482 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
March 30, 1889. 
Most gardeners nowadays are not overstocked with 
labour ; it is often a matter of serious consideration 
to him how best to economise the amount at his 
disposal, and he cannot afford to waste time upon 
profitless objects, as it takes a long time daily to 
syringe any extent of wall. Once more I thank Mr. 
Nutting for his courtesy, as it is by exchanging ideas 
that a greater knowledge can be gained .—Alfred Gaut. 
-- 
HARDY HERBACEOUS PLANTS- 
Letters from a Lady to a Friend concerning 
the Best Flowers to Grow for Cutting.—III. 
‘ ! My Dear Mary, 
“ Let me advise you to sow in rotation plenty of 
French Poppies, Papaver Rheas, their colours are so 
lovely. I never gather them when full blown, in 
preference cutting those just showing colour, and then 
pinching the calyx of each after they are arranged in 
their glasses, which helps them to come out. ihus 
gathered, they last from two to four days instead of 
one, and expand beautifully crimped-looking. I have 
sent by post dozens of Poppies by gathering them in 
bud, standing their stalks in water for two or three 
hours before packing. My friends on receiving them 
carefully removed the greater part of the caiyx of each, 
and wrote to me that the Poppies expanded perfectly, 
and lasted well. Pink ones are particularly pretty 
arranged quite by themselves, or with two or three 
crimson, not scarlet ones, to throw them up. 
“Iceland Poppies should be gathered also not in full 
bloom, and the buds can stand being sent by post, and 
treated in the same manner as the French ones. We 
grow Barr’s strain in orange, yellow, and white, and 
they are most lovely and uncommon-looking. As late 
as November I have gathered Poppy buds that would 
not have opened out of doors, but gathered as aoove 
came out beautifully indoors. 
“A very old-fashioned flow’er that keeps well when 
cut is the double white Rocket. There is also a pale 
mauve variety, and both are worth having, as they 
keep well when cut, the white one being very useful 
for church decoration. Ga'lega officinalis alba, or White 
Goat’s Rue, is very little known, and you had better 
raise it from seed, as it is easily done, and you can then 
get a good supply at once. Its foliage is very graceful 
and Acacia-looking in form, its colour a clear brilliant 
green fading beautifully into yellow, and when cut it is 
ornamental till the leaves actually fall off. The flowers 
are pure white, in small Pea-shaped racemes. It grows 
from 4 ft. to 6 ft. high according to how the soil suits 
it, so you may imagine what a useful plant it is for 
very large vases and church decorations. There is a 
mauve variety, pretty enough, growing in the borders, 
but not so good to cut from, the colour not being so 
effective as the pure white. 
“I said I did not intend mentioning any florists’ 
flowers, but two I would like to name, as they give so 
little trouble and are so welcome in autumn. You 
know our hedges of the white Japanese autumn 
Anemone (Anemone japonica alba Honorine Joubert), 
and the common outdoor yellow Jardiu des Plantes 
Chrysanthemum. We have a long row of the Anemones ; 
for years they have not been touched, and are still 
flourishing. In front of them are the Cnrysanthernums, 
which we dig up every second or third year, replacing 
them with young plants taken from cuttings off the 
old ones, but this is all the trouble they give. We 
are amply rewarded, as both plants begin to bloom in 
September, and go on doing so till well into November, 
giving us a constant supply of cut flowers that keep 
long. 
“Aster kevisis a lovely pale mauve Michaelmas Daisy 
and an autumn plant well worth growing, as, unlike 
most of its species, its colour and form of growth are 
really good, and when cut it arranges nicely quite by 
itself and lasts well. As herbaceous single Sunflowers, 
Helianthus major and H. m. maximus are everything 
that could be desired, being very ornamental in the 
garden for any conspicuous position, and very suitable 
to cut from for large vases. The Aster looks well 
arranged in a dark red pot, and the Sunflowers in the 
tawny yellow ones so common nowadays. 
“Do try and get some plants of the common Bryony 
introduced into your hedges, if you do not object to the 
berries being such a deadly poison. The trails, when 
the berries are all shades from yellow to red, are so 
lovely to twine round tall glasses. I also find the 
double lilac Colchicum a very useful addition to my 
list of favourite autumn blooms. Its colour is such an 
exquisite pinky mauve, and arranged with Grasses, 
Heuchera, or Dielytra eximea, it looks very delicate and 
recherche, and lasts in water for a long time. 
