May 7, 1892. 
567 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
Anthurium atrosanguineum. —The leaves of 
this garden hybrid are cordate, and of a deep shining 
green with somewhat paler veins. The spathe is 
also heart-shaped and of a dark, shining crimson- 
red. The stout, slightly curved spadix is pale yellow. 
A Botanical Certificate was awarded in this instance. 
All of the above eight were exhibited by Messrs. J. 
Laing & Sons, Forest Hill. 
Narcissus Johnstoni Queen of Spain. —The 
dwarf habit and the floriferous character of this 
pretty and graceful Daffodil should recommend it to 
all lovers of this class of plants. The obconical tube 
is of a bright yellow with oblong, reflexed segments, 
and the cylindrical trumpets are lemon-yellow. 
Narcissus Leedsii Catherine Spurrell. —The 
segments of this variety are broad, oval and white. 
The cup-shaped crown is plaited and pale yellow, 
becoming paler with age. 
N. Mr. M. J. Berkeley. —This is one of the 
trumpet or Ajax section with broadly oblong pale 
yellow segments. The trumpet is short, very wide, 
deeply lobed, plicate, widely spreading at the mouth 
and of a bright golden-yellow. On the whole it 
seems to be intermediate between N. maximus and 
N. obvallaris, having the size of the former and the 
short, stiff trumpet of the latter. 
N. incomparabilis King of the Netherlands.— 
The segments of this variety are broadly ovate and 
pale sulphur yellow, the inner three being much 
smaller than the outer ones. In these respects it 
reminds us of some of the N. bicolor section. The 
widely campanulate, deep yellow corona with a golden 
rim brings us back to N. incomparabilis. 
N. incomparabilis Gloria Mundi. —The seg¬ 
ments of this fine sort are broadly oval, imbricate, 
and clear sulphur-yellow. The crown is very large, 
gradually widened from the base upward, yellow, 
and of a bright orange on the upper half. 
N. Burbidgei Ellen Barr. —In this we have 
one of the N. poeticus type, with broad, obovate, im¬ 
bricate, pure white segments. The short cup is 
yellow with an orange rim. The half-dozen 
Daffodils here described were shown by Messrs. 
Barr & Son, Covent Garden, and received Flori- 
cultural Certificates. 
Muscari paradoxum. —The leaves of this species 
are relatively very broad, grooved and green. The 
flowers are produced in an oblong-conical, spike-like 
raceme, and so densely crowded are they, especially 
before expansion, that they are angled or ridged, and 
furrowed by mutual ccmpressure. They are of a 
dull, dark blue, more or less overlaid by a glaucous 
bloom. 
Erythronium Smithii. —Each scape bears from 
two to four nodding flowers of large size, the seg¬ 
ments of which are white, tinted with pale pink on 
the lower half, with a yellow blotch at the base of 
each, and tinted with green at the base externally. 
The leaves are very large, ovate, and blotched with 
bronzy-purple on the upper surface. Both of these 
hardy herbaceous plants were shown by Mr. T. S. 
Ware, and received Floricultural Certificates. 
Rose Margaret Dickson. —The leaves and leaflets 
of this hybrid perpetual are broad and of a rich 
dark green. The flowers are white, tinted with 
blush in the centre when expanding ; and the broad, 
rounded petals are revolute at the edges. 
Rose Gustave Pigneau.— The foliage is also 
good in this case. The flowers are large and of a 
bright red, fading to rose, but when fully expanded 
they are rather open in the centre. The broad petals 
are revolute at the edges. Ihe variety is a hybrid 
perpetual. Both were shown by Messrs. Paul & 
Son, Cheshunt, and received Floricultural Certi¬ 
ficates. 
Auricula Phyllis. —The leaves of this Alpine 
variety are obovate, entire and without meal The 
flowers are large with a creamy-white eye forming a 
broad well-defined zone. The body colour is crim¬ 
son-purple with a violet-purple edge. 
Auricula Countess. —This also belongs to the 
Alpine section, and has large obovate leaves, in- 
•dicating vigorous growth, and crenate at the margin. 
