June 8, 1895. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
647 
Herbaceous Calceolarias. —Instead of dotting 
the plants here and there throughout the house it is 
a far better plan to make a nice little group or batch 
of them, the effect thus produced being very much 
more imposing. Carefully mark any specially fine 
varieties with a view towards saving the seed when 
the plants are out of flower. 
Francoa ramosa.— 'This is among the most useful 
plants known to us, producing, as it does large loose 
inflorescences of white flowers that come in exceed¬ 
ingly useful for cutting. It is moreover of strong 
constitution. Vigorously growing plants will by 
this time have filled their pots with roots. As the 
flower scapes should now be appearing liquid 
manure may be applied at alternate waterings. We 
have used a solution of cow manure with exceedingly 
good results, varying this with an occasional dose of 
weak soot water; the effect of the latter being 
plainly discernible in the deep green hue of the 
leaves. 
Tuberous Begonias.— It is to these beautiful 
plants that we look for a brave show right through 
the months of summer and early autumn, and if 
only ordinary care is taken our hopes will not be 
disappointed. The main points to observe in the 
summer treatment of tuberous Begonias are, first 
of all never to let them get dry at the root, for if 
the pots are well drained in the first instance and 
the plants are growing strongly it is astonishing the 
the quantity of water they require. It is likewise 
important that plenty of room be given them; 
nothing like crowding must be tolerated, or sickly, 
weakly foliage will be the result. Staking also must 
be well looked after. Of course it is desirable to 
have as few stakes as possible, and if the plants are 
of good habit they will be self-supporting in the 
earlier stages of their existence, but as growth pro¬ 
ceeds they become incapable of maintaining an erect 
position without artificial aid. When inserting the 
stakes in the pots, however, take heed that the tuber 
is not injured in so doing. 
Pits and Frames. 
These should now, to the gardener’s intense relief, 
be freed entirely from bedding plants of all de¬ 
scriptions, and thus room can be found for the 
accommodation of batches of the various plants 
necessary for the furnishing of the show houses. In 
the warm pits the potting off of cuttings that have 
made sufficient root to warrant the operation must 
be seen to as they reach the required stage. 
Poinsettias. —-If sufficient rooted cuttings of 
these have been obtained the old plants may be 
thrown away, unless it is intended to grow some of 
the best of them on, in which case they must be 
shaken out of their present quarters and potted 
without delay. The later batches of cuttings will 
also need shifting now into small 6o's, as it is not 
wise to overpot them at the commencement. Poin¬ 
settias enjoy a brisk heat, and if the pots can be 
plunged to the rims in fermenting material so much 
the better. Ply the syringe amongst them morning 
and evening to keep down red spider, and shade 
from hot sun. 
Seedlings. —Cinerarias and Primulas, as soon as 
they have become large enough to handle, must be 
pricked off into well drained pans filled with light 
sandy soil. Select only the strongest plants, if there 
is a sufficient quantity from which to pick and 
choose, and see that due care is exercised to prevent 
the young plants from being robbed of the delicate 
fibrous roots so necessary to their welfare. Water 
the pans immediately afterwards with a fine rose- 
can, returning them to the same temperature as that 
in which the seed pans were placed until they get a 
good start, after which they may be accorded rather 
cooler treatment. 
Torenias.— Whether grown in pots or baskets 
these pretty little plants are exceedingly useful and 
elegant, and are well worthy of the room they occupy. 
Young plants which have been obtained from early 
sown seed must now be looked after for staking, for 
if this be delayed for too long they soon lop over 
the sides of the pots in a fashion that can only be 
described as the reverse of elegant. Three or four 
small stakes should, therefore, be inserted close to 
the rim of the pot, inclining outwards, and round 
these a neat strip of raffia may be passed. Seed 
which was sown somewhat later will have furnished 
an abundance of plants, which must be pricked off 
without delay into 48 or 32-size pots, whichever is 
the handiest. T. Fournieri is the species most fre¬ 
quently met with, and its beautiful violet coloured 
flowers are sufficiently attractive to make it a general 
favourite, but T. flava, with its lovely yellow blooms, 
although not so often seen, is certainly not less 
worthy attention than the aforementioned species. 
