September 21, 1889. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
43 
in the vicinity of London, but the high-class quality of 
this Apple will always ensure its being grown. Like 
Benoni, it has also a yellow, brisk, sweet, and highly- 
perfumed flesh, and is only of medium size, with a 
greenish yellow skin heavily suffused with red on the 
exposed side. It bears heavily as a small tree on the 
Paradise stock. The Nonpareil—better known, per¬ 
haps, as the Old Nonpareil—although considered as 
one of the best winter Apples for dessert purposes, is by 
no means an attractive one, being small, round, and 
heavily covered with russet. It thrives most satisfac¬ 
torily in the south, and attains its highest flavour 
there. Although considered of French origin, it is 
more highly esteemed in this country. Braddick’s 
Nonpareil is even held in higher estimation by many 
cultivators than the old variety. It is greenish yellow 
with a red cheek, and marked with large russety 
patches. The flesh is pale yellow, highly aromatic, 
and the fruit is in season from November till April. 
The trees here are of good size, and bear a heavy 
crop of fruit. 
-■*->*<-- 
ARDENING fflSCELLANY. 
-- 
Stove Plants in Window Boxes. 
The early part of the year, and even the latter end of 
August, was anything bat favourable to the well-being 
of plants ordinarily requiring a stove temperature, and 
in some instances it was so cold that one would have 
expected the leaves of such things as Crotons to 
drop off during the winterly weather we have 
experienced. The window-boxes we refer to are those 
of Mr. John Wills, of Messrs. Wills & Segar, Onslow 
Crescent, South Kensington. The plants have now 
been in the windows (outside, of course) for the last 
three months, perfectly exposed to all weathers, and to 
the smoky influences of that populous part of the 
metropolis. They consist of highly-coloured Crotons, 
Dracrena Goldieana in fine condition, D. gracilis, 
Ananasa sativa variegata, Fandanus Veitchii, Ophio- 
pogon spicatum variegatum, with purple foliage very 
highly coloured, Hydrangea hortensis variegata, with 
an equal amount of variegation, and other plants of a 
similar character. The latter generally produces the 
finest foliage when grown in a warm moist atmosphere, 
as in the case of many other greenhouse plants and some 
Ferns that assume their finest hues when so treated. 
In a low temperature the variegation is not lost, but 
the green portion of the leaf is the larger, and the 
white portion is proportionately weak and dull in hue. 
All this fine colouration of various hues is toned down 
by the graceful slender stems and delicate green hue of 
a Bamboo, apparently Spathiphyllum falcatum. 
The Floral Committee Awards. 
I AM in a fog about the awards of certificates made by 
the Floral Committee of the Royal Horticultural 
Society, and should be glad if some one would tell me 
on what principle that body now deals with florists’ 
flowers. 1 am more immediately concerned with the 
Dahlia, and I find that while at the meeting at the Drill 
Hall on August 27th only Awards of Merit were voted 
to these flowers, at the meeting of the same body at 
Chiswick on the 5th inst. both First Class Certificates 
and Awards of Merit were granted, three marks 
carrying the former, and two the latter. Now I can 
understand the new rule respecting Awards of Merit 
being given instead of First Class Certificates to florists’ 
flowers, and assume that in such case the one is equiva¬ 
lent in value to the other or nearly so, but if this is the 
rule observed at the Drill Hall, for what reason does 
the committee make it only of second class value at 
Chiswick ? Again, I catalogue the single variety, 
Duchess of Westminster, as having received a First 
Class Certificate in 1883, but at Chiswick it has only 
got an Award of Merit. Am I to consider the former 
award as cancelled ? I see that Paragon, which was 
certificated in 1878, has now received another First 
Class Certificate .—A Dahlia Grower. [The First Class 
Certificate given at Chiswick is a special Chiswick 
Award, and is only given to plants considered worthy 
of it after trial in the garden.— Ed.] 
Ixora aalicifolia. 
This grand old Ixora is grown to perfection in the 
stoves at Mill House, Sowerby Bridge, near Halifax. 
When recently visiting there I was especially surprised 
to find several fine plants, some bearing as many as 
four and five dozen trusses of its bright orange-scarlet 
flowers. The graceful glaucous foliage adds an addi¬ 
tional beauty to the plant, which is a grand exhibition 
variety, but seldom seen now-a-daya. Mr. Woods, the 
gardener, is to be congratulated upon his success.— 
Rusticus. 
