. If the plants are 
in the open air and frozen, place them first in a house 
where the thawing will be gradual, and afterwards 
in Peach houses or vineries at work, where they may 
enjoy a gradual rise of temperature as growth 
progresses. Those who have properly constructed pits 
or houses for the purpose, will, of course, experience 
less difficulty in affording the appropriate temperatures. 
-•***>- 
DINNER-TABLE DECORATIONS. 
If “W. A.” wishes to prove a successful dinner-table 
decorator he will be wise not to seek so much for copies 
of others’ methods, but to strike out for himself original 
designs and styles. The evil of dinner-table deco¬ 
ration is found in its stereotyped charactei, and once a 
gardener falls into a particular groove he works that 
groove to death, until it becomes a positive nuisance. 
The decoration of dinner tables must of necessity be 
dependent for material on the season. Naturally, the 
winter time is the great dining or company dinner 
season, but in many places some sort of decoration is 
looked for nearly all the year round. 
It is bad enough for many people to have to sit 
down to the same eternal round of roast beef, or mutton, 
or fish, or vegetables and such of the usual type, but 
they do at least assuage hunger. An eternal round of 
Fern fronds, or of identical vases, or of Dracaenas, or 
Crotons, or similar table plants, repeated ad nauseam is, 
however, unendurable and monotonous. Therefore the 
gardener who will ignore fashion or ordinary styles, and 
adopt his own in variety will prove to be by far the 
most successful table decorator. 
Sometimes it is thought that if beginners in the art 
were to see good professional examples of table decora¬ 
tion they would be enabled to do their best to imitate 
them. That is, I think, a fallacy, because imitation is 
the worst style of art, shutting out all originality, 
whilst not one novice in a thousand would have at 
command the material which the professional employed. 
The best table decoration is that which is simplest, 
lightest and least affected. No greater mistake can 
be made than indulging in elaboration. 
, The primary use of a dinner table, of course, is to 
furnish a meal of food. When flowers or foliage exceed 
the food furnished the result is as ludicrous as it is dis¬ 
appointing to guests. Let “W. A.” hunt up all the 
small light graceful plants he can, so that for his 
purpose he can blend variety. If he will have design 
in his decoration let it be as diverse as possible daily, 
but in all cases the less stereotyped and more unstudied 
the better.— A. D. 
--— 
CALLIPSYCHE AURANTIACA. 
From a horticultural point of view this is a more 
ornamental plant than C. mirabilis, although not quite 
so interesting or striking. The flower scape is developed 
long in advance of the leaves, as the latter do not 
attain their full growth till June. Some bulbs are 
flowering in the stove at Kew, where they have been 
gradually coming on notwithstanding the inclement 
nature of the weather out-of-doors. The flower stem 
varies from 18 ins. to 24 ins. in length, and bears an 
umbel of flowers at its apex. The tube of the perianth 
is comparatively short and green, while the segments 
vary from 1^ ins. to 2 ins. long, and are bright yellow, 
such as is seen in Hemerocallis flava. The species is a 
native of the Andes of Ecuador at an altitude of 8,000 
ft. A compost of rich sandy soil and some well- 
decayed leaves, with plenty of drainage, will meet all 
the requirements of the plant. Give abundance of 
water during growth, but less in winter during the 
period of rest; in fact, no more should be given than 
sufficient to prevent the plant from shrivelling. 
GARDENERS’ ROYAL BENEVO¬ 
LENT INSTITUTION. 
The annual meeting of the subscribers tr this insti¬ 
tution took place at “Simpson’s,” Strand, on the 15th 
inst., Baron Schroder, vice-president, presiding. The 
minutes of the previous meeting having been read and 
confirmed, the secretary, Mr. E. R. Cutler, read the 
report of the committee and statement of accounts 
(published in our last issue). The report congratulated 
the subscribers upon the continued prosperity of the 
charity. During the year, it was stated, thirteen pen¬ 
sioners had died, four leaving widows who had been duly 
placed on the pension list, in accordance with the rules 
of the institution. The annual dinner, presided over 
by Mr. H. J. Yeitch, was a grand success, and as a 
result, though many annual subscribers had been taken 
from them by death, the amount received from sub¬ 
scriptions was £1,403, as against £1,328 in the previous 
twelvemonth. Consequent on the increased revenue 
received from that source, the committee had been able 
to disburse in pensions £300 in excess of the sum 
similarly paid away during the preceding year. Further, 
they had raised the reserve fund to £25,000, thus 
placing the solidity of the institution beyond all doubt. 
