June 15, 1901. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
675 
ONIONS KEPT LATE. 
It is very desirable to have a good supply of Onions 
■ all the season through. Large bulbs which have 
been kept in sound condition till midsummer are 
much valued in the culinary department. By a good 
selection of varieties, well cultivated and housed 
where abundance of dry air can reach them all 
the winter through, it is not a difficult matter to 
have good, sound bulbs as late as June. At the 
present time (middle of May), we have a number of 
bunches hanging, which are as sound as they were 
in October. 
Many fail to keep the bulbs from starting into 
new growth by reason of improper means of housing 
them. Close, warm air and bulbs left on floors un¬ 
cleaned after they are stored is ruinous to the keep¬ 
ing of them, and if they are very large, such as 
exhibition Onions generally are, the late keeping 
quality is greatly reduced. By thoroughly ripening 
them early in autumn and. the bulbs placed where 
air can at all times circulate around them, quite free 
from damp, late keeping is (under such conditions) 
certain. The present season is one of the best we 
have had. The sorts now in best condition are 
Giant Zittau, Veitch’s Selected Globe and Veitch’s 
Maincrop. They are tied neatly to sticks and hung 
up to the rafters of an outhouse, where air has 
passed through during the whole of the winter. The 
culture was on good, strong soil, made thoroughly 
firm, before the seed was sown at the end of 
February in drills a foot apart, and fine soil cast 
over the seed. They were thinned when they 
could be safely handled to 6 in. and 8 in. apart. 
Soot was dusted over them during showery 
weather three or four times during the growing 
season. A portion of ground which was in fine 
condition and remained untouched all through the 
winter was sown, and on this solid land the best 
keeping bulbs were grown. They were not so bulky 
as on the space prepared by manuring and digging, 
but are very handsome and keeping well. A fine 
supply is had of young Onions from smaller size 
planted in March.— M. T., Canon, N B. 
PLANTS AND FLOWERS IN SEASON 
AT FOREST HILL. 
Spring flowers have now given place to early 
summer blooming subjects in the nursery of Messrs. 
J. Laing & Sons, Forest Hill, London, S.E., whose 
establishment we had the pleasure of inspecting 
recently. 
Tuberous Begonias are now largely grown in low, 
span-roofed houses in which the plants can get a 
maximum of light Single and double varieties both 
meet with favour, and the best varieties receive dis¬ 
tinctive names. The beautifully fringed strain seems 
on the increase and various colour varieties have 
now been obtained. A large flowered strain of 
Gloxinias has been gay for weeks past. Their Multi¬ 
flora strain of Streptocarpus is notable for the great 
size of the flowers which range from pure white to 
the darkest blue and violet. 
Caladiums, in a great number of varieties, are still 
the object of special care ; but out of the mass we 
could select only the more attractive that appealed 
to the eye. Very handsome was the yellow leaved 
Golden Queen. Other select types were : Louis van 
Houtte, bronzy-carmine; Emperor Alexander III., 
carmine, with olive-green margin ; Gurapu, cardinal- 
red, with olive-green border; Barao de Marmore, 
carmine-red veins on a red ground and red rim ; Sir 
Henry Irving, a soft creamy hue ; and John Laing, 
pink with a broad creamy border. Rose Laing, a 
very old variety, is still one of the best, when well 
grown. The large, shield-like leaves are beautifully 
overlaid with light pink on a creamy ground. Gerard 
Dow is a warm bronzy-red shaded with silver along 
the ribs. The Earl of Rosebery is pink, netted 
with olive green ; and Gaspard Crayer, red with a 
green border and best seen by transmitted light, 
when it becomes splendid ; the petioles are black.' 
Cappadocia is pink with bright carmine ribs; 
Illustrious, deep carmine, much netted with yellow ; 
William Marshall, a dwarf growing variety, of a 
bright rosy-red, bordered with green ; and a grand 
variety of recent origin named Mrs. C. J. Pierpont 
Morgan, blotched white on a green ground, with car¬ 
mine ribs and shading Candidum is still the best 
of its class for exhibition purposes, the leaves being 
white and finely netted with green. Garten Inspec- 
teur Katzer is white with dark crimson ribs, and 
spotted green. The broad leaves and dwarf habit of 
Triomphe de Comte make it valuable for ordinary 
decorative work ; the leaves are carmine-red with a 
green margin. Madame Marjolin Scheffer, on the 
other hand, is white with rosy-red ribs and green 
edge. It is a strong growing exhibition variety. 