The eye is broad, lemon-yellow, and well defined. 
The body colour is crimson, narrow and surrounded 
by a rosy-purple edge. Both were shown by 
Mr. C. Turner, Slough, and received Floricultural 
Certificates. 
Auricula Fanny Glass. —The leaves of this are 
obovate and crenate, but not mealy although belong¬ 
ing to the Show section. It is a self with a yellow 
eye, a white paste and a blackish-maroon body 
colour. 
Hardening IJiscellany. 
Cjc "55/5 
POLYPODIUM SUBAURICULATUM. 
To those who are accustomed to see this fern with 
fronds about 2 ft. or 3 ft. in length, it is hardly 
creditable that they may be grown to 6 ft. or 8 ft.; 
yet such is the case at Sanderstead Court, Croydon, 
where there is a specimen grown under the name of 
Goniophlebium subauriculatum. It is an old estab¬ 
lished plant in a basket, with fronds about 8 ft. in 
length, and so numerous as to occupy a space of 
6 ft. in diameter. Mr. Clinging is proud of his 
specimen, as well he might be, for seldom is it seen 
in such good condition and of such huge proportions. 
Some might complain of its dimensions, but ferns, 
like everything else, are most imposing when allowed 
to attain the size and vigour of which they are 
capable of attaining under favourable conditions. 
AOORUS GRAMINEUS VARIEGATUS. 
Although we have seen quantities of this grown 
under glass and broad patches of it out of doors, yet 
we do not remember having seen it in bloom. The 
British species (A. Calamus) only flowers occasionally 
when growing vigorously on the edges of ponds, 
lakes, or rivers. In the case of A. gramineus the 
flower stem is about the same height as the leaves 
and terminates in a slender, cylindrical, but tapering 
spadix nearly 2 in. in length, and buff yellow, 
studded over with the white stigmas. The spathe 
is linear, green, about i-J in. long, and assumes a 
spreading direction, whereas in the case of A. 
Calamus it is erect, and, together with the flattened 
stem, simulates a leaf. From a horticu’tural point 
of view the rarity of flowering is no obvious loss, 
but the appearance of the spadix and spathe is a 
curiosity. 
EUPHORBIA JAQUINI/EFLORA. 
I note the remarks of your correspondent — 
"Experience”—on this beautiful winter-flowering 
plant. I have a few planted out in a bed of soil, 
among Gardenias and trained up the rafters. They 
flowered beautifully last winter and were cut in very 
severely for the flowers, which we sent all to a 
distance. A second growth started and another 
crop of flowers has been cut. The spikes of this 
second supply were not so long as the first, but they 
have been exceedingly useful for variety among 
large consignments of cut flowers sent away bi¬ 
weekly.— Stirling. 
GOOSEBERRY BUSHES AND THE SPARROWS 
The experiment of running cotton thread from tip 
to tip of the branches of Gooseberry bushes in order 
to protect the buds from the ravages of sparrows, 
as described in your issue for May 3rd, 1890, has 
been tried again this spring, and as before proved 
infallible, not a bud having been touched, although 
sparrows are about the garden in scores.— IF. 
Richardson &■ Co., North of England Horticultural 
Works , Darlington. 
SOLANUM JASMINOIDES. 
This might well be described as S. semperflorens, for 
under suitable conditions it flowers all the year round. 
So nearly hardy is it that it may be grown on an 
open wall in the more favourable parts of the 
country. The leaves, of course, get destroyed in all 
but the mildest winters when so treated, but vigorous 
growth is made during summer, and after the flowers 
commence to open they keep on till frost destroys 
them in the autumn. The protection of a green¬ 
house, however, enables the plant to go on growing 
all through the winter, and when such is the case 
flowers are also produced, sparingly it is true, in the 
depth of winter ; but as the light and heat increases 
in spring there is a profusion of bloom as may be 
seen in the long corridor at Falkland Park, South 
Norwood Hill. The pure white flowers are pro¬ 
duced in large panicles that are very effective when 
distributed over the dark green foliage. The plant 
is easily increased from cuttings, and with such 
facilities for its increase, one should expect to see it 
pretty extensively employed, but such is not the case. 
