llfecember 30, j.905. 
THE GARDENING WoRLb. 
\ 
993 
admirably adapted for forcing wlieil grown in 
pots, and likewise, if allowed to come on under 
cool conditions in a slightly shaded house, the 
flowers are always of a purer white than they 
would be out of doors. 
Golden Crown (Jacobinia chrysostephana). 
With the exception of the Ficus before 
named and the Jacobinia, all the plants men¬ 
tioned in the notes on this occasion are per¬ 
fectly hardy. The Jacobinia is a native of 
Mexico, and requires stove temperature when 
making its growth, but can be kept cooler 
when in bloom. 
The tubular flowers are orange-yellow, hence 
the term chrysostephana, which means golden 
crown. They are also produced in cymes, and 
densely arranged in the form of a crown. The 
oval leaves are of a rich olive-green, and 
produced on shrubby stems about a foot high 
of one-year-old plants, or sometimes they may 
be taller. The chief value of the plant lies in 
the fact that it flowers in winter, when flower¬ 
ing stove plants are relatively scarce. The 
plants usually reach their best condition just 
after the new year, so that those who have a 
stove or warm conservatory to fill could find 
no more suitable plant for enlivening the 
house during the winter. It may be grown in 
a compost of three parts good fibrous loam and 
one part of well-decayed cow manure and leaf 
soil. Sufficient sand should also be employed 
to make it porous to allow the superfluous 
moisture to drain away. 
J^eaortia ... 
Gloire de Lorraine. 
UNDER COLD TREATMENT. 
Few plants in modern times have gained 
more popularity than this in its white form 
(namely, Turnford Hall), and deservedly so, 
as I doubt if another winter-blooming plant 
has so many merits. It is unnecessary to 
name them, seeing almost every lover of 
flowers is conversant with this Begonia. There 
are many that have a strong desire to grow it 
who are deterred from doing so, being under 
an impression that it needs a large amount of 
heat all through the year. On this point I 
am doubtful, although I am aware that to 
bring out its best qualities and to obtain large 
plants they must have abundance of heat and 
moisture during the growing period. 
Some of the best plants I ever saw were 
iu the gardens at Bicton. Mr. Mayne has 
frequently given instructions in your columns 
on its culture, and I may be permitted to ask 
hnn if fie has given it cold treatment from the 
time of showing bloom onward, and if his 
plants bear house furnishing well during the 
autumn and winter season. 
Some years since I saw a magnificent batch 
o plants showing bloom in. the gardens at 
rognal, Sidcup, Kent, but these had received 
an enormous amount of heat to produce size, 
these were used for furnishing a warm house, 
and I doubt their being of much value to use 
in draughty places for house furnishing, and 
this is of considerable importance to many. 
Good as a plant may be, it is comparatively 
useless to me in this garden unless it will bear 
house furnishing or stand well in a cut state. 
I'or years this Begonia gave but little satis- 
faction, not being enduring enough. Hence I 
resolved not to strive to produce such lar<*e 
plants by strong heat during the growing 
period. Accordingly I began to think how 
to compensate for lack of size, and deter¬ 
mined to grow them three plants in a pot. 
When sufficiently rooted they are potted off, 
three nice strong plants about one size, into a 
3in. pot. When these are full of roots they 
are shifted into 5in. or 6in. pots, bringing 
them forward in a Cucumber frame or a hot¬ 
bed. Here they make considerable progress, 
and as autumn comes on they are removed 
near the glass in a house kept at 55 deg. to 
60 deg. at night, giving abundance of air by 
day. In this way we have grown good-sized 
plants, and when in bloom it would be diffi¬ 
cult to distinguish them from those from one 
plant, and I fail to see any disadvantage to 
the three-plant system, especially as we have 
succeeded in obtaining plants that answer our 
purpose far better. This year I resolved to 
put them on a shelf (about the middle of 
October) near the glass , in a house with ripe 
Grapes hanging, and this we do not like to 
see above 50 deg. at night. Never have our 
plants been so satisfactory, and now (middle 
of December) are a mass of bloom. Amateur^ 
and small growers take note, and try your 
hands under this treatment. 
Chard. j q p 
Asters or 
THE TRUE 
QUEEN OF THE 
/Ajch a e l/a as Daisies. autumn 
( Concluded .) 
Apart from these that are now blooming, 
there are quite a number that have passed or 
are passing. A. Amellus bessarabicus was a 
glorious sight in early September, and anyone 
who has not seen this variety in clumps 4ft. 
through have yet a sight to see. 
