January 5 , 1901. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
801 
of a 11 Ray ” Aster, having narrow petals expanding 
like sun-rays. The Asters are among the best of 
dwarf summer flowers, and here the grower has the 
offer of a full and wide selection. Begonias too, of 
all kinds, including those with frilled petals, B. 
hybrida marmarata "The Butterfly,” and double 
flowered tuberous varieties, together with winter 
flowering and evergreen representatives are described, 
illustrated, and prescribed for, culturally. The 
pyramidal Forget-me-Nots that were so weil shown 
at the last Temple Show by the Messrs. Cannell.are 
portrayed in their true character here. The fine 
illustration of a Hose-in-hose Mimulus ought to 
inspire some one to try its culture. It is easy to 
grow and few things are showier for greenhouse or 
even the open border. The China Primulas are 
also illustrated in their recent types of development 
such as the fimbriata strain, " The Lady,” “ Lady 
Whitehead,” and " Swanley Giant ” types. We 
would also call attention to the Salpiglossis of which 
there are a number of distinct and beautiful colours. 
Sweet Peas also obtain a full share of recognition. 
The paper of Messrs. Cannell’s catalogue is rolled 
so that the iSo pages are compressed within moder¬ 
ate dimensions. There is a tremendous amount of 
matter between the covers. 
Messrs. Dobbie & Co. 
Messrs. Dobbie & Co., Rothesay, N.B., have a 
bulkier catalogue than that of last year, and we think 
that in appearance it is prettier than ever. Half-a- 
dozen named varieties of Sweet Peas are represented 
in colours on the front page, while three distinct 
Cactus Dahlia blooms, also coloured, adorn the 
back cover. Dahlias take a prominent place in the 
catalogue, as they do at Rothesay, though due space 
is given to all the florists’ flowers, including Violas, 
Pansies, Stocks, Fenstemons, Zinnias, Asters, Fuch¬ 
sias, &c., and many interesting and useful notes 
accompanying the illustrations. The catalogue all 
through exhibits proof of a great deal of care and 
thought having been expended on it. But it is more 
than a catalogue, it is a guide for competitors, and 
full cultural directions are provided for all classes of 
flowering plants or vegetables. On this account it is 
of especial value and ought to be in the hands of all 
cultivators. 
Messrs. Webb & Sons. 
The Messrs. Webb & Sons, of Wordsley, Stourbridge, 
favour their customers with some beautifully clear 
views of portions of their nurseries. Another feature 
is the illustrations of their Geld Medal, and other 
exhibits of vegetables and flowering plants that have 
appeared before the public up and down the length 
and breadth of the land. These will speak for them¬ 
selves, and the idea of thus presenting views of the 
exhibits to gardeners and others who could have no 
chance of seeing them in reality, is good. Much is 
done in this catalogue to bring forward the decorative 
merits of the hardy perennial and annual plants. We 
need only refer to this feature; those who vtould 
learn what things are chosen may secure the 
catalogue. It is worth while to call attention to 
the illustration of afield of Nasturtiums at page 96 of 
the publication ; and to remark that only when these 
glorious flowered annuals are grown in sheets can 
their great richness and brilliance be fully compre¬ 
hended. The season’s novelties in the line of 
Begonias, Streptocarpi, Gloxinias, Primulas, &c., 
and of vegetables, Potatos very specially, are all 
included in the issue now sent out. Inside the front 
cover will be found a record of the numerous honours 
that have been gained by the Stourbridge seed firm 
during 1900. The catalogue omits nothing that the 
gardener might wish to know, and is well printed on 
good paper. The outside design is very tasty. 
Messrs. Toogood & Sons. 
From Southampton comes the Messrs. Toogood & 
Sons' compilation. It’will please and entice would- 
be competitors to make stienuous endeavours for 
further prizes when they read at page 83 that " I have 
won 750 prizes,” &c., written by one of the firm’s 
customers. Another correspondent tells how he has 
won 400 money prizes and silver cups, gold and 
silver medals, and marble clocks galore. Novelties 
in the way of dwarf fruits and continental intro¬ 
ductions are freely disposed and illustrated in the 
pages of this up-to-date seed catalogue. 
