174 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
August  21,  1902. 
Some  “Cottage”  Tulips. 
While  the  “  English  ”  Tulips  will  always  command  the 
admiration  of  the  fancier,  and  will  be  cultivated  by  a  select, 
if  limited,  coterie  of  connoisseurs,  the  less  formal,  and,  it 
may  be,  less  refined,  flowers  of  the  other  sections  will  have  a 
wider  circle  of  admirers.  This  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  when 
we  see  these  fine  self-coloured  or  boldly  marked  flowers  in 
the  garden,  or  when  cut  and  standing  in  bowls  and  vases 
about  the  house.  Among  these  there  are  few  so  fine  and 
so  effective  as  the  class  known  as  the  “  Cottage  ”  Tulips, 
flowers  which  have  been  mainly  preserved  through  being 
grown  in  cottage  and  other  old  gardens  at  a  time  when  the 
later  Tulips  of  their  kind  had  sunk  into  unmerited  neglect. 
Now,  however,  they  have  again  emerged  from  obscurity, 
and  their  number  is  being  added  to  in  various  ways,  so  that 
there  is  choice  enough  and  to  spare  of  the  most  glowing  or 
of  the  softest  colours  imaginable.  As  this  is  written  I  am 
looking  into  the  garden  upon  some  of  these  old  flowers,  and 
in  an  old  lustreware  jug  and  in  other  receptacles  in  the 
room  are  some  of  the  choicest  of  these  flowers,  sent  to  me 
from  the  sunny  Emerald  Isle,  which  are  finer  than  can  be 
grown  in  the  mixed  border  as  permanent  occupants,  though 
it  is  possible  to  do  them  well  even  there,  as  I  have  proved 
for  years. 
While  they  are  yet  fresh  and  bright,  let  us  take  a  look  at 
these  flowers.  There  is  the  shapely  Bouton  d’Or,  of  a  bright 
golden  yellow,  and  approaching  more  nearly  the  standard 
of  the  florist  than  the  greater  number  of  the  class.  Of  a 
lighter  shade,  of  greater  size,  and  less  formal  in  its  outline, 
is  the  glorious  fulgens  lutea  ;  while  lighter  yellow  still  is 
Iutea  pallida,  though  of  like  form  and  size.  Still  paler  and 
more  Primrose-like  in  its  hue  is  the  exquisite  Leghorn 
Bonnet,  and  paler  yet  is  the  soft  creamy  vitellina,  one  of  my 
favourites  in  the  garden.  Not  quite  so  “  black  as  Erebus,’’ 
but  of  a  chocolate  black  (to  coin  a  term),  is  Nigrette,  a  large 
and  handsome  flower,  reminding  one  of  another  called 
Eugene  Delacroix,  from  another  source. 
With  John  Ruskin  we  are  introduced  to  another  lovely 
section,  less  effective  in  the  distance,  it  may  be,  but  of 
exquisite  beauty.  Beginning  with  orange  yellow,  shaded 
pink  at  the  edge  of  the  petals,  it  changes  much  as  the  flowers 
age,  but  with  its  combinations  and  changes  is  so  difficult  to 
do  justice  to  that  one  had  better  say  little  more.  Little  less 
difficult  is  it  to  describe  the  charming  Fairy  Queen,  which 
begins  by  being  a  kind  of  heliotrope  and  yellow,  and  dies  off 
an  exquisite  fawn.  This  leads  us  to  The  Fawn,  which  is  one 
of  the  prettiest  of  it's  class,  with  beautiful  dove-like  shades 
and  tonings.  Here,  too,  are  the  flaming  flowers  of  Spathu- 
lata  aurantiaca  maculata,  whose  glowing  orange-scarlet 
flowers  are  decorated  with  a  deep  black  spot  at  the  base  of 
each  petal.  A  pretty  little  flower,  too,  is  Marjoleta,  which 
is  a  pretty  yellow,  with  a  blotch  of  bright  crimson  at  the  edge 
of  each  petal.  Then  there  is  the  beautiful  canary-coloured 
ixioides,  with  its  pretty  flowers  decorated  with  their  black 
bases. 
