October 3, 190S 



HORTICULTURE 



443 



will let them rest for the presenl but we are more than 

 ever convinced that a a ar place than the halls 



of the Massachusetts- Horticultural Society, in which to 

 hold any kind of a flower show in Boston, has not yet 

 i discovered. 



Horticulture at the Franco-British 



Exhibition 



in. 



THE ELITE GARDENS 



Eight in the middle of the grounds of the Exhibition 

 is a handsome bandstand surrounded by a sunken audi- 

 torium, the whole enclosed with a fine stone balustrade. 

 A circular promenade gravelled, and of good width to 

 allow of easy circulation by the numerous visitors, runs 

 around the entire construction and from it branch in all 

 directions paths bounded on each hand by grassy lawns 

 of various shapes and sizes. These Elite Gardens are 

 unquestionably the most extensive in the whole Exhibi- 

 tion and if not actually the finest from the horticultur- 

 ists' point of view they are at any rate a very important 

 part of the outdoor gardening. 



In early summer time they of course presented a far 

 different aspect front that which they now do, and one 

 of the most attractive exhibits then came from Millet & 

 Sons of Bourg-la-Eeine, France. It was composed of 

 several large collections of Iris grandiflora of which 

 there was an enormous number of varieties and of 

 which perhaps no good reason exists for troubling Amer- 

 ican readers with the names. We ought not to omit 

 mention of an exhibit of peonies by the same firm which 

 was contained in several circular beds immediately fac- 

 ing the Eestaurant Paillard and which later on in the 

 season made way for dahlias. 



The peony is essentially a flower in which Americans 

 take an interest and we therefore mention just a few of 

 the most interesting in Millet & Sons groups. They 

 were Albert Crousse, M. Calot, Mile. Dessert, Marie 

 Deroux, Couronne d'Or, Flambeau, Henry Dunay, 

 Emile Bourbon, M. de Chanay, Pauline, La Coquette, 

 Louis Van Houtte, Thos. S. Ware, Mile. Louise Calot, 

 and others. 



Just behind the Eestaurant Eaillard and in front of 

 the Pavilion of the City of Paris were some large groups 

 of azaleas and rhododendrons exhibited by Moser & Son 

 of Versailles. They made a fine show and the best of 

 the latter were Ph. Jacques Vincent, Mile. Therese de 

 Yilmorin, Due de Montpensier, Mme. Felix Guyon, M. 

 Chas. Sequin, Mme. G. Bertin, Claude Monet, Ampere, 

 M. Albert Viger, Jacques Moser, M. Fritz Bluary. 

 Azalea pontica President Carnot, Azalea hybride de 

 Mollis M. Hardy, Azalea glauca stricta and Kalmia 

 Pavardi formed a not inconsiderable portion of the dis- 

 play. Another large group of rhododendrons had some 

 massive plants full of flower and of these Arago, Jeanne 

 Sure, Directeur Chandese, Mme. Marie de Speranskiy, 

 Mme. Jules Porges, Mme. Aug. Pellerin, Bengali and 

 Alphonse Mallet were noteworthy examples of this firm's 

 cultural skill. 



A later visit enabled us to take note of many of the 

 beds in the Elite Gardens that were not in full flower 

 when we first went there. We have some difficulty in 

 deciding how to start so as not to miss any of the ex- 

 hibits and finally begin at the left hand corner of the 

 lower end of the Gardens and work our way systemati- 

 cally around. E. Goyer of Limoges has several fine 



principally ros< , lematis, although one little 



bed with a large pi, : Musa ensete in the middle sur- 

 rounded with carinas and a ribbon edge of crimson zonal 

 pelargonium Paul Cran pel must be noted. In the rose 

 borders, some of enormous length, Goyer has in the ram- 

 bler class Mme. Not Levavasseur, Maman Levavas- 



and Mme. Wm. Cutbush. Others include well- 

 known standard variel ii s. 



We cannot enumerate his clematis on account of their 

 nuiii I hi-, b . Leonidas, La France, Gipsy 



Queen, Venosa, Etoile Violette, Xerces, Jackmani, Mar- 

 cel Moser, M. Van Houtte, Yille-de Lyon, Modesta, The 

 President, deserve a passing mention. 



1 roibier X Son of Lyons have a large rose border, 

 Ivaiserin and La France being planted in huge numbers. 

 (has. Molin of Lyons has roses in large numbers and 

 gladioli, also some dahlias. Of the roses Liberty is 

 grand, besides scores of others all in tine form. 



Pere Guillot's name is known to all rosarians. He 

 has many hush plants and standards among which we 

 noted ii. Nabonnaud, Mme. Margottin, Hugh Watson, 

 Horace Yernet, Pharisaer, Prince Arthur, Princesse de 

 Sagan, La Favorite. W. F. Bennett, Dawn, Killarney, 

 Senateur Vaisse, etc Pernet Ditcher is another emi- 

 nent French rose grower. On a triangular grass lawn 

 he has an immense border filled with Teas and Hybrid 

 Teas. How can we describe them? It is practically 

 impossible in the space at our command. The perfume 

 attracts numberless visitors and we hear on right hand 

 and left exclamations of surprise and admiration from 

 those who like ourselves are viewing this choice collec- 

 tion, -lean Xote, Laurent Carle, Ferd. Jamin, Anna 

 Olivier, Mrs. Aaron Ward, Gustave Eegis, M. Paul Lede, 

 Joseph Hill, Mme. Pernet-Ducher, Le Progres, Souvenir 

 du President Carnot, Mme. Abel Chatenay, Ant. Eivoire, 

 Etoile de France are but a few out of this great collec- 

 tion. 



The last bed of roses to be noted is that from Levavas- 

 seur & Son. It is rather a small collection when com- 

 pared with some of the others and contains a number of 

 dwarf plants of the polyantha varieties. 



We must now leave the roses for other flowers. A. 

 Gravereau has several beds of asters, zinnias and glad- 

 ioli. Several beds of varying sizes and shapes are 

 planted by L. Ferard. One of them has Begonia double 

 multiflore Phosphorescent with an edging of Gnaphali- 

 um tomentosum. Another contains Begonia double 

 multiflore var. Fulgurant edged with golden pyrethrum. 



The world-famed house of Vilmorin Andrieux & Co., 

 at the top end of the Elite Gardens has a huge border 

 planted with gladioli, and at the lower end another one 

 containing some fine cannas. We noted Luigi Baretta, 

 Fanion, Eoi Humbert I, Ecliplique, Comtesse de Bre- 

 teuil, Thorene, Comtesse de Sartout, Marquis de Pio- 

 lence, Claude Brevet, and others. Between the cannas 

 some sturdy plants of dahlias are just coming into 

 flower, and the whole bed is encircled with an edging of 

 Centaurea candidissima. 



We have, ere we leave this part of the Exhibition, yet 

 a few more beds to inspect. These are from Cayeux & 

 Leclerc. One is of gladioli, another Anchusa Italica, a 

 third of calceolorias, while a fourth is a long curved bed 

 planted with Nicotiana Sanderae, cannas, and an edging 

 of French marigolds. A curious winding border from 

 the same house contains dahlias in quantity with many 

 varieties of verbena intervening and this, too, is edged 

 with French marigolds. 



