104 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
October 17, 1891. 
trained against the wall by a slight rustling of the 
foliage. On examining it from a short distance off I 
discovered a half-grown mouse searching for and de¬ 
vouring every bit of mealy-bug that it could find. I 
watched it for some time to make sure it was mealy¬ 
bug that it was eating.— Charles Marchant, Milgate 
Park, Maidstone. 
BEDDING VIOLAS. 
From plants that have been in flower since spring, I 
send you a gathering of Viola blooms, showing that 
for a continuance of flower for a long period these 
have no rival. Even amidst the dashing winds and 
rains which have been such a conspicuous feature of 
the season, they shine even when most other things 
are dashed to pieces. —John Forbes, Buccleucli Nurseries, 
Hawick. [A beautiful lot of blooms, wondrously 
clean and bright in colour.— Ed.] 
KADSURA JAPONICA. 
The leaves of this plant are elliptic, leathery, and 
deep green, somewhat resembling those of a 
Camellia, but the plant, nevertheless, belongs to the 
Magnolia family. The stems are slender and twin¬ 
ing, quite unlike most of the other members of the 
order in habit. Being a native of Japan it proves 
hardy against a wall in the southern counties of 
Britain, just as the Camellia does, and in the 
favoured localities might be grown as a pillar plant 
in the open. The foliage is evergreen, and the flowers 
curiously enough appear during the month of Octo¬ 
ber, when flowering shrubs of any kind are getting 
scarce. As in the case of the Magnolias, there is 
little difference between the sepals and petals of 
Kadsura, for they merge one into the other, only a 
few of the outer parts being small and scale-like. 
The flowers are fleshy, soft yellow, and, although 
not large, are numerously produced and deliciously 
fragrant. A few sprays might be utilised amongst 
cut flowers, or even finely tinted autumn foliage, for 
the sake of their agreeable odour. The warm and 
dry atmosphere of a room would help to strengthen 
the fragrance. 
CAMPANULA PUMILA ALBA. 
The Bellflower under notice is considered by some 
to be only a form of C. pusilla, or merely a synonym. 
It may be a form of it, but is certainly not identical, 
and for garden purposes the plant known as C. 
pumila is certainly the best. Flowering commences 
in summer, and a patch of the plant at that time 
soon becomes a mass of bloom on stems not exceed¬ 
ing 6 in. in height, and frequently less. The whole 
bears some resemblance to a mass of the common 
Harebell, but the stems are furnished with ovate 
leaves up to the base of the short peduncles. The 
flowers of the typical form are of a clear blue, bell¬ 
shaped, and of good size for the plant. The variety 
under notice has pure white flowers very abundantly 
produced, and in a wet season like what the past has 
been keeps flowering up to a late period : for a tuft 
of stems sent us the other day was quite pretty with 
bloom. C. pusilla has a few broadly-ovate leaves 
quite close to the ground, while the rest are narrow 
and lanceolate. The stems, though short, look 
naked compared with those of C. pumila and C. p. 
alba. 
VARIEGATED ABUTILON AT HAMPTON 
COURT. 
In your report of the bedding at Hampton Court—- 
and the carpet bedding has this year proved amidst 
the rain and wind exceptionally beautiful—the varie¬ 
gated Abutilon so largely and so effectively employed 
there is called Thompsoni. Possibly your reporter 
did not examine the labels as I did when there recently, 
as thinking the variety had much larger and more 
finely marked foliage than Thompsoni. I looked 
for the name and found it to be A. Vaeveummaculatum. 
It is the best variety for bedding purposes I have 
seen, and is specially effective on a dense body of 
some dark flowering plant, such as Heliotrope.— A .D. 
THE POTATO DISEASE. 