Ericas which, after flowering, have been cut back 
and removed to cold frames should now be breaking 
away nicely. Heaths, it is true, have somehow or 
other acquired the unenviable notoriety of being 
hard to grow, but if proper attention is paid to 
watering them no undue difficulty need be ex¬ 
perienced in dealing with them. They should never 
be allowed to get dry at the root, but on the other 
hand must not be kept too wet. The present is one 
of the most critical stages of their existence, and air 
must therefore be very cautiously adminstered until 
the growths have become sufficiently hardy to 
warrant standing the plants outdoors. Insect pests 
do not, as a rule, affect Ericas to any appreciable 
extent, although mildew wi.l sometimes cause 
trouble. This must be treated by dusting the plants 
with sulphur as soon as it is seen. 
Zonal Pelargoniums.— It is now quite time that 
the Zonal Pelargoniums which are destined for 
flowering during the winter should be put into their 
flowering pots. Cuttings which have been taken in 
spring and were subsequently potted off into 60-sized 
pots will by this time be quite ready for the shift. 
A compost of two parts of good turfy loam to one of 
dried horse or cow manure may have added to it a 
goodly sprinkling of coarse river sand. Thirty-two 
sized pots will be found to be quite large enough for 
all ordinary purposes.— A. S. G. 
* 
Cattleya Mendelii.— What a grand Cattleya this 
is ! hard to equal, certainly never excelled, taken all 
round. It is, to my mind, a better doer than C. 
Trianaei, to which it is closely allied; true, it 
flowers at a time when Orchid bloom is plentiful, but 
what of that, it is always welcome. The brilliancy 
of the labellum and graceful curve and fall of the 
sepals and petals, lends a charm to the whole that 
makes one exclaim, how lovely ! 
Easy to grow, with ordinary treatment it never 
or hardly ever fails to make flowering growths, if 
the plants are in anything approaching good health 
when purchased, whether imported or established. 
The compost in which to grow them consists of good 
fibrous peat, broken up into rather large lumps with 
rather large pieces of broken crocks or charcoal mixed 
with it. I think oftentimes a great mistake is made 
when potting Cattleyas in pressing everything in too 
firm ; we used to favour firm potting ourselves, but 
have found by experience that the system is bad. 
The water does not pass freely away and sufficient 
air cannot reach the roots. Secure the plants firmly 
in the pots by means of neat stakes, then fill in with 
the compost and sphagnum moss. Some growers use 
moss largely for Cattleyas; it certainly gives a more 
finished and business-like appearance to the whole, 
and as a tell-tale in the early stages, when watering 
the plants, it may be useful, but towards the end of 
the season it is useless in this respect. After re¬ 
potting water very carefully until the new roots have 
taken hold of the new compost; more roots are 
killed through over-watering after being fresh potted 
than most people think ; keep the atmosphere about 
them moist, and carefully shade for a few weeks. 
Laelia purpurata. —This fine Orchid requires 
similar treatment and should be potted in the same 
way, being careful to make the plants secure, for 
being a tall heavy-topped Orchid the roots are soon 
damaged if not properly fixed. 
Oncidium tigrinum. —The time is at hand when 
this grand autumn flowering Oncidium will require 
re-potting ; with this particular species we favour 
firm potting. The roots are rather small in com¬ 
parison with those of Cattleyas, which, to my mind, 
is an indication that firm potting is the proper 
course ; at any rate, so treated, our plants will make 
very large bulbs each season, which, perhaps, is a 
good sign. They do well when grown with tie 
Odontoglossums, where they get plenty of moisture 
round about them from now until the growths are made 
up and the plants are in bloom ; when they go out of 
bloom give them a good rest. This is, we think, the 
only way to keep them in good health for any length 
of time.— C. 
