May 22, 1897. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
it to perfection. The barren fronds are arching and 
pinnate with roundish piDnae towards the base, the 
greater number of the others being oblong with a 
few cuneate ones at the top, but all are cut away on 
the lower edge. The veins radiate in a fan-shaped 
manner. The rachis is prolonged at the apex, and 
roots at the extremity like a Strawberry runner. 
The fertile fronds are erect, with a short, spreading 
leafy branch, and two upright spore-bearing pani- 
cled ones, like the'so-called flowering Ferns. The 
young fronds are of a deep, bronzy tint. First-class 
Certificate. Mr. Wm. Bull, F.L.S., 536, King’s 
Road, Chelsea. 
Lilac Senator Holland.— In this we have a 
double variety with huge densely compacted flowers 
that are purple in bud and pale lilac when open. 
Award of Merit. Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart, 
(gardener, Mr. W. Bain), Burford Lodge, Dorking. 
Rhododendron Fink Pearl. —Both trusses and 
flowers of this hybrid form are of huge size, the latter 
being wide open without any tube, and of a warm, 
rosy-pink, spotted with red at the base of the upper 
segment. The leaves are elliptic-oblong and 
moderate in size. Evidently R. griffithianum was 
one of the parents. Award of Merit. Mr. John 
Waterer & Sons, Ltd., Bagshot, Surrey. 
Streptocarpus achimeniflorus —This new type 
was raised from S polyanthus crossed with a white 
variety of Veitch’s hybrid strain. The leaves are 
broadly ovate, almost triangular, deep green, and 
6 in. to S in. long. The flowers are abundantly pro¬ 
duced in cymes on the top of scapes, just under or 
about 1 ft. in length. They are sky-blue with a white 
eye, and twice or three times as large as those of S. 
polyanthus, of which they have the form. Award of 
Merit. Messrs. J. Veitch & Sous, Ltd., King’s Road, 
Chelsea. 
Trollius napellifolios. —The Globe Flower 
has deeply divided leaves, and is much taller than 
T. europaeus. The flowers are very large, rich 
yellow and globular. Award of Merit. Messrs. 
Barr & Sons, 12 and 13, King Street, Covent Garden. 
Tender crops raised in heat, such as Tomatos, 
Marrows, Dwarf and Runner Beans, should now be 
sufficiently hardened by full exposure on all favour¬ 
able occasions, to stand any fluctations of tempera¬ 
ture, short of actual frost. With a change in the 
wind from its present northerly direction, we may 
hope to have passed all danger during the present 
season ; and the first favourable opportunity should 
be taken to get them planted out. All favourable 
positions on walls and fences should be planted with 
Tomatos, and any remaining should be placed in a 
position fully exposed to the sun. Secure the plants 
to stakes, to prevent injury from wind, and water 
and mulch with short strawy manure to start them 
into growth quickly. The Marrows, beirg most 
sensitive to cold, should be covered with boxes, or 
handlights, to prevent the plants getting a sudden 
chill, during changeable weatber. Where the land 
is heavy special preparation will be necessary for 
this crop, by filling the positions the plants are to 
occupy with a barrow load cf prepared compost, con¬ 
sisting of equal parts of decayed manure and light 
loam. 
The Beans, both Dwarf and Runner, should have 
warm positions and light land selected for them to 
hasten early cropping. 
Celery,— The earliest plants should now be strong 
enough for planting out. Trenches should be pre¬ 
pared 3J ft. or 4 ft. apart, taking out the earth a good 
spit deep and 18 ins. wide, with a slight slope to 
catch the rain. An abundant supply of well-rotted 
cow and stable dung mixed should be blended with 
the bottom soil in the trench, and a little fine soil 
should be laid on the surface of the manure to pre¬ 
vent evaporation of the goodness of the manure, and 
to assist in filling in round the roots of (he plants at 
planting time. All suckers must be carefully 
removed from the plants, and these placed 9 ins. 
apart in the rows, giving a good watering and mulch¬ 
ing with a thin layer of old mushroom dung. Later 
crops will need attention in preparing beds on a hard 
bottom, and pricking out as soon as fit to handle. 
