abortions. L'Inépuisable was disappearing out of sight when a new sort was brought before the public as 'Roi Henri.' This was in most respects so like 'l'Inépuisable' as to be hardly distinguishable from it: it would scarcely deserve to be mentioned but for one important fact, viz., that it was the first production of the man who was to originate some years later the first really good perpetual Strawberry, Abbé Thivolet, of Chenoves, Saône-et-Loire.

*

According to the Abbé himself, who has been for a long time a passionate lover of horticulture, he sought a departure in a cross between a large-fruited and the Alpine Strawberry. One ought to wonder if he had not. The idea is so obvious that the same cross was attempted times without number. But as it never succeeded, it is most likely that in the present instance it was equally inefficient. The facts related above show plainly enough that no such cross was needed for the production of a perpetual large Strawberry, and a change in the sexual development of the plant was, I think, more to the point than a change in the tendency to produce a succession of flower stems.

The fate of Roi Henri' turned out to be nearly the same as that of 'l'Inépuisable.' After calling forth a certain interest it was dismissed by the general public as a mere curiosity. But not so by its raiser. He persisted in sowing seeds of his Strawberry, both self-impregnated and crossed with other large-fruited kinds. His indomitable perseverance was destined to triumph at last. Next to Roi Henri he raised Robert Lefort and Léon XIII. ; the latter especially he considered as promising. Although less floriferous than his previous seedlings, it set and matured its fruit better and more regularly. Finally, in 1893, a seedling appeared which flowered continuously from May till November, and set a fruit for every flower. This was named 'St. Joseph'-with it "the perpetual large Strawberry was discovered." So the raiser puts it, and his boast is perfectly justified. (Figs. 73 and 74.)

Of course there is ample room left for improvement. The plant is rather dwarfish and depressed; the leaves, which are of a dark-bluish green, are mostly spread flat on the ground; the stems are short and need supporting to raise the fruit from the *Moniteur des Campagnes, St. Quentin.

6

† On November 26, 1898, St. Joseph' was still blooming in my own garden.-ED.

soil; but, at the same time, the fruit is of fair size, heart-shaped, angular or coxcomb-shaped when produced by strong plants, with a deep scarlet colour, scarlet flesh, and brisk taste. Sweetness, acidity, and a rich flavour combine in exquisite proportions. Notwithstanding the freedom with which flowering stems are put forth, runners also are produced in large numbers so as to

insure a speedy increase of the new variety. It should really be introduced into every garden, were it only as the representative of a series of new Strawberries. With some extra care and management it may even prove profitable as a market plant for late summer and autumn sale.

Its raiser is too sensible to consider his achievements as complete and definite, and he is in the field as actively as ever raising and propagating new forms with the purpose of introducing, if possible, fresh seedlings, which may be distributed as improvements upon St. Joseph.' One, which he has just named 'St. Antoine de Padoue,' fairly promises to be a valuable

addition to the already pretty long list of the perpetual large Strawberries.

M. Edouard Lefort, the reputed raiser of some good varieties, has already entered the lists with Jeanne d'Arc,' a seedling from 'St. Joseph,' which, although decidedly different from the mother plant in its rounder, greener leaves and brighter scarlet fruit, does not show such an advance as to deserve a lengthy description. Fresh achievements in perpetual Strawberries are to be expected yearly now, and some respite should be given to the raisers in order to let them thoroughly test their new productions before bringing them forward. Similar kinds which follow too soon upon the appearance of a sensational novelty are very apt to turn out to be nothing more than misnomers and masqueraded duplicates of the original article. So every able judge will pronounce the so-called Rubicunda, la Constante féconde' to be with regard to St. Joseph.'

It is quite otherwise with 'Oregon' and another French sort, 'Louis Gautier.' Both are distinct, and, although far from perfect, deserve to be noticed and experimented with.

'Oregon' was distributed as far back as 1894 or 1895 by Mr. Crawford, of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, as a Perpetual Strawberry, and it really deserves the name to a great extent. I have seen it recently bearing a fair crop of large, bright scarlet, sharply angular berries, and showing fresh trusses of bloom which promise another crop of fruit before winter. My opinion is that it is heavily handicapped in the contest with 'St. Joseph' by the fact of its being a weak grower and a scanty bearer of runners; but it is after all a fairly perpetual sort.

