402 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
May:i2,  1898. 
Drooping  from  the  rock  -  garden’s  slopes  is  a  fountain-like  bush 
of  green  and  cream,  or  perhaps  more  truly  creamy  white  and  green. 
Attractive  is  it  a  little  way  ofif,  but  if  we  go  nearer  we  find  it  more 
beautiful  still  from  its  flowers  possessing  the  favourite  form  of  the 
leguminous  plants.  It  is  Cytisus  praecox — the  Cream  Broom,  a  hybrid 
raised  at  Warminster  by  the  late  IMr.  George  Wheeler  some  thirty 
years  ago.  It  is  presumably  a  hybrid,  although  this  is  not  certain,  as 
it  was  found  in  a  bed  of  seedlings  of  C.  purgans,  but  it  has  been 
suggested  that  it  is  between  that  species  and  C.  albus.  However  this 
may  be,  the  Cream  Broom  well  deserves  to  be  grown  in  the  rock 
garden  or  the  shrubbery,  where  its  wand-like  branches  covered  \vith 
pale  sulphur  blooms  can  be  appreciated.  For  a  rather  dry  and  sunny 
spot  few  prettier  plants  can  be  found  for  blooming  in  the  end  of  April 
or  the  beginning  of  May. 
The  snowy  Arabia  is  getting  past  its  best  just  when  the  purple 
Aubrietias  claim  its  comradeship  by  way  of  contrast  to  their  colours  5 
but  though  the  Arabia  forsakes  them,  the  Aubrietias  have  purer 
companions  in  some  of  the  Candytufts,  whose  sheets  of  white  glisten 
on  the  rockwork  or  in  the  border.  There  are  pink  Iberises  such  as 
the  Gibraltar  Candytuft;  but  these  are  not  so  ^ much  admired  as  the 
w'hite  species  and  their  varieties.  Delightful  are  the  mounds  or 
curtains  of  white  made  by  the  larger  growing  plants  ;  but  for  a  choice 
place  none  would  be  more  acceptable  than  the  variety  known  as  Little 
Gem.  Only  3  or  4  inches  in  height,  a  miniature  Iberis  sempervirens, 
it  is  of  great  beauty,  and  nestling  here  a  little  lower  than  the  beautiful 
Rhododendron  ciliatum  it  has  come  into  bloom  when  this  alpine  Rose 
has  lost  its  flowers,  and  has  given  a  new  feature  and  a  new  attraction 
to  the  spot. . 
In  a  shady  border,  half  hidden  by  the  leaves  and  flowers  of  the 
ubiquitous  Claytonia  caroliniana — which,  like  a  weed,  has  invaded  its 
domain — is  a  clump  of  the  modest  little  Canadian  Violet,  Viola 
canadensis.  Small,  are  its  blossoms,  faint  is  its  perfume,  modest  its 
colours,  yet  its  simple  beauty  compels  admiration,  even  though  near 
it  grow  some  of  the  modern  Violas,  more  opulent  perhaps  in  their 
charms.  As  one  looked  just  now  at  its  dainty  little  white  flowers 
with  yellow  eye,  a  few  short  purple  rays,  and  with  two  of  the  upper 
petals  coloured  with  purple  on  the  back,  there  was  espied  beside  it  a 
single  bloom  of  a  tiny  fellow  flower  of  the  little  golden  Viola  biflora. 
Two  years  ago  these  plants  of  the  Canadian  Violet  bloomed  in  Ontario  ; 
last  year  and  this  year  they  look  equally  happy  in  fair  Scotland  among 
sisters  from  other  lands.  A  garden  of  hardy  flowers  is  a  little  cosmo- 
polis — one,  too,  in  which  flowers  from  many  countries  live  side  by  side 
in  harmony. 
From  North-West  America  comes  the  Celandine  Poppy,  Stylo- 
phorum  diphyllum,  whose  blossoms  are,  perhaps,  more  welcome  later 
in  the  year  than  now,  when  Doronicums,  Alyssums,  Adonises,  and 
other  yellow  flowers  are  plentiful.  As  yet,  however,  there  are  hardly 
any  of  similar  character  in  bloom,  though  in  a  few  days  the  Welsh 
Poppy,  Meconopsis  cambrica,  will  be  in  flower.  Like  the  latter,  the 
Stylophorum  appears  to  enjoy  a  little  shade,  and  in  a  peaty  soil  thrives 
and  flowers  for  some  time.  May  is  said  to  be  its  normal  flowering 
month,  but  it  generally  anticipates  its  “  book  ”  date,  and  with  April 
come  its  drooping  yellow  flowers  above  its  glaucous,  pinnatifid  leaves. 