The result to a quantity of early lifted and stored 
Potatos pointed out by “ T. W. " last week, is but a 
natural product of too early lifting of Potatos, when 
the disease spores are abundant on the foliage and in 
the air. Mr. Jensen, whose statements have never 
been disputed, said that Potatos got up whilst the 
spores were active on leafage and then stored, were 
almost certain later to prove badly diseased, because 
the spores shaken from the tips alighted thickly on 
to the newly dug tubers, penetrated the skins, and 
when put into bulk, when the tubers slightly heated, 
the spores spread rapidly and produced rot in the 
most distressing way. I invariably allowed the earliest 
of Potatos to remain in the ground until the foliage 
had quite decayed, and the spores were no longer 
active. The percentage of diseased tubers after 
storing was therefore always small. Of course there 
are many tubers slightly affected when in the soil, 
the spots not being visible when lifted. These of 
course soon become quite rotten after being stored. 
I am sure it is always best to allow the tubers to 
remain in the ground as long as is possible rather 
than lift before the disease is fully apparent.— A.D. 
CALLUNA VULGARIS INCANA. 
It is well known that the common Ling or Heath 
varies considerably even in a wild state, bnt the 
variations as a rule consist of single, isolated speci¬ 
mens which have been added to collections from time 
to time by different collectors. Height and habit, as 
well as the relative length of the spikes and the 
colour of the flowers, are all subject to variation. In 
some cases the colour of the foliage varies, and such 
may be ascribed to the plant under notice. The 
leaves are densely downy, and notwithstanding their 
small size they become quite conspicuous in the 
aggregate, even at a distance suggesting the varietal 
name. The variety is evidently quite common in 
various parts of Surrey, and even abundant in some 
localities. It occurs mixed up with the ordinary form 
on Bisley Common, and on Oak Hill, Woking, as 
well as other places not far off, it is the only preva¬ 
lent form, and is evidently very vigorous, giving the 
herbage a hoary appearance. 
GEUM MINIATUM. 
The continuous flowering nature of this Geum, 
particularly in wet seasons like the present, should 
recommend it to lovers of hardy plants. The foliage 
is similar in type to that of G. coccineum and G. 
montanum, and after the return of moist autumn 
weather grows with great vigour, at the same time 
throwing up young stems which flower in due time. 
At present the quantity of large, orange-coloured 
flowers is considerable, and are highly ornamental 
either in beds, borders or in the cut state. The plant 
is hardy, and easily propagated by division, either in 
early autumn or spring. Of course if a large number 
of plants is wanted, every crown should be carefully 
separated with a knife, and inserted firmly in sandy 
soil in pots. This may be done early in spring if a 
mild artificial heat can be given, but otherwise the 
operation should be deferred till summer, when the 
crowns or cuttings would root in a cold frame. The 
constitution of the plants would be less inj ured by .this 
than the former method. 
CLEMATIS ORIENTALIS GRAVEOLENS. 
The vigour of this Clematis 'should render it 
suitable for planting against old and half-decayed 
trees, the life or death of which is a matter of no 
consequence. In the case of trees with a good head, 
no Clematis should be allowed to clamber amongst 
the branches, otherwise the tree would be ruined in 
the course of a few summers : but the naked trunk 
might be covered to advantage. An old tree covered 
with a rampant Clematis becomes at once a pictur¬ 
esque object. The leaves of the plant are ample and 
much divided with wedge-shaped segments ; they 
are .deciduous, but the old stems remain and increase 
in thickness every year, while a great amount of 
fresh growth is annually made. The flowers consist 
of four pale yellow sepals, and after they fall away 
the long styles develop like masses of feathery tails 
of a hoary or grey hue similar to that of our native 
species in the autumn and winter months. The 
plant proves perfectly hardy and ripens good seeds 
in this country. It enjoys a wide distribution over 
temperate Asia. 
CUPHEA VISCOSISSIMA. 
