262 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
December 22, 1888. 
first four mentioned, considering its vigour and the 
quality and character of its flowers. Swanley Giant is 
a rosy red variety, tinted with violet, and notable for 
the pyramidal masses of flowers it throws up when at 
its best. Beauty of Kent is also particularly floriferous 
and hears large white flowers closely mottled with 
purple. A house devoted to the culture of double 
varieties is now very gay with the best and most popular 
of their kind. 
Chrysanthemums. 
The ranks of this popular flower are greatly decimated 
now, compared with what they were in November ; 
yet a number of them afford a large quantity of flowers 
useful for cutting. Snowflake, The Virgin, and Mary 
Anderson are beautiful single white varieties. Crushed 
Strawberry, reddish pink, is very attractive ; Crimson 
and Gold describes itself ; King of the Yellows is single, 
yellow and floriferous; Star of White is a white 
Pompon ; La Parnasse is a rosy pink kind of the 
same class ; and Miss Annie Lowe is a beautiful pale 
yellow, large Anemone. Orange Beauty and Comte 
de Biela are showy decorative kinds. 
Amongst other flowers now in season are Abutilons, 
with white, yellow, rose, and red flowers ; Bouvardias, 
including the rich and brilliant President Cleveland ; 
Salvias, Carnations and others. 
-- 
The Amateurs' Garden. 
-«=*£-=»- 
Slipper Orchids for Amateurs. 
There are a few of the more common exotic Cypri- 
pediums, or Slipperworts as they are popularly called, 
which might be grown by amateurs as easily as a 
Fuchsia or Pelargonium, with, in fact, half of the 
trouble. If potted in good material, with proper 
drainage, no re-potting will be required for several 
years. A very low temperature—in fact, the temper¬ 
ature of a greenhouse, will be quite sufficient to grow 
them all the year round, allowing it to rise somewhat 
higher in the summer while fresh growth is being made. 
In many establishments, where no special attention is 
given to Orchids, C. insigne is allowed to take its 
chance with Ferns, Azaleas, Camellias, or other 
subjects in the vineries during the early part of the 
season while making their growth. During any other 
period of the year either this species or C. venustum, 
another Himalayan kind, may be kept amongst a 
mixed collection of plants. Of course, they will flower 
much later than if kept in a house with a temperature 
of 45° or 50° during winter ; hut they are 'worth 
waiting for. There are several beautiful varieties of 
C. insigne, but they are more expensive for amateurs to 
purchase. 
Ferns in the Garden. 
It is the custom of some growers to cut down all their 
Ferns alike in winter, whether evergreen or not. In 
the neighbourhood of large towns, where the atmo¬ 
sphere is smoky, evergreen kinds are very liable to 
suffer the same fate as deciduous kinds, or get so 
shabby, that it is considered advisable to have the 
fronds removed to make them appear tidy. It is a 
mistake, however, and ought to be avoided where 
possible. It fact, when not grown in very close 
proximity to dwelling houses, it would be advisable to 
let the fronds of the deciduous species even remain on, 
till the time to give the rockery or hardy fernery a 
general clean up in spring. The old fronds form a 
natural protection to the crowns, which, although they 
may he perfectly hardy, are benefited to a considerable, 
extent by the retention of the moisture during cold 
drying east winds, which are more searching and 
destructive to vegetable life than when there is a 
covering ot snow with frost, or when the wind comes 
from another and more moist quarter. If it is 
desirable to cut down and remove the withered fronds, 
then a coating of coco-nut fibre should he substituted, 
which will both preserve the moisture and look tidy 
during the winter. 
SOLANUMS. 
Most amateurs, as well as gardeners, know the value 
of well-berried specimens of Solanum Capsicastrum 
for the decoration of the greenhouse in winter, for 
windows or other decorative purposes. In view of this 
fact it may interest those who have not yet tried it, to 
know that with a little trouble anyone with a fair 
command of heat can propagate this plant by taking 
off cuttings now. The advantage of doing it at this 
period of the year is that strong young plants may be 
obtained, even by those who have not a great command 
of heat nor very special means of accommodating 
cuttings, by the time the season is warm enough to 
plant them out—say, in May or early June. A batch 
of cuttings, according to the requirements, may be put 
in pots and covered with a bell-glass in the absence of 
a frame or propagating pit, stood in a box con¬ 
taining moist sand, and placed in the warmest corner 
of the greenhouse, and over the hot-water pipes or flues 
if possible. As soon as rooted pot them on, pinching 
out the tops as they grow to make them bushy. 
