August 10, 1889. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
785 
CHOICE AND DISTINCT IXOEAS. 
A great number of the wild species, as well as the 
numerous hybrid Ixoras that have originated in 
gardens, are bright red, orange-red or scarlet, as the 
popular expression goes amongst gardeners. There is, 
however, variety and beauty amongst the under¬ 
mentioned that justly entitle them to a place in stoves 
where distinct colouring is an object, which it certainly 
ought to be. To get the best results and the largest 
amount of bloom, a high temperature, plenty of sun¬ 
shine and good ventilation is required by all of them. 
It is true that several kinds, either species or garden 
hybrids, will thrive satisfactorily with a lower average 
temperature than I. coccinea for instance ; but all are 
essentially stove plants, and must be treated as such. 
They are often shaded—sometimes unavoidably so— 
in a mixed collection, but they really enjoy a large 
amount of direct sunshine, which ripens the wood and 
encourages the production of a profusion of bloom. 
Propagation is easily effected by means of cuttings of 
the young wood just as it is getting firm. Insert them 
singly in small pots, and plunge the latter in a bottom- 
heat of about 80°. A compost of fibrous peat broken 
fine, leaf-soil and silver-sand given freely answers all 
their requirements. The same material will also serve 
for adult plants, but it must be employed in a much 
rougher state. After the cuttings are rooted the young 
plants should be shifted on. Many of them will flower 
while still in a small state, and are then highly 
appreciated for stove decoration. 
I. coccinea is nearly always included in collections, 
and although it requires a high temperature, it fur¬ 
nishes a great amount of bloom that is highly suitable 
for cut-flower purposes ; and in some private establish¬ 
ments where a large quantity of Ixoras are grown for 
the sake of their cut flowers, the stock consists almost 
entirely of this species with a sprinkling of other kinds. 
The flowers are produced in compact trusses, and 
although moderate in size individually the segments 
of the corolla are broad and rounded, and when at 
their best are of a rich or brilliant red colour. It will 
flower in a small state, although it ultimately attains 
a height of 3 ft. or 4 ft., and is a native of the East 
Indies. 
I. Williamsii.— Of garden hybrids this is one of 
the most popular, free-growing, and free-flowering 
Ixoras. Both flowers and trusses are of great size, and 
the former have long red tubes. The lamina on first 
expansion is of a pale orange shade deepening to a 
lively salmony red ; and as the flowers are successively 
developed the different shades of colour are much 
mixed or blended till the whole truss is fully ex¬ 
panded. 
Ixora Mossei. —In general habit this maybe com¬ 
pared to I. 'Williamsii, but the leaves are of handsome 
proportions, and the flowers darker in colour. The 
latter are produced in large compact trusses, and the 
segments of the individual flowers are broad and 
rounded, reminding one of I. coccinea, which there is 
reason to suppose is one of the parents. The progeny, 
however, is a great improvement upon the original if 
the above supposition of parentage is the correct one. 
The plant also flowers in quite a small state, and the 
expanding blooms change from a deep orange to orange- 
scarlet. Indeed, small plants may be considered quite 
floriferous. 
I. Westii. —Of the pale varieties this may be con 
sidered both distinct and pretty. The flowers are 
produced in large trusses, and have long red tubes and 
a lamina which on first expansion is white, changing 
to blush, and ultimately rose-pink. Should they have 
remained pure white from first to last, the variety 
would have been even a greater acquisition from that 
point of view ; but as it is, the effect is so distinct that 
it might well be included in every collection where 
showy and pleasing flowers are in request. It also 
flowers quite freely. 
I. Colei. —The flowers of this garden form are pure 
white, and freely produced in large compact trusses. 
They are smaller than in any of the foregoing kinds, 
with short rounded segments, and in shape similar in 
all respects to those of I. coccinea. It is in fact a 
hybrid between that species and I. stricta alba. There 
are other white kinds in cultivation, but the flowers 
are, as a rule, very small, with slender tubes, and they 
are but sparingly produced. I. Colei, however, blooms 
freely while still in a small state—say about 1 ft. in 
height. We noted it the other day in the Victoria and 
Paradise Nurseries of Mr. B. S. Williams at Upper 
Holloway. All the others mentioned are also grown 
there in considerable quantity in houses devoted to 
this class of plants. 
THE REV. M. J. BERKELEY. 
Just too late for announcement in our last issue came 
the intelligence of the death, at Sibbertoft, near 
Market Harborougb, on the 30th ult., of our old and 
estimable mentor the Rev. Miles Joseph Berkeley, at 
the greatly advanced age of eighty-seven years. Oddly 
enough, just about simultaneously with his death dis¬ 
appears also the scene of his former horticultural 
triumphs, for some years ago when the old council 
chamber at South Kensington rang with the clear and 
lucid utterances of the old veteran from month to 
month there can be no doubt but that he then wore a 
crown of laurels. A few years elapse, the resonant 
voice is no longer heard, the venerable presence is 
withdrawn, and the old worthy of Sibbertoft and South 
Kensington is soon forgotten, except by some old 
admirers who remember so kindly the many excellences 
of the now departed. 
Mr. Berkeley was an enthusiastic botanist, fungologist 
and horticulturist. He had a wonderful knowledge of 
plants—in fact, seemed to know something of every¬ 
thing. It was his misfortune to have been thrust into 
the Church ; but for that he might, with his deep 
scientific love, have been a second Darwin, but 
naturally his scientific studies were tainted by his 
clerical duties. However, the church found him poor 
and left him poor, in spite of his great ability and many 
virtues. Had he been a scientist wholly he might have 
attained to a distinguished position and some wealth. 
