December 3^, 1892. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
279 
Iardening Miscellany. 
C jh 
CHRYSANTHEMUM SALAD. 
A Japanese horticulturist, M. S. Yoshida, recently 
communicated an article upon this subject to 
the Moniteur A'Horticulture, which we commend to 
the notice of Mr. Harman Payne. He states that 
in the preparation of Chrysanthemum salad they 
put vinegar into it, also a sort of liquid comparable 
to weak Madeira wine, and a sauce made with 
fermented Soja that is frequently replaced with 
salt. Sometimes this mixture is prepared several 
days before it is used, and when it retains its bitter¬ 
ness sugar is put into it. The heads or Dlooms of 
Chrysanthemums destined for consumption are 
gathered when fully expanded, cleansed in water 
successively renewed, and finally boiled in water. 
The salad is also often eaten in the raw state in the 
same sauce. On all occasions special varieties are 
reserved for this purpose. During the months of 
November and December the flowers washed and 
spread with care may be seen with the salad-pur¬ 
veyors of the Japanese towns. Small yellow flowers 
chiefly are used. The leaves are also stewed and 
used for culinary purposes. The flowers or the 
petals of the Moutan Pseony and Hemerocallis flava 
are utilised as culinary products after having been 
boiled in large quantities of water. The petals of 
the Pseony, according to M. S. Yoshida, are sweeter, 
more savoury, and more agreeable to the taste than 
the flowers of Chrysanthemums. 
JAPANESE PLANTS AT THE WORLD'S FAIR. 
A correspondent of the Florists' Exchange states that 
on Dec. ist a fine collection of plants was received at 
Chicago from the Botanic Gardens of the Imperial 
University, Tokio, Japan. This collection consists of 
many curiously trained plants,all bearing marks of the 
peculiar methods of plant-strangulation as practised 
by the Japanese. One Ihuya obtusa, not more than 
3 ft. in height, with a trunk 6 in. in diameter, is 
considered to be over ioo years old. Another, a 
specimen of Pinus parviflora, -z\ ft. high, is thought 
to be not less than seventy-five years old. Then 
there are fine specimens of Pittosporum Tobiri, 
Dendropanax Japonicum, Aspidistra lurida, fatsia 
Japonica, Aucuba Japonica, Pieris Japonica, Osman- 
thus aquifolium, Trachelospermum Laurei, Ophio- 
pogon Jaburan, Nandina domestica, Ternstroemia 
Japonica, Sterculia platanifolia, Daphniphyllum 
macropodum, Daphniphyllum glaucescens, Quercus 
cuspidata, Sciadopitys verticillata, Larix leptolepis, 
Trachycarpus Fortune!, Rhapis flabelliformis and 
humilis, Metroxylon Rumphii, Arundinaria Japonica, 
Bambusa aurea and gracillima, and many other 
interesting plants, among which is what the Japs 
call Asplenium nidus, but which is distinct from 
those sent from Australia, being very much shorter 
in foliage and hardier. 
DOUBLE CHINESE PRIMULAS- 
I was glad to see the remarks of “ A. D." in your 
issue of December 17 (p. 243) in favour of the 
finer varieties of Double Chinese Primulas. I am 
sure if they were better known they would be more 
largely grown than at present, as I don t think they 
are more difficult to propagate and grow than the old 
White, if the business is gone about in an intelligent 
way. The old Double White, he says, is not for a 
moment in it compared with such varieties as White 
Lady and Marchioness of Exter, which is quite true 
in my estimation ; but everyone does not think so, as 
the judges at the last Edinburgh Chrysanthemum 
Show placed semi-double ones first, before such 
varieties as White Lady, Marchioness of Exeter, 
A. F. Baron, &c . Such judgment knocks my idea of 
a florists’ flower completely on the head. Of course 
the semi-double ones had more foliage than the 
doubles, and there may be something in that which 
an ordinary mind cannot understand. I for one, 
however, would rather remain in ignorance than 
have such knowledge. It would be difficult to over¬ 
estimate the value of a really good double, either as 
a house plant where flowering plants are in demand, 
or as cut flowers ; they will last longer in good con¬ 
dition than most flowers that we can get at the 
present time, and by a little judicious feeding will 
continue flowering for a very long time. I am sure 
as they get better known they wall be more largely 
cultivated, as I think they very well merit a place in 
any greenhouse.— Redacre, Edinburgh. 
