161 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
August  24,  1899. 
-  “The  South  Coast  Quarterly.'’ — We  have  received  the 
second  number  of  this  publication,  which  we  suspect  is  the  first  quarterly 
magazine  that  has  been  issued  under  the  auspices  of  a  railway  company 
in  England.  That  it  is  edited  by  Mr.  Percy  Lindley  is  sufficient  guarantee 
of  its  literary  quality,  while  the  paper,  letterpress,  and  illustrations  are 
such  as  would  satisfy  the  most  fastidious.  Considering  the  beauty  of  the 
scenery  in  the  districts  that  are  served  by  the  London,  Brighton,  and 
South  Coast  Railway  Company,  readers  may  look  forward  to  a  picture 
gallery  of  diversified  character  and  never  failing  charm.  The  price  of 
each  issue  is  only  twopence. 
-  Dianella  aspera  — When  well  berried  this  Tasmanian  plant 
■forms  a  very  pretty  picture,  its  bright  coloured  fruits  standing  out  con¬ 
spicuously  among  other  plants.  When  fully  grown  it  makes  a  bush 
about  4  feet  high  and  3  feet  in  diameter,  with  an  abundance  of  stems 
clothed  with  narrow  leaves  8  inches  long.  The  flowers  are  pale  blue, 
and  produced  in  upright  racemes  from  near  the  apex  of  the  6hoots, 
usually  several  racemes  being  borne  by  each  growth.  They  are  pro¬ 
duced  in  June,  and  are  followed  by  bright  blue  berries,  the  size  of  a  good 
sized  garden  pea,  which  are  at  their  best  for  several  weeks  in  August  and 
September.  It  can  be  grown  well  either  in  pots  or  borders,  and  requires 
a  mixture  of  peat  and  loam  with  plenty  of  sand. — 1\. 
-  Olearia  llAASTl. — The  New  Zealand  flora  is  not  very  rich 
in  really  hardy  shrubs,  most  of  them  being  too  tender  to  stand  more 
than  4°  or  5°  of  frost.  Olearia  Iiaasti  is  the  hardiest,  as  it  will  stand 
any  ordinary  winter  with  impunity.  It  is  a  low-growing  evergreen 
about  4  or  5  feet  in  height,  and  is  a  handsome  shrub  suitable  either  for 
a  bed  or  a  single  plant.  It  requires  a  sunny  position,  and  a  light  and 
rather  poor  soil.  The  leaves  are  about  an  inch  long,  thick  and  leathery, 
bright  shining  green  above,  and  clothed  on  the  under  surface  with  a 
thick,  greyish-brown  felt.  The  pure  white  flowers  open  in  August,  and 
are  borne  in  axillary  clusters  on  stems  2  or  3  inches  long,  and  are  sweet iy 
scented.  It  is  a  first-rate  evergreen  for  the  vicinity  of  towns  or 
smoky  districts,  as  it  is  not  affected  by  smoke  and  fog  as  many  evergreens 
are.  Sr^ds  are  ripened  in  abundance,  and  readily  germinate.  Cuttings 
-of  half-ripened  wood  will  also  root  readily  in  a  close  case,  and  soon  make 
good  plants. — C. 
-  Sambucus  GLAUCA. — This  North  American  Elder  is  worthy 
of  a  place  in  the  shrubbery,  both  for  its  freedom  of  growth  and  the 
beauty  of  its  flowers  and  fruits.  It  requires  a  cool  and  fairly  moist 
situation  to  properly  develop  itself,  though  it  should  on  no  account  be 
shaded.  The  leaves  are  pinnate,  usually  consisting  of  nine  leaflets, 
deep  green  above,  and  glaucous  ou  the  under  side.  The  margins  are 
serrated.  The  shoots  of  the  current  year  terminate  in  a  dense,  nearly 
flat,  head  of  pure  white  flowers,  which  open  in  July,  and  are  succeeded 
by  purplish-black  fruits  covered  with  a  thick  light-blue  bloom.  On  well- 
grown  plants  the  heads  of  flowers  will  measure  from  12  to  18  inches 
across.  The  young  growths  ought  to  be  shortened  to  half  their  length 
in  the  winter,  and  an  occasional  top-dressing  will  prove  beneficial.  It  is 
easily  propagated  by  seeds  or  cuttings ;  the  latter  should  be  taken  in 
summer,  and  put  in  a  close  frame  to  root,  or  pieces  of  stout  wood  about 
a  foot  long  can  be  rooted  in  the  open  ground  in  a  shady  place. — C. 
