October 17, 1891. 
THE* GARDENING WORLD. 
99 
The same correspondent informs me that the “white 
form of Vallota purpurea ” recorded in some botani¬ 
cal works must refer to Cyrtanthus (Gastronema) 
uniflorus, which he remembers being sent to Dutch 
gardens many years ago, where it was named Vallota 
Brehmii, and his suggestion is doubtless correct and 
consequently worth recording. 
That there is a close affinity between the Gas¬ 
tronema section of Cyrtanthus and Vallota purpurea 
may be seen by careful examination, but the question 
has been definitely settled by the production of a 
cross between the two, viz., Cyrtanthus intermedius. 
Cliveas, or Imantophyllums, 
Are familiar Cape plants which are usually included 
among bulbs, their root-stock being imperfectly 
developed bulbs. The finest, and indeed the only 
one in general cultivation is Clivea miniata, and it, 
by the gardener’s art, has been improved until now 
we have a fine series of distinct named varieties 
raised from seeds in Europe, which are one and all 
better than the imported type. The variety “ Marie 
Reimers ” is a good example, and there are nume¬ 
rous other kinds equally attractive, but different in 
some respect. Some have flowers approaching to 
the blood-red tint, others have a white eye, and one 
which I saw exhibited in this hall at the last meeting 
may be said to have a creamy-white flower, the 
segments broadly edged with orange. 
All the bulbs hitherto mentioned do well in a cold 
greenhouse or conservatory all the year round, sub¬ 
ject to the remarks before made as to summer 
treatment in a cold frame. But if more convenient, 
in a frame from which the frost is excluded in winter 
will do, or if needs be, and no better accommodation 
can be given, in an unheated frame if the pots are 
plunged in dry leaves, and three-or four inches of dry 
leaves such as are swept up in parks and gardens be 
placed lightly over them at the beginning of winter, 
and kept over them while the frosts last. If the last 
mode of culture is attempted care should be taken 
that the winter finds the plants dry in the pots. 
The proper method of culture where it can be 
compassed, and the one which will give the best 
results as regards flower, is to winter these things on 
a cool greenhouse shelf—for it is through that season 
that Nerines and many other Cape bulbs grow—and 
to keep them for the summer months in a cold frame, 
the deciduous ones being kept at one end, for at that 
season they require no water, and the Cyrtanthi of 
the evergreen section, which require water more or 
less all the year, at the other. If I may be allowed 
to travel from the subject too, and to touch on other 
than Cape bulbs, I should like to say that the 
Zephyranthes, Coburgias, Stenomessons, and other 
South American bulbs should be grown with those 
touched on in this paper, and treated like them. The 
fine Zephyranthes carinata also comes into the list 
of those bulbs of whose hardiness I have no doubt. 
Soil, &c. 
My experience of all the bulbs we are here dealing 
with is that as a potting material nothing suits them 
better than a good turfy yellow loam, broken up by 
hand, and not sifted, and without admixture of sand 
or any other material. The practice of sifting soil is 
far too common in gardens, and I am sure it is a bad 
practice, especially for bulbs. Potted in sifted soil, 
if a bulb does not root very quickly it perishes, but 
in the more porous, or open material carefully broken 
up and not sifted, such is not the case. In the matter 
of repotting, all these things do best, are safest, and 
flower most profusely when allowed to get pot-bound, 
many of them not requiring to be repotted for. two, 
three, or even four years. When repotting takes 
place, succession should be looked after by potting 
up the offsets, or small bulbs, separately to grow on 
to take the place of the old ones which mishap or 
decay may carry off, and also with the same view 
seedlings of each of the more delicate should be raised, 
for this is a sure way of keeping the stock up, as 
home-raised seedlings generally grow with greater 
vigour than the old or imported plants. In potting 
the old bulbs it is best to leave half of the larger 
bulbs above the soil, and the small ones just beneath 
it. 
