March 21st, 1885. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
455 
second quarry, which, on being unearthed, proves to 
be somewhat larger than the first one, and is about 
the size of a horse-chestnut; on examination, however, 
it is pronounced to be too old and is thrown away, 
with the remark and a shake of the head, “ Ah, I am 
afraid we be too late, your keeper always said I should 
come here in October.” 
Our visit being altogether unexpected, we find, on 
arrival at the keeper’s house, that he is not at home ; 
his good lady, however, 'on being made acquainted 
with our object, soon informs us where we shall be 
most likely to meet with success. A belt of Beech 
trees in close proximity, and running parallel to a 
hedgerow is now our objective point, on reaching 
which hunting commences with downright earnest¬ 
ness. The dogs are uncoupled and set to work with 
such encouraging words from their master as “ Hi, 
hi, my beauties, find ’em out, find ’em out!” and this 
they certainly do with wonderful alacrity and sagacity, 
if the term is admissible. Two of the dogs are some 
few yards in advance, game is almost immediately 
found, and this time is so near the surface as not to 
require the aid of the steel-pointed staff, as one of our 
little friends comes trotting up with a medium-sized 
Truffle in its mouth, laying it at the feet of its master ; 
and, with a kindly acknowledgement and a cheery 
“ Hi, hi, my beauties, find ’em out, find ’em out! ” is 
soon at work again. A few more are found, and we 
move away some distance to another Beech planta¬ 
tion. On our arrival here we find the underwood 
has recently been cut, and the Truffle-hunter remarks, 
“ It’s all up wi’ Truffles here for a few years, till the 
young wood has grown again.” We are rewarded, 
however, with a few, but they are mostly too old and 
unsalable ; and so the hunting goes on for the remain¬ 
der of the afternoon. 
A few general remarks on the subject may now be 
given, and may not be altogether uninteresting or 
unacceptable to those who do not happen to have ever 
joined in the sport! Sport did we say? Save the mark; 
let it be “ proceedings,” if you will, for sport it might 
not be to every one. Of the dogs, a word or two first. 
In colour, shape, and general appearance, they are very 
like an under-sized French poodle; and in spite of their 
possessing a decided Mongrel look, we are assured 
that they are a special breed, and as our huntsman 
expressed it, “real Truffle dogs, they be, different 
from all others.” They require to be broken and 
taken in hand when quite young, much patience and 
kindly treatment being necessary to train them 
properly, indeed, it may be said that the one essential 
point to this successful hunting is centred in the 
amount of kindness and encouragement they receive ; 
not a harsh word is spoken, and they almost seem to 
expect, as a reward, a small piece of bread for every 
Truffle they find. 
It may possibly be of interest to those who are 
totally unacquainted with the Truffle, to state, that it 
is a fungus, Tuber sestivum, or, as our huntsman says, 
a Subterraneous Mushroom. Athough the industry 
in this country has nearly become extinct, it is a 
very important one in the south of France, where it 
is said that the harvest sometimes yields as much as 
a million sterling.— J. Horsefteld, South Wilts. 
■— r 
AGERATUM MEXICANUM. 
This deserves more extended cultivation as a 
winter-flowering subject than it usually receives. 
How seldom one meets with it grown for that 
puipose, although in the same establishments the 
dwarfer varieties may be grown in abundance for 
summer-bedding. I am fully aware that there are 
some gardens in which Ageratums are not tolerated 
in any shape or form, but these are exceptions 
and not the rule. To have A. mexicanum for 
winter flowering, all that is necessary is to pro¬ 
pagate a few extra when those for bedding purposes 
are being seen to, and to grow them afterwards in 
every respect as if they were to be bedded out. For 
their summer treatment, the best plan is to plant them 
in a rather dry shaded spot, where the soil is of a 
heavy nature, which will cause them to make a more 
stunted growth and consequently not so sappy and 
long-jointed as when grown under more liberal 
conditions. About the first week in September they 
will require to be taken up and potted (not using pots 
of too large a size) in a compost made up of two 
parts of loam to one of dung, as a little stimulus will 
then help to increase the size of the flowers. A 
temperature of 50 degs. minimum will be found to 
give satisfaction.— E. Dumper. 