Some plants may be grown upon walls in the open 
air, for their loss in a severe winter would be a 
matter of little importance compared with their 
floriferous character in summer. The leaves are 
small, and ovate, or frequently lobed. 
GREENHOUSE RHODODENDRONS. 
There is sometimes a difficulty in getting some of 
this fine class of Rhododendron to flower, but we 
have been always fairly successful by growing them 
along with Camellias, which are forced during the 
growing season and form their flower buds early. 
The Rhododendrons, even after being cut back 
severely, break out and make fair wood growth, and 
on most of the shoots a good bloom bud is formed. 
One certain cause of failure is encouraging gross 
unripened growth by potting into too large pots, and 
if they are done loosely the soil is aggravated. We 
sometimes get the plants to form their growth 
and flower buds in a pot-bound state, and then 
give a small shift afterwards, potting the plants 
firmly into peat, loam, and some sharp sand. We 
often treat early-flowering Azaleas and some other 
plants in this way with very satisfactory results — 
Stirling. 
ECCREMOCARPUS SCABER. 
In dry situations much might be made of this plant 
by growing it as a covering for arbours and trellis 
work, which it covers with its elegantly divided 
foliage during the summer, and later on becomes 
adorned with showey orange-scarlet, tubular flowers 
tipped with yellow. The leaves and stems die down 
annually in the open air leaving nothing but the 
tuberous rootstock in the ground. When grown in 
a cool well-lighted place, it keeps on growing and 
flowering all the year round, as it has done in the 
long corridor connecting the houses together at 
Falkland Park, South Norwood Hill. Here it is 
trained to wires along the back wall and gets no 
further artificial heat than that furnished by the hot- 
water pipes running under the slate paving, in 
which there are no openings for the escape of the 
heat. 
ORCHID NOTES AND GLEANINGS, 
The Orchid Growers Calendar 
Watering Orchids. —This is one of the most 
important items in the successful culture of these 
most popular plants. So much depends however on 
the condition of the plants, and the kind of structure 
they are grown in, as to when each individual plant 
should be watered, that no hard and fast lines can be 
laid down for the guidance of cultivators. Some 
Orchids require watering almost every day during 
summer, so moisture loving are they, especially 
Cypripediums and Odontoglossums, whilst with 
others, such as Cattleyas and Laelias, a thorough 
watering once a week would be sufficient. 
We ourselves are generally guided more by the 
look or feel of the plant than by the appearance of 
the compost it is growing in, as, unless the plants are 
potted annually, the surface might appear dust dry, 
whilst a careful examination an inch below would 
reveal a different state of affairs. When watering 
we make sure to thoroughly wet the whole of the 
compost—to give Orchids water in driblets is one of 
the greatest mistakes that can possibly be made. 
The surface looks and is wet, but the roots that have 
gone down the inside of the pot and amongst the 
crocks are starved. 
This perhaps is the reason why plants do so much 
better when grown in baskets, as to water these they 
have to be dipped in a tank or pail, consequently the 
roots that are amongst the crocks and clinging to 
the basket get the full benefit. Me make it a 
practice with plants in pots that are not too large to 
plunge them in a pail up to the rim, say once a 
month, as they seem to require it. If one ounce of 
guano is dissolved in the water before dipping it 
will help the plants to perfect their leaves and 
bulbs. 
Cattleya Mendelii is just beginning to make a 
good show and should be placed so as to show' off 
its handsome flowers to advantage. Keep the atmos¬ 
phere about them on the dry side, or the flowers 
will become spotted, at the same time they must not 
be allowed to get dry at the roots. Miltonia 
Vexillaria growing in the same house will just now 
be a blaze of bloom. This is a splendid Orchid of 
easy culture when once the right spot for it is 
found, and soon grows into specimens ; they do 
not however do well for long when too large and 
should be broken up into smaller plants as soon as 
there are any signs of its going back and grown on 
