October S, 1898. 



GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



65 1 



CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 



NEWS OF VARIOUS COLLECTIONS AND GOOD PROSPECTS. 



I h WE lately taken a gardener's holiday, which means that occasionally 

 a day or a few hours have been spent in rushing off to see other people's 

 ardens. There is much satisfaction in this form of recreation, because we 

 ire bound to find something to " make a note of," and often, too, lose a little 

 >f our conceit by finding that we do not monopolise all the good things, 

 or perhaps, occasionally, get something in the way of consolation when 

 we happen to observe that other people have the same difficulties to 

 overcome and experience the same reverses in cultivation as ourselves. 

 Best of all, however, if we approach our neighbours with open minds, we 

 not only find out some of our weak spots but also the ways and means to 

 cure them. 



Knowing how interested chrysanthemum growers are in the prospects 

 of the season generally, I have made notes of a few collections which may 

 be acceptable to readers, and judging from what I have seen, which, 

 however, is entirely in the southern counties, we may reasonably look 

 forward to a very successful season. The past hot weather has been 

 ideally favourable to the plants, and complaints of unripened growth can 

 hardly be possible. Watering has been a heavy item in the labour per- 

 taining to their good cultivation, and consequently opportunities for 

 supplies of liquid manure, without the risk of encouraging a too gross 

 leafage, have been frequent. The possibilities of damping of the flowers 

 is much less when growth is made under the influence of hot sunshine 

 than that of showery seasons. One drawback, however, which may be 

 present with some growers is where early buds have been secured the 

 chances are in favour of their becoming too hard and refusing to open so 

 well, or of such satisfactory form as would be the case in more moist 

 weather. This early bud selection is a mistake, generally speaking, as I 

 have before pointed out, and the only assistance that can be offered to 

 such plants is to stand them where they will be shaded through the hottest 

 part of the day, not under trees, but on the north side of a wall or building. 

 There is also the chance of early buds dying off when little larger than 

 peas ; this usually results from over-feeding. When the plant has finished 

 growing, supplies of manure should be much less frequent until the 

 blossoms begin to unfold, otherwise injury to, if not the total loss of the 

 bud is probable. 



In the course of one of my visits I saw the famous collection of plants 

 fjrown by Messrs. Cannell at Swanley : a regular grove of healthy stock, 

 numbering some thousands, were neatly arranged in a fine open position 

 here. Mr. Cannell's grower must have had some tender knuckles if he 

 has used them to rap the pots of this huge batch of plants. That they 

 have been well and carefully tended there is no doubt, and the Swanley 

 flowers will tell a good tale in due season of the labour and thought 

 bestowed on them : but of these more may be said another time. 



From Swanley to Bromley, with the help of the useful bicycle, is not 

 a long journey, and the opportunity of seeing the well-kept 'garden at 

 Klmstead Grange, which is under the charge of Mr. J. Blackburn, was 

 well worth the run. Everything is well kept here, and in first-rate order. 

 How much neatness and methodical management enhance the good 

 effect of high cultivation is strikingly shown in these gardens. The 

 chrysanthemums are examples of the skill of an old hand, a collection 

 where each plant bears inspection, and promises to yield a good result 

 tor the care evidently bestowed on it. Blooms from this place have 

 materially helped in past seasons to win for Bromley the N.C.S. trophy 

 ior affiliated societies, and have also scored many successes in various 

 otner contests. It is to a certain extent remarkable that, even amongst 

 ne best cultivators, there is more or less a distinctive appearance about 

 ine plants, an individuality, as it were, pervading the whole, which in 

 E cas , es ™ akes lt difficult to recognise certain varieties from their 

 rnii V age as c °mpared with one's own. A few buds in this 



hS? ?u a PP eared t0 b « developing rather rapidly, and may be past 

 ueiore the November shows, but the majority are well timed. 



