JOURNAL OF HOBTIOULTDBB AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



[ June 21, 1877. 



Hardy. 4, S. Barlow, with ExoelBior. 5, D. Barber, with Seedliog. 6,D 

 Barber, with Seedling. 7, D. Barber, with Seedling. 8, J. Hague, with 

 Richard Tatoa. Rose Brteders.—\, S- Barlow, with Mrs. Barlow. 2, T. Mellor, 

 with Annie McGregor. 8, S. Barlow, with Lady Groevenor. 4, H. Hill, 

 with Atkin's Seedling. 5, D. Barber, with Mabel. 6, T. Haynes, with Lady 

 May. 7, J. Hague, Unknown. 8, W. Whittaker, with Mrs. Bates. Byhlamen 

 Breeders, — 1, T. Haynes, with Beauty of Litchurch. 2, T. Haynes, with 

 Seedling. 3, S, Barlow, with As hmole. 4, J. Hague, Unknown. 5, J. Morris, 

 with Chancellor. 6, D. Barber, with Seedling. 7, S. Barlow, with Seedling. 

 8, D. Woolley, with Seedling. 



Class 13. — For the best breeder Tulip in the whole Eihibition, 28. 6(1, in 

 addition to any other prize it may have won. — S. Barlow, with Mrs. Barlow. 



The Northern Counties Tulip Society's Show was held at 

 Gorton on the 8th inst. ; but as the majority of the best flowers 

 axe named above it is not necessary to publish a list of them. — 

 {Communicated.) 



MB. J. BOOTH'S FLOEISTS' FLOWERS, 



POLE LANE, FAILSWOETH, NEAR MANCHESTEB. 



It was not a propitious day when I set out to visit this home 

 of one of our northern florists, whose garden has long been 

 noted for some fine collections of florists' flowers. The rain 

 was coming down in torrents as it can rain at Manchester, and 

 I had but a vague notion in what part of Failsworth Mr. Booth 

 resided, and I soon found to iBy cost that this was a material 

 point. It is said the world knows but httle of its greatest 

 men ; and so, although I attempted to faithfully describe whom 

 and what I wanted, neither the omnibus conductor nor any of 

 his passengers could give me any definite account. One told 

 me of a Charley Booth who had a garden, and eo I concluded 

 this must be what I wanted ; so I got out in the rain to find it. 

 A young woman informed me, " Oh yes, he attends our chapel," 

 and so I went into some back streets, to find, aias ! that I was 

 on the wrong scent. I then had to come back into the high 

 road and to walk a good mile or more before I came to the 

 right place, which I found out on inquiry from one or two 

 persons to be in Pole Lane, so called from a high pole with a 

 weathercock at the top of it. But when I found the place I 

 did not find the man. He was " gone down into Lincolnebire 

 about some colts ;" and although his brother kindly showed 

 me over the little place, yet I greatly regretted not having the 

 pleasure of seeing Mr. Booth himself. 'The garden is a small 

 one — a thorough florist's, containing two or three houses, a 

 number of pits, and a small piece of ground for planting out 

 Pinks, &e., in. It reminded me very much of some of the old 

 florists' homes I used to be acquainted with in Dublin, and 

 I felt confident that I should find much to interest me. 



My first inquiry was about Auriculas. I knew that the bloom 

 was so very late that, although it was the 16th of May, I did 

 not despair of seeing some in flower. Nor was I disappointed. 

