December 2, 1899 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
217 
oust when a colony once becomes lodged. Employ 
Birkenhead’s Cockroach traps. Another method is 
to use a mixture made of arsenic and treacle, placing 
this (securely, so far as domestic animals are con¬ 
cerned) in saucers near by their holes. They eat 
anything, paper, wood, fruit, bread, boots ! • 
A Plea for Damages. — Mrs. J .: Upon your 
slender evidence, or proof rather, it would be mani¬ 
festly unwise to bring in a case for damages. It is 
no doubt almost certain that the rats carried the 
poisoned bread from your neighbour’s garden and 
so, from quitting it in your poultry run, been the 
indirect cause of their deaths. The neighbour no 
doubt thought the food was out of other animals’ or 
fowls’ reach. 
-- 
APPLE STIRLING CASILE. 
Every list of Apples, with any pretension to com¬ 
pleteness would contain Stirling Castle by reason of 
its good average size, beautiful shape, and regular, 
free fruiting character. This latter feature is re¬ 
tained whether the tree is grown as a pyramid or 
standard, for both of which forms it is admirably 
adapted. The fruit is oblate, or between that and 
globular, smooth, greenish-yellow, finely mottled, 
and of excellent quality as a kitchen Apple. A 
marked characteristic of the variety is the deep and 
regular, or smcoth cavity in which the eye is 
situated. The above points combined with the large 
size of the fruit and its generally uniform dimensions, 
make it a favourite for exhibition purposes. It is an 
early variety ripening in August and September with 
Lord Suffield, to which it is superior in firmness, and 
in being far less liable to canker or skin disease of 
the fruit; while the tree bears as heavily and regu¬ 
larly. The accompanying illustration, for which we 
are indebted to Messrs. J. Cheal & Sons, Crawley, 
Sussex, shows how freely the tree bears when grown 
as a small pyramid. 
-•S*-- 
PORTLAND ROAD NURSERY, 
READING. 
There is always something interesting to be seen either 
in the open or in the glass houses or both at the Port¬ 
land Road Nursery of Messrs. Sutton & Sons, 
Reading. About the end of August last we had a 
run through the nursery while the late summer 
flowers were still gay. -- 
Approaching through the small garden facing the 
London Road we noted it was gay with a great 
variety of subjects. A fine lot of the newNicoliana 
sylvestris was flowering freely on stems about 3 ft. 
high, and terminating in long racemes of gracefully 
nodding, long tubed, white flowers. Antirrhinums 
in more than one strain were also gay. Petunias 
had been a mass of flowers all the summer, showing 
that the drought agreed with them, for they were 
still in the height of their glory. Amongst the more 
recent introductions of herbaceous plants Rudbeckia 
Golden Glow is likely to hold its own for many 
years. A striking and interesting annual is Datura 
Cornucopia, a sort of hose-in-hose flower, the outer 
surface of which and the buds are violet, while the 
interior is white. Their large size also makes this a 
very telling subject for sub-tropical beds in the open. 
Many lovers of herbaceous plants are now interested 
in Helenium striatum grandicephalum, striped with 
with bronzy-red or orange. 
Tuberous Begonias were still flowering abun¬ 
dantly in the houses, of which there were six occu¬ 
pied with Begonias of various modern and popular 
races, the tuberous ones predominating. The single 
tuberous varieties were still flowering profusely in a 
great variety of colour, including yellow, orange, 
scarlet, salmon, salmon-orange, rose, white, and 
other shades. The broad, dark green leaves indi¬ 
cated very high cultivation. On the shelves over¬ 
head Campanula isophylla alba was asserting itself 
in a profusion of white blossom. 
Elsewhere the double tuberous Begonias, equally 
well grown, were flowering profusely in all the range 
of bright colours for which the race is famed. Ah 
inspection of the blooms showed types imitating the 
Carnation, Hollyhock, Gardenia, Camellia, &c. A 
scarlet variety with a profusion of flowers on short, 
upright stems appeared very suitable for bedding 
purposes, and it had, in fact, been utilised in that 
way. 
