Mat 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE 



393 



thought the point was rather missed with 

 regard to horticulture. Gardeners did not 

 want to he Iwthered with microscopes, but 

 to be so equipped as to be able to make 

 tlie gardens under their eharge remark- 

 able both for their beauty and productive- 

 ness. Professor Gilchrist, in bringing the 

 discussion to a close, said that in his con- 

 nection with agriculture he had become 



AMONG THE ALPINE 



PLANTS. 



.... Each step 

 Shall wake fi-e&h beauties; each short point 



present 



A different picture, new, and yet the same. 



These words of Mas-oii describe the rock 

 garden of the bright time of May, when, ail 



though too large for the company of the 

 choicer flowers. In si^eaking of it I am 

 using the generally accepted name of capi- 

 tata, which is prooably correct, though the 

 euphorbias as a whole have received so little 

 attention from authorities that one cannot 

 be too sure, especially as the Kcw Hand- 

 list'' refers L]. capitata to E. pilulifera. It 

 mattei-s but little, however, as the plant 



nection ^^.^^f^;:^^^ Z'lZ^Z IfTS ^;;;:s :>^;; ^ when tU in^que^tion issoldinnu.^byt^^ 



convmced that taimeis ouki noi »e luint^u -^u^i^ +h.. wh ch heads this note. It is a hi";hly efFec- 



out bv agricultural colleges, but must be 

 trained on a commercial and not a college 

 farm ; and lie believed the gardener must 

 be trained in private uinseries and com- 

 mercial establishments. 



Carnation Wodenethe.— From 



Messrs. W. AVells and Co., of Merstham, 

 we have had the pleasure of receiving a 

 gathering of blooms of this remarkably fine 

 pure white perpetual carnation, which the 

 firm has so well shoAvn at the recent meet- 

 ings held by the Royal Horticultui-al So- 

 ciety. The blooms are equally remarkable 

 for their large size, superb form, purity, 

 and their rich clove-like perfume. As in 

 the case of other of the perpetual-flowering 

 carnations the petals are elegantly fringed. 

 The blooms are borne on stiff stems, and 

 :lu> calyxes are w^holly free from the defect 

 )f splitting. 



Carnation Lady Northcliffe. 



^^The Floral Committee of the Perpetual- 

 flowering Carnation Society recently visited 

 the nurseries of Mr. C. Engelmann at 

 Saffron Waklen, and awarded a First-class. 

 Certificate to this variety. In accordance 

 with a new regulation, which came uito 

 force at the beginning of this year, varie- 

 ties must be seen growing before F\C.C.'s 

 ;ne given ; and Lady Northcliffe is the first 

 \;iriety to receive this high award under 

 the new conditions. 



which heads this note. It is a highly effec- 

 tive 'May-flowering plant, growinir some 



Lectures on Botany in 



gOW. — A course of fourten popular lec- 

 tures on botany, by Mr. David Ellis, D.Sc., 

 IMi.I).. has been commenced in the Itoyal 

 Technical College, Glasgow. The introduc- 

 tory lecture was devoted to tlie evolution 

 and function of flowers, and in his opening 

 lemarks Mr. Ellis contrasted the poets and 

 the scientist's point of view with regard to 

 tlieni. and said that while in both there 

 was a good deal of imagination, the scien- 

 tist had a considerable amount of drudgery 

 and hard work to get through before he 

 reached the imaginative stage. AVith the 

 'lid of lantern and slides Mr. Ellis dealt with 

 the structure of flowers, the functions of 

 die <lifferent parts, the arrangements for 

 nisect visitors, and the arrangements for 

 ^vind fertilisation. He explained how 

 fowers had obtained their present form 

 l>y evolution, and pointed out that vsonie 

 wvre liighly developed and others were of 

 =' h)wer ty])e. and showed how that was 

 I'fought aijout. 



