323 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
April  14,  1904 
Ppunins  Tea  Roses. 
April  is  quite  soon  enough  to  prune  Tea  Roses  in  beds  and 
borders.  If,  from  early  pinning. growth  becomes  advanced,  and 
severe  frosts  occur,  they  will  be  crippled  as  far  as  those  growths 
are  concerned,  and  othei'  growths  must  be  made  for  satisfactory 
blooms  to  be  produced.  Plants  on  walls  and  in  sheltered  posi¬ 
tions,  if  early  pimned,  may  escape  spring  frosts,  but  upon  the 
whole  the  later  pruning  is  the  be.st.  Weak,  dead,  and  injured 
wood  may  he  cut  out  from  wall  specimens,'  and  the  long  gi-owths, 
slightly  .shortened,  fastened  in.  Dwarf  plants,  having  well 
ripened  wood,  prune  back  to  dormant  buds  on  firm  wood.  For 
exhibition  blooms  closer  pruning  is  adopted.  — D. 
Aubi’ietia,  Dp.  Mules. 
A  Royal-purple  Aubrietia  was  the  be.st  item  of  Aubrietia  his¬ 
tory  in  the  fast  decade.  Perhaps  one  day  one  of  Myosotis-blue 
will  be  added  to  the  already  fine  group  of  colours.  The  Aubrietia 
has  proved  to  be  versatile  in  colourin.g,  and  to-day  leaves  its  old 
rivals,  the  Aly.ssuni  and  Arabis,  behind  for  most  purpose, 
although  the  latter  cannot  yet  be  di.spensed  with,  as  no  yellow, 
and  hardly  a  good  white,  Aubrietia  yet  exists.  Fine  varieties 
for  association  with  the  fine  purpled  Dr.  Mules  are  Fire  King, 
magenta  crimson,  and  Moerheimi,  large  pink.  The  reds  are 
still  well  repre.sented  by  liiechtlini,  whilst  the  paler  shades  of 
purple  occur  in  different  intensities  in  the  numerous  other  kinds. 
Aubrietias  are  now  throwing  up  numerous  shoots,  which  make 
capital  cuttings. — D.  S.  Fish. 
Vipg-inian  Gala  Flower. 
A  grouii  of  this  fine  North  Americaft  composite  was  in  good 
<;ondition  at  Comely  Bank  Nursery  during  last  summer.  It  is  a 
iittle  known  plant,  requiring  to  be  freely  mos.sed  in  a  sunny 
place  to  get  good  effects.  Lots  of  plants  po.ssessing  yellow 
flowers  are  termed  golden.  The  Chrysogonum  virginianum  has, 
however,  a  better  claim  to  the  title,  for  the  starry  flowers  which 
giv^e  the  wholesome  Dahlia  odour  when  squeezed  have  some 
orange  in  their  colouring.  A  good  point  is  its  long  flowering 
period.  From  May  to  September  the  flowers  are  freely  pro¬ 
duced  on  the  well-branched  stems,  which  reach  to  about  i2in  in 
height.  Seeds  should  be  .sown  in  spring,  in  the  following  year 
the  plants  will  flowei'.  Divide,  or  take  cuttings  in  April.  During 
winter  leave  the  plants  alone.  They  do  best  when  allowed  to 
•grow  into  large  ma.sses.  Northern  America  is  a  home  for  hun¬ 
dreds  of  these  composite  plants  that  prove,  because  of  monotony 
and  weedine.ss,  to  be  often  worthless  for  gardens.  Chrysogonum 
is  an  exception.  It  is  neat  and  bright,  with  the  additional 
virtue  of  differing  in  ai^pearance  from  everything  else. — 
D.  S.  Fish,  Edinburgh. 
Flower’S  in  the  Riviera  in  April. 