The word Botany is derived from a Greek word, 
botane, which means pasture or grass, and that from 
bosco, to feed. 
FIGS IN POTS. 
At the Drill Hall meeting, held on Tuesday, October 
9th, Mr. James Hudson, V.M.H., head gardener at 
Gunnersbury, Acton, W., read a paper on the above 
subject. He said that though Figs in borders were 
generally satisfactory those grown in pots could be 
insured to greater fertility, and were portable so that 
one could shift them about according to caprice or 
needs. And the pot system perverted the inconveni¬ 
ence of a glut of fruits at any one time. Larger 
fruits are got from border trees, but quantity and 
quality combined themselves in pot Figs. Lean-to 
or three-quarter span houses could be used for Figs, 
the back wall being devoted to trained trees, and the 
front to pot specimens. By this means it is possible 
to have Figs for nine months in the year. St. John 
was recommended as the best early Fig; Brown 
Turkey and White Marseilles being advised as suc- 
cessional varieties. The earliest batches could Ije 
started about November 20th, and others could be 
started at intervals till the month of April, when 
the trained trees would take up the run. A bottom 
heat of 75 0 to 8o° is needed for the early forced 
batches. Use the syringe freely, but the young 
leaves should be dry at night time. Start with a 
top temperature of 50°, increasing by io Q at the end 
of the first fortnight, and so on till 70 “was gained, or 
it may go up to over 8o° during a sunny day. When 
the fruits have ripened the trees maybe more and 
more exposed to sun and full air, so that the wood 
growth may be ripened. The system with late 
forced Figs is to keep them cool till they start to 
-grow in March, when they may be put into more 
favourable atmospheric conditions. A place in a 
cold frame would do well to start with, protection 
from frost being alone requisite for some weeks at 
the start. Keep these plants pinched, pinching at 
the fifth joint. Negro Largo is a variety which has 
a tendency to split its fruits. To obviate this 
accord the plants cooler treatment, but don’t keep 
them too dry—only medium. Fire heat should be 
brought to one's aid in the culture, about the end of 
September. In the potting of Figs they are treated 
exactly as for other fruit trees in pots. Mr. Hudson 
repots his Figs every year, though the same sized 
pot is generally again used. Late Figs should be 
potted so soon as they have ripened their fruits. Pot 
as firmly as possible, and it must be remembered 
that the balls should not be dry when the potting is 
done. A calcareous loam should, if possible, be 
chosen as the compost. Good drainage is very 
essential. Do not add any artificial manure at this 
stage, though as a top dressing it is advised when 
the pots are filled with roots. Figs must be heartily 
well watered. Six good varieties are St. John, 
Brown Turkey, White Marseilles, Black and White 
Ischias, and Negro Largo, are all first rate varieties. 
SHRUB PLANTING FOR EFFECT. 
The knowledge of harmony and contrast in form 
and colour is one of the special qualifications required 
by the gardener who undertakes to plan and lay out 
or perform the planting of shrubberies and groups. 
There are rules to be adhered to and -no one should 
attempt to execute any extensive amount of planting 
who is unacquainted with the principles which 
govern this soit of work. In all departments of 
gardening there has lately been an increased number 
of trained minds exerting their influence, pointing 
out that which their better knowledge of science and 
art qualifies them to say is right and proper. We 
are told that what is required ts more bright shrubs, 
far more liberal displays of those trees with coloured 
foliage and a better arrangement of the same. It is 
true that with the dull skies and paucity of sunshine 
throughout much of our summers, there is a need 
for more colour and less sombreness. With a due 
and fitting unity of form and colour-effect, our gar¬ 
dens at least could be made still more pleasureable. 
