724 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
July 16, 1392. 
FliORlCUliTURE. 
Seasonable Notes on Florists’ Flowers. 
The Auricula. 
The plants at this season of the year may be said to 
be perfecting the growth they made after being 
potted at the end of May. They are doing good 
rootwork, and slowly forming the hearts which will 
yield bloom for the next season. The best position 
for the plants at this time of the year is a north 
aspect in a frame raised above the level of the 
ground, and the plants standing upon an ash bottom. 
The lights can be altogether removed by day and 
night, except when storms and heavy rains threaten, 
and then they should be put on, at the same time 
giving plenty of air to the plants. A great abund¬ 
ance of water is by no means necessary. What is 
required is enough of water to keep the soil about 
the roots cool and fairly moist ; rot will frequently 
happen in the case of newly-potted plants when the 
soil is wet and moisture stagnated in the soil. The 
plants should be kept free from green-fly, and a 
sharp look-out kept for a small green caterpillar 
which at this season of the year eats its way into the 
hearts of the plants, and if undiscovered does them 
almost irreparable mischief. 
Carnations and Picotees. 
On the whole the weather since the last week in 
June has been favourable to the well-being of the 
plants. It has been warm—sometimes quite hot, and 
a good and kindly growth has set in, hastening the 
development of bloom. The recent rains had a de¬ 
cided stimulating effect, cleansing the plants to some 
extent from insect pests. Cleanliness is all 
important; the flower stalks should be kept neatly 
tied to stakes, and those who require large blooms 
for exhibition purposes must see that disbudding is 
attended to. We are now getting very near to the 
Carnation shows. The National Society holds its 
exhibition at the Drill Hall, Westminster, on the 
26th : the Oxford Union follows on the 28th ; and 
then on August 1st, Bank Holiday, follows the Earl's 
Court Carnation Show. There is at present every 
appearance of a fine display on each occasion. 
Dahlias. 
A grower of Dahlias remarked the other day that in 
order to have blooms for the early shows the Dahlias 
require a great deal of coaxing. During the past fort¬ 
night, helped by the acceptable rains, good head¬ 
way has been made, and what is now required is fine, 
sunny, growing weather, and occasional showers. 
While the weather is dry copious waterings overhead 
in the evenings will be found of great advantage, 
keeping the soil open about the roots and keeping the 
shoots securely tied to stakes to prevent injury by 
the gusty winds which appear to be unusually preva¬ 
lent this summer, and a source of trouble to the 
gardener. Insect pests are frequently very trouble¬ 
some, slugs and earwigs in particular. The old plan 
of trapping them by placing a small flower-pot with a 
little moss in it inverted on the top of the main stake 
is one of the best remedies which can be employed, 
and a good many can be trapped in this way if the 
pots are examined once or twice daily. 
Hollyhocks. 
So far where the soil is rich, and the plants have been 
well looked after, Hollyhocks have done very well. 
They are plants which take a great deal out of the 
soil, and so should be planted in well - manured 
ground. They should have a good mulching with 
fat dung during the summer, be well looked after 
in the matter of watering, and be encouraged to make 
a free and vigorous growth. Already some plants 
show that the disease is taking hold of them, and 
there is therefore nothing like good cultivation. 
Careful staking is necessary to keep the plants from 
being injured by wind. Formerly seeds of Holly¬ 
hocks were not sown until June, but in later times it 
is the practice to sow much earlier. By sowing in 
heat in January, the plants can, if properly attended 
to, be so pushed on that they will flower at the 
end of the summer; and then anything specially 
good can be lifted, the plants potted up for the 
winter, and so preserved from the perils of the open 
ground. The old method was to prepare a piece of 
ground in the open in June, and on this draw drills, 
2 in. deep, and a foot or so apart. Then an inch or 
so of finely sifted soil was placed in each drill, the 
seeds sown thinly upon it, and covered to the depth 
of J in. If the weather proved dry, a gentle soaking 
of water was occasionally given, and a dusting with 
soot kept vermin from injuring the young plants. In 
September the plants could be potted up for protec¬ 
tion or planted out in a cold frame, and so preserved 
from the effects of bad weather. 
