182 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
November 17, 1S88. 
The Amateurs’ Garden. 
The India-rubber Plant in Winter. 
Many amateurs succeed admirably with this plant in 
summer ; but not a few fail with it in winter. This is 
especially the case with newly bought plants if they 
have been taken from a house with a high temperature, 
and subjected to window treatment in dwelling houses. 
Provided fires are kept burning in the rooms where the 
plants are grown, they will suffer little or no harm by 
the change. The question of watering, however, is 
often the most important one, requiring attention, and 
must be learnt by careful observation. A considerable 
amount of water is absolutely necessary in summer 
while growth is being made ; but as this becomes 
matured in autumn, water should be gradually withheld 
so as to harden the wood, and induce the plant to 
thoroughly go to rest. The roots must not, however, 
be allowed to get dust dry for any length of time, 
otherwise the lower and older leaves will drop, rendering 
the plant leggy and unsightly. The younger roots 
will also suffer or even get killed by drought. There¬ 
fore, strive to maintain them always in a moderately 
moist condition, and remove the plants from the 
window in the case of severe frost, and there will be no 
difficulty in preserving the plant in a healthy and 
sound condition. 
Chrysanthemum Cuttings. 
Those who possess a cold frame in a sheltered place, 
and wish to obtain a batch of Chrysanthemums to 
flower during the first and second week in November, 
should commence now by taking cuttings. Those that 
spring from the soil in the pots are generally the 
strongest and best. Although early in the season to 
get a large quantity, a few will suffice for an early 
batch. Make a clean cut with a sharp knife close 
below a joint, and remove the basal pair of leaves with 
the same care. Get some small 60-sized pots, and 
after thoroughly draining them with crocks and 
filling them with soil pressed moderately firm, insert a 
few cuttings round the sides of each. Use a compost 
consisting of good loam rendered porous with a quantity 
of sharp silver or, in its absence, river sand. Water 
the soil down with a rosed watering pot after the 
cuttings have been inserted, and plunge the pots in 
ashes in the cold frame, which should be kept closed 
till the cuttings begin to root, after which they should 
be ventilated. If the frame is heated in any way a 
little warmth applied during severe weather would be 
an advantage, and hasten the rooting process. In the 
absence of these appliances a shelf in the greenhouse will 
accommodate them admirably. 
Collecting Leaves. 
Those situated in rural districts, or where much wood 
abounds, have now a golden opportunity of laying up a 
store of a most useful manure, which is put to an 
endless number of purposes in garden economy, and is 
always wanted. Leaves may be used for covering 
Rhubarb, in order to force it earlier by the heat pro¬ 
duced during fermentation. Hotbeds may also be 
made of them in spring for raising seeds, for propagating 
plants from cuttings, and for raising Cucumbers, 
Marrows, or Potatos in spring. A small quantity of 
farmyard manure mixed with the leaves will make the 
heat stronger and more lasting. Decayed leaf-soil is 
required in the potting of many plants, and for mixing 
with the soil in which seedlings are raised. Leaves 
also constitute a good manure for shrubbery or her¬ 
baceous borders where the soil is heavy. Looking at 
the question from this point of view, it will be another 
incentive to have all walks and lawns thoroughly and 
frequently raked or swept, so as to prevent the leaves 
being trodden into mud upon them. Tidiness also 
greatly increases the amount of enjoyment to be derived 
from the garden at this dull season. 
Planting Raspberries. 
Now is the time to prepare ground for new plantations. 
The site selected should be in a cool sheltered part 
of the garden where the soil never gets very dry or 
baked in summer. In fact, the Raspberry likes 
moisture provided the ground is at the same time well 
drained. Trench it all over two spades deep, applying 
a good quantity of fairly well-rotted manure at the 
same time. It will increase the moisture-holding power 
of the soil in summer if the subsoil below that actually 
turned up is loosened up as the work proceeds. This 
allows superfluous moisture to pass away, while during 
dry weather, it again rises towards the surface by 
capillary attraction. After the leaves have fallen, get 
young suckers with as many fibrous roots attached to 
them as possible, and proceed to work. They may be 
planted in lines 5 ft. or 6 ft. asunder, and 4 ft. to 5 ft. 
between each plant, and staked. Should the suckers 
be weak it would be an advantage to put two or three 
of them to each stake so as to furnish them as soon as 
possible. A better way is to stretch wires between 
strong poles inserted at each end of the line of plants. 