 I found them growing in a house, and the comfort of this was 

 apparent on such a day. Had they been in frames it would have 

 been wretched work pottering about after them and having to 

 lift up frames, li-c. ; and this has a great deal to do, I think, 

 with what seems to old florists an innovation. The house is a 

 span-roof 36 feet long by 8 feet wide, the height 7 feet. The 

 walk is about 2 feet wide, and is sunk 3 feet so as to give head 

 room ; this gives a space 3 feet wide on each side on which the 

 plants are placed. It is heated by hot-water pipes, another 

 innovation about which I must say a few words. I find that a 

 few growers, and but a few in the north, have adopted this plan, 

 which was utterly unknown to the older florists, and is still 

 by most modern growers considered needless, and seems to me 

 to have arisen from two causes. First the change which has, 

 I imagine, taken place in our springs for the last four or five 

 years. They have been so cold and cheerless that it has been 

 almost impossible to get Auriculas in in time for the shows. I 

 remember when there was no difficulty in having them in cold 

 frames in flower by the middle of April, but for the last four 

 years they have not really, under the same treatment, been in 

 flower with me until May ; and when in 1862 the National 

 Auricula Show was held on April 30 th the southern growers 

 considered it to be too late, but latterly it would have been 

 about right. Another reason is that to which I have alluded 

 above — the greater comfort to the grower. One friend writing 

 to me on the subject says, " I, when frosty, apply heat with hot- 

 water pipes to keep the house at, say, about 36° ; this I have 

 done for the last four years. All the other Auriculas in this dis- 

 trict (Halifax) are grown in cold frames. Many of the old hands 

 are opposed to having them in houses. My garden is a thou- 

 sand feet above the sea level, and I must consider myself aa 

 well as the plants." And although old George Lightbody or 

 Eiohard Headly never dreamt of heat ; also while my old friend 

 Dr. Plant, whose collection and style of growth I have never 



I seen excelled, would as soon have thought of eating them as of 

 doing it ; and while Mr. Jeans or Mr. Bramhall never applied 

 I heat ; nor in the present day do Mr. Wilson whose Col. Taylors 

 , always are to the front in Manchester, Mr. Tymons who took 

 first prize in Dublin, Mr. Tandy whose collection was always 

 I in the winning place, and many others in the north, in Ireland, 

 and in Scotland never have given up the cold frame ;^yet I 

 must say for the grower the house has great advantages, and 

 I I am not at all sure whether, as one feels the years creeping 

 ; on, I shall not myself alter my pit into a house. 



So much for the house, and now for the plants. There was 

 an exceedingly good collection in it in capital health, and I am 

 inclined to think that ere long exhibitors will find Mr. Booth 

 to be what is called " an ugly customer." There were some 

 fine blooms of many leading varieties still in perfection — Lan- 

 cashire Hero, Richard Headly, Oliver's Lovely Ann (fine green), 

 Lord Palmerston, Heap's Smiling Beauty, &a. But I was 

 most attracted by two new flowers ; one, raised by Mr. Bead 

 of Market Easen, called Dr. Horner, a very fine grey edge, 

 which was exhibited last year at Manchester ; and another, a 

 seedling of Mr. Booth's, which if I mistake not is likely to 

 take a first place in its class — white edges. The tube is a good 

 yellow, a point in which some whites such as Taylor's Glory 

 are defective. The paste is very solid, ground colour black, 

 and the edge undeniably white. The whole flower is a beauty, 

 and as it seems to be a good grower I think that we shall hear 

 a good deal of it by-and-by when Mr. Booth has a sufficient 

 quantity to let out. Mr. Horner is a fine grey edge with good 

 paste and tube, and obtained a first-class certificate at Man- 

 chester last year. We have a good selection in this class, but 

 as good white edges are few that was to me the more interest- 

 ing ; and in the future those who succeed us may look forward 

 to a much better selection probably than that which we now 

 have. 



Of Carnations and Picotees Mr. Booth has a very large stock 

 — upwards of 2400 pots, or " moogs " as they call them here. 

 Two and three plants are grown in a pot, so that the number of 

 plants is very large. It is found by Mr. Booth that the newer 

 varieties being more robust are displacing the old, it being true 

 of them as of many other plants, that after a time their vital 

 powers diminish ; and the object of raisers of seedlings is now 

 to obtain fine varieties with the vigour of constitution that 

 youth gives. And I suppose that plants which were originally 

 not of very strong constitution sooner give way ; for while they 

 apparently have little power of increase, there are others which 

 give plenty of grass. When therefore we find one raiser such 

 as Ben Simonite bringing forward in one season varieties 

 which obtained, I believe, fourteen first-class certificates, it 

 may readily be imagined that such a realisation is not far 

 distant. Carnations seem to be most difiicult in this respect, 

 far fewer good new varieties of them having been exhibited 

 than of Picotees. Mr. Booth is also an extensive grower of 

 Pansies and Pinks, especially Pansies. Here agaiu I think 

 some climatic change must have been at work, for it is in most 

 places most difficult to keep them, and yet in former years I 

 do not remember that we suffered as we seem to do now. Mr. 

 Booth's Pinks are grown in beds 2 feet wide, and bath in these 

 and Pansies his prices are most reasonable. Fine show Tansies 

 can be had from 3s. to 6s. per dozen, and Pinks at 6s. also — 

 I cheap enough to tempt anyone to try them. He has all the 

 , leading varieties both old and new, the raising of Pansies being 

 I now almost if not altogether confined to the Scotch growers, 

 whose moister climate seems so well suited for the Viola tribe. 

 [ —T>.,I)eal. 



I 



PBOPAGATING LEUCOPHYTON BBOWNI A^^D 

 KLEINIA BEPENS. 

 Leucophtton Browni. — This is a very novel and ornamen- 

 tal plant for decorative purposes, and where refined taste is 

 displayed in the flower garden it will be found invaluable. It 

 has a peculiar and attractive bright silvery appearance, and 

 can be pegged or out down to almost any required height ; but 

 its beauty is more striking when left about 6 inches high. I 

 regard it as a groat acquisition for carpet beds, both its habit 

 of growth and its colour making it well adapted for forming 

 divisional lines in beds of bright colours, and when used in 

 this way it is sure to win admiration ; yet with all those good 

 qualities it is seldom met with. This I think is owing to the 

 difficulty that is found in its propagation. In the first place 

 the plant does not like fire heat, which makes it grow weakly, 

 and cuttings taken off then are almost sore to damp-off ; bat 