At  IMentone  it  is  easy  to  fancy  oneself  at  home,  so  freely  is 
English  spoken  in  the  hotel,  only  that  the  glorious  sunshine  pours 
down  upon  the  sea  in  front,  lights  up  the  valleys,  and  gives  a  rich 
glow  to  the  sheltering  mountains  in  the  background.  Though 
the  snow-clad  Alps  lie  so  near,  winter  deals  lightly  with  this 
favoui-ed  region,  and  the  gardens  sloping  to  the  Mediterranean 
are  eaily  ablaze  with  spring  flowers.  “Eastward,”  writes  the 
editor  of  “  Lloyd’s  News,”  who  has  spent  his  Easter  holiday 
there,  “the  famous  Lemon  orchards  are  a  comstant  .source  of 
delight,  and  all  around  are  Orange  trees  hung  with  golden  fruit. 
Camellias  flourish  in  the  open,  and  scarlet  Geraniums  give  a 
rich  colouring  to  the  scene  as  they  twine  amid  the  quaint 
branches  of  the  Prickly  Pear.  Heliotrope  ri.ses  up  in  compact 
hedges,  while  climbing  Roses  vie  with  the  purple  Hibiscus  in 
covering  tlie  sides  of  many  elegant  villas  by  the  shore,  and  in 
sheltered  nooks  along  the  mountain  terraces.  De.spite  continuous 
Imilding  and  the  introduction  of  a  good  .service  of  overhead 
electric  trams,  the  place  has  not  lost  its  air  of  quiet,  so  that 
walks  01'  drives  can  be  pieasantly  varied  according  to  the  fancv 
and  disposition  of  the  individual.  With  a  shade  temperature 
ranging  from  oodeg  to  (iOdeg  overcoats  may  be  laid  aside  till 
sunset.  Then  it  is  always  well  to  be  careful,  as  severe  colds  are 
mucli  more  easily  caught  than  got  rid  of.” 
Thunbepg-ia  Harrisi. 
As  a  profitable  plant  to  grow  for  cut  flowers  during  the 
winter  Thunborgia  Harrisi  is  recommended.  The  colour  of  the 
flowers  is  light  blue,  with  white  centre  ;  ten  to  twelve  together 
in  the  form  of  sprays,  or  trusses  fifteen  to  eighteen  inches  long, 
produced  by  the  thousands  on  a  plant  well  e.stablished,  all 
through  the  winter.  Propagation  from  cuttings  or  from  seeds 
is  not  difficult,  and  the  subsequent  treatment  is  simple.  Either 
in  pots,  or,  v  Inch  is  better,  in  the  bench  or  solid  bed,  they  will 
do  well.  Best  results,  however,  are  obtained  from  older,  firmly 
established  plants,  if  properly  taken  care  of  and  given  sufficient 
head  room  to  expand.  The  temperature  required  is  about  GOdeg 
in  winter. 
Sip  Thomas  Hanbupy’s  Gapden. 
For  lovers  of  floriculture  there  is  a  never-failing  treat  in  Sir 
Thomas  Hanbury’s  delightful  garden  near  Mentone,  which  is 
thrown  open  on  two  afternoons  in  the  week.  It  consists  of 
about  a  hundred  acres,  planted  in  terraces  with  flowers  and 
plants  gathered  from  all  over  the  world,  there  being  more  than 
5,500  species.  Report  say.s  that  Sir  Thomas  began  life  with 
the  i-esolve  to  make  a  fortune  by  the  time  he  was  forty.  Having 
succeeded,  mainly  through  trade  with  China,  he  settled  down 
just  on  the  Italian  frontier,  and  commenced  the  planting  of  his 
wonderful  garden  at  La  Mortola.  There  may  be  seen  growing 
the  Papyrus  of  ancient  Egypt,  the  curious  Bottle-brush  tree  of 
Australia,  Aloes  and  orchids  from  remote  regions,  and  novelties 
without  number.  The  unpretentious  house  has  historic  interest, 
from  the  fact  that  Machiavelli  .stayed  therein  nearly  four  cen¬ 
turies  ago,  and  Queen  Victoria  was  a  visitor  in  March,  1882.  At 
one  point  the  garden  crosses  the  ancient  Roman  road,  along 
which  it  is  recorded  that  Pope  Innocent  IV.  passed  on  May  7, 
1251 ;  Charles  V.  of  Germany  and  his  army  in  November,  1536  ; 
and  Napoleon  and  his  army  on  March  2,  1796.  In  a  small 
museum  are  gathered  remains  of  Nervina,  a  city  which  stood 
close  by  two  thousand  years  ago. 