“You were much puzzled with my spikes of red 
berries last April, arranged with the sprays of golden 
variegated Ivy. Now I will tell you what they were— 
only Asparagus berries. I had gathered a bunch in 
the autumn, and after dropping all their green, the 
berries still stuck on to their stems, keeping their 
colour all through the winter, so now you can try the 
experiment for yourself. Another dodge for winter is 
to gather a well-coloured bunch of quite ripe Oats, and 
keep them hanging up with their heads down till they 
are required. When flowers are scarce, they look so 
well arranged with sprays of pretty-coloured Ivy, the 
red leaves of the Berberis Dirwinii, and Asparagus or 
Mountain Ash berries. 
“I must now explain how we preserve thr-se latter, 
as they are a great resource to supply a bright colour 
in winter. We have quantities gathered off the trees 
when they have reached their full colour, and we strip 
each bunch of its leaves. We then place them in a 
large barrel, pouring over them strong cold brine, 
sufficient in quantity to quite cover them. To keep 
them under we float two pieces of wood crossed over 
them, with a heavy brick on the middle of these two 
bits of wood, and when wanted we take out as many 
bunches as required, washing them in tepid water to 
rid them of the salt; indeed, I sometimes leave 
them overnight in the fresh water. Many of the 
berries will drop off in the process, but enough always 
remain to be very effective. 
“We have had berries preserved thus, quite good 
after two years’ keeping. When I have given them to 
friends in town, they have told me that after they 
shrivelled up and looked quite done for, tney revived 
them by simply immersing in fresh water for twelve or 
fourteen hours, and could then use them again. A 
dinner-table arranged with them, mixed with Christmas 
Roses or Snowdrops and nicely-coloured golden Ivy 
leaves, is a very pretty window decoration. There is 
also an orange-berried variety of the Mountain Ash, 
and if you can get some berries of it in addition to the 
red it is a great gain. 
‘ 1 Thinking of your having to gather the above berries 
in September, has made me quite forget to tell you 
about that yellow flower you admired so much on our 
borders last autumn. It is Coreopsis Atkinsoni, and 
only a biennial, but worth the trouble of raising, as its 
duration of flowering is so long ; and if sown in May 
and transplanted, will flower that autumn and the 
following year. Ours sometimes have flowered foi 
three years, but to be safe and sure of having it, it is 
best treated as a biennial. As to its height, you may 
remember some plants were only 2 ft. high, and others 
nearer 4 ft., so I suppose it varies according to soil and 
situation. 
(( A very good perennial Coreopsis is C. grandiflora, 
which is much larger than the Atkinsoni one, but 
not nearly so floriferous. Both are good as cut flowers. 
You ask me also about Christmas Roses, but as in our 
soil they never succeed, I cannot say anything about 
them. I sometimes have had very large beautiful ones 
sent to me by friends, and one thing in regard to them 
I have observed is, that they object to heat very much, 
so if you have them, or get any sent to you, keep them 
well away from the fire if you wish to enjoy their 
beauty for any length of time. I have, I hope, given 
you some of the information you wanted, as, of course, 
you did not mean me to write about things like 
Mignonette, Sweet Peas, &c. ; but I think you may be 
glad of some of my hints, and I have anyhow attended 
to your request not to bother you with forced stove or 
greenhouse plants or even the so-called florists flowers. 
“Believe me, yours truly, 
“Gladys Wood.” 
-- 
GARDENERS IN AMERICA- 
As The Gardening World is read by so many 
gardeners—old and young—I cannot pass over the 
remarks of Mr. C. L. Allen (p. 453) without expressing 
the hope that they will find a resting place in many a 
young beginner’s heart. Having lived in bothies for 
some years, I know something of the social customs of 
young gardeners. The aim of nearly ever} 7 young man 
is to get to the top of the tree, which means really into 
a head gardener’s place, and when they get there how 
many there are who look back with regret to the hours 
wasted in card-playing and other frivolous pastimes 
that ought to have been devoted to thoughtful study ! 
