August  7,  1902. 
.  JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
127 
The  Japanese  Maples’  Shori  Growing  Period. 
To  properly  handle  and  care  for  plants  one  must  thoroughly 
knew  their  peculiarities.  The  Japanese  Maple  has  a  character 
worth  noting,  in  its  rapid  growth  in  early  spring  and  its  sudden 
cessation.  It  takes  but  three  or  four  days  of  real  warm  spring 
weather  to  make  growths  of  Sin  or  Gin  length,  and  when  a  foot 
cf  growth  is  made,  the  average  plant  will  stop  and  busy  itself 
with  maturing.  This  is  an  important  fact  for  those  persons 
that  do  odd  summer  pruning  ;  unless  the  work  is  early  done  it 
is  useless. 
Cactus  Dahlia  Aunt  Chloe 
Is  one  of  the  novelties  to  be  distributed  in  the  coming  weeks, 
and  it  is  one  of  striking  qualities.  The  colour  is  particularly 
dark  and  rich — almost  black.  The  bloom  is  cf  lovely  shape,  its 
florets  being  long  and  pointed.  In  dark  kinds  it  is  not  easy 
to  beat  Uncle  Tom,  yet  the  new  one  may  be  considered  the 
more  refined.  It  is  not  a  little  remarkable  that  Mr.  Stredwick 
seems  to  be  the  only  raiser  to  effect  improvements  in  the  deep- 
coloured  shades.  First  we  had  Harry  Stredwick,  then  Night, 
and  more  recently  the  two  named  above.  This  new  variety  is 
sure  to  become  popular.  The  growth  of  all  these  dark  sorts 
has  been  so  good  that,  although  I  have  not  seen  the  kind 
growing,  I  have  reason  to  believe  Aunt  Chloe  to  be  equally 
satisfactory. — W. 
Hypericum  coris. 
This,  though  old,  is  scarcely  known.  It  is  a  very  neat  and 
compact  grower,  with  glaucous,  linear,  Heath-like  foliage, 
arranged  in  whorls  around  the  slender,  erect  growth,  which  is 
terminated  by  loose  clusters  cf  five-petaled  flowers,  pure  golden 
yellow  and  quite  large  for  so  small  a  plant,  about  three-fourths 
cf  an  inch  across  and  freely  produced  from  June  to  September. 
The  stems  are  woody  and  attain  a  height  of  from  Gin  to  9in  with 
us,  rarely  over  that.  The  tips  are  occasionally  winter  killed, 
but  as  the  plants  break  freely  from  below,  the  damage,  if  any, 
is  soon  repaired.  A  spring  shearing  is  beneficial ;  the  plants 
start  more  vigorously  when  so  treated.  They  are  evergreen 
and  succeed  in  almost  any  soil  with  good  drainage.  It  is  the 
daintiest  of  all  the  Hypericums. 
Window  Gardening. 
There  is  window  gardening  and  window  gardening.  There  is 
the  window  gardening  of  wealth.  Then  there  are  the  windows  of 
suburban  residents,  made  gay  with  blooms  matching  the  trim 
bed  on  the  little  lawn.  All  this  is  suggestive  of  comfort,  if  not 
of  riches,  and  of  leisured  taste,  if  not  of  fashion.  But  about  the 
window  gardening  in  the  densely  crowded  East  End  there  is 
something  of  the  pathos  of  the  widow’s  contribution  to  the  trea¬ 
sury — the  window  is  probably  that  of  a  room  in  which  a  family 
live,  and  the  one  plant  is  all  in  the  way  of  floral  indulgence  that 
they  have.  There  is  something  of  desperation  in  such  a  heroic 
attempt  to  keep  in  touch  with  Nature,  and  to  feed  the  eye  and 
the  heart  with  the  companionship  of  one  forlorn  plant. 
A  Basket  of  Achimenes. 
Certain  plants,  of  which  Fuchsias  and  Zonal  Pelargoniums 
may  be  taken  as  examples,  are  produced  in  perfection  without 
more  than  the  most  ordinary  attention,  and  Achimenes  are 
generally  successful  with  due  watchfulness.  To  produce  either 
huge  pans  of  specimen  Achimenes,  however,  is  recognised  as 
deserving  special  credit,  and  at  the  late  Beckenham  (Kent)  show 
so  handsome  were  some  of  the  Achimenes  there  that  some  of  the 
committee  thought  a  Silver  Medal  award  would  only  have  been 
a  due  reward  to  the  contributor  of  them.  We  figure  a  hanging 
basket  of. these  pretty  Gesneraceous  plants  this  week,  which  will 
he.lp  to  show  how  adaptable  are  Achimenes  for  such  ruse,  and  the 
basket  represented  is,  moreover,  a  good  one,  affording  a  high 
standard  to  aim  for.  The  roots  may  be  potted  in  January  or 
earlier,  and  grow  on  in  moist,  warm  pits.  (See  page  135.) 
Elderberries  for  Pies. 
It  is  not  very  generally  known  (says  “  Meeh&ns’  Monthly”) 
that  the  common  black  Elderberry  fruit  makes  into  goccl  pies. 