The accounts showed that, inclusive of the balance of 
£753 brought forward, the total receipts for the year 
were £5,98S. In pensions and gratuities £2,648 had 
been expended, while the working expenses were £750, 
which, inclusive of the purchase of £2,000 consols, 
brought up the total disbursements to £5,296, leaving 
in hand a balance of nearly £700. 
The chairman said he was sure that everyone present 
would agree with him that the report and statement of 
accounts were eminently satisfactory. He was certain 
they would also agree that for the progress which had 
been made during the year they had chiefly to thank 
two gentlemen—Mr. Harry Yeitch and their excellent 
secretary (Mr. Cutler). The society, he thought, had 
reason to congratulate itself that it had men connected 
with it who were willing to work so hard for the benefit 
of the poor gardeners. 
On the motion of Dr. Hogg, seconded by Mr. Geo. 
Monro, the report and accounts were unanimously 
adopted, and the committee thanked for their able 
management during the past year. Mr. H. J. Yeitch 
moved, and Mr. John Lee seconded, that John 
Brackenridge, Esq., be elected a vice-president in the 
place of the late Mr. James McIntosh ; which was 
carried 7iem. con., as was also the re-election of Mr. 
Yeitch as treasurer, on the motion of Mr. James 
Webber, seconded by Dr. Masters, F.R.S. Mr. Cutler, 
whose nomination for the office of secretary for the 
fiftieth time was received with great applause, was re¬ 
elected, as were also Messrs. H. Turner, J. Douglas, 
W. Denning, G. Wythes, J. J. Sexby as members of the 
committee, with the addition of Mr. Arnold Moss, and 
Mr. C. Pilcher. Mr. John Lee and Mr. Jesse Willard 
were re-elected as auditors, and Mr. James Webber 
was elected to take the place of Mr. J. F. MestoD, 
who had retired through ill-health. 
Mr. Webber moved, “That the best thanks of this 
meeting be presented to Mr. H. J. Yeitch, for his great 
kindness in presiding at the annual festival, held on 
the 12th June, 1890 ; for the able manner in which he 
advocated the cause of the institution, and the in¬ 
fluence he brought to bear upon his friends upon that 
occasion, when the sum of over £3,000 was realised ; 
and that the same be illuminated on vellum, and 
presented to him on another occasion.” The motion 
was seconded by the chairman, and most heartily 
agreed to by the meeting. Baron Schroder having 
been duly thanked for presiding, the meeting adjourned 
until the close of the poll, when, Mr. Yeitch presiding, 
it was declared that the successful candidates were 
Henry Primmer, Norwood (2,657), Thomas Stevenson, 
Fulham (2,509), James Gage, Kingsland (2,376), 
Susannah Davison, Shepherd’s Bush (2,127), David 
Innes, Watford (2,033), William Neweombe, Tawstock 
(1,910), George Hinxman, Downton (1,875), William 
Bunn, Ealing (1,710), and Joseph Henry Poole, Wood¬ 
ford (1,609). Two pensioners having died since the 
voting papers were sent out, it was unanimously resolved 
that the two next highest on the poll should also be 
elected, and these were found to be Isaac Gibbons, 
Stratton (1,539), and Mary Ann Lane, Taunton (1,326). 
A vote of thanks to the scrutineers, Messrs. H. Turner, 
H. Williams, and B. Wynne, brought the business 
proceedings to a close. 
The figures given after each name represent the 
number of votes which each obtained, and we may add 
here that the poll was a very heavy one, the total 
number of votes recorded (including those carried 
