jf!J February 16, 1895. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
389 
A WEATHER CONTRAST. 
I am reminded, on referring to my diary, that on 
this date last year (Feb. ioth) those remarkable and 
vacillating atmospherical conditions which go to 
make up what we concisely yet crudely call weather, 
were something very different to those phenomena 
by which we are at present surrounded. The con¬ 
trast is indeed marvellous. Then I was realising in 
some degree the power of the aphorism of Lord 
Bacon which the Gardening World has per¬ 
manently and properly appropriated, and which finds 
a fitting place every week at the head of the literary 
matter. Then, I find, I was busy making alterations 
in the garden, and otherwise taking " refreshment,” 
without which 11 the spirit of man ” cannot be sus¬ 
tained in all its pristine vigour. 
Thus I noted, also, that the conditions under 
glass were likewise far removed from those which 
now obtain; for in the hardy plant house such 
harbingers of spring as Snowdrops, Crocus, Cycla¬ 
men, and Tritelias had already begun to smile; 
while the potting up of Solomon’s Seal and Dicentra 
spectabilis from the open ground, and the re-potting 
of British Ferns, etc., was alike indicative of the 
genial weather which did then prevail. Alas! the 
scene is changed. The thermometer is now standing 
between freezing point and zero, where it has 
fluctuated more or less acutely for some time 
past, and where’it seems inclined to linger still. 
In consequence, the garden presents a 
sorry aspect. The Primroses and Wallflowers 
look but ghosts of their former selves; the 
Carnations seem to pine for better times; the 
Acubas bow their heads in sorrow and refuse to be 
comforted; the icicles hang in sombre mood from 
the eaves of the plant houses, and seem as if they 
would never go. Everything is frozen inside and 
out—the plants in the houses, the pipes in the ground. 
Not a ray of light comes from the former, not a 
gleam of hope from the latter. Yet we know from 
past experience that Nature, now so silent and sad, 
will in the sweet by-and-by relent her severity, and 
give us verdant spring and flowery summer. So we 
may well pocket her affronts, and endeavour to put 
up with her “ cold obstruction,” in the certain know¬ 
ledge that later on she will make amends. Still it 
is at present problematical to solve whether 'tis 
worse— 
“ To bathe in fiery floods, or to reside 
In thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice.” 
It is, however, sufficiently evident, by the extreme 
records already published, that much damage will 
be done to vegetation ; and that gardeners and gar¬ 
dens alike will have to bear in their respective ways 
much discomfort and many losses. 
As a result of the phenomenal cold many strange 
and weird experiences have already been chronicled ; 
but the following, which I cull from the St. James' 
Gazette, I know not whether to receive with levity 
or to treat with sympathy:-*-" Scots have been feel¬ 
ing the present cold spell even worse than we South¬ 
rons. They have as much frost, and more snow. A 
Lanarkshire correspondent writes : ■ We are cut off 
from the railway here by an enormous drift, and as 
it is Biggar Fair only two men can be got to work at 
it. It is a strange sight to look upon the thousands 
and thousands of sheep driven down from the hills 
between Abington on the one side and Biggar on the 
other. They all have to be hand-fed. The shep¬ 
herd from Cay Ghyll came down to the gardener's 
cottage yesterday, and, though wrapped in plaid and 
hood and other snow attire, his beard and whiskers 
were so encrusted with ice that he could not open 
his mouth, and they were more than half an hour 
thawing him with warm water.’ Let us hope, poor 
fellow ! that aqua pura was not used for this bene¬ 
ficent operation.”— C. B. G., Acton, W. 
-- 
NOTES ON HARDY PLANTS. 
Morisia hypogaea. —This is a little known Alpine 
plant, which merits a note at this time of the year, 
as although subject to sharp frosts and snow, it still 
continues to expand its blossoms in an open but 
sunny position of the rockery, and while its proper 
period of flowering is July, there is scarcely a month 
during the year but what it is in blossom. It is 
dwarf and compact in habit, growing about three 
inches in height with rather small flowers, of a clear 
yellow, and if planted in a soil consisting of sandy 
loam, in a sunny position it is seen to great advantage. 
