September 21, 1889. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
37 
and the effluent was perfectly clear and ready to be 
drawn off. Dr. Klein, F.R.S., has subjected the 
effluent and sludge from the process to analysis, and 
finds it impossible to cultivate any micro-organisms 
whatever in the effluent, which is thus demonstrated 
to be absolutely disinfected. It is claimed that these 
good results are permanent, and that admixture with 
river water, or keeping for a length of time, will not 
affect the product from the “Amines” process. 
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KADSURA JAPONICA. 
This is a fine-foliaged, climbing, half-hardy, ever¬ 
green plant, admirably adapted for the requirements 
of the greenhouse or conservatory. It is a native of 
Japan, as will he seen from its specific name. The 
large glossy leaves justify to some extent (though not 
so coriaceous) a resemblance to the Camellia. The 
flowers are small in comparison to the foliage, and are 
of a creamy white colour. The elevated receptacle in 
the centre, when the carpels are ripe, looks like a 
ripe strawberry, and gives a set off to the otherwise 
rather inconspicuous flower. 
It belongs to the natural order Magnoliacese and the 
sub-order Magnoliese, is very robust in habit, and 
does not seem to be at all particular as to the quality 
of soil it grows in. It can be propagated by cutting off 
half-ripened wood in the summer.— G. E. 
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NEW YORK HEAD LETTUCE. 
Referring to recent notices of this Lettuce in The 
Gardening 'World, I would say, as the one who 
brought it into public notice, that it shows more plainly 
what can be gained by persistent selection than almost 
any other vegetable form under cultivation. Its history 
may be of interest to many of your readers. 
At the commencement of our late Civil War, a market 
gardener left his Virginia home, and settled near New 
York, to carry on truck farming as he did at the south. 
Lettuce was his specialty. He commenced with seed 
which he obtained from a prominent house in New 
York, the variety he cannot remember, but probably 
the India Head, a variety very popular thirty years ago, 
but no longer ill cultivation. For economic reasons he 
saved his own seed, always making a judicious selection, 
with a view to obtain solid heads in summer, which is 
very difficult in our hot dry climate. For this purpose 
he selected each year the latest in going to seed. For 
more than twenty-five years the same care in selection 
has been observed, the same cultivation has been given, 
the same fertilizers used, all in the same garden of ten 
acres. The result is, the best variety for summer of any 
in the market, as it does not run to seed quickly ; be¬ 
sides it is the largest and most tender of any of our 
summer Lettuces. We have seen on exhibition two 
heads of this Lettuce, which weighed fourteen pounds. 
As a fertilizer, the gardener, John Breen, uses salt 
liberally, and to this he largely attributes the develop¬ 
ment and distinctive characteristics of this variety. 
In this case there was a gradual improvement during 
these long years, a change so marked by new conditions 
of growth steadily followed, that the parentage is no 
longer visible in the offspring.— C. L. Allen, Floral 
Park, New York. 
-- X £ < -- 
A FERN WALL. 
In Mr. Booty’s nursery, at High Harrogate, there is 
a wall, in one of the greenhouses, covered with Maiden¬ 
hair Fern. It is 110 ft. long and is a grand sight. 
The way in which the Ferns are planted is very simple ; 
they are planted in his patent Fern wall tiles, of which 
there are five rows placed 9 ins. apart. The whole of 
the tile and wall are perfectly and gracefully hidden by 
the fronds of the Maidenhair. The plants seem to 
enjoy their position, for they are pictures of health. 
The tiles are easily fixed to any wall by special nails 
with india-rubber washers, and where unsightly walls 
exist, this is a capital way of making them highly 
ornamental. The tiles are made of various sizes and 
resemble terra-cotta. — JRusticus. 
-►>$<■- 
CARNATION NOTES. 
About fifty years ago posters or placards and bills were 
to be seen in prominent places throughout the western 
division of the county of Kent, and especially on the 
confines of Woolwich—a town once famous for the 
raising of Pinks and Carnations. They announced that 
a grand display of Carnations could be seen gratuitously 
at Mr. Youell's, of the Nightingale Yale Nursery, 
Woolwich, and the writer having a great love for every 
class of Flora’s precious gems, was attracted thither, 
and was gratified beyond measure with the feast pre¬ 
pared. I think, indeed, I may aver that I have 
scarcely seen finer blooms grown than were on view on 
that particular occasion—nay, not even at the show 
which took place at the Drill Hall so recently. 
I think that at the time to which I refer, the interest 
taken in the cultivation of Carnations, Picotees and 
Pinks by those whom I may designate the amateur 
class of the profession of gardeners, was far more 
extensive, and evoked more painstaking care than is 
the case at the present time, and I have no doubt but 
that those who can travel back in memory will readily 
endorse what I assert. The names of the old growers 
could be enumerated as a numerous class of highly 
respectable enthusiasts in the successful raising of seed¬ 
lings, and in the production of finely finished, well- 
grown specimens, were it not deemed superfluous to do 
so ; albeit no one, I presume, will for one moment 
attempt to deny these departed worthies the honours 
that they achieved in their day, leaving a noble 
legacy behind them that will serve generations for all 
time to improve and to turn to the advantage of all 
who are wisely led to take an interest in the culti¬ 
vation of these charming and easily grown hardy 
flowers. 
