March 21st, 1885. 
439 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
flowers freely visited by bees and insects for their 
abundant nectar, had remained distinct, but in 1883, 
after introducing a swarm of Ligurian bees from 
England, I found that a cross-fertilization had been 
effected, which has left me very few examples of 
E. simplex. The hybrid Echium possesses the leaves 
of the giant plant, and the stem merely bifurcates or 
branches sparingly. The flowers are tinged light blue, 
and the perennial habit of E. fastuosum is expressed 
by a continual growth of the flower-racemes, which, 
after flowering for two years, measure 26 ins. in 
length, and are still unfolding. The seeds of this 
hybrid have not germinated. I am now preparing to 
effect a cross between E. simplex and the handsome 
mountain E. candicans of this island at my country 
residence, 2,000 ft. above the sea. E. candicans and 
E. fastuosum have frequently blended, producing 
plants less new in structure than in habit; but such 
hybrids have been quickly lost, either in sterility or 
reversion.— Michael Grabham, Madeira, in Nature. 
A new double Bon Silene Bose. —Lovers of 
the Rose are fully aware that for fragrance, beauty of 
colour, neatness of bud, free flowering and forcing 
qualities, the old Bon Silene remains at the head of 
the many varieties of the Tea Rose ; but for outdoor 
planting it never has amounted to anything worth 
mentioning, simply from the fact that a few minutes 
of sun-heat would develop and expand its beautiful 
buds into flimsy and worthless flowers, resembling the 
wild Rose found on our hills and roadsides ; but with 
all this great defect we never could entertain for a 
moment the idea of announcing it as worthless, 
because its good qualities overcome its one bad 
quality. At last we are blessed with a great improve¬ 
ment in the shape of a very double Bon Silene, 
originated by a sport from the old Bon Silene over a 
year ago in the greenhouse establishment of E. 
Kippard, in the city of Youngstown, Ohio. He says 
it retains its quality the same as first produced. The 
flower resembles in shape and thickness of petals the 
Souvenir de la Malmaison; its colour and beauty of 
bud is the same as its parent, with a uniform dark 
rose colour to the centre when fully expanded.— 
A. B. Stover,'in American Gardeners Monthly. 
Rivina humilis. —Among berry-bearing plants 
this is one which finds great favour -with me ; and the 
readiness with which a succession of plants is obtained 
is a great desideratum. V/herever a plant exists there 
is sure to be found a “ young family springing up,” 
through its shedding its berries. If these are potted 
and frequently stopped, a very useful plant for table 
or other decoration is the result. Though it has been 
stated that this plant, when propagated by cuttings, 
produces its bright coral-like berries with greater 
freedom, this should not deter the culture of them 
from seedlings. In fact I find them make better 
plants by the latter method. This, as with Callicarpa 
purpurea, another most useful berry-bearing plant, is 
apt to become leggy; but this difficulty is overcome 
by placing them among Ferns, and in such positions, 
the green of the Ferns sets the berries off to greater 
advantage. Unlike the Callicarpa, the Rivina seems 
to thrive with lesser heat, which perhaps to some of 
your readers may place the Rivina in greatest favour. 
Decorating 1 Conservatories. —It is a well-known 
fact that simple people like simple things, and in my 
opinion floral decorations of all kinds should be as 
simple as possible. I have here under my charge a 
span-roofed house used for flowers alone, and whi&h 
has three compartments, with a walk running up the 
centre and a flat stage on each side. The first com¬ 
partment just now is nearly filled with our own 
hardy Primrose, Harbinger, about two hundred and 
fifty pots being employed. They are one mass of 
white flowers, and their delicate perfume is quite 
enchanting. Among these we drop in and slightly 
raise above the Primroses, from two to three dozen 
pots of Violets, the variety being the Czar. This 
house I showed to a noble duke lately, who expressed 
himself highly pleased with such a spring treat. In 
another structure we have rather a different arrange¬ 
ment, still simple and spring-like. This house is 
called “Mr. Gilbert’s reception-room,” and only 
contains one round bed for flowers. Here we have 
for a centre, a plant of Eupatorium riparium, with 
Harbinger and dark-coloured Primroses and Czar 
Violets, and the whole edged with Stipa pinnata. 
