296 j 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
January '^o, 1895. 
FUORICUUTURE. 
Pinks. 
Pink plants are having a roughish time of it this 
autumn, with so much wet and cold at the roots. I 
have seen beds of the florists’ kinds in the Midland 
districts planted out in September, then nice young 
plants from layers, which are smaller plants now, 
and in some cases the plants have collapsed alto¬ 
gether. It will therefore be best to watch the plants 
carefully through the winter and give them the 
shelter of a few Laurel branches or of some other 
evergreen by sticking firmly short branches into the 
ground around the beds aud amongst the^plants, to 
give them a little shelter. Another precautionary 
step is, to see that the plants are firmly in the 
ground and to mulch with good leaf soil or light 
decayed manure.— Dianthus. 
-•*»- 
BERRIED PLANTS. 
It is customary at some exhibitions of Chrysanthe¬ 
mums to offer prizes for berried plants—plants that 
produce berries in succession to flowers; and it 
sometimes happens that plants which produce small 
and inconspicuous flowers have handsome berries : 
thus in winter the bright fruits serve the purposes of 
flowers in supplying tints of colour, while they are of 
a much more lasting character. What is there, 
then, the amateur can grow in his greenhouse—if he 
has a warm one—in the way of berried plants ? 
Berried Solanums. 
There are first the berry-bearing Solanums—plants 
which produce in autumn and winter an abundance 
of large red berries. The species of the genus 
Solanum are very numerous, and comprise herbs, 
shrubs, and small trees. There is, no doubt that, S. 
pseudo capsicum or the Jerusalem Cherry, in alliance 
with S. capsicastrum, the star capsicum, gave us 
the first hybrids, which were improved by Mr. R. 
Weatherill, of Hornsey, and became known as 
Weatherill’s hybrids. Seeds are now readily 
obtainable, and it is easy to raise plants from seeds 
by sowing them in early spring in a temperature of 
from 6o° to 65°, potting them off into small pots as 
soon as large enough, keeping them in cold pits or 
frames during the summer, or plunging them up to 
the rims of the pots in the open during that season, 
taking them into the greenhouse in September to 
flower and fruit. In purchasing seed, care should 
be taken to ask for the finest improved varieties, 
which display their fruit upon the surface of the 
foliage, as there is a great difference in strains in 
this respect. 
Ardisia crenulata. 
This is a compact growing, warm greenhouse ever¬ 
green shrub, from the West Indies or Mexico ; the 
flowers are small and unimportant, but they are 
succeeded by a crop of brilliant berries of a very 
showy character, about the size of the haws of the 
common thorn, bright red in colour, and produced in 
large bunches for the size of the plants. The 
Ardisia makes a capital room plant for winter, and 
will do well with care, and when grown in a cool 
temperature the plant will retain one crop of berries 
until another is ripe. The best thing we can advise 
the amateur to do, is to purchase a plant of a 
nurseryman, just as it is coming into flower. It is a 
plant which can be raised from seeds, but seeds are 
expensive, and the seedlings require nearly two 
years before they get into blossom and berry, even 
with good management; and that is why we recom¬ 
mend the purchase of a plant, in preference to the 
raising of seedlings. 
Rivinia humilis. 
This is a stove evergreen, and, therefore, requires 
a certain amount of heat to do it justice. It is called 
the blood-berry, or rouge plant, in the West Indies, 
no doubt from the bright-coloured berries it bears. 
The flowers are of little beauty, but the racemes of 
berries are very showy, and plentifully produced; 
and while before drying up contain a very fine scarlet 
juice, the colour of which, however, is very evanes¬ 
cent. It is a plant that can be raised from seeds 
sown in a high temperature, and the young plants 
grown on in a moist heat, and if when the plants is 
in berry it be gradually hardened off, it will stand 
for some time in a warm, sitting-room window. 
Callicarpa purpurea. 