Broml^ S ^ me locality ' Mr - Weeks, the enthusiastic secretary of the 

 half h c * ety > showed me what a very busy amateur can do in spare 



businp°^ rS ' a? fifty plants are 8 rown at the back of his P ,ace of 

 are in f f a m0re in his P rivate garden, and really good they 

 wdUnn TN°/r ne sees man y lar g e gardens where these plants are not so 

 that th7\h ? y ' lf only they take a real likin £ for flowers, would find 

 than attPm - Ug cultlvati on, as a hobbv, of one or two things, rather 

 ihev wIT/k 1 ng t0 ° much ' yields the greatest pleasure, and I am sure 

 command b * ? Ur P nsed as well as gratified at the success they could 

 growers n * 1 , chr ysanthemum is one of the best plants for such 

 b 'ooms dn°- y u because jt is easily grown, but best of all because it 

 beauty. nn S the autumn and winter, and lasts such a long time in 



Ch ase Side H 1 nei S hbour hood the best plants are grown by Mr. Page at 

 th an two h. a US j j Enfield - Though the collection is small, not more 

 r *te Molt f ? and fifty P lants bein S the Iimit > the y ar e decidedly first- 

 plants and h i ,V ream of last season's novelties are included ; healthy 

 best) are the f latter one of the points which prove the cultivator 



— ~ — • " 



L. Zede, Sec Fierens, Mary Molyneux, 

 and of the well-known varieties, the same 



^ 5t ; are the r i ui puima wmui prove uie cuiuvaiui 

 <k Madam* £ °L such P ro mising sorts as Madame A. Rosseau, Souvenir 

 Udv icJJS ^* Roset te, Mdlle. T c - « " — 



hopefully a . u lng ls na turally m evidence. Mr. Page looks forward 



50 Wchrl T ay Wdl do; * ishis first season in Enfield, but not 

 Place were I sa . mhemum s, as some of his flowers grown at another 



,8 97, his Mad ° V r t0 Ghe?t with the de P utation fr om the N.C.S in 



have a real home. The plants here are most promising, quite a 

 picture of health, and so good that Mr. Beckett must surely be 

 satisfied. Many varieties are grown in nine-inch pots, and knowing how 

 experienced a grower Mr. Beckett is, one cannot question the practice, 

 as results have satisfied him long ago of its value. We ourselves, as 

 readers will know, prefer a size larger pot, excepting for a few sorts, but 

 probably the difference in the soil used at Aldenham and our own (the 

 former being much richer) brings the value of the rooting medium about 

 equal. Some robust seedlings are on trial, one or two are of an 

 exceptionally dwarf habit amongst these, and had buds which should 

 give large flowers, and we may hope good colours too, for of the old 

 ones several are much too tall, and on this score must give place to any 

 improvements in habit, providing the flowers are up to the same standard. 



Both incurved and Japanese sections are well represented ; of the 

 former most growers will be more interested in the Queen's. These are 

 fine plants, and the buds all taken about August 25 to August 30. 

 Princesses were nice buds of earlier dates, taken about August 15, and 

 were swelling away most kindly. The new Lucie Faure, Madame Ferlat, 

 Duchess of Fife, Emile Nonin, and Mrs. Egan look well, and exhibit in 

 their strong growth their close affinity to Japanese types. 



Of the new Japanese, very fine-looking plants and dwarf in habit, are 

 Georgina Pitcher, Chatsworth, President Nonin, Surpasse Amiral, and 

 Belle of Castlewood ; at the same time the hazel appearance of the stems 

 and tinted leaves show that the hot sunshine has matured the growth, 

 which is a condition essential to the development of sound blossoms. 

 A batch of bush-grown plants were principally of late varieties for giving 

 supplies of cut flowers through December onwards. Many-branched 

 and clean-grown stuff* that will be invaluable at midwinter. 



The neat, well- arranged, and perfectly kept tone which pervades the 

 whole of these extensive gardens is evident in every detail of the chry- 

 santhemum culture, plainly suggesting to every observant visitor the fact 

 that only by strict attention to small matters can such results be achieved. 