Propagation is readily effected by division in spring 
and cuttings in summer, as well as by seeds which 
should be sown where the plants are to remain. A 
native of Sardinia and was introduced to our garden 
in 1833 and will be found fully described in “Sweet’s 
Flower Garden ” Series 2, t. 290. 
Scabiosa caucasica.— This is a well-known plant 
in our gardens and highly prized on account of its 
free-flowering qualities ; its usefulness for cutting as 
well as decorative purposes. Its culture is so easy 
that there is scarcely any soil or situation in which 
it will fail to grow and its hardiness is beyond ques¬ 
tion. The plant grows to about three feet in height, 
the flowers, borne on long stems are of a soft lilac 
blue colour often exceeding two inches across and 
flowering from June to September. And as its name 
implies it hails from the Caucasus whence it was intro¬ 
duced to our gardens so far back as 1803. A 
synonymous name not unfrequently used to this 
plant by some botanists is Asterocephalus caucasicus. 
A white form of this species has been introduced 
during the past year and although at present is 
rather scarce it will eventually become a great 
favourite with all lovers of hardy plants.— 
E. Scaplehorn, Rose Bank, Fleet, Hants. 
- 
CHRYSANTHEMUM CHAT. 
Another of Mr. Pettinger’s practical articles in the 
last number of your paper makes one the more 
regret, if he will excuse the left-handed compliment, 
that the suggestion he threw out in your columns 
(Oct. 6) that a second year's blooming from Chry¬ 
santhemums was obtainable, has not been supple¬ 
mented by some detail of the methods to be prac¬ 
tised to secure so desirable a result. 
Probably there are few growers, certainly very few 
amateurs, who do not regretfully throw away well- 
grown specimens after they have done good service 
on the stages, but there is the 8 in. or 9 in. of pot 
space to deal with, filled not only with roots, but 
with every good thing from the heavens above and 
the earth beneath, to say nothing of the intervening 
chimney. 
It is quite possible that experts will find no 
difficulty in giving effect to Mr. Pettinger’s idea, but 
allowance should be made for the smaller cultural 
skill of the amateur, in whose interests I am writing, 
and who is, perhaps, more interested in the success¬ 
ful growth of this family than of any other on 
which he tries his " ’prentice hand.” 
And might I be allowed this opportunity for 
observing that articles and books written in some 
measure at least, I take it, for ouv instruction, pass 
entirely over our heads from disregarding elementary 
points of teaching, an error which Mr. Pettinger 
always avoids. Even such an excellent book as Mr. 
Molyneux’s on the Chrysanthemum is not free from 
fault of this kind, and I suspect the " correct bud ” 
remains a mystery to many readers to this hour. 
It may be from natural stupidity, though certainly 
not from lack of perseverance, that I fail to under¬ 
stand many of the instructions given “for our 
learning.” Some need transposing for the sake of 
the grammar, others tried on the principle of topsy¬ 
turvydom as practist d with a partially defaced label 
leave something to be desired, and even when held 
up to a window pane, the "correct bud” fails to 
become a transparency. Perhaps he is too "correct ’ ’ 
to risk the vulgar gaze, and is not quite sure that he 
has put bis underclothing on the right way, and 
dreads exposure after losing the concealment of his 
green overcoat. 
And why in the name of all that is English is this 
bud when found to be " taken ” when above all 
things it is to be let alone, as the pretty waiting-maid 
retorted when asked if she was to be let along with 
the lodgings. 
However, even this puzzlement has its compensa¬ 
tions. for by running a "crown” against a "ter¬ 
minal” one gets the assistance of the best of all 
instructors, experience, and a little mild excitement 
in addition, whilst disregarding this pretended ear¬ 
marking of the warranted embryo. 
It is not that amateurs are so unreasonable as to 
expect to attain the excellency of culture which 
results from years of applied skill and observation 
produced by practical gardeners, of whom it is not 
too much to say that taken collectively they form 
the most intelligent body of men in the kingdom, 
and of whose knowledge and perseverance amateurs 
have a much fuller appreciation than, I fear, many of 
their employers, who too frequently are without the 
remotest idea of the difficulties which have been 
surmounted. 
