648 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
June 14, 1890. 
-«*-- 
The Dahlia. 
Hundreds of Dahlia plants are being placed in the 
open ground at this time. The risks run by placing 
tender plants in the ground too early, was shown by 
the sharp frost on the morning of the 31st of May, 
which in some parts of the country proved sadly 
destructive. I know one amateur cultivator of Dahlias 
who, wishing to get his plants well forward, and 
having a garden well protected on the north and east, 
planted out at the end of April, but to ensure safety, 
he covered all the plants every night for a month with 
a strong tub or Seakale pot—the result being a good 
deal of extra labour, but he holds that he reaped a 
substantial gain, as the plants gained great strength 
early and flowered much before their usual time. I 
think, as a matter of precaution, it is better, supposing 
there be proper accommodation, to pot on the plants 
and grow them into size, planting them out about the 
second week in May, when all danger from frost is past. 
Those who grow Dahlias for exhibition trench and 
throw up the ground rough for the winter ; and in 
March fork it over, putting in a good dressing of 
manure at the same time. Then when they plant they 
dig out a hole, put a spadeful of good manure at the 
bottom, place some soil on the manure and then plant. 
This is not at all necessary in the case of plants grown 
for ordinary garden decoration, but as the Dahlia is a 
gross feeder, it should always be planted in rich soil to 
secure good flowers and plenty of them. 
A stake should be placed against the plants as soon 
as planted, because the stem of the Dahlia in a young 
state is very brittle, and apt to be snapped off by the 
wind. Sprinklings overhead at night and copious root 
waterings in hot drying weather are very beneficial, 
and if thrip gathers about the young shoots, it should 
be washed off without delay. 
Later on earwigs become troublesome, and if they eat 
away a portion of the surface, the result is that when 
the flower expands, the points of some of the petals will 
be damaged. I hare seen, during the past thirty years, 
a good many earwig traps, but the old plan of an 
inverted flower pot with some moss in it has survived 
them all; and if frequently examined, a good many 
can be got rid of. ~R. D. 
Pink and Carnation Prospects. 
So far as ,my personal observation is concerned, the 
prospects of a good display of Pinks and Carnations 
this season are alike encouraging and discouraging. 
This seems rather paradoxical, but is nevertheless true. 
Plants have spindled well, and the bloom buds look 
full and healthy. But, on the other hand, Pinks are 
much too forward, and Carnations and Picotees have 
been so harassed by insect pests, that the blooms must 
suffer deterioration. It is some consolation to know 
that others besides myself have suffered from the 
plague of green-fly, but even a more pestilent foe has 
invaded my domain in the shape of “Cuckoo spit ”_I 
forget the beast’s proper name at this moment. It has 
taxed my leisure beyond endurance to hunt this slimy 
vermin daily for the past month or so, and many a 
curly stalk bears witness to a day’s neglect. As for 
Chrysanthemums and herbaceous things generally, I 
have been compelled to succumb to fate and let them 
take their chance. I do not know whether any of your 
correspondents can suggest a specific, but it seems to 
me that the finger and thumb, like a heavy boot with 
the earwig, is the only way of successfullyencountering 
the enemy. 
As to Pinks I am especially disheartened this year 
because I had hoped to show, in a satisfactory and 
encouraging manner, what might be done in a London 
suburb in the open air in the way of Pink growing. 
Unfortunately my laced Pinks are so forward that a 
few day’s sunshine would send nearly all the leading 
blooms into flower by the time these lines meet your 
readers’ view. I cut a fine bloom of Modesty on 
Sunday, and several others are opening as I write. 
These forward blooms are, however, on plants that 
were raised from layers and not from pipings, and the 
plants raised by the latter process are not quite so 
advanced. Border Pinks are also too well forward 
and opening fast. Still, I hope to have a few for the 
first exhibition of the National Pink Society on the 
27th, and I am glad to report encouraging prospects 
from other sources. 
Carnations and Picotees are not with me abnormally 
forward as a whole, although too large a proportion are 
somewhat fat in the bud. I may here remark that I 
have been very unsuccessful the past two years in raising 
seedlings, not so much in the raising as in the flower¬ 
ing. With me they have betrayed a tendency to grow 
rather than to spindle for bloom. As a consequence I 
have had some fine bushy “trees,” but comparatively 
few flowers. The only reason I can assign is that I 
have sown too late or too early, but which is which I 
have not yet been able to discover.— E. Ranger Johnson. 
