December 24, 1874. ] 



JOUENAL OF HORTICULTURK AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



565 



by sin and misery. It wonid be pleasant to give the name and 

 the portrait of the Pansy Mun ; but the modesty and reticence 

 which so long kept him unknown, save by the sobriquet 

 earned by bis lavish gifts, forbid. Literally by thousands 

 were they brought, royal in purple and gold, and every rich 

 strange tint born of hybrid culture. About twenty hospitals 

 and infirmaries were supplied week by week ; and many touch- 

 ing incidents might be related in connection with them. It was 

 odd to see the various preferences shown in the hospitals. The 

 men would oftenest choose bunches of fragrant border Pinks ; 

 the women almost always wanted Koses ; if country-bred, wild 

 flowers were the most eagerly sought ; in the work-rooms, 

 garden Roses, sprigs of trailing Arbutus, sweet Honeysuckle, 

 or boughs of pink-tinted Apple blossoms. 



As the weeks wore away, and a kind of intimacy grew up 

 between givers and receivers, special cases were remembered 

 in the making of the little bouquets : to the blind girl always 

 aa many fragrant flowers as possible ; the consumptive in the 

 clean white hospital bed welcomed the scarlet Geranium, 

 which lent a bit of warm bright colour to the prevailing white 

 of the wards ; one young sewing girl always begged for Lilies of 

 the Valley — it seemed easier, she said, to sew the long white 

 3eam with the delicate white flowers keeping her company. 



The report of the physicians connected with the hospitals is 

 most encouraging. They say it is a great aid to convalescence 

 when the patients have something to divert their thoughts 

 from their own suffering, and nothing answers that purpose so 

 well as the fresh beauty and fragrance of flowers. In Chelsea 

 many of the physicians send in list of special eases in their 

 practice where such gifts would be particularly beneficial : 

 oftentimes, they say, the fruit sent is the best of agents in 

 hastening recovery. 



Among the pleasant records of the mission are the visits to 

 the Bennett Street Dispensary, where many poor sick people 

 go for advice and medicines — often two hundred patients in 

 the course of the day, each waiting their turn, and weary 

 waiting it is. The surprise and delight manifested when the 

 flowers are distributed among them must be seen to bo appre- 

 ciated. Many touching letters have been received from hospital 

 patients and from the workrooms. A brief extract from one 

 of the latter is given : — " I think our Heavenly Father must 

 have put it into some sympathising Christian heart to thus re- 

 member the toiling ones — we who are shut up from morning 

 till night, and see but little of Nature's beauties. I, for one, 

 very deeply appreciate the gift of flowers. As I looked at them 

 I thought, 'What is the message they have brought me?' 

 Something within me seemed to say, 'To comfort you, to 

 whisper hope, whene'er your faith grows dim ! ' Christ must 

 have loved flowers, for He gave a lesson to His disciples, 

 ' Consider the Lilies.' I have been considering them all the 

 afternoon. These flowers shall fade, but the Great Master 

 Bpeaketh to me and saith, ' Go, say kind words, and do kind 

 deeds to your fellow men, and cause beautiful flowers and love 

 and trust in God's goodness to grow up and blossom in their 

 dreary pathway, and remember that whatsoever ye do unto the 

 least of these My brethren, ye do it unto Me.' .... I thank 

 the Mission for the flowers. They did me a world of good, 

 turning my thoughts from the daily drudgery of life to some- 

 thing nobler and better. With the gratitude of a weary toiling 

 sister." 



One thing of special note in connection with this Flower 

 Mission is that none having put their hand to the plough seem 

 to look back or loose their hold. Sooner or later we trust every 

 town and city, every country village, will have its Flower 

 Mission. — {Harper's New Monthly.) 



GARDEN LABELS. 

 I AM sorry not to observe among the many suggestions in the 

 Journal respecting garden labels any reference to the imperish- 

 able labels brought out by Mr. Bell, formerly of Stratford-on- 

 Avon, and now of PevenseyRoad, Eastbourne. I used topaiut 

 sUps of wood, and mark them before the paint was dry with a 

 lead pencil, as one of your correspondents recommends ; but I 

 found in course of time that the lead mark disappeared, or 

 became almost illegible. Looking for something less disap- 

 pointing, I lighted upon these labels, which I have now tried 

 for some years, and can certainly recommend to others. They 

 are made of a white lustrous metal, which seems well suited to 

 withstand the action of the weather, and is unaffected by cold 

 or heat. The names of the trees, &«., to which the labels are 

 attached are in black-faced letters raised from the surface, and 



are thus rendered more distinct than they would otherwise be. 

 No doubt the wooden labels painted and marked with a pencil 

 are the most useful for temporary purposes, but for a perma- 

 nency for trees, shrubs, Roses, and such like, I prefer Mr. Bell's. 