The latter may be planted 3 ft. apart, and trained so 
as to wholly cover the wires, forming a close line of 
canes. The wood ripens better when so trained, and 
the fruit can more readily be collected. 
-->x<-- 
POTATOS AT MANCHESTER. 
In your notice at p. 153 of the annual Apple, Pear and 
Potato show recently held in Manchester it was in¬ 
cidentally stated that the Manchester Society’s Gold 
Medal had been awarded to Messrs. Dickson & Robinson, 
of Old Millgate, for their collection of Potatos. This 
was all very well as a bare and simple statement of 
fact, but no idea is given by the half-dozen words of 
the wonderful extent and merit of the collection. The 
council of the Manchester Royal Botanical and Horti¬ 
cultural Society never bestow a gold medal unless it 
is richly deserved. This, perhaps, goes without saying. 
In the present instance the honour was so exceedingly 
well deserved, that I think it is but ordinary justice to 
the exhibitors to specify in what direction the merits 
of their collection consisted. The extent of table- 
surface occupied was over 20 square yards, and the 
number of distinct varieties laid out to view—several of 
them never before exhibited in Manchester—was not 
less than 120. In every instance they were admirable 
examples of careful culture, having fine, fat, well- 
coloured tubers, and in not a single instance was there 
the slightest indication of disease. 
The arrangement was artistic and effective. The 
middle of the group was occupied by a great pile of 
Imperator, that capital late white round Potato, which 
is not likely ever to be surpassed in respect of all-round 
good qualities. Upon each side of this centre-piece 
were three rows, stretching away right and left, of great 
heaps of other leading sorts ; and exterior to these, in 
turn, were long rows of china plates, containing samples 
of yet other sorts, all first-rate in complexion and 
substantial promise to the eye, even of the non¬ 
professional ; for the public, though they may not 
possess minute technical or scientific knowledge, are, 
as a rule, very good judges, since the first requirement 
in accurate judging is no doubt plain common sense. 
To the company in general the show was evidently a 
great surprise. When they sit down to dinner, hungry, 
and by no means inquisitive in horticultural matters, 
so long as they get plenty to eat, people accept the 
Potato purely as the companion of their beef or mutton. 
The adjacent dish is filled with Potatos, and that will 
do ; they ask not whether they are consuming Sutton’s 
Early Regent, or Chiswick Eavourite. Great, accord¬ 
ingly, was the astonishment of many when shown, 
as in this grand display, that the everyday idea of the 
Potato requires to be multiplied by quite 120. To 
intending cultivators the exhibition was, of course, 
immensely useful; this, in truth, we take to be the 
grand practical value of every such exhibition. It is 
not simply in the hope of winning a gold medal, that 
men like Messrs. Dickson & Robinson exhibit ; their 
prime object is to give wise and solid information to 
gardeners all over the country, so that the nation as a 
whole may be the better for their endeavours. If ever 
a Gold Medal was unquestionably well won, it was in 
this instance.— Subscriber. 
-- 
CHRYSANTHEMUM NOTES. 
Chrysanthemum Buds Damping Off. 
I observe in your last issue that Mr. Murphy 
draws attention to Chrysanthemum buds damping 
off, and so far as I know it is not a new complaint 
about Chrysanthemums. I have known it to exist for 
years, sometimes with cne grower, and then with 
another. Although I have seen many collections this 
season, I have not met with a symptom of damping 
amongst them. I was aware, however, that a noted 
grower expected to be debarred from exhibiting on 
account of his losses from damping off. No doubt the 
craze for large blooms has something to do with this 
disease, and the cooking and feeding under glass to 
bring them forward for showing has something more. 
Whatever the cause is, there has not been, I believe, 
any attempt made to investigate it or provide a remedy. 
I saw sulphur applied, but it did not arrest the disease, 
and nearly all the flowers were lost. As Mr. Murphy 
suggests, I think the nearer we can follow outdoor 
cultivation the better. Those having buds affected 
from this cause ought to send some to the proper 
quarter to see if a fungus is at work, causing the 
destruction.— IV. D. 
