Dec. 6th, 1884. 
219 
use. After flowering, the proper treatment is to rest 
the plants for a time by keeping them dry, and then 
they should be shaken out and pulled apart, and 
divided, and either be planted out or re-potted again. 
As soon as growth commences, it is necessary to 
water freely, and to continue the same all through the 
summer.— Alpha. 
Cyclamens.—Your remarks on the fine condition 
of these at Hillingdon Place (p. 199), excites my 
envy, as I am bound to confess myself wholly beaten 
by them. Some seasons I succeed in getting a few 
flowers on my plants, but, generally speaking, my old 
bulbs seem to get so hard during the drying off that 
they produce even leaves sparingly. There are many 
gardens around here where the Cyclamens are as bad 
as mine, and not one place where they are done well. 
Mr. Little would, I am sure, confer a great boon on us 
all if he would kindly give in your columns a short 
note of his treatment throughout the year, and 
whether he grows from seed annually or old bulbs, 
and whether he rests his bulbs in sun or shade. Your 
remarks about his Zonal Pelargoniums have opened 
up a new and simple method of treatment which I 
shall certainly follow.— A. C. 
-- 
Violets on North Borders.— Amongst the many 
useful purposes to which north borders may be put, 
may be included that of Violet culture, and especially 
if the ground is light and dry. Some few years ago 
wishing to lengthen the Violet season, we tried some 
plants at the foot of a north wall, close up to the 
fruit trees, as nothing else seemed to do well there. 
Before planting we dug in a good dressing of cow 
manure, and at the end of April, or in the beginning 
of May, dibbled in some good strong runners at about 
a foot apart. Beyond keeping them free from weeds, 
the plants received no other attention; but they 
commenced blooming in September and continued till 
severe frost set in. In spring, as the weather gets 
favourable, they commence flowering again and 
continue in bloom for some weeks after the plants in 
a warmer situation have done flowering. We take 
them up and re-plant them every year as soon as they 
have done blooming, and otherwise treat them as 
before. The variety we grow is Victoria Begina, 
which we find superior to The Czar. For the last six 
or seven weeks we have been able to gather as beautiful 
Violets as any one could desire to see, and to-day 
November 23rd, I have picked a fine bunch. We grow 
Violets in various positions, at the foot of walls, and 
in the open borders, as well as in pits, and by these 
means extend the flowering period over a lengthy 
season. In dry seasons like the past the plants get 
infested with red spider, but not those on the north 
borders, and we find the best plan of keeping the 
spider in check is to deluge the plants with liquid 
manure in the evening, but if the plants are in a hot 
dry place, however much you may water or syringe 
them, they cannot be kept quite clean. We get fine 
supplies from the plants grown on a west aspect in 
February, but the blooms from the north borders are 
always the finest. We grow the Marie Louise and 
Neapolitan mostly in frames, and the former blooms 
most freely in the autumn, while the latter gives the 
best returns in spring. Having tried several single 
kinds, we now grow the Victoria Begina principally, 
but have not quite given up the single Bussian. It is 
very free flowering, and when well grown not to be 
despised. The double Bussian is still one of the best 
double-flowered varieties for many purposes, and when 
strong and well grown it is longer in the stalk than 
others, and is very useful in March and April. 
When grown in patches on borders few things are 
more ornamental, the plants often being covered with 
their lovely blue and deliciously-scented blossoms. I 
am trying Comte Brazza’s new double white, and 
hope it will prove as good as it is described to be; 
and alongside is also the Swanley White. Belle de 
Chantenay is very beautiful when it will grow, but we 
have not been able to get on with it at all.— North 
Hants. 
^Chamsecladum metallicum. —This charming 
httle Aroid is figured and described for the first time 
m the November number of The Illustration Horticole. 
t forms a small dense tuft of richly-coloured metallic 
leaves which latter are metallic green above, purple 
beneath, and average about 4 ins. long by nearly 
3 ms. broad. It was introduced from Borneo by the 
Compagnie Continental d’Horticulture of Ghent. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
Seedling' Potatos raised in Ireland. —Mr. 