Here we have another evergreen stove shrub, 
which is very handsome indeed when laden with its 
rich purple berries. It is a plant propagated by 
means of cuttings, and should anyone be desirous of 
growing it, we strongly recommend them to purchase 
a plant. It is not difficult to grow when the conditions 
are favourable, but when we have seen it at its best 
it is planted out in a warm conservatory ; it then 
produces long shoots laden with berries for a con¬ 
siderable distance of their length, though it can be 
cultivated very successfully in pots The following 
mode of culture is recommended: "After the old 
plants have been cut back m the spring, and started 
into growth, the young shoots will strike as readily 
as those of the Fuchsia, and with exactly the same 
treatment. In order to make good plants short 
jointed cuttings should be selected, and as soon as 
these are struck they should be potted into 2§ in. 
pots, using a compost of equal parts of loam and 
peat with a little charcoal and river sand. When 
they commence to grow after being potted, remove 
to a pit or house with a temperature ranging from 
65° to 75 0 . Pinch out the tops of the plants as soon 
as they have three pairs of leaves, and whenever each 
of the laterals has made two pairs of leaves pinch 
out their points and continue this operation with all 
the rest of the shoots till the beginning of August, at 
the same time keeping off all the flower buds. The 
next shift will be into 4 in. or 5 in. pots. They 
should always have plenty of light and air, but more 
especially after they come into flower.” 
Hardy Berried Plants. 
While the warm greenhouse, berried plants can 
be grown only by a few who have suitable houses, 
the hardy types can be culivated by everyone who 
has a garden, and will give them the necessary 
attention. 
Cotoneaster. 
This represents a group of hardy shrubs from 
Nepaul, and two of them are particularly well 
deserving of notice. One is C. microphylla, the 
flowers of which are white, and the fruit red and 
abundantly produced. It has a prostrate habit of 
growth, and in course of time a bush will cover a 
large space of growth, and it is well adapted for 
covering rock work. C. Simmondsi has larger and 
erect foliage, and is well adapted for planting against 
a wall where its berries in autumn and winter are 
very effective ; the berries are also much larger. 
Aucuba japonica. 
This is a well-known hardy Evergreen shrub, and 
one of the very best for cultivating in cities and 
towns, doing remarkably well in crowded districts. 
This came to this country from Japan more than a 
hundred years ago, and until thirty or so years ago, 
only the variegated variety was found in our gardens. 
The Aucuba is a dioecious plant, i.e., having the male 
and female on separate individuals, but at the period 
above mentioned, the male plant was introduced 
from Japan, and the pollen of this applied to the 
blossoms of the female, caused it to bear berries, and 
being large and bright coloured, they are very hand¬ 
some in autumn and winter. If any one has some 
bushes of the common Aucuba—the variegated 
Laurel as it is sometimes termed—in their gardens, 
all that is necessary in order to have berries is to 
purchase a male plant and put it in the soil among 
them, and they will find berries on the female plants. 
It is perfectly hardy, though when first introduced 
was treated as a greenhouse plant. 
Pernettia mucronata. 
This is a small, neat-growing evergreen shrub, a 
native of South America, and should be planted in 
rich peaty soil. The plants bear reddish, purple, or 
pink berries, but of late years some seedlings have 
been produced giving berries of various colours, from 
creamy white to black. The flowers are produced 
very freely, and are followed by an abundant crop of 
berries. It is handsome at all seasons, but particu¬ 
larly so in the depth of winter, when the brilliant 
showy fruit is seen to perfection. 
Crataegus pyracantha. 
This, the well-known red Pyracantha, the Ever¬ 
green Thorn, is an invaluable plant for its 
bright pale coral coloured berries at this season 
of the year. It appears to do best on a wall 
having a south or south-west aspect, the branches 
trained espalier fashion, and a well established 
specimen will bloom freely and fruit abundantly. I 
have seen specimens trained in this way that were 
allowed to carry breast wood, but they never 
appeared to me to fruit so freely, or to be as effective 
as when the branches were trained close to the wall, 
and in such a position the fruit is seen to the best 
advantage. The birds, as a rule, do not feed upon 
the berries, perhaps because they are somewhat 
astringent, or it may be that the birds hesitate to, 
approach buildings against which the plants are 
trained. 
