July 1, 1904 
SCIENTIFIC, 
- THe Soranums. 
The Solanums have an undivided corolla 
uclosing the ovary. The stamens spring 
from the corolla and are as many in number 
as the flower has lobes. The leaves aro 
alternate, undivided, and withont stipules. 
The calyx remains after the corolla withers. 
The anthers face inwards. Seeds numerous 
and flattened. 
The genus is well represented in bot 
field and garden. The potato with its 
underground tubers, or really buds, is a 
well-known staplo article of food. As 
usually grown continuously from sets it is 
“apt to deteriorate, and needs to be re- 
started from seeds. aL YE 
The tobacco is perhaps too well known 
trom its prepared leaves, but an allied 
‘species is sometimes seen in gardens, the 
Wicotiana affinis. This handsome plant has 
a long tube, adapted for fertilisation by 
moths, and to attract these the flower is 
white, and strongly scented, especially at 
dusk when moths are about. On the other 
hand, to repel ants and small, unsuitable 
flies, the stem is sticky and of an unpleasant 
odor. The plant is generally liberally 
sprinkled with adhering victims. The 
tomato, capsicum, Cape gooseberry, egg- 
plant, and our native kangaroo apple are 
also articles of food. Belladonna, henbane, 
and stramonium are used in medicine. In 
the garden we find Datura, with its large, 
spiny capsules crowded with seeds; the 
violet-flowered ichromo; the cestrums; and 
the favorite florists’ flower, petunia. Sola- 
num Wendlandii remains long in flower, 
and is an effective climber with large 
purplish flowers. 
_ PYRETHRUM ROSEUM. 
This beautiful herbaceous plant is per- 
fectly hardy and of easy cultivation and 
one that with ordinary care will give an 
abundance of bloom year after year. It 
will thrive in any ordinary garden soil and 
in almost any situation, provided it is given 
plenty of light; but it responds readily to 
liberal treatment, and the size and richness 
of the flowers produced under such condi- 
tions will amply repay for a little extra 
trouble. Propagation is easy, either by 
division or seeds. If the plants are to be 
ilivided, the earlier in the spring it can be 
done the better, as the plants will receive 
less check; and if good-sized divisions aro 
plented they can be counted on to flower 
freely the first season. If propagation is 
to be effected by seeds, the best time 
to sow them is just as soon as : they 
are ripe; but the exact date depends 
on the earliness or lateness of the 
season. Sown then, nice plants will be 
procured before autumn, when they should 
be set where they are intended to bloom. 
The seedlings should not be left in the seed 
~ bed, however, until time for the final 
planting, but will be much benefited by 
being pricked out into a bed of well pul- 
verized soil as soon as the seedlings are fit 
to handle. We find a cold frame an excel- 
Tont place for this purpose, as here we have 
ahe plants under control and can water 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
better and shade easier after planting than 
can possibly be dene in the open ground. 
Seeds can also be sown in spring, and 
although the plants will not bloom tho first 
season they will be larger for autumn 
planting. Among the old plants we often 
find a good supply of seedlings from self- 
sown seed; these are all right to lift and 
use where colors are a matter of no imp r- 
tance. But we find that the finer varieties 
do not produce seeds so freely as some of 
the poorer ones, hence if self-sown plants 
are relied on the strain soon runs itself out. 
In the shades of color, pink predomi- 
nates, running from very light to very dark. 
Different forms of pure white are included, 
also maroon and crimson. These last two 
shades are the showiest, but are the hardest 
to procure and the hardest to perpetuate 
from seed, so that only by careful selection 
and careful handling can the full range of 
colors be preserved. 
There are some beautiful double forms 
and varieties which can only be perpetuated 
by division. A few doubles may be repro- 
duced from seed, but they cannot be de- 
pended on to come true, and when a good 
double is procured the best plan is to keep 
dividing as fast as possible until a stock has 
been procured. ‘The flowers are mostly 
solitary, the doubles uearly always so, but 
some of the single varieties produce several 
flowers on one stem. 
All of the varieties are admirably 
adapted for cutting, producing stems of two 
feet and over which are clothed with 
graceful feathery foliage ; and as the stems 
‘are always strong enough to hold the 
flowers erect they make up a beautiful vase. 
