266 
plants, Herbaceous plants, Auriculas, Carnations and 
Picotees, &c. He has long been known to have a 
great liking for the fascinating work of hybridizing, 
and raising new varieties, and has taken many First- 
Class Certificates for new flowers. Amongst other 
things, Mr. Douglas raised many good new varieties of 
Gladiolus, and was in 1872-73, awarded certificates 
for Day Dream, Gwendoline Morgan, Mary Kinnear, 
and Eosy Morn. The seedlings were propagated and 
grown on year after year, but finding that they degene¬ 
rated in quality, he threw them all away. His seedling 
Aquilegias, A. californica hybrida, and A. ccerulea 
hybrida, created a small sensation when they were first 
exhibited in 1877, and have since become very popular- 
garden flowers Fruits and vegetables have also had 
Mr. Douglas’s attention, and his Cucumber, named 
by the Fruit Committee, Tender and True, from the 
Douglas motto, “ 0 Douglas ! Douglas ! ! Tender and 
True,” has deservedly gained a wide popularity. The 
Loxford Hall Seedling Strawberry, has also taken a 
good position as one of the best very late varieties. 
Mr. Douglas is now working in an old field; he has 
been trying for some years to score a success with 
Auriculas, and that he has succeeded in so doing 
every florist knows. Many of his varieties have 
obtained First-Class Certificates, and he has besides 
had the honour of winning “premiums” at two 
separate Shows of the National Societies with his own 
seedlings. The Orchids even have not escaped him, 
and we may mention that he has now in flower a 
batch of Seedling Cypripediums. Let us hope there 
may be a few gems at least amongst them to reward 
him for his skill and patience. 
Besides well and faithfully fulfilling the duties he 
owes to his employer, Mr. Douglas has been and still 
is a most industrious worker in the horticultural 
vineyard. He is a frequent contributor to the horti¬ 
cultural papers, and four years ago wrote and published 
a book on Hardy Florists' Floicers, which is still the 
best work obtainable on the subject. For a number 
of years past he has served as a member of one or 
other of the Eoyal Horticultural Society’s Committees, 
and as a frequent judge at its exhibitions; his sendees 
as a censor are much in demand both at metropolitan 
and provincial shows; he is now a member of the 
executive Committee of the Gardeners’ Eoyal Benevo¬ 
lent Institution, and Honorary Secretary of the 
National Auricula and Carnation and Picotee Societies, 
Southern Division. Into the merits of the unfortu¬ 
nate dissensions that have lately arisen in connection 
with the management of these Societies it is not our 
intention here to enter, but in common fairness we 
think it only right and just to say that, while Mr. 
Douglas has for several years worked hard with Mr. 
Dodwell, as eo-Secretary and as an exhibitor, to 
make the exhibitions of both Societies popular and 
successful, and by such means to extend their useful¬ 
ness, he has never been accorded the smallest share 
of the credit of their success, though a large measure 
of it is his just due. 
