318 
THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 
but we understand it is not a sport, but a 
seedling, raised by Mr. Tom Page, of Hamp¬ 
ton. A.M., R.H.S., December 2. Mr. Thos 
gteyenson, gardener to E. G. Mocatta, Esq.^ 
Woburn Place, Addlestone. 
Cardinal.—This brilliant single variety has 
flowers of medium size, and of the richest 
scark-t-crimson imaginable, with a large yel. 
low disc, surrounded by a very narrow yellow 
zone. About 2^ft. high, and free-flowering, 
it should become popular, especially as the 
flowers show up well under artificial light. 
A.M., R.H.S., December 2. Messrs. Jas. 
Veitch and Sons, Chelsea. 
Mauve Beauty.—This is a very distinct, 
closely incurving Japanese variety of good 
size and fine substance. It has broad, pointed 
florets, a fine stem, and ample foliage. The 
lower florets are of deeper, rosier hue than 
the bulk of the flower. It appears to be a 
variety that would trahrel well, and it grows 
about 5ft. high. II., 2, b.; Commendation, 
N.C.S., November 21. Messrs. W. Wells and 
Co., Merstham. 
Bertha Lachaux.—A charming decorative 
Japanese variety with graceful, narrow, and 
reflexing, semi-drooping florets of a lovely 
shade of mauve pink. The blooms are of fair 
size, borne on slender, but stiff, stems, fur¬ 
nished with medium-sized, deep green leaves. 
A beautiful variety for late decorations. II., 
1, b.; F.C.C., N.C.S., November 24. Messrs. 
W. Wells and Co., Merstham. 
AGATHIS YITIENSIS. 
An interesting conifer, which is endemic in 
mixed forests in the Fiji Archipelago, where 
it is known as the Dakua, and is abundant in 
the islands of Yanua and Yiti Devu. It also 
occurs, but less plentifully, in the Islands of 
Ovalau and Kaduvu. In Ovalau some re¬ 
markably fine specimens have been found, 
one with a trunk having a diameter of five 
feet, and some with a height ranging from 
eighty to one hundred feet, with clear stems 
up sixty feet. The bark is described as 
peeling off, in much the same manner as that 
of the Australian gum-trees, and the wood, 
which serves much the same purposes as 
deal, is used by the Fijians for house floors 
and for masts, booms, and spars. The tree 
exudes a gum which, in the interior of the 
larger islands, has been used for burning in 
place of cocoa-nut oil. The snecie® has been 
grown at Kew since 1881, tho first sixteen 
years in the tropical palm house, and since 
then in the Mexican house, and the tree has 
now attained a height of twenty-five feet. 
In 1911, it produced female cones, which are 
globose, 3| inches long, 3^ inches wide, and 
of a bright green colour. Bot. Mag., t. 8,512. 
ROSA FOLIOLOSA. 
A distinct and attractive species, indi- 
genoi^ to North America, which has been 
described as the South-Western Prairie Rose 
owing to its apparent restriction to the 
prairie region of Arkansas, Northern and 
Central Texas, and the Indian territory. This 
special has a dwarf habit and running 
root-stocks, and bears fragrant single 
flowera about l^in. in diameter, and of a rich 
carmine colour. It was originally discovered 
by NuttaU during his visit to Arkansas in 
1818-20, but was not published by Torrey and 
Gray until twenty years later, and after it 
had been met with in Texas by Berlandier 
and others. It is stated that, according to 
a manuscript list of the trees and shrubs in 
cultivation at Kew, prepared in 1880 by Sir 
Joseph Hooker, it was then in the Kew col¬ 
lection, but as late as 1890 it was considered 
a rare plant at Harvard, Massachusetts. The 
plate published in the Botanical Maga¬ 
zine” was prepared from a flowering spray 
produced by a plant in Canon Ellacombe’s 
garden at Bitton, where it blooms as late as 
the end of August. As a garden rose the 
species possess much value, for the elegant 
single flowers are attractive in colour, and 
it is readily increased by division. It appears 
^ be well deserving the attention of hybrid¬ 
ists who are anxious of breaking away from 
conventional lines. Bot. Mag., t. 8,513. 
