Feb. 7th, 1885. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
363 
to a single piece. When they have grown large 
enough to occupy 2-in. pots they will be found to 
have formed roots at their heel, when they may be 
detached and will soon grow into useful plants. 
Pandanus javanicus and P. Yeitchii are very useful 
for house decoration. Where an old plant is at hand 
with shoots springing from the base of the stem, they 
may be either cut or pulled off with a heel and 
inserted in suitable pots, and placed in the full sun 
on a shelf near the glass in a stove or pine pit 
Considerable care is necessary in removing these 
cuttings, for, if young, as they should be, these 
making the best plants, they will sometimes leave the 
hard heel behind which it is so necessary to secure 
for the safety of the cutting.—IF. C. P. 
-Ht*- 
The Gloxinia.—If we consider their distinctness, 
their free-blooming habit, their beautiful colours, and 
their easy cultivation, it will at once be admitted 
that few stove-plants so well deserve attention as 
Gloxinias. It is now time to bring forward a batch of 
roots of these charming plants from their resting- 
place. If the roots are found on examination to have 
already commenced to grow, shake them out of the 
dry soil and pot them at once in the pots they are 
intended to flower in. When potted place them on a 
shelf in a pit or house near the glass, where they can 
have the benefit of a temperature of from 65 degs. at 
night to 70 degs. by day. Great care must be taken 
after potting to give water sparingly at first until they 
have made plenty of roots, when they must never be 
allowed to become dry; and they will be greatly 
benefited by an occasional application of soot water. 
If they have not yet commenced to grow, it is a 
good plan to shake the roots out and place them close 
together in pans or boxes filled with cocoa-nut fibre 
to start them into growth. When they have made 
shoots on the crown of the root about half-an-ineh 
in length, lift them carefully out of the cocoa-nut 
fibre, taking care not to damage any small fibres they 
may have made, and pot them in soil of the same 
temperature as the house in which they were started, 
when they will receive no check in potting. The 
Gloxinia is more fond of peat than a good many 
growers imagine, and I would recommend as a good 
compost for potting them in, two parts of fibrous peat 
to one part of loam and one of leaf-soil, with plenty of 
coarse sand to keep the whole porous and sweet. By 
starting a batch of roots now, they may be had in 
bloom about the middle of May.—IF. Baskett, Wykliam 
Park, Banbury. 
Rhododendron, caucasicum. —Those who value 
Rhododendrons in pots for early forcing, cannot too 
soon make the acquaintance of this desirable early 
flowering sort, for I know of none that can so easily 
be induced to bloom. We had some plants in flower 
in the conservatory on January 12th, which bore 
from forty to seventy trusses on a plant, and of the 
beauty and usefulness of which, I need make no 
comment. We force about a dozen plants of it, 
some of them being large ones, and we have had 
them in flower in January during the last eight years 
that I have been here. The plants were put in a 
house in the middle of December, the temperature of 
which was kept at about 45 degs. at night and some 
10 degs. higher by day, and three weeks of this treat¬ 
ment sufficed to get them into flower. These are in 
turn succeeded by other early sorts, such as R. 
Nobleanum, R. altaclarense, R. altaclarense coccinea, 
R. limbatum, R. Everestianum, Duchess of Suther¬ 
land, &c. Add to these some Azalea Mollis in variety, 
and the assortment of colours is grand. I would 
recommend all who force Rhododendrons to be careful 
to select suitable kinds for the work, as it takes 
double the amount of heat and time to get some of 
them into bloom at this season, than it does others. 
We grow about 200 varieties and so have had 
a favourable opportunity of noting the differences 
between them as to the time they come into flower. 
Those who have none should leave the selection to 
a respectable nurseryman, merely mentioning the 
the purpose for which the plants are required.— J. C. F. 
Pelargonium Chelsea Gem.— This belongs to 
the silver variegated-leaved section of bedding Pelar¬ 
goniums, and is in all respects a grand bedding 
variety, being robust yet neat and compact in habit, 
and the white variegations very pure. The flowers 
are pink. 