ANEMIA COLLINA. 
Young plants of this are very distinct from the com¬ 
moner kinds we see in cultivation. Many, in fact 
most, of the young fronds are barren so that they 
have a leafy appearance quite concealing the surface 
of the pot. They are pinnate with oblong, falcate, 
obtuse pinnae, auricled on the upper side and finely 
crenulate. The fertile branches arc short, in pairs 
as usual, from the base of the lamina of the frond. 
A quantity of plants about 6 in. high may be seen in 
the nursery of Mr. H. B. May, Upper Edmonton. 
The species is considered rare in cultivation, but 
judging from the quantity of plants and their general 
vigour.it is not difficult to cultivate, and - it has a 
more leafy and decorative appearance than the 
relatively plentiful A. Phyllitidis. 
CELOSIA CARDINALIS. 
There are about thirty-five species of Celosia, 
natives of Asia, Africa, and Tropical America. C. 
cardinalis is a new species from Central China, and 
has recently been distributed amongst the horticul¬ 
tural establishments of Europe by Messrs. Damman 
& Co., of Naples. The plant is of pyramidal habit, 
and grows to the height of a yard or more, and is 
therefore suitable for taking part in the formation of 
tall groups. The leaves are of a beautiful red, 
giving a bronzy reflection when the sun shines upon 
them. The stems and branches terminate in pyra- 
midical panicles of brilliant reddish crimson flowers. 
A woodcut of the plant is given in the Bulletin 
d'Arboriculture , &c., for December. 
ASPLENIUM OBTUSILOBUM. 
In this we have a most interesting curiosity as well 
as a pretty stove fern that might be less rare in gar¬ 
dens than it is. The esteem in which it is held by 
some may be judged by the fact that it has a 
synonym in A. elegantulum, which would mean 
apparently the little, elegant Asplenium. The fronds 
are usually about 3 in. long and bipinnate with 
wedge shaped pinnules ; they are lanceolate in out¬ 
line, arching, and if their peculiarities ended here, the 
species might be compared to, although not exactly 
matched by, our native A. germanicum. Many of 
the fronds, however, merely form a greatly elongated 
midrib which may be compared to a runner inas¬ 
much as plantlets here and there on them form little 
rosettes of leaves. Sometimes the base of the frond 
resolves itself into a few .pinnae at the base while the 
apex assumes the form of a runner. Owing to its 
dwarf habit it can be accommodated in very small 
space either as a pot plant or in a Wardian case. It 
is grown by Mr. H. B. May, Dyson’s Lane 
Nurseries. Upper Edmonton, both in small pots, 
(often in fact no bigger than thumbs) as well as in 
miniature baskets which show off the runners to ad¬ 
vantage. It is a native of the New Hebrides, requires 
stove treatment, and is also known under the name 
of Darea obtusiloba. 
STRAWBERRIES ALL THE YEAR ROUND. 
According to M. Ernie Rodigas in the Bulletin 
d'Arboriculture a supply of Strawberries can be kept 
up all the year round. In winter the Strawberries 
are forced, and in summer early and late varieties 
are grown, and some are retarded towards the end 
of summer. He indicates the rather complicated 
method of procedure pursued with considerable 
success in summer by M. Durand, the head gardener 
at Tautonville. The variety the latter employes is 
Belle d’Argenteuil. He trenches the ground deeply 
and gives it a good manuring. About the beginning 
of April the Strawberries are planted in four lines 
in beds about 16 in. apart each way. The beds are 
separated by alleys. This accomplished, the beds 
are mulched with manure three parts decomposed ; 
abundant watering is given according to need, and 
the stolons are suppressed successively as they 
appear. M. Durand cultivates six beds, two of 
which he allows to flower freely in May, pinching 
off all the flowers from the other four. On the 
15th of June he pinches off the flowers of the fifth 
and sixth beds, allowing the plants of the third and 
fourth beds to flower. The crop of the first two he 
obtains in May and June, the second crop in July 
and August, and the third in September and October. 
