Jdxy 21, 1888.] 



TEE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



63 



THE SEED TRADE. 



Which is the Earliest Pea ? Rousd-seeded 

 Varieties. — At their new trial grounds, Springfield, 

 Chelmsford, Messrs. Hurst & Son, of 152, Hounds- 

 ditch, have endeavoured to answer this question. 

 The lease of their Croydon ground having run out, 

 this enterprising firm thought it wise to go farther 

 afield, and they have secured some good land for the 

 purpose at Chelmsford, by the side of the Great 

 E istern Railway. It is a stronger and more holding 

 land than the lighter soil at Croydon, and in course 

 of time, when it, becomes better tilled, it will grow 

 vegetables to perfection. Already the crops of Peas, 

 Lettuces, Onions, Cabbages, Beans, &c, together 

 with innumerable samples of flower-seeds, can be 

 seen to the best advantage. 



But which is the Earliest P ea ? I think that a 

 thoroughly good stock of Dillestone's Early Prolific, 

 which is but a selection from the old Sangster's 

 No. 1, still holds its own in the race for earliest, 

 though it may be met with here under several dif- 

 ferent names. A good selection of this type possesses 

 two advantages — it is both early and hardy — and if 

 the cooked Peas lack the finer quality of some of the 

 second early types, yet it is something to have Peas 

 early, and we are not so particular as to quality early 

 in the season : the fact that they are young fresh 

 Peas, and can be had early, leads us to overlook fail- 

 ings in quality'; when we get on to the second earlies 

 we can afford to be more exacting on this point. 



What is known as the Extra Early of the Ameri- 

 cans, and the Improved Sangster's No. 1 of Hurst & 

 Son (a very fine and true stock, indeed), appear to be 

 one of our very best early Peas. Of the round-seeded 

 t .'pe there were eighteen rows of the latter — as level, 

 uniform, and true as a set of ninepins. Sangster's 

 No. 1 is a Pea that requires constant and persistent 

 selection to keep if thoroughly uniform and good. 

 What was growing here'as Carter's Lightning is repre- 

 sented by a tall stock of SangsterVNo. 1 — much taller 

 than the improved type, and decidedly later. 



Emerald Gem is a good selected stock of the old 

 Danecroft Rival, a good hardy variety, and, when 

 growing, identical in appearance with Sangster's 

 No. 1, only that the foliage, pods, and Peas are green. 

 But there are some who think it distinct from 

 Sangster's in all respects. After all, I suppose that 

 Laxton's William I. remains the most useful of all 

 that Mr. Laxton has raised : its long curved, well- 

 filled green pods, with a pleasing bloom upon them, 

 are decidedly attractive, and while of acceptable table 

 quality, it is also useful for early exhibitions. But it 

 is a variety that seems to show a tendency to run 

 back to the old Prizetaker, which was probably 

 one of its parents, and so a rigid selection is neces- 

 sary. But of several samples seen here, Hurst's 

 stock of Improved William I. stood out from all the 

 rest for high-class quality. It is the practice of the 

 firm to grow an acre of a very fine selected stock for 

 seed purposes every year, and the produce is sown for 

 a business supply. It is in this way that a good stock 

 is kept pure and true. Laxton's Early William 

 appears to be identical with Improved William I., 

 both in the character of the growth and dried seeds. 

 Veitch's First Early, blue seeds, Harrison's Eclipse, 

 Laxton's Earliest of All, Carter's Blue Express, and 

 Alaska, may, in the general character and similarity, 

 be set down as blue forms of Sangster's No. 1 — 

 but good stocks of it ; there were seventeen rows of 

 them, and they were all of one type. Kentish 

 Invicta appears to be the same in all respects, only 

 that it is a little darker in the foliage. 