Webb, of Dublin, who exhibited a fine collection of 
Seedling Potatos at the late Exhibition of the Boyal 
Horticultural Society of Ireland, has communicated 
the following remarks on some of the best of his 
varieties to The Irish Farm, Forest, and Garden :— 
The Premier: A handsome round Potato, strong 
bushy foliage, a great cropper, raised in 1880, pedigree 
unknown, no disease. 
Ireland’s Eye : A seedling from the White Bock, a 
good cropper, and free from disease, raised 1881, 
round. 
Erin’s Pride : From the White Bock, crossed with 
Magnum Bonum, flattish oval, rough skin, a good 
cropper, a fine boiling Potato, flesh white, mealy, and 
fine flavour, raised 1881. 
Grand National: From the White Bock, crossed 
with Magnum Bonum, raised 1881. Shape various, 
kidney-like, and some tubers of flattish oval, a very 
strong growing variety, great cropper, and a fine mealy 
Potato, flesh white and of fine flavour. Unfortunately 
this variety has a tendency to disease. 
Erin’s Beauty: A very handsome Potato ; shape, 
flattish oval with good eye, uniform habit of growth, a 
good and even cropper and quite free from disease, of 
excellent quality as a table Potato. 
Leinster Prize: This variety likewise is a very hand¬ 
some shape—moreroundthanoval; it was raised in 1881, 
pedigree unknown, a good cropper and free from 
disease, flesh white, very mealy, of a very delicate 
flavour. 
Swan’s Egg: Baised 1880, pedigree unknown. This 
is a very early kind, a white egg-shaped Potato, a 
great cropper and free from disease, very distinct in 
growth, and more so when dug out, as there is a gloss 
on the skin, in fact quite shining. 
Amongst the above, I consider Erin’s Pride, Erin’s 
Beauty, and Leinster Prize the best, and these three 
varieties I consider of great promise. I expect 
Ireland’s Eye will improve, and the Premier is good, 
but not quite dry enough to rank A 1; it has some¬ 
thing of the American flavour about it, yet it is a fine 
cropping Potato. 
Mr. Webb addsMy idea of raising Seedling 
Potatos is that no one can judge what they are, under 
five years’ growth. Some will go back the second 
year, and others the third year; for instance, I 
discovered several last year, and two kinds this year, 
while amongst the lot the greatest improvement was 
noticed in Erin’s Beauty, Erin’s Pride, the Premier, 
Ireland’s Eye, and Leinster Prize. In a conversation 
with Mr. Kerr, of Dumfries, at the late Dairy Show at 
Ball’s Bridge, he quite agreed with my opinion. He 
said that he considered it would take from five to six 
years before you could thoroughly test a Potato ; thus 
the reason of so many failures of new varieties after 
sending them out. You will therefore see that raising 
Potatos from seed is a tedious and not a very profitable 
job. 
-- 
The Culture of Horse-radish. —It is an every 
day occurrence to report a success, but failures are 
seldom chronicled. It will be admitted that Horse¬ 
radish is a very important subject in the kitchen- 
garden, and truth to tell my practice for years past 
has been a perfect failure, so far as growing first-class 
roots is concerned. Our practice has been to select 
about five hundred straight pieces of root, 8 ins. 
long and about the thickness of one’s little finger. 
Every one of these roots were carefully cleansed with 
a rough piece of sacking, and had every little rootlet 
rubbed oft’. The piece of land being well trenched 
for their reception, the plants w r ere let into the soil by 
my favourite tool, the crow-bar. My last crop treated 
in this way grew vigorously, in fact, quite filled up the 
rows, 3 ft. apart, with their foliage, and I thought I 
had at last solved the problem. A few days ago, 
however, I ventured to try my luck, and sorry I am to 
relate that a failure was again the result. What I 
call a good stick of Horse-radish, is one about 12 to 
15 ins. long, with no side rootlets. I almost blush 
to describe what mine are like, but the roots are thick 
with a mass of rootlets springing from the sides, in 
fact, anything but what they should be. I should 
feel much obliged by any practical and successful 
Horse-radish grower giving me a few hints on the 
subject. I may add that three rows in the quarter 
were planted with Horse-radish crowns, let into the 
land 12 ins., but the result is the same.— R. Gilbert, 
Burghley. 