Torenia flava, syn. Baillonii. 
This is one of a genus of plants, comprising in all 
about sixteen species, out of which only half-a-dozen 
or so are generally grown to any extent. The first 
species were introduced from China, but they are also 
found in Eastern Asia and parts of Africa. The one 
under notice makes an admirable basket subject, and 
for this purpose it is recommended, and only deserves 
to be better known to be more often met with in 
gardens. The leaves are small, hairy and opposite ; 
flowers, which are abundantly borne, 1 in. in length, 
corolla a deep dark yellow, with a purple eye. It is 
of easy culture. Seeds should be sown in March or 
April in a warm place ; when large enough to handle 
prick off into pans or pot singly. In about a month 
put them in baskets in soil composed of loam, leaf-soil, 
a little peat, and silver sand. Keep them warm and 
moist, and with this treatment they will quickly grow. 
Plants can also be obtained by cuttings, which will soon 
strike under similar conditions. Green-fly is apt to be 
troublesome sometimes ; when this is the case fumigate 
as soon as it is apparent. It adds to their beauty, when 
in baskets, if a small Dracrena of the narrow-leaved 
section, such as Guilfoylei or Cooperii, be used as a 
centre plant. When in bloom the flowering period may 
be prolonged a little by removing a few to a lower 
temperature. —F. R. S. 
A Plea for the Michaelmas Daisies. 
When the perennial Asters are spoken of in this 
country, the great bulk of British gardeners regard 
them with indifference or even hold them in open 
derision as the occupants of weedy beds and borders. 
Our Continental neighbours in Paris evidently take a 
different view of them, judging from the frequency 
with which one meets them in the flower markets and 
stalls. Nor are they the best and showiest species that 
could be obtained, but rather the reverse, as consider¬ 
able quantities of the small-flowered kinds are exposed 
for sale. Common garden flowers of all kinds are also 
disposed of in the same way, and it would seem that 
the trade in flowers is considerable, not only the 
upper but the middle classes carrying away their quota. 
By being kept in water these cheap flowers are also to 
be had in fresher condition than the same class of goods 
in a London flower market, where one generally sees 
them piled in a heap fully exposed to wither the whole 
day long. The single forms of the Chinese Aster 
(Callistephus Chinensis) are also largely grown and sold 
under the name of Marguerites ; and we must confess, 
after seeing them arranged in a vase with water, they 
look exceedingly handsome, and devoid of that lumpi¬ 
ness which characterises the large and fully double 
kinds so popular in this country. They exhibit the 
blue, white, red, pink, purple, and other shades seen 
in the doubles, while they are also so far improved that 
the ray florets overlap one another like those of an im¬ 
proved single Dahlia, and the starry loose character 
of the wild type is not to be seen. It is also important 
to notice that they are cut with long leafy stalks, and 
are arranged loosely in the vases. 
HedycHium Gardnerianum as a Bedding 
Plant. 
A small bed of this Nepaul plant may be seen in the 
gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society at Chiswick, 
on a border alongside of the lawn. The stems vary 
from 18 ins. to 30 ins., and are therefore on an average 
much shorter than when grown in a stove. They are, 
however, equally dwarf when planted out in a cool well- 
ventilated house. The flower spike is also compara¬ 
tively shortened and close set with flowers that are so 
hardened by exposure that they withstand the action of 
the atmosphere, and appear as clean and fresh as those 
grown under glass. They are as well coloured or even 
darker than those grown under glass, bright yellow with 
the style and perfect anther crimson. The loaves are 
of good consistency, oblong-ovate, and dark glaucous 
green. Its novelty and sub-tropical appearance should 
be an incentive to grow it more frequently in the flower 
garden, and if a warm sheltered spot be chosen for it, 
growth would no doubt be more rampant, producing a 
finer effect from a foliage point of view. The roots 
could be lifted and stored under similar conditions to 
that by which Dahlias are preserved during winter. 
Anemone japonica alba. 
In a recent number a writer, dwelling upon the fore¬ 
going popular hardy plant, stated that it did not do 
well in the shade. As it happens, my dwelling-house 
faces the north, and in the front 'garden, where the 
soil is heavy, stiff and cold, and where but very little 
sun indeed falls even at midsummer, I have several 
plants of the white Japanese Anemone, and they grow 
and flower with surprising freedom. Not only are some 
of the plants quite deprived of the influence of the sun, 
but they are shaded by trees, and these produce the 
finest flowers. Nor do I think that my experience is a 
solitary one, for neighbours of mine, similarly circum¬ 
stanced in regard to soil, aspect and shade, have plants 
blooming grandly ; better indeed in such a position 
than in a more open and sunny one.— R. D. 
