September 1, 1894. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
5 
more, according to soil and position. It is well 
adapted for cultivation in clumps or beds for late 
summer and autumn decoration. Grown in this 
fashion the stems require no staking, notwithstand¬ 
ing their height. The third or fourth line of the 
herbaceous border would be its position there. The 
flowers are of a soft rosy-pink, large and attractive. 
The variety is also known under the names A. 
japonica rosea and A. j. hybrida. 
Polygonum amplexicaule . — The graceful 
character of the stems of this plant and the arrange¬ 
ment of the flowers on slender spikes, makes it a 
choice subject for the herbaceous border. The ovate, 
stem-clasping leaves are drawn out to a long point 
and thinly arranged, thus according well with the 
graceful slenderness of the stems and branches. The 
small flowers are rosy-purple. Propagation is easily 
effected by division in early spring. 
Veronica longifolia subsessilis. —The forms 
of V. longifolia are very numerous, and some of 
them very ornamental in gardens throughout the 
country. That under notice was introduced com¬ 
paratively recently from Japan and is considered the 
best by a great many cultivators. The flowers are 
large, handsome, deep blue, and borne in dense 
terminal spikes, and the foliage is of a rich dark 
green, but the plant is stiffer in habit than the Euro¬ 
pean forms. It is, nevertheless, a most desirable 
plant. 
Spiraea lobaxa.— Nothing is more puzzling than 
the variable heigh: of this plant even under cultiva¬ 
tion, for while some of them are only 18 in. high, 
others run up to 8 ft. The dwarf forms are the 
prettiest, though the tall ones are more stately. The 
rosy-peach flowers are borne in large, terminal 
cymes, and appear at various times through the 
summer. Damp places should be chosen for it as 
the plant there succeeds best. 
Parnassia palustris. —On the northern moors 
this is now flowering finely, especially on the 
northern aspect of hills and mountains in boggy 
places. When transferred to the garden in lowland 
districts and the south, a cool aspect should be 
chosen for it, and if it can be planted in the bog 
garden, so much the better. 
STOCK TAKING IN THE 
GARDEN. 
This is an important matter in successful gardening 
and one that should never be neglected. It is not 
wise to trust wholly to Spring propagation and 
general begging, because in many cases you never 
know what you are getting and great disappoint¬ 
ment is often the result. 
Pelargoniums should be attended to first, as the 
beds at this time will be all the better for a judicious 
thinning, according to quantity required. Take 
them with a sharp knife, choosing the strongest and 
firmest wood and make them into cuttings with four 
or five joints. Then insert them in boxes 4 in. deep 
in a sandy compost, afterwards standing them out¬ 
side on something to raise them from the floor. 
The result will now be satisfactory. Plenty of 
sunshine will not hurt them in the least and cold 
winds and nights will hasten the ripening of the wood. 
If frosty weather should come before they have 
rooted they will be sure to have done something 
towards that end, and if taken and kept on a cool 
greenhouse shelf will be quite at home for the 
winter. 
Lobelias should be potted at once (using discre¬ 
tion as to colour required) into 5 in. pots, crocked 
well to ensure good drainage. During the winter 
months as a rule not one gardener in twenty keeps 
this useful plant well through the dead time of the 
year. It requires a light, airy shelf, with very- 
little fire heat as long as frost is kept away. After 
potting all flowers should be cut off to entice new 
growth for propagation in the spring. If damp 
should appear, sprinkle well betwixt the plants with 
dry sand. 
Pansies, Calceolarias, Penstemons, Echeverias, 
Carnations, and a host of other little things too useful 
to let slip, will very soon want attending to, so to be 
ready it will be wise to have winter quarters for 
these prepared at once.— J. G.Pettingev, 26, Provi¬ 
dence Terrace, Harrogate. 
Vines and Vine Culture.—The best book on Grapes. By 
Archibald F. Barron, Superintendent of the Royal Horticultural 
Society’s Gardens, Chiswick ; Secretary of the Fruit Com¬ 
mittee. Demy 8vo., Handsomely bound in Cloth. Price, 5s.; 
post free, 5s. 3d. Publisher, Gardening World, i, Clement's 
Inn, Strand, W.C. 
THE LEOPARD-SPOTTED 
LILY. 
Lilium pardalinum was introduced from California 
in 1875, and since then has become increasingly 
popular with a large section of the gardening public, 
but chiefly for open air cultivation. The bulbs 
spring from a short rhizome, and are renewed 
annually, so that plenty of room is necessary for 
their success in succeeding years. The peaty soil 
of Rhododendron beds keeps the bulbs and roots 
cool, and provided the Rhododendrons or other 
shrubs are young or dwarf, or kept separate from 
one another, the Lily under notice, will thrive aud 
produce a splendid effect in the garden or pleasure 
grounds during July and August, earlier or later 
according to circumstances. The narrowly lanceo¬ 
late leaves are arranged in three or four whorls of 
nine to fifteen each. The stems vary from 3 ft. to 
7 ft. in height and bear a terminal raceme of drooping 
flowers with revolute segments. The latter are of a 
rich orange-red on the outer half, but fade to orange 
on the basal half with large, purple or crimson spots. 