I remember well the interest that was taken by all 
good house-wives, in however humble a sphere they 
may have been placed, in annually securing “slips,” 
A Fern-covered Wall. 
so that they could raise a succession of young plants, 
and be able to distribute them amongst those of their 
friends who might not be already in possession of some 
special favourite. Although of recent years a sort of 
revival has taken place as regards the cultivation of 
these plants, it is scarcely possible that more attention 
can be devoted to them than was given in the days of 
old, and before it became the fashion to grow so many 
other things. I often think that the individual char¬ 
acteristics of many plants are not recognised, except 
when shown en masse as a grand effective floral com¬ 
bination ; hence plants of late years have been selected 
for the embellishment of the flower garden that not 
only produce an abundance of bloom, but continue to 
bear their flowers for months in succession. These, 
and the easy mode of increasing them, have done much 
to revolutionise garden decoration. 
In ray younger days herbaceous and kindred plants 
were largely grown ; but cheap glass and the tropical 
explorations of plant collectors have altered the whole 
menu in this respect. 
Nearly fifty years ago the Messrs. Youell, of Great 
Yarmouth, used to stage about 2,000 pots of blooming 
Carnations and Picotees, for plants of which there was 
then a great demand among the artizan class, much 
more so, in fact, than among the professional gar¬ 
deners, not many of whom then cared to identify 
themselves with florists’ flowers. It is, indeed, only of 
recent years that there has been a comparative amal¬ 
gamation of all classes of gardeners in favour of florists’ 
flowers. The old school having passed away, more 
tolerant ideas prevail. 
With the exception of a few good trade growers, not 
many cultivate Carnations, Pinks, &c., and the gardens 
of the masses are not filled with these flowers now as in 
the olden times. Some of your readers may, perhaps, 
remember our very old friend, Mr. John Dickson, of 
the Acre Lane Nursery, Brixton, than whom no better 
grower existed between forty and fifty years ago. He 
raised and sent out some grand things during his time, 
and when he passed away a void was left which has not 
been filled up. Youell, of Yarmouth, also distributed 
from time to time some splendid varieties. Two 
Picotees were figured in the Florists’ Journal, in 1845— 
viz., Burroughs’ Lady Alice Peel and Duke of New¬ 
castle. In Sweet’s works several portraits of Carnations, 
&c., appeared, showing even at that time that this class 
was very popular, extensively cultivated, and much 
exhibited in the metropolis and various parts of the 
country, and that 5s. to 105. 6 d. per pair was readily 
obtained. There was a very happy spirit of emulation 
amongst florists themselves, and this numerous body 
consisted of men of all grades in society, but, as I have 
stated, scarcely recognised by the professional gardener. 
Great credit is due to such men as Messrs. Douglas, 
Dodwell, Turner, &c., without whom the public would 
not have the pleasure of viewing such grand shows of 
Carnations and Picotees as are to be seen in the 
metropolis and at Oxford .—Man of Kent. 
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BLUE HYDRANGEAS. 
Having been from home, it was inconvenient for me 
to reply sooner to the query made by “Gamma” at 
p. 835 of the last volume, but I now hasten to do so. 
The question was whether a blue Hydrangea “has 
been known to return to the pink colour.” I may say 
at once that there is no difficulty about that question, 
and no doubt that all blue Hydrangeas return to the 
original pink colour when the conditions allow of them 
doing so. The sporting or changeable character of 
Hydrangea hortensis was discovered soon after its in¬ 
troduction from China to British gardens in 1788, or 
just over 100 years ago. The blue-flowered sort was at 
first believed to be a distinct variety, but experiments 
soon dispelled that notion. The experiences of different 
cultivators have been so variable and discordant that 
the real agency does not seem to have been correctly 
ascertained. There can be no doubt, however, that 
many cultivators have, and others still do, succeed in 
producing blue flowers by the use of certain soils and 
ingredients. 
“ Gamma ” says he has not seen blue Hydrangeas 
grown under glass ; but the large quantities of blue- 
flowered kinds that appear in Covent Garden Flower 
Market in the early part of summer, leave no doubt 
that they were produced under glass, judging from the 
size and quality both of the cymose inflorescence and 
the individual flowers. In 1818, one Mr. AY. Hedges 
succeeded, after many attempts and as many failures, in 
producing blue flowers on his plants by the use of 
yellow loam obtained from Hampstead Heath. After 
growing them in this soil for two years, during which 
time they remained blue, he transferred them to an 
ordinary potting compost, and the flowers produced 
were all of the ordinary pink hue. Bog earth some¬ 
times, but not always, produced blue flowers. Dr. 
Daalen, of Antwerp, used turf ashes in the soil, and 
those of the Norway Spruce more especially resulted in 
the production of blue flowers. 
Sweet recommends a bed of peat in which to grow 
the plants, and says that the longer they remain there 
the more blue the flowers become. In 1821, Mr. 
Joseph Busch, gardener to His Majesty the Emperor of 
Russia, at St. Petersburgh, said that the flowers of 
Hydrangea hortensis became blue when young plants 
were watered the previous summer with alum in 
solution. Grey-coloured earth, he continued, from 
beneath the black moor earth of that country had the 
same effect, because it contained a quantity of alumi¬ 
nous salt. Both the blue and the pink sorts of this 
Hydrangea, the former in the greater quantity, were 
recently and may still be exhibited at the Paris 
Universal Exhibition by Otto, Sen., successor to 
Thiebaut, Sen. The blue kind exhibited various shades 
in the same truss, from lavender to sky-blue and deep 
purplish blue. The giower obtained these shades by 
growing the plants on slaty ground or by watering pot 
plants with ferric hydrate. If we are to trust these 
experiments it would seem that blue flowers are pro¬ 
duced through the agency of either alum or iron in 
some form or other. 
As far as I have been able to determine, plants 
bearing blue flowers do not seem to have had 
their constitutions injured, nor do they in any way 
