February 27, 1909. 
. . . Early-Flowering 
Chrysanthemums. 
TUB GARDENING WORLD. 
than the earlier flowering ones, a better 
plan would be to plant the bulbs in a 
bed where something late is intended to 
follow them. The bulbs would] then 
have sufficient time to ripen off before 
being lifted. They are then dried in a 
shady situation, and stored in a cool, 
dry place until required for planting 
again. 
-- 
Propagating . . . 
Tulipa maculata. 
Maclaren and Sons. 
The Spotted Tulip. 
Hen Tulip planting is thought of in 
gardens it mostly always means the 
1 flowering varieties of the old Tulipa 
;;riana. They are handsome enough, 
! dmit, and they appear fresh at the 
t n of spring each year, but notwith- 
iling that there is no reason why a 
;ge should not be indulged in occa- 
> lly. Some of the species and gar- 
) hybrids of Tulip are really very 
' some, and continue to flower till well 
■ May or to the end of it. 
maculata may be regarded as a May¬ 
ring Tulip, and although of hybrid 
en origin, it is as handsome as many 
e prettier of the really wild Tulips. 
1 flowers are of good average size for 
: lip, and of a rich reddish crimson or 
i ant scarlet, as many people would 
ybe it. The base of each petal has 
ree-pointed or angled black blotch 
1 'unded by a yellow aureole, which 
r ads one of T. Eichleri from Asia 
t, in which we have similar mark- 
: The flowers expand fully under 
the influence of sunshine,' and show off 
these beautiful markings to great effect. 
Even those who still grow the early 
flowering varieties for spring gardening 
would feel interested in this beautiful 
garden form. 
Precisely the same treatment that is 
given to the early flowering Tulips will 
meet the requirements of this one. The 
ground should be well prepared, although 
not enriched with fresh farmyard manure. 
Indeed, if manure has been used for any 
previous crop none will be required in 
the preparation of the soil for this bulb. 
The presence of flowers in the beds often 
necessitates the postponing of planting 
till -well into November, but the grower 
should, whenever possible, make a point 
of planting as early in October as pos¬ 
sible, so that the bulbs can get properly 
rooted before the advance of winter. If 
the same bed requires to be filled with 
something else in spring, these bulbs may 
be lifted and ripened off in trenches, but 
as the variety is somewhat more valuable 
Some growers maintain that cuttings of 
these struck early in April do better and 
flower earlier than those rooted at the 
middle of February. I do not myself 
think this is correct but even if there is 
some foundation for the assertion the 
majority of us can ill afford space in 
which to work up a stock of these best of 
all autumn flowers so late in the spring. 
I have a large number to raise every sea¬ 
son, and find that by making an early 
start the resulting plants are fine sturdy 
stuff by the beginning of May, and the 
room the old stools would occupy, were I 
to defer propagating till April,' is much 
more usefully taken up. Insert the cut¬ 
tings when about three inches long, in 
ordinary cutting boxes of sandy soil. If 
they can be accommodated in a close, 
slightly heated pit or frame they root very 
rapidly, but will succeed quite well in an 
ordinary greenhouse if well shaded from 
the sun, and gently sprayed over twice a 
day with water from a fine-rosed pan. I 
put the old stools into moderate heat 
about the middle of January, and in a 
week or two the first batch of sturdy cut¬ 
tings are ready. After they are "well 
rooted, pinch the points out of the plants, 
and remove to a cold frame a few days 
later. 
C. Blair. 
Preston House, 
Linlithgow. 
-- 
An Abnormal Cinnamon Fern. 
Collectors of Ferns are now finding that 
we, in the old country, have not a mono¬ 
poly of curious or beautiful varieties of 
Ferns in a wild state. Yol. XYI. of “The 
Fern Bulletin " describes and illustrates 
a remarkable variety of the Cinnamon 
Fern, and to this the name Osmunda 
cinnamonia f. cornucopiaefolia is given. 
In this the pinnules on the primary 
pinnae suddenly stopped short some dis¬ 
tance from the top leaving nothing but 
the midrib. Then, at the top it branches 
out again, and we have a little hand¬ 
shaped frond at the apex of this long 
slender stalk. Many of the pinnules on 
the lower half of the frond have some¬ 
thing like the repetition of this curiosity 
in miniature, but Willard N. Clute, who- 
describes it, says that on closely examin¬ 
ing the frond he finds that these minia¬ 
ture structures on the pinnules are really 
ascidia or pitchers like those of the 
Nepenthes, only in miniature form. This 
curious form was found in a bog near 
Burton, Geauga County, Ohio, U.S.A... 
in 1907. 