Notes  on  Capnations. 
The  Carnation,  as  a  plant,  is  one  which  puts  the  gardener’s 
skill  as  a  plantsman  to  a  strict  test,  and  every  gardener  should 
endeavoui-  to  produce  perfect  examples.  Mr.  Dean’s  notes, 
which  follow,  do  not  bear  on  culture,  but  on  classification,  and 
are  from  a  lecture  he  delivered  at  Ipswich  last  year.  We  figure 
a  plant  of  a  flaked  Carnation.  The  Marguerite  varieties  can  be 
flowered  fi'om  seed  six  months  from  the  date  of  sowing. 
The  florists’  Carnation  for  exhibition  is  divided  into  two  main 
cla.sses,  the  bizarres  and  the  flakes.  These,  again,  form  other 
classes,  such  as  the  scarlet  bizarre,  which  stands  highest  in  the 
estimation  of  the  florist,  with  scarlet  and  maroon  or  black  mark¬ 
ings  ;  the  crimson  bizarre,  with  crimson  and  rose  markings ;  and 
the  pink  and  puiqile  bizarre  with  purple  and  pink  markings. 
The  flakes  also  fall  into  three  classes — the  purple,  which  is  the 
most  valuable;  the  scarlet,  and  the  rose  flake;  their  value 
lying  in  the  purity  of  the  white  ground  and  the  intensity  of  the 
colouring  of  the  flake.  Great  variety  has  been  noticed  in  the 
marking,  as  no  two  petals  are  exactly  alike. 
The  classes  of  the  Picotee  are — 1st,  the  four  main  divisions ; 
the  red-edged,  puiqile-edged,  rose-edged,  and  scarlet-edged,  and 
their  classes,  as  light,  medium,  and  heavy  edges. 
The  seifs  were  next  passed  in  review,  with  their  many  bril¬ 
liant  colours;  also  the  yellow-grounds,  additional  interest 
gathering  about  this  section  from  the  passing  round  of  Thomas 
Hogg’s  “  Ti-eatise  on  the  Carnation,”  published  more  than 
eighty  years  ago,  containing  an  illustration  of  a  yellow  Picotee, 
which  it  is  said  Hogg  introduced  to  this  country.  The  develop¬ 
ment  of  the  yellow-ground  type  was  sketched,  and  the  selection 
from  them  of  a  race  of  true  yellow-ground  Picotees ;  the  beauty 
and  value  of  the  yellow  grounds  being  highly  extolled.  The 
Malmaison  type  tooK  its  name  from  having  been  cultivated  in 
the  garden  of  the  Empress  Josephine  at  Malmaison.  Mr. 
Dean  was  emphatic  in  recommending  the  Carnation  as  a 
flower  for  town  gardens,  enduring  the  effects  of  the  London 
smoke  better  than  the  Rose.  He  instanced  the  fact  that  some 
of  the  varieties  raised  by  the  late  Mr.  E.  S.  Dodwell  were  pro¬ 
duced  in  a  garden  at  Clapham  within  ten  minutes’  railway  ride 
from  Victoria  Station,  and  that  Mr.  M.  Rowan  who  lives  near, 
can  produce  exhibition  bloom  of  bizarres  and  flakes  of  the 
highest  quality.  Border  Carnations  put  out  in  the  open  give 
better  results  than  those  wintered  in  frames  and  planted  out 
in  the  .spring. 
