October 30, 189?. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
135 
Lilian —Flowers very large, orbicular, delicate 
pink, but intensifying somewhat at the margins. 
There is a long succession of flowers in the truss. 
Messrs. H. Cannell & Sons. 
Niagara.— There are numerous white varieties at 
Chiswick, but this is the purest white variety amongst 
them, with large flowers. The plant is dwarf, 
with light green, zoneless leaves. Messrs. H. Cannell 
& Sons. 
Early Flowering Chrysanthemums. 
Mme. F. de Cariel. —In th : s we have a Japanese 
variety with flowers of moderate size, of a uniform 
orange, and old gold on the reverse. The plant grows 
2 ft. high, and commenced flowering during the 
second week of October. It is particularly handsome 
either for open air, or pot culture, and flowers most 
profusely. An Award of Merit was accorded it by a 
unanimous vote. Messrs. Dobbie& Co., Rothesay ; 
and Messrs. Barr & Sons, King Street, Covent 
Garden. 
Mdlle. Sabatier.— The moderate sized flowers 
of this Japanese variety are of a rich glowing crim¬ 
son, or marocn-crimson. It grows about 3 ft. high, 
and is well furnished with dark green foliage. Mr. 
H. J Jones, Ryecroft Nursery, Lewisham. 
Mme. Ga;ac. —The plants in this case grow about 
2 ft. high and produce a profusion of flowers of a 
rose.pink, fading almost to white in the centre, 
Mr. H. J. Jones. 
Ryecroft Glory.— This well-known and popular 
variety grows about 2$ ft. high when consigned to 
the open ground. The flowers are golden-yellow, 
the later ones being more or less heavily tinted with 
bronze. It flowers profusely, and is very useful for 
a variety of purposes. Messrs. Dobbie & Co.; 
Messrs. Barr & Sons, King Street, Covent Garden; 
and Mr. W. H. Divers, Belvcir Castle. 
- -t - 
THE PUNT HOUSES, 
The Stove. 
In the warm stove the temperature through the 
night should range from 63° to 65° Fahr., and this 
will be maintained until the end of the month, after 
which it will be suffered to drop gradually until it 
reaches 6o°, which is a good minimum winter 
temperature for the warmest house. The bright and 
favourable October has been of great service to 
plants under glass, and the tissues of the plants all 
round are harder and in a more favourable condition 
for wintering than they were at the end of Septem¬ 
ber. 
Alocasias and Anthuriums. —The autumn and 
winter months is usually a very trying experience 
for these and Aroids generally. They often are 
given too much water, and this, combined with the 
low temperatures, generally means destruction to the 
thick fleshy roots. Some of the more delicate kiftds 
it will be advisable to shift to a warm close pit where 
the temperature of the house can be regulated to suit 
their special requirements. Those that remain 
should be given a light corner of the house, and 
should be kept rather on the dry side, enough water 
only being given to keep the roots from shrivelling. 
Dipladenias.— Cuttings of the young shoots 
inserted singly in small pots in a mixture of fibrous 
peat and sand about the end of August, and placed 
in the propagating frame with a brisk heat, have now 
rooted sufficiently to warrant potting off. They 
should therefore be shifted at once into 60-size pots, 
using as before only peat and sand as a compost. 
Pot the plants moderately firm, and stand them on a 
shelf near the glass if a place cannot be found for 
them in the propagating pit. They should be 
encouraged in every possible way to make growth 
before winter sets in, and kept growing on all 
the winter. By the middle of November the large 
stove will not be hot enough for them and they should 
be removed to a close pit. 
The old plants should be given all the light 
possible to enable them to thoroughly ripen up their 
growth, for it is usual to give them a rest annually, 
and this rest can be most naturally taken in the 
winter. Keep them moderately dry. This is easily 
done in the case of pot plants trained to balloons or 
rafters, but is so easy when the plants are growing 
in a border along with other subjects. Pruning may 
be conducted as soon as the wood is matured. A 
large proportion of the growths of the current year, 
which have produced this season’s flowers, may be 
cut out, leaving only enough to cover the ballonns or 
trellises with youog growths next year. 