MESSRS. VEITCH’S AMARYLLIS. 
Those whose ideas of the beauty of the Amaryllis 
are based on their observation of the kinds they see 
in general cultivation, and even Amaryllis growers 
themselves, unless they have seen Messrs. Veitch’s 
collection in bloom, have no idea to what perfection 
the steady years of perseverance in inter-crossing by 
this great firm has brought them. Every good 
feature in any of the old kinds has been carefully 
worked-up to and improved; the Bolivian introduc¬ 
tions of the Bardina section and other distinct 
species, which Messrs. Yeitch have imported, being 
judiciously called into requisition wherever they 
might be of service in giving breadth and uniformity 
of petal, size, substance, or perfect form, and the 
result has been that even the most sanguine expecta¬ 
tions of the raisers themselves have in some instances 
been greatly exceeded, while the general issue has 
been a great and permanent imiirovement in every 
feature for which the Amaryllis has been valued. 
Until these recent improvements the varieties -which 
had the best flowers usually only bore them in pairs, 
whilst those which bore four or six flowers on a spike 
were invariably small and narrow petalled, but one of 
the chief aims at Chelsea has been to surpass the old 
varieties for size and colour, and yet to have the 
spikes bear good heads of bloom. This has been so 
■well accomplished that the bulbs—in many instances 
furnished with two or three flower-spikes, each bearing 
four or five gigantic blooms—-seem to have attained 
all that even the most exacting could desire of them. 
Of the colours of the flowers nothing but an 
inspection of the house at Messrs. Veitch’s could give 
an idea, some of them being almost wholly white, and 
others varying in every shade and in every disposi¬ 
tion of veining and tinting, from white to dark blood- 
red and crimson ; many of the blooms measure 7 ins. 
to 8 ins. across ; the A. Leopoldii of their introduction 
having done much in giving novelty and form. 
Through the kindness of Messrs. Veitch we are 
enabled to give an illustration of the Chelsea Amaryl¬ 
lis-house, on p. 457, but even now there are many more 
in flower than are there shown, the bulbs on the side- 
stages having freely sent up their spikes, so that the 
beauty of the display will not be likely to pass for some 
considerable time yet. The house contains over 2,000 
flowering-bulbs, having, in the aggregate at present 
about 1,500 flower-spikes in different stages, and many 
more yet to push up. In other houses and pits there 
are many thousands of bulbs in all stages, that 
vigorous constitution which has been one of the 
objects in the raisers being visible throughout the 
immense stock. In the whole of the flowering-house 
there is not an indifferent bloom, but the following 
seemed to us to be a matchless selection, many of 
them having received first-class certificates of merit 
at the Boyal Horticultural and Koyal Botanic 
Societies:— 
Lady of the Lake (the centre plant in our illus¬ 
tration).—Flowers of great substance, white, with 
emerald-green centre and faint crimson feather. 
John Heal. —A noble flower, with petals 3J ins. 
broad of the richest crimson-scarlet, broadly tipped 
with white. This grand variety is named after Mr. 
Heal, -who so ably manages the Amaryllis for Messrs. 
Veitch. 
Mark Tapley. —An immense flower of the Johnsoni 
form, beautifully veined with scarlet, and having a 
distinct white star in the centre. 
Rodrigo. — Flowers of fine form, 7 ins. across, 
brilliant scarlet, with a white central star. This is 
of the Ackermanii strain. 
Emilia. —Grand in substance and shape, creamy 
white, flaked and veined with crimson. Petals tipped 
greenish-white. 
Prince Leopold. —Dark blood-red, with mauve 
tint; greenish star in centre ; of fine form and colour. 
Othello. — Brilliant maroon crimson, and sweet 
scented. 
Helvetia. —Pure white, flaked with scarlet; also 
fragrant. 
Empress of India.— Glowing scarlet, suffused wit 
orange and relieved by a white eye and white band 
down each petal. 
