THE 



GARDENERS 



7 



MAGAZINE 



SATURDAY, MARCH 19, 1898. 



^SCOT, 



AND DISTRICT 



SUNNINGHILL, SUNNIXGDALE, 



HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



CHRYSANTHEMUM SHOW, 

 nhserve the correct date is November 2 and 3, net as recently advertised, 16 and 17. 

 The Glen, Ascot. Henry C. Needham, Hon. Sec. 



repair. As both these parks 



are comparatively recent creations, the 



R IGHTON and SUSSEX HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



GRAND SPRING SHOW. 



March 29 and 30. 

 For Schedules apply Secretary, 37, Preston Road. 



glass structures could not, during the time they were under the charge of Her 

 Majesty's Office of Works,have required much beyond an occasional coat of 

 paint, but of late years th ey have probably needed m ore substantial repairs. 

 In both parks there has been an increase in the area under glass, more 

 especially for the purpose of the chrysanthemum exhibitions which, by 



„ _ r _ reason of the,r extent and beauty, afford unbounded pleasure to immense 

 OYAL BOTANICAL AND HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY OF numbers of the poorer classes resident in London, who, but for the 



annual displays provided in the public parks, would have no opportunity 

 of seeing the chrysanthemum in its full glory. Again, the additions that 

 have been made to the wages of the labourers during the past ten years, 

 must contribute materially to the total increase in the expenditure ; but 

 in no case have they been greater than was necessary, and, to state the 

 case generally, the cost of the parks is in no way excessive, having 

 regard to their extent and the admirable condition in which they are 

 maintained. 



MANCHESTER AND THE NORTHERN COUNTIES. 



£600 IN PRIZES. 



Schedules of the Manchester Flower Shows are now ready, and may be had free on 



application to 



P. Weathers, 



Curator and Secretary, 

 Royal Rotanical Gardens, Manchester. 



QHREWSBURY GREAT FLORAL FETE, 



August 17 and 18, 1898. 



The Prizes in the Schedule amount to £950, with Gold and Silver Medals, &c. 

 Schedules post free on application to the Hon. Sees., 



Messrs Adnitt. and Naunton, The Square, Shrewsbury. 



ALTON AND WEYBRIDGE CHRYSANTHEMUM SOCIETY'S 



TWENTY-FOURTH ANNUAL SHOW, THURSDAY, November 10. Open 

 Class, 48 Blooms, ten-guinea cup, and ^3 3s. For schedules apply 



Geo. Masters, Flori-t, Walton Road, East Molesey, Surrey. 



OLVERHAMPTON FLORAL FETE. — THE TENTH ANNUAL 



HORTICULTURAL SHOW AND FETE, 

 will be held July 12, 13, and 14, i8q8. 

 Prize Schedules and Entry Forms from — 

 William E. Barnett, Secretary, Snow Hill, Wolverhampton. 



w 



SHOW 



JT1 column at One Shilling per line, the minimum charge being Five Shillings. Advertise* 

 nent Office, 148 and 149, Aldersgate Street, London, E.C. 



notice to advertisers. 



Owing to the continued increase in circulation, the " Gardeners' 

 Magazine " will in future go to press earlier. No advertisement can be 

 guaranteed insertion, or altered, unless received before Four p.m. on 

 Wednesdays. 



N 



OF THE We 



COST OF PUBLIC PARKS. 



EARLY TULIPS. 



A walk through our gardens reveals, to anyone at all observant, 

 the fact that the early tulips so extensively used with such excellent effect 

 as bedding arrangements are thrusting themselves through the soil 

 obedient to the law of their being which fixes spring as the season of their 

 floral service. The early tulip is a subject of great value to the gardener, 

 supplying him with delicate and brilliant blossoms when flowers are 

 naturally scarce, because it lends itself to rapid forcing. The pretty 

 Van Thol varieties led the way, as they are first in the order of blooming, 

 and though dwarf in height and comparatively small in flower, they 

 possess the fragrance of their progenitor, the South European Tulipa 

 suaveolens. This race, the individuals forming it being somewhat 

 limited in number, are of value in filling baskets and jardinieres for indoor 

 decoration, and they are imported in considerable numbers for the 

 purpose. The scarlet Van Thol is such an advance in size over the 

 white, yellow, rose, and other varieties, that it can be readily imagined it 

 came of more mixed parentage ; it is also well adapted for and forms a 

 charming bed in the open, while the others are more adapted for pot 

 culture. T. pubescens, which is regarded as a probable hybrid between 

 T. Gesneriana and T. suaveolens, is considered to be the progenitor of a 

 race of rather later flowering early tulips, of which the Pottebakkers, Bride 

 of Haarlem, Couleur Cardinal, and a few double varieties, are the repre- 



FOR some time past there has been a brisk discussion in a section of sentatives - . In aI1 Probability the actual parentage of our most popular 



In the case of 



the dailies of the question of the cost of management of the public parks 

 under the control of the London County Council. It has been readily 

 acknowledged that the parks have been maintained in such excellent 

 condition as to justify a feeling of pride on the part of the residents in 

 London ; but the opinion has been freely expressed that the annual ex- 

 penditure has so grown as to border on extravagance. 



