Jan. 3rd, 1885. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
283 
Begonia, and the flowers are of large size and of a 
beautiful rosy-pink- It is of dwarf and compact 
habit, and comes in at a time when flowers are 
especially valuable. 
-H*- 
Chinese Primulas as biennials.— Generally 
speaking, the Chinese Primula is treated as an 
annual, the seeds being sown from the beginning of 
March onwards for producing flowering plants for the 
following winter and spring, and perhaps for all, or 
nearly all, purposes that is the best. On lately 
looking through the houses at The Palace, Salisbury, 
I saw an uncommonly healthy and well-flowered lot 
of plants on the shelves, and on my remarking to 
that effect, I was told that they were planted out-of- 
doors in the summer months, a method of cultivation 
that was quite new to me, but as to the results nothing 
could have been more satisfactory, as their leaves 
were as green as Leeks, and the best of the plants 
had three flower - spikes, the flowers beautifully 
fimbriated and measuring 2 ins. across. Mr. Smith, 
the able gardener, gave me the following details of his 
treatment. He sows the seed late, and these plants 
flower in the spring, after which they are planted out 
in the garden, in a position not too exposed, such as a 
border by the side of espalier-trained fruit-trees. 
Here they remain until the time comes for lifting 
them in the autumn with no other attention except 
occasionally removing flower - spikes, and keeping 
them clean ; these when lifted form what are called 
the early flowering batch, and are thrown away when 
the younger plants come into flower in the spring. 
Those who have a few weak plants or small ones now 
in little pots would do well to give this method of 
culture a trial.— C. Warden. 
-- 
Ipomoea Horsfallise. — This beautiful stove 
climber is valuable as a winter-flowerer. The leaves 
are dark green in colour and oomposed of five 
lanceolate leaflets, and the large magenta-crimson 
flowers are produced in large many-flowered panicles. 
The other day we observed a plant in the stove at 
Kew, which, trained to one of the rafters, produced a 
very pleasing effect. 
Linum trigynum. —This useful and accommo¬ 
dating subject, introduced from the East Indies in the 
year 1802, is said by some to require stove treatment, 
but we have found it succeed admirably in unheated 
pits, kept rather close in the summer months and 
subsequently in a temperature intermediate between 
that of the stove and greenhouse to induce it to unfold 
its pretty, three-styled, yellow flowers. Cuttings made 
from the young growths strike root most readily if 
kept a little close and shaded. When rooted, pot 
them off into small pots, and keep them in a little 
warmth till they have filled the pots with roots. Give 
them a position not too far removed from the glass, 
syringe them overhead daily, as their greatest enemy 
is red spider ; and as soon as they have made several 
leaves, pinch the points out of the shoots, so that they 
may be kept dwarf and bushy, as without a course of 
pinching two or three times during the season, they 
would not attain this desired condition. When they 
have filled their pots with roots they should be potted 
on, using a mixture of peat and loam, with sand to 
keep it porous. Give them a little warmth to induce 
them to take to the new soil quickly, and about the 
beginning of June they may be removed to a cold 
frame, where they must be attended to regularly as to 
water and stopping, and when they have filled their 
pots with roots, if potting on is not contemplated, 
they should be occasionally supplied with liquid 
manure until they come into flower. As cold weather 
sets in, they should be removed to a warmer structure, 
and a part of them introduced to an intermediate 
temperature, according as they are wanted in flower. 
Treated in this way, it is possible to prolong their 
season of flowering for three months, and three of the 
worst months too—viz., November, December and 
January.— G. Warden. 
