March i2, 1892. 
T11 I • GARDENING WORLD 
439 
feed on at the roots they grow luxuriantly and 
flower much more freely. When they are starved, 
that is when grown on poor soil, the bloom is 
smaller, less dense, and of shorter duration. 
The Aubrietia rapidly propagates itself by throw¬ 
ing out creeping shoots, which make roots as they 
run and fasten themselves in the soil. Then, the 
long shoots if taken off in early spring and dibbed 
deeply into the soil, will root, and make plants in 
the course of a year or two. If anyone is desirous 
of lifting and dividing their established plants it is 
recommended that it be done about midsummer, 
after the plants have bloomed ; but advantage should 
be taken of a showery season, which often comes as 
soon as the hay harvest is over, and the divided 
plants should be well watered after should dry hot 
weather set in. 
Aubrietias can also be raised by means of seeds. 
They seed freely on warm and sunny borders, and it 
is best to sow the seeds thinly as soon as ripe. 
The seeds will also germinate well if kept to the follow¬ 
ing spring. The seedlings are found to vary in colour 
as well as in habit of growth ; and if the seedlings are 
to be used as edgings, the most compact among them 
should be utilised for the purpose. It is interesting 
to raise seedlings, and it is possible to find among 
them something distinct in character. As it is pos¬ 
sible to entertain angels unawares, so it is probable 
that even from chance seedlings may come something 
that shall be a marked advance upon anything 
already grown. Especially is it necessary to raise 
seedlings from the rosy A. Leichtlini, for a variety 
approaching scarlet may put in appearance in course 
of time.— R. D. 
ORNAMENTAL CHERRIES 
OF JAPAN. 
The mere mention of the word Cherry calls up vivid 
pictures of the luscious, long-stemmed, juicy fruit, 
which from childhood has been a favourite with 
most of us. And when we speak of planting or 
cultivating the Cherry tree, we have the same luscious 
fruit in mind as the ultimate reward of our efforts. 
The utilitarian idea lies uppermost in thoughts of 
the Cherry. The tree and the fruit stand in the 
relation to each other of cause and effect. 
It may therefore surprise the practical American 
to learn that the Japanese plant Cherry trees very 
extensively, and yet never gather a Cherry. Their 
trees bear no fruit; they plant them for their 
flowers, and for them only. With our firmly-rooted 
idea of the function of a Cherry tree, it may not be 
easy to prove that their trees are worthy of our 
attention ; and yet I venture on the task in the hope 
of gaining a few converts. I should not despair of 
success if it were possible to impart to the reader a 
realization of a tithe of the charm of the Cherry 
flower season in Japan, and of the enthusiastic 
admiration which the tree then inspires. All classes 
of society, from the emperor to the coolie, rich and 
poor, old and young, all are enthusiastic admirers 
of the Cherry flowers. The trees are planted in 
groups in the parks, in temple groves, in avenues, 
lining many of the principal streets and roads, singly 
and in clusters in the gardens and yards about 
dwellings; they are dwarfed and grown in pots of 
all sizes, and trained in many forms and with pendu¬ 
lous branches; they are favourite objects with 
artists for conventional representation in paint, in 
lacquer, in metal—everywhere, both in nature and 
art, one finds unmistakable evidence of the innate 
love which the people have for this flower. The 
trees bloom during the balmy month of April, when 
the raw and chilly winds of winter have given place 
to the warmth and calm of cheery spring, and all 
nature leaps into renewed life. 