 There are not many Aldenhams it is true, because there are not many 

 such princely gentlemen who really love gardening as does its noble 

 owner, but equally true also, because there are so few Becketts. 



Trent Park Gardens. W. H. Lees. 



, w vjuciil wun me uepuiauon irorr 



wn anoth mC Carnot bein # one of the fine . st shown, 

 ^enham Hon ^ rney 1 had the great pleasure of an afternoon at 



s * hardens, where, as everyone knows, chrysanthemums 



Dwarf Kidney Beans. 



Although a trial of dwarf kidney beans was conducted at Chiswick 

 very recently, yet it seems needful to keep pace with the new ones so 

 rapidly introduced that yet another trial should be made next year. 

 These beans constitute one of the vegetables that can be well done out- 

 doors in the Royal Horticultural Society's gardens. But whilst with so 

 many of these beans there seems to be very little distinction in plant or 

 pod, or even in cropping quality, there is undoubted distinction in colour 



and form of seed, and although to the grower that point may be of 

 small moment, yet does it serve to satisfy that there is between them 

 actual distinctness. 



I have been making a small trial of these beans in two places this 

 season. But whilst the one was a comparative failure, because the site 

 and soil were so very cold in the early summer, in the other case the 

 growth was excellent, and the crop highly satisfactory. One of these 

 varieties was a white-seeded form, having also white flowers that were 

 borne in prominent racemes above the leafage. This is an early, dwarf, 

 very free cropping variety, and I have it under the name of Ever- 

 bearing. It does not seem to be in common cultivation. Such well- 

 known varieties as Negro Long Pod — though in this case it was not 

 the true long-seeded selection I used to have at Bedfont — and Ne Plus 

 Ultra, the ripe seeds from a dry sand being quite golden in colour, are diffi- 

 cult to beat as dwarf, free-cropping varieties and early. It is no matter 

 for surprise that these continue to be so much in request in gardens. 

 My latest to crop and ripen was Canadian Wonder, yet one of the very 

 finest and best of all the section, and likely to hold its high position for 

 many years. Another very full bearer is Sutton's Magnum Bonum. This 

 in appearance and growth very much resembles Canadian Wonder, but 

 the seeds are rather large, white, and have an edge of rich colour on the 

 eye side. Sutton's Perfection is also a good mid-season bean, cropping 

 heavily, the seed reddish speckled. 



I had also the old Mohawk, not very easy to obtain in commerce 

 now. The seeds of this variety are aho speckled led, and it seems to 

 be an excellent one. Two or three varieties or selections of late come 

 from the Mohawk. Very striking amongst the new sorts are the fine 

 ones raised by Mr. J. Smythe, Basing Park, Hants. One named 

 Goliath is a strong grower, carries very long fleshy pods, and has seeds 

 black in colour and long. The other is like a dwarf scarlet runner, for 

 the flowers are scarlet, being borne on long racemes well above the 

 leaves and the seeds, though smaller, resemble those of scarlet runners. 

 Both of these have been obtained by intercrossing the scarlet runner and 



Canadian Wonder. 



But there are, old and new, so many varieties, distinct, or assumed 

 to be in commerce, that a thorough good trial of all should have exceed- 

 ing interest. To enable full justice to be done to each variety the seeds 

 of the earlier and dwarfer varieties should be sown fully six inches apart, 

 and those of the stronger growers quite nine inches apart. Hence very 

 few seeds would be needed to sow a row of some twelve to fifteen feet. 

 Some dry seeds of every variety should be kept for inspection, and 

 every effort should be made to bring all the varieties or slocks, which 

 seem from the colour of the seeds to be similar, closer together. When 

 that is done efforts at comparison are so materially helped. 1 hope these 

 suggestions will be acted upon in the proper quarter when the Chiswick 

 triaJs for next year are arranged. A. D. 