Watering, 
In conclusion, dealing with the question of watering 
generally, it will be sufficient to say that if the leaf 
growth is watched and the watering regulated-accord 
jng to the condition pf the fojjage. t’qe grower ca.n 
pave no better guide, Thug when thp leaves of thn 
d?ridv}9v>? turn yellow, and growth com¬ 
mences again, no water is required, but when growth 
commences water is as it were asked for. And with 
the more or less evergreen kinds there comes a time 
when active growth is not going on and less water is 
required ; and at other times when the leaves indicate 
active growth it is easy to understand that water 
to assist in its development is required. In fact in all 
our dealings with plants, if we are observant, we can 
get from them by careful observation a safe and 
certain guide in many particulars as to the treatment 
they require.— From a pater by Mr. James O'Brien, read 
at a meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society on 
April 2i. 
HARDY TREES & SHRUBS. 
Hardiness of Glearia Haastii. 
Your remarks (p. 72), that the past winter has had 
no appreciable effect on this shrub will unfortunately 
not apply, nor be a passport to its hardiness for all 
districts alike. Here, I am sorry to say, a fair sized 
bush of it, planted in a fully exposed and open posi¬ 
tion, after passing through several winters unscathed, 
has succumbed to the protracted severity of the 
weather of last winter, killed it in fact to the ground¬ 
line. It is now pushing fresh shoots from round the 
base of the stem below the soil, but the shoots are 
puny and weak, and will require protection to save 
them through the coming winter.— J. Kipling, Kneb- 
worth, Herts. 
Berberis vulgaris. 
This shrub is at the present time in its best garb, and 
forms a grand autumn object here as an isolated 
clump in the wilderness. Its ornamental character 
mainly lies in its many shoots being tipped with pen¬ 
dant wreaths of very bright coral-red berries. To 
have it in its best form it requires to be planted in an 
open sunny position on a rather dry and warm soil, 
and left to nature—no pruning of it should be done—- 
to form its own outline and perfect its growths. This, 
at least, is our experience of it. It forms a conspi¬ 
cuous object as a wilding in a few of the dry hedge 
banks in this locality. Its sprays of pendant berries 
are very useful for dinner table decoration, a purpose 
to which we frequently put it, intermingled with 
long wreaths of the silvery-grey bearded Clematis 
Vitalba, to form the drapery lines on the cloth. In 
this way the two combined form an informal light 
and pleasing decoration, and withal a very simple 
and very cheap one. The effect is very good under 
candle light. The old man’s-beard, as the Clematis 
is called hereabouts, is now at its best, and drapes 
many a hedgerow for miles round this neighbour¬ 
hood.— J. Kipling, Knebworth. 
Cupressus Lawsoniana Allumi. 
The variability of Lawson’s Cypress from seed is 
well known to all raisers, and the distinct form and 
habit of many of the selected kinds is no less remark¬ 
able. The variety under notice has been in existence 
for a considerable number of years, but is as yet com¬ 
paratively little known in private gardens. The 
plants, or more properly trees, retain the same 
columnar or narrowly pyramidal habit, no matter 
what their size, and this is due to the lateral plumy 
branches taking an ascending direction, more or less 
closely adpressed to the main axis. In these respects 
there is little or no difference between it and C. L. 
Fraseri, but while the latter is of a pale green hue, 
the former is of a warm silvery or glaucous tint that 
should find it admirers amongst lovers of distinct and 
neat habited Conifers.. The narrow columnar habit 
would prevent accumulations of snow, and the short¬ 
ness and pliability of the branches would also be a 
safe-guard against their getting broken down. As 
specimens for villa gardens, small lawns and other 
restricted areas this Cypress should prove an 
acquisition. 
Cedrus Atlantica glauca. 
When this is obtained true it is always a conspic¬ 
uous tree whether planted by itself or in association 
with other Conifers in the pleasure ground. In the 
latter case it should be placed in front of other ever¬ 
green, coniferous subjects with dark green foliage, 
which would show oft the silvery whiteness of this 
Cedar to the best advantage. It could not fail to 
attragt notice, however, in an open situation upon 
grass, whether planted singly or in groups. There 
geems to be no question about its hardiness, for 
young trees of it in various situations kept their 
foliage much better than old trees of the same sort, 
or even the Cedar of Lebanon, close by. The leader 
is very strong, and the tree assumes a narrowly pyra¬ 
midal habit from the first, and retains it till it gets a, 
large tree provided it meets wit}] no ticcjdent; 
Cleanings frmit Wvvlti 
The Wild Cockscomb. —Few gardeners would 
recognise the Cockscomb in its primitive wild con¬ 
dition, and what is more remarkable, there is some 
doubt amongst botanists themselves whether Celosia 
cristata is anything more than a mere variety of C. 
