332 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
January 21, 1899. 
wiry than the cultivated plants, however, and the 
disease seldom kills it. In addition to other methods 
of getting rid of the disease as loDg a period as 
possible is allowed between two crops of roots, for it 
js found that Turnips grown on the five course shift 
are not so liable to catch the disease as those grown 
on the four-course shift. Where Charlock is present 
this object is defeated, for the fungus has in it an 
ever present host plant, and simply waits until the 
Turnips are put in again to attack them with in¬ 
creased virulence after the rest. It would be as 
reasonable to expect to grow two healthy crops of 
Turnips in succession from the same field as to 
expect to get a healthy crop of Turnips from a field 
in which Charlock has been allowed to flourish. 
While it is admitted on all hands to be desirable to 
annihilate the Charlock, it is not so easy a matter to 
- effect this wished-for consummation. A method re¬ 
commended by Dr. William Somerville, Professor of 
Agriculture and Forestry, Durham College of 
Science, Newcastle-on-Tyne, is worthy of attention. 
It consists of a solution of iron or copper sulphate 
applied by means of a spraying machine when the 
Charlock is from i in. to 2 in. high. At this stage 
the solution kills them completely, although it may 
also brown the corn to some extent, although the 
latter soon recovers; indeed, it is stated that the 
corn in sprayed areas was more vigorous, subse¬ 
quently, than in others that had not been so treated. 
It may seem curious that the Charlock is destroyed 
while the corn escapes with little appreciable injury, 
but it is due to the fact that the corn has a smooth 
and erect leaf on which the liquid cannot rest, whilst 
the leaves of the Charlock are broad and rough, and 
are inserted on the stem at a greater angle, so as to 
be almost horizontal. All rough-leaved plants are 
thus blackened, and eventually killed by the solu¬ 
tion. 
The middle of May to the middle of June is the 
best time of the year to spray, for then the weeds 
are in rough leaf, and the corn is not sufficiently ad¬ 
vanced to shield them. The crop should be dry 
when the solution is applied, and spraying should 
only be done in settled weather when at least one 
fine day immediately subsequent to the operation 
may be counted upon. The best results have been 
obtained by a 7^ per cent, solution of sulphate of 
iron, applied at the rate of forty gallons to the acre. 
Copper sulphate, at 2 per cent, solution, has been 
used in Essex with success. It was applied at the 
rate of from twenty-five to fifty gallons per acre. In 
both cases the cost may be roughly computed to be 
about is. per acre, but this is the first cost of a 
spraying machine, which costs from £20 to £?o, as 
well as the labour of horse and man. At any rate, 
the new method is very much cheaper than the old 
expensive one of hand-picking. 
With a view to bring this method of Charlock 
destruction prominently before farmers, the Agricul¬ 
tural Department of the Durham College of Science, 
Newcastle on-Tyne, has offered to undertake the 
spraying of a few hundred acres of land in Cumber¬ 
land, Durham, and Northumberland during May and 
June, on payment of the actual cost of the applica¬ 
tion. 
Gardening Miscellany. 
TOXICOPHLAEA SPECTABILIS. 
The Wintersweet, as it is popularly called, is one of 
the most fragrant winter-blooming plants that we 
have. The white flowers are produced in dense 
terminals and axillary clusters or corymbs, and 
appear to great advantage against the thick, 
leathery, dark green leaves. The plant is to be seen 
at its best when trained to wires or a trellis, for 
although its habit is that of a shrub it readily adapts 
itself to this form of training. There is a very fine 
specimen now in full flower on the western side of 
the north wing of the Palm House at Kew, which is 
flowering more freely than we ever remember to have 
seen it before. Toxicophlaea, as the name suggests, 
possesses poisonous properties, and it belongs to an 
order (Apocynaceae) including many poisonous 
plants, and anyone handling it should be careful not 
to allow the juice to get into cuts or wounds on the 
hands or the results will be distinctly unpleasant. 
CHINESE PRIMULAS AT MAIDENHEAD. 