I hope to see the day when our American cousins will 
see that as a body we have banished all degrading 
social customs. I do not know of any class to whom 
temperate habits are of more consequence, or any body 
more temperate as a rule than gardeners. The 
gardener of to-day finds that he requires a clear brain 
and a steady hand, and that he can do better without 
intoxicating drinks than with them even in this 
country. The places in which a gardener has not 
enough to do to occupy his mind and busy hands, are 
few and far between now, thanks among other things to 
so many having been spoilt by men who have given way 
to the bad social customs. How many bright young 
gardeners there are whose careers have been cut short 
through contracting debasing habits of intemperance— 
how many jobbing gardeners there are in our large 
towns to-day who would have been holding honourable 
positions but for the same deplorable cause ! 
I hope every head gardener will find it incumbent 
upon him to impress upon his young men the valuable 
moral to be drawn from Mr. Allen’s observations. As 
Englishmen we ought to be able to show our friends 
across the sea that we can export plenty of clever, 
sober, and industrious men .—A Colsioold Gardener. 
-»> 2 <*- 
HOLLYHOCKS. 
In addition to the list given in The Gardening 
World, of February 16th, by “ J. C. B.,” of Kelso, the 
following varieties, many of which are of recent 
introduction, can be strongly recommended. They 
formed part of a fine collection which gained a special 
prize at one of the Royal Horticultural Society’s shows, 
and were exhibited by Mr. James Blundell, of West 
Dulwich, London. At these Hollyhock grounds the 
hard} 7 treatment has always been followed, the young 
plants being wintered in skeleton frames, with the 
result that the dreaded disease has never established 
itself amongst them. The soil is a mellow clay, well 
worked and manured. 
A. F. Barron, fine scarlet. 
Baroness Rothschild, same colour as the Rose of this name. 
Bullion, deep lemon, fine form. 
Charles Chater, crimson, excellent. 
Crimson Queen, crimson. 
Crown Prince, carmine-rose, good form. 
David Lowe, light crimson, superb. 
David Fowlis, white, tinted salmon, fine. 
Empress of India, bright flesh, full size and form. 
Florence Nightingale, light cream, good. 
Fred. Chater, light canary-yellow, very good. 
Golden Drop, good yellow. 
Henry Irving, purple, very fine. 
John Laing, rose. 
J. M. Lindsay, deep crimson, fine and distinct. 
Lady Middleton, bright pink, fine form. 
Miss Roupell, golden yellow on deep orange. 
Memoriam, white. 
Mrs. A. F. Barron, rose. 
Mrs. Sharman, maize colour ; a striking flower. 
Princess Beatrice, clear lemon, very full form. 
Princess of Wales, clear salmon-pink, a great acquisition. 
Primrose Gem, primrose, one of the best. 
Purple Prince, deep purple, very fine. 
Queen of Whites, white. 
Shirley Hibberd, deep carmine, a perfect flower, and 
good constitution. 
Standard Bearer, French-white, large, and good quality. 
White Venus, white, and very pretty ; useful for 
decorative purposes. 
W. G. Head, crimson, large and fine. 
— IV. R., Streatham Hill, March 25th, 1S89. 
-- 
NOTES ON VEGETABLES. 
Potatos, The Puritan and White Beauty of 
Hebron. 
The Puritan was introduced from America two years 
ago as distinct and new, whilst the White Beauty of 
Hebron, alias Duke of Albany, has been with us some 
half-a-dozen years. This latter variety seems to have 
sported from the original pink form in diverse places, 
hence its comparative abundance now. As to The 
Puritan, I found it to be distinct the two years I have 
grown it; but then fresh seed from America does 
not for the first, or even second year always give the 
true form of the variety. So far I have found tubers of 
The Puritan to be rounder and rather longer than those 
of the White Beauty of Hebron, but otherwise the 
variety is neither earlier nor more prolific. It has got 
some notoriety of late from wide notice, but I anticipate 
that the start the White Beauty of Hebron enjoys will 
serve to give that variety the precedence.— A. D. 
I am unable to answer “Amateur's” query, p. 468, 
whether the Early White Hebron Potato, now being 
advertised, is the same as Early Puritan. I should say 
it is not. Early Puritan was distributed for general 
cultivation in this country last season by Messrs. 