argenter. The latter is now so widely spread in 
tropical countries that there is considerable doubt as 
to which was its aboriginal home. The crested form 
is usually regarded as the type, and this is probably 
what was introduced to this country in 1570. The 
wild form has a narrowly pyramidal inflorescence of 
small densely arranged flowers, and several other 
cultivated forms or varieties agree in this respect, 
and therefore show a considerable approach to the 
well-known Celosia pyramidalis. Several dark red 
and a yellow variety were introduced from Asia in 
1570, but from what part is not stated. The variety 
C. c. comosa has a drooping panicle, and was intro¬ 
duced from India in 1802, and C. c. coccinea from 
China in 1597. Both were supposed to represent 
distinct species. C. castrensis is synonymous with 
C. cristata, but was considered a distinct species 
when introduced in 1739 from the East Indies. C. 
cristata itself occurs in a half wild state in China, 
according to Messrs. Forbes and Hemsley's Index 
Florae Sinensis, but whether in the crested or normal 
form is not stated. We should suspect the latter. 
An Elm with red cambium. —An Elm origin¬ 
ating upon the Continent, and sent out under the 
name of Ulmus libero-rubra is apparently a variety 
of the Mountain Elm (Ulmus montana) and is 
remarkable for the dark orange-red or vermillion-red 
colour of the cambium larger which is laid bare by 
the removal of the bark. When a shoot is newly 
cut the brightness of the colour is remarkable, but 
as it dries the colour fades until it becomes of a pale 
testaceous hue, or almost straw colour. For the 
purpose ornament the variety is in no way superior 
to the common form, and can only be grown as a 
curiosity. The question arises as to what purpose 
(if any) the colouring matter can serve the tree. It 
is evidently secreted and deposited in the cambium 
larger under different conditions as to soil and 
climate, and whatever it may be it gets dissipated or 
looses its colour in the drying process whether the 
bark is removed or left on. 
Rust ofthe Silver F i r .—Like the rust of Wheat 
that of the Silver Fir completes its life cycle, accord¬ 
ing to Prof. Marshall Ward, on more than one host 
plant. The leaves of the Silver Fir are attacked 
by one form which gives rise to Glcidium like cups 
containing filaments of the fungus, which become 
constricted at regular intervals forming necklace-like 
rows of spores which fall from the trees on plants 
beneath ; and should there be plants of the Whortle¬ 
berry (Vaccinium Myrtillus) within reach of the 
falling spores they get attacked, and the stems 
become swollen and gouty, assuming a pink appear¬ 
ance. When the fruiting stage of this form is 
reached the spores find their way back to the foliage 
of the Silver Fir. Thus one species of plant hands 
on the spores of its fungoid enemy to the other. 
This has been determined partly by experiment and 
partly by accident. Pinus Sylvestris and P. Laricio 
also have their rusts. A method of prevention would 
consist in planting the Silver Fir in places where no 
Whortleberries grow, or by destroying the latter 
where they occur. 
Simple-leaved Robinia. —Nature often reveals, 
by freaks or accidents as it were, the steps by which 
certain trees or other plants have reached their pre¬ 
sent highly-developed state. The Common Robinia 
or False Acacia (Robinia Pseud-Acacia) has nor¬ 
mally pinnate leaves with numerous pairs of leaflets 
and an odd terminal one, but there are forms with 
few or only one leaflet on the petiole. The variety 
known in gardens as R. P.-A. pyramidalis or integri- 
folia has leaves consisting of two to five leaflets with 
the terminal one much the largest; but by far the 
greater number of them consist of only one oblong, 
blunt, and entire leaflet terminating the petiole. 
The tree is of upright or pyramidal habit, and other¬ 
wise presents an appearance totally different frc m 
that of a Robinia as we are accustomed to see it; 
and one has to look at it very closely to identify it as 
a Robinia at all. This no doubt represents an 
ancestral form of the specigs, and shows some steps 
in the proc@s§ by which that tree came to have 
pinnate leaves. There are specimens of this Qu jOll^ 
(ree in gardens at Kew 
