440 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
March 11, 1893. 
hooks placed in the front of the coping and the 
bottom of the wall. In the case of higher walls it 
would be better to mount it on light rollers to be 
drawn up with ropes, through small pulleys placed 
at the top of the wall. It would then be necessary 
to have poles placed against the wall to keep it off 
the trees, and fastened down about two feet from the 
bottom of the wall. 
The disbudding already referred to must be followed 
up by nailing or tying in the shoots,care being taken 
not to break or bruise them in the operation ; the 
most satisfactory are the medium-sized short-jointed 
growths. 
When the fruit has set in clusters, it is advisable 
to thin out all the badly shaped and placed ones 
when they are about the size of Peas. At the second 
thinning, about a week after the first, it will be seen 
which are swelling best ; they should be retained, 
and where there is sufficient choice always remove 
those towards the ends of the shoots. There is an 
opinion which finds weight with some people, that 
a fruit will not come to 'perfection unless it has a 
shoot beyond it to encourage the sap upwards. 
This is not the case, for several in such a position 
have come'under my notice during the past season 
which were quite equal to those on other parts of 
the tree. The final thinning should not take place 
until the fruit is stoned, and then the crop must be 
regulated by the vigour of the tree. A very strong 
vigorous tree should carry a fruit to every 6 in. of 
foliage on the wall, and an ordinary crop would be 
one to every foot. 
{To be continued.) 
--j-- 
Hardening Miscellany. 
Cjh "'v 
PALMS STANDING ON THEIR TOES. 
There are several of the Palms that behave very 
much in the same way as old specimens of Pandanus, 
which throw out stout aerial roots resembling the 
cordage or stays of a ship’s mast. The base of the 
stems often dies away ultimately, so that the plant is 
left standing on its aerial roots or toes so to speak. 
Socratea exorhiza is one of the Palms that behave 
in this way. The young plant commences very early 
to run up with a slender stem, and growing rapidly 
it soon forms a heavy top which would over-balance 
the plant were it not for the fact that it throws out 
strong roots from that part of the stem which has 
already acquired considerable thickness ; these roots 
fix themselves in the soil and form a support to the 
plant, which is already top-heavy. This the plant 
will do in a pot by the time it is 2 ft. high, with six 
or seven aerial roots. In its native habitats in 
Guiana and the regions of the Amazon River, one 
tree would have from eight to twenty or more of 
these stays, produced from the stems at 6 ft. from 
the ground. Another Palm behaving in a similar 
way is Verschaffeltia splendida, better known in 
cultivation than the last-named. It produces huge 
oblong leaves intermediate in form between the 
pinnate ones of Kentia and the fan-shaped ones of a 
Latania. The stem of the young plant is slender 
and always remains so, while the aerial roots 
supporting the top heavy heads are stout and black. 
GALANTHUS FOSTERII. 
The forms of Galanthus are now getting very 
numerous in gardens, making it difficult to remember 
the distinctions between many of them. G. Fosterii 
is closely allied to G. Elwesii, but the leaves appear 
paler and remind us of those of G. caucasicus ; taey 
are of a pale glaucous hue, almost green, and in that 
respect approach those of G. latifolius as well as the 
last-named kind. The general form of the flower is 
similar to that of G. Elwesii, but the inner segments 
are rather more spreading perhaps at the mouth ; 
they are green on the inner face, striated with white 
lines, while there is a horse shoe-shaped blotch round 
the sinus on the outer face, and an oblong green 
blotch at the base, and which is shorter than that of 
G. Elwesii usually is. 
HYACINTHUS AZUREUS. 
The flowers of this Hyacinth are so small and 
densely arranged in a spike that horticulturists will 
persist in regarding it as a Muscari or Grape 
Hyacinth. So close is the resemblance to a Mus¬ 
cari, however, that all except botanists are to be 
excused for making the mistake. The flowers are 
pale blue, fading almost to porcelain white at the 
mouth ; furthermore they are campanulate and 
widest at the mouth, whereas a true Muscari is 
always contracted or narrowed at the mouth. The 
beauty of the plant is indisputable, and it always 
flowers before any of the species of Muscari, either 
in February or March. 