Pansies. 
Cuttings should now be taken from any .particularly 
fine varieties. If put into a well-prepared bed of fine 
sandy soil in a shady position under a hedge or wall, 
and covered with a hand-light, there should be 
no trouble in striking them. There is all the more 
reason why the grower should endeavour to obtain 
increase of a fine variety, because plants are prone 
to die off, and so it is a wise precaution to obtain 
increase of such as soon as possible so as to save a 
stock of a valuable variety. Seed will now be ripe 
and fit to gather, and can be sown for succession. It 
was the belief of the florists of forty and fifty years 
ago, that seed taken from well-developed flowers of 
high quality and rich markings produced finer flowers 
than seed taken from the same plants at a later 
period of time, when the flowers were smaller and 
less pronounced in colour. This may be so, but I 
am not sure if the results have been demonstrated 
by actual experiment. 
Pelargoniums. 
The plants which have gone out of flower should be 
gradually dried off in order to ripen their wood pre¬ 
vious to being cut down. This is a matter to which 
importance has always been attached by Pelargo¬ 
nium growers, and for two reasons—they held that 
the old wood was benefited by the ripening process, 
and the cuttings rooted better. One can quite 
understand there would not be such a flow of sap 
from the ripened wood as from that of a less 
hardened character. Cuttings strike best in a small 
spent dung frame. There should be a cutting bed ot 
fine light sandy soil, and in this the cuttings should 
be inserted, pressing the soil firmly about them, 
keeping them fairly close for a time and shading 
from the sun.— R. D. 
■ --- 
SPRING FLOWERING 
BULBS. 
The receipt of several new bulb lists comes as a timely 
reminder of the near approach of the season when 
these will require attention. There are very few 
things that are more easily managed than a good and 
successional display of spring-flowering bulbs. I 
designate them spring-flowering, but in reality they 
are both winter and spring-blooming subjects, as 
they only require potting up earlier and to receive a 
little more heat after their roots have got well to 
work to extend their time of flowering. By intro¬ 
ducing them into heat a few at a time and letting 
them be potted up into a couple of batches, a grand 
show of flowers may be kept up from Christmas 
until the end of April and May. 
Freesia refracta alba is undoubtedly one of the 
most pleasing and sweetly-scented flowers that an 
amateur can possibly have. These, with a little 
trouble, may be had in flower from Christmas until 
August. I shall pot my first batch of these early in 
August, also my first batch of Allium Neapolitanum, 
Gladiolus, " The Bride,” and some few other extra 
early bulbs. The second batch of these will be 
potted at the end of September. In each case, as 
soon as they are potted, I shall stand them in a cool 
pit or frame and plunge in Cocoa-nut fibre refuse and 
sand. Soil of a moderate moistness will be used, and 
from seven to eight bulbs placed in a y^-in. pot. The 
compost used will be fibrous loam one-third, leaf-soil 
one-third, and the remainder made up of decayed 
manure from an old Melon or Mushroom bed, with 
a dash of sharp sand. No water will be afforded 
them until the young growth shows through the 
plunging material, and even then they will be kept 
upon the dry side all the while they remain in the 
pit or frame. As a few pots at a time are intro¬ 
duced into heat, water will be applied very freely as 
soon as the bulbs respond to the increased tempera¬ 
ture. 
The earliest of the Freesias and Alliums will be in 
bloom by Christmas, after which there will be no 
break in the supply until the early part of August. 
These later flowers will be obtained from seedlings 
sown in January and left in their seed pans or boxes. 
A stove heat, with much the same treatment—with 
the exception of pricking off —as that afforded to 
seedling Begonias, will secure this end; and, at the 
same time, give you a fine lot of bulbs for the latest 
batch of potting to produce late spring flowers the 
following season. Choose only the first sized bulbs 
for potting, replacing the smaller ones into boxes or 
pans and giving them the same treatment as the 
earliest batch. These will then form splendid sized 
bulbs for future use. There are few bulbs which 
increase so freely as the Freesias, and they may 
consequently be purchased very cheap. 