New Tuberous Begonias. 
Golden Queen. —The leaves of this double variety 
are obliquely cordate, and deep green. The flowers are 
of medium size, bright yellow with pale guard sepals, 
and consist of several rosettes. An Award of Merit was 
granted for the plant shown by Messrs. H. Cannell & 
Sons, Swanley, at the Drill Hall, on the 10th inst. 
Madame Pfitzer. —The flowers of this are also double 
deep yellow, with paler guard petals. The leaves are 
broad and of a deep green. Black Douglas. —Here 
also the flowers are double, of great size and depth, 
with very numerous segments of a dark crimson-red, 
and beautifully undulated like some varieties of Holly¬ 
hock. Both the above were exhibited by Messrs. J. 
Laing & Sons, Forest Hill, and received Awards of 
Merit at the Drill Hall on the 10th inst. 
-- 
TALL LATE TULIPS. 
All the Tulip family are good looking; some par¬ 
ticularly so, and most of them are handsome in shape 
and bearing. I have grown Tulips for many years, 
and my preference, as a rule, for definite colours and 
patches of colour had, so to speak, weaned me from 
the old-fashioned show Tulips. This year, however, 
I returned to my early love, and had a good bed of 
bizarres, byblcemens, and roses. I found that 
Mynheer Von Dunck, of the land of canals and wind¬ 
mills, had not been giving much heed, apparently, to 
this class of Tulip, for they were rather mixed. 
Amongst them were two or three Parrot Tulips, one or 
two Proserpine and Gesneriana major, and so on. One 
consolation was, that they were all late Tulips. 
The bizarres with their lovely combinations of olive 
and snuff-brown, the byblcemens with their lighter 
streaks, and the roses with their warm flames of 
colours were, each and all of them, most attractive. I 
kept them separate, but I will not do so again, for I 
fancy they make such a charming bed when mixed. 
They are not at all expensive, and for cutting they 
are most useful. They are old-fashioned it is true, but 
they are charming in their combinations and harmony 
of colour, and in their endless variety. 
To amateurs generally, and to gardeners too, I 
would heartily advise a bed of the tall late Tulips for 
flowering in May.— Devoniensis. 
-«***■- 
TULIPA CARINATA LUTEA. 
Under the above name a Tulip has been sent us by 
Mr. W. B. Hartland, Ard-Cairn, Cork. He describes 
it as growing to the height of 2£ ft., flowering late and 
possessed of a stiff habit enabling it to battle with the 
rain and hail that occurred about the middle of May. 
The flowers sent us were of a soft pale yellow with 
oblong, erect, pointed segments of the same colour. 
The outer ones were reflexed or curved backwards, 
and all were more or less stained along the centre on 
both surfaces with pale brownish purple. The inner 
segments were paler than the outer, the filaments white, 
the anthers bright yellow, and the segments measured 
3 ins. in length, by | in. at the widest. The flowers 
are very persistent even after being cut, For garden 
decoration it is certainly handsome, and seeing that it 
flowers through the latter half of May into June, it is 
destined to become disseminated in British gardens, 
particularly where Tulips are held in high estimation. 
We should, however, object to the name, as it is the 
Tulipa vitellina of Dutch gardens, and is preserved in 
the Kew herbarium under that name ; but is at the 
same time reckoned a variety of T. Gesneriana. T. 
carinata is an altogether different thing, with shorter 
and broader segments of a deep red or crimson colour, 
judging from specimens preserved at Kew, and which 
were sent from the Cambridge Botanic Garden in 1887. 
-- 
METHVEN’S JUNE BROCCOLI. 
A short time ago we published a short note on 
this Broccoli received from a correspondent. We 
have since been favoured with some heads of it 
from Messrs. Thomas Methven & Sons, 15, Princes 
Street, Edinburgh. The heads were of great size, pure 
white, firm, and quite equal to what they were repre¬ 
sented to be. They were in perfect condition when they 
reached us on the 6th inst., and the Messrs. Methven 
stated that they would continue fit for use for a week or 
ten days. The plants must have been of great size, for 
the leaves surrounding the heads measured from 24 ins. 
to 30 ins. in length. They were of a light glaucous 
green, traversed by numerous pale-coloured veins ; and 
the number of them closely investing the head furnished 
ample proof of how well the heads are protected by them 
and their purity of colour preserved. 
