THE GARDENING WORLD 
December 30, 18&9. 
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A FINE GROUP OF PLANTS. 
Some fine groups are usually to be seen at the 
Chrysanthemum show of the Royal Horticultural 
Society of Ireland, and on the 7th November last, 
the exhibit of Messrs. Charles Ramsay & Son, Ball's 
Bridge Nurseries, Dublin, was worthy of special 
comment. It was a group of stove and greenhouse 
plants rather than Chrysanthemums, though a few 
dwarf plants of the latter were dispersed through 
the fine foliage subjects. The display of skill and 
artistic taste in the arrangement of the latter pro¬ 
duced effects at once harmonious and graceful. The 
foliage plants were really the feature of the group. 
The chief of these were Kentias, Cocos, and other 
Palms,which constituted the staple of the semi-circu¬ 
lar mass. Dispersed amongst these were Dracaenas, 
a few Crotons and plenty of Ferns, particularly 
around the margins of the group. The whole of 
these things were brightened with Lilium Harrisi in 
abundance, with a sprinkling of Chrysanthemums, 
Tuberoses, Orchids, and Astilbe japonica.best known 
under the name of Spiraea. The accompanying 
illustration (p. 281) will give a general conception of 
the build of the group. A Silver Medal was awarded 
it by the society, and all who saw the group 
admitted that the honour was fully deserved. 
A VISIT TO THE NURSERIES OF 
MESSRS. CANNELL & SONS. 
On the last occasion of a visit to Messrs. H. Cannell 
& Sons, of Swanley, the elements were Utopian. 
Blue skies favoured the traveller, and from above a 
smiling sun did shine. All the earth laughed 1 It 
was like a summer day of the past boyhood once 
again repeated. But a marrow-freezing wind 
whistled, not in sudden gusts, but steadily, evenly, 
grim, and stubborn. The same outstanding features 
were seen around the Swanley nurseries, but adown 
the long valley and up the steep hip of the flanking 
borders, the bluish-white snow lay piled. So 
avaunt! hie me to the houses where “ the Palms, the 
Cycas, and the little Lotus flower grow." 
As a matter of fact it was " Geraniums” or zonal 
Pelargoniums (to suit the learned) that we had in 
mind, and sure enough these were there in very 
strong force. All lovers of zonal Pelargoniums, the 
most useful and most easily grown of winter blooming 
plants, should keep their eye on Swanley. Visit it, 
indeed, if you can. 
Single Pelargoniums. 
Confining ourselves in the meantime to a notice of 
the newest varieties, we find four varieties which 
stand out conspicuously in the single zonal section. 
These have been referred to by The Gardening 
World reporter in his account of the N.C.S. show. 
What was said there I can corroborate here. The 
Sirdar is one of this year. The flowers are perfect in 
form, strong in substance,-, and of a bright and 
cheery-scarlet, a colour wanted in these dull winter 
days. As a contrast we have the pure white-flowered 
Snowstorm. The habit of this is dwarf, sturdy, 
free flowering, and for various forms of floral de¬ 
corations the white trusses, which last well, should 
be valuable, and add a quality to the variety which 
ought not to be lost sight of. It might be thought 
that we have already more than enough of good 
salmon varieties, as, for instance, Hilda, Coleridge, 
Mrs. Ewing, or Ian Maclaren; but in The Kalifa, 
the Messrs. Cannell seem to have gone one better. 
The fine form and substance are the undoubted 
qualities of The Kalifa. In Ian Maclaren we have 
one of the most profuse flowering zonals in cultiva¬ 
tion, yet the perfect form and large truss of The 
Kalifa are more favoured by ardent florists. 
The Mikado is a novelty of merit, possessing good 
trusses of soft cerise-coloured blooms. Mrs. Fisher 
also comes under the section of salmon-coloured 
introductions, and certainly holds a foremost posi¬ 
tion. The peculiar shade of The Mikado is very 
pleasing. Menelik, belonging to the Countess de 
Morelia type, is one of the very finest of our magenta- 
pink varieties. Other varieties which one may class 
as in the general collection of singles are Nicolas II., 
a crimson-scarlet of fine quality in all respects ; C. 
C. Tudway, a clear rich magenta, and a free 
bloomer of sturdy habit; Chaucer, clear cerise 
flowers, each of which are of enormous size; 
Souvenir de W. B. Miller has a white eye and a 
brilliant crimson body-ground. J. H. Araerne may 
be classed as the largest and best orange yellow yet 
seen ; a comparatively new class of purple and 
magenta-scarlets is being formed. It is expected 
that from selection, this class may yield the wished- 
for “ blue Geranium.” 
