278 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
January 2, 1892. 
Hardening Hiscellany. 
HYDRANGEA JAPONICA. 
I came across a batch of the above in full flower on 
December 23rd, and most useful they were for deco¬ 
rative purposes. The plants referred to were grown 
by Mr. Corbett, the gardener at Fawley Court, 
Henley-on-Thames, and were in 5-in. pots, about a 
foot high, clothed with foliage to the rim, and carry¬ 
ing good trusses fully a foot across. They were 
Struck in thumb pots in March, and planted out of 
doors about May, and lifted and potted up in Sep¬ 
tember, the result being that now he has them in 
perfect ion . — R 11st inis. 
JACOBIN1A COCC1NEA. 
This South American plant was introduced as early 
as 1770, and, notwithstanding its showy character, is 
comparatively little known at the present day. The 
leaves are large, oval, or elliptic and of a soft green. 
The flowers, as in other allied species, are aggre¬ 
gated in oblong cones with ovate bracts, and are 
of a brilliant scarlet, large in size and four-lobed. 
The upper lobe is nearly erect, and the lateral two, 
recurved and sometimes wavy at the edges. The 
plant would form a beautiful companion to 
J. carnea, but evidently requires a somewhat higher 
temperature to meet its requirements. It is figured 
in the Botanical Magazine, t. 432, under the name of 
Justicia carnea, but the latter genus has been much 
cut down by the separation of the species into other 
genera. Although the plant is stated to grow to a 
height of 5 ft. flowering specimens only 18 in. high 
may be seen in the stove at Kew. 
ABIES BRAOHYPHYLLA. 
The Japanese Conifers as a rule are of slow growth 
in this country, but Abies brachyphylla is certainly 
an exception. When once established the tree 
grows away vigorously at the rate of 18 in. to 2 ft. in 
a year, as indicated by the distance between the 
whorls of branches. The leaves are short, linear, 
suddenly narrowed to a short, blunt or acute, or 
even emarginate point, and of a bright green above 
with two silvery white lines beneath. They are 
rather stiff and arranged round the wnole of the upper 
surface of the branches, which are flattened beneath. 
In its native country the Silver Fir attains a height of 
120 ft., and in the young state here forms a 
pyramidal tree of close habit, with horizontal 
branches. Judging from its rate of growth and 
evident hardiness, it will prove of some service in 
this conntry as a timber tree. The leader is not 
liable to get destroyed by frost, as in the case of 
the European A. pectinata or common Silver Fir. 
LUCUL1A GRATISSIMA. 
The plant here named is still the most popular of 
the two known species, notwithstanding the fact that 
L. Pinceana has larger and even more fragrant 
flowers. It is often difficult to say what determines 
the popularity of a plant, but probably that under 
notice is the hardier of the two, as it comes from the 
temperate Himalayas, and may be considered more 
easy to cultivate, although that hardly seems to be 
the case, for L. Pinceana grows and flowers with 
tolerable freedom. A large amount of bloom can be 
obtained from L. gratissima when grown in a large 
pot or tub, but neither the trusses nor the individual 
blooms are so large as when the plant is grown in the 
border of a greenhouse or conservatory. Plants 
about 5 ft. or 6 ft. high produce a fine effect about 
mid-winter when covered with their soft, rose-pink, 
fragrant blossoms. Propagation is a matter of more 
difficulty than is the case with similar woody plants, 
but cuttings can be rooted by inserting them in sandy 
soil under a hand-glass about midsummer. Young 
plants so raised take some years before they flower 
freely. 
HONESTY. 
In connection with this plant it is singular how wide¬ 
spread and ancient is the custom of using the dried 
seed vessels of this plant -for ornamental purposes in 
the same way as Everlastings. Their size, peculiar 
shape, and silvery-grey colour give them attractions 
which even the cottager and amateur cannot fail to 
recognise and utilise for decorative purposes when 
fresh flowers from the open garden are an impossi¬ 
bility, The plant is generally recognised by gar¬ 
deners as Lunaria biennis, but botanists call it L. 
annua. When it sows itself the seedlings stand 
through the winter and flower in the following sum¬ 
mer like a true biennial; but if sown early in spring 
it will flower the same season in truly annual 
fashion. It is a native of Sweeden and other parts 
of Europe, from whence it was introduced to Britain 
in 1595 - 
APPLES IN TRADE. 