'Louis Gautier,' on the other hand, is a vigorous and luxuriant grower, with a dark, thick, hairy foliage: the trusses are very strong, growing well out of the leaves, with large coxcombed fruit as pale as the original Chili Strawberry. It gives, according to my experience of it, a heavy crop in spring of ill-coloured, large white-fleshed, quite solid, juicy fruit, but bears only few and far between summer or autumn trusses of bloom. These, when produced at all, mostly spring from the young plants rooted in spring from the earlier runners. A fresh flower-stem from even a young plant which has already bloomed in spring is, to my knowledge, a rarity.

It is certain that new varieties of perpetual large-fruited

Strawberries will now be produced in great numbers, some of which may deserve to be hailed as valuable discoveries. We must be content to wait for them to appear, and in the meantime turn the few already established sorts to the best possible account, which can be done most successfully with some care and management. The best system, to the extent of my experience, consists in preventing the perpetual varieties from flowering and bearing fruit in May, when they cannot compete anything like successfully with the fine single-cropping sorts, suppressing the runners all the time, and in manuring, mulching, and watering freely from July to the end of September.

The use of the perpetual Strawberries for forcing I am not acquainted with, and therefore I will abstain from treading on unexplored ground.

But I will add a last remark to the effect that I have observed an imperfectly perpetual Strawberry found in the district of Angers to bear fruit much more abundantly since the St. Joseph' Strawberry has been introduced into my garden at Verrières. It seems evident that the flowers borne out of season by the former, which I suppose to be a chance seedling from the old Pine-apple Strawberry, mostly failed to set for lack of impregnation, and now are regularly pollinised in consequence of the 'St. Joseph' Strawberry bearing a profusion of perfect stamens nearly all the year round.

The new race should then prove doubly useful in bearing fruit constantly and in helping to impregnate the ovaries of other varieties.

THE DISA GRANDIFLORA.
By Mr. F. W. BIRKINSHAW.

[Read September 6, 1898.]

In some

THIS interesting cool Orchid is one of my special favourites, and I may say that I have grown it with very fair success. seasons of course it has flowered much better than in others, according to the strength of the annual growth which it makes.

There are, I believe, upwards of fifty species of Disa, chiefly natives of the Table Mountain and the Mascarenhas Islands; but I am sorry to say that not half of them are cultivated in European gardens at the present day. I do not know why this

is so, but I have heard Orchid growers say how very difficult Disas are to manage. However, I have not found them so; but of course the position in which they are placed is very important to their growth.

My remarks will refer chiefly to Disa grandiflora, or, as it is sometimes called, the 'Flower of the Gods,' which is the largest flowered variety in the genus. The flowers are of a brilliant carmine red, and in some the hooded sepals are suffused with orange. There is a variety named 'Superba,' which is quite a deep blood-red, and when seen under artificial light it is most attractive.

This beautiful class of terrestrial Orchids should, I think, be included in even the most select collections. The amateur may try a few plants, as they do not require any expensive glass structures or heating apparatus. In a cool greenhouse, where Pelargoniums or hard-wooded plants flourish, there will the Disa be at home if properly attended to. The plants that I have charge of are arranged at the east end of a cool greenhouse some twenty yards in length, and partially shaded from the afternoon sun by a 10 ft. wall. The house is about sixty yards away from the boilers, so that there is very little pipe heat at any time. The plants are elevated a few inches above the front ventilators, on sandstone slabs, covered over with sand and spar. There is a duplicate stage underneath filled with gas-coke broken small, so as to absorb all moisture, and give it off again during the nights. In warm weather it is kept watered, so as to keep the plants cool and moist. I often put cabbage and lettuce leaves down among the plants on a hot day, and they have appeared to wither up; but on visiting them again about 8 P.M. they have looked quite fresh and green again, and covered with moisture, the slugs taking their repast from them instead of making a supper off the Disas.

VENTILATION.

Being an alpine or mountain plant the Disa delights in abundance of fresh air, without a draught. Even in winter it is most beneficial, as it strengthens the young growths, and makes them all the more vigorous to withstand the summer heat. If only a chink of air is given for two or three hours a day, just to change the temperature of the house, it will do them a great deal