March 17, 1900. 
457 
THK GARDENING WORLD. 
old soil, which should be porous and contain leaf- 
mould, dibble in the basal part of each of the shoot- 
cuttings. By carefully keeping the soil moist (but 
not wet), the plants will establish themselves in a 
short while. 
Herb Beds.— Sandy : Whenever the ground is in 
workable condition renew the old worn-out beds. 
By puddliDg a slow running stream and inserting 
Cress cuttings (later on of course, say end of April), 
you may hope to succeed with this wholesome salad. 
Arundinaria Fortunei. — Ochiltree : The shoot 
of the Grass which you send is that of Arundinaria 
Fortunei, better known in gardens as Bambusa 
Fortunei variegata. It prefers a deep, well drained, 
medium loam, although any good garden soil will 
answer. It is readily increased by division of the 
crown in April. It requires no staking. Old and 
dead leaves and shoots may be cut away just before 
the new season's shoots spring up. Allow the 
plants a sheltered position, yet free from shade. 
Mulch during drought until the plants become 
established. It attains, when well grown, to over 
2 ft., and is quite hardy. 
Dahlia Roots Mouldy.— J. Williams : It is often 
enough written of, that to keep Dahlias, Salvias, or 
Begonias in good condition through the winter, a 
dry cool shed is alone suitable. A steamy washing- 
house, is altogether wrong. Cut away all rotted 
tubers and brush off the mould. Plot the tubers for 
an instant in boiling hot water. Do this once or 
twice to kill the mycelium. Then place the tubers 
in the sunshine or have them well aired for a day. 
If you wish to raise cuttings from them place them 
in deep boxes and cover over with mould, placing 
boxes and contents in a warm house. 
Forced Rhubarb.— W. Telfer : Do not suddenly 
place the Rhubarb plants from the forcing house 
out into the cold ground but place the stocks for a 
while into a frame or cool house. Then having 
prepared the ground plant out and mulch the crown. 
Should severe weather again return add further pro¬ 
tection. 
Tomatos for a warm corner.— J. W .: The 
angled corner formed by the walls of two houses and 
facing south-west, if it has other shelter near hand 
will prove first-rate for outdoor Tomatos. Raise 
plants in March for planting out in June. There are 
a number of good varieties, chief of which are Carter’s 
Outdoor, Laxton’s Open-Air, The Trophy, Early 
Prolific, and Barr’s Early Ruby. If confined to one 
variety for indoor culture the selection would be 
Jones’ variety, The Cropper. 
« ■ -— 
CHINESE PRIMULAS AT FOREST 
HILL. 
The past winter has been a long and a cold one,but the 
lack of sunshine has been a more telling factor in the 
cultivation of plants than the question of tempera¬ 
ture. When the cultivator does his work thoroughly, 
however, it is surprising what can be done with 
Chinese Primulas, even in such a suburb as Forest 
Hill, where Messrs. J. Carter & Co., High Holborn, 
London, have an establishment devoted to the culti¬ 
vation of various subjects, both in the open air and 
under glass. 
At the present time the most interesting culture 
is the Chinese Primulas, because they are in full 
bloom, or were so at the beginning of the present 
month. Something like 8,ooo plants make a display 
worthy of a long journey to see. Not for many years 
have they been in such excellent form. They are all 
grown in span-roofed houses, and are in consequence 
well exposed to all the benefits of light at command. 
This year's plants are practically in two large batches, 
one about two months in advance of the other, yet 
all are grown in 48-size pots. The object of grow¬ 
ing them being for the production of seed, it follows 
that the cultivator will always pursue that method 
most conducive to the development of good pods of 
seed independently of the quantity of flowers. 
The latter soon begin to fade after they have been 
gone over with the fertilising brush. Plants with a 
few fine trusses of bloom are more serviceable than 
large plants in big pots and highly fed, such as 
gardeners require to brighten their conservatories. 
The more advanced batch here would be quite fit for 
such a purpose, and many a gardener would be 
proud of them. The accompanying illustration 
shows one of the early houses, and was prepared 
from a photograph taken by Mr. Bard, the manager 
of the Forest Hill establishment. 
Besides the well-known named and standard 
varieties there are also some unnamed seedlings, 
which may be defined as novelties, that have to be 
increased, selected and fixed before they can be 
distributed. A very fine one with large flowers is 
the result of crossing Elaine and Bouquet. The 
latter, which was described in The Gardening 
World some years ago, is characterised by a leafy 
calyx surrounding the white flowers, thus suggest¬ 
ing the name 11 Bouquet." The product of the two 
varieties is a plant with large and pure white flowers, 
on much longer stalks than bouquet, and therefore 
superior to it for decorative purposes. Another 
seedling has silvery-pink flowers, deepening to rose 
as they develop, mottled with white, and having 
a silvery zone round the green eye. The finest of 
the novelties is a seedling with a gigantic, rosy-pink 
flower deepening to carmine when fully developed 
A white zone round the greenish-yellow eye sets off 
the whole to advantage. The flowers measure from 
2 in. to 2f in. across, one of them being represented 
natural size, on p. 459. Something more of these 
fine forms will be heard of again. 
The named and standard varieties are grown in 
large batches, often numbering hundreds, the effect 
of which is bold and striking in the mass. Very 
choice is Hercules, a large, rich rose flower with a 
yellow centre, the blooms deepening with age. The 
plant itself is of dwarf habit. Elaine is one bf the 
oldest in the collection, and at present is bearing 
pyramidal masses of bloom in 48-size pots, the 
plants being about 1 ft. high. Elaine Improved has 
much larger pure white flowers, and red petioles, 
and is altogether finer than the original. The well- 
known Holborn Blue has large and richly coloured 
flowers, marked in their earlier stages by a bronzy 
eye. Another choice light variety is Rose (Fern¬ 
leaved), an early variety, bearing pyramidal masses 
of bloom, and already well set with seed pods. 
Being a standard variety, it is grown in quantity. 
Holborn Queen is a Fern-leaved variety, with pale 
green petioles, and bearing pyramidal masses of 
bloom of a pearly tint of white, the most delicate of 
all the shades of colour here. A remarkably free 
variety is Carmine, the flowers of which are rose at 
first but deepen to a rich carmine when fully de¬ 
veloped. Ruby (Fern-leaved) has darker flowers 
than Carmine, with a few small white spots 
scattered over the ground colour. Rose Queen has 
plain foliage, with light green petioles, and the rosy- 
pink flowers, being very early, are now past tbeir 
best, and well set with seed pods. 
The variety named Scarlet is very bright and free; 
and half a houseful of it elsewhere is sufficient indi- 
Some of Messrs. Carter & Co.'s Primulas. 
