June 9, 1894. 
647 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
■wind, as the tree is tall and very much exposed 
from all quarters. The lower branches are as much 
damaged as the upper ones, a fact which is difficult 
to account for, seeing that other trees not very far 
off have suffered comparatively little or no harm. 
At Kew. 
It is difficult to estimate the amount of damage done 
here, because so many kinds of plants have to be 
taken into account. No vegetable crops are grown, 
so that the damage consists of injury to the younger 
leaves of various ornamental and botanical subjects. 
The species of Phaseolus have been much cut up 
as might have been expected. But it is more sur¬ 
prising to note how various trees and shrubs have 
suffered, although permanently planted and brought 
into leaf by natural agencies. The young leaves of 
Rhododendron Rosy Bell have been browned and 
curled as if burnt. Kalmia latifolia, Lindera 
Benzoin, and some of the Ivies have had their young 
leaves served in the same way. We should hardly 
have expected the varieties of a native plant like the 
Ivy to have suffered. Funkia lanceolata undulata 
variegata and others have been injured as at 
Chiswick. The young leaves, and sometimes only 
the tips, of Daphniphyllum glaucescens are 
crumpled and changed to a curious blackish-blue 
colour. In many cases the leaves are at the tips of 
completed growths, so that unless the buds start a 
second time the plants will remain in a crippled 
condition till next spring. 
- mf. - 
ARDENING gllSCELLANY. 
CEANOTHUS PAPILLOSUS. 
Most of the species of Ceanothus are usually con¬ 
sidered somewhat liable to injury from severe winters, 
but the past few seasons with their severe frost 
about Christmas do not seem to have injured the 
many species planted about in the different parts of 
Kew Gardens. There are several large plants of 
that under notice, and for some time past they have 
been a mass of blue flowers. That hue is by no 
means common amongst shrubs, but is the most 
prevalent amongst the cultivated species of Ceano¬ 
thus. The leaves of a large number of them are 
small and evergreen, like those of C. papillosus, 
which are oblong and covered all over with elevated 
portions of their tissue or papillae, tipped with a 
very short bristly hair. In the bud state a gummy 
secretion is exuded from the leaf, and is doubtless 
a means of protection ; at the same time it gives 
the young shoots a fragrance like that of the Sweet 
Gale or Bog Myrtle. 
ONOSMA STELLULATUM TAURICUM. 
Blue is probably the most prevalent colour in the 
Borage family, or some shade of it more or less tinted 
with purple. Yellow is less common in the order, 
but is met with in several species of neat habit. The 
plant under notice forms a tuft of linear-lanceolate, 
coarsely hairy leaves, and throws up flower stems 
6in. or 8 in. high, branched and bearing cylindrical 
flowers that are produced in succession during the 
great part of the summer. 
HIBISCUS HUGELII. 
Not\vithstanding that about 150 species of Hibiscus 
are known to science, very few of them are cultivated, 
and still fewer of them become common or popular 
plants. H. rosa-sinensis is pretty frequent in 
stoves ; H. syriacus is a hardy shrub, and like the 
previous one exists in numerous varieties both 
single and double. H. Trionum is occasionally 
grown amongst border annuals. Others make their 
appearance in this country, but they are anything 
but common. The flowers of H. Hugelii are 
sufficiently large and showy to warrant the plant 
being more frequently grown than it is. Some 
flowering shoots were exhibited by G. F. Wilson, 
Esq., F.R.S., Weybridge, at the Temple Show last 
month. The leaves are five-lobed and the divisions 
again slightly lobed, but all the segments are 
narrow. The flowers are produced in the axils of 
the leaves near the top of the shoots, and are of a 
uniform rosy purple. Some idea of their size may 
be gleaned from the fact that each individual petal 
is about in. long. The stems are slender, climb¬ 
ing and give most satisfaction when trained under 
the rafters of a greenhouse, as they are treated 
by Mr. Wilson. There is a variety named H. 
Hugelii quinquevulnerus which derives this appella¬ 
tion from the fact that there is a black coloured 
blotch on the base of each petal or five in all. This 
form was introduced from the Swan River in 1853. 
SCARLET RUNNERS. 
It is too often the case, even where there is ample 
room, that only one sowing of this highly esteemed 
vegetable is made. Now if within a week or so of 
the present time a sowing is made to come in late 
when vegetables, at least as to variety, are becoming 
scarce, a good crop will be found of the utmost 
value, as they are more hardy than the dwarf 
Kidney Beans, and may often be gathered long after 
the latter have succumbed to the frost. As regards 
culture, treat them exactly like the earlier sowing. 
If there is a difference in the level of the garden 
choose the highest piece of ground for this 
purpose, as sometimes a difference cf only a few feet 
will decide their fate in the event of an early 
autumn frost, those at a lower level being destroyed, 
whilst those more favourably placed will remain un¬ 
scathed. The late crop should have the very best 
materials avalable for support given them, because 
the winds in autumn are often very rough, and un¬ 
less made pretty secure much damage may be done 
to the crop.— W. B. 
A NEW VAPORISING FUMIGATOR. 
The new “ X.L. all " vaporising fumigator which is 
manufactured and sold by Mr. G. H. Richards, Old 
Shot Tower Wharf. Commercial Road, Lambeth, 
S.E., has met with high approval amongst practical 
men, and deserves to be more widely known. It 
consists of a zinc cone perforated at the top and 
bottom, 5 in. high, and nearly 5 in. wide at the base. 
