July 18th, 1885. 
THE GARDENING WORLD, 
front ventilators could always be used at those times 
apart from the portable lights. Vermin on Apricots 
(apart from the grub) is uncommon. The little grub, 
however, is very formidable, and I know no means of 
getting rid of it but hand-picking when once it is 
established in the young leaves. Tobacco-powder 
dusted over the trees in due time is a good preventive, 
also water mixed with soft soap. Apricot trees under 
glass (I mean permanent glass coverings) are seldom 
met with in a satisfactory condition. I know where 
they are well done—and have been for years—in pots, 
which are taken to the cool orchard-house to flower, 
set their fruit, and mature it. They are then plunged 
in ashes outside, in the full sun and air. 
As to the best means which I know of to employ in 
order to avoid the disease. I will give my experience 
with a number of trees which I planted in Worcester¬ 
shire, and as details have been given in The Gardeners' 
Chronicle, and also in The Journal of Horticulture 
and several local papers, I shall not be considered 
egotistical if I state how I treated the Apricots, 
which covered 14-ft. walls in about five or six years, 
and were in perfect health, and quite free from 
disease at every period of their growth. First the 
ground was well drained, foundations were formed 
under the trees by layers of broken bricks ; a layer of 
soil was placed over this and well mixed with lime and 
brick rubbish, and the whole rammed as firm as a rock. 
The trees, which were mostly maidens, were examined 
well for suckers, the long roots shortened back, then 
laid out flat on the prepared bottoms ; a little clean 
soil of a sandy nature was placed over and among the 
roots, and made tolerably firm. In front of the roots 
the mixture of brick rubbish was placed all round, and 
rammed as firmly as possible with heavy rammers. 
Slight mulchings were laid over them and finished 
with clean soil, over the mulching, for appearance sake. 
Training was fair, horizontal, and upright. Pruning 
was mostly done between May and September ; the 
knife was seldom required. Gross shoots were either 
rubbed oil or stopped before they became robbers. 
There was no shortening back at any time by the 
knife, except at the roots; the tops being regulated 
by lifting and cutting back a portion of the roots as 
seemed necessary. 
The period chosen for this operation was between 
the months of May and September, which allowed the 
cuts to heal and throw out innumerable fibres. The 
top growth was thus arrested and became hard, like 
whalebone. Many object to summer manipulation of 
the roots, but I have practised it for about twenty 
years on all kinds of fruit-trees, and from the results 
experienced up to the present season I am not in¬ 
clined to strike into a new line till I find something 
better. To keep fruit-trees healthy in our island, my 
opinion is, that the growths of the current season 
should be perfectly ripe when the fruit is gathered. 
Apricots are more often ruined by luxuriant growth 
from rich soil at their roots than from poverty.— 
M. Temple. 
— g==» - - -- — 
SELECT HARDY PERENNIALS. 
(Continued from p. 711.) 
Dictamntjs Fraxinella. —In this fine old-fashioned 
perennial we have not only a plant of sterling merit, 
but one which is adapted either for border decoration or 
for exhibition purposes. At a glance, one may regard it 
as a serviceable plant. It is self-supporting, forming 
a bush 2 ft. to 3 ft. high, and produces fine spikes 
of peculiar reddish flowers, which are exceedingly 
fragrant; it is one of the best of showy perennials, 
delighting in a deep, rich soil. There is also a white 
form of this plant, which, in general habit and time 
of flowering, is identical with the type ; seeds are 
freely produced, by which, and also by division, they 
may be increased. I do not, however, advise the 
latter method, since one good specimen in flower is 
worth half-a-dozen miserable scraps. 
Dielytbas. —These one and all possess a grace, 
more or less, which always renders them welcome 
wherever met, and the several species being equally 
good and useful ornaments for the garden, when 
properly utilized, they cannot fail to give satisfaction 
if this particular be adhered to. 
Dielytra cucullabia (Dutchman’s Breeches).— 
This is exceedingly graceful and interesting; its 
Fern-like foliage is of a glaucous hue, and it has 
somewhat arching flower-stems, on which are borne 
its white, yellow-tipped flowers. For a partially 
shaded nook in peat and loam, this is a very pleasing 
plant, growing about 1 ft. high. 