-►*.- 
Potting off Bedding Plants. —Your correspon¬ 
dent, Mr. H. Dunkin, describes at p. 246 the practice 
(and its advantages) of potting off Pelargoniums in 
squares of turf, but I would point out that it is not 
every gardener who can afford to use good turf for 
such a purpose. The plan I have adopted for a great 
number of years is as follows :—Our bedding Pelargo¬ 
niums just now occupy a large lean-to house. They 
are growing in nice handy boxes, 3 ft. long, 10 ins. 
wide, and 5 ins. deep. Early in March the young 
plants are turned out of the boxes, the cuttings or 
plants are drawn from the soil and wrapped up 
separately in moss, after placing a small quantity of 
soil round the roots. The operation is carried out in 
this way: take a small quantity of moss in one 
hand, and, after spreading it out, put on a little 
soil, on which lay the plant, close your hand and tie 
up firmly with matting. We then take the same 
boxes, and, after arranging the plants in rows across, 
fill up between the rows with a little fine soil. They are 
then shifted into an early vinery, and soon make fine 
plants. The trouble of watering them is reduced to a 
minimum. When planting-out time comes the plants 
have a mass of young fibrous roots. Planting them 
into the warm soil and treating them with a slight 
watering they receive no check and begin to grow 
immediately. Other bedding plants, such as Lobelias, 
Violas and Pyrethrums, &c., we grow all in boxes, 
lifting them with a ball at the time of planting.— 
JR. Gilbert, Hyde Park Gardens, Burghley. 
-- 
Tulipa Borsczowi. —A showy species, belonging 
to the T. oculis-solis group. The leaves are pale green 
and very much cristate on the margin; the flowers 
crimson-scarlet in colour, with a large very dark 
obovate blotch at the base of each segment. It is 
figured in the Gartenflora for December. 
■——■ 
Mr.. Webb’s Seedling 1 Potatos. —In your issue 
of December 13th you publish a letter, signed “ D. A.,” 
commenting on my seedling Potatos. The writer ap¬ 
pears to think little of the variety which I call “ Erin’s 
Pride,” and states that it was tried at Chiswick 
last summer with so many other fine kinds, “ and 
proved a very poor sample, rough, uneven, and alto¬ 
gether unworthy of a place beside our best English 
kinds.” Now, this is a dashing way of underrating 
the production of another, and all I can say is that 
my trials have turned out quite different to this 
description. At the late Dairy Show, Ball’s Bridge, 
Dublin, I exhibited a collection of Potatos, and Mr. 
Wm. Kerr, of Dargavel, Dumfries, was awarded the 
Pirst Prize for a large and very fine collection, and I 
received the second prize. The quantity shown was 
7 lbs. of each, and the collection included six of my 
seedlings, amongst them being Erin’s Pride and 
Erin’s Beauty, and these two varieties were greatly 
admired. At the Boyal Dublin Horticultural Society’s 
Fruit Show, held at the Botundo in November, I 
again showed my seedlings, and was Highly Com¬ 
mended ; while at the Fruit ShoW of 1883 I was 
awarded a Bronze Medal for twelve seedlings. Now 
if on these three occasions my Potatos were good 
enough to be awarded the prizes I name, surely they 
must possess some merit, and do not show, as “ D. A.” 
fears, “that Irish raisers are a long way behind in 
the matter of Potatos.” He speaks of The Champion 
as a bad stock to raise from. That may be so, but it 
has a strong constitution, and in 1880 what would 
Ireland have done without it ? There was then no 
standard variety that could be relied upon, and it was 
a fortunate thing for the country that the Dowager 
Duchess of Marlborough founded a relief committee 
to raise funds for distributing Nichols’ Champion 
Potato throughout Ireland. The Dublin Mansion 
House Fund followed, and then came Government 
grants, and by these means some thousands of tons 
were imported into this country. And what was the 
result the following year? Why abundant crops, 
which provided quantities of good food for the people. 
Since then it has maintained its character, and this 
season the produce is immense and of fine quality. 
As regards seedlings from The Champion I know a 
gentleman in the County Cavan who has some very 
good ones. Two of his varieties I grew last season 
and found them great croppers, with a strong habit of 
growth, and good in quality. The colour of one is a 
light pink and the other is white and of a better shape 
than the parent. I quite agree with “D. A.” that 
well-selected hybridized seedlings are superior to 
those naturally fertilized, but in crossing constitution 
as well as shape has to be considered, for if you breed 
too fine to obtain shape a weak constitution will be 
the result, and the kinds so raised would be only fit 
for the exhibition table in place of general cultivation. 