Their lasting qualities are of the best. In 
-a moderately cuol room we have often kept 
the flowers cut in good condition for over a 
‘week. sa t 
In the vicinity of New York the plants 
-winter all right without any protection, but 
we find that for the young plants especially 
a slight covering of leaves, or litter, is ad- 
vantageous, and that given this they will 
start away stronger in the spring than they 
will do where no protection is afforded. _ 
This winter we tried a couple of plants in 
the forcing house, lifting them about the 
same time and giving them the same treat- 
ment.as we do spirea, but the experiment 
was not a success; though we got the 
flowers all right, they were small, and, in a 
‘good many cases, deformed, so we have 
made up our mind that this pyrethrum will 
never be much of a success as a forcing 
plant,—‘ Florists Exchange.” 
INDOOR PLANTS. 
GRASSES IN POTS. 
- Where pot plants are required for deco- 
ration throughout the year the object 
aimed at is, of course, to supply as great a 
variety as possible. Several of our hardy. 
grasses readily lend themselves to pot cul- 
ture, and by their means some light and 
pleasing groups can. be formed in the green. 
house during the summer months, added 
to which they are extremely useful. Being 
at their best during the summer, just when 
the greenhouse is usually supplied with a 
great wealth of flowering plants, these 
grasses serve to tone down any strong 
Picts a oe 
“edge. of .the pot, 
color which often. prevails at that season 
of the year. Where needed only for cut- 
ting from, the seed may be sown in the 
open ground during the showery weather of 
April, when it will soon germinate and 
grow away freely. In pots, however, these 
grasses are most appreciated before the out- 
door ones are sufficiently advanced to be 
effective. To ensure this, a good plan is to 
sow the seed from the middle of February 
to a corresponding period in March, ac- 
cording to the weather and other conside- 
rations, for should it be very cold and dull 
nothing is gained by sowing it then, as 
given bright, open weather it quickly ger- 
minates. 
There are two methods of treating these 
grasses in pots, one being to prick them off 
when large enough to handle, and the 
other to sow them in pots in which they 
are to flower. This latter plan is the bet- 
ter, the principal consideration being not 
to sow the seed too thickly, as when the 
plants are overcrowded much of their 
beauty is lost. Pots of any size may be 
used, but the most useful are those 5 in. 
or 6 in. in diameter, as they are handier 
than larger ones. A small amount of 
drainage, yet sufficient to be effectual, with 
a good holding soil suits the various grasses. — 
To accomplish this, one good crock in the 
bottom of the pot is enough, when the soil 
may be put in and pressed down fairly 
firmly, leaving in the case of those with 
minute seeds a space of about half an inch 
‘from the rim of the pot, and. rather more 
for the larger oneés.. Loam lightened: with 
a little decayed manure and sand will form 
‘a very suitable compost. . The seed. having 
been thinly sown and lightly covered, the 
pots may beplacedinacoldframe and kept 
pretty close till germination takes place, 
which, with briglt weather, will not be 
long. Plenty of air should be given to en- 
courage as sturdy a growth as possible, but 
even then in most cases some slight support 
will be necessary forthe plantsasthey grow 
up. The practice so popular with mar- 
ket growers . for . the support of 
many plants is to isert four sticks 
at-equal distances apart around the 
and pass a piece 
‘of stout thread or matting from one to the 
‘other, giving it a twist around each stick 
‘to hold all in, position. If this be done 
‘directly the plants are tall enough the 
foliage which is produced afterwards will 
hide both sticks and ties, while at the same 
time the plants will be prevented from fall- 
ing about. As the pots get full of roots 
the plants must not be allowed to suffer 
from want of water, otherwise the follage 
will soon get sickly. 
- Some ‘of the best grasses for this treat- 
ment ate the dwarf-growing Agrostis pul- 
chella, the taller, yet even more delicate, 
A. nebulosa, and both forms of the Quaker 
or Totter Grass (Briza maxima and B. 
minor). Hordeum jubatum, the long 
barley-like awns of which are of a purplish 
tint when young, but when mature soon 
fall to pieces. will also he fonnd vseful. 
Tisgnrus cyatus, with its. white downy 
heeds surported on slender stalks, also does 