 I notice that the inventor states that his labels have been sup- 

 plied for the Royal Avenue of Wellingtonias in Windsor Park. 

 — E. BARTRnii, BerkJiampstead, Jflerts. 



THE D'AKCY SPICE APPLE. 



I WISH to draw attention to this, probably the very best of 

 all dessert Apples, and I think one of the least known. 



The D'Arcy Spice is a local Apple, raised some years ago at 

 Copford, near here (Colchester) by a Mr. Cobb,' a farmer, or 

 something of that kind, and it was distributed by him to his 

 friends. Some being taken to ToUeshunt D'Arcy, they were 

 found to succeed so well on that soil, and so many being grown 

 thereabout, it became locally celebrated as the " D'Arcy Spice." 

 This, then, is the history as I was told by a son or grandson, 

 I forget which, of the Mr. Cobb above-mentioned. 



Unfortunately this Apple was not brought out by a nursery- 

 man ; if it had been there would have been a chance for its 

 excellencies being better known. So little has it been dis- 

 tributed that I cannot call to mind any tree further than twenty 

 miles from the place of its first growth, and there and in the 

 immediate neighbourhood every garden has its "Spice;" but 

 I must except those trees, and there are many, that have been 

 sent by officers of this garrison to their friends. 



There is an Apple (Baddow Pippin) somewhat like it in 

 Dr. Hogg's " Manual," but the description does not quite 

 agree ; and should your questioner feel disposed to make a 

 trial of D'Arcy Spice, I would recommend him to plant as 

 many trees as he has space for, especially if he has heavy soil, 

 and I am sure he will never regret it when he tastes the first 

 Apples that ripen ; which, by the way, they never do until 

 November. At the same time I may inform him a letter ad- 

 dressed to Mr. Cant, the well-known Rose-grower, will put him 

 in the way of getting a supply of any quantity of young trees. 

 — Henet Lavek. 



[We have no doubt that the D'Arcy Spice Apple is identical 

 with the Baddow Pippin of the " Fruit Manual," notwithstand- 

 ing the slight difference of the short description given in the 

 third edition of that work, a difference which in all probabihty 

 is so slight as to be attributable to soil or situation. In the 

 forthcoming edition of the " Manual " a lengthened and more 

 minute description is given. This Apple may be obtained 

 from any large fruit-tree nurseryman. — Eds.] 



BOTAL HORTICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 

 AwAEDS of the Fruit Committee during the year 1874 : — 

 AT CHISWICK. 



VEGETABLES. 



Bean, Carter's Mammoth 



Long-pod Carter & Co July 10. 



„ Seville Long-pod Vilmorinet Cie.. July 10. 



Potato, Barron's Perfection . . R. FarquLai' .... Sept. 10 . 



„ Bountiful B. Fenn Sept. 10.. 



„ Cattell's Eclipse J. Cattell Sept. 10 . 



„ Dwarf White Bliss & Sons Sept. 10. 



„ Early Dimmiflk E. Farquhar Sept. 10. 



AT SOUTH KENSINGTON. 



FRUITS. 



Grape, Mrs. Pearson J.R.Pearson ..Nov. 11. 



„ Venn's Seedling W. Sweeting Aug. 19. 



]\lu9a, Champa J. Woodbridge . . July 15 . . 



Pear, Eeum-derAssomption. .R.H.S. Chiswick.Sept. 2.. 



„ Lucy Grieve P. Grieve Oct. 23.. 



„ Pitma^ton Duchesse 



d'Angouleme Eev. G. Kemp . .Oct. 23. . 



.Ist-class 

 Ist-class 

 , Ist-class 

 Ist-class 

 , Ist-class 

 Ist-class 

 , Ist-class 



certificate, 

 certificate, 

 certificate, 

 certificate, 

 certificate, 

 certificate, 

 certificate. 



VEGETABLES. 



Tomato, Carter's Green Gage.. Cai-ter & Co Oct. 



7.. 



Ist-class certificate. 

 Ist-class certificate, 

 let-class certificate. 

 Ist-class certificate. 

 Ist-class certificate. 



Ist-class certificate. 

 Ist-class certificate. 



NEW BOOK. 



Domestic Floriculture, Window Gardening, and Floral Deco- 

 rations. By F. W. BuEBiDGE. W. Blackwood & Sons. 

 With two hundred Illustrations. 



Four of those illustrations the courtesy of the publishers 

 enables us to place before our readers, and we do so the more 

 readily because this is the season when our clerical and lady 

 friends are especially attending to the work those illustrations 

 facilitate. 



" The introduction of beautiful natural objects into our places 

 of public worship is not done merely to satisfy the eye with 