Invited by the irresistible charms of nature, the 
people collect in gaily-dressed throngs under the 
pink clouds of Cherry blossoms, and there abandon 
themselves to jest and merry making. In Tokio, 
Ueno Park, and the street called Mokojima are 
especially renowned for the charm of their Cherry 
blossoms, and on pleasant days these places are- 
visited by tens of thousands of people, who have 
banished care and are bent solely on enjoyment, and 
they form, perhaps, the happiest collection of 
humanity that the world ever sees. It is a motley 
but always good-natured and orderly throng. The 
grave savant, the spectacled student, the flushed and 
prosperous merchant, the careworn poor, the 
decorous matron, giggling maidens, and hilarious 
children — all are there, with laughing faces and in 
holiday attire. Mokojima is particularly a favourite 
resort. It is a long but rather narrow street, which 
borders the river Sumida. It is thickly lined with 
Cherry trees, and when they are in bloom, numerous 
small and temporary refreshment stands are put up 
on the land side, in which the pleasure seekers stop 
to rest and smoke, sip tea, eat sweetmeats, drink sake 
(rice wine), and watch the surging mass of humanity 
moving by, under the slowly swaying clouds of 
bloom. No pen can do justice to the scene. To be 
fully realized, it must be seen. 
The Cherry blossoms also usher in a series of 
private festivals, which .ministers of state and the 
mighty in the land who glory in the possession of 
Cherry groves give to their friends. Even his 
Imperial Majesty, the mikado, called by his subjects 
O’Tenshi, the son of heaven, is affected by the 
general impulse the blossoms impart, and issues a 
mandate to the effect that on a certain day, if it 
does not rain, he and the empress will give a Cherry- 
blossom festival in one of the imperial parks. Large, 
handsome cards inviting the guests are issued several 
days beforehand. The guests comprise all high 
officials of the government down to a certain rank, 
the corps diplomatique, foreign employees of the 
government at the capital who receive a salary of 
300 yen or more per month, high officers of the army 
and navy, and representative officers of foreign war 
vessels, which happen to be in the Yokohama har¬ 
bour. The writer had the honour of attending 
three of these parties, and can therefore speak from 
personal observation. Usually a similar party is 
given in the fall when the .Chrysanthemums are in 
flower. In each case the ceremony is the same. At 
the appointed hour the guests collect in some 
pleasant place, not far from the entrance, the foreign 
representatives and high officials on the right side 
of the walk and the remainder on the left side. 
Presently bands, stationed about in the park, strike 
up the national anthem with which the emperor is 
always greeted. Dressed in military uniform and 
followed by only a few attendants, the emperor 
passes between the two groups of waiting guests, 
stopping, however, to shake hands with the foreign 
ministers, and he is followed at an appropriate dis¬ 
tance by the empress and a bevy of court ladies. 
When the royal hosts have passed, the guests 
follow, and to the sounds of music alternately caught 
up by the bands, stroll through blossom-shaded 
paths, over Wistaria canopied bridges, by swelling 
mounds studded with brilliant Maples, until finally 
a flower-decked pavilion is reached. Here a long 
table is spread with a truly royal collation. Their 
majesties and excellencies are seated at the upper 
end, while the majority of the guests stand up or are 
seated at little tables scattered about on the lawn 
outside. Ample justice is always done to the viands, 
and wine, wit and humour flow freely. Here one 
may hear at once nearly every language of any 
importance under the sun The repast being 
finished, their majesties retire to their carriages, and 
the guests give themselves up to the charms of the 
flowers for the remainder of the afternoon. 
Having thus seen how the Cherry blossoms charm 
the lives of all classes of Japanese people, let us now 
give a little closer attention to the flowers them¬ 
selves. The flowering varieties belong to the species 
known as Prunus Pseudo-Cerasus (P. puddum, PL), 
Jap., Sakura, Yama-sakura. It forms a large tree, 
which is wild in the forests everywhere in northern 
Japan, and in the mountains of the south. It 
resembles our cultivated sweet Cherry trees in 
growth and appearance, but differs from them in the 
flowers and fruit. The former are often panicled, 
and the latter is so small and insignificant as to be 
quite useless. The wood is hard and fine grained, 
and is often used for carvings and cabinet making. 
It has been a favourite ornamental tree with the 
Japanese from time immemorial, and under culture 
a great number of flowering varieties have originated. 
