638 



GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



October 



i. 1898. 



A Curious Primula. 



POLYANTHA ROSE, PERLE DES ROUGES 



7* ™ " • 



One of the most interesting happenings in connection with the develop- The merits of the now numerous varieties of polyantha roses ha h* 

 ment of their fine strains of Chinese primulas by Messrs. J. Carter and often brought before the public during the oast few war* • 1. . 



often brought before the public during the past few yearU^ecSlv ^ 

 the great increase in the demand for hardy flowering shrubs. The advent 

 of the beautiful Crimson Rambler also assist^ 1*™-*!,, • cni 



Co., of High Holborn and Perry Hill, is the production of a single variety _ & — — . „ lKxy uuwcnng snrubs< The , 



with immense fringed flowers of the purest white, but with an enormously of the beautiful Crimson Rambler also assisted largely in drawing j? ^1 

 developed leafy calyx, instead of the usual regular organ surrounding the attention to a hitherto somewhat despised section of garden roses and 

 tube of the corolla. The variety originated a year or two ago, and has ***** lmnwn that dwarf vormtic, — .1 • . ■ 11 



already been fixed, but owing to the small amount of seed produced it 

 has not hitherto been catalogued for distribution. Bouquet is the name 

 most suitably given to this primula, for each flower has its own elegant 

 setting of greenery, as the illustration shows, while the whole central 

 truss of flowers is also furnished with a circle of leafy bracts, quite in 

 addition to the usual radical foliage. The large flowers are heavily and 

 beautifully frilled, and the foliaceous calyx is also waved, crimped, and 

 frilled in a remarkable and elegant fashion. Besides being a curious and 

 int<»rp<;tincr varietv. as showing what stranee freaks and breaks are some- 



soon became known vmw ^ »muuwc ior bedding 



were to be obtained, and would prove as useful and beautiful as the 

 rampant climbing or rambling forms. It is not necessary here to ente 

 into a long dissertation upon the merits and uses of polyantha roses f/ 

 the section has been dealt with by leading rosarians in our columns 1 " 

 especially in the Special Rose Numbers of the Gardeners' Magazinf 

 published each succeeding year in July. We take the present ODoor 

 tunity of presenting our readers with an illustration of a new and distinct 

 polyantha rose, named Perle des Rouges, a variety raised on the Continent 

 and introduced by Messrs. Wm. Paul and Son Waltham Cross who 



A CURIOUS CHINESE PRIMULA, BOUQUET. 



times made, as a sort of protest, by a flower that the florists wish to de- 

 velop in a certain direction, Bouquet is also handsome, even when not 

 in flower, by reason of the frilling of its leaf lobes, and calyces. 



n 



2 



Dessert Tomatos.— Market growers would look askance at the recently 

 certificated Currant Tomato no doubt because the fruits are so small, yet there 

 may be persons who would gladly purchase clusters of such a variety for dessert 

 purposes, because these may not only be readily mistaken for bunches of the Red 

 Cherry currant, but the fruits are very nice indeed for dessert purposes, and are, so 

 far as flavour is concerned, much in advance of the large fruits for that purpose. 

 Growers keep on adding to the list of names of so-called varieties without 

 greatly adding to actual merit or distinctness. It seems impossible for 

 anyone, however ready to create names, to produce varieties amongst the large 

 fruiters that are superior in cropping, in colour, beauty, and solidity of fruits than 

 many so-called varieties already in commerce. The creation of tomatos for market 

 sale alone seems to be the dominant idea with most growers. Would that some 

 one would put those aside altogether as no longer needing manipulation and would 

 take in hand this Red Currant variety, the delicious Red Cherry, the beautiful 

 yellow Golden Nugget, and the Red Dessert, as the very best of their class, and 

 by seeking to intermingle the best qualities of all, secure for us, if it be practicable, 

 superior flavour to that which even the best tomatos now furnish. Some two or 



r 55 V^i ^° wben th « e r was a large trial of tomatos at Chiswick not a variety 

 could equa id flavour the fruits of the Red Cherry. Next to this came the beauti- 



^Zr^ ™? Nu S8 et - J™ dessert purposes we want none larger than aie fruits 



than are th™* nf the Red Currant, the fruits of 



submitted a handsome basket of flowering sprays for the inspe j 

 of the Royal Horticultural Society's Floral Committee ? n J V d 

 last, when an award of merit was granted. It is a rose of a*. ■ 

 bushy habit, and the flowers are described by the ™£ a 3J^ 

 firm as "deep velvety crimson, small and double, P^^^Su- roses, 

 the deepest and richest in colour of the dwarf P^y^ ha dc r s ? rir ; 

 blooming abundantly and until late in the season. , nlha 



tion, published when the award was made, is "a ^^J£3 du s 

 rose, exceedingly free-flowering, and producing much ; br h a ^ sha dcd 

 ters of rich crimson flowers, the bases of the segments bein^ 



with deep rose." 



"Histolre des Tu!ipes.»-The above is l ^ 



little books on flowers I have ever seen. It was published m l *£^ tcfully bound 

 time earlv in the nraamt Mnhm and the copy in my possessi n roloured 



pleasant eating when cool 



cultivation, on tulip poetry, a list of the most ce >^ r but very 

 e of the best known modern variet.es, m which there P g^ g yft 

 1 names of tulips, so that the date cannot ^^^pubfation of U* 

 must have pleased the French taste .»°°8 ft^^ List's book, 

 mentioned, for I find in another cunous ,o Id trench " ^ the fait 

 669, that Messrs. Cambier about fifty years before in 



A. D. 