BROWNEA CRAWFORDI. 
Comparatively recently several hybrids of Brownea 
have been raised and put into cultivation. The sub¬ 
ject of this paragraph is a hybrid between B. grandi- 
ceps and B. macrophylla. It must have been raised 
some years ago, for there is a plant in the Palm-house 
at Kew, about 12 ft. or 15 ft. high, and which flowered 
recently. The flowers are produced from the old 
wood in large circular clusters or heads similarly to 
those of B. grandiceps. They are, however, much 
darker in colour, being of a bright brick red. The 
colour of the flowers, their form and arrangement 
suggests some of the Rhododendrons in appearance, 
and that, too, borne on tall stems, clothed with mag¬ 
nificent, pinnate and leathery, evergreen leaves. The 
latter are also very striking when they are about 
half grown and drooping from the buds. When the 
above had finished flowering, B. grandiceps com¬ 
menced with similar flowers except that they are pale 
rose. The leaves of this latter are also very striking 
in the young stage. They appear quite limp and are 
heavily and irregularly blotched with brown on a 
pale green ground. This coloration of course 
gradually disappears as the leaves attain their full 
size and acquire rigidity. 
THE WHITE POPLAR. 
The effect of the White Poplar (Populus alba) in the 
landscape during summer is striking when the leaves 
are ruffled by the wind so that the hoary or white 
under surface is turned up and shows itself by con¬ 
trast against the dark green of the upper face. This 
alone should ensure the planting of this noble tree in 
the parks and pleasure grounds of this country. It 
also appeals to this lover of landscape in the early 
spring, say, during the latter part of February and 
the beginning of March, when the tree is in flower, 
but particularly the male tree which seems the most 
plentiful. The male catkins are produced in most 
wonderful profusion, loading the tree at this season 
with a drapery which renders the tree very con¬ 
spicuous, particularly in the case of large specimens 
standing by themselves or towering above the heads 
of surrounding trees. The flowers are of a dull pur¬ 
ple, but in a mass very striking during the leafless 
condition of the trees. 
PANICUM SPECTABILE. 
Very little seems to be known of this grass in Britain, 
although it has been introduced some years ago. It 
is a tall growing perennial grass with beautiful 
foliage, having a white stripe down the centre, and 
the stems are terminated by a large drooping panicle 
of brownish-rose flowers. It is a native of Jamaica, 
Brazil, and other countries. The Bulletino della R. 
Societa Toscana di Orticultura, an Italian journal, gives 
a figure of it in their number for February, and says 
that it is a native of New Zealand, and much used 
for decorative purposes. Seeds of it are sown early 
in spring in Italy, and planted out later on about a 
yard apart and it flowers in autumn, ripening its 
seeds successively as long as the weather remains 
good. The flowering panicles can be cut, and, after 
being dried, used for decorative purposes in the same 
way as other ornamental grasses. At present it is 
but little cultivated in Italy as it is here. It might, 
however, be used for making clumps or masses in the 
pleasure grounds, as its gigantic proportions give it a 
sub-tropical appearance during the summer months. 
SALVIA RUBESCENS. 
The stems of this Salvia grow about 18 in. high, 
and when allowed to assume their natural form they 
become very much branched, forming an evergreen 
bush. It flowers in summer unfortunately, otherwise 
it would have been more extensively grown than it 
is. It is a native of the Andes of Peru and Columbia, 
and requires stove temperature in this country. In 
the neighbourhood of Naples, in Italy, seeds may be 
sown early in spring, and afterwards planted out, 
when it will come into bloom during September. It 
can readily be multiplied by cuttings. The flowers 
are very abundantly produced in branching racemes 
or panicles terminating the branches. The purplish- 
brown calyx adds considerably to the appearance of 
the plant independently of the scarlet corolla. The 
Bulletino della R. Societa Toscana di Orticultwa gives a 
wood-cut of it, and compares it with S. splendens, S. 
gesneraeflora, and other fine types of the genus. 
