108 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



February 10, 1912. 



CHRYSANTHEMUM 



MRS. G. RUNDLE. 



I was very plea^sed to read tli^ notes on 

 Ghiysanthenimn Mrs. G. Rundle from your 

 oorreepondent S. W/' because I look upon 

 it as one of our most useful decorative sorts. 

 In the late seventies it was a popular in- 

 ourve<l form, but the advent of the modern 

 type &oon consigned such varieties to ob- 

 livion as far as our exhibitions were con- 

 cernedj but one is pleased to know that it 

 is still appreciated for decorative effect, 

 and sti'l finds a place in our gardens. It 

 is lalso largely cultivated for Covent Garden 

 market, and would ibe still more so if the 

 buyers would pay t-he same prices for in- 

 curved as they do Japanese blooms. 

 Strange to say, althouigh the buyers appre- 

 ciate the incurved flower, they evidently 

 think these are easier to produce ; t-he cul- 

 tivator thinks otherwise. For market work 

 ten to twelve blooms per plant will finish 

 ofif well in fact almost as well as the old 



orthodox 



As a decora- 



tive sort it fails somewhat, owing to the 

 weakly stem, but after Mr. P. Craggs ad- 

 vice to use superphosphate in such cases, 

 I have no doubt it will be utilised with 



good effect-. It is ia perfect little gem for 

 wreathe and other floral designs. I have 

 not seen Mrs. Dixon or George G^enny for 



years, hut the former 1 know is still 



to be obtained. 



What a pity it i§ the N.C.S. does not in- 

 stitute a class or classes for these httie 

 gems. Now that this body is trying to popu- 

 larise the anemones and pompons, we may 

 hope that the Rundle family will receive 

 the recognition it deserves. Another old 

 variety, Mr. Bunn, now practically out of 

 cultivation, is of the same type, a heautiful 

 golden yellow. The Dalston Chrysanthe- 

 mum Society has a class for this variety in 

 memory of one of its old members, and it 

 is generally well filled. The growers there 

 tell me they get the hest flowers by growing 

 seven to nine iblooms on a plant ; they then 



finish off well with little or no dressing. 



J. B. Riding, 



ANNUALS IN ROSE BEDS* 



The late Mr. Wildsmith, when once com- 

 plimented on the fine display of annuals 

 he had in the garden, and asked w^hat he 

 did to secure such marked success, replied : 

 *'I give the plants the same care and 

 treatment that I bestow on crops of more 

 value, or supposed to be of more value, 

 such as roses, and the more expensive bed- 

 ding-out plants." 



Annuals, well grown, are very beautiful 

 indeed, and during the past few years much 

 more attention has been given to them 

 than formerly and by more cultivators. 

 Undoubtedly, the unsatisfactory condition 

 of annuals, as seen in many gardens, has 

 been caused by lack of attention on the 

 part of the cultivator. If seedlings are 

 raised in boxes and allowed to become 

 spindly before they are transplanted ; or 

 if those in the open beds are not thinned 

 and cared for, the plants cannot be satis- 

 factory at their flowering stage. 



Half-hardy annuals shoidd be rai.sed in 

 panSj pots, or boxes in a mild heat. ^ I 

 have found that the plants are more valu- 

 able when so raised and given a fairly long 

 period in which to grow before they are 

 finally put out than when raised later on 

 and subjecte<l to a higher temperature. 



The seeds of hardy annuals should not 

 be sown too earlv. or the resultant seed- 

 lings will be checked, and then the very 

 hest couhl not be expected of them. 



The hite Mr. Wilflsmith grew many an- 

 nuals in the rose beds at one time, and I 

 did so after learning of his success. Of 



course, no one would think of growing 

 these or any other kinds of plants among 

 roses which are being grown for the pro- 

 duction of exhibition blooms. In small beds 

 the annuals should be confined to the outer 

 portion. In large ones, clumps of annuals 

 may be grown all over them, but not to 

 such an extent as to cause overcrow^ding ; 

 and, furthermore, the annuals themselves 

 must be thinly disposed ; one plant, so 

 grown, is far more - effective than half-a- 

 dozen in a crowded state. I will not reier 

 to cultural details here, but simply name a 

 few annuals that are very charmingly 

 grown among roses. Half-hard^^-^Asters, 

 stocks, zinnias, celosias, marigolds, Nico- 

 tiana affinis, Phlox Drunimondi, godetias, 

 early sown mignonette. Hardy. — Candy- 

 tuft, Clarkia elegans rosea, Chrysanthe- 

 mum Burridgeanum, Eschsoholtzia cali- 

 fornica, Limnanthes Douglasi, Nem^oj^hila 

 insignis, saponarias, Phacelia campanu- 

 laria, and Shirley poppies. 



Geo. Garner. 



ROCKERY PLANTS OF 



EVERGREEN HABIT. 



Alpines of everjgreen hahit, as also plants 

 that are not, strictly speaking, alpines, but 

 that are universially recognised and em- 

 ployed as rockery plants, play an impor- 

 tant part in rendering this indispensable 

 feature of the glarden attractive in winter. 

 Visitors to Kew Gardens and other public 

 parks and gardens cannot fail to note that 

 a good deal of colouring is to be found 

 amongst the plants under notice, and apart 

 from the numerous shades of green which 

 alone form an interesting study, purple, 

 silver^ g^^Jj ci'iuison, and bronze colouring 

 is represented in subjects while in undress 

 uniform 



The delightful Gentiana acaulis presents 

 a cheery and fresh appearance in winter, 

 and one need not dwell upon the beauty 

 and rare colouring of its flowers. liberis 

 gibraltarica supplies us with great sheets 

 of greenery, and the same applies to the 

 ailbrietias and arabisos^ not forgetting the 

 variegated forms. 