Rudyard Kipling and Lord Reay are the two 
newest, each being all that one need wish for in 
first-class zonal blooms. Mrs. Simpson forms one 
of the best winter zonal Pelargoniums we have. It 
has a strikingly pretty, fiery-scarlet ring around a 
white eye, the white grounding being particularly 
pure. Duchess of Marlborough is yet another 
favourite in the class of blush seifs. 
Those who know the variety, Mdme. J. Chretien, 
with all its attractiveness, will be pleased at the 
additions which have been made to the class of 
which it, with Souv. de Mirande, were the parents. 
Mark Twain holds a foremost rank amongst this, the 
reticulated, salmon or orange-coloured group. 
Andrew Lang may also be included ; so with Mdme. 
Coralie Bazac. 
Lilacina, to my mind, is one of the prettiest 
bloomers we have at this period. The name des¬ 
cribes the colour, the habit is good, and the blooms 
are freely borne. Countess of Buckingham pro¬ 
duces deep rosy-pink trusses, whose cheery colour 
is very agreeable and prominent even amid dozens 
of others. Mary E. Wilkins is a blush-white of a 
delicate and pretty shade, the blooms being large 
and well formed. 
Double Pelargoniums. 
Many lovers of the Pelargoniums prefer to have a 
double bloomer than a single. One strong point in 
their favour is the fact that they last longer when 
cut than do the single varieties. They also bloom 
equally as freely. Colonel Barre is a magenta, 
which among semi-doubles is rather a new colour. 
Gustav Emich with its gigantic trusses and huge 
individual blooms of a rich clear scarlet is also one 
in the first-class. Mdme. Charott is meritorious be¬ 
cause of its spreading habit, and the manner in 
which it throws up its large trusses. These are of a 
mottled salmon shade. Dr. Verneuil has extra 
large fine cerise-scarlet trusses. In Mdme. de la 
Rue we have a very rich coloured purple-pink plant of 
strong constitution and good blooming qualities. 
Dr. Despres makes another, the pride of the deep 
crimson class. The habit is good, and the pips of 
the blooms remarkably well formed. The Rene 
Bazin, a medium-coloured scarlet with an orange 
centre, yield us a very floriferous and much admired 
variety. Hermine may be classed as really the 
finest of the double whites, more especially as it 
would seem as a winter flowering variety. Then of 
late years, as with the double tuberous Begonias, 
specialists are turning their attention to varieties 
which show signs of a narrow-lined edge of some 
distinct colour, and which they term the Picotee- 
edged class. So far Fraicheur is the best of this 
type. The habit is vigorous. 
Thus for all practical purposes any grower who 
wishes to have the best and only the best of these 
zonal Pelargoniums may very safely make a selection 
from the list which I have striven to make as com¬ 
plete as possible, while yet confining the number of 
varieties so as not to make a selection too puzzling. 
No class of plants, as I have already said, are more 
to be recommended for winter flowering, and none 
repay the cultivator more surely. Cuttings of the 
earliest batches have just begun to be taken. 
A mere mention must suffice for the other houses 
of soft-wooded stuff, stove plants and Cacti which 
are in so varied assortment at Swanley. Bouvardias 
make a pretty display ; Cyclamens are exceedingly 
strong, in fact, better plants have not been seen ; Cin¬ 
erarias are on the point of blooming, each plant a 
model of health and cleanness; Poinsettias are 
bright and strongly represented in the larger warm 
houses ; all sorts of stove plants, including Palms, 
Acalyphas, and the varieties of climbers or 
flowering plants such as Eucharis and warm house 
Dendrobiums, Oncidiums, &c , are one and all to be 
seen. Agapanthus umbellatus, the blue African 
Lily, was in strong array, each sample being strong 
and good for next season's flowering. 
The collection of Cacti, of course, takes everyone’s 
fancy, or at least secures their regard. Some of the 
most curious, as well as pretty members, such as the 
Grizzly Bear Cactus, the Prickly Pear, the Mamil- 
larias, Opuntias, Cereus, and many others are really 
very interesting. Pot Roses of all kinds are in stock at 
Swanley, and capital stuff they are. Abutilons are 
handsomely shown, besides which the numbers of 
bedding Huff stock are boxed or potted up for 
supplying cuttings. Dahlias, tuberous Begonias, 
and Gloxinias with the long list of plants for early 
summer decorations or planting were to be seen, so 
that while one great class of plants is in bloom 
others are being prepared to succeed them.— J. 
