534 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
April 21, 1900. 
a hole in ihe cenlre of the stump, 18 in deep, with 
an auger ij in., putting in 20 oz. saltpetre, filling the 
hole with water, and plugging it tight. In the spring 
the plug is taken out and half a pint of crude 
petroleum is poured in and set on fire. The stump 
will burn and smoulder to the end of the roots/ 
leaving nothing but ashes.— C. Macquarie, Chicago. 
--- 
REGAL PELARGONIUMS. 
These useful plants deserve well of every gardener, 
yet how often does one see badly grown specimens, 
leggy plants, and too little flower. Propagation by 
cuttings is the way mostly adopted, but they can be 
grown from the rootlets, the same as the Bouvardia. 
It is with cuttings I will deal with. Secure some 
good sboit-jointed cuttings as soon as they can be 
spared from the old plants; if in April so much the 
better, as it is a great advantage to get them as early 
as possible. Strike them in 48 size pots placed 
around the side in a good mixture of two parts 
fibrous loam, one part leaf soil, one part nice sharp 
silver sand, and a sprinkling of sand on the top of 
the pot. They can also be struck, and struck well in 
a bed of sand in a spare corner of the greenhouse. 
Place the pots on a shelf or stage, fully exposed to 
the sun, and when well rooted pot on into 6o’s in the 
same mixture as before. Put them in the green¬ 
house or cold frame, with full exposure to light and 
air, and when well established in these, pot them on 
into 48 ’s, using the same mixture as before, with 
some slight addition of a good chemical manure or dry 
cow dung. Place them in the same position as 
before, always on a dry bottom They will soon get 
established in the 48’s, and will stand the winter in 
them in a temperature of 45" at night, rising to 50° 
during the day. Be careful they do not get too 
warm. About the middle of February, pot them on 
into 24's, using the same soil as for the 48’s, with a 
few ^-in. bones on the top of the crocks, or a slight 
sprinkling of soot. Always keep well pinched into 
shape, and, when established, feed at least three 
times a week.— H. A. C , Tettenhall. 
MIRABILIS JALAPA (MARVEL OF 
PERU). 
This charming old fashioned plant was introduced 
from Peru about the year 1596, and its name, Mir- 
abilis, means wonderful or marvellous. Few plants, 
can contend with them in the summer for beauti¬ 
fying the sub-tropical border or dotting about in 
the shrubbery ; they make very handsome beds 
when grouped together and they certainly deserve 
to be grown very much more extensively than they 
are at the present time. The flowers are produced 
in great profusion, forming a dense mass of bloom, 
the colours ranging from pure white to deep purple, 
also striped and heavily flaked yellow. The seed 
should be sown in spring in a hotbed and hardened 
off. planting out in June in well prepared soil. 
Place a stake to each plant and tie neatly with bast. 
The ihocts should not be crowded together to give 
them too formal an appearance. After the flowering 
sea on the plants can be lifted and the tubers stored 
in sand or cinder ashes and placed away securely 
against frost. Abundance of water should be given 
in the summer and during spells of dry weather. 
It is generally supposed that the flowers only last 
one day, and as a rule this is so ; but the cause of 
it is that the bees have a particular liking for them, 
and to extract the honey they pierce the tube of the 
flowers on the outside, which causes their premature 
decay — A. E. Thatcher, AlcLenham, Elstree. 
- —Z— - 
PEAS. 
