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HORTICULTURE 



June 3, 1911 



.BRITISH HORTICULTURE. 



The Carnation Show. 



There was a varied and attractive 

 'display at the 10th show of the Per- 

 petual Carnation Society, held at the 

 Royal Botanic Gardens, London, on 

 May 2 and 3. In the class for the best 

 group of cut carnations (not less than 

 twelve varieties) the gold medal was 

 secured by Young and Co., of Chelten- 

 .ham, prominence being given to White 

 Enchantress, Winsor and Hon. Lady 

 Neeld. C. Engelmann, of Saffron Wal- 

 den, Essex, took the premier position 

 for the three best vases of British nov- 

 elties — Carola, Regina and Rex. The 

 second place was taken by W. E. Wal- 

 lace, or Eaton Bray, Beds, with May 

 ■Day, Delight and Scarlet Glow. B. E. 

 Bell, Guernsey, scored in the Ameri- 

 can novelty class, James Whitcomb 

 Riley being particularly meritorious. 

 An indication of the high pitch the 

 ■culture of carnations has reached by 

 the market growers was afforded in 

 the contest for the Covent Garden cup. 

 Two varieties of market blooms had 

 to be shown in vases, also packed in 

 loxes; W. E. Wallace was the winner 

 with Rose Pink Enchantress and 

 White Enchantress. The arranging for 

 effect, and the efficient packing were 

 alike very creditable. The second 

 prize fell to the proprietors of the 

 Thatcham Fruit and Flower Farm, 

 Newbury, Berks, newcomers at this 

 show. 



In the selected varieties, White En- 

 chantress secured the honors in the 

 white section. Amongst the scarlets 

 Beacon was the winner. Carola was 

 the best crimson. Stuart Low & Co., 

 of EnOeld, had a well arranged group 

 and H. Burnett, of Guernsey, Channel 

 Islands, had a brilliant array of the 

 leading sorts. There were but few 

 new introductions to receive attention. 

 The only award of merit made by the 

 committee in this branch was secured 

 by C. F. Waters, of Deanland Nursery, 

 Balcombe, Sussex, who showed a new- 

 deep cerise variety named Edith 

 Waters. Some capital specimens, 

 grown in pots, were exhibited, and 

 these gave evidence of vigorous 

 growth. 



Some Little Known Vegetables. 



At a recent meeting of the National 

 Amateur Gardeners' Association, in 

 London, W. F. Giles, a representative 

 of Sutton and Sons, of Reading, gave 

 an interesting lecture on "Little known 

 vegetables; their culture and use." Of 

 late considerable interest had been 

 shown in this subject, Mr. Giles stated. 

 This was probably due to the fact 

 that so many English people travel, 

 and meet with certain unknown vege- 

 tables abroad, and on their return in- 

 quire whether such can be grown in 

 their own gardens. Most English gar- 

 deners could easily grow them, but 

 the lecturer was not sure, except in a 

 lew special instances, that they could 

 be so suitably cooked as on the conti- 

 nent. It was somewhat remarkable 

 that considering the large number of 

 different types of vegetables which are 

 suitable for cultivation in countries 

 with a temperate climate only a small 

 proportion are grown in all. Even in 

 the commoner kinds of vegetables dif- 

 ferent nations have their peculiar fan- 

 cies. For instance in potatoes, English 

 people prefer a white fleshed kind 

 which will cook floury, whilst in 



ASPLENIUM FILIX-FOEMINA VICTORI/E. 



No branch of outdoor gardening can 

 be more engrossing and pleasurable to 

 the lover of the beautiful in Nature 

 than the culture of ferns. A fern 

 grotto in a suitable place and proper- 

 ly cared for is a delight all summer 

 long and we often wonder that this 

 feature is not more generally intro- 

 duced in home grounds. Among the 

 hardy ferns the Aspleniums are in the 

 first rank as to variety and usefulness. 

 They are found all over Europe, Amer- 

 ica, Asia and northern Africa. Few 

 ferns are more generally admired than 

 Asplenium filix foemina the "Lady 



Fern," in the scores of forms into 

 which it has sported. There is almost 

 no end to its diversity of frond; some 

 are feathery, some tasselled, others 

 tufted like parsley, others twisted and 

 distorted, and to these variations dis- 

 tinctive names have been given. Our 

 illustration shows one of the most in- 

 teresting forms in which the pinnae 

 cross each other with beautiful regu- 

 larity. We got the photograph from 

 H. A. Dreer, Riverton, N. J., who has 

 been making a specialty of the hardy 

 deciduous ferns and can supply these 

 fancy forms in large assortment. 



France yellowish fleshed sorts which 

 have a close waxy texture are more gen- 

 erally liked. A.gain, in this country we 

 prefer the delicious marrow-fat peas 

 with wrinkled seeds, but on the Con- 

 tinent the small, round seeded kinds 

 are largely grown. In some parts of 

 America the flat-headed or Drum-Head 

 cabbage is preferred to the tender lit- 

 tle conical hearts eaten in this coun- 

 try, whilst in France the cabbage is 

 not often served as a vegetable at all. 

 Even amongst what are usually re- 

 garded as English vegetables there are 

 many types almost unknown to the 

 general public, although familiar to 

 most gardeners. W. H. ADSETT. 



then there must be confliction until 

 nature itself is straightened out. How- 

 ever, as I reason true philosophy and 

 the true science of breeding must har- 

 monize and therefore we cannot ex- 

 clude philosophy from breeding. 



GEORGE F. STEWART. 

 West Medford. Mass. 



PHILOSOPHY AND BREEDING. 



Mr. Editor. — I have been quite inter- 

 ested in the articles in HORTICUL- 

 TURE on "Mendel's Law" but there is 

 a statement made in the concluding 

 article which I think requires further 

 explanation. Near the end of the pa- 

 per occurs these words in brackets "ex- 

 cluding philosophy and preconceived 

 opinions." Now, Mr. Editor, the literal 

 meaning of the word philosophy, as 

 given by the lexicographers is, the love 

 and pursuit of wisdom and knowledge. 

 A more modern idea perhaps is that 

 philosophy assumes to be the critic of 

 the sciences. Now if breeding is a 

 science it must harmonize with every 

 other science, for nature cannot con- 

 flict, unless there is something wrong 

 with what we understand as nature; 



CORNELL BULLETIN ON SWEET 

 PEAS. 



The flrst report of the ca-operative 

 work between the National Sweet 

 Pea Society and the Horticultural De- 

 partment of Cornell University is be- 

 ing published as a bulletin of the Cor- 

 nell Experiment Station. It is just off 

 the press and may be secured by all 

 residents of New York State interest- 

 ed in sweet pea culture, and by non- 

 residents who are members of the Na- 

 tional Sweet Pea Society. The secre- 

 tary of this society is Harry A. Bun- 

 yard, care of Mr. Arthur T. Bodding- 

 ton, 342 West 14th St., New York City. 



This flrst bulletin contains mainly 

 the results of fall and spring planting 

 tests in addition to a very thorough 

 study of the forcing or winter-flower- 

 ing type of sweet peas. The Depart- 

 ment of Horticulture has been study- 

 ing these types under glass for the 

 past two seasons, and this bulletin 

 contains the results of this study. 

 The bulletin has been prepared by 

 Professor John Craig and Mr. A. C. 

 Beal of the Department of Horticul- 

 ture. 