It is true that the armerias have grass- 

 like 



Lage^ and this is very pronounced 

 wlhen a dense colony is foi-med. They, 

 however, contribute their quota of life in 

 the dull season. One or two of the haixly 

 heaths arrest attention in Erica cinerea 

 aJba, Foxi, :^nd minimum, and then we 

 have the woolly Thymus languinosus and 

 the rampa nt Muhlenbeckia complexa , 

 whijdh is capable of converting a large 

 boulder or tree bole into a thing of beauty 

 witJhin a oompaifatively short period. Me- 

 gasea cordifolia and others give us ruddy 

 colouring, their bristling flower bracts 

 forming an additional .ciharm. The trail- 

 ing veronicas as V. saxatilis and gcntia- 

 noidf^, also the alpine pinks, are invalu- 

 ab!e, w^ile Arenaria balearica hides all 

 traces of flat boulders. The edelweiss (Gna- 

 phalium leontopodium) is attractive by 

 reason of its silvery foliage, and another 

 brilliant foliiagtKl subject is seen in Galax 



a. 



It is superfluous to sing tilie praises of 

 the saxifragas and sempervivums. The 

 first-named is finely represented in S. 

 sancta, S. rotundifolia S. aizoon, S. mus- 

 coide^, S. hypnoides, h. Wallacei, and S. 

 aiaoon vtar. paradoxa, while sempervivums 

 in S . a r ac h no ides, S . R egin se, and 

 S. triste are fiinst-rate for our pur- 

 pose. The above is not intended as an 

 exhaustive list, but each and all should 

 be represented by bold groups in the 

 rockery in order to ensure life and beauty 



when winter is upon us. 



Walter H. Aggett. 



FRUIT CULTURE FOR 



MARKET IN AMERICA. 



The feature of the annual meeting of the 

 Ulster Fruit Growers' Association, held at 

 Portadown a few days ago, wasi a lecture de- 

 livered by Sir Frederick Moore, Curator of 

 the Glaenevin Botanic Gardens. 



Sir Frederick s lecture was entitled " The 

 Cultivation of Hardy Fruits for Market Pur- 

 poses in the Eastern Portion of the United 

 States and Canada." AVlien visiting the 

 eastern districts of the two great Noith 

 American countries, one of his chief objects 

 was to discover what was being done in the 

 development of the hardy fruit industry. In 

 this connection the Irish growers could hold 

 their own fairly well with the Americans. 

 Their average fruit-grower was quite on a 

 par. with the average fruit-grower in 

 America. If in Ireland they were going to 

 live as fruit-growers it was only by conduct 

 ing the industry on the best lines that they 

 could hope to succeed. If fruit-growing was 

 judiciously and carefully done it would pay, 

 and he had not the slightest doubt as to 

 the future success of apple-growdng. In the 

 United States and Canada the fruit-growers 

 worked on a coH3perative system, and tliey 

 thought that without co-operation there was 

 a poor chance for the future. They felt in- 

 clined to work more and more on that sys- 

 tem, and to bring co-operation into every 

 branch of industry. Irish growers some- 

 times said they could not compete with the 

 Americans^ who had better climatic condit- 

 ions. As a matter of fact, they were fight- 

 ing against the brains and skill of the 

 American^, and they could never succeed as 

 apple-growers unless they adopted a system 

 that would give them the best results. A 

 paying orchard was invariably a cultivated 

 orchard. The grass orchards were the second- 

 rate orchards. In the fruit-growing dis- 

 tricts of America he travelled for miles 

 through orchards, every one with the sur- 

 face cultivated. The ground was kept stirred 

 up with cultivators two or three times a 

 year, and the sole crop was apples. Tlie best 

 cultivators all said that for best-class pro- 

 duce open ground was necessary, and, not- 

 withstanding that labour was so dear, they 

 were able to compete successfully with the 

 Irish fruit-grower. 



One of the reasons for that was the enor- 

 mously larger crop they were able to get 

 from the same amount of ground. He was 

 struck with the symmetry of the trees in 

 the orchards in America. Thinning the 

 branches or pruning was extensively prac- 

 tised there, and was encouraged by the 

 Government. Most of the big growers pruned 

 their trees twice a year. In all the fruit- 

 growing districts thinning was done exten- 

 sively, Scientifically, and intelligently by 

 men who had made a study of it. In Ireland 

 it was often said that spraying was not 

 worth doing. That was not the opinion in 

 America. There it was one of the essential 

 things, and one of the things that the Gov- 

 ernment had done its best to promote. Ameri- 

 can fruit-growers strongly recommended 

 farmyard manure as best for the fruit trees, 

 and with that they used wood ashes. They 

 manured their young trees, and helped them 

 along so a.s to get results as quickly a» 

 possible. 



Tliere were several strong fruit-growers' as- 

 sociations in America, and they had a central 

 association, where the district associations met 

 together to discuss the various problems tliat 

 arose in different parts of the country. He 

 was assured that great progress had been 

 made through these associations for the 

 mutual benetit of the fruit-growers. Drastic 

 regulations were drawn up for dealing witn 

 farmers who neglected their orchards, and 

 so contributed to the propagation of insect 

 pests with which the intelligent fruit-growers 

 had to contend. That was the fruit-grower^^^ 

 suggestion for their own protection, and tK 

 Government adopted it. The Americans were 

 opposed to autumn planting, and were 

 strongly in favour of spring planting as being 

 much more likely to bring good results. 



