48 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
September 24, 1892. 
dish is concerned the matter may be of 
exceeding difficulty. However, there is no 
doubt but that these things will be satis¬ 
factorily surmounted. 
Generally speaking we have a grand 
Potato season, and the crop is a splendid 
one. The Chiswick trials show too that 
raisers are still to the fore with many very 
fine varieties, some, indeed, of special 
excellence. We shall indeed be pleased if 
the result of the Earl's Court Potato Show 
should be a resuscitation ofthe International 
Potato Show, and if it can be so of vegetable 
exhibitions. 
ctober Chrysanthemums. —We are 
gratified to learn from some of our 
more active Chrysanthemum raisers as well 
as growers, that there is good reason to hope 
that ere long we may possess a race of fine 
October flowering varieties, chiefly, of 
course, of the Japanese type, which will be 
duplicates of, and not less fine or beautiful 
than the November bloomers. It would 
not be possible to regard this as other than 
a boon, not only because under ordinary 
conditions it will lengthen the flowering 
season, but also because it will lead to some 
of the shows now crowded into November 
to be held in the preceding month, thus 
checking that pressure in the penultimate 
month of the year which is so very trying 
to all concerned. 
No one can say that Chrysanthemums 
when they flower at their best are too early. 
So soon as Michaelmas is past we know 
that the doom of all tender flowers out¬ 
doors is pronounced, and then good flowers 
under glass become doubly welcome. To 
man)-, especially small growers, it is a 
matter of extreme difficulty to have blooms 
at their best in November, for damp is then 
so destructive. Flowers fully expanded in 
October are less subject to that evil. 
Then when these early ones are over 
much more of room is given for the later 
ones, and the more of space, light and air 
they have the better chance there is of 
keeping them in good condition. There 
seems to be so many advantages to be 
derived from the obtaining of a fine race of 
October bloomers that such a result can 
hardly be other than warmly welcomed. 
j^he Begonia as a Bedder.— For outdoor 
D uses the Begonia has' become, if the 
term may be so applied, the champion 
decorative flower. It seems, too, as if it 
were in for a long life as such, or, as the 
Yankees say, has come to say. The Zonal 
Pelargonium has occupied the pride of 
place as a bedding plant for half a century, 
and will have a good innings yet. Still, it 
will have to bow down before the advan¬ 
cing fcrce of the grand Begonia. That 
much is certain. We get in the Pelar¬ 
gonium, first a stout sturdy habit, which 
rather revels in moisture, and soon becomes 
under its influences demoralised. Then we 
have really wonderful blooms and variation 
in colours in Begonias that are indescrib¬ 
ably beautiful. Still further as the season 
advances so does the Begonia seem to de¬ 
velop greater beauty, and the character 
found in June is continued till October. 
In ordinary gardens the Begonia has 
become the chief floral feature. These, 
however, are mere trifles compared with 
the truly marvellous masses which such 
growers as Ware, Laing, Cannell and 
others present to us in their various 
nurseries, where they grow the seedlings 
in tens of thousands, and in such superb 
beauty as to make a visitor literally stagger 
with wonder. Once we have become 
satiated with Begonias it will be hard 
indeed to find any flower that will satisfy 
us. 
At Forest Hill, for instance, there are two 
acres of ground absolutely crammed full of 
Begonias in luxuriant bloom, a sight of 
which the most enthusiastic florist could 
not have dreamt some ten or fifteen years 
ago. There is at present no probable 
finality in Begonias. The tether of the 
hybridist is yet a long one, and far more 
wonderful things than have been done may 
yet be accomplished. At present we 
strongly urge upon our readers to visit 
some of the Begonia nurseries, and see 
the immense slocks there in bloom. It 
will enable them better to understand the 
uses to which these flowers may be put. 
sters. —In spite of the charm which 
attaches to the Michaelmas Daisy, now 
found in so many varieties that it has 
become a most popular family amongst 
late blooming hardy flowers, the Aster 
of commerce is still without doubt the 
gloriously beautiful annual, which, in 
spite of some drawbacks has this season 
been as brilliant and as beautiful as ever. 
The finest displays of these flowers after all 
are to be seen in those out-of-the-way 
places where some 20,000 to 50,000 plants 
are grown for market sale. 
These growers have a dwarf compact 
strain that is peculiarly suited for their 
purpose, and one that produces flowers of 
wondrous excellence. There seems to be 
absolutely no annual flower that gives us 
such extensive masses, such brilliant hues 
as these dwarf Asters do. If the blooms 
are not of exhibition size they are of not a 
worthless double in quality and form. It is 
really surprising to find how cheaply seed 
of such fine strains can be sold, but it is 
so. Asters are of all annuals amongst the 
best to lift from the ground into pots, and 
for that reason it is to be deplored that at 
our late summer and autumn shows it is 
not the rule to invite plants in pots rather 
than mere blooms, as a dozen even of the 
best flowers do not furnish much to look at, 
whilst half a dozen pots, or a dozen, 
each pot having three plants clumped into 
it, would produce a fine effect. 
The dwarfer forms are displacing the 
taller ones in public estimation, and the 
medium-sized flowers ofthe Mignon section 
are far better than are the large flowers for 
cutting. Were it not for the securing of 
prizes at shows we should find these 
dwarfer sections more popular than they 
yet are. Showing them in pots as plants 
would render them most attractive. 
