May 25, 1889. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
615 
showy one for the herbaceous border. A pot specimen 
was exhibited by Messrs. Paul & Son at the last 
Royal Botanic Society’s show, when a Floricultural 
Certificate was awarded it. 
Primula Sieboldi, Crimson King. 
The flower stems of this new variety are about 10 ins. 
in height, and bear a truss of large deep crimson-purple 
flowers with very broad segments. It will prove useful 
for pot or out-door culture. A specimen was shown 
by Mr. T. S. Ware, Hale Farm Nurseries, Tottenham, 
at the summer show of the Royal Botanic Society on 
the 15th inst., when a Floricultural Certificate was 
awarded it. 
Edraianthus serpyllifolius. 
The genius Edraianthus is closely allied to that of 
Campanula, but has been united with Wahlenbergia, 
which is separated from Campanula by the fact that 
the capsule opeDS above instead of below the calyx limb. 
There are about eighty species, of which few are in¬ 
troduced. E. serpyllifolius has short decumbent stems 
furnished with linear leaves, and terminated by a single, 
terminal, erect, rather large purple flower. The root- 
stock is stout, and gives off a number of these slender 
stems that radiate on the soil around it. A. specimen 
was exhibited by Messrs. Paul & Son at the Royal 
Botanic Society’s show on the loth. A Botanical 
Certificate was awarded to it. 
Asplenium scandens. 
Scandent or climbing Ferns—that is, those that climb 
by throwing out roots from an upright stem, are com¬ 
paratively rare. In this case, however, the stem 
elongates very slowly, and bears its arching leaves in a 
crown much after the manner of better known kinds. 
The leaves are lanceolate in outline, and three or four 
times pinnately and finely divided, with a graceful 
appearance. Exhibited at the Royal Botanic Society’s 
show on the loth inst. by Messrs. J. Yeitch & Sons, 
Chelsea, who received a Botanical Certificate. 
Aciphylla squarrosa. 
A male specimen of this, the Bayonet Plant or Wild 
Spaniard of the New Zealand settlers, was exhibited 
by Messrs. J. Yeitch & Sons, Chelsea, at the summer 
show of the Royal Botanic Society on the 15th inst. 
The leaves are cut up into numerous bayonet-like, 
spiny-pointed segments that are densely crowded in a 
rounded bush, but point in all directions, forming a 
most effective defence against browsing animals. The 
male flowers are densely arranged in a compound 
cylindrical spike, and are well protected by forked 
spiny bracts similar to the leaves, but smaller. A 
Botanical Certificate was awarded it. 
Boronia heterophylla. 
When the flowers of this beautiful West Australian 
species first expand—or, at least, when in their prime— 
they are of a brilliant or intense rosy purple ; but after 
the plant has been in bloom for some length of time, 
the flowers gradually fade to rose, and ultimately 
become almost white, except at the base of the petals. 
Anyone seeing the plant at different phases of its 
flowering period would readily take it for granted that 
the plant was subject to variation, and that bad forms 
as well as good were in cultivation. To a small extent 
this may be true when the plant is raised from seed ; 
but the variation is by no means so great as that indi¬ 
cated, because old flowers that are primarily very dark 
become pale as they are about to die away. The blooms 
as well as the foliage are fragrant. The latter, like all 
other members of the Rue family to which the Orange 
belongs, are thickly beset with glands containing a 
fragrant oil. We noticed the plant recently at Gun- 
nersbury House, Acton. 
New Holland Pitcher Plant. 
The popular name here mentioned is not inaptly 
applied to Cephalotus follicularis, a West Australian 
herb, which although bearing no affinity to the true 
Pitcher plants (Nepenthes), yet the structure and 
general appearance of the pitchers represent a remark¬ 
able and apparently accidental coincidence which would 
be difficult to account for. Most or all of the leaves of 
Nepenthes bear pitchers or their aborted representatives 
which have become arrested in growth, whereas the 
foliage of the Cephalotus is distinctly of two kinds, one 
of which is so modified as to be concerned wholly in 
the formation of the pitcher, while longer-stalked and 
more erect kinds are lance-shaped and flat, and make 
no attempt at forming a pitcher. The latter is dark 
green, more or less blotched or splashed with purple, 
and are furnished with a double set of pairs of wings 
instead of one pair, as in the Nepenthes. The glands 
in the pitchers secrete a fluid which has the power of 
dissolving or digesting insects in the same way as the 
true Pitcher plants. There are some old plants and a 
fine batch of small specimens in the Pine Apple 
Nursery of Messrs. Hooper & Co. at Maida Yale. 
