November 23, 1907 



horticulture: 



667 



composition of form s, and their effect in landscape scen- 

 ery. Hence it is tli at many of the most beautiful places 

 in England are at t his moment disfigured, etc." 



There are plenty of writer.^ todaj' ready to voiee the 

 same sentiments. Is the gardener by his indilterence 

 going to tacitly suliscribe to tlieir truth? There are 

 others who believe the true gardener to be better fitted 

 for practical landscape work than either painter or 

 architect. They have backed up their faith in the most 

 philanthropic manner by e.-^tablishing these landscape 

 classes, and it is to be hoped that the response may be 

 a heartv one. 



British Horticulture 



A KOTED ORCHIDIST. 



An attractive feature at the fortnightly meeting this 

 week of the Royal Plorticaltural Society was the mag- 

 nificent collection of orchids staged by Major G. L. 

 Holford, who was awarded the Society's gold medal, 

 and the gold Lindley medal, the latter in recognition of 

 the superb collection of the plants. For some years 

 Major Holford has had an extensive and valuable col- 

 lection of orchids at his country seat at Westonbirt, 

 near Tetbury, in Gloucestershire. Here are to be seen 

 a number of awards obtained in recent years, including 

 the Veitchian cup at the Temple show in May this 

 year and many other honors. The Westonbirt collec- 

 tion includes majiy exquisite specimens of the at- 

 tractive Odontoglossum crispnm, and of the best hybrid 

 cattlevas, laelias, laelio-cattleyas, sobralias, and cym- 

 bidiunis. The visitor is bound to admire a very fine 

 Ijaclio-cattleya elegaus, with ?32 blooms which received 

 a silver-gilt Tjindley medal from the Eoyal Horti- 

 cultural Society for exceptional culture. Mr. H. Alex- 

 ander, Major Holford's grower has good reason to be 

 proud of it. 



1U.ACK CURR.XKT MITE. 



Son-e useful experiments have been carried out by 

 Mr. Geo. Massee at The T'oyal Horticultural Society's 

 gardens at Wisloy, with a view to discovering some 

 method of getting rid of the Black Currant Mite. It 

 appears that strips of black paper, coated with a thin 

 layer of vaseline were tied round the main stem and 

 branches at various points of a badly infected bush. The 

 experiment was repeated on a larger scale with cart- 

 grease, palm oil, dripping, and thinned gas tar, as well 

 as with the more expensive vaseline. Mr. Massee re- 

 cords that in every instance the method employed 

 proved a success. A good crop was produced, and 

 the greatest number of big buds found on any one bush 

 after one )'ear's treatment was seven, not a single dis- 

 eased bud being; met with after the second year's treat- 

 ment. The branch to be treated is held by the tip and 

 a brush, loaded with grease, is rubbed tip one side, 

 dowTi the other, taking care to hit the big buds, which 

 need not be removed. This should be done early in 

 the season before the young buds begin to expand, and 

 perhaps again at the end of April. Forty-eight 

 JDushes can be easily treated in ten hours. Mr. i\lasseo 

 estimates it to cost about 2d a bush. 



NP;W CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 



The Floral Committee of the National Chrysanthe- 

 mum Society Have recently made a number of awards to 

 new varieties. H. J. Jones, who has put a number 

 of Tiseful varieiie:- on the market, has a new Japanese 

 incurved variety, "H. J. Jones, 1908," which is de- 

 scribed as a rich brass-yellow flower; the petals are long 

 and broad. A first-class certificate has been awarded. 



A similar award has been obtained by Mr. Jones for 

 ilrs. Wakefield, a typical market bloom of a deep rose 

 tint. Messrs. W. Wells & Co., received a first-class 

 certificate for Mrs. L. Tliorne, rich canarj' yellow with 

 paler reverse; and commendations for Lilian Cop- 

 pard, bright chostnut with golden reverse; Bouquet 

 Eose, deep rose ; Mrs. Earle, creamy white with a yellow 

 disc ; Ethel Blades, crimson. P. Ladds, received a 

 first-class certificate for Esmes Eeed, a white sport 

 from Mrs. Wingfield, a' pink market variety. The 

 Eoyal Horticultural Society at their meeting this week, 

 granted awards of merit to the following new varieties: 

 Clara Vernum, a rich crimson and gold decorative 

 variety, Clara Wells, an incurved bloom of a creamy 

 tint (shown by Messrs. Wells & Co.) ; F. W. Lever. Jap. 

 a good white with broad petals, (shown by H. 

 J. Jones) ; Jtrs. G. F. Coster, a golden bronze, 

 similar to Bessie Godfrey; Splendour, a large Japanese 

 incurved, the reverse old-gold, the front side crimson 

 (shown by ^Fartin Silsbnry)^; Romance, bright yellow 

 incurved, (shown by W. J. Godfrey). 



>t>!/, CkM''^. 



Campanulas 



(See Frontispiece.) 



The campanula although an old-timer, is one of the 

 most useful and decorative of hardy plants. A genus of 

 over three hundred sixicies, it contains annuals, biennials 

 and perennials. 



The most popular of these plants is Campanula Me- 

 dium, better known as Canterbury Bell. We all know 

 the beautiful display whicli can be made with a bed 

 of blue, white, pinlc or mixed Canterbury Bells out of 

 doors in spring; an equal display can be had for con- 

 servatory decoration and the flowers are much better 

 for cutting than many of the annuals we now see grown 

 imder glass. 



Many of the trailing varieties can be used to ad- 

 vantage for baskets and in the front row of the benches 

 with pleasing effect. The varieties suited for this work 

 are Campanula i-^ophilla, C. i. alba, C. i. Mayii, — ^the last 

 named of recent introduction, with large blue flowers 

 and woolly foliage, — C. garganica, C. g. alba, C. g. 

 hirsuta and C. ?. h. alba. These are all rather scarce 

 but can bo secured. 



Most of the campanulas are admirably adapted for 

 the herbaceous border and with so many species vary- 

 ing in habit they are among the most important of 

 hardy border plants. The most serviceable for ctitting, 

 in the perennial section, are Camp,anu]a Moerhemii, C. 

 Backhousiana. C. latifolia, C. laciniata. C. glomerata 

 and C. rhomlioidca. 



Many of the dwarf kinds are particularly attractive 

 and interesting and are suited for the front of the 

 border and the rockery. Campanula Hendersoni is the 

 largest of the turbine-flowered. If cultivation is thor- 

 oughly attended to these plants will grow \dgorously in 

 anv ordinary garden soil. Many of them are recom- 

 mended to be increased only by cnttinas or division, un- 

 less particular care is taken with the hybridizing. 



CU(A-00( A^^^^-'-l-OU^ 



