684 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
June 22,1895. 
Many Cypripediutns were in bloom, and among 
others I noticed several forms of C. Lawrenceanum, 
C. Curtisii, C. bellatulum, very fine, C. Roezlii, C. 
Sedenii candidulum, C. ciliolare, C. Chamberlain- 
ianum, &c. The Dendrobes are making splendid 
growth, and the collection generally making good 
progress, and is a source of pleasure to the pro¬ 
prietor, and a credit to the grower, and much 
admired by the many visitors to Bourton-on-the- 
Water, and will no doubt stimulate many horticul¬ 
turists in the district to largely increase their col¬ 
lections of Orchids.— J. C. 
-- 
LEGENDS OF LABURNUM ADAMI. 
A paragraph in The Gardening World of June 
8th, on Cytisus purpureus, reminds one of one of 
the most interesting flowering trees that adds beauty 
to the months of May and June, and one that 
during its flowering period forms a permanent puzzle 
to many people. This is not particularly astonishing 
when occasioned by a tree possessing the charac¬ 
teristics of Laburnum Adami, a tree that is not un- 
frequently mistaken for its relative, the happily 
named Golden Chain, the widespread popularity of 
which is indicated by its distribution. Indeed, few 
trees are as generally well known as the Laburnum, 
or lend themselves to being as readily and accurately 
described by the casual observer, and there are few 
more universally popular. No wonder then that the 
presence of a flower-laden tree of L. Adami imparts 
a new interest to the tree that seemingly is nothing 
more than an old familiar favourite asssuming a 
most perplexing inconstancy, and it is not until its 
identity is discovered that speculations which are 
rife cease, together with the strange explanations 
that its appearance evokes. In the meantime it may 
have grown into a veritable prodigy, and a large 
circle of admirers gazed upon its varied flowers with 
astonished admiration, and from the learned ones 
the accounting for such an unusual sight in many 
instances may be more ingenuous than scientific. 
This, however, is not to be much wondered at, for 
if memory serves correctly it was from almost the 
date of its introduction made to illustrate the theory 
of a graft-hybrid production, presumably without 
there being any sufficiently reliable date to justify 
such a claim. The graft-hybrid theory, judging from 
available references, seems to have rapidly spread, 
and, stolon-like, rooted wherever it liked, with the 
result generally assured to a favourable reception. 
It became—grew, as it were—to the position of an 
article of a scientific creed of gardening. It is at 
this date one of the surviving errors with which we 
are occasionally confronted, from which the origin of 
others may be occasionally traced. As an instance 
of this, an account of one growing in the church¬ 
yard of the village of Chastleton is furnished to a 
provincial paper. After describing it as a " tri¬ 
coloured ” Laburnum, it proceeds to inform readers 
that " some of the branches bear pink, some yellow 
blossoms, and the third colour comes from a parasite, 
we believe, of the Acacia species, which has small 
purple flowers.” It is evident that this tree pro¬ 
duces in addition to flowers after its kind, a fair crop 
of confusion. 
A good specimen of this interesting tree has been 
noticed at Sunnymede, situated on the outskirts of 
Oxford, as the city is approached from Banbury. It 
is a thriving tree, and enjoys a shady situation, from 
whence it can be readily seen from the highway, and 
the present season is the first of its producing the 
regulation number of forms of flow r ers that so pro¬ 
nouncedly distinguishes its kind. 
It will be of interest to many of our readers to 
recount the particulars relating to the introduction 
of Laburnum Adami, as given by Mr. Rivers, of 
Sawbridgeworth, in 1836. It occurs in Loudon's 
Gardeners' Magazine, p. 224, of that year in an 
account of a tour in France, and it was at Paris 
that he remarked, " the purple Laburnum, of which 
so much has been said lately, was growing here in 
great perfection. It came accidently from seed 
among some common Laburnums in 1828, in the 
nursery of M. Adam, whence its name of Cytisus 
Adami in some catalogues. A fine plant was shown 
me by M. Camuset, which appeared to be half 
Cytisus purpureus and the remainder purple 
Laburnum. 