British Gardeners' 



tion.^The Committee of this Association 

 have taken offices at 92, Pimlico Road 

 '^'oriier of Lower Sloane Street), near the 

 ''^-^t entrance to the Royal Hospital 

 -roiiiuls, Chelsea. These will be open to 

 ^irdeners during the show^ and Mr. Cyril 

 Harding^ who has recently l)een elected 

 general secretary, will be in attendance to 

 answer enquiries relating to the work of 

 the Association. 



tion 



flowering 



foreign visitors attending the Roval Inter- 

 national Hortictdtural Exhibition, to be 



Society.-.Mr. J. S. Brunton will 



preside at the banquet in honour of the 

 loreign ' ' 



nati 



JjHd at the Holborn Restaurant on Thurs- 

 *py- May 23. 1912 



_ lous of being present ma v obtain 

 i><-ket.s from the hon. secretarv 



nawes. ! 



at n.45 p.m. Those 



) V obtain 



Sir. E. F. 



is bright with the fresh greenery and the 



p-lowins; blossoms of tlie time. As we wan- . - - - i 



der ainong our flowers we see many - dif- nine to twelve inches liigh, and giving hand- 



- - . some heads of yellow inflorescence, brighter 



in colour than that of many other spurges, 

 and by no means to be despised in the rock 

 garden. It apparently likes a dryish eoil, 

 and is one of the decidedly *'easy" sub- 

 jects for the rock gai'den. 



Dodecatheon Meadla. 



Failing to retain for long the diflicult, 

 but beautiful Dodtvathetm integi'ifoliuni, 

 that fickle beauty among the American 

 shooting stars, we may well remember that 

 D. Meadia and its varieties, bigger and 

 coarser though they may look, give us in 

 May a <*lass of flowers we c^mnot well j-e- 

 ject. With all their failings — and these 

 they have, we must admit— they arc A^ery 

 pleasant garden flow(Ts, Mith their largish 

 leaves, a»id their stems, stin<ly and endur- 

 ing, <*arrying a cluster ol pretty reflexed 

 flowers wdth golden poiutletes. They are 

 the ''hardy cyclamens" of May, and very 

 attractive are they, appealing to us wdfh 

 their quaint flowers, of varying sha<h\s. 

 Like so many other plants, they have been 

 seized upon by the Alessi-s. Lenioine as fit 

 subjects to hybridise, and from these and 

 other specit^ some charming flowers have 

 been raised by the famous Nan< y firm. But 

 even D. Meadia in its several shades is quite 

 a worthy flovvc^r tor tlu^ base of tbt^ rock 

 garden/wh(M(\ in <'ooK damp, yet well- 

 drained soil it will thrive for kmg, and seud 

 up its tall stems of jannty flowers. One 

 thing f^hould be said, and t1iat is lliat, 

 though a lover of moi>ture. ihr piiicc niii^t 

 be thorouo-hlv drained. Another is that it 



ferent pictures/' indeed^ 

 but Avhat is of the greatest beauty in very 

 truth. It is diflacult to cull from among 

 the flowers only a few to adorn our posy 

 when so many present themselves to us 

 for admiration and for enjoyment. Yet we 

 must choose, -jnd as we walk along this 

 narrow path we catch sight of 



Androsace foiiosa. 



One of a series of gems of the rock gar- 

 den, the leafy androsace does not meet with 

 the general appreciation it would otherwise 

 do had it not so many exquisite sister 

 flowers, all of which are gems of rare wwtli 

 and beauty. Has it not been written down 

 by an authority in words which would be 

 scathing were they not well nnderst-{jod as 

 flamboyant, that this and another andro- 

 sace are a little large and coarse, , . . 

 leafy and big, with heads of dullish lilac 

 flowers"? But it must be remembered 

 that this is only speaking in comparison 

 with some of the more minute gems of the 

 androsaces, and that nobody can well call 

 this leafy one 'Marge and coarse," save 

 in accordance with a standard of refine- 

 ment reserved only for the tiniest of al- 

 pines. A plant from three to five inches 

 high, and wdth leaves only two to three 

 inches long, can hardly be banned as 

 ''large and coarse " without a hig reserva- 

 tion, and as we see this androsace open to 

 the May sunshine on a dry rockery among 

 the limestone it loves, we must challenge 

 and deny any expressions of depreciation 

 which misht seem unfair to a beautiful 



go down to a small crown, easily ovc^r- 

 looked, but these crowns are apt to r>e 

 lifted by frost, and wa-sttMl thereby. S(nue 

 stones about it helps to keep the fro>t from 

 injuring it in this way. 



