Sept. 13th, 1884. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
27 
and better. [True Blue is the darkest, Ed.] "Whilst 
on the subject of Violas, let me recommend two 
whites, Mrs. Gray, very pure white, but has a 
tendency to be tinged and striped with lilac in 
hot weather. Still it is a grand variety and very 
fragrant, but rather a strong grower. In the 
Countess of Hopetoun we have a dwarf, robust 
growing kind, of close compact habit, but not so 
snowy-white in colour as Mrs. Gray, though in eveiy 
respect a very fine bedding variety .—William Dean, 
Florist, Walsall. 
ColchiCums and Autumnal Crocuses. —The fol¬ 
lowing species are flowering at Kew at the present 
ti m e :—Colchicum byzantinum : The flowers of this 
fine species are a little paler than those of C. 
autumnale, and the perianth segments are much 
broader. It is a native of the Levant,—C. croci- 
fiorum : The flowers of this are smaller than those 
of the previous species, and somewhat darker in 
colour. It is a native of Turkestan.—C. autumnale : 
In the collection this well-known species is finely in 
flower,but in the wild garden, near the Cumberland 
Gate entrance, is a large patch planted among the 
grass, and the effect is simply charming. A green 
background is a great improvement to these lovely 
plants. The leaves should be allowed to die away 
naturally in the spring, and the grass should be 
kept short before the flowers appear. A native of 
Europe, including Britain.—C. autumnale var. tes- 
selatum differs from the species in the colour of the 
flowers, which are beautifully marbled with a paler 
tint. Native of Asia Minor.—Crocus vallicola has 
pure white flowers, With a few dark lines in the 
throat. It is a very pretty species, native of 
Armenia and the Caucasus.—C. Scharojani is a 
most beautiful species with a barbarous name. 
The flowers are deep orange-yellow, consequently 
the species is a great acquisition amongst autumnal- 
flowering plants. 
Convolvulus mauritanicus. — A plant of this 
beautiful species, growing in a pot in a greenhouse, 
over a small aquarium, is daily an object of great 
beauty. It is so placed as that the branches shall 
fall down over the aquarium, and shaded from the 
sun. The plant is thoroughly pot-bound, and it 
flowers freely in consequence. The water given to 
the plant passes through the soil, and falls into the 
tank.— R. D. 
New Plants Certificated. —At the meeting of 
the Floral Committee, held on Tuesday, First-class 
Certificates were awarded to Messrs. James Veitch 
and Sons for Amasonia punicea, a striking plant, 
with terminal racemes of creamy-yellow flowers, 
supported by large red bracts, which have a rich 
effect in combination, and as the bracts retain their 
colour on the plant for at least three months, it 
may be regarded as a useful as well as a beautiful 
decorative plant; to Messrs. Veitch & Sons also for 
Nephrolepis Bausei, a very handsome new fern 
raised by Mr. F. Bause. To Mr. B. S. 
Williams for Amaryllis, Mrs. William Lee, 
a gardener’s plant of the first water, belonging 
to the A. reticulata type, and bearing from three to 
five flowers on a stem, pure white, with bands and 
lines of rose; a very pretty Amaryllis, and a really per¬ 
petual flowering one. To Messrs. Cannell & Sons, 
for a fine double white Begonia, named Octavie; 
and to the same firm, and Mr. W. Bealby.for a very 
large and showy double Begonia, named Madame 
Crousse, a flower of great breadth, good shape, 
and reddish-orange colour. To Messrs. Keynes, 
Williams, & Co., for Dahlia General Gordon, 
a yellow ground fancy; Dahlia Mrs. Langtry, 
lemon ground, tipped with crimson, very fine; 
and Dahlia Fashion, a very pretty orange scarlet 
Pompon. To Messrs. J. Cheal & Sons, Crawley, for 
Dahlia Formosa, a single variety, with fine, beauti¬ 
fully-shaped and bright orange scarlet coloured 
flowers. To Messrs. Kelway & Son, for Gladiolus 
Sir F. Bolton, rich orange scarlet, with purplish 
pencilling in the throat ; and Gladiolus William 
Kelway, a dark scarlet-ground coloured flower, 
mottled with crimson, and very pretty, 
VEGETABLES. 