Lettuce. —Hardly any crop gives more trouble 
transplanting during hot weather than this ; and it is 
good policy after the present month to sow in the 
position where the crop is intended to occupy until 
fit for use. In this case a good breadth should be 
sown in rows at least 1 foot apart. This will form a 
seed and also a permanent bed, as the thinnings can 
be planted during favourable weather, and these will 
form a succession crop. Deeply cultivated and well- 
enriched land should be selected for Lettuce during 
the hot season. Crops advancing must be assisted 
in blanching by placing a tie round them, and well¬ 
watering them during dry weather 
Cabbages.— The present is a good time to make a 
pretty liberal sowing of these, with a view to having 
a good supply in the autumn. A sowing may also be 
made of Coleworts, as nothing is more useful for fill¬ 
ing up vacant ground or inferior positions under 
fruit trees. Sow in rows 9 ins. apart, to enable the 
hoe to be used in keeping the beds free from weeds 
during growing weather. Plants crowded in earlier 
sown beds should be pricked out to prevent them 
getting weak and drawn. The autumn sown crop 
now growing rapidly may be assisted in forming 
hearts quickly by placing a tie round the forwardest. 
J.R. 
« ■«- 
TIE PLANT HOUSES. 
The Stove. 
With the advent of warmer weather the daily 
routine of airing, watering, damping, shading, etc., 
becomes of the utmost importance While there 
are some stove plants that may be kept fairly dry 
during portions of the year, the majority of them 
must not be allowed to lack moisture at the root at 
any time, and now when they are, or should be, in 
full vigour of growth it is astonishing to see how much 
water they will take. Air, too, may be given more 
freely, but the exact amount will depend upon the 
condition in which the plants are. If they are 
making a lot of young growth, it will be advisable to 
keep the house fairly close for a while yet, not 
giving a great deal of air until after midsummer has 
turned. 
Gardenias. —Spring struck cuttings should now 
be of a sufficient size to warrant potting them off 
into 4 in. or 5 in. pots A compost of two-thirds of 
good loam and one of peat, with a fair sprinkling of 
sharp sand and the addition of a little charcoal 
broken up to about the size of Hazel-nuts, ora little 
larger, will suit Gardenias well. The soil should be 
made pretty firm. Later and smaller cuttings may 
be potted into 3 in. pots now, and may 
be given a further shift presently. In all cases firm 
potting is essential, for if the soil is at all loose, 
rank growth will be the result By dint of feeding 
well and growing the plants in small pots, plenty of 
bloom may be obtained, and as more plants can 
thus be got into the space at disposal, the results 
are rather more satisfactory than they are when 
larger pots are given. If the Gardenias are 
to be grown in the large stove throughout the 
summer they should be given a corner to them¬ 
selves, where they can be syringed at least three 
times a day. 
Specimen Coleuses.— The 8 in. and 10 in. pots 
into which the plants were put at the end of March 
are now filled with roots, and feeding with manure- 
water must commence. Cow manure and soot 
will suit Coleuses well, and an occasional sprinkling of 
Clay’s Fertiliser will greatly assist in putting colour 
in the foliage. Continual pinching of the growths 
will be necessary, not only to keep the plants in good 
trim, but also to prevent flowering. Some of the 
strongest plants that are now in 32-sized pots may 
also be given a shift on with a view to their taking 
the places of the earlier plants presently 
Bertolonias.— Those who aim at having a repre¬ 
sentative collection of stove plants cannot afford to 
neglect the Bertolonias, True, they will not stand 
rough treatment, and on that account their value is 
much diminished, but there can be no two ideas as 
to their beauty. As the large stove would be too 
airy for them, they should be accommodated in a 
small hand frame, or case, through which they can 
be easily seen. In such a position the close atmo¬ 
sphere they revel in is forthcoming, and they do 
well. Propagation may easily be effected by cuttings, 
which strike readily enough in a sufficiently high 
temperature and moist atmosphere. A compost of 
peat, leaf-soil, and sand will suit them well. The 
following forms will be found very handsome and 
well worth growing :—B Comte de Kerchove, B. 
