May 9th, 1885. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
565 
respect to the culture of Anemones. Evidently he 
thinks such elaborate procedure as is there set forth 
is all nonsense, and I heartily agree with him. It is 
absurd to suppose that any flowers need 6 ins. of 
cow-manure and other gross and costly stimulants. 
Thousands who would like to grow not only Anemones 
but other beautiful flowers are repelled from culti¬ 
vating them when they read of such elaborate 
cultural recipes, because they at once feel that they 
are not able to comply with the instructions. They 
are specially harmful in the case of the Anemone, which 
delights in good common garden soil, and would, in 
the stiff land of Burghley Gardens, need little else 
but a moderate dressing of leaf-soil, of which there 
is no lack there. In very light soils a little admixture 
of clay would do no harm, but having grown on both 
stiff land and light porous land, I can but say that in 
both cases I have found the Anemones to be equally 
beautiful. 
I do not adopt the system of sowing seed in drills, 
because it is much the most troublesome and wasteful. 
In the first place, an ordinary packet of seed, well 
rubbed up with dry sand and sown in a shallow box 
in fine sandy soil, will give enough plants to fill a rod 
of ground, making a grand bed. Seed sown in drills 
would take six times as much. Again, by sowing 
under glass, the ground is not required for two months 
later than if the seed be sown at once in it. That 
enables a previous crop of some kind to be taken off. 
Then, if the seed be sown as advised, and the box 
placed in a frame or greenhouse, the seed germinates 
safely and freely, so that in two months from sowing 
time, or perhaps less, the plants may be dibbled out 
in rows 12 ins. apart, and 6 ins. from each other in 
the rows. I find the second year that the space thus 
afforded is now too much, and that the plants, having 
ample space, not only make more robust growth, but 
give larger flowers. The trouble of thinning is avoided, 
and the bed may be kept clean very easily by using a 
hoe.— A. Dean, Bedfont. 
VEGETATION OF KILIMANJARO. 
Me. Johnston, the African traveller, in a description 
of the vegetation at Kilimanjaro which he observed in 
his second ascent, contributed to The Daily Telegraph, 
says :—“ Starting at nine, I walked upwards, with few 
stoppages, until half-past one. At first we crossed 
grassy undulating hillocks, the road being fairly 
easy. Then we entered a heathy tract, scorched and 
burnt with recent bush fires, but higher up, where 
the blaze had not reached, the vegetation was fairly 
abundant and green. Small pink Irises studded the 
ground in numbers ; an occasional Gladiolus of a vivid 
crimson gleamed brightly out from the tufted grass. 
About 12,600 ft. we struck a pretty little stream, flowing 
S.S.W., and lower down carving its way through a 
tremendous ravine, the sides of which were clothed 
with thick vegetation and gaily lit up with the 
brilliant red-leaf shoots of the Protea (Protea abys- 
sinica) shrub. At the place where we crossed the 
stream the banks were shelving, and above the little 
ford the water fell in pretty cascades through a rift 
in the higher ridge of rock. About this spot the 
surrounding scenery had lost much of its accustomed 
asperity. 
“ On the further side of the stream was a patch of 
level greensward, somewhat spoilt by the buffaloes 
who came thither to drink and sport, and who 
had rucked up and befouled much of this little 
natural lawm. Strange sessile Thistles grew here, 
nearly 5 ft. in circumference, belonging, I believe, 
to the genus Carduus, also an extraordinary Lobelia 
(Lobelia Deckeni) 3 ft. to 4 ft. in height, with a Teazle¬ 
like crown of silvery-green bracts and bright blue 
blossoms. 
“ Other remarkable plants were the lovely Cyno- 
glossum amplifolium, with rich ultramarine flowers, 
and an extraordinary arborescent plant, since named 
Senecio Johnstoni, looking somewhat like a Banana 
in the distance, but in reality consisting of a tall, 
black, smooth trunk, 20 ft. to 30 ft. in height, and 
surmounted by a huge crown of broad leaves inter¬ 
spersed or headed up with bunches of yellow blossom. 
This strange plant grew abundantly in the streamlet’s 
bed, and its trunk was so superficially rooted and so 
rotten that, in spite of its height and girth, I could 
pull it down with one hand.” 
INSECTICIDES. 
Until within the last few years the only insecticide 
of any repute among gardeners, besides tobacco-water, 
was that most excellent article known as Gishurst 
Compound, which, it will be remembered, was the 
invention of an enthusiastic amateur, G. F. Wilson, 
Esq., F.B.S., and which stills holds its own. Now we 
have a dozen or more preparations sold either in a 
liquid or solid form, all of which are of value if used 
in a proper manner as assistants to the gardener in 
his constant and unrelenting war with insect pests. 
Our acquaintance with insecticides is a somewhat 
extensive one, most of the compounds now in use, and 
many that are forgotten, having been more or less 
experimented with, though by this we should not like 
it to be inferred by any cynical reader that we keep a 
supply of insects on order for the speedy trial of all and 
every death-dealing compound that may be sent to us. 
The last that has passed through our hands is 
Stevens & Co.’s Amortiser, a non-poisonous liquid, 
which in the case of green-fly on Boses and Carnations 
in pots, we have proved to be a perfect remedy. Mixed 
with soft water at the rate of half a pint of the 
Amortiser to one gallon of water, it forms a “ sky-blue ” 
milk-like wash, which when applied through a fine 
spray nozzle is certain death to the fly without being 
injurious to the delicate foliage. The odour of the 
bray’s insecticide spray. 
liquid is rather agreeable than otherwise, so that in 
the case of those amateurs, ladies and gentlemen, 
who have small greenhouses attached to dwellings, it 
can be used not only with safety and effect as regards 
the destruction of insects, but without the annoyance 
inseparable from the use of those which have an 
unpleasant odour. 