The Hazels, Sumachs and Dogwoods are not 
much planted ; neither are the Maples (Acers) with 
their beautiful pendent trusses of fruits. Then the 
glorious Crabs whose fruits when fully coloured in 
autumn are more resplendent than almost anything 
else in the garden should be made more of. If they 
were planted as they ought to be, and could be 
planted, they would make many a Dare garden a place 
of interest, affording a larger amount of content¬ 
ment and satisfaction. The Hawthorns, and the 
Prunus tribe, each at their season enliven and even 
glorify the shrubberies and the grounds, wherever 
they are. Many of the Hawthorns (Crataegus) 
furnish handsome and specially effective trees when 
the season has fitted them for fruiting well. The 
Birch trees are full of grace and though they may 
truly be termed trees, yet they are of a kind that 
yearly increase in grace of form and brightness in 
the colour of their silvery bark. The Guelder Roses, 
Quinces and Catalpas may also be included among 
the list of those beautiful trees whose merits do not 
seem to be often recognised. 
People say they are obliged to limit their selection, 
or to plant this, that, and the other common thing 
because the finer shrubs do not succeed. In many 
cases this is the truth, but very frequently such 
excuses are in the nature of foregone conclusions 
rather than of practical experiment and careful ex¬ 
haustive practice. Where “real” gardeners are 
found, though they are tilling and operating on a 
barren soil, even the choicest subjects are coaxed and 
so tended that they cannot help growing. There¬ 
fore, it is still within the province of many to make 
an endeavour to do more than they have done in the 
past, and to place themselves outside the pale of 
those who cannot lay claim to the distinction of true 
or “born” gardeners. Among dwarfer shrubs that 
can be used effectively in groups and shrubberies 
are the Berberis, Spiraeas, Hydrangeas, Ribes or 
flowering Currants, Briers, Itea virginica, Azaleas, 
Cytisus, Willows and many species of Bamboos.— 
J. Harris. 
- »|-- 
Gardening Miscellany. 
SENEGIO PETASITES. 
In the Revue de L.' Horticulture Beige et Etranglre for 
January, 1901, just to hand, there is a beautifully 
coloured plate of Senecio Petasites, D.C., one of the 
Composites. The Revue , in its accompanying letter- 
press, says the order Compositae is the most 
numerously represented of any in the vegetable king¬ 
dom, and the most liberably disseminated over the 
face of the globe. In Europe and in parts of North 
America the Composites form a seventh part of the 
total phanerogamous or flowering vegetation. In 
extra or sub-tropical countries in Africa and New 
Caledonia a fifth and sixth part of the flora of these 
countries is represented by Compositae. The task 
of the botanists has by no means been easy in their 
labours of classifyiug such a great number of plants 
from parts so diverse, and belonging to “ families ” 
and tribes so distinct and well defined. Bentham 
and Hooker in their admirable classification of the 
order, enumerate more than 800 different genera, 
divided into thirteen tribes. BailloD, in his very 
remarkable " History of Plants,” does not admit 
more than eight tribes comprised under .103 genera, 
divided, nevertheless, into sub-genera and divisions. 
The English and German botanists differ from the 
French, in this that the latter do not regard the 
Senecios as a distinct tribe but as one of the under¬ 
series (sub-divisions) of Helianthus. The botanists 
of the old times used to name maDy distinct genera 
under Senecio, as for instance Cynara, Cineraria, 
Emilia, Ligularia and others. Senecio Petasites has 
often had its name modified since it was first intro¬ 
duced to cultivation from South America. The 
Botanical Magazine described this plaDt under the 
name of Cineraria Petasites a few months after the 
date of its first flowering (Christmas, 1812), in 
Europe, in the greenhouses of Mr. A. B. Lambert, 
at Boyton. At first view, the English botanist 
Brown was struck with the general resemblance of 
the foliage to that of the Petasites (Tourn.) or Butter¬ 
bur. Considering this plant (said to be of Mexican 
origin by the Revue) as a Cineraria, and finding it to 
vary between C. Tussilaginis and C. praecox, he 
gave it the specific name of C. Petasites. The plant 
develops a robust stem, somewhat fleshy and 
branching. It attains 4^ ft. in height. It flowers in 
autumn under greenhouse treatment, producing a 
beautiful thyrsoid-panicle of yellow "capitula” 
'which form a splendid contrast to the dark green 
angular foliage. It is easily propagated from cuttings. 
We hope to see this plant brought more to the 
front. 
Your share of Sugar for a year is 68 lbs.; of 
coffee, 15 ozs.; and of tea, 72 ozs. 