The Floral Nursery, Maidenhead, is chiefly famous 
as the birth-place of many fine Chrysanthemums, 
but Mr. R. Owen does not devote his attention 
exclusively to Chrysanthemums. At the present 
time he has a large batch of Chinese Primulas in 
48-size pots that are a credit to the establishment 
Not only are the plants dwarf, sturdy and freely 
flowered, but there is a good deal of praise due to 
the excellence of the strain, which includes not only 
a considerable amount of variety, but also some of 
the highest types in cultivation, judging from a box 
of flowers sent us this week. The varieties fall 
naturally into three sections ;—the ordinary single, 
the giant single and the double strains. The collec¬ 
tion is especially rich in crimson and shades of scarlet, 
and this is most patent in the section, smaller singles. 
The blue here is not a true blue, being far too pale, 
but it is a charming mauve flower, edged with silver. 
Rose, deep crimson, vermillion-scarlet and salmon- 
rose, are other hues to be found here. All the flowers 
are of good form, flat and well expanded. The 
"giant" strain is just aselection of the largest forms, 
and in this section the great substance of the flowers 
is remarkable. Blue, deep rose, blush and white are 
represented, and all of them are very fine and showy 
flowers, the blush, the rose and the blue forms hav¬ 
ing an appearance of doubleness by reason of the 
wonderful development of the segments of the limb 
of the corolla which overlap each other in threefold 
array. Amongst the doubles are other charming 
things. The Queen of them ail is a double white of 
magnificent size and great purity, The rose, mauve, 
salmon, salmon-rose and blush are all pretty flowers. 
DISBUDDING CAMELLIAS. 
Camellias are plants that require great attention 
bestowed upon them when the buds are about the 
size of small nuts; and require disbudding on every 
shoot that has too many upon it. Three or four, 
according to the size and health of the plant, is quite 
sufficient. Should more be left they otten fall when 
only half opened, besides weakening the tree. Some 
varieties may not produce buds as freely as others, 
therefore they will require less taken off; but when¬ 
ever there is more than three or four left on each 
shoot, it generally results to this falling off before 
they reach perfection. We have a tree which stands 
from 18 ft. to 20 ft. high, a very fine tree, and perfect 
in shape. It last year brought to perfection between 
4,000 aod 5,000 blooms, and this year it will yield 
close upon 5,000. We started cutting in November, 
and have now cut 1,500 off. This tree was gone over 
several times, taking buds off each time till the num¬ 
ber was reduced to what we thought it could properly 
develop. As many as twenty buds were counted on 
some of the strongest shoots at the top of the tree. 
What would have been the result if no disbudding 
bad taken place ?— Juno. 
ASPARAGUS DEFLEXUS. 
One of the most effective exhibits that was to be 
seen at the first meeting for 1899 of the Royal Hor¬ 
ticultural Society, on Tuesday, the 10th inst., took 
the form of long, fruiting sprays of this grand, 
decorative Asparagus. They were sent by R. B. 
Leech, Esq., The Cottage, Wood Hall, Dulwich, to 
whom great praise is due for the tasteful and effec¬ 
tive way in which the sprays were shown. They 
were 5 ft. or 6 ft. in length, and were tied separately 
to light bamboo canes, the ends of the growths being 
allowed to hang down as they liked. The bases of 
the shoots, with those of the supporting bambocs, 
were inserted in a long-necked, ornamental glass 
vase, which, in its turn, was placed in a large hand¬ 
some bowl, the weight of which gave stability to, 
and ensured the safety of the whole. As a decora¬ 
tive subject Asparagus defiexus has very few equals, 
and as a basket plant it is perfection, and the 
long, trailing sprays may be turned to capital 
account, as Mr. Leech’s exhibit demonstrated. The 
plant at the Cottage must a giant, and has evidently 
been well looked afier by its owner, judging from the 
sprays that were shown. 
RHODODENDRON PRINCESS ALEXANDRA. 
The hybrid greenhouse Rhodendrons that have been 
called into existence by Messrs. Jas. Veitch & Sons, 
Ltd., of Chelsea, now comprise a number of magni¬ 
ficent varieties. Princess Alexandra, although one 
ot the first to see the light, is still one of the best 
for ordinary purposes. It is an exceptionally free 
flowerer, and at this time of the year a plant covered 
with the compact umbels of comparatively small 
but sweetly pretty pink-white flowers is an ornament 
to any conservatory. In constitution, too, the plant 
leaves little to be desired, and it is not so scraggy in 
habit as some of the newer and larger-flowered forms. 