A. Amellus Pride of Riverslea is a deeper 
shade of blue, and Onward is not much unlike 
it, to my mind. 
A. Amellus I ramfieldi, though resembling 
the others in flowers, is -dwarfer and lately 
even now being in full bloom. Ophir bears 
small flowers of a pinkish tinge, which are 
carried on drooping stems. A. acris is an 
early sort, which bears lovely little loosely- 
built flowers of a mauve-blue colour. They 
last an extraordinarily long time. 
Elsie Perry has rosy red flowers borne in 
dense heads. It runs to about 3ft. Hybridus 
Madame Cacheaux is a wonderful sort for long 
Lowering, and it differs from all others, ex¬ 
cept in one or two instances. Its height is 
il-ver more than l^ft., the stems being stiff 
r.nd erect. The flowers are flesh-coloured, 
sad are carried in a cluster, resembling a 
small bouquet. Each head is as large as a 
good-sized Phlox. 
Praecox is quite over now, but its purplish- 
crimson flowers are welcome in September. 
It grows over 4ft. with us. 
Collarette Rose is an erect grower, the 
bright rosy flowers being very distinct from all 
other varieties. Esme makes a lovely little 
plant for narrow border work, the flowers 
being perfectly white. 
Flossy is a trifle taller, but the flowers are 
white, yet not exactly like the former. 
Laevigatus is quite dwarf, and very pretty. 
The flowers are fair-sized and a lovely pink 
shade. 
Margaret Matthews comes quite early with 
its whitish flowers, which are of large size. 
Wm. Marshall is in about the same time, its 
flowers reminding me of Ravenna. Wm. 
Marshall, however, is a better grower, the 
long racemes being really grand. 
Ryecroft Pink is at present only just show¬ 
ing colour, but it is unquestionably the finest 
pink in the Novae-Angliae group. Mauve 
Queen is the last variety that I can personally 
speak of. It is of neat habit, and bears lovely 
little mauve flowers. Its height is only 2ft. 
If these notes induce a few readers to take 
up Aster culture in real dead earnest, I shall 
be well satisfied, for, to my mind, the whole 
family is one of the marvels of modern pro¬ 
gress. Compared with the named sorts, the 
vile weedy things one sees in some gardens 
are a disgrace, anl it is these wretched speci¬ 
mens that give people a false idea as to what 
Asters really are. 
I remember passing a front garden in com¬ 
pany with a friend who knew little or nothing 
about flowers, but, upon seeing a large plant 
bearing a quantity of WTetched Aster-like 
flowers, he stopped and exclaimed, “ What an 
awful rotter ! What is it ? ” 
Not only do Asters do well in permanent 
borders, but they flower beautifully in pots. 
Very dwarf plants may be obtained for glass¬ 
house work by striking cuttings in May or 
June, and a collection makes a lovely display. 
Moreover, Asters are one of the few plants 
that can be shifted when in flower. They 
make such dense roots that they come up with 
fine balls. On our heavy soil they do wonder¬ 
fully well, and we make it a practice to take 
young slips in the spring, planting them in 
nursery beds. When the borders and summer 
beds begin to wane we lift the young Asters 
then in bloom, and so carry on the display 
till Christmas is upon us. C. 
1^)ETTER5 @ <?> 
T 3 THE 
G 
DITOR, 
Show of Winter-flowering Carnations. 
To the Editor of The Gardexixg Would. 
Sir,—I have pleasure in informing vou that 
occasion was taken to hold an informal meet¬ 
ing of Carnation growers at the Vincent Hall 
on the 5th inst., at which Messrs. Dutton, 
Cutbush. and others‘were present. It was 
the opinion of those present, which was 
shared by those who had communicated 
by letter, that a society in the in- 
teiests of these flowers was desirable ; 
but. as the difficulty of reaching the various 
growers with a view to gaining a personal 
expression of opinion was great, it was decided 
that, with the kind permission of the R.H.S.. 
growers should be invited to exhibit at one 
of the R.H.S. meetings late in February or 
early in March, and that the R.H.S. should 
be asked to grant medals ana certificates for 
such exhibits. . 
I he reason for this decision was that such 
an exhibition might reasonably be expected to 
bring growers together from all parts of the 
country, and that a meeting could be held at 
the show for the purpose of forming a societv 
with a duly elected executive, and a definite 
programme drawn up for the furtherance of 
the aims of a Winter-flowerinjr Carnation 
cccietv. 
