Angnst 17, 1876. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



139 



by the Vines the plants will not need the support of sticks, 

 and a saving of both labour and material is thereby effected. 



Other kinds of plants are planted on the same extensive 

 scale. Antirrhinums, Phloxes— a great collection — Pinks, 

 Dianthuses, Succulents, Campanulas, Wallflowers, and other 

 hardy flowers ; also tender plants, as Geraniums, Pentstemons, 

 Lantanas, Lobelias — in faot, flowers of all kinds and the 

 newest varieties of each are submitted for trial and for in- 

 crease in the system of flower beds which are formed and in 

 the course of formation. 



Already some flowers iu thege beds attract notice by their 

 distinctness or superiority. The Malshanger seedling An- 

 tirrhinum is an effective novelty, the flowers being not only 

 double but are freely produced. Another variety, A. Hender- 

 sonii, rose and white, is one of the most constant and striking 

 of all the striped sorts. A double Sweetwilliam rivals in 

 oolour and almost intensity a Cockscomb. A new Lobelia 

 surpasses in richness of colour the rich L. pumila magnifica 

 and Blue Stone. Lantanas are extremely effective, the hot 

 season having suited them. So, also, are the Veronicas, 

 notably V. imperialis, and especially the rich purple variety 

 Mdlle. Claudine Willermoz. This cannot fail to be a fine 

 summer-flowering conservatory and garden plant of the easiest 

 culture. Sedum spectabile is bedded out, and with it the 

 newer and taller variety S. japonicum. When these plants are 

 cultivated instead of being starved, as we so often find them, 

 their gigantic rosy-pink heads are exceedingly attractive. 

 Pansies are grown in large numbers, but the great heat and 

 drought has limited their beauty. Viola Queen Victoria is one 

 which has endured the best. It is a rich and fine variety, and 

 equally valuable is the Tory. A new strain of Pentstemons is 

 being established, the plants being altogether more dwarf and 

 sturdy in habit than those of the ordinary type, the flowers of 

 the dwarfs are also equally superior. The new strain is likely 

 to prove a valuable addition to an attractive family of plants. 



Geraniums are extensively planted, but the extreme heat 

 has caused many of them to produce trusses of seed. Two 

 Geraniums thus planted are particularly worthy of notice — 

 ■ — namely, the new double Ivy-leaved variety Konig Albert, and 

 the new bedding zonal Jealousy. Konig Albert as bedded out 

 is compact in growth with foliage of the brightest green, and 

 the flower trusses are supported clearly above it. These are 

 produced in great profusion, and the fine double flowers are 

 striking by their massiveness and are attractive by their soft 

 lively colour. A great advantage of this variety is that the 

 decaying flowers shrivel and drop off instead of adhering to 

 the trusses, as do the flowers of many double varieties, looking 

 dismal and unsightly. That the first double Ivy-leaved Gera- 

 nium should be so free and so useful is almost more than 

 could have been expected. It combines all the good qualities 

 which render a plant popular, and cannot fail to be largely 

 grown. 



Jealousy must also become a general favourite in the flower 

 garden, and it is also fine for cultivation in pots, but it is as 

 a bedder that it is the most valuable. Whether the novel 

 name was given iu consequence of yellow being emblematical 

 of jealousy, or whether the possession of this variety would 

 provoke feelings of jealousy in the minds of others not possess- 

 ing it, Mr. Cannell does not enlighten us ; but certain it is 

 that it is one of the best and most distinct bedders of the day 

 — -a variety to be coveted, and certain also is it that it contains 

 more yellow in its petals than does any other Geranium. A 

 small individual plant does not adequately show its merits, 

 but to ses plants blooming in large numbers the play of yellow 

 over the mass is very decided and pleasing. It is dwarf yet 

 of free growth, aid the pips are of good shape. It flowers 

 apparently as profusely as does Vesuvius, and like that well- 

 known variety is likely to become a staple Geranium for flower- 

 garden purposes. 



A lilt e must be said of the glass structures and their con- 

 tents. A considerable extent of glass is projected, and some 

 span-roofed houses — a total length of about 500 feet — are 

 already erected. These are compactly and conveniently ar- 

 ranged ; they are light, durable, and well ventilated, and are 

 admirably adapted for the increase and cultivation of plants. 

 The low r portions of the lights and rafters— indeed, every 

 part of the woodwork near the gutters and floor — has been 

 twice dipped in tar. The gutters between the houses are made 

 with cement, and conduct the water to the tanks above men- 

 tioned. The houses are glazed with stout English glass, 

 bedded in putty and fastened with springs, no putty being 

 used above the glass. "Circulators" are in the course of being 



fixed to supply the heat, the water being conveyed by a 3-inch 

 pipe along the floor of the house, returning by three pipes 

 each an inch in diameter, and affixed to the roof above the 

 plants — that is, three pipes are employed along each roof, or 

 six pipes to each house. Were not this great innovation in 

 heating by hot-water something more than a novel idea Mr. 