We have also been trying with the Amortiser a new 
spray distributor invented by Mr. W. B. Bray, and 
which proved so effective for the special work for 
which it was designed, and seems to be such a useful 
thing for an amateur, and especially for a lady 
amateur, to wash single plants with, or to dew others 
in hot weather, that we have had it engraved, the better 
to display its construction. With the exception of the 
brass nozzle, and the portion fixed in the cork, the 
whole consists of flexible india-rubber tubing and 
two air-vessels, one a globe and the other oval-shaped, 
and both also made of india-rubber. The bottle 
having been filled with liquid, water or insecti¬ 
cide as the case may be, the operator takes hold of 
the bottle with the left hand, and with the right 
pressing on the lower ball presses the air into the 
chamber above, which in turn drives the liquid, in 
the form of a fine spray, for a distance of 3 ft. and 
more, and as the spray can be sent in any direction 
the operator wishes, it will be seen at once what a 
really handy cotitrivance it is. It can also, it should 
be added, be used with any sized bottle that the cork 
will fit tight, so that should the bottle get broken 
another one can easily be substituted. Messrs. Stevens 
& Co., 67, High Street, Borough, are introducing the 
novelty. 
GLOXINIA MACULATA. 
Here is another plant that is not nearly enough 
recognized in these days either for its value or beauty. 
Mr. Cannell is doing something to bring it forth from 
the comparative obscurity into which it has fallen, 
but especial thanks are due to Mr. Charles Green, 
formerly of Pendell Court, Bletchingley, Surrey, who, 
about the year 1878, exhibited at one of the meetings 
of the Eoyal Horticultural Society extremely handsome 
and attractive specimens of it. 
Now although this plant was introduced to English 
gardens as long ago as the year 1739, it is still by no 
means common, and, it must be admitted, not so much 
grown as it deserves to be. The flowers are of a most 
delightful tint of colour, bluish-lavender, and they 
are borne in the form of a rigid terminal inflorescence, 
exceeding 20 ins. in height when seen on well-grown 
specimens, and it bears this inflorescence most majes¬ 
tically. I am quite within the truth when I say that it 
is a grand old plant when properly grown, and it can 
be successfully managed in the following manner In 
early spring, after the tubers have had their proper 
season of rest, they should have all the old soil care¬ 
fully shaken from them, then be potted singly in pots 
just large enough to take them, pots that are well- 
drained, using a compost made up of good turfy loam 
and peat; then placed in a warm house or pit as in 
the case of ordinary Gloxinias; and as required the 
plants should be shifted. What is known as 24-sized 
pots is a good one in which to flower this Gloxinia. 
During the season of growth a liberal supply of 
water is necessary, and, treated in this manner, there 
is no reason why fine branched specimens should not 
be produced, some 4 ft. in height, with from forty to 
fifty flowers, and extra large, erect, cordate leaves, 
twice the size of those of.G. speciosa. The plant has 
a smooth, spotted stem, which gives it a very attractive 
appearance. In shape the flowers are similar to those 
of Martynia, and this is, perhaps, why it was placed 
in this genus by Linmeus. It is somewhat strange he 
should have done this, since, while Gloxina has solid 
tubers, Martynia has fibrous roots. G. maculata 
has tubers, or rather underground imbricated buds, 
similar to the genus Tydea or Achimenes. Now, who 
will take this fine plant in hand, and make a reputation 
by reason of successfully cultivating it ? Any gardener 
desirous of creating a sensation at a local show has 
now presented to his no flee the means by which he 
can do so, and the opportunity for writing his name 
large in the annals of local horticulture.— Quo. 
- g— ■ ■—-5 
A MOUNTAIN PICTURE IN 
CHILI. 
.After wandering about the lower lands we climbed 
to the top of one of the hills and came suddenly on a 
most wonderful view, with seven snow cones of the 
Cordillera piercing their way through the long line of 
mist which hid the connecting mountains from sight, 
and glittering against the greenish-blue sky ; each one 
looked perfectly separate and gigantic, though the 
highest w r as only 10,000 ft. above the sea. Under the 
mist were hills of Oak and Beech forest, and nearer 
those of the Araucaria domes, while the foreground 
consisted of noble old specimens of the same tree 
grouped round a huge grey boulder covered -with moss 
and enriched with sprays of scarlet Embothrium. No 
subject could be finer if it could only be painted. But 
that “ if ” is the plague of my life, and every year has 
proved more and more that it cannot be. We saw a 
guanaco feeding quietly under the old trees, and it 
looked strange enough to be in character with them, 
and made me wonder how long such a Noah’s ark 
kin d of beast would be allowed to remain in such a 
civilized land as Chili, where nothing indigenous is 
valued. On the other side of the Cordilleras it is still 
so abundant that it is used as a beast of burden, 
though so weak that ten of them cannot carry the 
load of a donkey.— Marianne North. 
-— 
SMITH’S WEED-KILLER. 
I can fully endorse all that your correspondent 
“ W. B. G.” says, at p. 550, in favour of “ Smith’s 
Weed-Killer,” which is the most effectual and econo¬ 
mical preparation for the destruction of weeds of every 
description that I am acquainted with, and therefore, 
like “W. B. G.,” I am glad to see it noticed in 
your columns. For the information of your readers 