Harden off and plant out with other bedding plants in 
some open sunny position. Here they will grow, form 
nice bushy plants well set with berries, and be ready 
for lifting and potting off in autumn. 
Laurestine. 
In the southern and more favoured part of England 
little trouble is taken with this plant beyond planting 
it in the shrubbery or in the borders in front of villas. 
Here it flowers freely enough in moderately mild 
winters to justify the planting of it ; but the matter 
ought not to end here. Those who have a difficulty in 
keeping up a fair display of flowers in the greenhouse 
during winter might well grow on a few nice little 
plants of Laurestine (Viburnum Tinus), which they 
could pot up in autumn. As this evergreen shrub 
naturally flowers in winter, if not too severe, no forcing 
whatever will be required if placed in the greenhouse 
where a genial but cool temperature is maintained. 
The difference in the purity of the flowers compared 
with those growing out of doors will surprise those who 
have not previously observed it. Unprotected flowers 
are more or less tinged with pink, or are, in fact, quite 
red while in bud. They are pretty enough certainly, 
hut white flowers are preferable. Cuttings may be 
struck at various times during the summer, and planted 
in the open ground. Pot up in autumn any plants 
showing flower-buds, and place in the greenhouse. 
After flowering, the plants may be pruned hard back, 
so as to keep them in shape, making bushes or 
standards according to fancy. 
-- 
CHRYSANTHEMUM NOTES. 
Propagating : Heat versus Cold. 
“Chlorophyll” (p. 241) seems to think that the 
method of striking the cuttings which I advise must 
allow them to flag, as he remarks that “a slight 
bottom heat should be kept up to aid in the absorption 
of moisture, thereby preventing flagging ; ” but such 
is not the case at all. We never allow them to flag in 
the slightest, nor is it necessary that they should do 
so. I cannot account for “Chlorophyll’s” failure to 
recognise my use of the word “cool,” as he explains 
fully what his impressions are regarding cool treatment, 
and they exactly coincide with my own. If he will 
refer to p. 8 of Chrysanthemums and their Culture, 
he will see that I advise a temperature of from 
40° to 50°, which seems to me to be the happy 
medium between the two extremes of heat and cold. 
This temperature, i.e ., between 40° and 50°, is what I 
term “cool,” and the definition also agrees with the 
dictionary meaning of the word. “Chlorophyll ” also 
says, “If the temperature is too low damp claims its 
victims.” I would ask him then how do those 
growers manage who propagate their plants in cold 
frames, and yet who get as good flowers as anyone 
else 1 
It is a well-known fact that some growers—I may 
say many—prefer a cold frame to strike their cuttings 
in, never giving them cool treatment, to say nothing 
of bottom-heat, so that it is quite a mistake to say that 
if the temperature is too low the cutting will necessarily 
damp. I grant that they will damp off in a low tem¬ 
perature, in a cool one, and even in bottom-heat, if 
other details of treatment are faulty. Good blooms 
have been grown by adopting Mr. Tunnington’s 
method, and by the “cool” treatment I advise, and I 
know also that they have been got by the cold-frame 
treatment. The point is simply this : The same goal 
is reached by different routes, and what does it matter 
if all get to the same termination, how many different 
roads they take ?— E. Molyneux. 
A Slender-petalled Variety. 
Amongst the endless variety of forms of Chrysanthe¬ 
mum sinense already in cultivation, and yearly being 
added to, a form named Tisiphone seems to have the 
most slender petals, or, rather, segments of the corolla. 
Although not exactly new, it does not seem to have 
been much disseminated amongst growers. This, no 
doubt, is owing to its lack of size and unsuitability for 
exhibition purposes generally. It is, nevertheless, 
very distinct as a Japanese variety of medium size. 
The florets are tubular at the base only, with long, 
very slender segments, revolute at the margins, and 
appearing tubular—although they are not so—with an 
irregularly lacerated apex. They are crimson with a 
yellow reverse, and the central disk of the head is 
yellow ; while, as a whole, the bloom appears like a 
mass of coloured threads. 