METEOROLOGICAL  OBSERVATION'S  AT  CHISWICK.. 
— Taken  in  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society’s  Gardens— height  above 
sea  level  24  feet. 
Date. 
Direction  of 
Wind. 
Temperature  of  the 
Air. 
- 
Rain. 
Temperature  of 
the  Soil. 
At  9  A.M. 
Lowest 
Temperature 
on  Grass. 
1899. 
August. 
At  9  A.  M. 
Day. 
Night 
At 
1-ft. 
deep. 
At 
2-ft. 
deep. 
At 
4-ft. 
deep. 
Drv 
Bulb. 
Wet 
Bulb. 
on 
vG 
K 
. 
-*-3 
cw 
0) 
p 
O 
Sunday  . .  13 
Monday.  .14 
Tuesday  15 
Wed’sday  16 
Thursday  17 
Friday  .18 
Saturday  19 
E.N.E. 
E.N.E. 
E.N.E. 
N.N.E. 
W.N.W. 
W.N.W. 
W.N.W. 
deg. 
66  7 
64-9 
73-5 
66 '5 
65 '8 
;07-6 
|65’6 
deg. 
60-0 
61-1 
67-2 
59-9 
57-4 
59-7 
62-5 
deg. 
74- 3 
75- 1 
88-2 
76- 8 
73'9 
70 -6 
73-9 
deg. 
53- 2 
F7-1 
61-0 
57  ’1 
55-2 
54- 1 
61-6 
ins. 
deg. 
65  8 
66-1 
66- 9 
67- 5 
67-5 
68  1 
67-6 
deg. 
64-5 
64-5 
64-5 
64- 9 
65- 2 
65-3 
65-3 
' 
deg. 
61-8 
61 -S 
61-8 
61-8 
61-9 
61-9 
61-9 
deg. 
48  '4 
50-G 
53-9 
E0'9 
46- 4 
47- 0 
57-9 
Means  .. 
67-2 
61-1 
76*1 
57 ’0 
Total 
o-oo 
67  T 
64-9 
61-8 
507 
The  weather  continues  very  hot  and  dry,  the  temperature  (88'2°)  on 
the  15th  inst.  being  the  highest  recorded  this  year,  the  next  highest  being 
82’7°  on  June  5th.  No  rain  has  fallen  since  the  6th  inst. 
-  Herbaceous  Spiraeas.— These  areas  useful  and  as  desirable 
as  those  in  the  shrubbery  class.  S.  aruncus  is  the  showiest,  being  the 
tallest  and  most  vigorous  grower,  and  bearing  large  effective  heads  of 
creamy  white  flowers,  that  appear  in  June.  S.  astilboides  var.  floribunda 
is  perhaps  the  next  in  value,  being  an  improvement  on  S.  astilboides. 
S.  palmata  alba  and  S.  palmata  rubra  are  both  good  ;  so  are  S.  filipendula, 
creamy  white,  and  S.  lobata,  pink.  S.  japonica,  creamy,  requires  shade 
to  produce  the  best  results ;  given  the  right  conditions,  it  blooms 
abundantly  at  the  same  time  as  its  taller  relative,  S.  aruncus. 
-  Cyphomandra  fragrans. — For  three  or  four  months  during 
late  summer  and  early  autumn  this  plant  can  be  depended  on  to  make 
a  good  show  of  flowei'3,  while  earlier  in  the  year  its  handsome  glossy 
foliage  makes  it  a  conspicuous  object.  Being  of  a  robust  habit  it  is 
more  fitted  for  planting  in  a  border  in  a  cool  greenhouse  or  con¬ 
servatory  than  for  pot  culture,  though  it  can  be  grown  and  flowered 
well  in  the  latter  manner.  It  is  a  native  of  Brazil,  and  forms  a  good 
sized  spreading  bush  or  small  tree,  with  deep  green,  ovate,  glabrous 
leaves,  8  or  9  inches  long.  The  flowers  are  produced  in  loose  pendulous 
racemes  from  the  branch  divisions  all  over  the  plant.  When  young  they 
are  bright  purple  in  colour,  and  very  fragrant ;  as  they  age  they  become 
yellow,  suffused  with  purple.  It  grows  well  in  fairly  heavy  loam,  and 
prefers  plenty  of  sun,  though  it  can  be  grown  well  in  a  shaded  situation. 
At  the  end  cf  December  the  branches  should  be  cut  back,  if  it  is  not 
wished  to  grow  the  plant  larger,  to  within  two  eyes  of  the  old  wood. 