Still we have our small ambitions, even rivalries if 
you like, and probably meanness enough to take 
advantage of the experience of others, provided 
always that the kind relation of them is pitched low 
enough for our weak understandings.— R. F. H. 
-- 
GARDEN FUEL. 
The quality of the fuel used for heating purposes in 
the garden must always be a matter of consideration 
and importance to the gardener. In large establish¬ 
ments, where great quantities are weekly consumed, 
the expense necessarily incurred will amount to a 
considerable sum. More especially will this be so 
in outlying districts beyond the area of the coal¬ 
fields; and when we are visited, as at present, with 
a severer pinch of frost than usual, the gardener 
whose yearly expenditure is limited very naturally 
will be induced to make a series of trials of various 
kinds of fuel in order to be able to keep within the 
prescribed sum. Many, we have little doubt, will 
have long since discovered that it is possible to 
accomplish this in two ways. First by the purchas¬ 
ing of the best quality of fuel, and second by the 
purchasing of an inferior kind. There is, however, 
this important difference, the better kind is more 
economical and gives entire satisfaction and the 
expected results ; the inferior is neither economical, 
satisfactory, nor likely to give other than inferior 
results. Still, we have no doubt, to all intent and 
purposes, it may meet the requirements of the object 
in view. Of the two plans the most commendable 
to be adopted by far, is the using of the better fuel. 
Such a course has many advantages to recommend 
it. This must be apparent to most people. One 
undoubted feature this class of fuel possesses is that 
a much less quantity than that of an inferior kind 
will serve to raise a required heat in less time ; it is 
also more durable and contains less foreign matter 
than an inferior fuel. 
A great many of our gardeners are not, however, 
subjected to the inconvenience which the limited 
sum system of garden management incurs, and in 
consequence will have less anxiety as to the 
abnormal expense caused by a spell of severe 
weather. Yet they must not be supposed to be 
exempt from fuel troubles notwithstanding. The 
powers that be in the form of factor, agent, or 
otherwise not infrequently take it for granted that 
refuse not adapted for any other estate department 
is perfectly good fuel for garden purposes. A more 
egregious mistake could not well be conceived. 
Though dirty, drossy coal material may burn perfectly 
well in a garden furnace when it would be impossible 
to burn it in the ordinary way, the fact, nevertheless, 
is no argument in its favour for a garden heating 
power. On the contrary, no fuel ultimately can be 
more expensive, less satisfactory, and more trouble¬ 
some than one of this kind. It must be borne in 
mind that the difference between the heating of 
garden structures and the heating of animal 
structures are not so very wide apart. It is approved 
by experience and reason that a small quantity of 
nutritious food is immensely more beneficial to the 
essential development of bone and muscle than 
larger quantities of a less nutritive quality of food. 
Nay, more the animal functions in the former are 
altogether relieved of the excessive work which must 
be the lot of the latter to accomplish in the form of 
digesting or burning or disposing of the non- 
nutritious matter. As is well known the animal 
functions under such uncongenial circumstances 
must of necessity undergo an undue amount of tear 
and wear in this process, and no small amount of 
energy is also lost in the operation. 
Bad fuel serves to give but poor heat, much waste 
in the form of gas, not to mention the prodigious 
quantities of unconsumed carbon in the form of 
smoke which polutes the atmosphere to the annoy¬ 
ance of the neighbours, and the undue precipitation 
of soot in the flues, to the eminent disgust of the 
’prentice or labourer. Moreover, there is the ques¬ 
tion of ash and soot disposal. Though they be ever 
so easily disposed with, they incur labour. We know 
several good gardeners who habitually burn inferior 
coal under the mistaken idea that they are of all 
kinds the cheapest. Such coal I have over and over 
again ascertained to give a return of fifty per cent, 
of ash per ton. Compare this with the quantity of 
ash per ton of best Welsh Anthracite. For our own 
part we have been always accustomed to burn the 