Numerous variations have, however, appeared 
amongst importations and many of these have been 
Lilium pardalinum. 
honoured with special varietal names. The accom¬ 
panying illustration will give a general idea of the 
plant, and the appearance produced by the drooping, 
revolute flowers. In cool districts with a fair average 
rainfall, this species could doubtless be cultivated 
with success in the herbaceous border, for which it 
would be a great acquisition. 
-- 5 -- 
A WALK IN THE 
COUNTRY (5). 
As the weather had again become propitious, my 
friend suggested that we should try the chalky hills 
of the Surrey range and have a look at the plants 
there. 1 readily fell in with this proposal, as I was 
anxious to renew my acquaintance with the flowers 
I had seen on my previous walk (No. 1) over these 
hills,so we took our tickets forOxted,and walked away 
by the line and road to the westward with a view to 
reaching the top of the hills above the Oxted chalk 
pits. On the embankment of the line we found the 
Hare's Foot Trefoil, a delicate little morsel, and 
charming when used as a table decoration. I have 
always considered this as a sand plant, and supposed 
therefore, that the seeds must have come with the 
ballast and have sprung up on the embankment—a 
supposition which has been strengthened with me 
by finding so many plants by the side of the line 
that I do not find in the fields or woods adjoining. 
Here, too, was the Greater Knapweed, its heads 
as large as half-crowns, with a white variety growing 
from the same root. This plant I found last month 
growing in the hedges and fields in Gloucestershire, 
but in Surrey I have not found it except on the line. 
Descending on to the road we found the hedges full 
of the Dogwood, much used for skewers, the 
Spindle tree, which still is considered to have a 
medicinal value, and the bright flowers of the Golden 
Rod lighted up the lane. The herbalist Gerarde’s 
account of this plant is interesting, so I quote it at 
length :—" It is extolled above all the herbes for the 
stopping of blood, and hath in times past been had 
in greater estimation and regard than in these daies, 
for within my remembrance I have known the drie 
herbe which came from beyond the seas, sold in 
Bucklersburie in London for half-a-crown an ounce. 
But since it was found in Hampsteed Woods, even 
as it were at our townes end, no man will give half-a- 
crown for an hundredweight of it, which plainly 
setteth forth our inconstancie and sudden mutabilitie, 
esteeming no longer of anything the while it is not 
strange and rare.” 
Intermingled were two plants having particularly 
charming names for which I can find no satisfactory 
explanation—the Wayfaring Tree and the Traveller’s 
Joy. The former was in full flower on some 
branches and on others in full fruit, bearing bunches 
of berries mostly scarlet, but with here and there one 
or two of jet black. In a moist spot by the roadside we 
found the Greater Horsetail growing to a height of 
about 3 ft. Such a lovely plant ! and worthy of a 
chief place for decoration. I can see in my mind’s 
eye, as I write, a table decorated with scarlet Poppies 
—the Poppies such as we gathered on our walk, 
with the fronds of the Horse-tail falling over them 
like pagodas ; for the green of these Horsetails is of 
a shade unlike any other that I know. We now 
began to climb the hills and found growing in great 
luxuriance, three plants, all poisonous, twining 
together—the Red Bryony, the White Bryony, and 
Bitter Sweet. All were in full berry, their scarlet 
fruits locking luxurious and tempting, but ‘‘ex¬ 
perience does it,” a translation only to be admitted 
by its antiquity, and we passed on. Side by side 
were growing the Wild Mignonette and the Dyer's 
Rocket varying greatly in the seed vessels, the 
Mignonette being exactly like the garden form in 
this particular. I read that Linnoeus states the 
Dyer’s Rocket is a true “ Sunflower ” following the 
course of the sun, (or rather the earth) from east to 
west, and at midnight pointing due north. A plant 
growing on the prairies of the United States, called 
the Compass plant, is said to have similar attributes ; 
so too is our garden Sunflower, but, so far as I have 
been able to test it, I have found it a decided 
fraud. 
On the downs as we ascended we came across the 
big Apple Snail, this time alive, so no longer does 
any question arise in my mind as to whether the 
shells I saw on a former walk had been dug up. The 
general theory in reference to them is that they 
were brought over here by the Romans as great 
delicacies, and were bred here by them in the 
neighbourhood of their camps. I can now certainly 
remember having seen snails for sale in Paris exactly 
like them, the price of which was about 2d. each, 
and these had been bred for eating purpose. I have 
never tasted them, but am told they are very 
delicious, but prejudice is still strong, for though I 
brought home two of them alive they were, like 
Nebuchadnezzar, turned out to grass, instead of 
finding their way into the stew pan. As we climbed 
the butt side we met with the Yervaine called the 
Holy Vervaine, and considered in olden time to be 
a specific against thirty evils ; the Stemless Thistle, 
which I should advise no one to sit on ; the per¬ 
foliate Yellow Whorl, a graceful and pleasing plant; 
and the Ploughman’s Spikenhard, again an attrac¬ 
tive old name implying something that I wot not of. 
On the top of the down we came on to the old road 
called "The Pilgrim’s Way,” a road used by the 
pilgrims from Winchester and the West on their 
journey to the Shrine at Canterbury. The road 
may be traced for a long distance both east and west 
of where we were, and no doubt was formed over 
the high lands by reason of the forests and swamps 
which prevailed over England at the time in the 
low-lying districts. — J. C. Stogdon, Inglenook, 
Bellaggio. 
(To be continued.) 