The secret of the successive fructification therefore 
consists in the suppression of the flowers of second 
and even a third flowering. 
YELLOW-BERRIED HOLLY. 
The Hollies in the grounds of Gunnersbury House, 
Acton, are one of the finest features of the place at 
this season of the year, for they together with the 
Evergreen shrubs and some Conifers serve to give 
the garden a pleasing appearance. In spite of the 
open weather which prevailed lately the blackbirds 
were punishing the berries of the red-berried 
varieties severely. Besides the common red-berried 
form there are or have been in cultivation at one 
time or other, a yellow, white, and a black-berried 
variety. Some of the variegated sorts have also 
yellow or white berries ; but there is a yellow fruited 
variety of the type, namely, Ilex Aquifolium fructu 
luteo, in the grounds of Gunnersbury House and 
close to the mansion. The tree stands about 
35 ft. high, and somewhat cylindrical or columnar in 
outline. Being near the gravel pathway as well as 
the house there is no room to allow of the tree 
assuming its natural and somewhat pyramidal habit 
of growth. 
SPILLING THE BUTTER-BOAT 
Prof. Michael Foster is responsible for the 
following amusing anecdote :—It was at a meeting 
of the British Association, of which he was then 
an officer, in a provincial city, that he happened 
to sit next to the mayor, one of the well-known 
type who have risen by dint of their own energy 
and shrewdness, though it appeared that this 
gathering was his first introduction to science. There 
were certain formalities to be gone through. The 
retiring president gave way to the president-elect, 
and in doing so explained what a wonderful man 
the president-elect was ; how astonishing it was that 
he should not have been chosen before him. Then 
the president-elect got up and said what an admir¬ 
able person his predecessor was ; that he was just 
worthy to loosen his shoe-latchet, and nothing more. 
Then there were some other officers to be elected, 
and there was the same strophe and antistrophe as 
before. “ I saw," says Professor Foster, “ the mayor 
was getting very fidgetty ; he pulled his waistcoat 
and screwed up his mouth, and then turned to me 
and said : ‘ Well, you men of science do know how 
to spill the butter-boat.’ ” 
APPLE ELIZA RATHXE 
The variety above named has been put into com¬ 
merce by M. Rathke, a nurseryman of Danztig, and 
a beautifully coloured illustration of it is given in 
the Bulletin d' Arboriculture, &-c.. for December. 
Judging from the illustration and the account 
given of it, the tree must be highly ornamental, 
more especially when laden with its fruit. In the 
younger stages, the branches have a spreading habit, 
like the horizontal Elm and the weeping Bigarreau ; 
but as it advances in age, the branches, aided by the 
weight of the fruit, assume a decidedly pendent 
habit. M. Fred. Burvenick, sen., is strongly of the 
belief that the Apple Eliza Rathke must have come 
from seeds of Brabant Bellefleur, the tree of which 
is distinguished above all others by its spreading 
branches. The fruit is of medium size, conical, 
with pale lines on a green ground, and striped with 
crimson on a red ground, recalling very much the 
little Bellefleur. The greenish white flesh is said to 
be good and of light consistency, but not very re¬ 
fined to the taste. The tree, however, is highly 
ornamental, very prolific, and well suited for culti¬ 
vation in the form of horizontal cordons, espaliers, 
and other trained shapes, as well as in the form of a 
weeping pyramid. The fruits keep till December or 
January, some say longer. 
PRUNING THE GOOSE¬ 
BERRY. 
There are differences of opinion as to the best time 
to prune the Gooseberry. Some prune as soon as 
frosty weather sets in after Christmas; some defer 
the work until much later, and among those who do 
so are they who adopt the practice of gathering the 
branches of their Gooseberry tree together in the 
form of a bundle and tying them together, passing 
some stout cord about them, the reason assigned for 
this being that the birds are unable to reach the 
buds in the centre of the trees, and can take those 
only which are outside. This is no doubt a sensible 
plan in localities where the birds are troublesome. 
The bushes are not untied until the leaves begin to 
appear, and when the danger of injury from the 
birds has to some extent passed away. There is this 