STREPTOSOLEN JAMESONI. 
The flowers of this plant are not, as a rule, produced 
in great quantity, but their rich colour makes amends 
for the deficiency. They are produced in clusters at 
the ends of the branches and show off beautifully 
against the dark green foliage. When they first ex¬ 
pand they are yellow, bat they change to an orange- 
red, and the two colours may be seen blended together 
in the same truss. The leaves are rough not unlike 
those of a Heliotrope, but smaller, neater, and ever¬ 
green. The plant is of shrubby habit although 
closely allied to the Browallias, which are known to 
be annual, at least those in cultivation. June is 
usually considered the month in which it flowers, 
but it is already in bloom in some collections. The 
species is a native of Columbia, and requires only 
greenhouse treatment such as is accorded to Heaths. 
The wood should be well hardened off to make the 
plant flower. 
ANEMONE HEPATICA ALBA. 
All of the Hepaticas are highly desirable plants for 
spring flowering in the open garden. The flowers 
are so neat, so plentifully produced, and so pleasant 
in colour, that the Hepaticas could hardly fail to 
endear themselves to a large number of the com¬ 
munity. The only drawback to their culture in the 
south of England is the dry atmosphere of the 
summer months, and possibly also the smoky 
atmosphere in the neighbourhood of London, which 
tells upon the evergreen leaves in winter, destroying 
them to a great extent. By a judicious amount of 
shading, and in the selection of moderately moist 
soil in which to plant them, the difficulties in 
cultivating them can to a great extent be surmounted. 
The flowers of the variety under notice are white 
with exception of the anthers, which have a purple 
stripe along the outer and the' inner face. This 
increases their beauty considerably, and the aspect 
is so different, that another variety with white sepals 
and white anthers, and named A. Hepatica nivea, is 
readily recognised as a distinct and choice form, and 
altogether worthy of cultivation. There is ample 
room for both forms in collections. 
A NEW WINTER ACONITE. 
A few 7 years ago tubers of what were considered a 
new species of Winter Aconite were sent to Kew and 
elsewhere, under the name of Eranthis cilicica, by 
Mr. Whittall, of Smyrna, in the neighbourhood of 
Adalia. Boissier, in his Flora Orientalis, considered 
it a good species, but the distinctions between it and 
the well-known E. hyemalis are very slight. More¬ 
over, the plant in question was known as long ago as 
1854, so that if it had been very distinct we should 
have been acquainted with it long ago. The 
principal distinction consists of the finer and more 
numerous divisions of the involucral leaves surround¬ 
ing the flower. These linear divisions are said to 
vary from twenty-five to forty, but we could only 
detect fifteen to eighteen in a plant in the hardy 
plant house at Kew the other day. The number of 
sepals is six in both plants, but they are reckoned to 
be broader in E. cilicica. Before this can be satis¬ 
factorily determined, both plants will have to be seen 
in a vigorous condition. The sepals are yellow in 
both cases, but the small petals of E. cilicia seem 
darker in hue. Other differences are mentioned, but 
they are slight, while all the characters are some¬ 
what variable and inconstant. 
CALCEOLARIA FUCHSI/EFOLIA. 
Calceolarias and Fuchsias are both common 
plants in gardens, and widely different in aspect. It 
is somewhat novel therefore to find characteristics of 
the two combined in one. The flowers are those of a 
Calceolaria truly, but they are somewhat different in 
form from the common types. The leaves are 
narrowly ovate or lanceolate serrate, dark green, 
somewhat leathery and evergreen. In form and 
texture they are remarkably different from those of 
Calceolarias in general and not unlike those of a 
Fuchsia, so that we are not surprised that the 
botanist should have given it the above specific 
name. The flowers are bright yellow, and the upper 
lip is almost circular and flattened ; the 1 )wer lip is 
pouched and lies over the mouth of the flower in its 
earlier stages, but ultimately becomes widely spread¬ 
ing. The blooms are produced in cymes terminating 
the shoots of small plants. 