A number of Clivias were flowering for the first 
time. Queen Alexandra has very large open flowers 
like the Lady Wolverton type, but of a lively orange 
colour with yellow throat. Lady Audrey Buller is 
soft yellow and the tips of the petals are tinted 
orange. It is a widely bell-shaped flower and comes 
very near being a yellow Clivia. The rich orange- 
scarlet flowers of Lady Sarah Wilson have a nearly 
white throat. Harry Laing Improved has bell¬ 
shaped orange flowers, shaded salmon or terra-cotta, 
and the stalks of the individual flowers are longer 
than in the old type. Kentish Beauty is soft or light 
salmon, with a white throat, and very large trusses 
and flowers, making it quite a handsome and con¬ 
spicuous variety. Sir George White is rich orange- 
scarlet, with a white throat. The above six new 
varieties, are in several respects improvements on 
the old types and different in colour. Variegated 
Clivias have not hitherto been occupants of glass¬ 
houses, but they are now a reality, there being two 
of them here. Clivia aurea striata is of upright 
habit, with a broad yellow margin to the leaves, and 
sometimes bands along the centre. C. variegata 
aurea is of drooping habit and the leaves variegated 
with yellow, changing to a silvery shade. 
In the stove Lipparis elegantissima was notable 
for the pretty effect of its leaves, which had a bi own- 
metallic centre and broad, gray margins. An old 
favourite not very often seen was a fine piece of 
Medinilla magnifica in bloom. In a cooler house we 
noted a very good double white Azalea named 
Bernard Andreas alba : Mdle. Louise de Kerchove, 
had double salmon-pink flowers, shaded with silvery 
white. The fernery contained some of the Japanese 
Davallias in the form of monkeys, flying birds, junks, 
wreaths, Japanese balls, &c., which were quaint and 
curious in their way. Other useful foliage plants 
were Asparagus Sprengeri, and Dracaena Eckhautei ) 
with long, drooping leaves, being more graceful than 
D Bruanti and D. rubra. It stands well when used 
for house decoration The long, pendent stems of 
Begonia undulata make it useful for basket work. 
The flowers are deep salmon, edged white. 
Two houses were filled with pot Vines making 
grand canes. The largest of them consisted of last 
year’s canes cut down, and making vigorous growth. 
The varieties include the best of the new ones such 
as Appley Towers, Lady Hutt, Diamond Jubilee, and 
the better known standard types. Figs in pots 
included Brown Turkey, Negro Largo, white Ischia 
and many more. A third house was practically a 
repetition of the two just named, showing that the 
demand for this useful class of fruit is still steady 
and good. Both Vines and Figs here were making 
excellent growth. 
The firm now does a large trade in cut flowers and 
house decoration, the men being kept busy with the 
latter branch of the business till a late hour. The 
stock of plants for this class of work is large, and 
receives additions from time to time. 
-—*•- 
A CHEAP HYGROMETER. 
In the propagating pit a hygrometer is almost indis¬ 
pensable. It is often difficult to judge the true 
hygrometric conditions of the bouse by the sensation 
experienced when entering. For successful propa¬ 
gating, it is well known that the cuttings should not 
be allowed to flag; this they will do if the atmo¬ 
sphere is not charged with moisture to saturation 
point, or nearly so. Saturation point differs in 
different temperatures ; the higher the temperature 
the higher the saturation point. If the atmosphere 
is charged to this point, no evaporation can take 
place from the cuttings, but if below that point it 
takes place accordingly. A very effectual hygro¬ 
meter may be constructed by two ordinary ther¬ 
mometers placed side by side on a board. The 
bulb of one should be covered by a piece of muslin 
and connected with a tin of water by a piece of 
cotton lamp-wick; this will keep the bulb constantly 
wet, and as it evaporates the mercury is cooled, and 
the one with the dry bulb consequently reads the 
highest. The difference in the registration will 
register the condition of the atmosphere. The more 
moisture the air takes up, the nearer the ther¬ 
mometers will register, until when saturation point is 
reached, they will balance. With fresh taken cut¬ 
tings they ought to be nearly balanced, and then 
allow the one to get dryer as they start to grow, 
NOTES FROM GLASGOW. 