How many persons residing in the rural districts, 
where during the past autumn good Apples have 
been selling at about 2s. 6d. per bushel of 50 lbs., 
must have learned with surprise that what may be 
regarded as average shop samples have been selling 
in London at from 2d. to 3d. per lb., or at from 
8s. 4d. to 12s. 6d. per bushel. It is still more a 
matter for wonder to these persons that remembering 
the immense crop which we had last year, that still 
nearly all the best fruits on sale in the town shops 
should be of American production. Had we had 
but a poor crop of fruit it would have been easy 
enough to have understood this restriction to im¬ 
ported Apples, but with such a splendid crop it is a 
matter for surprise. 
Is it really the fact that after all we do not, even 
when we have a remarkably abundant crop, yet grow 
half enough ' Apples for ordinary consumption ? If 
that be so what an argument is found in the 
first place for the wide extension of Apple culture, 
if on the whole it be found profitable ; and second, 
for the continued importation of American fruits, 
as without these it would seem we should indeed be 
for a large portion of the year Appleless. But there 
must surely be enormous quantities of Apples some¬ 
where in the kingdom. If so, where are they stored ? 
Can it be that no sale is found for them with Ameri¬ 
cans in the field ? That ought not to be. The finest 
Apple ever sent here from America cannot equal our 
best culinary sorts for cooking, or our best desserts 
for eating. They do perhaps beat our fruit for 
colour, for beauty, and for evenness of size, because 
only the finest and cleanest samples are sent. The 
present condition of our Apple trade ought to make 
us ponder. It is very doubtful whether we do not 
plant too many early maturing sorts, glutting the 
market in the autumn, and having few of the better 
kinds to compete with the imported Apples in the 
winter.— -A. D. 
THE MISTLETO. 
Virgil and Ovid mention the magical properties of 
this arborary parasite. In the dark ages similar 
beliefs in its powers prevailed ; and to this day the 
peasants of Holstein brand the Mistleto as the 
" spectre’s wand.” This curious title arises from a 
legend that holding a bunch of Mistleto will not only 
enable a man to see ghosts, but force them to speak 
to him. 
The custom of kissing under the Mistleto has been 
handed down to us by our Saxon ancestors as a relic 
of the age when 
Forth to the wood did merry men go 
To gather the Mistleto. 
There was a tradition that the maid who was not kissed 
under a bough of Mistleto at Christmas would not be 
married during the following year. The ecclesiastical 
councils at one time tried to exclude it from 
the Christmas decorations because of its heathen 
origin ; but this found no favour with the young 
people at any period. On the contrary they took 
good care that it should be hung, and that it should 
have plenty of berries, for the ceremony under it 
was not duly performed if a berry was not plucked 
off with each kiss, and, consequently, the number of 
berries determined the number of kisses. It did 
not need the Druidical use of the plant to recommend 
such a preventive of the state of old maidism. 
Oh ! well may the Mistleto honoured be 
By the brave and the beautiful, sage and free ; 
It takes not its birth from the cold earth’s yoke, 
But springs from the breast of the glorious Oak. 
There planted by Heaven’s own blessed breeze, 
It wreaths a fair crown for the King of the Seas; 
And the Druids’ old Mistleto well, I trow, 
May beam on a monarch’s or maiden’s brow, 
There has long been reason to believe that we do 
not know the true Mistleto of Celtic superstition. 
