November 16, 1907. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
729 
Jimmie is of a pleasing purple shade, 
but just rather late for this district. 
Harrie, in colour resembles Polly, and 
is said to be even better, but as I have it 
this year for the first time, I am unable 
to say much about it. It is dwarfer than 
Polly and much later, and the blooms are 
smaller. Kitty is a dwarf, free-blooming 
pink, but the colour is much inferior to 
Lily. Many other varieties of average 
usefulness are grown, but the above are 
the most successful. 
Of course the Mme. M^rie Masse family 
flourish exceedingly, and where large 
quantities of cut flowers of first-rate 
quality are in demand these are indis¬ 
pensable. I grow Horace Martin (yel- 
Mlow), Rabbie Burns (rosy cerise), Ralph 
Curtis (blush white). Crimson Masse 
(bronze red), Mrs. Baird (somewhat simi- 
I; lar to Ralph Curtis, but dwarfer and 
paler), and Mme. Marie Masse (pink). 
1 At this date (October 1st) a great many 
varieties are just coming into flower, and 
unless we have a few weeks more free 
from frost, many of them will never do 
( much good, and all the labour of growing 
them will have been lost. 
C. Blair. 
Linlithgow. 
Weeds and Rubbish. 
z 
A Letter 
To the Editor. 
Sir, — In your issue of November 2nd, 
1907, under miscellaneous No. 2,337, "‘as 
to extirpating Bindweed and Coltsfoot 
where weeds have taken deep root. ’ 
Some years since a particular part of 
my garden was, through my jobbing gar¬ 
dener's neglect, infested with what is 
locally termed “ spire grass,” and for two 
or three years no effort to eradicate it by 
deep digging was of any effect. I then 
'sowed the piece of land with Turnip seed 
very thickly, and effectually destroyed 
the" grass, which has not appeared since. 
I assume that the thickly sown Turnips, 
|by keeping out sun and air and probably 
also rain from the under soil, simply 
killed the weeds. 
2339. Burning garden rubbish. My 
plan is to dig a deep hole and burn 
therein every description of garden waste 
'and clippings of hedges and bushes. 
The resulting ash is most fertilising, 
and suits Tomatos and Cucumbers in my 
cold houses admirably. I cut the last 
fruit of this season about a week since. 
The ash sprinkled on Asparagus beds in 
combination with fowl droppings has re¬ 
sulted this year in splendid crops from my 
beds, which have been established over 
twenty-five years. 
Lovewell Blare. 
-- 
Chrysanthemum Mrs. Wakefield. 
The above is a decorative variety with 
blooms 4.4 in. to 5 in. in diameter, and of 
a bright terra-cotta red. The florets are 
neatly and closely' recurved. The colour 
is very uncommon for a decorative variety, 
and shows up well under artificial light. 
First-class Certificate by The National 
Chrysanthemum Society on October 14th 
when shown by r Mr. H. J. Jones, Ryecroft 
Nursery, Lewisham. 
Rn Uncommon Virginian Stock 
(Malcomia littorea). 
Malcomia littorea. [Maclaren and Sons . 
Although Malcomia is well known to 
most people under the name of Virginian 
Stock, yet the plant has nothing to do 
with Virginia. Popular names are often 
the result of accident, and in this case 
it would seem also that there was a mis¬ 
conception. There are at least half a 
dozen species of Malcomia in cultivation, 
and all of them are natives either of 
South Europe or other countries sur¬ 
rounding the Mediterranean. They are 
mostly plants that love the seaside, like 
the wild East Lothian Stock, and judg¬ 
ing from the name of the subject under 
notice it hugs the seashore pretty closely. 
In most gardens where annuals are 
grown the best known species of this 
genus is M. maritima, but it is so com¬ 
mon that M. littorea would constitute a 
change and furnish a plant that is quite 
distinct in appearance and more graceful 
than the common one. The stems are 
slender, much branched, as may be seen 
by reference to the accompanying illus¬ 
tration, and each branch terminates in a 
raceme of mauve flowers with a white eye. 
What helps to make the plant so grace¬ 
ful is the narrowness of the leaves cloth¬ 
ing the stems. They* are linear and 
coated with a dense mass of grey, starry 
bairs, which give to the plant quite a sub¬ 
dued tone, indicative of a dry- country'. 
It grows only about 12 in. high, and is 
therefore well adapted for small gardens. 
Although the photograph was taken in 
the Royml Gardens, Kew, some of the 
seedsmen also offer this pretty' annual. 
Amaryllis- 
. .OR . . 
— Hippeastrums. 
I do not think there is anything to sur¬ 
pass in loveliness this member of the Lily- 
tribe. It is easy to cultivate, and may' 
be obtained all through the winter months 
by forcing. 
Potting should be done as soon as 
bulbs are fit, the compost used consisting 
of loam, leaf mould, sharp sand, and a 
little charcoal. There must be good 
drainage. The pots should be as large 
again as bulbs. When planting, do not 
plant too deeply; about one inch of the 
tuber should be buried. Place in a 
moderate temperature till growth com¬ 
mences, and when flowering sheaths ap¬ 
pear, they may have a temperature of 
from 70 to 80 degrees. After flowering 
they- should remain in the same tempera¬ 
ture to maintain growth, and not be 
placed under staging or some other out- 
of-way place where they are likely to be 
neglected. Whether forced or not, they' 
should have careful attention during sum¬ 
mer, and be gradually' ripened off in 
autumn. In our gardens at Wilminster 
we have fine bulbs, the largest I ever saw, 
several ranging from 18 to 22 inches 
round, and they' produce three sheaths 
each, many- of them bearing five flowers 
apiece. 
T. Preston. 
- — 
A Pear-Apple. 
By means of grafting two roots, Mr. 
•Donald King, of Kansas City, Kansas, 
has, it is stated, produced an Apple hav¬ 
ing the distinct flavour of a Williams’ 
Pear. 