Funkias as Pot Plants. 
Most or all of the Funkias are deserving of cultivation 
in the open border, both on account of the ornamental 
foliage and, in some cases, of the flowers, which are 
not only handsome and Lily-like in F. grandiflora, but 
are deliciously fragrant. Several of them are specially 
noteworthy for the beauty of their foliage under glass 
when the plants have been lightly forced in spring, a 
purpose for which they readily prove themselves 
amenable. The undermentioned are grown in this 
way in the Pine Apple Nursery, Maida Vale. F. 
Sieboldii is well known for the great size of its glaucous 
leaves, but in colour it is surpassed by F. Fortunei, 
although not in size. The latter is a capital plant for 
pot culture, on account of its dwarf habit and deeply 
glaucous leaves that retain this character all the 
summer out of doors. When developed under glass, 
however, the fineness of the tint is greatly enhanced 
by the clean and unsoiled appearance of the leaves. 
Two forms of F. ovata or the old Hemerocallis ccerulea 
are grown here, both under the name of F. ovata aurea. 
The leaves of the one which is undoubtedly the true 
variety are wholly' of a soft or pale yellow, while those 
of the other form are pale yellow, with a green margin. 
Both are certainly worthy of cultivation in pots. 
Large-flowering Pelargoniums. 
As I have before remarked, in these days of cut-flower 
decorating, when the cry is always for more of some¬ 
thing to cut from, these plants are beautiful when well 
done, but an eyesore when seen as “ R. D.” so aptly 
describes, and seldom receive the attention as regards 
stiucture and space sufficient to produce good plants. 
I have seen and admired the show varieties exhibited 
by Ward, of Leyton, and the zonals of Catlin’s pro¬ 
duction. We sometimes hear specialists referred to as 
being selfish for the advancement of their own particular 
favourites, but to my mind that is the way to see a 
subject brought out in all its glory. As “ R. D.” says, 
few gardeners can allow’ space or time to these plants, 
or to other hobbies of their own, and seldom have the 
structures adapted for their successful cultivation.— Geo. 
Potts, Junr., Northiam. 
-- 
NOTES ON VEGETABLES. 
The Teaching of Gardeners. 
1 am an amateur, having an abundance of leisure, and 
a passion for gardening, but my business having for 
some years claimed the largest share of my thoughts 
and time, it is only during the last few years that I 
have had what may be properly called by the dignified 
name of a garden, and needless to say that my 
knowledge of the subject is of the most limited order. 
Still, I am a voracious reader of the gardening papers, 
your own among the number, and to the valuable 
teaching and advice of professional gardeners that is 
therein contained— I say it with pleasure—I am solely 
indebted for any little cultural success which I achieve. 
Many things I read with satisfaction, and the most 
profitable to me, and doubtless to many others, are 
those letters which tell me what to avoid. The man, 
in fact, who humbly chronicles his failures and tells 
the whole truth is the man for me, and not the clever 
individual who makes much sound, which means little. 
Fortunately for readers the latter are in a minority. 
Sometimes, however, when I see an attractive head¬ 
line, I read on, and acquire some fact which is of use 
to me, but now and again I am “riled” by the absence 
from a communication of the very thing which I feel I 
ought to know, or would like to know. An instance 
of this kind occurs in one of your contemporaries of 
last week’s issue -a paragraph on early Cabbage—in 
which the writer gives the result of a trial of six 
varieties, five of which—all duly named—have done 
well, while the sixth, in vulgar parlance, “went 
wiong, ” in fact bolted wholesale, but its name is not 
even hinted at. The omitted name, however, is just 
the one thing needed to make the writer’s statement 
valuable. 1 do not want to buy such an article as 
this, but how am I to avoid it ? I see the best things 
of certain firms frequently alluded to in laudatory 
terms, but nobody condemns the rubbish. Why is this 
so 1— Querist. 