The Kitchen. Gardener’s Calendar. — Peas 
sown and subsequently treated as advised in the 
number for January 3rd last, may now be planted out 
in rows 4 ft. apart in a warm border, turning the 
plants carefully out of the pots and planting them 
with as much soil as possible adhering to the roots, 
with a garden trowel in the manner described at 
p. 283. Afterwards sow one row of round Spinach 
between the rows of Peas. As soon as the condition 
of the soil will permit of the work being done, plant 
out Shallots, Garlic, and Chives in beds 4 ft. wide, 
having an alley 1 ft. wide between each bed, and in 
rows 9 ins. apart and 6 ins. in the row. The Shallots 
may be inserted by the pressure of the finger and 
thumb barely under the surface of the bed, but the 
Garlic and Chives should be planted a couple of 
inches deep. 
Make another sowing of Peas of any of the approved 
varieties which are found to succeed best in each 
particular soil or locality in drills 3 ins. deep and 6 ft. 
to 8 ft. apart. The seeds should be sown rather thinly 
—from 3 ins. to 6 ins. asunder—so that the haulms 
may have room to develop themselves and better 
results be secured in consequence. The same remarks 
also apply to Broad Beans, a sowing of which— 
Carter’s Leviathan or Broad Windsor—should also be 
made in an open situation, in drills the sanm depth 
as recommended for Peas, and 3 ft. to 4 ft. apart. 
See to the disbudding and sorting of pitted Potatos. 
Supplement last week’s planting of Cauliflowers from 
pots by making a larger one with plants taken from 
cold pits and planted carefully with a little soil 
adhering to their roots in the manner advised at p. 347. 
Plant the pits so vacated with some of the earliest 
kidney-shaped Potatos in rows 12 ins. to 15 ins. 
asunder and 7 ins. in the rows, taking care that the 
young shoots are not broken off in the operation. Small 
plantings of Potatos should also be made on warm 
borders, where a little protection from spring frosts 
could be given if necessary. Make a small sowing of 
French Breakfast and Scarlet Short Top Radishes 
under a south wall between the fruit-trees. 
Plant Jerusalem Artichokes in a good open situation 
in drills 4 ins. deep, 2 ft. asunder, and 10 ins. to 12 ins. 
apart in the row, and see that any bad bulbs that are 
among the store of Onions are removed forthwith to the 
rubbish-heap before they affect their neighbours. 
Forcing Department. —Cover a few dozen roots of 
Rhubarb with deep pots or boxes, and these with 6 ins. 
or 8 ins. thick of long dung or leaves. Also cover a few 
rows of Seakale with improvised boxes, about 8 ft. long, 
10 ins. wide, and 8 ins. deep, having a board of the 
same length and width for a lid, and sufficient leaf- 
mould over all to exclude light and air. Thus 
covered, providing the plants have been properly 
grown, Kale of the best quality may be looked for a 
month or five weeks later. 
Earth up early Potatos by putting 3 ins. thick of 
soil between the rows. Maintain the supply of French 
Beans by sowing seven or eight seeds in 8-in. pots 
three parts filled with rich mould at short intervals, 
covering the seed with a little of the same compost, 
and afterwards placing them in a forcing-house. Top- 
dress successional batches when the Beans are about 
3 ins. above the rim of the pots, and pinch the points 
out to make them branch. Sow Mustard and Cress 
every week, and see that there is a good supply of 
Mint and Tarragon kept up by potting up fresh roots 
occasionally. Maintain a good supply of Asparagus 
by planting additional frames, and afterwards, when 
the “grass” comes up, attend to the airing of the 
same.— II. TV. Ward. 
-H*- 
Perfection Brussels Sprouts : New Vege¬ 
tables. — I should be obliged if some of your 
numerous readers would give their experience of 
the Perfection Brussels Sprout. We have grown a 
large quantity of it here this season, and of all the 
Sprouts I have ever seen this is the poorest. We 
have not one stalk in the whole lot worth the name 
of a Sprout. A great many new things are put into 
commerce every year bearing dashing names and 
sent out with glowing descriptions, yet which, when 
they come to be properly tested, prove to be not nearly 
so good as older kinds, and in a few years after 
causing disappointment, are no more heard of. 