™ and Victoria Pa *s, which are unquestionably the two most 

 mportant open spaces of which the London County Council has charge, 



s n eTv ° Ut uV^ C ° St h ™ by SOIKe <° or 5o per cent. 



Crd of Wn e r ty the Government t° the Metropolitan 



Loard of Works, which has been superseded by the Council. 



uattersea Park immediately {preceding the transfer in 1887 was 

 loria „ 0 , , 1 Wlth £ I2 >77S in 1897-98 ; and the estimate for Vic- 



the nark ,. ^ II>855 ' againSt £8 ^ 6 in the y ear P^vious to 



the park coming under the control of the Council. These increases are 



It 



The cost 



£8 



varieties will never be finally determined, for one has only to contrast 

 the giant and massive forms of Keizer's Kroon and Proserpine, their 

 tall growth and erect stature, with smaller and dwarfer forms that yet 

 flower at the same time, to come to the conclusion that the former are 

 the offspring of mixed parents. We have, perhaps, no early tulip that 

 can compare with Keizer's Kroon for size and beauty, and yet it is more 

 than half a-century old, and when it first bloomed it must have been 

 regarded as a veritable floral phenomenon ; and in the case of this par- 

 ticular variety we have a remarkable illustration of heredity in flowers, for 

 the flowering bulb of a tulip perishes when it has finished its season's 

 task, whether or not it has flowered, but perpetuates its variety in the 

 offsets formed on the radical plate of the parent, and they transmit with 

 unvarying regularity the exact characteristics of the individual from 

 which they were derived, though a little sportiveness is sometimes 

 noticed, such as a partial attempt on the part of a self to break away 



_ K 



unquestionably substantial and in e tif« cnm » f increases are ■ t ill-defined flaked or bizarre character. In this country the 

 sponsible J th e ^£ t nre ol thl ratepaye" " ^ ™ K m "" — — «- *~ «- — ™* 



not nece^arih, ~ \ , — * — r-v*» money; but they do 



as assute^ t ^ ^ SOn,e degree of extravagance 



Before the ex J en T^ T ^ ^ ^ * discu * sion ' 

 be satisfactordv 2 ^rded as extravagant, it must 



; tonl y determined that either full value has 



not been ob- 



a Point t yond^hT 1 ^' ^ ^ ^ ma,ntenance has been carried to 



of the two parks here' referrTd" to Is of X ^J*"**** CaSC * has then done its' work, and perishes. When a single leaf only is put 



the control of ^ r , . ' as . . er ot the open spaces under forth by a tulip bu ] b the cultivator knows it will not bloom. In the tulip- 



tulip can be grown for increase more successfully than the hyacinth, as 

 the native soil appears better adapted for the former than the latter. In 

 some of the London parks the great majority of the early tulips which 

 are employed for decoration in spring are carefully looked after when 

 lifted ; they are put away carefully in trays of fine ashes in a cool room 

 during the summer, and then examined as planting time approaches, 

 and used for filling the beds. A tulip bulb flowers once, and once only ; 



on theTart °lf\t ^ haS evi<kntly been an earnest endeavour 



attractive La 1 "sponsible for their management to render them 



known 



as " widows," and not until they throw a second leaf is there hope of an 



c °st of the n„nr° P °T tS " , U Sh ° uld be rememb ered in discussing the 

 bearing UDO n T C Parks that the conditions which have an important 



a * **y Z 'ZT." CXa S ly thC i ame at the ~ time 



g° inflorescence being developed. 



WINTER 



1897-8. 



In a most interesting report upon the average yield of rain and snow 



an enormous 

 P er iod, and th 



ten Or t 1 ^ ^v-otiiL nine IIS a most lnicresuug itpui «. w^v** a*wag^ )itiu ui iam anu ^nuvv 



devel 6 ag °" During this period there has been during the five winter months from October to February, as against the 



during the 



in summer and footbl? 0 " 5 ^ ° f eVery f ° 0t of avaiIabIe space for cricket clearly that the land is in need of a considerable amount of moisture. 

 0ut lay in the mainte * inte1 ' necessit ates a heavy additional annual The average total amount of moisture falling during the five months 

 have b*» n . ? ance of the turf in good condition. There must also mentioned, taken over a period of forty years, is 10-93 inches, whereas 



increase in the cost of maintaining the buildings in 



ended 



This is conse- 