BLACK CURRANT MITE. 
Having read your aafl:icleis on the above 
subject, and being very interested in the 
Matter, it occurr^ to me that readers o(f 
The Gardeners’ Magazine might like to 
know that I have adopted Mr. A. H. Pear- 
meth»od of trying to eradicate Black 
Currant Mite. I wrote to Mr. Pearson in 
the early .spring, asking his advice as a large 
grower of black currants, and he very kindly 
sent me full particulars (as set foaith by him 
in your columns) of how to set to work to 
try and remove the pest. As I had some very 
fine Boskoop Giant black currant trees, I 
was anxious not to grub up or destroy them, 
or yet cut them down to the grouna, so as 
to make them break up afr€<sh, and thus try 
to era-dicate the mite. By following the 
Pearson system I now feel confident I°may, 
in a season or two, clear my trees of the pest! 
Already they look more promising, and I pro¬ 
pose in the early spring of 1914 to again 
follow out his directions. 
There is not the least doubt that if anyone 
wiishes to keep either his apples, pears, cur¬ 
rants, gooseberries, etc., clean, and have 
fruit of good appearance, he must spray the 
trees every season. To carry- out the-work 
tor one season only as a wiaste of time and 
money. I know we have great difliculties to 
contend with, as very often our neighbours 
cannot see the necessity of spraying. They 
seem to think that because our forefathers 
never sprayed their fruit trees we need not 
do so now. Fruit of a certain class is 
ea^ly obtained, and it realises a certain 
price on the open market, but I know for a 
fact that my fruit, from my sprayed trees, 
will realise a more satisfactory figure than 
theirs. Why as this? One need not look 
very far to find the reason. Comparing my 
fruit with theirs, it has not only a better 
appearance, but lis larger in size. The extra 
value therefore pays for the ex^penditure of 
spraying. My advice to all growers of fruit 
is to spray, both winter and summer. 
H the Board of Agriculture would take up 
this subject in the same energetic way as it 
has American gooseberry mildew, it would be 
a ve^ good thing for the- country. The 
Boara should eoiforce spraying. Meanwhile, 
let us all try and produce as good fruit as 
our foreign neigfhbours, for unless we take 
care we shall be loft behind—simply because 
we will not ,put enthusiasm aud keenness 
into the work, but leave others to do the 
pushiinig. E. J. Wootten 
Fairo'ak, Eastleigh, Hants. 
In recent issues of your valued pa.per I 
have read a good deal about Black Currant 
Mite, its prevention and cure. WThile I can¬ 
not say 'anything for or against Mr. Pearson’s 
remedy, not having put it to a proper test, 
I nevertheless mean to follow his ^viee from 
this season onwards. 
I think, howevei?;, that those who wish to 
grow this mast useful and excellent fruit 
satisfactorily had better make up their 
min.dis to grub up their old trees every sixth 
year at the latest, as I am almost convinced 
that without proper treatment the trees will 
not keep clean longer than the period men- 
ioned. It might, perhaps, be wiser in the 
first dlnstance, when, say, four acres are to be 
planted with black currants, to commence by 
planting two acres only, and fill the remain- 
ing space three years after. The grower 
would then always have a good stock carry¬ 
ing a full crop, and younger plants to take 
their place when grubbed up. 
My experience is a® follows; Seven or eight 
years ago, I planted a batch of Boskoop 
Giant, which, at the time, had the reputation 
of being exempt from the mite; and this 
proved correct- until last winter, when I 
found a lair number of big buds >all over my 
trees, and these I carefully removed myself 
and burned, afterwards spraying the trees as 
recommended by Mr. Peai-son. Doubtleas, I 
w/as too late in removiug the big buds, as 
this autumn, after the leaves had fallen, 1 
noticed big buds were infinitely more numer¬ 
ous, and so I decided to uproot all the im- 
fested trees a"! burn them. 
