362 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[Sbptembee 29, 1888. 



or £15 per ton ; Seakale, id. per pound ; Asparagus, 

 early in the season, 3s. 6d. per 100, and not less than 

 Is. at any time ; early Cabbage, £40 an acre ; green 

 Peas and Broad Beans, about £12 an acre ; early 

 Potatos from the Channel Islands, £50 to £60 an 

 acre ; Kidney Beans, £25 to £30 an acre ; other 

 vegetables, such as winter Cabbage, Carrots, Par- 

 snips, Turnips, Cauliflowers, &c, from £16 

 to £20 an acre." To the above we think 

 the author should have appended the words : 

 — These prices cannot be depended upon in either a 

 good or bad season, as they fluctuate considerably, 

 and are regulated entirely by supply and demand. 

 Again, the author states that " late or old Potatos 

 will, with a fair crop, make £20 an acre." After 

 such a statement it seems almost satirical for us to 

 remark that vast quantities of old Potatos have this 

 year been sold without realising any profit at all, and 

 a reference to our columns for June 2 will show that 

 at that time they were unsaleable in one of our prin- 

 cipal markets. Concerning many kinds of fruit 

 prices are also given, as well as a list of those var- 

 ieties which are the best to grow. About two pages 

 are devoted to flowers, but there is nothing said 

 which will be of any practical utility. We note the 

 following as a specimen: — " Then again there are the 

 lovely wild flowers in their different seasons, too often 

 left to ' blush unseen and waste their sweetness on 

 the desert air,' and which would pay to gather if the 

 means of getting them to market were placed in the 

 (hands of the gatherers." What would Squire Jones 

 or Farmer Smith say to persons whom they might 

 meet in their fields or woods gathering wild flowers 

 tor market? Chapters iii. and iv. are devoted to 

 poultry and bee-keeping. These are succeeded by 

 ■one on " Distribution ; " the forming of co-operative 

 companies is strongly advocated, and the whole of 

 the remarks relative thereto read very much like a 

 prospectus with a view to floating a new concern. We 

 are also told something about wines, jams, and pickles. 

 Chapter vi. deals with railway rates, but nothing 

 is stated that is different from what we have heard 

 many times before. Agricultural education is briefly 

 touched upon, and in chapter viii. — " Conclusion " — the 

 author assures his readers " that the welfare and 

 prosperity of the nation has been the motive urging 

 and directing me to exert whatever small ability I 

 may possess." This we fully believe, but we depre- 

 cate the circulation of this class of literature without 

 the necessary precautions and warnings as likely to 

 lead to disappointment. 



BEGONIAS AT MESSES. LAING 

 AND SONS. 



The Stansted Park Nursery has been, and is still, 

 gay with many thousands of tuberous Begonias 

 planted in long oblong beds, within view of the public 

 road. There is no endeavour to obtain effects by 

 contrasting colours, but rather convenience in com- 

 paring varying shades of particular decided colours ; 

 iso that we found some beds filled with crimson, 

 another with bright reds, others with pink, white or 

 yellow — the main divisions into which the tuberous 

 Begonia falls as regards its tints. 



Constant selection of the best forms and brightest, 

 darkest, or purest tints, as may be in each main sec- 

 tion of colour desirable, is regularly and persistently 

 •followed out during the flowering season out-of- 

 doors, several young men being employed in the 

 work. 



The actual raising is carried out under glass, 

 from the fertilisation of the flowers to the gathering 

 of the seed, but the flowering of the progeny and 

 their final selection is done in the open air. There- 

 suit of all these labours is a plant of floriferous, 

 generally dwarf bushy habit, well fitted for beds in 

 the flower garden, for vases, window-boxes, or for 

 greenhouse decoration in the summer. These Begonias 

 as a rule produce on a spike one male andtwo female 

 blooms; and this not affording a long succession 

 of bloom when grown in pots or baskets, Mr. Laing 

 has seen the need of increasing the number of 

 flowers on a spike, and has so far been enabled by 



crossing and selection to get plants with two 

 males and four to six females on a spike, 

 thereby in some cases trebling the number 

 of flowers, and rendering the plant when grown 

 with widely divided shoots, as it is when placed 

 in a hanging-basket, far more effective than was 

 formerly possible. 



