348 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTIGULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
April  17,  1902. 
Lopezia  miniata. 
This  is  a  plant  not  commonly  seen,  but  interesting  on  account 
of  its  mechanism  for  cross-pollination.  The  one  perfect  stamen  is 
held  in  tension  by  a  folded,  leafy,  or  expanded  staminode  beloA^r. 
'On  this  part  the  insect  alights,  as  the  best  position  from  which  to 
reach  the  two  drops  of  honey  that  seem  to  rest  upon  the  knee- 
shaped  bend  of  the  upper  petals.  The  result  is  that  the  stamen 
is  released  and  pollen  is  dusted  upon  the  insect.  Self-fertilisation 
is  impossible  on  account  of  marked  proterandry.  It  was  shown 
before  the  Scientific  Committee  on  April  8,  from  Cambridge. 
Early  Forced  Figs. 
Early  Violet  and  St.  John’s  are  now  being  succeeded  by  the 
Ischias  brown  and  white,  iriigelique  and  Osborne’s  Prolific,  and 
the  veiy  fine  White  Marseilles  and  Brown  Turkey.  To  secure 
perfect  ripening  and  high  quality,  watering  must  be  graduany 
reduced  and  syringing  over  the  trees  cease,  but  trees  swelling 
their  frait  should  be  assisted  with  weak  liquid  manure  twice  a 
week,  and  the  foliage  kept  clean  by  syringing  at  closing  time,  this 
being  discontinued  directly  the  fruit  gives  indications  of  ripen¬ 
ing.  A  temperature  of  GOdeg  to  Godeg  at  night,  70deg  to  75deg 
by  day,  advancing  to  80deg  or  8odeg  from  sun  heat,  is  suitable, 
closing  SO'  as  to  increase  to  90deg  or  more,  but  air  must  be 
admitted  so  as  to  allow  the  pent-up  moisture  to  escape,  and  pre¬ 
vent  the  deposition  of  moisture  on  the  fruit,  which,  settling  on 
the  apex,  is  apt  to  cause  it  to  decay.  This,  usually  called  “  spot,” 
should  be  avoided  by  a  circulation  of  rather  warm  and  moderately 
dry  air. — G. 
Codlaeums  at  Oldfield. 
Forced  Planted-out  Figs. 
Recently,  whilst  visiting  the  Oldfield  Nurseries  of  Messrs. 
W.  Clibran  and  Sons,  of  Altrincham,  I  was  shown  a  fine  batch  of 
Codiseums  (Crotons)  of  the  firm’s  own  raising.  Among  other 
attractive  varieties,  I  noted  two  in  particular,  named  Golden 
Chain  and  Pride  of  Oldfield,  as  being  really  first  class.  The  first- 
named  is  a  model  table  plant,  being  of  graceful  habit,  a  fine 
bright  colour  and  a  good  grower ;  the  leaves  are  narrow  and  from 
12in  to  18hi  long.  In  Pride  of  Oldfield  the  foliage  is  occasionally 
interruiDted,  and  very  prettily  mottled  yellow  and  green.  As  a 
table  plant  for  house  or  shoAV  purposes  I  can  strongly  recommend 
the  first-named  variety. — T.  See. 
Schizocoden  Soldanelloides. 
It  is  years  ago  since  Captain  Torrens  showed  this  little  alpine 
plant  at  the  Drill  Hall  and  obtained  a  First  Class  Certificate  for 
it;  yet  so  slow  is  its  growth,  that  still  very  few  plants  are  in 
gardens.  The  rockeiy  at  Kew  has  one  nice  plant  of  it,  but  great 
care  is  necessaiy  to  secure  its  continued  healthy  growth.  It  was 
brought  by  Captain  Torrens  from  Miganoshta,  Japan,  in  1891. 
In  the  characters  of  its  foliage  and  flowers  it  much  resembles 
Shortia  galacifolia,  now  in  flower,  but  its  pretty,  fragile  blooms 
are  rosy  instead  of  white,  and  the  segments  are  deeply  laciniated. 
It  has  proved  hardy,  but,  as  we  say,  it  grows  slowly,  and  does  not 
seem  to  yield  seeds  freely.  A  figure  is  presented  on  page  347. 
In  encouraging  surface  roots  and  supplying  nouri.shment  not 
likely  to  induce  grossness,  a  mulching  of  sweet,  decayed,  lumpy 
manure,  about  lin  thick,  is  of  essential  service.  Such  mulching,  if 
kept  in  a  moist  state,  and  added  to  from  time  to  time  as  reduced, 
will  be  full  of  active  feeders  by  the  time  the  trees  need  most 
assistance  in  order  tO'  perfect  their  crops,  and  sub,stantial  food, 
such  as  dissolved  bones  five  parts,  nitrate  of  potash  two  parts,  and 
gypsum  1  part,  mixed,  using  4oz.  per  square  yard -every  three  or 
four  weeks  or  more  distantly,  according  tO'  circum, stances,  will 
secure  sturdy  growths  (other  conditions  being  favourable),  and 
good  results  in  'the  first  and  second  crops.  Trees  in  borders  of 
limited  extent,  and  those  of  short-jointed  fruitful  habit,  will 
require  copious  supplies  of  water  or  liquid  manure.  Syringe 
twice  a  day  in  bright  weather,  occasionally  in  dull,  and  maintain 
a  genial  atmosphere  by  damping.  Ventilate  freely  in  favourable 
weather,  with  the  object  of  securing  stout  growth  and  leathery, 
healthy  foliage.  Any  kind  of  shading  is  injudicious,  and  must 
be  guarded  against  by  thorough  cleanliness,  pinching  out  the 
young  growths  and  thinning  out  all  the  overcrowded  shoots. 