Other Flowers. 



From mound, over stone, in no(;k and 

 corner, and <;n t(Mrac(* ,^hnw many ])iants, 

 sucli as pldoxes, <'ytisus(^s. alys.MUiis. cri<-as, 

 arahises. aubri(>tias, glorious in <-olour ; 

 saxifrages, truly in glorious ahniMlanr*^ ; 

 waldsteiiiias, ^eullls. potentillas, yuuns aiul 

 violets. anemone>. fritillarias. alliums, pri- 

 mulas, muscaris- not yi^t <^ver: :nidros:ues 

 cheiranthuses, and a veritable arr:iy of 

 other beantit'- of tlie time. In tlieir re- 



ef 



i. Fortune (Jieen, N.W. 



flower. Tlie " lilac " of the one authority is easily lost 'in winter, as not only doc<s it 

 is not quite so descriptive as the ''pale 

 flesh" of another and greater judge, and 

 this leafy androsace is suflSciently beautifid 

 to justify our admiration. I am growing it 

 in full sun on a dry rockery well supplied 

 with calcareous material, and there it is 

 charming with its free and beautiful little 



flowers. 



Phlox stellaria. 



The manifold beauties of the alpine 

 phloxes, or moss pinks, of the setacea or 

 subulata class sliould not blind ns t-o those 

 of their sister flowers of the rockery, and 

 the delightful Thlox stellaria, the "starry 

 moss pink," or, as oui- American coimns 

 <-all it at home, the chickw^M-d phlox." 

 Tlie latter poprJar name has with it a sound 

 irreverence, for who could liken this 

 trailing plant with its soft green, pivttily- 

 tint-ed foliage, and its starry pale hlac, 

 ahnost white flowers, to the chickwciMl, 

 which is such a trouble to the gardener, 

 though an ohject of pleasure to the domes- 

 tic canary? It is only the lover of flowers 

 who can appreciate to the full the charms 

 of this trailing phlox, which looks so pretty 

 as it hangs over the stones, veiling them 

 with beautv and attracting everybody. 

 Without th; mass- of flowers shown by, say 

 P subulata or Setacea lilacma, or allied 

 plants, it has yet about it a beauty we can 

 comprehend and ^'njoy. 



Euphorbia capitata. 



Under tliis name there is frequently to be 

 seen a most effective spurge, or milkwort, 

 in good alpine gardens, where it looks well 



parts of the rockeries, al- 



spe<-tive pla<r> they uphold tlie l):nin.^r of 

 the rock garden ami ])r()claim that in their 

 eyes May is indee<l '-the iairot iirnd on 

 ground," a challenge which will soon l)e 

 Sauntered bv the l»eauties of their .succes- 

 of the later time now coming into the 

 field. ^- Ahnott. 



Exacum afflne. Within the last 



few years the large-fli>w;'red I-.xaciun inacran- 

 thiun, with its rich l»lui>li-purplf^ coloured 

 }>l<)ssoms, has mad<^ great lieadway ni popu- 

 lar favour. The species under notice, which 

 by the way, was discover<'d on the i.siaiKl ol 

 Socotra at the same time as Begonia soco- 

 trana (who-e introdin tion has had sucli tar- 

 reachiiig result.) is a ueat eomiuict-growuig 

 plant, little more than a foot in height, but 

 so floriferous that the entire plant is quite 

 a mass of its pretty uttle bluishdilac flowers. 



W. 



