The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1849-12-18 00:00:00

MISCELLANEA

Plumbago Larpentce.—"l am glad to see at last that Mr.
Masters has come forward and vindicated the opinion I
gave some two or three months ago in your paper, as to
thecapabilitiesof that much-calumniated flower, Plumbago
Larpentte. I then said that I should be much surprised
if it were not found to be one of the prettiest flowers in
the garden by the time the autumn came; and as we ap-
proached that season, it certainly did promise more
and more to realise my hopes of it, till I found, as

your correspondent states, that it is " one of the most at-
tractive autumnal flowering plants that we have ;" and
my own specimen has fully borne me out in the opinion I
formed of it from the first, for it has been for a long time
past in great vigour and beauty—splendour I may say.
What Mr. Masters' peculiar treatment of this plant may
be, I trust, for the instruction and benefit of others, he
will, as you request, be good enough to communicate
through your paper; but I shall be much astonished if
there should be anything in it more than any one might
have discovered with common care and forethought. I
planted my own tender cutting (just fresh from the forcing-
pit, no doubt), with its half-dozen slender roots, in the
same border with phloxes, salvias, fuchsias, &c., only se-
lecting for it a spot sheltered from the winds and screened
from the sun; and there it has repaid me abundantly in-
deed for the little consideration that I have had for it;
and had others who have spoken so ill of it only done the
same, they would have been spared their vexation, and this
little gem, by this time, would have stood where it ought
in the estimation of the gardening world. But it will soon
rise above all the prejudices that it has had to encounter;
and aided, if needful, by Mr. Masters' treatment, you will
hear of it, I dare say, before twelve months have passed
by, as the admired of all admirers of the parterre. And
here, let me add, that it would be well, before putting out
their plants, and new ones especially, if gardeners would
consider a little what their peculiarities may be. But it is
rather the custom to put plants in secundem artem (as it
is well called), where they may happen to have a vacant
place for them ; and " willy, nilly," there they must do
all they require, or take the consequences. So with this
Plumbago. I doubt not it has been exposed to blasting
winds and scorching suds in many gardens, and no wonder
it has failed ; and therefore it is that we hear it so con-
demned as it has been, and still is by many, perhaps.
—Gardeners' Chronicle.—[Many of our readers will be
pleased to see there is some hope of the dearly-bought
Plumbago Larpentm ; we confess ourselves still in doubt
of its ever prcving serviceable as an out-of-door plant : it
may be made to ornament the greenhouse shelves; but
even there its flimsy petals will always prove an eyesore.]
The Value of a Ton of Turnips.—The price paid in the
neighbourhood of Colchester for good crops of white
Turnips and of Swedes, to be fed off on the land, without
oilcake or any other food, is as follows : white Turnips,
30s. to 40s, per acre ; Swedes, 40s. to 60s. per acre. This
will give an average of about 3s. 6d. per ton for Swedes,
and 2s. 6d. per ton for white Turnips. A large sheep
dealer in this neighbourhood tells me that he has from
800 to 1000 sheep consuming Turnips; at the price per
acre which I have named. What the Turnips cost to
grow is another affair; but the price singularly confirms
Mr. Lewes' experiment, that one ton of Turnips (without
any other food) only produced 5 lb. net dead weight of
mutton. J. .1. Mechi, Tiptree Hall, Essex.—Agricul-
tural Gazette.—[We understand that Mr. Mechi, whose
authority as an agriculturist is undisputed, has stated
that high farming cannot be made to pay without protec-
tion. His change of opinion cannot be wondered at if he
has learned many such facts as the above.]
Plumbago Larpenta.—Having succeeded in flowering
the P. Larpentte very satisfactorily, I am induced to lay
before your readers my mode of treatment. I struck the
cuttings early in spring, and when they were rooted suffi-
ciently I potted them into three-inch pots, using a mix-
ture of loam, leaf-mould, and sand ; I then plunged them
into a frame having a bottom-heat of 84 degs., and there
they remained. When the pots were filled with roots
they were shifted into a four-inch pot, with a mixture of
loam, sow's dung, and sand. The plants were again
plunged into bottom-heat for a few days, afterwards re-
moved into one of the forcing vineries, where they re-
mained until they showed symptoms of starvation, the
leader showing flower. I then gave them an eight-inch
pot, and stopping the leader, placed them along the back
of a pine pit. The plants afterwards regained their colour,
and towered abundantly, and I used shading in order to
preserve the flower longer. A Young Gardener.—Gar-
deners' Journal.