What is the cause of Chrysanthemums damping off 
prematurely ? is the question Mr. Murphy asks 
at p. 167, and to which, he himself, in my opinion, 
gives a very correct and sensible reply. Discontinue 
feeding with stimulants when the flowers are half-open, 
admit an abundance of air night and day, with just 
sufficient heat in the pipes to prevent a moist, stagnant 
atmosphere, and there will be fewer complaints of 
flowers damping off prematurely—a vexatious occur¬ 
rence after eleven months’ close attention to all other 
cultural details.— J. Hcrrsefield, Heytesbury. 
Jeanne Marty. 
This is the finest of all the Anemone Japanese varieties. 
The inner cluster of quilled petals was, in fine blooms, 
shown at Kingston, fully 4 ins. across, and were also 
not unlike a flower of Macaulay, but with large guard 
petals ; the colour is a pleasing peach or pink. Snch 
grand varieties in this section as these, indicate pre¬ 
sently wonderful development, and the old, stiff 
Anemone forms may then be utterly eclipsed. Whilst 
incurved flowers seem to have shown us their best form, 
there would appear to be no limit to the marvellous 
range of variety and form which the Japanese can 
furnish. They will soon have to be more considerably 
classified for exhibition.— A. D. 
New Chrysanthemums. 
At the Chrysanthemum, Fruit, and Vegetable Exhibi¬ 
tion held by the National Chrysanthemum Society in 
the Royal Aquarium, Westminster, on November 7th 
and 8th, the undermentioned new varieties received 
First Class Certificates. 
Avalanche.—A white Japanese variety of large 
size. The florets are broad, flat, and before being fully 
expanded are spreading, but they ultimately become 
erect or ascending. 
Florence Piercey. —In this we have a very pretty 
and striking new Japanese variety. The blooms are of 
medium size, or about 4 ins. to 5 ins. across, and 5 ins. 
deep, and pure white. The florets are slender and 
tubular till near the apex, when they widen out and 
are deeply jagged or crested. Both were exhibited by 
Mr. E. Molyneux, Swanmore Park, Bishops Waltham. 
Miss Gorten. —The florets of this Japanese variety 
are broad, flat, nearly regularly recurved, and of a 
delicate pink shade. The blooms are of moderate size. 
Fimbriatum. —This is also a Japanese variety, with 
long, narrow, more or less twisted florets of a delicate 
blush tint. The name applies to the fimbriated or 
lacerated apex of the florets. The heads are of good 
size. 
Geo. Daniels. —The flower heads in this case are 
not quite so large as those of Fimbriatum, but have 
spreading and recurved, broad flat florets, with some¬ 
times a few quilled ones amongst them. It is a pale 
or blush Japanese variety. All three were exhibited by 
Mr. Robert Owen, Floral Nursery, Maidenhead. 
Alfred Lyne. —This new incurved variety is a 
silvery lilac sport from Novelty, which is nearly "white. 
Exhibited by Mr. J. Lyne, Belvedere, Wimbledon. 
James Weston. — A white Japanese Anemone. 
Exhibited by Mr. J. Ridout, gardener to T. B. Haywood, 
Esq., Woodhatch Lodge, Reigate. 
Othello. —A Japanese variety with orange-buff, 
heads, and a dark reddish brown centre. It is con¬ 
sidered a very fine variety. Exhibited by Mr. George 
Stevens, St. John’s Nursery, Putney. 
Mons. Bernard. —A Japanese variety with large 
heads of a deep magenta, with a silvery reverse. The 
outer florets are somewhat drooping. Exhibited by 
Messrs. J. Laing & Sons, Forest Hill. 
At the Crystal Palace on the 9th the under-mentioned 
varieties were certificated. 
Marsa. —The flower-heads of this Japanese sort are 
large, with densely arranged, somewhat twisted florets, 
which are reddish purple above and silvery beneath. 
Avalanche and Florence Piercey. —For de¬ 
scription see those certificated by the National 
Chrysanthemum Society. All three were exhibited by 
Mr. W. Packman, gardener to C. E. Shea, Esq., Foots 
Cray, Kent. 
Mons. Bernard. —For description see those certi¬ 
ficated by the National Chrysanthemum Society. 
Exhibited by Messrs. J. Laing & Sons. 
Violet Tomlin. —A new incurved variety of great 
promise. For description see p. 147. Exhibited by 
Messrs. Davis & Jones, Camberwell. 