- C— -- 
Pot Strawberries. — Up to the present, the 
weather has been so mild and favourable that there 
has been no need to house Strawberries in pots, 
which no doubt have benefited by being out, as it 
generally happens that the foliage gets red spider, 
and often mildew, which parasites have ere this both 
been washed off or destroyed by the cold. The 
practice at one time used to be to stack the pots by 
laying them on their sides and filling up between 
with leaves or other material, but though the roots 
were well protected from frost by that mode of storing, 
the bails often cracked away and became dry, when 
the plants suffered harm. Those who have the con¬ 
venience of spare pits or frames will find them the 
best places for Strawberries, but they should be 
plunged in some non-conducting material, and be well 
up to the glass, that they may have full light and air 
at all times. If there are no pits or frames vacant, 
the course to take with them is to stand them on a 
hard bottom, made impervious to worms by the use of 
a layer of coal ashes, in which, or sawdust, they should 
be plunged up to the rims of the pots, and when frost 
comes it is necessary to throw straw over them as a 
protection to the plants and to save the pots 
bursting, which many of them otherwise would 
through expansion of the soil in them, as the force 
from the action of frozen water is great. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
Seasonable 'Work in the Plant-houses. —Tea 
Eoses for forcing. For this purpose plants with well- 
ripened wood should be selected, and they will be all 
the better if they have been well exposed out-of-doors 
for a time previous to starting them. Plants that 
have been so treated start more readily, besides which, 
a month or two out-of-doors does much towards 
cleansing them from insects. When first taken in, 
they should not be subjected to too much heat, and on 
all favourable occasions a little air must be given, but 
as the plants start into growth, this requires to be 
done very carefully, or a cold draught will be sure to 
fetch the young leaves off. After the plants are well 
started into growth the temperature may be raised, 
but we do not recommend too high a temperature at 
any time, as that not only weakens the plants, but 
the flowers come much smaller. Syringing should be 
done at least once a day, and as soon as we get brighter 
weather, it should be done in the morning and early 
in the afternoon. To keep off the mildew, it is a 
good plan to mix sulphur with fresh made lime-wash, 
and brush the hot-water pipes over with it, and this 
will help to keep down the red spider as well. In 
making a selection of varieties for early forcing, the 
following will be found to be very useful sorts:— 
Niphetos, Isabella Sprunt, Souvenir d’un Ami, Safrano, 
Madame Lambard, Perle des Jardins, Devoniensis, 
Madame Falcot, and Madlle. Marie Van Houtte. 
Echeveria retusa. —This is a most valuable plant 
for the embellishment of conservatories at this time 
of the year, when the resources of the majority of 
gardens are taxed to their utmost to provide suitable 
material in sufficient quantities for the many kinds of 
decorations that are required during the festive season. 
Yet how seldom it is that one meets with it grown in 
large quantities for that purpose. A few plants may 
be found in most gardens, but they do not, as a rule, 
come in for a great share of attention. But it is one 
of those plants that should be grown extensively for 
decorative purposes. It does not perhaps rank as one 
of the most showy plants in cultivation, but it is 
quite distinct from all others in use at this season, 
and its compact habit and fleshy grey-green leaves 
have at all times a pleasing appearance; and when 
crowned with its clusters of crimson and yellow- 
tinted bells, it is both beautiful and unique. It is 
also one of the few useful plants that are seldom 
attacked by insects of any kind, and taking all things 
into consideration, it requires as little attention to 
grow it well as any plant that I am acquainted -with. 
It succeeds admirably here under the following 
treatment. After flowering, the plants are placed in 
a well-ventilated house or pit, where they are safe 
from frost. While there they receive water when 
necessary, but during this stage they can, with 
advantage, be kept drier at the roots than is good 
for many other things. Sometime during May they 
are shaken out and re-potted in a compost of three 
parts of good loam to one of well-rotted manure, 
adding plenty of sand to the whole. Great care is 
also taken to have the pots thoroughly well chained. 
Some of the plants are potted without removing any 
of the numerous offshoots which are found springing 
from the base, as they make nice specimens in 7-in. 
and 8-in. pots, or even larger, according to the size 
and age of the plants. Others are divided, and 
placed in 3-in., 5-in., or 6-in. pots. By having them 
in pots of various sizes they are most useful fox- 
decorative purposes. After potting, they are placed 
in a frame, and the whole stock receives a good 
watering (through a rose) a day or two after that 
operation has been performed. They are also kept 
rather close till new roots are formed, when they are 
gradually exposed to all kinds of weather, and 
eventually given a sunny position in the open-air, 
where they remain as long as they are safe from frost. 