Rhododendrons at the Exhibition. 
The great exhibition is the uppermost thought in 
every person's mind just now. Of course its at¬ 
tractions are many and varied so that he is indeed a 
fastidious individual if he does not find sufficient 
scope for an ample indulgence of his tastes. As 
would be expected, however, a heterogenous col¬ 
lection of this nature can only form in the minds of 
the majority an impression somewhat similar to that 
experienced in a dream—a vague impression of a 
huge picture, having here and there a few outstand¬ 
ing objects sufficiently clear to link the whole to¬ 
gether, but devoid in general details. The reason 
is obvious, the menspopuli is perhaps never unanimous 
except when a matter of res naturae is in camera. So 
when Nature and art are combined together in a 
happy and pleasing manner to form a bit of nice 
landscape, the effect never fails to take the attention 
of all kinds of classes. The environs of the ex¬ 
hibition is specially favoured by Nature, and the 
superadded art of the landscape gardener has vastly 
improved the natural beauty. It is marvellous to 
see how the people with one acclamation intuitively 
grasp the general effect as observed from the vesti¬ 
bule which opens into the grounds from the great 
dome. While only a limited few can appreciate the 
niceties and intricacies of a steam engine; the 
mysterious generation of electricity; or the terribly 
destructive properties of our modern sinews of war, 
all seemingly possess the capacity of appreciating 
Nature and her floral displays. 
Beautiful as the surroundings are still we should 
have liked to see the exhibits consist of more floral 
plants than they do. The conventional Holly and 
all the other class of ornamental shrubs perhaps 
might be better substituted with attractive plants 
which flower at some period of the season. Mr. D. 
W. Thomson of Edinburgh, however, it would 
appear, had anticipated what would be most ap¬ 
preciated and serviceable in this respect, judging from 
the fine display of Rhododendrons he has there as 
an exhibit. At present they are in one sheet of 
flower with almost every colour ranging from deep 
and dark to pure white. Of these there are two 
large plots, and placed right in front of Messrs. 
McKillops & McKenzie’s restaurants immediately 
below the shadow of the Alma Mater of the city. 
One plot consists of medium sized plants with tall 
trained standards here and there interspersed, and 
the effect is exceedingly fine. The other plot chiefly 
consists of large specimen plants formed into the 
shape of a bank whose sloping side faces the grand 
restaurants already mentioned, from whose ver¬ 
andahs a most gorgeous view of the flaming display 
is seen. 
It is truly amusing to hear the crowd as they 
stand outside the railings, express their feelings of 
admiration. Some for want of appropriate 
expressions give vent to emphatic adjectives which 
the compilers of our language have not as yet 
ventured to include in their lexicons. All the same, 
though rather inelegantly expressed, we' could 
sympathise with the earnestness and depth of 
feeling underlying the various centres from which 
emanated such excusable terms of forcible admir¬ 
ation, and the circumstances brought at once to our 
mind a similarly laughable instance where a rustic 
applied the same expression to an exceedingly 
beautiful sunset. 
The •* Rodydandran " like the “Pimerose” and 
the “ Heatherange " has untold charms to the vulgus 
populus of every town and country, not to say the 
charms it deservedly holds out to all ranks of 
society. This being so we think the exhibition 
which Mr. Thomson has been liberal enough to 
send here deserves very great praise, as indeed it 
does from everyone. Mr. Thomson has, as every¬ 
one knows, a world-wide reputation for this class of 
ornamental plants, and that he should send so 
valuable a lot to a place where the atmosphere is 
most uncongenial for their welfare, we think, says 
a very great deal indeed. 
Our experience of park gardening in this city has 
taught us to consider the Rhododendron in general 
among the short-lived species of plants, and even 