There  is  often  a  tinge  cf  bitterness  in  the  eating  which  alone 
prevents  a  similarity  to  Huckleberries. 
Thunbergia  Harrisi. 
Thunbergia  Harrisi  is  by  no  means  a  new  species,  having  been 
introduced  nearly  fifty  years  ago ;  but  it  is  not  generally  culti¬ 
vated.  The  blooms  are  large  and  showy,  being  purplish  blue 
with  a  pale  yellow  suffusion  in  the  throat.  They  are  freely 
produced  in  racemes,  which  should  be  sufficient  to  warrant  at 
least  one  plant  of  this  species  having  a  place  in  every  stove. 
Centaurea  orientalis. 
C’entaurea  orientalis  is  an  ornamental,  branching  plant  with 
twice  divided,  archingly  bent  foliage,  silvery  grey  in  its  younger 
state.  The  stems  attain  a  height  of  2ft  to  2)ft,  and  the 
numerous  globose  flower  heads  are  borne  on  long,  stiff  stems, 
from  June  to  September.  Various  colours  are  represented, 
ranging  from  bright  bronzy  crimson,  deeper  or  lighter  yellow 
and  sulphur  to  almost  white.  It  is  a  desirable  cut  flower,  and 
easily  grown  in  border  or  field. 
Cactus  Dahlia  Clara  G.  Stredwick. 
This  appeared  to  me  one  of  the  best  new  varieties  of  last  year. 
It  is  composed  of  an  unusual  number  of  long,  very  narrow,  pointed 
florets,  and  is  full  to  the  centre.  The  colour  is  not  unlike  that 
of  the  well-known  Magnificent — a  distinct  shade  cf  buff-yellow — 
bright  and  taking.  But  in  formation  the  new  one  is  a  great 
advance,  and  I  shall  not  be  far  wrong  in  predicting  that  this 
will  be  a  standard  kind  both  for  exhibition  and  for  garden 
decoration.  The  life  of  a  Cactus  Dahlia  in  these  days  of  im¬ 
provement  is  a  short  one ;  yet  a  distinct  advance  as  this  is  will 
in  time  find  its  way  into  every  collection. — W.  K. 
Cactus  Dahlia  Mrs.  H.  J.  Jones. 
We  find  that  Dahlias  which  have  flowers  of  two  colours  some¬ 
what  disappointing ;  they  are  not  constant  .  Take  Arachne  and 
Innovation.  Their  crimson  and  white  petals  form  blooms  of 
especially  rich  and  novel  combinations;  but  on  a  plant  scarcely 
two  flowers  are  alike' — one  has  more  white  another  more  red 
than  their  neighbours.  Yet,  their  novelty  makes  them 
attractive,  and  last  year  several  new  kinds  were  noted.  The 
one  that  pleased  me  most  was  the  above.  The  florets  may  be 
described  scarlet  with  creamy-white  edge;  these  are  plentiful, 
and  are  long  and  narrow,  thus  forming  a  large  bloom  of 
desirable  shape.  By  the  raiser  it  is  said  to  be  constant,  and  it 
is  therefore  a  valuable  acquisition. — H.  S. 
Pines. 
Potting  Suckers  from  Early  Fruited  Plants.- — Early  sorts 
started  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  for  ffuiting  now  will  have 
ripened  their  fruits,  and  the  late  varieties  will  be  so  advanced 
in  ripening  the  fruit  as  to  admit  of  their  being  removed  to  a 
vinery  or  ether  house  rather  cool  and  dry,  which  will  prolong 
the  season  and  admit  of  the  successional  plants  being  afforded 
more  room  and  light  to  induce  a  sturdy  growth.  The  suckers 
from  the  early  forced  plants  should  be  taken  off  without  delay, 
putting  them  in  fibrous  loam,  rammed  firmly  into  the  pots'  and 
around  the  base  of  the  suckers,  watering  at  once  if  the  soil  be 
dry,  having  in  readiness  a  bed  of  fermenting  materials  at  a 
temperature  of  90deg  at  the  base  of  the  pots  to  plunge  them  in. 
They  root  most  satisfactorily  in  a  close  moist  pit,  shading  until 
that  is  effected.  In  plunging  bring  the  material  over  the 
surface  of  the  pots  so  as  to  prevent  the  soil  becoming  dry  near 
the  top,  the  soil  then  having  sufficient  moisture  until  the 
;  suckers  have  rooted,  especially  if  properly  shaded  from  bright 
|  sun  and  ventilated  moderately  at  8odeg.  Do  not  subject  the 
i  suckers  to  overstrong  bottom  heat.  Beds  that  had  a  supply 
of  fresh  material  in  the  spring  will  not  require  any  now.  They 
may,  however,  with  advantage  be  turned  to  a  depth  @f  20in  to 
24in  ;  but  those  that  had  not  a  renewal  of  the  material  in  spring 
should  have  an  addition  of  about  a  foot  of  new  tan  mixed  with 
the  old  to  a  depth  of  18in,  avoiding  if  possible  the  making,  of 
new  beds,  but  if  it  be  necessary  24in  depth  of  new  tan  will 
afford  all  the  heat  required  for  the  suckers. — Practice. 