The Druids only venerated the Mistleto that grew 
on the Oak, whereas our common Mistleto (Viscus 
album), with its pearly berries, is found on almost all 
trees except the Oak. The Mistleto on the Oak is 
like a ghost—it vanishes into thin air when you try 
to grasp it. Most woodwards will tell you, and in 
good faith, too, that they have seen it, and, indeed, 
will generally mention the exact tree and place 
where it grows ; but the result of their further ex¬ 
amination has always been the same— for some 
cause or other the instance fails, and the Mistleto 
can never be shown on the Oak. The tree has been 
felled or blown down, or h may be an isolated bunch 
of wild Ivy or Honeysuckle, or a cluster of small Oak 
branches has deceived them. If, then, the Mistleto 
with which we are now so familiar be the same 
as that which the Druids venerated, and which is 
believed to have been the companion of the Oak, 
how does it happen that the one has since 
repudiated the other ? Mr. A. B. Steele, one of the 
members of the Edinburgh Naturalists’ Society, has 
recently suggested that the Beef-steak Fungus, that 
gross representative of Cryptogamia, was the sacred 
plant of the Druids It is certainly in favour of 
Mr. Steele's contention that while the Mistleto does 
not now grow on the Oak, the Beef-steak Fungus 
does. But, in addition, he advances the theory that 
when human sacrifice was abolished, the priests of 
old were perforce content, in the performance of 
their rites, to plunge the sacrificial knife into one of 
these Fungi, when a red juice thereupon exuded — 
The Scotsman. 
THE BOX. 
When one feature of gardening consisted in the 
cutting of evergreen shrubs into shapes of animals, 
birds, &c., technically termed ” topiary gardening,” 
the Box was always in great request. The admirers 
of this system—which some lofty minds have 
termed "childishness ”—are still to be met with, and 
it will be remembered by those who joined the 
outing of the National Chrysanthemum Society, in 
July last, to Ascott Gardens, Leighton Buzzard, the 
Buckinghamshire residence of Leopold de Roths¬ 
child, Esq., the examples of topiary gardening, which 
seemed to admirably harmonize with the house and 
surroundings, were objects of great interest and 
amusements. Sometimes it happens that examples of 
topiary gardening do not harmonize so well as one 
could desire with their surroundings ; but at Ascott 
they fall into the general plan of the pleasure grounds 
naturally and appropriately. Yew and Box are 
most generally employed for the purpose, and both 
will bear a great amount of close clipping. 
The Box tree should be generally planted in orna¬ 
mental and other plantations as an evergreen, as it 
possesses several advantages, among them its leaves 
are not eaten by animals, the foliage is dense, and so 
makes a covert for game, and it is thoroughly hardy. 
Our common Box is Buxus sempervirens, a native 
of both Europe and Asia, but we claim it as a truly 
English plant. It is largely grown in Japan, and 
probably from time immemorial. We were told by 
Thunberg that it is cultivated there by the inhabi¬ 
tants, who make combs of it, which, when ornamen¬ 
ted with red varnish, the women wear in their hair. 
The ancients turned the shrub to the same account. 
That it is a tree of great antiquity is shown from the 
fact that it was specially consecrated by the Greeks 
to Pluto, the protector of all evergreen trees, as 
being symbolical of the life which continues through 
the winter in the infernal regions, and in the other 
world. The Box is referred to by the prophet Isaiah 
in his description of the glory of the latter days,— 
“ The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the 
Fir tree, the Pine tree, and the Box tree together, to 
beautify the place of my sanctuary.” It is thought 
also to be the Ashur-wood of Scripture, and to be 
referred to by the prophet Ezekiel when, in describ¬ 
ing the splendour of Tyre, he alludes to the benches 
of the rowers as made of Ashur-wood inlaid with 
ivory. That the ancients were accustomed to inlay 
Box-wood with ivory we know from Virgil and other 
writers who allude to the practice. 
Notwithstanding the Box is regarded as an 
English tree, it would appear that the only place 
where it is really indigenous is Box Hill, in Surrey. 
The common name Box comes from the Anglo-Saxon 
bux, in the Latin buxus, a pyx or turned box made of 
wood. It is said the fine Box trees on Box Hill 
w-ere planted by a former Earl of Arundel, but not a 
single plant is to be seen in the adjoining fields. It 
is said that one reason v-hy Box is not more plentiful 
in woods is because it must be planted by the hand 