■ » «- 
DOUBLE BEGONIAS FOR BEDDING. 
One day during the past summer I had the privilege 
of walking through the Begonia quarters and houses 
of Messrs. J. Laing & Sons with the senior partner 
of the firm, to whom belongs the credit of placing 
the tuberous Begonia before the public as a bedding 
plant. The immense strides taken in the develop¬ 
ment of this plant since Mr. Laing first seriously 
took it in hand in 1875, has, to a large extent, been 
duetohis perseverance and skill. True.previoustothat 
date there were a number of hybrid varieties,bothsingle 
and double, in cultivation, but they were of a widely 
different type to the almost universally cultivated 
varieties of the present day. The first beginning of 
the present race heralded in a new industry, and 
made the name of John Laing a household word in 
all quarters of the world, and in many places where 
the products of an English nursery would never 
have otherwise been found. The tuberous Begonias 
are sent away in enormous quantities, and a very 
large proportion of the tubers grown at Forest HHl 
are annually exported. 
Being much impressed with the superiority of the 
double varieties for bedding purposes on account of 
their greater show of colour, I intended at the time 
to draw special attention to the subject, feeling con¬ 
vinced that when once a sufficient stock has been 
obtained and they can be freely used for bedding, 
that they will eventually to a great extent displace 
the single ones for this purpose. At present they ’ 
are more costly, but if those who are thinking of 
giving them a trial would procure, say six named 
distinct varieties and grow them well and propagate 
during the summer, they may raise a sufficient stock 
to make a beginning the following season. A great 
great deal may be done towards getting up a stock 
by saving the seed of the different colours separately, 
but they must be grown and flowered on a trial 
ground for one season to mark those of the most - 
suitable shades and habit of growth, so that when a 
bed is planted with them the flowers shall be of one 
shade in colour and the plants of one height and 
habit of growth. 
The following will be found a very good selection 
for beginners 
Henshaw Russell, glowing scarlet; flowers large, 
of fine form and substance, and borne on stiff erect 
footstalks well above the foliage ; habit good. 
Lafayette, bright scarlet, very double; a neat 
growing and profuse blooming variety. 
Madame Ernest Tourtell, white, very double, 
with broad imbricated petals. 
Madame Louisa Roberts, fine rose. 
Marquis of Stafford, dark crimson ; and 
Mons. A. Schopfer, rosy-salmoh. — W. B. G. 
-- 
LILY-WHITE SEAKALE; 
At Stoneleigh Abbey, Lord Leigh’s place betwixt 
Warwick and Kenilworth, Mr. Beddard cultivates 
this variety extensively for general forcing, pro¬ 
pagating it from pieces of root planted early in 
spring in rows fully two feet apart, and each set several 
inches asunder, and he always has extra strong 
crowns for forcing in the mushroom house. A con¬ 
siderable portion of one of the large quarters in the 
kitchen garden is devoted to the cultivation of Seakale, 
and a finer lot of strong vigorous plants through the 
growing season it would be m ost difficult to find. A 
few plants of the old variety are also cultivated 
annually, as it can be forced a little earlier than the 
Lily-White, otherwise it would not be grown, as it is 
not so compact in its habit of growth as the Lily- 
White variety. 
Seakale is so easily grown from root cuttings 
or from seed, that it is a matter of surprise that 
amateurs do not devote more attention to this 
excellent vegetable, as the plants can be so very easily 
forced by planting them in a box or in a corner of a 
cellar, or any unused cupboard, where they can be 
kept moderately damp, warm, and in the dark, and 
if the forced parts are cut away close to the surface 
of the plants, a crop of young side shoots are formed*- 
and, although small, they make a delicious dish,... 