Dielytba eximia. —This is among the most in¬ 
teresting of spring - flowering plants, exceedingly 
graceful and free flowering. For forming a margin 
to a bed, or dotted here and there among other spring 
plants, the effect is very pleasing. The foliage is 
remarkable for its delicacy, and is of great service 
where foliage is required for vase decoration ; here it 
may be used to advantage. It is of compact habit, 
and from amidst its abundant foliage the flower- 
stems arise; the flowers are of a reddish-purple 
colour. A few pots in the conservatory in early 
spring will be found both attractive and ornamental; 
indeed, in or out of flower, it is very pleasing. It is, 
among other things, a useful plant under trees in 
woodland walks, which shows its fondness for shade. 
Very charming is it in early morn, or after a gentle 
shower, with the dewdrops glistening upon it. 
Dielytba spectabilis. — This, as the specific name 
indicates, is a very showy plant, and one which is 
well known and duly appreciated. For forcing for 
conservatory decoration in the early months of the 
year, it is probably without a rival, a few plants 
producing such good effect when placed among other 
foliage or flowering plants. In the border, too, it is 
equally charming, and when seen in fine clumps is 
very effective. It suffers sometimes from spring 
frosts, so that it should be protected when frost is 
expected ; it is a free grower, and cannot be too 
highly recommended. These are all propagated best 
by division of the root stock. As spectabilis may be 
had remarkably cheap, it should be largely grown, 
and after being forced may be planted in the beds or 
borders, and thus assist in making these gay another 
year. 
Dodecatheon, oe American Cowslips. —I now come 
to one of the most select groups among herbaceous 
perennials, the Dodecatheons or American Cowslips, 
and while I feel how much might usefully be said of 
these charming plants, I will for the present confine 
my observations to their culture. Nothing can be more 
obvious to anyone who can discern beauty and grace 
combined when it is before them than the engravings of 
these lovely plants which have so recently appeared in 
The Gardening World. So faithfully are they repre¬ 
sented, that it would be superfluous on my part to 
speak further respecting 'them, since all who have 
seen them cannot but form the one opinion of their 
extreme beauty. I may remark in passing that the 
general appearance of the individual blossoms are 
similar to those of the Cyclamen, in having a reflexed 
corolla. They differ materially in other respects, how¬ 
ever, primarily by the flowers being produced in 
umbels, in the one case, and on solitary stems in the 
case of the Cyclamen ; this is the greatest of external 
distinctions, both genera belonging to the one order 
Primulaces. 
The best kinds are D. splendidum, a well-named 
kind, and a perfect gem among hardy plants ; flowers 
deep crimson, growing about 6 ins. high, delighting in 
a bed of moist peat in a shady position. D. Jeffreyanum 
is the tallest of all ; this grows fully 2 ft. high, and I 
have never seen it finer than when fully exposed and 
planted in deep strong loam. In this respect it differs 
from the remainder of this group, and I lay stress 
upon the fact so that a wider number of hardy-plant 
lovers may be enabled to embrace so good a plant, 
which may to a certain extent be modified if peat (a 
scarce commodity m some parts) had to be provided. 
Notwithstanding this it does exceedingly well in peat 
and shade ; the leaves are long, lanceolate, and the 
drooping rose-coloured flowers are borne in large 
numbers; it is one of the finest of perfectly hardy 
perennials. 
Then we have D. Media, the American Cowslip 
proper, which came from Virginia over a century ago ; 
it is easily grown in good soil, choosing partial shade 
and equal parts of peat and loam. The flower stems 
attain 12 ins. high, and as many as twenty flow'ers on 
each umbel is by no means a common occurrence, so 
that to get fine clumps of these is something worth 
working for; their flowers last a long time in perfection, 
they are all quite hardy and free seeders, and care 
should be taken of every seed. For the rockery in quiet 
shady nooks, for peaty spots in the bog-garden, or 
among hardy plants generally in the mixed border, 
they are most telling ; they are much varied from seed, 
and of the last-named kind there are many forms.— J. 
727 
A COLLIER’S GARDEN. 
To really get to know’ a typical collier requires the 
exercise of some little patience and shrewdness. 