-- 
MICROBES AND FLOWERS. 
The experiments we are about to describe demon¬ 
strate that flowers may afford an asylum to numer¬ 
ous pathogenic and saprophytic microbial germs, 
and thus become a source of contagion and danger. 
The carpels and stamens of several cultivated 
flowers (particular attention being given to stigmas 
and anthers, which are more liable to retain germs, 
owing to the more or less viscous secretions of these 
organs) were taken directly from the plant and 
placed in tubes containing nutrient mediums pre¬ 
viously sterilised. We made our collection by cut¬ 
ting the floral organs with scissors, sterilised in the 
lamp, and dropping them immediately into the 
culture tubes. 
The garden where the flowers grew is situated at 
a distance of two leagues from the town of Rio, the 
altitude above sea-level being fifty metres ; conse¬ 
quently there is little likelihood of contamination in 
such a position. I shall only mention some of my 
experiments. 
I. Hibiscus Rosa-sinensis (order of Malvaceae). 
—The anthers of the flower produced, in the 
different mediums of culture, solid and liquid, very 
distinct colonies with characteristics bearing no 
resemblance to any known microbial species. These 
colonies were composed of micrococci. Their 
evolution in tubes of agar-agar gave, from the first 
week, along the puncture, colonies in form of a 
quadrangular transparent plate. About the second 
week the surface of the gelose became covered with 
an egg-yolk coloured coat, and at the same time 
another similar plate formed below the first applied 
at right angles (crosswise) on the lower edge ; later a 
third plate formed in the same way. The microcci 
of these colonies measured one micron in diameter 
(/r) ; they colour well with basic aniline colours, and 
generally group in diplococci. They slowly liquefy 
gelatine, in which they produce a cavity like that 
made with a punch. On plates the colonies obtained 
are round, smooth, and of an egg-yoke colour. The 
gelatine becomes acid, and exhales a peculiar sour 
odour. In Loffler bouillon a turbidity is produced, 
which soon causes a white deposit to fall on the 
bottom of the flask. We propose the name of 
Micrococcus cruciformis for this bacterium. 
II. Rose (Rothschild).— The germs collected in 
the central depression of the corolla of this large, 
beautiful flower produced in the various solid and 
liquid mediums, the Leptothrix ochraceaof Kutzing. 
On cultures the rust colour was obtained, due to the 
colouring substance this little being manufactures at 
the expense of the iron salts requisite for its exis¬ 
tence. This Leptothiix is also known to inhabit 
stagnant waters ; it is then at least suspicious. 
III. Rosa gallica.— This flower gave two differ¬ 
ent colonies. One (No. 1) had the morphological 
characteristics peculiar to the Streptococcus pyo¬ 
genes of Rosenbach. ffhese micrococci appear, under 
the microscope, in a wreath. They measure one 
micron (jii) in diameter ; they took the gram stain. 
Colonies No. 2 consisted of bacilli two to three 
microns long (/a), which seemed a new species to us, 
specially characterised by the coriaceous consistency 
of the colonies in agar-agar tubes, the almost 
black tint of the large colonies on plate and the 
colonies in superposed balls in the gelose tubes 
(path oi puncture). This bacillus does not liquefy 
gelatine. Loffler bouillon in which the bacillus was 
cultivated became turbid, and gave a white deposit 
on the bottom of the flask. We propose the name 
of Bacillus gallicus for this microbe. 
IV. Ipomaea Quamoclit (Fleur du Cardinal).— 
A climbing plant of the order Convolvulaceae. It 
gave us two species. No. 1, with characteristics of 
Microccus salivarius pyogenes of Biondi: No. 2, 
a Spirilla, similar to those found often in marshes, 
like Spirilla tenue and S. serpens. But we class it 
as Spirillum plicatile, because in cultures the fila¬ 
ments are divided into long and short rods, some 
straight. This Spirillum seems capable of causing 
intermittent fevers, according to some authors. 
V. In the case of Peach blossom (Persica vulgaris. 
Mill) the Bacillus pyocyaneus was obtained. 
I shall also mention, with regard to my plate cultures, 