Royal Standard (the right-hand corner plant in the 
illustration).—Brilliant scarlet, tipped with white. 
This may be said to be an improvement on Leopoldii. 
CnELSONi. —Flowers of perfect form. Fiery crimson 
scarlet. An improvement on the redoubtable 
Ackermanii pulcherrima. 
Brilliant. —Also a fine scarlet. 
Juno. —Orange-scarlet, with white star and rays; 
very distinct. 
Queen of Holland. —Rosy scarlet, with broad white 
band, striped with scarlet down each petal. 
George Taylor.— Rich carmine, shaded with scarlet, 
green centre, with white ray. A grand variety. 
Duchess of Connaught. —A fine form, with broad 
even white petals. The best -white ever obtained. 
Mrs. Wynne. —Dark blood-red, with a light band 
down each petal. 
Lord of the Isles, —A fine variety, with soft reddish 
scarlet flowers of great substance. 
Sir Redvers Buller. —One of the best and largest 
Amaryllis ever raised. Flowers 8 ins. across ; 
brilliant scarlet, with a broad white band up each 
petal. 
Charmer. —A fine white, veined with red. 
Ceres. —Dark purplish crimson, with emerald-green 
star. 
Clarinda. —White ground, marked and stained with 
rosy red. 
Valida.— Brilliant scarlet, with a green star and 
black centre. A fine variety of the Aulica strain. 
Bayard. —‘Glowing scarlet, shaded with crimson. 
NEW GARDENING PATENTS. 
[Compiled by 3Iessrs. Lulman & Co., Patent Agents, 
S, Essex Street, Strand, London, W.C.] 
275. Compounds for Destroying Insects, Dis¬ 
infecting (W. G. Little, Conisboro’, Yorks.).—Light 
and heavy oils obtained by the distillation of resin are 
saponified with caustic potash. The soap thus 
produced is applicable to vegetation and will destroy 
insect life, and may also be used as an antiseptic or 
disinfecting compound. 
6,066. Indla-rubber Hose (J. B. Harris, Fountain 
Bridge, Edinburgh).—The object is to increase the 
durability of india-rubber hose by the substitution 
of wire-cloth for the groundwork of the textile fabric 
hitherto used in its manufacture. An inner lining of 
india-rubber, prepared in the usual manner, is lapped 
round a mandrel, and formed with a longitudinal joint. 
Over this, plies of wire-gauze are wrapped, and, lastly, 
a covering of canvas is applied; but this outer covering 
may sometimes be dispensed with. The wire-gauze 
is prepared by passing it between rollers with india- 
rubber composition, and is cut into widths diagonally. 
Hose made in the usuaPway may also be protected 
from injury when in use by an outer coating of this 
wire-cloth. 
12,031. Baskets (J. Milbourne, and T. Humphreys, 
Manchester).—A solid rail of wood or metal is placed 
immediately under the top border, and extending 
round all or any of the sides. The rods forming the 
skeleton of the basket pass through holes in this 
rail. A protecting shoe is fixed to the bottom of the 
basket by holes being bored in the frame through 
which the rods of the skeleton are passed, instead 
of the bottom being nailed on in the usual way. 
The lids have solid rails at each end, having also 
holes bored to receive the ends of the rods. The 
rails may further be held together by means of iron 
bars. 
-— o— —d — 
Parings of Horses’ Hoofs as Manure. —The value 
of these as a manure appears to be well understood 
by some of the Midland market gardeners. At this 
time of the year barrels are filled by the principal 
shoeing establishments in Birmingham and elsewhere 
and collected by market vans. As a top-dressing, 
strewed thinly between the rows of early cabbages and 
forked over, it is considered invaluable. I have tested 
its efficiency, and found that rows of early cabbage to 
which it had been thus applied have hearted ready for 
cutting before other rows standing side by side and 
not so similarly treated have begun to turnin. Of 
course, in using the parings from the shoeing shops 
care must be taken that every scrap of iron or broken 
nails is carefully picked out.— J. Knight, Bilston. 