On examination the curious fact was ascertained 
that the purple Laburnum, which is evidently a 
hybrid between C. purpureus and C. Laburnum, 
had partly returned to the habits of one of its 
parents, the C. purpureus. This is surely a most 
unusual occurrence. Here was no trickery of graft¬ 
ing practised, for I saw nearly a similar effect pro¬ 
duced in the present year on a tree which I had sent 
to Ickleton (Cambs.), in 1834, which presented pre¬ 
cisely the same appearance. At the extreme end of 
one of its shoots there came forth a branch of the pure 
Cytisus purpureus with its small leaves and peculiar 
habit, appearing as if budded on the purple 
Laburnum.” 
The M. Camuset referred to was head of the 
nursery department in the Jardin des Plantes, and 
would be as interested as much as anyone at the 
time in the tree that has occasioned these notes.— 
Jno. E. Jefferies. 
-- 
A NOVEL WAY OF BUDDING ROSES. 
The winter now drawing to a close has slain so many 
Roses and maimed most of those left so grievously 
that any means likely to make good our heavy losses 
seems well worth trying. In most localities the 
common wild Dog Rose has escaped with its life and 
but little injured, and in gardens and most nurseries 
a large reserve of buds are still safe under glass. 
My new plan or suggestion is simply to bring these 
two together now instead of waiting another month 
or two for the usual season of converting Dog Briars 
into real living Rose plants. The May budding of 
Briars is not put forth as a substitute for June, July, 
or August budding, but as an addition. The 
slaughter of the innocent Roses has been so tremen¬ 
dous that all our possible efforts to fill up our blanks 
in beds and borders will be all too feeble to effect 
their purpose, Ever since the slaughtering forces 
of zero February frosts have been felt, efforts have 
been put forth in various directions to recover or 
make up our losses. Fortunately our Dog Roses, 
owing to the lateness of the season, are still com¬ 
paratively dormant. And w'hile they remain so they 
may be converted into Rose trees to bloom through¬ 
out the current summer and autumn. 
Standard Roses have suffered most this winter, 
and our first efforts should be directed to filling up 
blanks among these. One of the best modes of pro¬ 
cedure is to take up the Briars, tie or wire them 
round with moss, and plunge the roots in a bottom 
heat of 65 to 70 degrees, keeping the heads five or 
ten degrees lower. In ten days the roots will be in 
active growth, the sap in motion in the heads. The 
result of the latter will be that buds or small 
sections of Rose wood or buds of the ordinary kind 
so soon as they can be had, may be inserted in the 
old wood of the Briars without waiting for the 
current year’s wood to bud upon. By the time, in 
fact, that the latter could be had the Briars will 
already have become Roses in bloom doing their 
utmost to make up last winter's blanks. 
As the buds or wcod sections take to the stocks 
the latter may be potted up or planted out. Roots 
or dwarf stems of Dog Roses are equally useful for 
stocks as standards. Rooting or calloused cuttings 
of Briars or other Roses might have been and may 
still be transformed into flowering Roses for the 
summer and autumn by budding or grafting in heat 
at once. Some years since the writer had a call for 
about 1,000 Rose plants out of season and without 
means of purchase. He had abundance of Dog 
Rose root cuttings, and a considerable num¬ 
ber of Rose buds that had been grown under 
glass. The cuttings were calloused in a strong 
bottom heat. So soon as this first step to rootiDg 
was taken they were budded and grafted, and laid 
again in bottom heat covered with 2 in. of Cocoa 
fibre over the tips of the buds and the scions. In 
about three weeks from the time of grafting and 
budding most of the Briars were already Roses 
fit for potting and ready for planting out when the 
summer weather came. Few who have not tried 
these or other express modes of changing Dog 
Briars or other stocks into the choicest Roses can 
have any adequate idea of how rapidly and safely 
the transformation can be effected. Under glass, 
and with a skilful use of heat, almost anything is 
possbile in the budding and grafting of Roses. But 
fashions of budding Roses have run so exclusively 
into the two months of June and July that possibly 
not a few rosarians will hardly believe that Roses 
will take at other seasons and other places, close to 
the base of the current summer's growth. Should 
the heavy losses of February, 1895, lead to the more 
general adoption of winter budding and grafting on 
dcrmant or newly awakened stocks, possibly our 
present severe losses may tend to the future enrich¬ 
ment of rosarians and our Rose beds and borders.— 
Agricultural Economist. 