- »X< -- 
SCOTCH FIRS. 
The Scotch Fir (Pinus sylvestris) is at once highly 
ornamental, either as an isolated specimen or in groups 
or plantations, and is at the same time the most 
valuable of all the European species of Pinus as a 
timber tree. When grown singly in a park or pleasure 
ground, where the tree can develop equally on all sides, 
it forms a pyramidal specimen, with large horizontal 
branches reaching to the ground. In such cases it is 
highly ornamental, but greatly depreciated in value as 
a timber tree on account of the numerous large knots 
in the wood. Our illustration gives a view in the West 
Wickham Wood, near Croydon, taken by Mr. J. Page, 
Junr. The trees, as will be seen, have been planted 
close together, with the effect of drawing them up with 
a clean, straight bole ; and when such is. the case, 
other conditions as to the nature of the soil being equal, 
the timber is of the highest commercial value. The 
beauty of such a wood even in winter is obvious to the 
observant eye, on account of the characteristic appear¬ 
ance of the bark, as contrasted with the dark sombre 
hue of the foliage, at a time when all deciduous trees 
are quite bare. The Scotch Fir has a wide geographical 
range, and varies greatly in foliage, in habit and stature, 
in the cones, and also in the bark. In some cases the 
latter is of a deep brown and fissured longitudinally, 
showing an accumulation of many layers in thickness ; 
in other cases the old bark is continually being thrown 
off, so that what remains is thin, nearly smooth, and 
of a beautiful brownish red colour. 
- >X <-- 
OXFORD BOTANIC GARDEN. 
Like other botanic gardens, this old establishment 
contains many plants of interest—either useful, orna¬ 
mental, or botanically interesting. The library attached 
to and situated in the garden is also well stocked with 
rare and valuable old books, which it is impossible, in 
some cases, to buy, because of their extreme rarity. 
For instance, it includes the only perfect copy of 
Gampi Elysii in existence—a book so rich in engravings 
of plants that its publication even at the present day, 
with all modern appliances at command, would be a 
matter of no small consequence. Oxford has, of course, 
been celebrated for its learning for ages past, and we 
can endorse what the poet says in the following lines :— 
“ See, Oxford lifts her head sublime, 
Majestic on the moss of time ; 
Nor wants she Gracia’s better part 
’Mid the proud piles of ancient art.” 
We were, however, more directly concerned with the 
plants in the garden, now under the care of Mr. W. G. 
Baker, formerly of Kew. 
The Hothouses. 
The Cactus house is well filled with a great variety of 
succulent plants, many of which are of great size. 
Some American Agaves of great age—the reputed 
Century Plant, in fact—flowered here some years ago, 
as the old stems outside the house still testify. At 
present there are some huge specimens of Dasy- 
lirion, including D. glaucophyllum and D. longi- 
folium, the latter of which has slender but rigid leaves 
6 ft. long. A specimen of the Old Man Cactus (Cereus 
senilis), about 20 ft. high and 6 ins. or 7 ins. in 
diameter, is the finest we have seen. Iu another 
house close by is a great curiosity in the shape of an 
arborescent form of Ficus repens, bearing the same 
relation to that species as the Tree Ivy does to the 
common climbing one. Some shoots were developed on 
old plants in the Nymphnea house, having straight 
rigid shoots and entirely different leaves from the type, 
and being taken off and rooted, one of them has 
developed into a large plant, which no one would 
recognise as their old friend Ficus repens. The leaves 
are large comparatively, almost like those of a Camellia, 
thick and leather)', with a beautiful raised venation on 
the under surface. 
A fine specimen of Strelitzia juncifolia in one of the 
stoves has petioles about 5 ft. or 6 ft. high, with the 
lamina or blade almost obsolete. Near it was a plant 
of Goethea stricta 6 ft. high, and flowering freely all 
along the stems. The beautiful Mexican Cycad 
(Dion edule) had comb-like leaves 5 ft. or 6 ft. iu 