December 6, 1913. 
Since then I have planted Seabrook’s Black 
which, up till now, has a clean record. 
While, therefore, I am quite a believer in 
Mr. Pearson’s remedy, and iutend to follow 
the anstructions given by him in your 
columns. I am convinced that without treat¬ 
ment the trees have only a short clean life 
and consider that all growers have to face the 
expense of buying fresh stock every few years 
if they have not space to grow fresh stock 
from healthy cuttings. 
Only .last sea-son I planted a few fresh clean 
plaute of ^koop Giant close to the mite- 
infested older trees, and, to prove what I 
have said, these young ones have not a 
aingle big bud on them. 
n J^ORTON. 
Grange Dene, Woo-dside Park, N. 
P^ONY-FLOWERED DAHLIAS. 
I see, on page 885. a correspondent states 
he cannot understand how it is that the 
paeony.flowered dahlia has become co popu- 
lar; in fact, it appears to strike li.m as a 
mystei’y how this particular section of the 
dahlia has forced its way into the front rank 
ot late summer and autumn.fiowering plants 
in place of the popular cactus forms. Now,’ 
I lail to see anything mysterious about the 
matter, for the paeony.flowered varieties were 
launched on the dahlia world just at the 
time the cactus varieties were being decried 
because of their bad stems and lack of deco¬ 
rative effect in the garden. 
The new-comers did not receive a hearty 
welcome; in fact, they were abused almost 
on all sides, except by the people who had 
seen them in the garden, which is their pro¬ 
per place. They had no claims as a florists’ 
flower, neither have they now; and I take it 
they are merely exhibited to draw the atten- 
tion of the public to their claims as autumn¬ 
flowering plants, and I trust the day will 
be far distant when they are drawn into the 
hard and fast regulations of an old-time 
florists’ flower. 
Your correspondent seems to require a 
standard of perfection drawn up, as in the 
case of the show dahlias. At the same time 
he quite overlcKiks the fact that no such 
standard has ever been drawn up in the case 
of the cactus varieties. It was the hard and 
fast rules as to form which killed the popu- 
larity of the double dahlia as a garden flower, 
and anything approaching strict formality 
will act in a like manner in the case of the 
section under notice. Your correspondent 
will have no difficulty in making a selection 
of varieties with clearly defined “eyes,” or 
those possessing a centre of short florets; 
he may (Describe them as confused, or he may 
regard them as charming, according to his 
taste. In either case, I trust we shall avoid 
the florists’ rule. 
I take it the aim of the raiser should be to 
obtain a pleasing flower that is freely pro¬ 
duced, and, above all, with a good stiff stem 
that carries it well above the foliage, so 
that when the blooms are gathered for deco¬ 
rative purposes they remain erect, and do 
not “flop” all round the hand of the 
gatherer. After all, it is a matter of time, 
and that a short one, too, when the varieties 
with weak stems will be eliminated. I 
noticed that the Joint Committee of the 
Royal Horticultural Society and the Na¬ 
tional Dahlia Society, during the season ji^ 
passed, would not look at a pceqny-flowered 
variety that was supported by wires, or that 
did not possess a good stiff stem. I trust it 
will not be long before the cactus varieties 
come under the same unwritten law, for such 
holds good now, so far as the Garden Cactus 
dahlia is concerned. 
Under no circumstances should the paeony- 
flowered dahlia be restricted to any particu¬ 
lar form, for we have already three or four 
types, each good in its particular way, 
it is quite a matter of opinion as to whicn 
type is best. The paeony-flowepd varieties 
were never intended to be exhibition flowers. 
Their proper place is in the garden, ^he^ 
they have ali’eady asserted their right to oe 
placed as decorative plants. 
