HORTI CULTURE 



681 



Echoes from England 



THKE 01! WINTER FLOWEHINO CARNATIONS IN ENGLAND 



Tlie American carnations have come so much to the 

 front in Enghind that it is now proposed to hold an exhi- 

 bition of these alone. Several of the gardening journals 

 have heartily supported the seheme, and there seems a 

 jeasonable promise of success. There is no doubt that it 

 would prove to be a very beautiful show, for no flower 

 lends itself to decorative effect better than these long- 

 stemmed, fringed, and richly colored flowers. It would 

 also serve still further to draw attention to these plants, 

 and to their value in the winter time, and would prob- 

 ably result in an increase of business in this direction. 

 The traders" point of view is that such a show would 

 increase the number of growers of these plants, and 

 would therefore cut up the trade in them to some extent. 

 Even now growers who have hitherto grown other quite 

 distinct produce are taking up the new varieties of win- 

 ter flowering carnations, and there promises to be some- 

 thing like a boom in them soon. 



Although most of the sorts shown are of American 

 introduction, some of our growers have also raised these 

 carnations, and in an exhibit set up by Mr. Boyes, Leices- 

 ter, at the Birmingham show recently, were included 

 several new varieties raised by himself. These show a 

 diversity of marking and of coloring that I have not 

 seen in American varieties. He had intercrossed the 

 border and the tree varieties, with the result that some 

 of the wonderful variety of coloring of the former has 

 been obtained, while the plants still remain true winter 

 flowering. The white Mrs. Lawson is generally con- 

 sidered to be the best among the white varieties, although 

 many flowers I have seen are not pure white. They 

 revert to the type slightly, and are marked with pink. 

 Messrs. Cutbush & Sons, Highgate, have one of the 

 finest collections of winter flowering carnations in this 

 country, and in their exhibit at the Eoyal Horticulture 

 Society's meeting yesterday (December 5tli) they showed 

 several new sorts. The most striking was Nelson Fisher, 

 a large and handsome flower of a rich deep cerise color, 

 much deeper than Mrs. Lawson. Lord Charles Beres- 

 ford is a pretty flower, white flaked with pink. General 

 Kuroki is a very good red-scarlet variety, while En- 

 chantress seems still to be the best pale pink. 



THE POTATO BOOM 



'J'he potato boom may be said to be over now, and as 

 was to Ije expected there has been a big fall in the prices 

 of some of the boomed varieties with of cour.se a serious 

 loss to some of those who had bought large quantities. 

 The X;itioiial Potato Society held its second annual 

 slinw ijiiiir rcc(>ntly, and it proved to be very popular 

 aiipii]^: 'j:v<\\,-\-<. although it did not attract many of the 

 public. Ai I he first show of the National Potato Society 

 held last year, many letters were written to the garden- 

 ing journals criticising the exhibition because the valu- 

 able point of flavor in potatoes was almost ignored alto- 

 gether. The question of flavor in potatoes seems to be 

 a diflicult one to decide, for while some prefer a "floury'' 

 tuber like the newest varieties, others would rather have 

 the old yellow flesh varieties so largely used on the Conti- 

 nent. Wliatever may be the merits of the Potato Socie- 

 ty's exhibition, it is certain that the Society is doing a 

 good work throughout the country by means of experi- 

 ments conducted in different counties with a view to 

 testing the merits of new and other varieties under varv- 



ing conditions of soil and climate. The yield and dis- 

 ease resisting capacity of the potatoes are two points to 

 which special attention is being paid. Although the 

 newer varieties may not be considered such good eating 

 by some as the older sorts they certainly give a far larger 

 yield of tubers, and will doubtless prove of value for 

 market. It is a w-ell known fact that size and appear- 

 ance in both fruits and vegetables carry far more weight 

 with the British public than does flavor. It is regret- 

 able that so many of the new potatoes should be so huge, 

 for an increase in size usually means loss of flavor in any 

 vegetable. 



THE COLONIAL FRUIT SHOW 



Early in Decemlicr the Royal Horticultural Society 

 held an exhibition of Colonial grown fruits. The chief 

 features of this show were the apples from British (Co- 

 lumbia, and the great variety of produce from the West 

 Indies. The British Columbian apples were the first 

 consignment placed upon the English market from that 

 country, and they wen . xci'ciIiumIv line. I f llir-i' are to 

 be taken as a sample <'\ ;i|i|'h\- wlm h i'.nii-li Cilumliia 

 can produce, there is luilc iloubt that .-lie will prove a 

 serious rival to Canada. Xova Scotia and other coun- 

 tries which export apples to England. The exhibit in 

 question consisted wholly of apples shown in boxes and 

 on dishes, and was of such an extent that it filled one 

 end of the large hall in which the show was held. The 

 apples were remarkable for their size and rich coloring, 

 and so far as appearance goes were magnificent fruits. 

 Such varieties as Jonathan, Northern Spy, Baldwin, 

 and others were most richly colored, and tlie whole dis- 

 play attracted much attention. We were told that ten 

 years ago British Columbia did not grow enough fruit to 

 supply her own population, while in 1904 the value of 

 the fruit crop was $500,000. Among the exhibits from 

 the West Indies were all sorts of tropical fruits, pickles 

 and peppers, and even some Trinidad cigars, which are 

 said to be almost if not quite as good as Havanas, and 

 to cost considerably less. 



A REMARK.VBLE NEV? ORCHID 



It is not often that I send you a note about orchids, 

 but I am prompted to do so on this occasion by the exhi- 

 bition of a very remarkable flower before the Royal Hor- 

 ticultural Society a few days ago. It was a new and 

 perfectly distinct hybrid odontoglossum, and those of 

 your readers who are interested in orchids may like to 

 know that its parents w^ere 0. Rossii rubescens and 0. 

 Harryano-crispum. The flower is of most beautiful col- 

 oring, and is marked with purple-black spots upon a 

 cream ground color, and all round the flower there is a 

 distinct and fairly broad margin of purple. The lower 

 half of the lip is purple, and the upper part cream col- 

 ored. A mere word description cannot give you a true 

 idea of its beauty, but it was admitted by orchid experts 

 to be the most remarkable hybrid odontoglossum ever 

 raised in this country. It was raised and exhibited by 

 Messrs. Charlesworth it Co., Bradford, and was given a. 

 First Class Certificate. 



ffttyl/U^ fr- /A^r- 



A Correction 



In Mr. Pettigrew's interesting article on Veitch's re- 

 cent introductions from Northern China, published in 

 issue of December IG, "2500 specimens of plants" should 

 read "2500 species of plants." 