The  forms  of  T.  Billietiana  are  numerous,  and  all  are 
beautiful,  none  being  hardier  or  more  acceptable  than 
Golden  Crown,  which  sometimes  passes  for  the  pure  yellow 
Golden  Eagle,  and  which  has  its  pretty,  pointed,  yellow 
flowers  at  first  narrowly  edged  with  a  scarlet  line,  which 
gradually  spreads  until  the  flowers  are  suffused  with  orange- 
scarlet.  There  is  also  a  bunch  of  the  pretty  Goldflake,  with 
orange-scarlet,  gold-flaked  flowers.  A  handsome  flower, 
also,  is  Gala  Beauty,  or  Columbus,  with  its  vermilion  and 
golden  yellow  blotched  blooms  ;  while  for  those  who  prefer 
such  parti-coloured  flowers,  the  white  and  cherry-crimson 
flaked  La  Panachee  will  prove  welcome  when  May  comes 
around  once  more.  The  plum-coloured  Chameleon,  blotched 
maroon,  and  shaded  to  light  yellow,  is  handsome  as  well, 
while  one  might  almost  complete  the  gamut  of  floral  colours 
by  telling  of  the  many  more  which,  witu  white,  scarlet, 
yellow,  purple,  and  almost  black,  show  us  how  glorious  are 
these  flowers  of  the  early  summer.  Thus  one  might  tell  of 
the  beautiful  York  and  Lancaster,  which  you  see  one  day 
white  and  pink,  and  a  few  days  after  has  assumed  tints  one 
would  consider  incredible  on  the  flower  at  first ;  or  the 
beautiful  Royal  White,  or  the  delicately-edged  Picotee,  or 
the  chaste  Didieri  alba.  All  have  charms,  and  none  have 
ugliness.  All  help  to  give  us  delight,  and  all  tend  towards 
making  the  garden  what  a  garden  ought  to  be,  a  place  giving 
cheering  refreshment  to  the  heart. — S.  Arnott. 
Gathering  Tomatoes. 
East  Kent  ”  says  (pagel64),  “  Gather  the  forwardest  before 
they  become  fully  ripe,  and  finish  on  a  warm  shelf.”  Excellent 
advice,  if  the  reader  wishes  to  sell  them  ;  but  if  he  intends  to 
eat  them,  let  him  leave  them  to  thoroughly  finish  on  the  plant, 
and  consume  them  the  same  day  they  are  gathered.  It  is  not 
unlikely  that  he  will  then  say  he  did  not  know  what  the  flavour 
of  a  Tomato  was  before. — W.  R.  Raillem. 
The  Golden  Poppy. 
The  writer  of  the  interesting  paper  on  “  Cheddar  Pinks  ”  in 
last  Aveek’s  issue  (page  144)  asked  about  the  Golden  Poppy.  It 
belongs  to  the  Poppy  tribe ;  but  its  name  is  Meconopsis 
cambrica  (Welsh  Poppy).  It  is  a  singularly  pretty  flower,  and 
grows  easily  from  seed.  I  have  found  it  at  the  English  Lakes, 
at  Cheddar,  and  other  places  in  Somerset.  It  is  the  only 
British  species,  and  does  well  in  gardens,  sowing  its  seed  around 
it. — J.  L.  Woodward. 
Rosa  lichuriana. 
