August  22,  1895. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
185 
jammed  in  a  soar  crust  of  rank  earth,  as  would  be  their  condition  if 
they  were  sown  on  rich  strong  soil.  A  west  aspect  is  by  far  the  best  for 
them,  as  then  they  are  less  liable  to  suffer  from  bard  frosty  nights 
followed  by  very  sunny  mornings,  or  what  we  call  extremes  of  weather. 
New  seeds  of  many  kinds  of  annuals  are  not  so  good  to  sow  in  the 
autumn  as  old  seeds,  because  the  newer  the  seeds  the  more  sti-ong  and 
healthy  the  seedlings,  and  therefore  the  more  liable  to  suffer  from  a  hard 
or  long  winter. 
Red  and  white  Clarkias  are  well  worth  growing,  and  no  winter  kills 
them  when  self-sown.  Collinsia  bicolor  and  C.  grandidora  are  the  two 
best  of  that  family  ;  they  also  are  hardy  enough  to  stand  most  winters. 
.  The  two  yellow  Eschscholtzias  are  as  hardy  as  Wheat  or  Barley,  and 
though  not  annuals  they  do  much  better  if  sown  and  treated  as  such, 
first  in  September,  and  secondly  about  the  middle  of  April ;  if  they  are 
to  be  transplanted  it  should  be  done  when  they  are  quite  young.  The 
blue  and  spotted  Nemophila  insignia  and  N.  maculata,  also  N.  atomaria, 
pass  over  almost  an  y  winter,  and  come  into  bloom  before  April  is  out. 
Eucharidium  grandiflorum  ought  to  be  grown,  and  the  plants  stand  a 
smart  winter.  Godetias  are  as  good  as  they  are  gay,  and  as  hardy  as  a 
Scotch  Crocus,  and  they  will  be  the  brighter  in  fiower  and  more  manage¬ 
able  in  plant  if  they  are  planted  in  poor  soil  rather  than  rich  ;  but 
recollect  if  poor  it  must  be  deep  and  well  worked.  Stinted  growth  is 
quite  a  different  thing  from  subdued  growth  caused  by  sandy  soil  well 
tilled.  The  flowers  of  all  the  Godetias  show  brighter  when  the  plants 
are  in  this  subdued  growth. 
Gilia  tricolor  is  hardy  and  very  attractive  ;  this  and  Collinsia  bicolor 
are  the  two  best  lilac.  Erysimum  Perofskianum,  when  sown  in  Sep¬ 
tember,  planted  out  in  the  beginning  of  March,  and  trained  down  to  the 
surface  of  the  bed  as  it  grows,  comes  into  bloom  at  the  beginning  of 
May  and  lasts  till  midsummer  or  longer,  and  so  treated  is  one  of  the 
very  finest  beds  ever  seen  in  May  ;  but  if  allowed  to  grow  its  own  way 
you  might  just  as  well  have  a  bed  of  seed  Turnips.  A  second  sowing  of 
it  the  first  week  in  April  and  again  about  the  end  of  May  would  carry 
it  right  through  the  season  till  the  frost  came.  Six  or  seven  plants  of 
it  put  into  pots  about  the  new  year  would  come  in  finely  for  the  green¬ 
house  in  April  ;  but  it  will  not  stand  forcing — the  protection  of  a 
greenhouse  or  pit  is  as  much  as  it  can  safely  endure.  Lasthenia 
californica  and  Limnanthes  Douglas!  are  two  yellowish  kinds  which  are 
grown  for  making  up  this  colour  in  May.  Bartonia  aurea,  a  beautiful 
clear  yellow  flower  on  a  weedy  looking  plant,  sown  now  and  transplanted 
into  very  poor  light  soil  early  in  April  will  flower  in  May,  and  be  much 
better  than  under  any  other  treatment.  The  flowers  are  as  rich  as 
those  of  Allamanda,  but  the  plant  is  no  better  than  a  Dock  in  good  soil. 
Leptosiphon  densiflorus,  a  very  dwarf  lilac,  or  purple-and-white 
mixed  flower,  stands  the  winter  well.  Lupinus  nanus  has  quite  a 
different  character  when  allowed  to  grow  on  slowly  all  the  winter.  It 
blooms  from  May  to  the  middle  or  end  of  August  from  seeds  sown  about 
the  middle  or  end  of  September,  provided  the  plants  are  not  allowed  to 
ripen  any  seeds.  Another  sowing  about  the  first  week  in  May  would 
carry  it  on  to  the  middle  of  October.  Silene  pendula,  S.  compacta,  and 
S.  Schafta  are  the  best  of  the  Catchflies,  and  are  always  best  from 
autumn  sowing.  The  Virginian  Stock  flowers  in  April  if  sown  now,  and 
all  the  varieties  of  the  branching  Larkspur  will  bloom  most  part  of  the 
summer  if  sown  earlier  in  Seotember.  Cornflowers  (Centaurea  cyanus) 
should  be  sown  now  for  cut  flowers. — F.  G. 
DISQUALIFYING  AT  SHOWS. 