I think that the old Berks Gem, or in its more 

 modern form, the Improved Tom Thumb — the latter 

 being both earlier and better than the old type — to 

 be a Pea well deserving of culture for early work, 

 and especially for growing in pots, or sowing in early 

 warm borders; it produces good sized pods for so 

 dwarf a plant, and is a good cropper also. Blue Peter 

 is of the same character, but has darker pod and 

 foliage and larger Peas ; the dry seed being blue in 

 colour. First Crop Blue is a large blue round- 

 seeded Pea, a little taller than Tom Thumb, bears 



fine pods, and comes in with the first earlies; it is a 

 capital Pea, well deserving of a much more extended 

 culture. 



In Pride of the Market we get a very robust 

 growing and free-branching dwarf Pea, about 18 

 inches in height, and one that will grow very strong 

 in good ground. It does not come in quite with the 

 fiirst earlies, but it is an excellent Pea for small 

 gardens. It has round seed, while its twin brother 

 Stratagem has wrinkled seed. Early Kenilworth is 

 a kind of pale-podded William I., taller growing, 

 and not quite so early ; Scimitar, a desirable variety, 

 and showing a tendency to run out to a tall type. 

 As seen here it is decidedly inferior to William I. 



So far I have dealt with the early round-seeded 

 varieties. The early wrinkled types shall be dealt 

 with next. B. D. [It is interesting to note that these 

 results do not agree with those obtained by Messrs. 

 J. Veitch & Sons, in the case of the same Peas 

 grown on other soil, and noted in our report of the 

 meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society on the 

 10th inst. Ed.] 



ANNUAL LIFTING OF 



DAFFODILS. 

 In your issue of the 7th inst., p. 11, I see Mr. 

 Jenkins refers to some remarks made by me 

 some time ago at the Horticultural Club on the 

 above subject. Politicians claim allowance for 

 after-dinner remarks ; I do not know if florists 

 are allowed the same privilege : if not I think 

 they ought to be. Further, it would be impossible for 

 any one leading off the debate on any subject at 

 these meetings to verify all the statements he 

 makes. He ought to be brief, so that the other 

 members present may have an opportunity of airing 

 their opinion on the remarks made. I must 

 own the statement with regard to annual lifting 

 caused a good deal of discussion after the paper was 

 read. Now for the part that Mr. Jenkins seems to 

 think is not very explicit, namely, " It will be 

 found that some varieties require to be lifted every 

 year," that is, they do not succeed with me if they 

 remain more than one year in the ground. The 

 second remark, "while others will remain in the 

 same spot for a number of years and do well." The 

 words which follow this remark, " If it were 

 not for the labour and expense I would lift 

 all my varieties every year," meaning that the latter 

 would even do better if lifted annually than if they 

 were allowed to remain more than one year in the 

 ground ; in other words, all varieties are benefited by 

 annual lifting, although some more than others. I 

 am well aware that it has not been the custom with 

 English growers to lift their Daffodils annually — 

 but who succeeds by allowing himself to be entirely 

 guided by custom ? Experience has taught me that 

 neither the flower nor the bulb of those that remain 

 more than one year in the ground are equal to those 

 replanted yearly; and if any grower will try the 

 experiment of replanting part of his stock for a 

 number of successive years, he will then see the 

 advantage. Take for example a bulb lifted, say in 

 the beginning of July, dried, carefully cleaned, 

 planted by the beginning of August, if examined by 

 the month of October, when it will be found that the 

 fibre will be much deeper in the ground, and much 

 stronger than in the case of those that have not been 

 lifted ; hence follows a larger flower and abetter bulb 

 at lifting time. This was clearly visible again this 

 spring with N. ornatus : the flowers of those planted 

 last year early in August were much superior to those 

 planted in August the year previous. Mr. Burbidge, 

 in vour issue of the 14th inst., p. 35, gives very sound 

 advice when he says, " The best plan in practice is 

 to find out the best course to pursue in one's own 

 soil, and in one's own locality," and this is clearly 

 demonstrated when he says, N. maximus is the 

 only one which seems to become stronger with him 

 if left undisturbed for three or four years. Now, 

 this is one of the varieties that I always fiiled with 

 till I commenced lifting it annually. Now I must 

 differ from Mr. Burbidge when he says the real 

 amateur cultivator of bulbs has nothing to do with 

 the storing of bulbs in any shape or form ; here I 



must again say, that the bulb that has been dried and 

 cleaned will fibre quicker and stronger than a 

 bulb that has not been taken np and replanted. 