-- 
Lifting 1 and forcing Seakale. —When I took 
charge of these gardens I found a very limited supply 
of Seakale, and after doubling the quantity grown for 
three successive years, I am certain that if we had as 
much again as we have now (nearly half an acre), we 
should not have too much, so highly is this delicious 
vegetable prized. At this season, just as the leaf is 
decaying, and before they are removed, we go over 
the plantations, and lift the whole, taking care that 
all the roots are lifted with the crowns. These are 
then gone over, and all the thong-like roots about the 
size of a cedar-pencil are cut into 4-in. lengths, and 
laid in perpendicularly in light soil, in a sheltered 
situation out-of-doors where they will not get trampled 
upon, and where they can be protected with a little 
litter if required. Here they remain till March, 
W'hen they will have began to grow, and, when 
planted in the ordinary way, make far better plants 
than either the stools that have been forced or seed¬ 
lings. 
Some of the forcing crowns are then taken and 
placed thickly together in large flower-pots in rich 
soil; some are also planted under a stage in the 
Mushroom-house, and the remainder are laid in ready 
to draw from for future supplies. In this way we 
keep up a succession by forcing until the Seakale comes 
on naturally out-of-doors, and a batch being planted 
in a cool or northerly aspect, the season is extended 
as long as possible. Those which are potted up have 
an inverted flower-pot of the same size put over them, 
the hole in the bottom being stopped up with paper. 
These are in a very convenient form for bringing 
along a few dishes at a time, and may be put in many 
places out of the way, such as under the stage in the 
stove or greenhouse, in the Mushroom-house, or on 
a hot-bed. The latter may be prepared by simply 
building walls of fermenting material, leaving the 
middle of the bed open in which to place the pots, 
putting a hurdle on the top, that must be covered 
with litter, to exclude light and air. As the Seakale 
is cut the pots are emptied and re-filled, and about a 
dozen of them kept regularly going wall keep up a 
supply for a large family.— Charles Warden, Clarendon, 
Salisbury. 
THE MANETTI ROSE STOCK, 
This Bose is still grown by its thousands and 
tens of thousands. It is a free-growing Bose of 
Italian origin, introduced into this country about 
forty years ago, and first brought into prominent 
notice as a stock by the late Mr. Thomas Bivers, 
of Sawbridgeworth, Herts. Being a most luxuriant 
grower and a free-rooter from cuttings, and buds 
and grafts alike taking upon it with exceptional 
freedom, and growing upon it with unexampled 
rapidity, it soon became a fashion, then a rage, 
ahnost a furore. It threatened to banish all other 
stocks for dwarfs out of the garden. For mere 
growth, and growing on light soils, perhaps, there is no 
stock to match the Manetti. It is still so good that no 
rosarian should be without it, as it has special merits 
of its own, already pointed out. Probably more dwarf 
Boses are on the Manetti at this moment than on any 
other stock, and hence a good batch of cuttings of it 
should be at once inserted. They may be made, 
planted and treated exactly as seedling briars, 
November being the best month to make and plant 
Manetti cuttings. Custom and the most successful 
practice have also agreed in budding the Manetti 
low. This gives the Bose at planting two strings to 
its bow; it may either use the roots of its foster- 
mother as permanent helps, or may starve them off 
so soon as it can form roots of its own. The Manetti 
stock is equally suitable for either method, or the 
modern one more generally adopted—that of running 
two sets of roots abreast, to the fuller feeding and 
more powerful stimulation of the Bose.— Cassell’s 
Popular Gardening. 