Often we read of the amount of work associated 
with raising of early Peas. The ancient system of 
sowing in November—risking the attack of mice 
and exposure to many other evils—is seldom in 
evidence in these days. They very seldom (under 
such conditions of culture) were earlier than those 
planted out from boxes, pots, &c., or even when seed 
was sown during the latter part of January or early 
in February. We notice that much unnecessary 
trouble (by many) is expended by the means adopted 
in raising early Peas under glass; and much mischief 
is also done by coddling the young plants when they 
are growing. The greatest success we have ever ex¬ 
perienced has been by raising the plants in boxes 
without the aid of glass, simply by protection of 
mats 'actencd to a frame work and placed over them 
when weather was severe. They were short in 
growth, strong and healthy, and planted out from 
the boxes, in tufts, about the last week in March, 
with some kindly soil placed carefully with the 
roots, which were put in rows by the use of the 
spade, cutting deep enough to allow the roots to fall 
down their full length and preventing the doubling 
of them up during the process of planting. Rough 
leaf-mould or turfy loam placed in the bottom of 
boxes induces a mass of roots to form, and the 
plants are inserted with no check. At present 
(April 7th) we have a quantity of Peas ready for 
planting. They are short and green like box edgiDg, 
in good condition. They have had lights placed 
over them during severe weather ; but air is on at 
all times when It can be admitted with safety. Sweet 
Peas are also ready for planting out. They are 
growing in rows across the boxes, and each sort can 
be removed from the soil without any check. When 
grown in this way they are in flower several weeks 
before those sown during February in the open 
ground. One of the most successful growers of 
early Peas was by a well known gardener near 
London, who sowed in wooden boxes and covered 
the seed with charcoal dust or old mushroom 
manure. He (rightly, I think) considered that by 
using pots or furves to sow the seed in was labour in 
vain. — M. Temple, Canon, N.B. 
-—■—- 
GYMNOGRAMMES. 
The very mention of that continent, separated from 
us by the " herring pond,” has usually an intoxica¬ 
ting effect. One expects to hear of a dowered 
heiress, millionaire, large corners, anything, in fact, 
with the ring of gold. What then could be more 
appropriate than amongst its many golden produc¬ 
tions, it should be the habitat of some of the 
Golden Ferns, whose lovely rich appearance 
impresses the mind with thoughts of the so-called 
“ filthy lucre ” ? The true Golden Fern, G. chryso- 
phylla, which wins golden opinions from all 
beholders, is not, however, a native of that favoured 
continent but of the West Indies. This is a plant 
subject to considerable variations. The true plant 
is a form with broad pinnules and spreading fronds, 
heavily coated with a rich, golden farinose powder. 
Another form, frequently supplied for that species, 
named G, laucheana—in honour of Lauche of Pots¬ 
dam—is a strong grower, and more erect in habit; 
the segments are also narrower, but like the pre¬ 
ceding, the fronds are heavily clothed with a rich 
yellow powder. G. Martensi, a taller growing 
species which hails from South America, is likewise 
supplied in place of G. chrysophylla. Where suffi¬ 
cient heat and moisture can be supplied to them 
their cultivation is comparatively easy. The diffi¬ 
culty experienced by most cultivators is that of 
bringing them through the winter. This difficulty 
is obviated to a great extent, if seedling plants are 
secured during the summer. These if pricked out 
round toe sides of a pot and placed on a warm shelf, 
will pass the winter without much inconvenience to 
the grower. Potted up singly in March, in a sandy 
compost of equal parts of peat and fibrous loam, 
these will form excellent specimens superior to old 
plants kept over the winter. 
- -a -- ■■ — 
GREENHOUSE RHODODENDRONS AT 
TRINITY COTTAGE, EDINBURGH. 
Seventeen years seem a long while to devote with¬ 
out intermittence to a hobby. But, perhaps, it is 
not true in this case to term Mr. MacMillan’s work 
merely a hobby. Auld MacMillan o’ Trinity, as he 
is in friendship called, has worked with greenhouse 
Rhododendrons for the number of years stated, 
evolving new varieties and combining the best attri¬ 
butes of one parent with those of another, to the 
greater perfection of their resulting offspring. At the 
present time Mr. MacMillan has a large, span- 
roofed, teak wood house, 50 ft. long by 24 ft. bread, 
completely filled with Rhododendron plants. For 
various reasons there are no stages in this house. 
The central portion contains the taller and standard 
plants, while around the narrowed side border, 
plants of bushier habit and dwarf stature find room. 
One and all are grown in pots, these standing upon 
an ash bottom. Relative to the training of his 
plants, Mr. MacMillan has a number of cut-backs, 
which are now forming nice bushy plants. Others 
are left to Nature, and, if Mr. MacMillan will ex¬ 
cuse me, I would say Nature produces pleasingly 
graceful and quite floriferous enough specimens 
Those which are allowed to grow untended by the 
pruner develop a tree like form, having along the 
length of the erect growing stem lateral branches, 
which subdivide and bear clusters cf tlocms. And 
again, we have others like standard Roses, possessing 
a clean stem of four or more feet before the first 
break occurs. The plants are of all heights, from 
seedlings of one inch to adults of 8 ft. or there¬ 
abouts. 