This little circle of plants is the very essence of 
simplicity, and composed of plants that everbody can 
grow and obtain.— B. Gilbert, Burghley, Stamford. 
The Coltsfoot (Tussilago Farfara). —Some of 
the representatives of that numerous class of men and 
women—the hawkers—are now seen going from house 
to house with bunches of bright golden blossoms on 
naked stems. They are very rich in colour, and last 
some time in -water; and there is this additional 
advantage—they can be bought cheaply. The generic 
name is said to be derived from the Latin tussis, a 
cough, and allcevo, to reduce. The specific name is 
also Latin, Farfarum being used by Apuleius and 
others as the name of a plant supposed to be our 
common Coltsfoot. This, the common name, is 
derived from the close resemblance the leaves have in 
their outline to that of a colt’s foot. Old Gerarde 
points out that it might more appropriately be termed 
Coughwort. For many centuries the Coltsfoot has been 
used in pulmonary complaints; it forms the basis of 
Coltsfoot lozenges, long celebrated as the cure for 
coughs. Various other curative properties are attri¬ 
buted to it. 
Beautiful as it is in early spring, what a troublesome 
weed it is. Just now the cuttings and embankments 
of many of our railways are aglow with its golden 
flowers, after which comes a dense growth of large 
leaves. It extends itself with marvellous rapidity. 
Every fragment of its widely-creeping roots produces 
a plant, and though buried a yard deep, it sends up a 
stem to the surface and rapidly spreads. It flourishes 
in the stiffest and poorest of clay soils. It is very 
difficult to destroy, and in all places is a soil- 
impoverishing weed. It especially delights in an 
abundance of wet, and where this prevails draining is 
one of the best remedies. Lime rubbish, sand, and 
coal-ashes, if incorporated with the soil it haunts, will 
tend to keep it somewhat in check. The hoe fre¬ 
quently applied, so as never to permit the leaves to be 
long above ground, and, of course, the plants never to 
flow'er, will effectually eradicate it. 
And yet it is a plant full of interest. The cotton on 
the leaves easily rubs off ; this, wrapped in a rag 
dipped in a solution of saltpetre, and dried in the sun, 
makes the best tinder. The leaves are the basis of 
the British herb tobacco. The smoking of Coltsfoot 
for a cough was highly recommended by many old 
writers. Coles, in his Introduction to the Knowledge 
of Plants, says: “ If the down flyeth off Colt’s Foot, 
Dandelyon, and Thistles, when there is no wind, it is a 
sign of rain ”—an observation illustrated by the fact 
that the change in the electrical state of the air imme¬ 
diately preceding rain would tend to loosen these downy 
substances from their parent plants. The Bavarian 
peasants make garlands of the sweet-scented Colts¬ 
foot on Easter Day, and cast them into the fire. 
This is Tussilago fragrans, the Italian Coltsfoot, 
which bears white flowers in early spring, and makes 
an excellent plant for rock-work and semi-wild places, 
—Quo. 
Nitrate of Soda and the Daddy-longlegs. —Miss 
Ormerod, in her last report to the Council of the 
Royal Agricultural Society, states, -with regard to a 
remedy for an attack of daddy-longlegs grubs, that 
nitrate of soda, which has been found for some years 
back to be one of the best applications for carrying 
a crop through attack, has a definitely bad effect on 
the grub, as well as being useful as a fertilizer. The 
nitrate of soda, whether mixed with earth in which 
the grubs were placed, applied as a weak solution, 
or applied at a rate representing 2 cwt. per acre on 
earth in which the grubs were placed at a depth of 
one inch below the surface, was decidedly injurious 
to them. In the two first instances they appeared to 
be killed so long as they were left unmoved; in some 
cases on being removed from the action of the nitrate 
and placed in fresh damp soil they recovered. Those 
treated as noted in the third instance remained 
flaccid and helpless. Joining these observations to my 
own of nitrate of soda causing this kind of grub to 
discharge its contents, the application appears likely 
to be serviceable. Covering the grubs with dressings, 
respectively of salt, soot, lime, and superphosphate 
did them no harm—they merely crawled out from the 
application. 