I  AM  of  the  opinion  that  “  A.  D.’s  ”  (page  129)  colleagues  were  right 
in  disqualifying  the  exhibit  where  more  than  the  required  number 
stated  in  the  schedule  was  put  up.  Atarecentshowin  Lincolnshire  several 
of  the  entries  were  wrong  in  this  respect  as  to  number  stated  ;  such  as, 
for  eight  Carrots  some  had  nine  ;  twenty  pods  of  Beans,  some  had  twenty- 
two  or  more ;  a  dish  of  six  Apples,  where  some  had  seven  ;  and  many 
other  cases  of  a  like  nature.  Of  course  the  exhibitors  had  all  been 
cleared  out  of  the  tent,  and  we  drew  the  Secretary’s  and  some  of  the 
Committee’s  attention  to  these  blunders  before  awarding  the  prizes. 
These  offlcials  declared  they  hardly  knew  what  to  do,  but  must  leave 
the  matter  in  our  hands  to  do  as  we  liked. 
We,  as  judges,  thought  it  right  to  disqualify  all  who  had  not  obeyed 
the  wording  of  the  schedule,  and  marked  their  cards  accordingly,  as  we 
thought  it  would  make  them  more  careful  in  the  future.  Naturally 
enough,  putting  seven  Apples  on  a  plate  when  there  should  be  only  six, 
or  twenty-two  pods  of  Beans  or  Peas  when  there  should  be  only  twenty, 
may  make  a  dish  look  more  imposing,  but  I  consider  it  would  be 
decidedly  wrong  to  give  that  dish  the  prize,  even  if  they  were  the  best. 
It  would  be  very  unfair  to  those  who  do  count  correctly,  and  such  may 
well  exclaim  that  the  executive  should  have  appointed  competent 
judges  who  are  competent  to  count  six,  eight,  or  twenty,  as  the  case 
may  be. 
Would  any  judge,  I  ask,  at  a  London  or  large  provincial  show  think 
of  awarding  a  prize  to,  sav,  ten  stove  or  greenhouse  plants,  when  the 
exhibitor  staged  eleven  ?  What  would  be  thought  of  a  cattle  show  judge 
if  he  awarded  a  prize  to  a  pen  of  four  sheep  when  the  schedule 
distinctly  states  it  must  be  three?  It  only  requires  one  answer,  that  the 
judges  must  act  up  to  the  schedule,  and  let  the  public  see  they  know 
how  to  count,  even  if  some  of  the  exhibitors  do  not.  My  answer  to  a 
few  of  the  discontented  ones  at  that  show  was,  that  before  they  exhibit 
again  they  should  learn  to  count ;  as  to  award  them  prizes  would  be 
manifestly  unfair  to  those  exhibitors  who  had  staged  correctly. — 
A,  Harding,  Orton  Gardens,  Fcte.'huroiKjh, 
IRIS  FIMBRIATA. 
All  the  Irises  possess  special  attractions  for  plant  admirers,  and 
though  many  are  more  showy  than  the  little  Iris  fimbriata  (fig.  27),  yet 
this  has  a  graceful  habit,  and  is  so  floriferous  that  it  can  he  employed 
with  good  effect  in  several  ways.  Like  numerous  other  members  of  the 
family  its  flowers  are,  however,  somewhat  fugacious,  and  are  not 
adapted  for  cutting.  The  plant  is  compact  in  habit,  and  is  consequently 
well  suited  for  culture  in  pots,  and  being  somewhat  tender  it  is  safer  in 
a  greenhouse  than  outside — in  fact,  comparatively  few  positions  suit  it 
except  in  the  warm  southern  and  western  counties,  where  I  have 
occasionally  seen  it  tried,  but  not  with  very  encouraging  results. 
For  some  years  I  have  grown  it  entirely  for  greenhouse  decoration, 
and  as  I  have  a  good  stock  by  forwarding  some  and  retarding  others,  I 
manage  to  keep  up  a  fairly  long  succession  of  flowers.  These  are  of 
such  a  soft  pale  bluish  mauve  relieved  by  orange  markings  that  they 
appear  very  distinct  arranged  with  other  plants  having  more  brightly 
coloured  flowers.  A  moderately  light  loam,  ample  root  space,  and 
plentiful  supplies  of  water  during  the  growth  and  flowering,  are  the 
principal  points  in  its  culture  and  need  special  attention. — A.  B. 
RAISING  AND  PREPARING  VINES  FOR  PLANTING. 
Mr.  Innes  endeavours  to  make  out,  on  page  1G2  of  the  Journal, 
that  what  he  quotes  from  my  uncle  is  “  a  sweeping  condemnation  ”  of 
what  I  have  advocated. 
I  would  reply,  that  what  he  quotes  is  rather  “  a  sweeping  condemna¬ 
tion  ”  of  such  practice  as  keeping  Vines  in  3-inch  pots  till  the  middle 
of  August.  Mr.  D.  Thomson  recommends  a  6  or  7-iuch  pot  as  large 
enough  for  growing  planting  Vines  in,  and  all  who  have  any  practical 