599 
Souvenir de Gand, B. Van Houttei, B. Madame Van 
Geert, B. E. Pjnaert, B. argyrea, B. pubescens, and 
B. punctatissima rosea. 
Tall Adiantums are very effective plants in a 
roomy stove if they are properly looked after. A. 
aethiopicum is one of the most useful, but in order 
to have it at its best it requires very careful staking. 
This must be seen to without delay, as the young 
fronds soon form a thicket-like mass which can only 
be disentangled with a great deal of difficulty and 
not a little danger to the fronds themselves, for the 
stipes are exceedingly brittle, and a very little 
pressure will snap them. A. polyphyllum, often 
called A. cardiochloena, and A. trapeziforme are 
two other species that reach a good height and are 
very effective. Their fronds are large and heavy, 
and some of them require support. 
Selaginellas. —The best receptacles for these 
are shallow pans, which give what is most required, 
viz., a great deal of surface area, without too much 
depth of soil. Once the Selaginellas get in the 
fruiting stage the plants are of very little further 
use. Accordingly it is well to put in cuttings at 
intervals to take the places of the older plants when 
they have got past it. Some of the stronger forms 
such as S. canaliculata, S. erythropus, S. flagellifera, 
S. Galeottei, S. haematodes, and S. inaequalifolia 
are very handsome and effective when grown in 
masses in pans of the sort described. Make the soil 
light and sandy, and the cuttings will not be long in 
rooting if kept close. 
Miconia magnifica. —The Miconias are, as a rule, 
rarely found amongst ordinary collections of stove 
plants, and yet there is no foliage plant that can 
boast a finer appearance than M. magnifica. The 
leaves are of great size, and exhibit a deep olive- 
green flushed and shaded with a bronze hue, and 
with prominent ribs. The plant is seen at its best 
in its earlier stages, the colouring being then more 
vivid. Cuttings may be taken now, if desired, and 
struck under a bell glass or in a propagating frame 
with a brisk heat.— A. S. G. 
--— 
®leanings front tfj^ IPorlb 
of Science 
Spraying Po.tatos to Check Disease.—The 
results of experiments for checking the Potato 
disease, at Bramford, in East Suffolk, as carried out 
at the County Council Agricultural Station, is given 
in The Journal of the Essex Technical Laboratories for 
March and April. A photographic view of the field 
at Bramford where the spraying operations were 
carried out shows the two sides of the question pretty 
plainly. The half of the field of Potatos that were 
sprayed sho^s the latter to be well furnished with 
foliage, whereas the nnsprayed Potatos are repre¬ 
sented by naked and straggling stems. Sulphate of 
copper and lime, known as the Bordeaux mixture, 
was the remedy used, at the rate of 20 lbs. of sul¬ 
phate of copper and 10 lbs. of unslaked lime to 100 
gallons of water. 
A table of results shows the weight of produce 
obtained for each of the four years from 1893 to 
1896, inclusive, but some of these years cannot be 
taken as conclusive tests owing to the relative 
absence of disease. The total weight of crop fluctu¬ 
ated from year to year owing to various circum¬ 
stances, but the sprayed portion gave an excess of 15 
cwts. over the unsprayed portion in 1893. In the 
following year the excess was 2 tons ; in 1895 it was 
1 ton 8 cwt. 2 lbs.; and in 1896, there were 16 cwts. 1 
lb. to the advantage of the sprayed portion. The 
difference in the average of four years was 1 ton 5 
cwts. 
The increased duration of the life of the plant 
enables it to produce a greater weight of tubers. 
What is of greater importance, it was discovered 
that the food value of the tubers from the sprayed 
plots was higher than the unsprayed portion. To 
prove this fact, no less than 480 tubers were 
analysed. The increased food value would indicate 
a greater storage of starch and other constituents of 
human food. The saving from destruction of the 
foliage would enable the plant to carry on its func¬ 
tions over a longer period, in fact, till the stems and 
foliage reach maturity naturally. The increased 
average yield of r ton 5 cwts. per acre, at the current 
price of £2 per ton, would amply repay the cost of 
spraying at the rate of 15s. per acre. 