It  is  about  1  foot  high.  Since  its  introduction  more  than  forty  years 
ago  it  has  made  but  little  way  towards  becoming  a  common  garden 
flower,  though  it  is  as  easily  grown  as  most  of  our  cultivated  plants. 
These  are  a  few  flowers  casually,  as  it  were,  selected  from  the 
array  of  the  beauty  of  the  dawn  of  May.  It  is  almost  bewildering  in 
its  variety — white  and  brown,  and  green  and  yellow,  and  chequered 
Fritillarias,  sway  in  the  wind ;  golden-eyed  Auriculas,  sweet  Primroses, 
fairy  Cowslips,  bunched  Polyanthuses  shine  from  corners,  slopes,  and 
borders;  rich  golden  Doronicums — the  Sunflowers  of  spring — delight 
us  with  their  many-rayed  glooms ;  virgin-like  Wood  Anemones,  with 
pale  blue  or  sapphire  sisters  and  their  cousins,  the  Crown  Anemones 
of  more  brilliant  colours,  open  to  the  bright  May  sun ;  odorous 
Wallflowers,  golden,  blood  red,  deep  brown,  exhale  delicious  fragrance 
as  the  south  wind  touches  their  petals;  the  double  Marsh  Marigold 
(Caltha  palustrus  fl.-pl.)  shines  hy  the  edge  of  the  Lily  pool,  where 
buds  of  the  Nymphaeas  begin  to  peer  above  the  surface  ;  arching 
heads  of  yellow  blooms  deck  the  big  bush  of  Vesicara  utriculata, 
which  will  by-and-by  be  laden  with  its  bladder-like  seed  vessels  ; 
the  encrusted  Saxifrages  begin  to  send  up  their  flowers,  and  the  mossy 
species  are  in  bloou),  dark  red  as  in  S.  muscoides  atro-purpurea,  pink 
as  in  S.  Ehaei,  or  white  as  in  the  greater  number ;  the  Forget-me- 
nots  are  sheets  of  blue,  as  in  the  case  of  Myosotis  dissitiflora,  or 
budded  for  bloom  as  with  some  of  the  later  species. 
Many  more  flowers  there  are  seeking  to  rival  or  enhance  the  beauty 
of  the  blossom  of  the  trees,  which  are  robed  in  the  perfection  of  flower 
and  leaf.  The  fair  pages  of  the  book  of  Nature  are  open  before  us. 
Let  us  joyously,  thankfully,  reverently  study  them,  that  our  hearts 
raav  be  cheered,  strengthened  and  uplifted  by  the  messages  they  bear. 
— S.  Arnott. 
NOTES  ON  MELONS. 
It  may  be  prejudice  that  prompts  my  conviction  of  the  best 
Melons  being  grown  in  pits  and  frames,  and  of  my  not  considering  the 
present  varieties  any  advance  on  the  remarkably  fine-flavoured 
Egyptian  and  delicious  Persian,  with  the  sugary  Scarlet  Gem.  I  may 
be  wrong,  but  I  certainly  never  find  the  palate  satisfied  by  the  Melons 
of  the  present  time.  That  may  be  my  misfortune,  but  will  any 
grower  tell  us  of  any  three  modern  varieties  that  come  anywhere-near 
the  three  named  in  green,  white,  and  scarlet  flesh  respectively  ? 
Perhaps  no  fruit  is  easier  to  grow  than  the  ]\Ielon,  and  certainly 
not  any  worse  produced  at  the  present  day.  The  majority  are  worth 
little,  and  cannot  well  be  eaten  without  sugar,  than  which  no  greater 
coqdemnation  can  be  evidenced.  Is  it  that  the  advantages  of  the  hot- 
water  system  are  delusions,  and  the  disadvantages  of  the  fermenting 
material  mode  of  culture  the  ideals  of  successful  Melon  production? 