CULTURE OP THE BALSAM. 
Upwards of 140 species of Balsam (Impatiens) are 
known to science, but of these comparatively few are 
to be seen at any time under cultivation. Of hothouse 
species, perhaps, none excel I. Hawkeri, I. Hookeri, 
I. Sultani, I. Jerdonue, and I. Balsamina under 
notice. A large proportion of them are comparatively 
weedy in their nature, and many have insignificant 
flowers. The common Balsam is also sometimes named 
Balsamina hortensis. 
A good time to sow seeds is about the last week of 
March or the first of April. Seed pans should be well 
drained, and filled with light, rich, sandy soil, and 
after sowing the seeds, placed in a propagating pit or 
similar place, such as a hotbed with a bottom-heat of 
about 65°. Here the seedlings will soon germinate, 
and must be placed immediately in a light position 
near the glass to prevent drawing, to which their soft, 
quick-growing stems are very liable. As soon as the 
first or seed leaves have attained their full size and 
become firm, the seedlings may be potted off singly in 
60-sized pots, using a somewhat heavier or more 
substantial compost. Those who have attended to 
seed sowing in time will now have the plants well 
advanced. 
Some growers avoid the first shift by sowing two 
or three seeds in a pot, and pulling out the weaker 
ones after it can be seen which are the best to leave. 
In potting them off, however, the leggy appearance 
often presented by the plants can be more or less over¬ 
come by keeping them well down in the pots, so that 
the cotyledons will be close to the soil. No shoots are 
given off below the first or seed leaves. 
As soon as the roots have pushed through the soil 
and touched the sides of the pots, it will be high time 
to transfer the plants to larger pots, and this may be 
continued till they are in 8-in. or 10-iu. ones, which 
for all ordinary decorative purposes will be large 
enough, provided the other cultural points have been 
well attended to. If the summer turns out a moder¬ 
ately warm one, the plants can be grown to tolerable 
perfection in cold frames ; but heated pits or a span- 
roofed stove would encourage them to make a much 
greater development. When grown in a high temper¬ 
ature, there are certain conditions that must not be 
overlooked. Under any circumstances they must be 
thoroughly exposed to light in close proximity to the 
glass, in whatever kind of house they are grown; 
secondly, free ventilation should be given during the 
greater part of the day, and the atmosphere of the 
house should be kept moist by damping down and 
syringing. The higher the temperature the more 
necessary it is to keep the house moist. The plants 
when growing vigorously must receive an unstinted 
supply of water at the root, never allowing them to 
flag. 
Before the plants get any great size flower buds will 
appear on the main stem, and must be picked off as soon 
as they can conveniently be got at. By this means the 
side shoots are encouraged to make a more vigorous 
growth, and should be spread out or tied down to neat 
stakes, or to a wire carried round the rim of the pot. 
This encourages a free development of laterals, whereas, 
if the. plants are allowed to expand the first-formed 
flowers, or to carry seed-pods, they soon exhaust them¬ 
selves, and are comparatively useless and insignificant 
for decorative purposes. Grand exhibition specimens 
have been successfully reared under the above 
treatment. 
Those who have not the convenience of a span-roofed 
stove may grow them in a greenhouse, pit, or cold 
frame, according to circumstances, noting always to 
keep the atmosphere of the house drier in proportion to 
the lowness of the temperature. In cold and sunless 
summers, such as the last. Balsams cannot be success¬ 
fully grown in cold frames on account of the low 
temperature, the superabundant moisture, and the 
stagnant condition of the atmosphere. 
The double strains only are worthy of cultivation in 
pots, and to make sure of their being good, they must 
be carefully selected from plants that have been marked 
while in bloom. Of course, this applies chiefly to 
plants raised by the grower himself. The variations in 
colour are very numerous, running through white, pink, 
purple, scarlet, crimson and others, both single and 
double. Others are variously blotched or variegated 
with dark spots on a lighter shade, while others are 
striped or flaked after the manner of a Carnation, or 
densely imbricated and blotched, resembling a Camellia. 
Exhibitions, a few years ago, were instrumental in 
causing the Balsam to be grown frequently to a high 
state of perfection.— J. 