This is not the case with all the new introductions, 
but it is with a great many of them; and as nearly 
every one likes to have something new, and many 
depend upon the new sort for a supply, the conse¬ 
quence is often a failure. Gardeners who have to 
keep up a constant supply of the different kinds of 
vegetables while they are in season, and who depend 
upon these new things, very often get into hot water 
with their employers for so doing. Therefore I would 
warn gardeners, and especially young ones, not to 
depend upon anything new for the main crop until 
they have previously tested it in a small way. By 
all means grow as many new things as ground can 
be spared for, but let them be only for a trial. If 
they do well grow them again, but do not depend 
upon them until you have grown them at least two 
seasons.—IF. C. 
--> *< — - 
New American Peas. — Three new varieties 
raised in the United States have found their way 
to England this season with a good reputation 
at the back of each. Since the American Wonder 
Pea came to this country a few years ago—a very 
useful, hardy, dwarf, early free-bearing variety, 
well suited for early exhibitions—English gardeners 
took more readily to Transatlantic Peas than they 
had hitherto done. American Wonder was the 
first Pea of American origin that has ever attained 
a world-wide reputation. It was raised by a native 
horticulturist, the late Mr. Charles Arnold, of 
Canada, by crossing Maclean’s Little Gem with that 
standard variety, Fairbaird’s Champion of England. 
A large number of seedlings came from a series of 
cross fertilizations of these two varieties, and all 
showing the most desirable qualities were subjected to 
further trials. The number was reduced from year to 
year by rejecting all that did not answer the expecta¬ 
tions formed of them. Among the first seedlings 
selected by Mr. Arnold as the most promising were 
the two following varieties ; and as with each 
succeeding year their desirable characteristics became 
more apparent and permanent, they were placed in 
the hands of Messrs. B. K. Bliss & Sons, of New York, 
for the purpose of being sent out:—American Wonder 
being an extra early variety, the first of the two to be 
described, Abundance, is a mid-season variety.; it is 
of half dwarf growth, 15 ins. to 18 ins. in height, 
foliage large, thick, full, and dark green ; pods nearly 
or quite 3 ins. long, roundish, and well filled, and 
containing six to eight large winkled Peas of excellent 
quality. One of the most striking features of this Pea 
is its remarkable tendency for branching from the 
roots, forming a thick bush. It is to all intents and 
purposes a free branching Pea, consequently the seeds 
require to be sown thinner than is usual, from 6 ins. 
to 8 ins. apart in the rows is the nearest that the 
plants should stand. It promises to make an excellent 
market variety, but in consequence of being scarce it 
yet commands a good price. The second is known as 
the Ever Bearing Pea. This is a late or main crop 
variety, being in bearing from mid-season to very late; 
height of haulm 20 ins. to 24 ins., foliage large, vigor¬ 
ous, and of a bright green colour ; pods 3 ins. to 4 ins. 
long on the average, each pod producing eight Peas or 
thereabouts ; pods large, and of fine table quality. It 
is a very free branching variety, so the plants should 
have plenty of room, and the seed sown much thinner 
than usual. If the ground is rich the plants should 
be quite 8 ins. apart. Probably we shall hear some¬ 
thing of these Peas during the coming summer, as 
they have found their way to England.— E. D. 
-- 
Fuchsia triphylla.—T his beautiful Fuchsia has 
already been noticed in our columns (p. 52), and 
we observe that an excellent figure is given in the 
January number of The Botanical Magazine. There 
is little to add to the account already given, though 
it is interesting to find that in its native home of San 
Domingo it forms a round bush, not over 18 ins. high, 
every shoot of which is terminated by a raceme of 
orange-scarlet wax-like flowers. It is a plant of 
sterling merit, and of which we hope to hear more 
by-and-bye. 