There are altogether 17 different crosses repre¬ 
sented in the house. Very great differences are evi¬ 
dent among seedlings, even from the same seedpod. 
For instance, as was shown on the stand at the 
spring show in Edinburgh on the 4th and 5th inst., 
from R. Countess of Haddington, crossed with R. 
fragrantissimum, three distinct varieties resulted, 
All three had the form of the Countess (which was 
the mother), yet they clearly differed in colour. One 
was pure white, a second was primrose, while num. 
ber three was most nearly the type of the mother, 
though still different. Other seedlings from the 
same cross are coming into bloom, so that there are 
still hopes of yet wider variation. 
In all of the crosses a family likeness is traceable 
yet sometimes a most decided break appears, which 
differs in form of leaf, colour of flower, and habit, 
from both parents. It is waiting for and experimenting 
with these which run off with the time. A seedling 
Rhododendron, tried in all the styles of growth 
which Mr. MacMillan has attempted, cannot be 
flowered either in one year, two years, or three 
Some seedlings are four and five years old, and are 
only showing their flower-trusses this season. 
Talk about the patience of Job, recommend me to 
a Rhododendron hybridiser. 
A very fine seedling named Mrs. Currie (Mr, 
MacMillan’s employer) was figured in The Garden¬ 
ing World in April of last year, p. 553. This is 
considered to be cne of the finest of the crosses. 
Countess of Haddington was here again the seed- 
bearer, the pollen-bearer being a large unnamed 
white seedling At the same time most of the 
crosses have been made between R. veitohianum 
and R. Lady Fitzwilliam. These two varieties are 
considered to possess, conjointly, the best qualities 
of a good greenhouse Rhododendron. 
Fragrance is a notable quality in most of the 
seedlings. R. veitchianum largely influences or 
imparts this merit. As a rule, the prepotency of a 
parent is generally stamped upon the whole of a 
batch of resulting seedlings of any plant. A rather 
curious division was, however, in prominence amoDg 
six seedling Rhododendrons from the same seed pod. 
The white seedling above referred to was the 
mother, R. Nuttallii being used as the male; and 
of the six seedlings four were very much like 
Nuttallii in habit and foliage, while two were dupli¬ 
cates of the mother. The two parents are strikingly 
distinct and so, in 1 ke manner, were the sections of 
the seedlings. 
Almost all of the crossbred seedlings are pure 
white, but they vary greatly in form, habit, fra¬ 
grance, in lasting quality, time of flowering, and in 
other points. If more can be done to improve, while 
yet preserving the size and purity of the blooms of 
the white-flowering varieties, then we hope Mr. 
MacMillan will continue to work with them. Still, 
it would at the same time be a great step to secure 
a range of beautiful colours plus the same excellence 
of form, among the Rhododendrons already 
evolved. 
Hybridisation has been tried between greenhouse 
and hardy Rhododendrons, yet with little or no 
success. The game is certainly well worth the 
candle even though a great many drawbacks and 
failures have to be reckoned upon and overcome. 
Mr. MacMillan promises to let me see more of his 
seedlings at a later date, when I may be able to give 
further remarks in reference to their individual 
differences and parentage. 
It may here be noted that Mr. MacMillan received 
a Silver Medal as recognition for his exhibit at the 
recent Edinburgh spring show. But he is, or has 
been, famous in other phases of gardening, as the 
following list of awards won by him at various times 
goes to prove. He has the Medal of the Scottish 
Horticultural Association, the International Horti¬ 
cultural Exhibition, London, 1892; Gardening and 
Forestry Exhibition, 1893 ; and a BaDksian of the 
R.H.S., London. Four Cultural Certificates and 
four Certificates for new varieties of plants are also 
in his possession. Most of the above honours were 
for Chrysanthemums.— Harrison, D, 