We then remove them to a vinery at rest, where they 
receive plenty of air. In this position they remain 
till the end of November or early in December, and 
are then transferred to a rather warmer and less 
airy position in an ordinary conservatory, where 
they will continue in flower for a month or six weeks, 
Dec. 27th, 1884. 
and cannot fail to attract attention by the pleasing 
and novel features of both their flowers and leaves.— 
H. DunMn. 
The Laurestinus as a Pot Plant. —Were we 
to call this plant by its scientific name, Viburnum 
Tinus, many readers of The Gaedexing World would, 
perhaps, not recognize it, so much are we accustomed 
to give it only its popular name of Laurestine. 
Everyone knows it, and all appreciate it, for its free 
flowering properties, blooming too, as it does, in the dull 
winter months in sheltered situations. It is a native 
of the South of Europe, a warmer region than England, 
and in some seasons here the bushes get sadly bruised, 
if not, in fact, killed. If it is planted on a dry soil and 
the plants make a short-jointed growth that will get 
well matured before winter, it is the better capable 
of enduring the cold. But what we are most inte¬ 
rested now in is its value as a pot plant. When 
making up an order for a local nurseryman a few 
autumns ago, I ordered some plants for potting, but 
when they came to hand I was annoyed to find that 
an old stool had been pulled to pieces and sent on as 
so many plants. They were, however, planted out, 
and I resolved to propagate some instead of buying 
any more. I put in a pot of cuttings, using the tips 
of some late growths, and treating them the same as 
soft-wooded bedding-stuff. In the spring they were 
potted off, as they had nearly all struck root, and then 
placed in heat. They grew away freely and in June 
were turned out of the pots into a border of good soil, 
and by autumn made nice-sized plants, which were 
again potted up. Last spring we turned them out 
again into the border, supplied them with water as 
before, and in due time put them in pots again. They 
have now a truss of pure white blooms at the point 
of every shoot. From their first start into growth we 
have rubbed off the side shoots so that we have a 
clean stem a few inches high. It is our intention 
to grow some on to make standards, which will 
produce a large quantity of white flowers, besides being 
in summer very ornamental in the dressed grounds. 
In spring we shall plant them out again, and prune 
up the stem to promote an upright growth until they 
have made stems from 2 ft. to 3 ft. high. When they 
attain this size with good heads they can be housed 
in an orchard-house or in the conservatory with 
smaller plants underneath them. When so treated 
their flowers are so much more pure than those out of 
doors, and being out of the reach of bad weather we 
can cut and come again for some time.— T. IF. 
Scutellaria Moceiniana. — Among the many 
winter blooming subjects grown for the embellishment 
of the stove, or for providing cut flowers, few, if any, 
are superior to this plant when it is properly managed. 
Vet we often see it almost smothered with insects and 
denuded of foliage, which is a great pity, as it is one 
of the easiest of plants to grow, and to obtain good 
results, young plants are the best. Cuttings may 
be taken off at any time during the spring, and 
be inserted either singly in small pots, or several 
may be put round the sides of larger ones, using 
light sandy soil and plenty of drainage. Plunge 
the pots into brisk bottom heat when they will root 
freely, and must then be potted on, in an equal mixture 
of loam and peat, with a little sand and charcoal. 
After potting, stand them again in a little heat, and 
shade them when the weather is bright, until fresh 
roots are made ; stop the plants as they require it, 
and when the pots are pretty well filled with roots, 
shift them into 6-in. pots for flowering in, and stand 
them in a cold frame, keeping it close and shaded 
for a few days until the roots take hold of the fresh 
soil, when shading may be discontinued, except in 
very bright weather, when a net is quite heavy enough 
to break the strong rays of the sun. Admit plenty of 
air both day and night, and always be careful not to 
allow the plants to sufier at any time for want of 
water. Keep stopping them until September, or later 
if the flowers are wanted very late, and when the buds 
appear, remove the plants into a temperature of 60 
degs. Give weak liquid manure twice a week, and 
the result will be a fine mass of orange-scarlet blooms 
on each plant, similar to those I send herewith. If 
the flowers are used for cutting, it is necessary to put 
them in water at a temperature of 60 degs. and in a 
