May 5, 1900 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
569 
Francoa ramosa.— L. F .: This plant (a native of 
Chili) is particularly valuable to those who have 
need for a quantity of white blooms, or long white 
sprays. It does well in a cool green greenhouse. 
Seeds should be sown in February, in the light soil 
of shallow pans, and placed in heat. So soon as 
they are up an inch or less, prick out into small pans 
or pots. When once established in these it but re¬ 
mains to shift them on until large specimens develop. 
Cool-house treatment, good soil, moderately firm 
potting, and plenty of water, are the items of culture 
we have followed with success. 
Dry Bank and poor Soil.— W. Fell. : From your 
descriptive letter we would recommend you to plant 
the common Whin on the exposed bank. Few other 
plants or shrubs would be so likely to succeed. 
Young plants may be sought for and planted, or seeds 
may be sown early in June in prepared patches. 
Clerodendron fallax.— Wilson, R.: Seeds should 
now have germinated. Still, you may yet make a 
small sowing in a shallow pan. Shift in the seed¬ 
lings by small stages, and grow the plants in a warm, 
shaded stove. A 5 or 6 iD. pot will be quite large 
enough for the final potting. 
Pea Growths Withering.— R. Harris : Your 
cultural procedure has been sufficiently correct to 
ensure a good crop, but have you grown the Peas on 
the same land for a number of years ? Laud 
becomes " Pea-sick.” The effects of cold winds or 
frost sometimes check growth and make the plants 
look sickly. The leaves and stipules have bad their 
edges slightly eaten by slugs or grubs; the leaves 
bear evidence of this. There is one other possi¬ 
bility, and that is that the Pea-seeds may have con¬ 
tained the larvae of the Pea weevil (Bruchus Pisi) 
which lives on the stored-up nourishment of the seed 
leaves. The young seelling is thus robbed of that 
which ought to support it unlil it becomes estab¬ 
lished and fed by its own roots. We would advise 
you to inspect the roots closely and to watch the 
foliage further. Keep the plants growing by water¬ 
log the soil and by surface hoeiDg. Unless some¬ 
thing is wrong with the roots, the plants may recover 
their freshnets, when the weather becomes warmer 
and growth recommences. More soil, however, 
might have been placed over the manure before 
sowing. 
Chrysanthemums forming Buds.— W. L. : This 
arises, as a rule, from having selected stem cuttings 
or shoots from starved plants. The suckers of some 
varieties are prone to this behaviour. If the plantlets 
are healthy you may pinch them and get a strong 
shoot from a lower bud to continue upward. Do not 
confine the roots, this causes premature bud forma¬ 
tion. Syringe daily. Shift to a cold frame. 
DOUBLE-SPATHED RICHARDIA. 
For a number of years past double spathed 
Richardias have been turning up in various gardens, 
and many cultivators have been desirous of fixing 
this peculiar development, but so far without 
success. They seem to us to be due to excessive 
vigour of growth resulting from good cultivation 
and feeding. The ordinary spathe we regard as a 
bract at the top of the scape, and sub-tending a 
terminal inflorescence. When a second spathe 
arises it may be regarded as a leaf, which for all 
practical purposes it is when it comes green or more 
or less of that hue as we have seen. The accom¬ 
panying illustration shows a douole spathe sent us 
by Mr. James Mayne, gardener to the Hon. Mark 
Rolle, Bicton, Budleigh Salterton, Devon. The 
terminal spathe and spadix are normal; but the 
second spathe has a long, green petiole, precisely 
like that of a leaf. The spathe or its lamina is white 
like the terminal one, but the spadix is awanting. 
When the latter is present, as it occasionally hap¬ 
pens, it may be regarded as a lateral shoot from the 
axil of its subtending bract or modified leaf. Neither 
the primary nor secondary one constitute any part of 
a flower, the true flowers being very much reduced 
in size, and thickly crowded on a fleshy, spike like 
axis. Two of these double-spathed Richardias 
turned up at Bicton this year, and one last. Seeing 
that they are not constant, the term freak would be 
better than sport for such plants. 
BUCKLEBDRY PLACE. 
In continuing our notes respecting what we saw on 
a visit to Bucklebury Place, Woolhampton, Berks, 
the residence of A. W. Sutton, Esq., we may say 
that the place is easily reached from Midgbam sta¬ 
tion on the Great Western Railway, from Reading to 
Trowbridge and Devizes. Bucklebury Place is 
about two miles from the station, and makes a pleas¬ 
ant walk, albeit the road is uphill nearly all the way. 
This part of Berks is so beautifully undulated, and 
in many places well wooded, that the length of the 
way is overlooked in the variety of scenery that crops 
up at every turn of the road and terrace that is sur¬ 
mounted. Every copse and spinney is full of Prim¬ 
roses, Windflowers, and Violets are not infrequent. 
A white variety of the Sweet Violet seems as com¬ 
mon as the typical blue one and quite as sweet. 
When the visitor is fairly on the tableland he 
soon arrives at the eastern lodge or main entrance, 
where the coachman’s house and stables are situated, 
behind which are the kitchen garden and the glass 
ranges. The drive here is flanked in places by large 
beds of evergreen and deciduous shrubs of many 
choice kinds. These beds are edged with a double 
line of Hyacinths, which were gay about a fortnight 
ago. The gardener, Mr. A. Wright, occupies the 
western lodge, overlooking the Furze-clad Bucklebury 
Common, north, and the pleasure grounds in the 
other direction. It is a roomy house and quite a 
handsome cottage for any gardener to occupy, being 
new like all other buildings on the place. The 
large beds of shrubs bordering the drive here are 
edged with Tulips now in their prime. 
In many other ways the owner of Bucklebury 
Place has not been unmindful of his fellowmen, 
quite apart from his own servants; for behind the 
gardener’s lodge is the Fireside Club Room which he 
has built for the benefit of the working men of the 
parish, a committee of whom manages the affairs of 
the club, notwithstanding the fact that the member¬ 
ship of the same includes many names of the most 
prominent and influential men of the parish and 
others beyond it. Papers and magazines are supplied, 
and the club is also furnished with tables for 
billiards, dominoes, and other games, while mental 
instruction is furnished by lectures on various topics 
by different speakers, including instruction in 
gardening for the cottagers. The members are 
furnished with seeds for their gardens at the expense 
of the owner of Bucklebury Place ; and all they have 
to do is to mark their wants on a printed list sup¬ 
plied for the purpose. On the grounds are well kept 
areas for cricket, quoits, bowls, and other outside 
games for the members of the club. All these ad¬ 
vantages should help largely to keep the people on 
the land. 
There are also grounds for lawn tennis, croquet, 
and golf for the owner and his friends, the golf 
grounds extending over fields belonging to an ad¬ 
joining property. A house has been built for the 
convenience of the players. 
Some of the windows of the mansion overlook a 
formal garden of the old English style, surrounded 
by Yew hedges. There are beds of Daffodils on a 
ground of Myosotis, as well as others, carpeted with 
richly-coloured Polyanthuses. Wall-flowers are also 
a prominent feature, including beds of Sutton’s Pur¬ 
ple Queen and Sutton's Faerie Queene, edged with 
Cloth of Gold and another dwarf golden-yellow 
variety. 
Double-Spathed Richardia. 