Allamandas. —These, too, should have their 
water supply curtailed, for it is time that the wood 
was showing signs of approaching maturation. 
Pruning may follow, as iu the case of the Dipla¬ 
denias. 
The Intermediate House may be given a night 
temperature of 6o° Fahr. with a proportionate rise 
by day for the next fortnight. Here the fibrous 
rooted Begonias are best accommodated. This useful 
class of plants is worthy of every attention, although 
those who happen to be in the neighbourhood of 
large towns or cities have cause to lament the 
destructive influence of fogs upm their tender 
leaves. 
Begonia Gloire de Lorraine.— There is no more 
useful form of its stamp than this, and it is well 
worth growing in quantity. Being of neat habit, the 
plants look wonderfully happy if suspended from the 
roof above the pathway just out of the reach of the 
head of an ordinary mao. They may also be hung 
lower down over the stage, where they will effect a 
finish to the plants below. Stout iron hooks with a 
stem of about 10 in. in length and a loop at the end 
standing at right angles to the stem are easily made 
and form capital suspenders. 
SELECTED STRIPED FRENCH 
MARIGOLDS. 
The frosty nights which recently occurred in the 
south must have been very partial, or unequal in 
their severity, for in some districts in the Thames 
valley Dahlias, Heliotropes, Tropaeolums, and every¬ 
thing of that tender character were blackened and 
completely cut down, while in other places not far 
distant and also on the banks of the Thames the 
Dahlias are flowering as brightly as if it was mid¬ 
summer. 
In like manner there seems to have been but little 
frost at Orpington in Kent, judging from a boxful of 
Selected Striped French Marigolds, gathered from 
an open field of 15,000 plants last week, and sent us by 
Messrs. Dobbie & Co. The blooms were as fresh as 
they might have been in August or September, while 
the quality was first-class. Striped French Mari¬ 
golds are of many years standing, but so inconstant 
were the colours in the early days of the strain that 
many years elapsed before the colours could be fixed. 
The strain sent us must represent many years of 
careful selection otherwise the blooms could not 
have attained their present excellence. Every floret 
had broad maroon-crimson margins, with a golden 
stripe down the centre. The outer florets were 
notable for the great breadth of their wedge-shaped 
outline. The blooms were simply superb, for we 
have never seen better of this type. These Mari¬ 
golds stand hot weather and drought well, and might 
be more extensively utilised for garden and park 
decoration than they are. They are much favoured 
on the Continent, being very much employed in the 
parks at Paris, where soil and climate alike are dry. 
Accompanying the above was a quantity of single 
flowers, equally as well striped as the double ores, 
but having only a single row of ray florets. They 
were certainly pretty in their way, but gardeners 
would, we feel sure, like them much better if the 
florets of the ray were more extensively imbricated 
so as to form a more compact and firm outline like 
a Cineraria. Some of them were good, however, 
even in this respect. 
-- 
(ifqatxmgs fcotn tfj^ M>udl» 
of Science 
The undermentioned subjects were brought up at 
the meeting of the Scientific Committee of the 
Royal Horticultural Society on the 12th inst. 
Acorn Cups Malformed.—Mr. French of Fel- 
stead sent specimens of this not uncommon pheno¬ 
menon. It appears to be due to an arrest of the 
flower, probibly by some insect attack, when the 
scales of the cup become enlarged and free. 
Melons with New Disease.—Specimens were 
received from Mr. J. Fraser Smith, of the Gardens, 
Cullen House, N B., who writes as follows :—The 
disease attacked my crop last year, and has again 
this, in both a sudden and deadly manner. An 
entire crop of twenty plants has perished in a few 
days. The disease first shows a spot on the leaf, 
then a part of the stem gets effected, and in two or 
three days the whole plant collapses. It is only at a 
certain time of the year, for the first crop in both 
years, which was grown in the same house, finished 
without any signs of it— i.e., about the early part of 
August ; while the second crop, about half-grown on 
the opposite side of the path, has all gone, as also a 
later batch planted on the same side as the first 
ones. Out of thirteen plants ten went off in one day. 