--*■- 
Violas in the Phoenix Park, Dublin —Vi&las were 
largely planted last spring in the Phoenix Park, and 
all through the summer they have been gay and 
effective. Over 12,000 plants were put out, and they 
were all from the well-known growers, Messrs. 
Dobbie & Co., of Rothesay. 
Chrysanthemum Shows.—The Finchley Chrysan¬ 
themum Show is announced for November 10th and 
nth ; and that of the Birkenhead and Wirral Society 
for November 10th and nth also. The first Chry¬ 
santhemum and Fruit Show of the \\ aterloo, Seaforth 
and Crosby Horticultural Society wilt be held at 
Waterloo, near Liverpool, on Tuesday, November 
8th. 
New Carnivorous Plant —As related by the Bulletin 
d'Arboriculture, a paragraph is going the round of the 
daily papers to the effect that a new Carnivorous 
plant has turned up at the World's Fair, Chicago, 
and will be publicly exposed on the first of April. 
It is called the irog-eater, comes originally from the 
tropics, and ought to be a near relation ot the 
famous Electric plant. The flower distils a liquor 
which draws the frog, and when the latter has 
satisfied itself and wishes to withdraw, the flower 
shuts and two sharp spines, with which it is armed, 
transpierce and fix the unfortunate frog in its place. 
The flower recovers and can recommence its 
voracious work when the frog has been absorbed. 
Report does not state the number of flowers borne 
bya plant nor the number of times each'flower feeds- 
It is only stated that a dozen living examples will 
be on view. 
A New Golden Sage.—A golden-leaved variety of 
Sage named Salvia officinalis aurea has been put 
into commerce by Messrs. Dammann & Co., of San 
Giovanni, Teduccio, Naples. The leaves are of the 
most pure golden-yellow, thickly clothing a dwarf, 
compact, and closely branched plant scarcely a fcot 
high. It is also very regular in growth, and does not 
in the least suffer from the influence of the sun’s 
rays. When fully exposed it develops better, and 
the foliage acquires a more lively colour. It also 
differs from most or all other yellow foliaged, hardy 
plants by the compact tufts which it forms. Messrs. 
Dammann by repeated experiments have established 
the fact that to the present day it has not produced 
any flowers. 
The Oldest Herbarium in the World is in the Egypto¬ 
logist Museum at Cairo, and consists of an incon¬ 
spicuous collection of dried portions of plants. 
1 hese portions of plants and flowers were taken from 
wreaths and garlands in the coffins with mummies, 
where they were placed by the ancient Egyptians as 
death-offerings, and from edible plants which were 
set in earthern vessels on the floor of the sepulchre 
as the furniture of the last resting-place of their 
beloved ones. Many of these floral remains are so 
well preserved that after being treated with warm 
water they can be handled like modern herbarium 
specimens. The colours, too, are preserved in a re¬ 
markable way. The most important matter in con¬ 
nection with these plants is their age. The remains 
of funeral-food are found in tombs as far back as 
three thousand years before Christ .—Gulden and 
Forest. 
Green Dahlias. —Whenever any naturally variable 
flower is undertaken by the florist we are almost 
certain sooner or later to meet with anomalies and 
vagaries contrary to the natural order of things ; 
and if some of them are occasionally met with in a 
state of nature, they are very exceptional compared 
with the same occurrences in gardens. As in the 
case of the green Rose, a green Dahlia has been 
cultivated for some years under the name of D. 
viridiflora, and is retained out of mere curiosity. 
The green head consists of the bracts only, which, 
right to the centre of the head, have assumed the 
same appearance as the bracts which normally cover 
the base of all Dahlias whether single or double. 
The florets are entirely absent as a rule, but occa¬ 
sionally a few of them make their appearance, and 
are dark crimson. The monstrosity has now been 
carried even farther, as was shown at the Drill Hall, 
on Tuesday last, by a specimen of a green Dahlia, 
the head of which had become elongated forming a 
stem of 4 in. to 6 in. long, bearing a dense array of 
green bracts like small green leaves, as if nature 
were undecided as to whether she intended to con¬ 
tinue the ordinary leafy stem or to produce a flower 
head. 
A Poisonous Leguminous Plant. — Amongst the 
numerous seeds, fruits, and products that are con¬ 
stantly being received at the Royal Gardens for 
identification were a few pods with bright red seeds, 
which were accompanied by the following account: 
—“ I take the liberty of sending to you a few pods 
which I collected in Mexico. The leaves and seeds 
of this tree are said to be highly poisonous, and to 
produce tetanus in animals eating them. I have 
examined some of the seeds to find whether they 
contain strychnine, but have ascertained that that 
alkaloid is not present. I shall feel obliged if you 
could tell me if you know of this plant, and whether 
you could give me any information with respect to 
it. I understand that very large quantities of these 
seeds can be obtained in the mountains around 
Zacatecas, in Mexico.” Upon examination these 
seeds proved to be those of the Sophora secundiflora, 
Lagasca, described by Professor Sargent as a small 
tree or tall shrub of Matagorda Bay, Texas, west to 
the mountains of New Mexico, forming dense 
thickets on the borders of streams, generally in 
low, rather moist soil. It has a heavy, hard, close- 
grained wood of an orange colour streaked with red. 
The seeds are said to contain an exceedingly poison¬ 
ous alkaloid known as sophorine. The Indians in 
the neighbourhood of San Antonio use the seeds -as 
an intoxicant, half a seed producing exhilaration 
followed by sleep lasting two or three days. A 
whole bean is said to be sufficient to kill a man. 