As regards my own seedlings, it is my intention next 
season to place them in the hands of three or four 
practical farmers, and if they meet with their approval 
or otherwise I shall be perfectly satisfied, as I consider 
that is the only and true test.— C. B. Webb, Dublin, 
December 22nd, 1884. 
-- 
Early Peas. —In most establishments it is the 
aim of the gardener to secure a gathering of Green 
Peas as early and as late in the season as possible, 
and to maintain a good supply of the same during 
the interval. The best way to obtain early gatherings 
of Peas—say from the middle of April, where pit 
accommodation is provided for their growth—and to 
maintain that supply afterwards, is to sow at once in 
3-in. pots three parts filled with light mould, some 
seeds of the following varietiesDay’s Early Sun¬ 
rise, Ringleader, William I., American Wonder, and 
Sutton’s Bijou. The two last named varieties grow 
from 12 ins. to 15 ins. high, and are specially adapted 
for pot culture, or planting in pots filled to within 
12 ins. or 15 ins. of the glass with fermenting leaves, 
including 9 ins. thick of short dung and soil on the 
top. Put eight or nine Peas in each pot, cover them 
with some mould, and put the pots into a forcing- 
house, and when the Peas have made a couple of 
inches of growth, remove them to a cooler and more 
airy house to harden off a little before finally trans¬ 
planting them (about the middle of February) into 
warm borders. Plant them in rows 4 ft. apart and 
9 ins. asunder in the row, then draw a little soil up to 
the haulms and stake them forthwith; using sticks 
from 3 ft. to 4 ft. long, and short pieces of spray 
between them and close to the young plants to prevent 
them from swaying. Afterwards stick short spruce 
boughs firmly in the ground on either side the 
ranks as a protection from cutting winds and frost. 
This done, lay on either side of the rows a good 
mulching of short dung, a foot wide. This will not only 
conserve moisture at the roots and keep the latter in a 
more equable condition than would otherwise be the 
case, but it will also prevent frost from penetrating 
the soil and the haulm from sustaining injury from 
cutting winds after the spruce boughs have been 
finally removed about the middle of March, they 
having been removed occasionally, as weather per¬ 
mitted, during the interval to prevent the plants from 
making a spindly growth. As soon as the haulms 
come into flower, pinch the points of the shoots out 
with a view to hastening the podding process, and 
with the same object in view, as well as that of keeping 
the plants in bearing as long as possible, they should, 
in the' absence of rain at the time, have copious 
supplies of -water at the roots. These plants, should 
we be favoured with ordinary spring weather, will 
yield a gathering of Green Peas about the third week 
in May, by which time we may assume the supplies 
previously obtained from those grown in pots and pits 
will be pretty well exhausted, sowings of Sunrise, 
Ringleader, William I., Laxton’s Supreme, and Culver- 
well’s Telegraph made in the open at the same time 
the sowings are made in pots for transplanting out-of- 
doors will supplement and continue the supplies 
obtained through that source for a month or five 
weeks, providing that the plants are well attended to 
from the beginning—heavily mulched, and kept well 
supplied with water at the roots—including occasional 
applications of liquid manure while podding.— H. W. 
Ward. 
-- 
Tomato, Scone Palace.— This is a new variety 
raised by Mr. M‘Kinnon, gardener to the Earl of 
Mansfield, Scone Palace, Perth, which Messrs. R. B. 
Laird & Sons, Edinburgh, describe as being perfectly 
distinct, “ and so remarkably good in every respect that 
it may be safely described as a most valuable acquisi¬ 
tion. The fruits are of large size, globular in form, 
quite smooth, and of a rich crimson colour, and they 
are remarkable not less for their solidity and high 
quality than for their handsome appearance and the 
freedom with which they are produced.” 