Colliers are by no means a shy or timid race, and 
when they know their man, that is, who they are talk¬ 
ing to, they are, as a class, among the most open- 
hearted of men, and generous to a fault; but if they 
find anyone trying to “ quiz ” them, then you will find 
they are as “daft as a donkey,” to use a Lancashire 
expression. . Accustomed to danger, few of them know 
what fear is, and working so much deep down in tb e 
bowels of the earth, they are unaccustomed to mingle 
with the busy and educated life on the earth’s surface. 
Is it any wonder then that they are somewhat rough 
in their pastimes ? Cottages they may have, but how 
few there are who have a few yards of garden-ground 
attached to their homes, though there may be around 
them on either hand scores of acres of land yielding 
but little in the shape of rent, and waiting year after 
year for some one to take it on building leases for 
mills, works, or houses. There is no recreation for 
these men, so that it is no wonder they take to pigeo 
flying and other questionable “ fancies.” Yet there are 
many noble exceptions to this rule ; they are not all 
bad. There is an air of comfort in many of then- 
homes sadly wanting in others. Many are good 
musicians, some have houses of their own in the 
Swdnton district, where mining is extensively earned 
on, and we are bound to confess our surprise at the 
quality and variety of their garden productions, and 
the knowledge of botany and practical gardening 
matters which exists among them. 
In some of these colliers’ gardens we have seen 
plants which would put some so-called gardeners to 
the blush, but the most remarkable among them is the 
garden of the Messrs. Tyldesley, of Fern Bank, 
Hazlehurst, near Worsley, father and son both 
being working men at one of the collieries near by. 
The senior Tyldesley has built himself a house, 
and also some greenhouses, in which he has gathered 
together a most remarkable collection of British 
and North American Ferns, not small, half starved, 
and miserable looking objects such as are so often 
met with, but really grand specimens, some of them 
several feet in height and circumference. They are 
growm in houses built expressly for the purpose by 
the Messrs. Tyldesley, and we should say the collec¬ 
tion of specimens is worth over £200. Several of the 
Osmundas, or Boyal Ferns, measure from 9 ft. to 
18 ft. across. Of those we measured we may mention 
Osmunda cristata, 18 ft.; 0. purpurescens, 16 ft.; 
0. undulata, 6 ft.; 0. interrupta and 0. cinnamomea, 
8 ft. The two latter are North American species. 
Other fine specimens include a pretty seedling from the 
Axminster variety of Athyrium Filix-foemina plumo- 
sum, A. F.-f. ramosissimum, A. F.-f. plumosum, the 
true Axminster variety, A. F.-f. Victoria, A. F.-f. 
calytrix, A. F.-f. acrocladon (Stansfield), a very rare 
kind, A. F.-f. cristatum, and a seedling variety 
superior to it, Blechnum spicant cristatum; many 
varieties of Lastrea Filix-mas, such as plumosum, 
divaricatum, corymbiferum, grandiceps, furcans, and 
others, some of them 6 ft. across; some handsome 
Scolopendriums, and many others. 
We remarked, “ They want more room to show 
themselves,” and the reply was, “We should be glad 
to part with some of them, they are too crowded.” 
The floor of the house we noted was being carpeted 
with the Cornish Money-wort, Sibthorpia, and it was 
quite at home. The Messrs. Tildesley may well be 
proud of their plants, such a finely-grown lot is 
not met with every day, and, when we consider the 
calling they follow, it does them great credit. Out-of- 
doors we found a collection of hardy things, some of 
them rare British plants, and also various Alpine and 
herbaceous plants. Van Houtte’s Campanula was 
grandly in flower, and a mass of Thymus tomentosa 
was carpeting the ground in full bloom. Of the 
mossy Saxifrages there was a large collection, and 
thirty-six of other kinds; of Sedums, eleven, and 
Sempervivums, nine; several species of Funkias 
and Dianthus, and many other good things. Both 
father and son have a good knowledge of plants ; 
the father is also a musician, and the son, we are 
informed, is now studying geology. All honour to 
such men, for of necessity they must carry great 
influence for good among their fellows, and long may 
they continue to do so.— N. J. D. 