(gleanings front tfjejlDoilh 
of Science 
Gorse as Fodder in Wales. —A correspondent 
signing himself " Rex " makes the following com¬ 
munication to a contemporary ;—“ throughout the 
length and breadth of the United Kingdom there 
are few localities in which the prickly Evergreen 
known in different parts of the British Isles as Gorse, 
Whins and Furze, is not to be found. In the 
northern districts of the principality of Wales, more 
especially in the counties of Carnrrvon, Anglesey, 
and Denbigh, it has, from time immemorial, been in 
general use as a food for horses. It has also occa¬ 
sionally been employed as food for cattle. When, 
either by itself or in conjunction with other 
provender, it has been used as food for milch cows, 
the results have been highly satisfactory. It has 
given to the milk and butter a fine colour and a rich 
flavour, and those who have tried it are of opinion 
that cows yield a better profit than when they are 
fed with the best hay, or even Turnips There is 
but little doubt that if the value of Gorse were better 
known it would become almost universally used as 
food for both horses and cattle, and even sheep. 
From the kind of ground it grows on and the never- 
failing nature of the crop, it is certainly an invaluable 
food in seasons like this, especially in a country 
where other crops are liable to failure, as in England 
at the present time." 
Gorse in Scotland. —There can be little doubt 
that Gorse has been used as cattle food from time 
immemorial, and we should be inclined to extend the 
use of it back to the time of the ancient Britons or 
Celts, for we are of opinion that the wide distribu¬ 
tion of the custom of so using it points to that fact. 
Whins were still given to horses and cows till within 
the last twenty years, at least in Aberdeenshire, and 
for all we know the practice is still continued to 
some extent. The neglect of this useful fodder plant 
at the present day is not due to a want of knowledge 
of its valuable properties, but rather we should say 
to the fact that vast areas of ground, that used to be 
covered with Gorse, have been ploughed up or 
trenched and put under the regular cropping rota¬ 
tions of neighbouring farms to which much of the 
waste land in question may have belonged. The 
consequent increase of straw, Turnips, and artificial 
cattle food, has rendered the use of Gorse, to a 
certain extent, unnecessary, and has possibly given 
1 ise to the belief that it is inferior to strawand Turnips 
in feeding value and, therefore, an unprofitable crop 
with which to cumber the ground. There are dis¬ 
tricts, particularly those of a hilly nature, where 
Gorse might be profitably utilised, as it grows with 
great luxuriance on land that is either too barren or 
too steep to permit of the profitable cultivation of 
Cereals, Turnips or Potatos. 
Methods of Preparing Gorse —The spines are 
so numerous and strong that cattle seldom venture 
to feed upon Gorse in the wild state ; rabbits, where 
numerous, keep it eaten down, and goats might 
browse upon it, though we have no evidence of it, 
nor are goats of any great importance in the north. 
In olden times Gorse was never cultivated except 
in the form of hedges on the top of earthen walls, 
usually termed earth-dykes. As fodder it was 
always cut from the self-sown and wild plants, and 
the ground was gone over systematically for the 
purpose of having a young crop coming on, just as 
a certain amount of heather on the hills and moors 
is annually burn: to secure the same end. The 
young and green portions of the p'ant having been 
cut, they were bruised by one or other means to 
enable cows or horses to eat them. The simplest 
method was to beat the shoots with a flail on the 
hard floor of the barn to bruise or break the more 
prominent spines. Another and more effective 
method was to use a millstone set on edge in a 
circular course. A shaft attached to a pivet in the 
centre of the circle was passed through the hole in 
the centre of the stone, and a horse attached to the 
shaft walked round an outer course, causing the 
stone to roll round the paved inner one in which 
the shoots of Gorse were laid, and effectually 
bruised, thereby rendering them harmless to the 
mouths of animals to be fed upon them. The old- 
fashioned farmers and crofters placed considerable 
value on this kind of fodder, 