When  fermenting  materials  are  well  prepared,  so  as  to  be  moist  whilst 
fermentation  is  going  on,  the  bed  affords  a  steady  supply  of  moisture 
to  the  roots.  This  is  of  great  importance  in  a  dry  season,  and  points 
to  Melons  on  the  hot- water  method  not  having  enough  or  an  irregular 
supply  of  water  at  the  roots  to  account  for  their  indifferent  quality. 
Some  of  the  old  gardeners  never  watered  their  Melons  after  they  were 
thoroughly  established,  for  the  simple  reason  that  the  plants  dM  not 
require  any  after  the  roots  struck  into  the  moist  fermenting  materials. 
I  have  tried  that  many  times,  and  found  it  answer  admirably  in  some 
cases,  but  just  as  badly  in  others,  so  that  the  gist  of  the  subject  resolves 
itself  into  a  matter  of  judgment  and  adaptation  of  practice  to 
circumstances. 
There  need  be  no  difficulty  about  procuring  stable  litter,  as  it  is 
not  much  wanted  as  manure  at  this  season,  and  there  ought  to 
be  leaves  if  care  has  been  taken  to  preserve  them.  Any  old  stuff 
will  do,  with  just  a  “freshener”  of  stable  litter  to  keep  the  whole 
compact,  and  to  make  up  a  bed  about  3  feet  in  height  on  a  place  where 
the  sun  shines  from  rising  to  setting.  I  use  the  waste  from  Rhubarb 
nnd  Seakale  pots  with  any  leaves  left  over,  and  a  fourth  of  stable  litter. 
A  load  of  this  will,  therefore,  put  renewed  “  life  ”  into  three  of  spent 
material,  and  about  a  stone  of  kainit  and  Gvo  of  basic  slag  puts  heart 
into  it  for  after  work,  as  the  stuff  comes  out  quite  mellow  in  autumn, 
and  for  top-dressing  l5orders  has  no  equal. 
Seeds  can  be  sown  in  small  pots  singly,  and  plunged  in  the  bed, 
will  shortly  sprout,  and  the  plants  can  be  turned  out  when  coming 
into  rough  leaf.  But  it  is  better  to  put  a  barrowful  of  soil  in  each 
light,  and  sow  the  seed  as  soon  as  the  heat  has  warmed  it.  One  plant 
in  the  centre  of  each  light  is  better  than  two.  The  soil  cannot  be 
too  firm,  and  it  should  highest  in  the  centre  of  the  light,  forming 
a  very  gently  inclining  mound,  and  coveiing  the  whole  bed  with  soil. 
Compost. 
The  best  I  have  ever  used  for  Melons,  and  that  was  in  1851,  consisted 
of  the  top  3  inches  of  a  rich  alluvial  pasture,  overflow’ed  in  winter  by 
the  river  giving  the  name  to  Wharfedale.  That  is  near  enough  as  to 
location,  and  nothing  was  added  to  it.  Since  then  I  have  found 
pigeons’  manure  added  to  good  strong  loam  make  Melons  grow,  and  even 
ibwl  manure  is  better  than  that  from  cows,  stables,  or  farmyards.  I 
regarded  the  pigeon  manure  as  a  discovery,  and  was  going  to  send  a 
note  to  the  Journal  in  its  Cottage  Gardener  days,  but  found  it  had  been 
used  in  Persia  for  the  growth  of  Melons  “  frotn  time  immemorial.” 
Any  good  garden  soil  will  grow  Melons,  especially  with  half  a  peck  of 
pigeon  refuse  added  to  a  barrowload.  I  found,  however,  that  fowl 
house  manure,  where  gypsum  had  been  used  for  “  sanding,”  answered 
even  better,  using  a  peck  to  a  barrowload  of  soil.  The  point  is  to 
mix  well,  and  place  in  compactly  when  neither  wet  nor  dry,  but  in  a 
pleasantly  moist  condition. 
Temperature. 
The  heat  from  the  bed  seldom  makes  the  soil  hotter  than  90®,  just 
right  for  holding  the  hand  in  comfortably,  and  to  make  Melon  seed 
push  radicals  or  tap  roots  into  the  soil  and  bed.  The  cotyledons,  or 
first  leaves,  open  out  boldly  to  the  sun,  and  are  broad,  stout,  and  deep 
green.  The  stem  may  be  an  inch  high  and  accord  in  thickness.  Only 