It  was  intensely  interesting  to  follow  the  writer  through 
“  Roseland  ”  (page  448), in  his  graphic  glorification  of  this  Rose 
and  its  progeny;  but  what  about  “that  little  green  caterpillar” 
and  the  “slug  shot,”  that  “faithful  friend  and  infallible 
remedy.”  (?)  We  have'  some  bare,  ugly  banks  crying  out  for 
beautification,  and  gladly  seize  on  the  good  advice  re  Rosa 
Wichuriana,  but  if  that  “little  green  caterpillar”  appears  (and 
where  won’t  he  appear?)  we  don’t  want  to  be  “humbugging 
around  with  other  things ;”  hence,  oh!  writer  in  “Roseland,” 
what  is  “  slug  shot  ?”  Is  it  the  name  of  some  caterpillaricide,  or 
is  it  the  slug  shot  pure  and  simple?  If  the  latter,  how  is  it 
applied  ?  Can  one  twang  aAvay  with  a  catapult  at  the  cater¬ 
pillars,  or  just  fill  a  gun  and  blaze  away  at  ’em? — Quiz. 
The  following  avc  take  from  “  The  Florist’s  Exchange. — 
“  There  is  a  compound  called  ‘  slug  shot’  that  is  very  extensively 
sold  because  of  its  cheapness.  An  analysis  of  this  substance 
shows  that  it  is  composed  almost  exclusively  of  crude  gypsum, 
with  a  small  amount  of  arsenious  acid  and  copper  oxide  added, 
probably  in  the  form  of  Paris  green.  The  amounts  of  these  two 
substances  in  a  sample  recently  examined  were  only  1.58  per 
cent,  arsenious  oxide  and  0.58  per  cent,  copper  oxide*  It  is 
needless  to  say  that  an  article  containing  as  little  arsenious 
oxide  and  copper  as  the  above  will  do  little  or  no  good  as  an 
insecticide.  An  analysis  of  another  sample  of  this  substance 
showed  that  very  small  amounts  of  sulphur,  tobacco  and  carbolic 
acid  Avere  present,  thus  increasing  the  value  of  the  preparation.” 
— Ed.] 
Hedge  Sparrow  or  House  Sparrow? 
In  a  recent  issue  appeared  a  paragraph  relating  to  the 
depredations  of  the  sparrows  among  the  Corn  crops ;  but  the 
Avriter  made  a  slip  by  confusing  the  hedge  sparrow  Avith  the 
common  SparroAv.  The  hedge  sparrow  is  one  of  our  best  friends, 
and  is  far  too  rare  in  the  locality  from  which  I  Avrite  (TeAvkes- 
bury) ;  but  the  common  sparroAV  is  an  intolerable  plague.  He 
clears  off  our  young  Lettuces  by  the  thousand  in  the  spring,  and 
if  Ave  do  not  protect  them  with  wire  guards  he  does  the  same  with 
the  Peas,  even  when  they  are  Gin  high.  I  found  it  quite  impos¬ 
sible  last  spring  to  groAv  early  Lettuces.  It  is  true  they  were 
not  much  Avanted,  because  the  autumn-sown  ones  held  out  till 
very  late  in  the  season.  But  in  some  years,  after  a  severe 
winter,  or  a  hot  dry  spring,  I  have  knoAvn  Early  Paris  Market 
to  be  Avorth  Is.  6d.  a  dozen  in  about  seven  Aveeks  after  sowing, 
and  in  such  a  case  the  attentions  of  the  sparroAV  Avould  be  far 
from  welcome.  I  live  on  the  outskirts  of  a  toAvn ,  and  therefore 
am  not  able  to  judge,  but  I  have  an  idea  that  many  of  our  best 
friends  of  the  feathered  Avorld  are  becoming  scarcer.  It  would 
be  interesting  to  knoiv  Avhether  this  is  so  in  rural  districts. 
What  about  the  hedge  sparrow  above  mentioned.  Avith  the  tiny 
bill  and  the  sweet  song?  the  linnets,  wrens,  goldfinches,  Avag- 
tails,  redstarts,  and  a  host  of  others  which  I  iioav  seldom  see? 
and  I  Avonder  hoAV  far  the  cheeky  sparrow  is  responsible  for 
ousting  his  more  useful  and  more  modest  brethren.  People 
with  kindly  hearts  feed  the  birds  and  I  do  not  complain  of  their 
doing  so,  but  I  am  afraid  Avhere  they  feed  one  friend  they  feed 