The Kitchen Gardener’s Calendar.— If not 
already done, complete the planting of I’otatos forth¬ 
with. Our main crop—consisting chiefly of Champions 
and Magnum Bonums—we grow in a field which had 
a good surfacing of manure ploughed into it in the 
previous autumn, and which was again ploughed and 
harro-wed prior to planting, when it is ploughed once 
more and the Potatos set 9 ins. or 10 ins. apart in 
every third furrow. Thus grown, the Potatos do not 
make such a rank growth as is the case when the 
manure is put either immediately under or over the 
tubers at planting-time, consequently they are less 
liable to the attacks of the disease. Remove the long 
dung from Globe Artichoke plants, and any bad leaves 
that may be attached to them, and dig in the surface¬ 
dressing of short dung that was laid between the 
rows and plants in November, last to protect them 
from frost. 
Sparrows are here so determined in their attacks on 
Peas as soon as they come through the ground, and 
even after they have been jearthed up and staked, as 
to render the netting of the individual rows in the 
quietest parts of the garden absolutely necessary in 
order to preserve the crops from utter destruction 
Seed-beds, and seedlings too, should be protected 
from the ravages of birds by pulling pieces of netting, 
supported by short forky sticks, over them. Make 
good any blanks that may have occurred in the rows 
of early plantings of Cauliflower, Cabbage, and 
Lettuce. Use the Dutch hoe freely between all young 
crops—Carrots, Spinach, Onions (autumn-sown), 
Shallots, Garlic, Lettuce, &c.—as much with a view 
to stimulate growth in the crops, by stirring the soil 
about them, as destroying weeds. 
Forcing Department. — Cucumbers in hot-beds 
should have attention in the way of making up the 
linings at short intervals, to impart a little heat to 
the interior of the bed, as well as the frame, the 
stopping, thinning, and arranging of the shoots thinly 
over the surface of the bed, the adding to the hillocks 
of some slightly-warmed soil as soon as the roots 
protrude, and the husbanding of sun-heat by shutting 
up the frame early in the afternoon, and damping the 
plants overhead at the same time with tepid water. 
The plants will require very little water at the roots, 
as the latter can push freely into the manure under¬ 
neath. Cover the frames at night with mats and fern, 
or long litter of any description, to exclude frost.— 
H. W. Ward, Longford Castle Gardens. 
Carter’s New Pyramid Broccoli. —I am much 
interested in this new production, and the illustration 
I have seen of it. It looks like a purple-sprouting 
type, so symmetrical in growth as to form a nearly 
circular bouquet-like shape. Of its origin no parti¬ 
culars are given, but it is the result of several years’ 
careful selection at Messrs. Carter & Co.’s trial grounds. 
It is perfectly hardy, and admirable when cooked. 
With the advent of this unique-looking broccoli, it will 
be possible to present a bouquet of delicious sprouts 
of Brassica Oleracea var. Botrytis cymosa to a gentle¬ 
man, and one of fragrant flowers to his lady, as a 
fitting gift to each !— R. D. 
Tomato King Humbert. —This is a new and 
distinct continental Tomato remarkable for its great 
productiveness, unique colouring, and singular shape. 
In regard to the last-named feature, it is said to 
“sometimes resemble a Pear and sometimes a Cap¬ 
sicum, but never like any other Tomato.” Seeing 
that of late gardeners had shown a decided preference 
for handsome Tomatos of uniform size and appear¬ 
ance, it is difficult to imagine that King Humbert will 
make much headway. But a description of this 
Tomato from an American source attributes to it 
qualities that will go a long way to redeem it from the 
charge of eccentricity in reference to shape. It states, 
“ the flavour is nearly free of acid, it is remarkably 
productive, growing in clusters of from three to eight 
fruits. For preserving or pickling there is probably 
no Tomato that will prove more popular.” — R. D. 