Culture of Tomatos. —The demand for Tomatos 
has increased amazingly during the last dozen 
years. From fifteen to twenty years ago the love- 
apple was only to be met with in a comparatively 
few large gardening establishments, and those 
principally in which French cooks reigned supreme 
in the kitchen. Now, however, so rapidly has the 
acquired taste for Tomatos spread that they are 
grown not only in every garden of any pretensions 
to the name, but also in most amateurs’ and cot¬ 
tagers’ gardens. And this can scarcely be wondered 
at, seeing that the plant is of comparatively easy 
culture, and its fruit most wholesome and appetis¬ 
ing. This season, owing to the long spell of tro¬ 
pical weather, the Tomato crop outside is a most 
bountiful one, the fruits being large, full of juice, 
and well-coloured, and if the plants are kept well 
supplied with water at the roots when necessary, 
and the fruits are well exposed to the influence of 
the sun by keeping the shoots and leaves well 
thinned and stopped, they will continue to swell 
and ripen a liberal supply of fruit until nipped by 
frost. Upon the approach of the latter, however, 
all fruits which have commenced colouring should 
be cut with a portion of the stems adhering, and be 
put into a cool vinery or peach-house, where they 
will ripen gradually, and so considerably prolong 
vthe supply. 
So highly is the Tomato appreciated in some 
places that a supply is required all the year round, 
and to meet this demand small span-roofed or 
lean-to houses, the latter if facing due south being 
the more suitable one for winter work—have been 
specially erected. In such houses the plant, grow¬ 
ing in narrow, shallow, and well-drained borders of 
sandy loam over the front hot-water pipes, will by 
this time be nicely established over the wire trellis 
to which they are, or should be, not too closely 
trained. They will also have set a nice crop of 
fruit, which, in due time will, as already stated, 
supplement the supply hitherto obtained from 
plants trained somewhat thinly against sunny walls 
out of doors. We find from experience that 
Tomatos yeild better results, when they are not 
allowed too much scope for root-action. The 
necessary amount of nutriment in the shape of 
weak liquid manure and guano water, can easily be 
apqdied to the roots at the proper time, but if un¬ 
necessary root-space be allowed, the plants make an 
over luxuriant growth, with the result that difficulty 
is frequently experienced in getting a good “ set ” 
of fruit. Experience also goes to show that the 
best possible results can be obtained from plants 
grown in 14-inch pots, if kept well supplied with 
water at the roots when necessary, and treated as 
above recommended. 
In gardens where there is no special accommo¬ 
dation provided for forcing Tomatos—and they are 
not a few—but in which nevertheless a supply of 
ripe fruit is expected from the middle or end of 
April until they can be gathered out of doors, the 
present will be a good time to make a sowing of 
some well proved variety, such as Hathaway’s 
Excelsior. In order to avoid the plants being sub¬ 
jected to a check, in the process of being re-potted 
off in the seedling state, it is better to sow a few 
seeds in the centre of each 3 inch pot, which should 
have been previously crocked and filled to within 
an inch of the rim with sandy loam, covered lightly 
with fine soil. Water through a fine rose, cover 
the soil with a piece of glass, and place the pots on 
a shelf near the glass in any warm house or pit, 
where, when the seedlings, only one of which should 
be left in each pot, appear through the soil, they 
can have plenty of air during favourable weather, 
to promote a sturdy growth. The plants should be 
shifted into suitable sized pots (6-inch, 9-inch, and 
14-inch respectively), as they require more room at 
the roots. During the interval from October to 
February, a night temperature of from 45° to 
55°, according as the weather is cold or mild, with 
a rather dry atmosphere, will be congenial to their 
requirements ; and about the middle of February 
they should be ready for shifting into the 14-inch 
pots, which should be amply drained by placing a 
large piece of crock ove^ the hole in the bottom, 
then a couple of inches deep of smaller sized ones, 
filling in the chinks on the top with the smallest, 
and over them a layer of half-rotten leaves. Thus 
drained, there need be no fear of the pots getting 
water-logged, or the plants, when established, suffer¬ 
ing from being over-watered. The plants should 
be thoroughly watered the evening before being 
shifted into the larger pots, after which they will 
not require moisture until the roots have pushed 
into the new soil. The latter should on this 
occasion consist of three parts of good fibrous loam 
and lime rubble (about one-third of the latter), and 
one of horse-droppings. 