The stems of this species form an intricate mass 
2 ft. to 3 ft. high, and flower continuously for a long 
period. The calyx tube is glandular, and crimson, 
while the six petals are violet-purple, the two upper 
ones, as usual, being the largest. The plant is less 
showy than C. lanceolata, and perhaps less desirable 
in the better kept parts of the garden, but it might 
on account of its continuous and free flowering 
nature find a place in the shrubbery. A peculiarity 
of this species, is that the glands covering the 
various parts of the plant, but especially the calyx, 
give off an odour resembling that of our native weed, 
Spergula arvenis. C. Zimapani also emits a similar 
and even stronger odour counterfeiting that of the 
plant named. 
HARDY FRUIT CULTURE. 
A good deal has been written and spoken from time 
to time on the extension of the cultivation of hardy 
fruits in the British Isles; and hints on the cultivation 
of the various fruits, with lists of varieties of the 
same, papers telling the best way to prepare the 
ground, &c., have not been wanting. Yet we hear 
many good men at times expressing a doubt as to 
the wisdom of extending the culture of hardy fruits. 
Without wishing to say one word against the exten¬ 
sion of hardy fruits, I cannot help thinking that it is 
a subject that requires much thought, and pro¬ 
bably the part of the business that requires as much 
consideration as any is the disposal of the fruit after 
it has been grown. 
Only a few days ago. I read of the case of a grower 
sending a quantity of fruit to market and being out 
of pocket by the transaction ; at the same time 
another large grower in one of the midland counties 
told me he was making a very fair price for his 
fruit. In both cases the fruit sold was Plums, one of 
our most perishable fruits. The cause of this differ¬ 
ence -was not difficult to find, and in both cases the 
matter rested with the growers. One appears to have 
sent his fruit to a market already glutted ; the other 
sent a small quantity to the same market, and finding 
that the prices realized were insufficient, he im¬ 
mediately tried other markets with the result already 
mentioned. 
For some reason or other many appear to think 
there is but one market of any importance, and that 
is Covent Garden. It may be one of the best 
markets to some, especially the middleman, but the 
producer and consumer are more often than not 
better satisfied with results obtained in many of our 
large provincial markets. What is wanted is a 
better system of distribution, especially in London 
and its suburbs, some system by which the consumer 
can be brought into closer contact with the producer 
than is the case at the present time. There are too 
many intermediate channels through which the fruit 
has to pass; consequently in many cases it is disposed 
of at a ruinous price as far as the grower is con¬ 
cerned, whilst on the other hand the consumer has 
more often than not to pay an exorbitant figure for 
articles which, if a better system were in use, might 
be purchased at a rate that would be within the 
reach of most people. 
It also seems to me that, as far as Plums are con¬ 
cerned, a heavy crop such as we have experienced 
this season might be made much more profitable 
if, as soon as the fruit is sufficiently large for the 
purpose, fully one half of the crop was gathered 
and disposed of for jam, as green Plums to my mind 
make better jam than ripe ones. Gathered in this way 
an immense benefit would be done to the trees, and 
the crop not being so perishable in a green state, 
growers would not be so often compelled to sell at a 
sacrifice. 
Should the Fruiterers’ Company or any other 
society offer prizes for essays as to the best means 
of distributing fruit, I believe they would be doing 
quite as much, if not more, to encourage fruit grow¬ 
ing for profit in these islands than by offering prizes 
for papers on hardy fruit cul ture and varieties suited for 
the purpose. However admirably essays on varieties of 
fruit and culture of the same may be prepared, they 
will still to a certain extent fail to meet each indivi¬ 
dual case. As an illustration, I might collect a list 
of fruits that succeed in Hertfordshire, and yet 
name many varieties of Apples and Pears that thrive 
remarkably well in one part of the county, whilst 
perhaps only a few miles off the same varieties 
would be a complete failure. As a further illustra¬ 
tion, I may mention a case in point. Some years 
ago, when living in Lancashire, under one of the 
ablest gardeners I ever met, we found a difficulty in 
growing Apricots, in fact a house had to be devoted 
to them, and yet within a distance of four miles or 
less, at another place there seemed to be no difficulty 
at all in securing good crops outside. Everything 
depends upon soil, aspect, and the atmosphere in 
which trees are to grow there certainly are some 