Maintain  the  temperature  at  GOdeg  to  G5deg  at  night,  70deg  to 
75deg  by  day,  advancing  to  80deg  or  85deg  from  sun  heat,  closing 
early  with  abundance  of  moisture,  so  as  to  run  up  to  90deg  on 
fine  afternoons. — P. 
Succession  Houses  of  Figs. 
Campanula  pyramidalis. 
A  few  notes  on  the  cultivation  of  the  above  may  prove  interest¬ 
ing  to  some  readers  of  the  Journal.  For  flowering  in  July  of  next 
year  seed  should  now  be  sown  in  mild  heat,  and  when  ready  prick 
off  into  boxes  and  grow  on  in  cold  frames,  and  when  large  enough 
,pot  into  3in  pots,  repotting  later  into  Gin.  When  damp  weather 
sets  in  in  late  autumn  ti’ansfer  to  vineries  or  other  dry  quarters, 
finally  shifting  in  March  into  8-2-in  pots  for  flowering,  using  a 
compost  of  loam,  leaf  soil,  horse  droppings,  lime  rubble,  sand, 
and  a  dash  of  Clay’s  fertiliser,  and  as  soon  as  the  weather  is 
suitable  stand  in  rows  outside.  Some  make  it  a  practice  of 
growing  for  two  years  or  more  before  flowering,  which  is  quite 
unnecessary,  better  furnished  plants  being  obtained  by  adopting 
the  above  plan. — T.  S. 
Peach  Leaf  Curl. 
This  is  a  much  more  serious  injury  to  the  Peach  tree  than  is 
generally  supposed.  Few  of  us  suspected  that  we  were  losing 
much  from  Peach  curl  except  a  portion  of  the  current  year’s 
fruit  crop,  but  Pierce,  of  California,  has  proved  that  we  lose  also 
in  the  growth  and  vigour  of  the  tree,  and  the  development  of 
fruit  buds  and  fruit  spurs.  For  example,  on  ten  trees  sprayed  in 
1893  there  was  an  average  of  about  2,800  fruit  buds  per  inch  of 
old  wood,  and  on  those  unsprayed  about  2, GOO,  or  a  difference  in 
favour  of  the  sprayed  trees  of  about  7  per  cent.  Besides  this,  he 
.found  a  great  many  of  the  fruit  buds  produced  on  the  sprayed 
trees  so  poorly  developed  that  no  fruit  could  be  expected 
ffrom  them.  For  example  (says  the  “Canadian  Horticulturist”), 
at  the  close  of  the  season  of  1893  he  found  the  average  number  of 
imperfectly  developed  fimit  buds  on  the  sprayed  trees  to  be 
0.944  per  lineal  inch  of  old  wood,  while  on  the  unsprayed  trees 
the  average  per  inch  of  old  wood  was  1.249 ;  or  32  per  cent,  more 
'imperfect  fruit  buds  on  the  unsprayed  than  upon  the  sprayed 
-trees. 
Disbudding  or  thinning  the  growths,  regulating  the  tenninal 
and  successional  shoots,  and  stopping  those  for  spurs  at  the  fifth 
leaf,  must  have  timely  attention.  Afford  a  light  mulching,  and 
feed  as  advised  in  the  preceding  paragraph,  according  to  require¬ 
ments.  Maintain  the  night  temperature  at  55deg  to  GOdeg, 
G5deg  by  day  artificially,  70deg  to  75deg  from  sun  heat,  which 
ought  not  to  be  exceeded  without  full  ventilation,  as  it  is  very 
important  the  growth  be  stout  and  the  foliage  have  good  clean 
substance.  When  the  trees  are  in  full  leaf  the  night  tempera¬ 
ture  should  be  maintained  at  GOdeg  to*  Godeg,  70deg  by  day, 
allowing  to  rise  to  80deg  or  8odeg  from  sun  heat,  closing  early,  so 
as  to  run  up  to  90deg,  and  v-ith  abundance  of  moisture. 
Late  on  Hnheated. — These  afford  one  crop  of  fruit  in  August 
when  of  midseason  varieties,  or  the  very  early  ones  two  crops. 
The  trees  must  have  attention  in  pruning,  thinning  the  less 
fruitful  growths  and.  the  old  and  bare,  so'  asi  to  afford  space  for 
the  successional,  avoiding  overcrowding,  as  it  is  necessary  the 
growths  have  abundance  of  light  and  air.  Allow  the  shoots  for 
bearing  to  grow  somewhat  loosely,  with  their  points  to  the  light. 
Stopping  must  play  an  important  part  in  cool  houses.  Pinch 
at  the  fourth  or  fifth  leaf  on  the  young  wood,  which  will  assist 
the  swelling  of  the  fruit  and  induce  the  trees  to  break  and 
produce  short-jointed  wood  from  the  base  of  those  in  bearing. 
Ventilate  freely  at  and  above  oOdeg,  advancing  to  GSdeg  from 
sun  heat.  The  border  should  have  a  thorough  watering  if  dry, 
repeating  as  necessary,  to  bring  it  into  a  thoroughly  moist  con¬ 
dition,  afterwards  mulch  lightly  with  short  manure.  Fig  trees 
in  unheated  houses  do*  not  require  nearly  so  much  moisture  as 
those  in  heated  houses,  but  an  occasional  damping  will  be 
necessary  to  maintain  a  genial  condition  of  the  atmosphere, 
ventilating  freely  on  all  favourable  occasions,  especially  in  the 
early  part  of  fine  days,  so  as  to  secure  sturdy,  short-jointed  wood 
and  well  developed  leathery  foliage. — Geower. 