About  March  it  will  break  strongly,  and  given  plenty  of  water  will  take 
care  of  itself  practically  for  the  summer.  It  is  a  good  plan  to  let  the 
plant  grow  to  a  height  of  6  feet  or  so  before  allowing  it  to  branch  ;  by 
this  means  the  flowers  are  seen  to  better  advantage. — W.  D. 
HELICONIA  SANDERI. 
[We  readily  publish  the  following  amusing  critique,  and  our  artist’s 
reply.] 
Your  artist  must  have  been  under  the  influence  of  a  heavy  lunch  when 
he  made  the  drawing  published  by  \ouas  Heliconia  Sanderi  (page  125, 
August  10th).  To  me  it  suggests  a  Dieffenbachia  trying  to  be  a  Richardia, 
with  a  suspicion  of  the  variegation  of  the  Heliconia  in  the  leaves  ;  and 
as  these  three  were  among  the  new  plants  shown  by  Messrs.  Sander 
and  Co.  at  the  Temple  in  May,  your  artist  appears  to  have  mixed  them. 
II.  Sanderi  itself  is  somewhat  of  an  enigma,  for  it  is  not  a  Heliconia,  but 
rather  one  of  several  recent  introductions  from  the  East,  which  probably 
constitute  a  new  genus,  but  which  cannot  be  dealt  with  until  their  flowers 
are  known.  They  are  H.  aureo-striata,  H.  metallica,  H.  spectabilis, 
H.  illustris,  and  H.  Sanderi.  Should  any  reader  of  the  Journal  succeed 
in  flowering  any  one  of  these  plants  he  will  do  a  useful  service,  both 
botanically  and  horticulturally,  by  forwarding  the  flowers  to  Ivew.  They 
are  all  decorative  stove  plants,  H.  Sanderi  being  one  of  the  most  distinct 
and  ornamental. — W.  W. 
Reply. 
As  the  Heliconia  was  shown  closely  crowded  in  a  glass  box,  and  this 
in  a  dark  tent,  it  is  just  possible  that  some  little  detail  may  have  escaped 
attention,  thoueh  a  later  comparison  with  photographs  of  the  plant  exhibits 
no  material  difference,  except  that  the  variegation  is  more  clearly  defined 
in  the  engraving.  There  is  much  resemblance  to  a  Richardia  in  the 
unfolding  leaf,  still  the  leaves  will  unfold  in  this  wav  until  your 
correspondent  trains  them  up  in  the  way  they  should  go.  With  regard  to 
his  polite  suggestion  as  to  the  cause  of  my  views  differing  from  his  own,  it 
is,  of  course,  natural  for  “  W.  W.”  to  judge  of  the  habits  of  others  by  the 
standard  of  self— most  men  do — but  is  it  always  wise  to  display  such 
standards  in  print  ? — G.  S. 
[We  are  obliged  to  “  W.  W.”  for  the  information  he  gives,  and  shall 
be  pleased  if  any  of  our  readers  who  may  flower  the  plant  will  send 
specimens  to  Ivew  as  suggested.  Alluding  to  his  facetious  remarks, 
we  are  inclined  to  think  our  jocund  critic  is  entitled  to  some  form  of 
recognition  as  the  author  of  a  new  idea.  “  Composition  ”  photographs 
— a  blend  of  two  or  three  individual  celebrities  shown  as  one— are 
common  enough,  but  a  composition  sketch,  in  which  the  characteristics 
of  three  different  plants  are  embodied  in  one,  is,  so  far  as  we  know} 
a  distinctly  original  suggestion. 
What  form  this  recognition  should  take  is  matter  for  considera¬ 
tion.  Artists  are  admittedly  clever  and  resourceful,  and  as  our  plant 
and  flower  delineator  is  regarded  by  such  an  authority  as  “  W.  W.”  as 
able  to  accomplish  the  feat  indicated,  we  see  no  reason  to  assume  that  he 
has  reached  the  limit  of  his  inventive  power  and  pictorial  skill.  On  the 
contrary,  we  should  not  be  surprised  to  find  one  of  these  days  a  com¬ 
posite  representation  of  one  of  our  friend’s  new  plants,  its  parents,  and 
himself.  We  should  then  have  the  fruition  of  an  idea  in  the  form  of  a 
blend  of  at  least  three  desirable  features — completeness,  novelty,  and 
beauty. 
Let  us  say  that  we  agree  with  what  we  once  heard  as  a  concise 
estimate  (and  we  are  all  summed  up  in  turn  by  somebody)  :  W.  W.’  is 
a  fine  fellow,  and  we  are  all  proud  of  him.’*] 