Hardening §Iiscellany. 
Unseasonable Flowers. 
Judging from the numerous reports of hardy plants in 
flower, we are apt to regard them as altogether out of 
season, and so they are ; hut this fact is not altogether 
unprecedented. There were several mild winters some 
years ago, and if a record of the flowers had been kept 
which made an unseasonable appearance in December, 
a very respectable list could have been furnished. 
Besides the usual winter-flowering subjects—such as 
Chimonanthus fragrans, Viburnum tinus, Jasminum 
nudiflorum, Christmas Roses, and other subjects—there 
were several that do not usually flower at such times. 
In December, 1881, Wallflowers, Violets, Primroses, 
Forget-me-nots, the herbaceous Elder, Arabis pro- 
currens, and even Gooseberries, were flowering in greater 
or less quantity. A record of these things is always, 
however, interesting, and if careful observers would 
make such all over the country, it would furnish some 
useful data, and be interesting for reference in after 
years, as well as afford useful hints for future guidance. 
—J. 
A New Hybrid Alocasia. 
A new and beautiful stove plant has been raised by 
the Brothers Chantrier, of Mortefontaine, Oise, France. 
It is the offspring of Alocasia metallica and A. San- 
deriana, both well-known and beautiful foliage stove 
plants, and has been named A. Chantrieriana, after the 
raisers. The leaves are abruptly suspended from the 
apex of the petiole, are arrow-shaped, peltate, and of a 
deep green striped with a distinct olive tint, while all 
the principal veins are of a clear silvery grey. In 
general outline the blade recals that of A. Sanderiana, 
but is broadly undulated, toothed, not lobed, as in the 
latter. It already measures 14 ins. by 6 ins., and will 
probably become larger as the plant increases in 
strength. It is figured in L'Illustration Horticole, 
1888, pi. lxiv. 
Lilium Neilgherrense. 
A fine specimen of this Lily is now in bloom in the 
conservatory here. It is 6 ft. high in its pot, has five 
flowers on the stem, and scents the house. In Elwes’ 
Monograph it is said, ‘ ‘ Though I have not seen more 
than three flowers on a single stem, I believe it is 
capable of producing far more.” Perhaps some of your 
readers who know the Lily in its own country will 
inform us how many flowers they have observed in its 
wildstate.— George F. JVilson, HeatherbanJc, Wcybridge 
Heath, December 14 th. 
Crinum latifolinm. 
A fine specimen of this Asiatic species is flowering at 
The Cedars, Harrow-Weald, and is by far the most 
conspicuous object at the present time in the well-filled 
flowering conservatory there. The peduncle is fully 
2 ft. high, carrying several fine flowers ; tjiese are white 
with a faint lemon tinge in the throat, the outside of 
the tube being slightly greenish ; the style is tinged 
red, and protrudes somewhat beyond the stamens. Mr. 
Dinsmore tells me that when the plant flowers in 
the spring it is slightly tinged with red. At the 
present dull season it is a useful and attractive addition 
to flowering plants. Whilst speaking of Crinums I 
should like to record an unusual case of germination. 
A flower-spike (umbel) of C. longifolium ripened its 
seed, but they were not gathered. A few days since 
the large bulbiform seeds were found to be growing, 
the irregular-shaped seed-pod had burst, and two of the 
seeds had emitted young filiform roots. I have never 
noticed Crinum seeds to do this before, and can only 
attribute this freak to the wet mild weather. The 
plants are growing in a warm border, and are perfectly 
hardy in that position.— J. TV. O. 
Nicotiana affinis. 
This sweet-scented Tobacco cannot fail to become 
great favourite when it is better known. It is useful 
both as a pot plant and also for grouping in borders 
and bedding purposes. It has an exquisite scent which 
fills the whole house with delicious perfume, and 
besides being an elegant plant in appearance, it gives a 
truss of beautiful white flowers on the top of the plant. 
I have grown it these last few seasons, and like it 
much. It is not a difficult subject to treat, and can 
be raised in pans in gentle heat—the same as most 
half-hardy annuals in early spring—pricked and potted 
off as required, or if wanted for out-door purposes, 
plant out when the weather is favourable. It is rather 
subject to the attacks of green-fly, which can easily be 
dealt with.— Alfred Gaut. 