Grape—Diamant Traube. 
This Grape made its first appearance many years ago in 
this country, but had disappeared from cultivation till 
quite recently. It was obtained from Mr. Leroy, 
of Angers, and used to be grown in an unheated orchard 
house at Chiswick, where it fruited freely ; but'W. Rou- 
pell, Esq., of Harvey Lodge,Roupell Park, who exhibited 
it at the Drill Hall, Westminster, on Tuesday last, 
finds that it does best with a little heat. It is a 
roundish-ovate, Sweetwater Grape of first-class quality, 
and ripens early. The bunches are of small size, but 
the berries are small for a Sweetwater Grape, thin- 
skinned and delicate in flavour. It fruits well, and at 
Harvey Lodge is grown in pots. The Grapes shown 
were from a year old Vine. The Fruit Committee of 
the Royal Horticultural Society awarded it a First 
Class Certificate. 
-- 
The Amateurs’ Garden. 
-- 
Hollyhocks. 
The earliest struck cuttings should now be well rooted, 
and if so, potted off singly. If eyes were used by the 
cutting down of stems, they will by this time have 
thrown up shoots from beneath the soil. After potting 
they may be placed in frames and kept close for a day 
or two until the roots have taken to the fresh soil; but 
after that they should be exposed to the influence of 
the atmosphere day and night. The heavy dews at 
night will benefit them greatly. It is of no advan¬ 
tage to keep them coddled in heat or close frames, but 
on the contrary, is greatly injurious by making them 
tender, thus laying them more open to disease by the 
weakening of their constitution. Where it is intended 
to save seed of double flowers, remove the dying petals 
to prevent damping, which is liable to occur especially 
in wet weather, because the old flowers frequently hang 
on a long time or even rot in position. The flowering 
season will be considerably prolonged by the removal 
of all decaying blooms, and seed vessels where seeds are 
not required. 
Gladioli. 
Corms, or popularly speaking, bulbs, that were small 
when planted, often produce better spikes of flowers 
than full-grown ones ; but they flower later. The 
same applies to seedlings, which are always more vigor¬ 
ous than old plants. This should encourage amateurs 
not to discard small corms as worthless, even if the 
flowers are produced late in the season. Plants that 
flowered early may be encouraged to ripen seeds, which 
may be sown and raised in a greenhouse, and after¬ 
wards planted out in the spring of the second year ; 
they soon attain a flowering size when so treated. 
Gather seed from reliable kinds, and something good 
may be expected amongst the seedlings. Small plants 
or seedlings now pushing up their flower-spikes will 
derive much advantage from doses of manure-water 
occasionally. 
Early-flowering Chrysanthemums. 
A very good method of getting a stock of strong 
flowering plants is to place them in the open ground 
early in the season, and by September they will have 
made good bushy flowering specimens. The advantages 
are that good plants are obtained in this way, with far 
less attention than if they have been kept all the 
summer in pots. This will prove advantageous to 
those who are much away from home during the day, 
and consequently have little time to attend to watering. 
Now that flowering plants for the conservatory or 
greenhouse are getting less plentiful, a gay appearance 
may be maintained by the use of early-flowering 
Chrysanthemums alone. The following are very beau¬ 
tiful and suitable for this work, namely, Madame C. 
Desgranges, white ; G. Wermig, yellow; Mrs. J. R. 
Pitcher, blush-white ; Preeocite, golden yellow ; Little 
Bob, crimson-brown ; Fiberta, canary-yellow ; Blushing 
Bride, rosy blush; Alexander Dufour, rosy purple; 
Alice Butcher, bright orange ; Roi de Precoces, St. 
Crouts, pink, and Mrs. Cullingford, pure white. Most 
of these are Pompons, but a number of them, including 
the two first, are Japanese kinds of large size, for early 
flowering purposes. Lift whatever plants may be in 
stock and pot them, being careful to lift them with a 
ball, and little check will be given to the plants. 
Keep close for a few days, and water them well through 
a rose, and they will soon become established, and 
should then be placed in the greenhouse and well 
ventilated to keep them healthy. 