- ■!-- 
TREES AND SOIL. 
There cannot be a doubt that many of the failures 
in tree planting can be directly attributed to errors 
in judgment in the selection of particular species to 
the wrong classes of soils. We have good examples 
of how certain trees and shrubs affect particular 
classes of soils in the common Rhododendron, and 
most of the so-called American Peat plants, none of 
which can for long survive in that cf a chalky or 
calcareous formation, while the cluster and Aleppo 
Pines (Pinus pinaster, and P. Halepensis) succeed 
best in almost pure sand on the sea coast. 
Again, we generally associate the Scotch Pine, 
Larch, and Mountain Ash with poor gravelly soils or 
rocky ground : the Ash with that of the best quality, 
what may also be said of the Walnut and the Beech 
with that of a calcareous formation. The Willow 
and Alder do best in rather damp soil; in fact, that 
cf a water-logged character does not come amiss to 
either while the various species of Poplar revel in 
that of almost a similar, perhaps drier nature. 
Amongst the later introduced Conifers the 
same law with reference to soil holds good, and 
many failures by not planting the Umbrella 
Pine (Sciadopitys verticillata) in dampish peat, 
and Menzies Fir (Picea Menziesii) on dry gravelly 
soils have been brought about. These are 
only a few of the many instances that could be 
pointed out in which trees have become unhealthy, or 
died out altogether when planted in unsuitable soils 
and situations. The Larch will not remain long 
healthy when planted in gravelly soils—heart-rot or 
" pumping ” being brought about at an early age, 
and many examples of such could be pointed out 
in almost every part of the country where the tree 
is extensively cultivated. But it would only be 
superfluous to multiply examples, and it is wise on 
the part of the planter to consider well the species of 
trees that have been found to succeed best when 
planted in particular classes of soil. 
The following is a brief summary of the trees that 
have been found best suited for the soils with which 
they are associated in the following list:— 
Acacia : rich soil or gravel. 
Alder: rich damp soil in proximity to water. 
Ash : alluvial deposit, or rich yellow loam. 
Beech : gravelly or chalky loam. 
Birch : poor upland slopes and light soils. 
Cherry: iich, dampish vegetable soil. 
Chesnut : deep, rich sandy loam. 
Chestnut (horse) : good firm loam, dampish. 
Elm (English): deep dry loam. 
Elm (Scotch): upland rocky soils. 
Hazel: good loam, on chalk preferable. 
Hornbeam : poor clayey soils. 
Lime : firm, well-drained loam. 
Maple (English) : loam on chalk. 
Maple (Sugar): deep sandy soil. 
Mountain Ash : rocky soils and gravelly loam 
Oak: deep, rich and rather stiff loam. 
Poplar : preferably a moist rich soil. 
Sycamore: rich, open loamy soils and alluvial 
deposit. 
Walnut: rich wheat soil. 
W T illow : dampish and fairly good soils. 
Coniferous Trees. 
Douglas Fir : rich gravel or sandy soil. 
Larch : fairly rich loam in upland situation. 
Pine (Scotch): light and poor gravelly soils. 
Pine (Austrian) : calcareous formation. 
Pine (Corsican) : loam on deep gravel. 
Pine (Cluster or Pinaster) : deep sand on the sea- 
coast. 
Silver Fir : good rich loam. 
Thuja gigantea: fairly rich soil of almost every 
description. 
Thujopsis borealis: gravelly or sandy loam in 
sheltered situations. 
Amongst the coniferous trees the above are the 
only species that can, at present, be considered 
sufficiently valuable for afforesting purposes. Of 
course it must be distinctly borne in mind that 
perhaps every species above enumerated will succeed 
in other soils than those recommended, but with a 
wide and intimate knowledge of the individual kinds 
and their requirements we may conclude that for 
general planting the above instructions as to soil are 
well worth of attention.— A. D. Webster. 