The shoots, as already stated, should be trained 
thinly to a wire trellis under the roof; or if this 
mode of training is not convenient, the plants 
should be trained singly to stiff sticks, between 5 
and 6 feet long, one to each plant, and placed in 
the best position that can be given them near the 
glass. All lateral growths should be pinched back 
to within one joint of the main stem. When the 
plants are in flower, a drier and more airy atmosphere 
should be maintained, and, with a view to securing 
a good set, the individual flowers should be touched 
over about midday with a camel’s-hair brush, to 
distribute the pollen. No stimulants should be 
given at the roots until the plants have set their 
fruit, when they may have liberal supplies ; and if 
large fruit be desired, the clusters should be thinned 
out, leaving, of course, all the best shaped and most 
even-sized fruit. Let the night temperature from 
this stage of the plant’s growth range from 55° to 
60°, and by day 65° to 70°, running up to 85° with 
sun heat, and plenty of atmospheric moisture at 
closing time. 
For outdoor culture, a pinch of seed of the Trophy 
variety should be sown about the first week in 
March, in the manner already described, and the 
plants resulting therefrom, having been gradually 
hardened off in the meantime, be planted at the foot 
of south and west walls and secured thereto about 
the middle of May, and protected by spruce boughs 
from late frosts and cutting winds for a week or 
two, when they should be removed. The chief 
points to be observed in Tomato culture, to be 
successful out-of-doors as well as under glass, is to 
avoid over-crowding of the shoots and leaves, and to 
keep the roots supplied with water when necessary. 
Planting Cabbage Plants. —During the pre¬ 
sent month the great bulk of the cabbage crop for 
spring use will be planted, and I know of nothing- 
more annoying, after picking all the best plants for 
a favourite border of this useful vegetable, than to 
find one half of them eaten by that great enemy, 
the slug. The usual plan is to dust the plants over 
with lime, and the first shower makes it useless. 
My method of dealing with the pests is as follows : 
The land here alotted for spring cabbage is that 
which was engaged with spring onions; and here, I 
may remark that, when pulling up the onions, I at 
the same time hoe the land and rake it. When the 
onions are harvested and stored, the preparation 
is complete. Setting the line at one side of the 
quarter, we make holes with the crowbar, drop the 
plant in, and give it a good watering to wash the 
soil in round the roots. We then get some sifted 
coal-ashes, and surround each plant with the same. 
I admit that this takes some time to do, but it is an 
effectual protection to the plant from the slug. By 
doing this, every plant is like its neighbour, and all 
are ready to cut about the same day. Where £ s. d. 
is a consideration, this is the principle.— R. Gilbert, 
Burghley . 
Tomato Juice as an Insecticide. — A correspon¬ 
dent of the Fruit Recorder says he has boiled leaves 
and stems of tomato plants until the juice is all 
extracted, and finds the liquor deadly to caterpillars, 
and many other enemies of vegetation. It does not 
injure the growth of plants, and its odour remains 
for a long time to disgust insect marauders. Will 
some of our readers try the recipe, and report the 
result for the benefit of others. 
Mr. Bethell, for several years gardener to Sir 
Kichard Wallace at Sudbourn Hall, Wickham 
Market, has succeeded Mr. J. Austen, as gardener 
to Sir Greville Smythe, at Ashton Court, Bristol; 
and Mr. Austen, by the death of Mr. George West- 
land, has become gardener at Witley Court. 