A later batch of plants grown in small pots was 
affording a successional display of bloom to prolong 
the season. The plants were, indeed, young and in 
their pristine freshness. A third batch consisted of 
this year's seedlings, throwing up stout stems, 
although in quite small pots. 
Fibrous rooted Begonias, consisting of highly im¬ 
proved forms of B. semperflorens are largely and well 
grown here, both in pots and bedded out in the open 
ground. Fairy Queen and Crimson Gem are two of 
the best. Begonia Gloire de Lorraine, in pots and 
stood on the shelves, carried great masses of bloom, 
hanging down freely. Another splendid batch had 
the flower stems carefully and neatly tied up, show¬ 
ing what can be effected with this fine hybrid, now 
so popular everywhere. 
The earliest batch of Gloxinias, in very dwarf 
form, carried a fine crop of seed, some of the plants 
bearing as many as eighteen pods. Some belated 
flowers were still showing on the plants. Princess 
May was pleasing in its white flowers, shaded with 
rose. In another house we came across great 
masses of bloom upon the Gloxinias, because they 
had not been fertilised. Some of the blooms of Her 
Majesty were 3 in. to 4 in. across the corolla. The 
sky-blue flowers of Azure Blue are always 
pleasing and distinct. Another variety was 
characterised by a band of blue only. Sutton’s 
Purple might be described as dark viojet-purple. 
Many other bright colours were noted. The size of 
the flowers, and the fleshy character of the leaves 
plainly indicated the treatment they had received. 
A Gloxinia was shown us that had been raised by 
crossing a Gloxinia with a spotted Tydaea. The 
white ground was very distinctly spotted, the throat 
more yellow than usual, and some of the upper leaves 
of the plant were strap-shaped. 
Saintpaulia ionantha is nearly always in flower 
here, some rich blue varieties being notable. The 
white S. i. alba has also found its way here. All 
were flowering profusely. The same may be said of 
the sweetly fragrant Exacum affine. Streptocarpus 
Wendlandi was carrying large panicled cymes of its 
light blue and white flowers. Hybrid Streptocarpi 
were grown in abundance; and one showed the 
influence of S. Wendlandi, although only 6 in. high. 
Others had violet-purple, very dark purple and 
salmon flowers. 
An extensive and glorious batch of Achimenes is 
always to be seen in summer in this nursery. 
Although late in the season, very telling were the 
large blue and long tubed flowers of Achimenes 
longiflora major. A. splendens had brilliant scarlet 
flowers much larger than thofe of the old A. 
coccinea. The flowers of A. helerophylla were 
scarlet and yellow in the interior of the tube. A 
seedling white variety had larger flowers than A. 
longiflora alba, and was a cross between that and 
Marguerita. 
Very promising was a houseful of Cyclamen at 
the end of August, and only a year old in November. 
The great mass of beautifully marbled foliage com¬ 
pletely covered the pots. A late batch of Gesnera 
fulgens in the frames was notable for the beauty of 
the rich, velvety brown and maroon foliage. More 
advanced plants in one of the houses were resplend¬ 
ent in several bright and pleasing colours such as 
white, bright yellow, orange, scarlet, and crimson 
colours, often richly spotted. Near by were many 
beautiful Tydaeas. Cinerarias were being kept cool 
beneath sashes laid on open framework and shaded, 
but open at the sides and airy. 
In the open ground we pkssed a large mass of 
Kniphofia bearing a dozen spikes. Carnation Van¬ 
guard belongs to the Marguerite section, being early 
and fragrant. Verbenas seemed to enjoy the burn¬ 
ing sun, for they had spread over the ground and 
were profusely covered with their trusses of white, 
scarlet, purple, pink, crimson, and dazzling scarlet 
flowers. They had been raised from seeds with a 
minimum amount of trouble thus showing how they 
might be utilised for bedding purposes. Amongst 
unimproved but pretty species we noted V. 
Aublietia with cut leaves, and the well-known V. 
venosa. Phlox Drummondi was in a great variety 
of beautiful colours. Humeas were also doing well 
in the open. Very showy also was the golden 
Poppywort, Hunnemannia fumariaefolia, a very 
little known, but handsome species. 
Interesting was a plantation of hybrids of Althaea 
Apple Stirling Castle. 