 Cannell could not have afforded io have adopted it on such an 

 extensive scale as is here projected and being carried out 

 After much experience and careful testing and comparison he 

 has adopted it as the most economical and best suited to [his 

 purpose. A number of low pits or frames are heated in the 

 same way — that is, the heat is conveyed from above the same 

 as is heat from the sun, and also on the principle that as cold 

 in winter " comes in " by the lights — really heat escaping, it 

 is at the lights that the heat is provided, being the place 

 where it is most needed, and where it is the most effectual in 

 preserving the plants from frost and damp. This topsy-turvy 

 system of heating is in opposition to the orthodox notions of 

 hot-water engineers, but it answered its purpose for several 

 years at Woolwich, and there is no suspicion of any lack'of 

 confidence in the mind of its introducer that it will not answer 

 equally well on an extended scale at Swanley. 



Only very briefly can the contents of the bouses be alluded 

 to. One house is filled with Geraniums — the newest and best 

 varieties extant — the cream of English and continental raisers. 

 The great variety of colour and the enormous trusses produce 

 a remarkable display. Some of the newer double varieties are 

 a great advance on the older kinds, the plants possessing the 

 same short-juinted growth and freedom of flowering which is 

 common to the single varieties. Almost every shade of colour 

 is found in these varieties, from the pure white of Mdlle. Amelie 

 Baltet to the rich magenta of M. Buchner. A few selected 

 from this fine collection — the cream of the cream — may be 

 relied on as highly superior. Little more can be done than to 

 give their names, the particulars of them being truthfully 

 detailed in Mr. Cannell's " Floral Guide." Twelve splendid 

 doubles are the following: — Mdlle. Amelie Baltet (pure), and 

 Lucy Lemoine (blush), whites ; Jewel and Meteor Flag, scarlets ; 

 MadameDauphin and Madame Boutard, rose-coloured; Madame 

 Thibaut and Eugene Bandowin, pink, suffused with purple; 

 J. C. Rodbard and Henri Beurier, salmon-tinted ; and C. H. 

 Wagner and M. Buchner, crimson, suffused violet. That is a 

 very select list, to be converted into a baker's dozen by the 

 addition of Mr. G. Smith's semi-double variety Wonderful, a 

 variety which should be possessed by everybody. It is a sport 

 from Vesuvius, and has all the good qualities of the parent, 

 but is more brilliant and semi-double. It will prove splendid 

 both for pots and beds ; and it is probable that others of the 

 new race of doubles will also prove good bedders. The old 

 varieties of doubles afford no idea of the merits of the " later 

 introductions." A few of the most striking of the single Zonals 

 were Lemoine's Drapeau Tricolor and Depute Valentine ; Dr. 

 Danny's Astarte and Salathel; Mr. Pearson's E. G.Henderson, 

 Lord Zetland, Havelock, Louisa, Mrs. Lancaster, Mrs. Gregory, 

 Ethel, T. F. Fenn, Lady Byron, Lucy Bosworth, John Gibbons, 

 and Sir H. Stanhope. Apple Blossom (Cannell), Mrs. George 

 Gordon (De Vere), Remus (Postans), Sir P. Dyke (Borrowdale), 

 Marguerite Ponton (Bertrand), Seraph and Ivanhoe (George), 

 Mrs. G. Smith and Dreadnought (Smith), and Vanessa (Miles). 

 White Clipper remains the best of its section. Those are a 

 few of the very best of this fine collection. 



Another house is occupied with Fuchsias — healthy, hand- 

 some plants of the choicest varieties. Fuchsias are indis- 

 pensable for the summer decoration of conservatories. Mr. 

 Cannell's plan is to grow the plants quickly, permitting them 

 to receive no checks, affording them abundant ventilation 

 and very slight shade. Where all are so good it is difficult 

 to eliminate "the best;" a few, however, may be found 

 which are especially noticeable. One of the most striking 

 is Aurora Superba as being the first step towards a yellow 

 variety. The plant is vigorous and the flowers are fine ; the 

 tube and sepals being salmon and the corolla orange scarlet. 

 Ethel (Bull) is remarkable by the great length of its pure 

 white tube ; and Fireworks is distinct by its profusion of 

 pendulous brilliant buds. Champion of the World is still the 

 largest double dark variety, and a white companion is found 

 for it in Miss Lucy Finnis (Simmonds), which is profusely 

 weighted with its enormous flowers. Tne best doub'e white, 

 however, taking all its qualities into consideration, is Mrs. H. 

 Cannell. Little Alice is also most lovely ; and Sir G. Wolseley, 

 General Chanzy, and Avalanche are the best double darks. 

 i Of single varieties with light tubes and ■ dark corollas White 