 What I strongly object to is, to divide and clean, 

 and then lay up in heaps to get perhaps heated, or 

 expose them in any form ; it is then they will de- 

 teriorate — there is no fear of any deterioration when 

 they are drying. What I recommend is, to dry them 

 in trays, and plant the bulbs at once after having been 

 cleaned ; and if this custom were practised, I have no 

 doubt whatever that the English grower who forces 

 for market would find home-grown bulbs suit his 

 purpose equally as well as those grown in Holland, 

 James Walker, Whitton. 



Plant Notes. 



DELPHINIUM ZALIL. 



This extremely interesting and valuable acquisition 

 to our hardy perennial plants is now in flower in the 

 Alpine-house at Kew. It was found by Dr. Aitchison 

 while travelling with the Afghan Boundary Com- 

 mission, and seeds were freely distributed under the 

 name, we believe, of D.hybridum. The leaves some- 

 what resemble those of our common D. ajacis, but the 

 plant is most nearly allied to D. ochroleucum. It 

 produces a fine spike of 1 to 2 feet in height, sulphury 

 yellow, with a greenish line down the centre of each 

 petal, rather small for a Larkspur, to be in great pro- 

 fusion. The dried flowers known under the name of 

 " Isparak " are treated with boiling water and yield 

 a yellow dye, said to be an important commercial 

 product. In his notes in the Transactions of the 

 Linnean Society, Dr. Aitchison says, "This plant 

 forms a great portion of the herbage of the rolling 

 downs of the Badghis. In the vicinity of Gueran it 

 was in great abundance, and when in blossom gave a 

 wondrous golden hue to these pastures. In many 

 localities in Khorassan — about 3000 feet altitude — 

 it is equally common. The flowers are collected 

 largely for exportation, chiefly to Persia for dyeing 

 silk with. They are also exported from Herat 

 through Afghanistan to Northern India, where it is 

 used both as a dye and for medicinal purposes. D. 



Cytisus racemosus. 

 At p. 523 of the last volume I had some notes on 

 this plant and its allies, which I should now like 

 to supplement with the following remarks : — I there 

 pointed out that the plant known in gardens as 

 Cytisus racemosus was distinct in certain respects 

 from any wild specimen I had been able to discover, 

 but that it seemed identical with Genista bracteo- 

 lata of Link. There are two figures published of the 

 latter plant which I then overlooked, namely, 

 Botanical Register., vol. xxvi. (1840), t. 23, and Maund. 

 Botanic Garden, vol. v., t. 235. The former figure is 

 unquestionably identical with the Canary Island 

 species called Genista stenopetala by Webb. Lindley 

 remarks : — " The accompanying drawing of this rare 

 plant was made in June, 1S32, from a specimen 

 communicated by Mr. Young, nurseryman, of Mil- 

 ford, which was unfortunately lost. It had been 

 received by him from Mr. Webb, who had gathered 

 it in Teneriffe, and sent it home under the name of 

 Cvtisus racemosus. Some years afterwards, upon 

 showing the figure to Mr. Webb, he recognised it as 

 the Genista bracteolata of Link, an obscure plant 

 unknown to De Candolle." The latter figure, though 

 with acute leaflets, probably represents the same 

 species, though it more nearly resembles the Cytisus 

 racemosus of gardens. Its origin is thus stated : — 

 " The plant was raised from seed by R. Bevan, Esq., 

 near Bury St. Edmunds, under the name of Cytisus 

 chrysobotrys, but he is not aware from whence the 

 seed was obtained." The synonym there cited, 

 "Genista racemosa, Lindley, Botanical Register, 

 1840, pi. 23," is an error, "that plate, as already 

 shown, being Genista bracteolata. Link. From the 

 above facts I am now inclined to believe that 

 Genista stenopetala, Webb, and G. bracteolata, Link, 

 are identical; and that Cytisus racemosus, Marnock, 