The Alliums and Gladioli increase freely also, and 
may be potted up into two sizes in the same manner. 
Then there are the Cape Cowslips (Lachenalias), 
Ixias, Sparaias, Babianas, Fritillarias, Muscaris, 
Calochortuses, and a great many others that are not 
nearly so frequently cultivated by amateurs as they 
deserve to be. I purposely omit giving any notes 
upon Hyacinths, Tulips, Crocuses, Snowdrops, etc., 
as these are certain to be brought before my readers’ 
attention ; but I feel sure that grand as these last 
bulbs are, they might be advantageously supple¬ 
mented with those more particularly treated upon in 
this short paper.— Experience. 
-- 
STRAWBERRIES AT 
CHISWICK. 
Late as the season has been, it is now almost over 
as far as Strawberries are concerned. Those who 
have plantations of old plants may be able to keep 
up a supply for a short time longer ; but where one 
year old plantations are depended upon for a supply 
the season is practically over. Most of the planta¬ 
tions in the gardens of the Royal Horticultural 
Society at Chiswick this year consist of last year's 
runners, and a few consist of plants that had borne 
a crop in pots before being added to the collection 
last autumn. It is largely from them that the notes 
hereunder were gleaned, as the fruit was about ten 
days later than the rest in ripening. The relatively 
large amount of sunshine during the past six weeks 
or so has also hastened the ripening of early fruits 
of all kinds. The gathering of the Strawberries 
commenced about the 20th of June, and was 
practically finished on the 9th inst. at Chiswick, 
being a duration of 20 days. 
The collection of new or little known varieties is 
extensive, and very few of the well-known and 
standard varieties are here mentioned. Competitor 
is moderately early, conical, somewhat flattened, 
carmine scarlet, and rather rich in flavour. A 
crimson, more deeply pitted fruit is Sensation, but 
we cannot recommend it for flavour although a fine 
looking fruit. John Ruskin is an early variety, but 
here, rather flavourless, and of a bright scarlet. A 
crimson fruited and pubescent variety named 
Sargeant has soft fruit, of moderate flavour. The 
fruit of Teutonia is large, globular and soft, although 
it finds great favour in Germany as an early variety. 
Jenning's White bears a profusion of small globular, 
deliciously flavoured fruits that are white except on 
the side exposed to the sun. Crown Prince has 
large and rather richly flavoured fruits. The fruit 
of Eleanor is conical or wedge-shaped when it 
attains a large size, crimson with a red flesh, and 
rather soft but of good flavour. Monstrosity and La 
Monstreuse seem to be identical, and have globular 
crimson fruits of very fair flavour. Albert is even 
of greater promise, with globular, dark crimson 
fruits of rich flavour, and is a great bearer. 
The varieties now to be noticed include a number 
of those that were planted out of pots last autumn 
after having borne a crop. Brown Wonder has 
wedge-shaped, deeply pitted, rather firm fruits of rich 
flavour and bright red colour. The fruit of John 
Powell is conical or wedge-shaped, and somewhat 
lobed when it attains a large size. The surface is 
very deeply pitted and the flesh rather rich in flavour. 
The fruit of McMahon is of a glossy vermillion, firm, 
rather well flavoured, and the flesh internally is of a 
rich colour. It is both fertile and bears large fruits, 
and may be reckoned a main crop variety. Latest of 
All has conical or wedge-shaped, or sometimes lobed 
fruits of great size. They are of a clear red, except 
at the tip, which generally remains white, and the 
fairly firm flesh is moderately rich in flavour. The 
true fruits, popularly termed seeds, are rather promi¬ 
nent, because the surface is very slightly pitted. As 
a large, late fruit it will probably find a good many 
cultivators. 
A variety of great repute in the north is Aberdeen 
Favourite, a conical, very deeply pitted, bright crim¬ 
son fruit of very fair flavour. The seeds are deeply 
inserted in the surface. It is largely grown in the 
north, and succeeds in the south. The oblong or 