Improvements in white varieties were noticed, 

 where the pinky colour usually observed on the back 

 of the petals had given place to almost pure white, a 

 decided gain when the plants are used in the garden 

 to give certain effects by contrast. 



The season has not been favourable to the Be- 

 gonia, and growth was late, and blossoms few, it 

 being the middle of August before beds had even a 

 moderately filled appearance. 



Home Correspondence 



GARDENERS' ORPHAN FUND. — Though this 

 charity has progressed far more rapidly than the 

 most sanguine amongst us expected, that is not a 

 reason for slackening pace, or getting careless in 

 respect of greater success. Such an idea has not en- 

 tered the heads of the young gardeners associated 

 together for mutual improvement in connection with 

 the Boyal Horticultural Society's Garden, Chiswick, 

 who, according to a circular to hand, are proposing 

 to have a soiree in aid of the Fund, in the Chiswick 

 Vestry Hall, on the evening of October 17, the second 

 day of the Apple and Pear Conference that is to be 

 held at Chiswick. This is, I think, a very happy 

 thought, and deserving of support, and as many gar- 

 deners and others interested in gardening, are likely 

 to be in the neighbourhood at that time, it behoves 

 them to strain a point in the endeavour to be present 

 at the soiree, and so encourage the promoters in their 

 laudable work. Yet another hint : as there are 

 similar associations about the country, why not 

 follow the lead that the Chiswick Association thus 

 takes, and during the long evenings of the coming 

 winter, devise at least one meeting or entertainment 

 in aid of the Fund ? The writer of this has already 

 taken steps to practise what he has here preached, 

 and as example is contagious, he expects to hear that 

 many others mean to do the same. W. W. 



GIANT IRISH YEW. — I notice a correspondent 

 mentions a successful instance of moving an enor- 

 mous Irish Yew of great age. He has doubtless 

 recorded his success with the object of benefiting 

 others that may require the necessary information, 

 but unless he more fully describes his great feat he 

 will not benefit his fellow-gardeners very much. It 

 would be interesting to know where such a giant 

 Irish Yew can be seen. I was under the impression 

 that I had seen as fine specimens as are to be found, 

 but they would have to stand on each other's heads 

 to attain the height he gives, "50 feet." I have 

 also found Irish Yews that have been growing a long 

 time in ths same position somewhat difficult to move 

 successfully. J. H. Goodacre. 



THORBURN'S EVERBEARING CUCUMBER. — I 



have given this American variety a trial in a cold 

 pit, and also planted out-of-doors on a bed of manure. 

 Owing to the past summer having been wet and 

 cold, this, like other out-of-doors Cucumbers, has 

 not done well out-of-doors ; but in the cold-pit, 

 where the plants were kept close, they produced egg- 

 shaped fruits of 2 to 3 inches long, most abundantly, 

 in clusters of from 3 to 5 from each joint ; and 

 although the fruits have a rough yellowish skin, they 

 are crisp and palatable enough when sliced and par- 

 taken of in the usual way. However, the size and 

 appearance of the Everbearing Cucumber being 

 somewhat against it, it is not likely to find favour in 

 this country, as the Long Prickly and Stockwood 

 Ridge Cucumber are both a long way before it in point 

 of size and appearance, in addition to being very pro- 

 ductive bearers. H. W. Ward. 



PASSIFLORA CONSTANCE ELLIOTT. — This fine 

 white hardy Passion-flower is growing freely and 

 blooming grandly on the new stables recently built 

 at Hanger Hill House, Ealing, the residence of E. M. 

 Nelson, Esq., J.P. This handsome block of build- 

 ings forms a parallelogram. The south front, which 

 is planted with Ivies and flowering climbing plants, 

 is the dwelling-houses of the coachman and grooms ; 

 the east wing is the harness-room and offices ; the 



west wing the coach-houses, and the north a twelve- 

 stalled stable, in the centre being a spacious court- 

 yard. The stables are fitted up with every conve- 

 nience ; they are lofty, airy, and commodious. With 

 that thoughtfulness which is a leading quality in Mr. 

 Nelson's character he has, on the south front, set 

 apart some garden ground for the stablemen, in 

 which they appear to find a great deal of pleasure 

 and profitable occupation. R. D. 