In those old days when Wilson Saunders, James 
Bateman, Trevor Clarke and M. J. Berkeley were the 
leading spirits of the South Kensington meetings the 
afternoon talks were of a most enjoyable and singularly 
instructive kind. These real gentlemen of the old and 
genuine school seem to have found few, if any successors 
like themselves. Their savour still lingers in the 
mouth, but is fast disappearing. We have for them 
nothing but kindly words and loving remembrances. 
-->X-<-- 
BLUE HYDRANGEAS. 
It is most frequently the case that the desire is to 
obtain a blue-flowered Hydrangea, although the con¬ 
trary sometimes holds good. An instance occurred at 
a place situated on the flanks of the Grampians, where 
Hydrangeas were obtained from different places with a 
view to obtain the pink one. The cultivator at first 
believed that the two were distinct varieties, but as the 
newly obtained ones flowered they turned out to be 
blue. The secret was, of course, some chemical 
ingredient of the soil used in potting that determined 
the particular colouration ; and this has generally been 
regarded by cultivators as the case. 
The cause has frequently been regarded as due to 
iron in the soil, but when iron filings have been mixed 
purposely with the potting soil the results have fre¬ 
quently, if not always, been negative. Of course, iron 
filings might not always produce the same results, 
even granting that the presence of iron was productive 
of blue flowers, because so much might depend upon 
the particular oxide or chemical combination of the 
metal in question. As long ago as 1818 blue-flowered 
Hydrangeas were regularly sold in Covent Garden 
Market, and they are occasionally sold there yet, 
although the growers of them, who have hit upon the 
plan accidently or otherwise, are anything but common. 
Those sold at the early date mentioned were grown 
in ordinary soil till the plants attained some size, 
when they were transferred to other pots containing 
bog soil in winter. Other cultivators tried the same 
experiment, but were generally very far from being 
successful. 
Bog soil obtained from Hampstead Heath failed to 
produce the desired colour ; but it was accidentally 
discovered that plants in open borders often produce 
blue flowers, and on close examination the soil proved 
to be a pale yellow loam inclined to a light brick earth, 
and when they were potted in soil of this description, 
which was then obtained in abundance from Hampstead 
Heath, the results were entirely satisfactory. Different 
batches of plants were accordingly grown in the 
ordinary potting soil, and also in this yellow loam, pro¬ 
ducing pink and blue flowers respectively. It was also 
determined that plants producing pink flowers, if trans¬ 
ferred to the loamy soil, bore blue ones only, and vice 
vcrsd, even after having produced blooms of one par¬ 
ticular colour for one, two or more years. 
Common salt, saltpetre and iron filings give negative 
results, or, at all events, cannot be depended upon 
with certainty to produce blue flowers ; while some 
bog soils will bring about the desired results and others 
will not. It would be interesting to know whether pure 
yellow loam from any district or part of the country 
would infallibly give rise to blue flowers, but it is more 
than likely that such would not be the case. Some 
modern cultivators use a weak solution of alum applied 
at intervals, and their efforts meet with more or less 
decided success. 
Under apparently ordinary methods of culture some 
growers with large plants in tubs obtain masses of 
flowers varying from the ordinary pink to a deep blue 
on the same plant. The necessary ingredients must 
have been in the soil from whatever source it was 
obtained. In the warmer and more favoured districts 
of England, and particularly on the sea coast, as many 
have no doubt observed in gardens at Swansea and 
eleswliere on the coast of Wales, Hydrangeas thrive 
magnificently in the open ground, producing the richest 
combinations from the palest pink, through dark pink 
to purple and blue.— F. 
-- 
PARSLEY FOR WINTER. 
So constant is the demand for this herb that it is a 
matter of no small importance for the gardener to be 
able to keep up a supply all the year round. There is 
usually no difficulty with it except during the winter 
and spring, although in some gardens the failure of an 
entire crop will often ensue without apparent cause. 
To keep up a supply throughout the year it is some¬ 
times convenient to make three different sowings, one 
in February or March according to the state of the 
ground and the weather, another in April or May, and 
the third in the last week of July. Sometimes, 
however, the spring sowing proves quite sufficient in 
places where Parsley succeeds well. 
In cases where the main crop is more than sufficient 
for present needs, a quantity of it may now be cut over 
to encourage the development of fresh leaves, which 
better stand alternate freezing and thawing in winter 
to which they are subjected, than would the old leaves. 
Something more must be done in cold districts and 
smoky localities within range of large towns or smelting 
furnaces. The leaves in such places are very liable to 
be completely destroyed by deleterious influences in 
the atmosphere, acting in conjunction with frost and 
snow. A sowing must then be made in beds which 
can be covered with handlights or a frame ; or the 
roots may be transplanted for the same purpose. 
Another expedient resorted to is to pot up a number 
of good strong roots, and stand the pots in a frame. 
Yentilation under these circumstances must not be 
neglected, otherwise the whole of the crop may be 
destroyed in a short time by the rotting of the leaves, 
rendered tender by the close and confined atmosphere. 
The foliage must be kept as dry as the conditions will 
permit. 
For the early and main crop, an east or west aspect 
will answer quite well ; but that intended for winter 
use should be sown under a south-aspect wall when 
convenience admits of that being done. In such a 
situation a good supply of Parsley can often be obtained 
well into spring without using any artificial means of 
protection ; and the warmth afforded by the wall starts 
the plants into growth earlier in spring than is the case 
with Parsley grown in open quarters or used as an 
edging to walks in the kitchen garden. 