These varieties are propagated by grafting on seed¬ 
lings of the wild stock. Aside from the flowers 
there is much difference in the growth and general 
appearance of these varieties. Some are upright, 
stiff and straight in habit, while others are spread- 
The Carnation : its History, Properties, and Management, 
with a descriptive list of the best varieties in cultivation. By 
E. S. Dodwell. Third edition, with supplementary chapter on 
the yellow ground. London: Gardening World office, I, 
Clement’s Inn, Strand, W.C. is. 6 d .; post tree, is. 7 d —[Advt .1 
ing, short jointed and crabbed ; and others again 
have slender willowy shoots, which lend themselves 
readily to the various forms in which dwarfed and 
pot-grown specimens are often trained. As a rule, 
the earliest varieties to bloom are single, and the 
large and very double flowers are among the latest 
to appear and remain the longest, though there are 
some notable exceptions to this. 
Flower and leaf start at about the same time, but 
the leaf grows slowly at first, and the tree does not 
usually get green till the flowers are ready to fall. 
The early single varieties remain in bloom only a 
couple of weeks, and begin to decline about the 
middle of April. Most of the double varieties are in 
the zenith of their glory during the latter half of 
April, and some of them persist till well into May. 
All of them are charming, even in their dissolution, 
when the falling petals turn summersaults through 
the air in clouds, and literally strew the pathways 
and the people with flowers .—American Garden. 
--f*- 
|aRDENING fllSCELLANY. 
GALANTHUS PLICATUS. 
The flowers of this Crimean species vary in size and 
also to some extent in colour. The whole plant is 
more vigorous than the common Snowdrop, but the 
flower has not increased in proportion. The leaves 
are very broad with a fold on each side longitudin¬ 
ally, and the edges are rolled backwards, and they 
are further of a deep glaucous green as in G. nivalis. 
The outer segments areobovate-spathulate, uniformly 
white and notable for their length ; the inner ones 
are only half the length, and obovate with a notch 
at the apex. Around the notch on the outer face is 
a large, deep green blotch with a larger one on the 
inner face ; in some individuals or varieties the green 
blotch extends almost to the base on both surfaces 
and adds much to the beauty of the flower by the 
strong contrast between the peculiar deep green of 
the blotches and the pure white ground colour of the 
segments. 
CROCUS STELLARIS. 
The native country of this Crocus is unknown, nor is 
it very widely cultivated, yet it is one of the prettiest 
of the yellow species. The exterior surface of the 
outer segments is heavily lined and slightly feathered 
with brownish-purple or dark purple. All the rest 
is of a rich golden-yellow outside and inside, even 
including the stamens and style. When in full bloom 
under the influence of bright sunshine all the 
segments spread out regularly like the rays of a star, 
hence the specific name. A large proportion of the 
best known species have cup-shaped flowers even 
when fully expanded, so that C. stellaris offers a dis¬ 
tinction in the form of its flowers, as does C. susianus 
by the reflexing of the three outer segments. 
GARDEN WALKS. 
When walks are composed of sand or any other 
loose material hoeing and raking will always be 
found the most economical mode of keeping, but 
when covered with binding gravel weeding and 
sweeping will seldom cost one-half the expense of 
hoeing and raking, to say nothing of the horror of a 
walk newly hoed and raked and covered with loose 
pebbles naturally raises in the minds of those who 
happen to suffer from tender feet. At the season 
when the seeds of weeds are most profusely scattered 
about by the wind the surface of walks, if weeded, 
are smooth and hard, and by occasional sweeping 
the seeds are removed before they have time to strike 
root, but when hoed the surface is generally in a 
loose and uneven state and any seeds that are de¬ 
posited upon them must remain there till they have 
become perfect plants before they can be destroyed. 
Hoeing and raking, though it generally destroys one 
crop of weeds, is certainly the most effectual means 
that could be adopted to secure another.— R. D. 
ABELIA RUPESTRIS. 
This neat evergreen has proved itself quite hardy 
here unprotected against a south wall during the 
last two severe winters. It is rather a slow growing 
plant for a wall creeper, but very pretty, as it flowers 
very freely even in a small state, and its pinky white 
honey-scented blossoms with their ruddy calyces are 
very effective in contrast with the bright green of 