Two young Cucumber plants have also died in the 
same way, after they were 4 ft. high." The following 
report has been received from Kew :—"The Melon 
disease is caused by Scolecotrichum melophthorum, 
Pi ill., a parasitic fungus. The disease is common 
in France, but I am not aware of its having pre¬ 
viously been observed in Britain. Burn all diseased 
plants, as if they be allowed to rot on the ground a 
recurrence of the disease would be almost certain 
next season. Under any circumstances it would be 
advisable not to use the same ground for Melon¬ 
growing for at least two years, as the fungus spores 
are probably abundant in the soil." 
Parrot Tulips Seeding —Mr. Wilks brought 
ripe pods and sjeds of this variety, which he had 
crossed with the pollen from other kinds of Tulips 
growing in his garden. It had been stated by 
growers that the Parrot Tulip had not been known 
to bear seed at all, and Mr. Henslow observed that 
of some bulbs received from Mr. Barr, in every case 
the pistil was abortive. It is propose I to raise 
plants from the seed thus obtained. 
Abies Bracteata Cones. — Fine specimens 
were received from Mr. A. Harding, The Gardens, 
Orton Longueville, Peterboro'. It is believed to be 
the first occasion of its fruiting in ttiis country. They 
were borne by one of the finest specimens of this 
species in England. The tree is a native of South 
California, growing at one place only, in Santa 
Lucia, and is in danger of becoming extinct. The 
cones are remarkable for their long linear bracts. 
Cedrela Toona ? Fasciated—A remarkable 
specimen, consisting of a spirally-coiled, flattened 
branch, two of the coils being welded together, was 
exhibited by Dr. Masters. The tree is a native of 
Santa Barbara of South California. 
Abie3 balsamea Tubet 1 .—A specimen was re¬ 
ceived from Mr. Noble of a young plant which had 
developed a globular tuber-like excrescence below 
the soil. Similar cases hal occurred some years ago 
in the same grounds, but the cause is not traceable 
at the present state of growth, though it might 
possibly be due to some injury by insects at a very 
early stage. 
Juniper Berries Gymnospermous -Dr. Mas¬ 
ters exhibited some berries of the common Juniper, 
received from Dr. Schroterof Zurich, remarkable for 
the three coherent bracts not having become fleshy 
enough to close in upon the seeds, so that the latter 
remained visible, free, and strictly " gymnosper¬ 
mous," as in the previous condition of the ovules. 
Trapa natans, Fruit—He also showed speci¬ 
mens of the Water Chestnut from a particular 
Italian lake having four knobs upon them, which do 
not occur on the ordinary form of this fruit. 
Spruce Fir cone var. — He also showed cones 
having smooth-rounded scales, instead of the usual 
form. Dr. Schroter, who obtained it from Switzer¬ 
land, referred it to Abies medioxyma ; but Dr. Mas¬ 
ters obierved that the species is a dwarf Alpine or 
Arctic species, and regarded the specimen as a variety 
only of the Spruce. 
Anthurium Spathe monstrous.—Col. Bed- 
dome sent a specimen having three spathes and the 
spadix commencing to branch, exhibiting a semi- 
proliferous condition. 
Plants Exhibited —M. Lemoine sent a spray of 
Tamarix kashgarica, interesting as being a late- 
flowering species, from Central Asia : Panax sessili- 
florum, with large, dense bunches of black berries, 
probably from Japan ; the Begonia, odorata, having 
a delicate but very evanescent odour of lemon, and 
double and semi-double sports of B semperflorens. 
Galls on Roots of Oak—Mr. Wilks brought 
remarkable galls, forming a large mass on the roots 
of Oak or Chestout. They are also found on the 
roots of the Deodar. The galls are polygonal and 
wedge-like, so forming together a globular cluster 
about the root. They are produced by Cynips 
aptera (see Gardeners' Chronicle, 1841, p. 732, and 
1874). 