This is placed over a small spirit lamp, with a glass 
reservoir, and on the top of the cone is placed a 
small, shallow copper basin-like vessel, in which a 
liquid insecticide of which pure nicotine is the basis 
is placed and volatilized by means of the spirit lamp 
below. Unlike fumigating with tobacco paper or rag, 
at best a wasteful process on account of the amount 
of nicotine which is destroyed in the burning, the 
vaporized nicotine preparation leaves no unpleasant 
odour behind, and while it is exceedingly effective 
in the destruction of the various forms of insect 
life which infest plant houses, it is not injurious to 
the tenderest bloom or leaf. The liquid preparation 
when properly diluted according to the instructions 
given also forms a valuable insecticide for syringing 
or washing plants ; it mixes readily with water, con¬ 
tains nothing of a sedimentary character, and leaves 
the plants clean and bright. 
STRAIN OF FANCY PANSIES. 
A BOX of blooms of the fancy or Belgian strain of 
Pansies has been sent us by Messrs. J. Laing & Sons, 
Forest Hill. If they have come from seeds, as we 
imagine they have, the strain is very good. Some 
of them were sufficiently well defined to be utilised 
for exhibition purposes. For garden decoration, 
however, they left little to be desired, and they were 
large enough for any purpose. A fine display can be 
obtained with them from April and May onwards by 
sowing in July. August, or September of the previous 
year, dibbling out the seedlings in a cold frame when 
large enough, and planting out early in spring. At a 
distance from smoky towns they may be trans¬ 
planted to a bed in the open, and when they have 
made plants of some size can then be transferred to 
their permanent positions in October, November, or 
early spring. Dark colours predominated in the 
strain, and some were seifs with exception of the 
slightly darker blotches. The golden eye was small 
in most cases and well defined. The crimson and 
red varieties with their black blotches were rich and 
telling. Others again were maroon with broad 
petals and perfectly circular flowers. The blotches 
in some cases were well defined, as well as the top 
petals, but for exhibition purposes the edge would 
require to be a little more clearly defined. A flower 
of the peacock strain, with a rose and white margin 
as well as a steel blue blotch on each petal, was very 
pretty and of large size. Some blue ones with violet 
blotches were also handsome in their way. 
AN OLD ORCHID HOUSE. 
It has often occurred to me when reading the Orchid 
Notes in your columns, or enjoying the inspection of 
modern houses built with all the latest improve¬ 
ments, that a description of a house built some sixty 
or seventy years ago would not be uninteresting to 
some of your numerous readers. It was some 20 ft. 
square, with the side walls some 10 ft. high, with no 
side lights or means of ventilation, the idea being to 
arrange things so that at no period of the year could 
the sun shine on the plants. As a further provision 
against that, the roof was only partially glazed. A 
rockwork staging formed with brick-burrs occupied 
the centre of the house under the glass, and this 
was devoted to Ferns, the Orchids being arranged 
on the side stages formed of half-inch slates. The 
place was amply heated and abundantly supplied 
with rain water stored in tanks above ground. It is 
almost needless to say that Orchid growing in such 
a place, even at that time, was a comparative 
failure. Now-a-days it would, I think, be regarded 
as a ghastly one.— G. 
FASCIATED ASPARAGUS. 
Fasciation in some form is fairly frequent in the 
common Asparagus, but a correspondent. “ J.B.,” 
sends us a very striking example of two stems grow¬ 
ing in close proximity to one another, and both 
arising from the same rootstock, although from two 
distinct crowns. The rootstock itself was flattened, 
densely scaly and evidently fasciated. One of the 
stems was in advance of the other, and had formed 
a complete helix or circular loop ; through the latter 
the younger stem by a strange perversion of growth 
was forced to grow, and after having made two 
deviations from a straight line, it thence commenced 
to grow downwards again. Both stems were nearly 
two inches wide and about half an inch in thickness 
at the middle. The curvature is brought about by 
the unequal growth of the two edges, and in both 
cases the stronger growing edge had become broken 
owing apparently to the restrictions placed upon it 
by the slowness of growth of the other. The two 
interlocking and twisted stems were very weighty, 
and contained sufficient material for half a dozen 
stems, twelve to eighteen inches long. Two curious 
cases of fasciation of Asparagus are given in “ Vege¬ 
table Teratology,” by Dr. Masters, pp. 12 and 14, but 
that under notice is an entirely different form of it, 
although doubtless not new. On the part of the 
plant it must represent so much wasted energy, 
for seeds could hardly be produced by such stems, 
and consumers would probably fail to appreciate 
such Asparagus even if dressed and sent to table. 
RHODODENDRON CHAMPIONI. 
This distinct-looking Rhododendron is a native of 
Hong-Kong, from whence it was introduced as 
recently as 1881. A plant about 3 ft. high is now 
flowering in the temperate house at Kew ; it seems to 
have been introduced in the living state, as a label 
in the pot bears the date of 1885. The lanceolate 
leaves are rusty beneath and more or less densely 
hairy, especially on the upper surface with short, 
stiffish hairs. The flowers are widely campanulate 
with a short tube and unusually long, oblong seg¬ 
ments. They measure a good 4 in. in diameter and 
are white with a patch of orange spots on the base of 
the upper segment and occasionally extending a 
short way on to the two adjoining lobes. They are 
said to be tinted with a delicate rose, but that cannot 
be constant, as the blooms of the Kew lant are 
pure white with exception of the spots above 
mentioned. As far as we have been able to learn 
this is the first time the species has flowered in 
Britain. The large size of the flowers and the great 
length of their segments, give this species an 
effective appearance and a distinctness from all 
others in cultivation. 
RHODODENDRON JASMINIFLORUM ROSEUM. 
The typical form of this species is well known as 
one of the parents of the race of hybrid green¬ 
house Rhododendrons ; the long slender tube and 
pure white flowers are very characteristic. The 
variety under notice forms a specimen about 5 ft. to 
6 ft. high in the temperate house at Kew, and although 