Whatever other varieties are included in the collec¬ 
tion this one at least should never be left out. 
COLEUS THYRSOIDEUS. 
This is one of the most interesting plants to be seen 
at Kew at the present time. It is certainly the most 
striking occupant of the Begonia house, and although 
there is only one plant it is sufficiently conspicuous. 
As compared with any one of the many varieties of 
the Javan species, C. Blumei, it is quite a break 
away from the popular idea of a Coleus. It is only 
when the structure of the flower is examined, and 
the monadelphous stamens noted, that it is seen to 
be a Colsus after all. The leaves are of medium 
size, ovate or cordate-ovate in shape, dark green, and 
wide, with coarsely-toothed margins. The flowers, as 
the specific name signifies, are produced in thyrsoid 
fashion; the primary raceme being upright and 
bearing many of the bright blue flowers. When we 
look at the individual bloom we find that the lip is 
very strongly developed, and this is probably the 
reason why the tube of the corolla is kneed in such 
a peculiar fashion just above the calyx. It is not at 
all unlikely that this stranger from British Central 
Africa may be the parent of a race of Coleuses that 
will be cultivated for their flowers and not for their 
foliage, as is the case with the present race of 
Coleuses. Certainly, when in flower, it is a very 
handsome plant, with bushy and sturdy habit, and if 
it can always be relied on to flower as freely during 
the winter months as it is doing this year, it cannot 
fail to be a great acquisition to our plant houses. 
WOOD CHARCOAL. 
Mr. James Barnes has been making some inter¬ 
esting observations with regard to the value of wood 
charcoal as an ingredient in potting composts for 
various plants, and he is of opinion that, having 
regard to its value, when employed in this way, it is 
not used enough. Charcoal acts in several ways. 
First of all it assists in procuring good drainage and 
secures the better aeration of the soil. Again it 
absorbs certaia gases from the atmosphere and 
allows these to escape slowly and gradually for the 
benefit of the plant, and this goes on as loDg as the 
charcoal remains in communication with the air, and 
the gases absorbed and given out by the charcoal are 
of the greatest services to plant life. Mr. Barnes 
says that he has observed that plants, in whose pots 
charcoal has been placed in such a way as .to assist 
the efficiency of the drainage, have always produced 
the most luxuriant vegetation, and roots not only in 
great number and of great vigour which have twisted 
themselves round the pieces of charcoal inserting 
their tips in its fissures and crevices, whilst in cases 
where the charcoal has been put in in such a fashion 
that the drainage has been bad its effect upon the 
plants has been scarcely, if at all, appreciable. 
ROSE PAPA LAMBERT. 
This new hybrid Tea Rose is admirably represented 
by a coloured plate in the number of Rosen Zeitung 
for December. The history of its origin is rather 
curious, inasmuch as White Lady, a hybrid Tea, was 
crossed with the pollen of the hybrid perpetual 
Marie Baumann. On the same day the same bloom 
was crossed with the pollen of the hybrid perpetual 
Oskar Cordel. Whatever the effect of the latter 
may have been the progeny might well be regarded 
as intermediate between the two first named parents. 
The bloom is very large when fully developed, and 
consisting of a great number of petals it is very full, 
and of a rich dark rose, particularly in the centre, 
fading a little to the margins of the petals which are 
strongly recurved at the edges in the same manner 
as those of La France. The bud stage is very long 
(2f in. to 3J in.) and particularly beautiful from 
thence onwards to the half opened stage, which is 
the finest and most attractive form of the variety. 
Even then the outer petals are recurved, giving the 
flower alt the refinement of a Tea Rose. The bud 
aod half opened stages of the flowers are also the 
richest in colour, being of a charming shade of rose 
with just a suspicion of yellow towards the base of 
the petals on the outside. It was raised by Herr 
P. Lambert, Trier, Germany, who has been instru¬ 
mental in raising many fine Roses. 
