January 9, 1892. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
293 
The annual production is valued at about 3,000,000 
dollars. The article is sold in the departments where 
found at 1 dollar per pound, and at almost double 
that price at the principal markets of the larger 
cities. 
Not alone does the Truffle thrive in France; 
they are found in quantities in Italy, Spain, and 
Holland, but are of indifferent quality compared with 
the French, lacking the delicate and incomparable 
flavour of the native product. 
In the United States, especially in California, some 
attention has been given, within the past few years, to 
HYBRID STREPTO- 
CARPUS. 
The original hybridisation of Streptocarpus Rexii 
and S. lutea (S. parviflora) with the pollen of S. 
Dunnii was a lucky hit; but no one then dreamt of 
the extent to which the hybridisation and subse¬ 
quently the cross-breeding of the progeny would be 
carried. The variation .both in the size and colour 
of the flowers is already practically endless, as in the 
Gloxinia, although we do not get the separation into 
seifs and spotted forms such as we see amongst the 
in a frame last winter, and which had no ar'.ificial 
heating whatever, yet the plants lived and some of 
them flowered splendidly during the past summer 
in a window. 
The illustration accompanying this, and which 
was kindly lent us by Messrs. J Veitch & Sons, is 
that of a plant which was taken from a greenhouse 
and placed in a window in their nursery at Slough 
Here it lasted in splendid condition for ten weeks 
producing^, large quantity of flowers as may be seen 
by reference to the figure. The plant was raised 
from seed amongst a large batch of others in Dccern- 
HYBR1D STREPTOCARfUS GROWN IN A WINDOW. 
the gathering and preserving of Truffles, and a num¬ 
ber of Western packers have come to Bordeaux in 
order to inform themselves regarding the canning 
process. It is a very simple one, the Truffles being 
partially boiled, as Tomatos, Asparagus, and other 
vegetables, and then jarred and sealed in their own 
diluted juice. All meat and game products are also 
" truffled,” the vegetable being cut into small 
squares, and inserted into the substance of the article 
preserved. 
In 1889 the imports of Truffles into France were 
22,585 lbs., and the exports therefrom 452,361 lbs. 
Of the latter quantity, 204,633 lbs. went to England, 
107.276 lbs. to Germany, 38,990 lbs. to Belgium, and 
t<? the United States. 
latter. The capabilities of the flowers of Strepto- 
crapus have not yet been determined, and it is to be 
hoped that the work well begun will be carried on 
with spirit. 
Gloxinias can only be cultivated with success by 
those having a command of stove heat, while 
Streptocrapus can be grown with great facility in a 
greenhouse, at least after the plants have attained 
some size. Last year a large quantity was kept by 
Messrs. Veitch & Sons, Chelsea, in a pit only slightly 
heated by artificial means, and during the severe 
weather of last winter the sashes were frozen down 
for a fortnight on end, so that the pit could not be 
entered, and the plants were subjected to some 
amount of frost. An amateur grower kept his plants 
ber, 1889. It flowered in the following July, jus: six 
months after the seed was sown, and continued to 
bloom till October. Seed was saved from those 
plants, and the latter came into flower again last 
spring, about five or six weeks before the last exhi¬ 
bition of the Royal Horticultural Society held in the 
Inner Temple Gardens. The plant figured was one 
of the same batch. A large sowing was again made 
in the Chelsea nurseries in October last, and the seed¬ 
lings by thousands are now progressing very favour¬ 
ably. Amateurs could manage to raise seedlings 
over a bed of fermenting material, and after the seed¬ 
lings attain some size their after management would 
occasion no difficulty whatever, either in pots or 
planted out in a greenhouse. 