HELIANTHUS ATRORUBENS, Linn.— The name 

 of no Sunflower has ever brought so much disap- 

 pointment as the subject of this note. Hundreds 

 of persons have purchased plants under the name, 

 and have been disappointed time after time with 

 either some other Sunflower, or a plant of quite 

 another genus, until many have given up purchasing 

 it under the name. I have myself obtained plants 

 as Helianthus atrorubens from four different nursery- 

 men, from two as late as May, 1888. In each case 

 I received plants of a species of Heliopsis, which 

 many more, like myself, have been supplied with. 

 Some, not knowing the difference between the two 

 genera, have credited the Heliopsis species as the 

 true Helianthus atrorubens "Linn," while others 

 have also long given up purchasing under the name, 

 being convinced that such must have been from 

 the first a Heliopsis, and not deserving the former 

 name. Others have been led bv recent botanical 

 records to consider it the same as Helianthus rigidus 

 of recent authors and of the trade in part, but 

 which is rightly Helianthus diffusus, and is well 

 figured in Bot. Mag., vol.xlv., t. 2020 [doubtful. Ed.], 

 and published in 1818. This and its varieties are very 

 handsome when in full flower, but are nearly past their 

 best by the time Helianthus atrorubens begins. This, 

 though of recent years, has been considered by some 

 to be not distinct, was evidently for want of seeing a 

 living or dried specimen of the true plant, which is 

 quite a distinct species, and will be found figured 

 in Bot. Mag., vol. liii., t. 2668, and published 

 in 1826, and which figure is sufficiently distinct to 

 recognise a plant by, and had I seen it sooner I 

 should have detected sooner its- being in my posses- 

 sion ; and the figure is sufficiently clear to prove 

 that it is other than the same, or even a variety of 

 H. diffusus, although it was evidently figured from a 

 plant grown in a pot, and which had become im- 

 poverished. It is this way often grown, owing to its 

 roots spreading in the same free manner as those of 

 Helianthus diffusus and several other species ; but 

 when pot-bound, or the soil is at all exhausted, it 

 assumes a very different character of growth ; its 

 leaves become much narrowed, and more evenly 

 serrulated, its stature dwarfed ; its involucrum reaches 

 not more than half its proper length, and is almost 

 as imbricate as in H. diffusus ; while if planted out 

 in rich soil in an open position, and under the same 

 conditions as H. diffusus, these characters alter, and 

 show it to be totally different from the latter and 

 appropriately named species, equally handsome, 

 cheap, and deserving extensive cultivation. <5. Apple- 

 ton, St. John's Nurseries, Worcester. 



ANNUAL LIFTING OF DAFFODILS.— I hope that 

 those who write on this subject will not suppose that 

 I want to have the last word, for I can assure them 

 that I read the notes of those who differ from me 

 with as much interest as I do those who agree. On 

 p. 189 Mr. Dod's remarks on N. Bernardi surely 

 cannot apply to Daffodils in general, for it is a well 

 known fact that some of the varieties collected on 

 the Pyrenees do not adapt themselves to cultivation 

 as our garden forms do. Collected bulbs of N. 

 pallidus prsecox with me make fine bulbs the first 

 year; whereas the second year, lifted or unlifted, 

 more so if not lifted, they are apt to get soft. I 

 send you a sample of N. Bernardi bulbs collected last 

 year and grown one year here they were lifted about 

 the middle of Julv, and have been out of the ground 

 since then, and I should be pleased if you would 

 report on them [planted in border. Ed.]. Meantime, 

 I shallwait with patience till next spring for a report 

 on those which Mr. Dod has left in the ground. It 

 may be a good theory, but I think it does agree 

 with practice, that a bulb will 'get rid of wet 

 in the ground that it cannot get rid of 

 in a dry state. That dreadfully wet season 

 1879 taught me rather an expensive lesson. Bulbs 

 planted in 1878 and left in the ground till 

 1880, when dug the best of them turned out to be 

 less in weight than when planted, while some of the 

 varieties disappeared altogether ; whereas dried 

 bulbs planted in 1879, and lifted in 1880 turned 

 out fairly well, and I have obtained better results 

 since from those lifted annually than those that re- 



