Junk 17. 1905.1 
MOTTO FOR THE WEEK: 
The flowers, so blue and golden, stars, that in earth’s firmament do shine.”— Longfellow. 
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EDITORIAL NOTES . 
Crimson Winter Rhubarb. 
A variety of Rhubarb under the above 
name is causing some stir in California, and 
as far as we can discern it must be the same, 
or closely similar variety, to that which ap¬ 
peared in this country about two years ago 
under the name of Hardy Winter Rhubarb. 
It reached us from Australia, and was grown 
by several people, and exhibited in 1903. A 
lady has been discussing it in the “ Los 
Angeles Examiner.” In California, it seems, 
it may be planted at any time from March 
to July, and the plants begin bearing in De¬ 
cember. Mr. Luther Burbank also states that 
crimson winter Rhubarb will produce 
marketable stalks six months earlier 
than any other variety. The stalks 
vary from 12 in. to 18 in. in length, 
and the colour is greenish crimson 
in the fresh state. It requires less 
sugar and cooking than other varieties, and 
in the process of cooking deepens to a clear 
shade of crimson. After having been estab¬ 
lished in the open it requires very little 
watering, and keeps on producing from 
Christmas to March, producing in the aggre¬ 
gate an enormous weight for any given piece 
of ground. The mere fact of its growing 
. in winter in our climate would indicate that 
it originated in some foreign country, where 
the growing season is considerably different 
from ours. 
—o— 
Peculiarity of the Marsh Mallow. 
The Marsh Mallow (Althaea officinalis) is 
a native of this country, and, unlike several 
others belonging to the same family, it grows 
in wet, marshy places, such as the bogs and 
marshes in the neighbourhood of Winchelsea 
and Appledore. That such a plant can be 
successfully grown in dry soil of a garden 
is something remarkable, unless we study the 
peculiarity not only of this, but of various 
other marsh plants. Some time ago, Pro¬ 
fessor Isaac Bayley Balfour, of Edin¬ 
burgh, was discussing the question 
of marsh plants at a meeting of 
the Botanical Society of America. 
These facts are also recorded in the “ Ameri¬ 
can Botanist.” The professor described 
these marsh plants as really drought plants, 
because though rooting in the water they 
. are unable to take up the moisture around 
them. Paradoxical as it may seem, the 
roots are practically in a dry soil physiologi¬ 
cally because they cannot absorb the water 
owing to the presence of salt or other sub¬ 
stances which they are able to exclude. This 
is the reason then, says the professor, why 
such marsh plants are able to live in garden 
soils that may be of a dry, sandy character, 
because they are able to get as much mois¬ 
ture from such sandy soils as they can from 
a swamp containing brackish water. 
—o— 
Weeping Roses. 
Many gardeners, professional and ama- 
tuer, have got an idea that certain plants can 
be turned into weepers by artificial means. 
This opinion, however, is chiefly held by 
those who have never previously tried the 
experiment. In a Rose that ordinarily 
grows upright, it is possible to tie down the 
shoots and make them appear like weepers, 
and the shoots will retain this form 
without the ties after they have grown for a 
short time in that position. All the suc¬ 
ceeding growths produced from them will, 
however, grow upright as before. Tree 
weepers must assume this form naturally, ; r 
they must consist of slender trailing plants, 
which, when grafted or budded, standard 
high, hang down naturally, and are thus 
artificially transformed into weepers. This 
is practically the case with Rosa wichuraiana 
and the seedlings and hybrids derived from 
it. In the wild state the Rose is simply a 
trailer, unless it has anything within reach 
over which it can scramble. It follows, 
therefore, that it makes a good weeper when 
grafted standard high. Under the name of 
Lady Gay a very fine new weeper was ex¬ 
hibited at the Temple Show by Messrs. Wil¬ 
liam Paul and Son, Waltham Cross. Several 
others of this race, such as Alberic Barbier, 
Dorothy Perkins, Gardenia, Jersey Beauty, 
as well as the typical R. wichuraiana, make 
splendid weepers when worked in the form 
of standards. 
A Lesson in Heredity. 
Gardeners would find many a useful and 
interesting study in varieties of flowers 
which have been cultivated for centuries, it 
may be, and have become so diversified as 
to represent hundreds of plants all sprung 
from one original. Several of the florists’ 
flowers would afford lessons in the matter 
of heredity in the direction we have indi¬ 
cated. A writer in “ Revue de l’Horticulture 
Beige ” has been writing on the subject of 
the greenhouse Cyclamen (C. latifolium), and 
this is illustrated by means of a coloured 
plate showing eleven flowers from as many 
plants, the progeny of twelve seeds which 
came out of a single fruit. Xo two of these 
WEEKLY PRIZE COMPETITION. 
- RESULT - 
The prize in the Readers’ Competition was 
awarded to “ J.,” for his article on “Arbutus, 
or Strawberry Tree,” p. 471. A prize for a 
supplementary reply in “ The G. W. Enquire 
Within” column was awarded to “C.T. D.,' ! 
for his article on “Snowfly on Ferns,” p. 47U. 
flowers are exactly alike, judging by the 
illustration, either-in the matter of form, 
colour, or both. Few of the flowers repre¬ 
sented would be regarded as beautiful, and 
in the hands of the florist would mostly be 
discarded. At the same time, it is an object 
lesson in the remarkable diversity of form 
and colour which has been given to this 
species by the art of the florist since it was 
first introduced to cultivation. Several 
other species of Cyclamen have been in cul¬ 
tivation more or less for long periods of time, 
but none of them has acquired such diversity 
in one and the same species as the green¬ 
house one. Some of the flowers have the 
segments reflexed in the usual way, while 
others are spread out almost like a wheel, 
and in a few cases the segments have been 
actually increased in number compared with 
