444 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ November 22,1883-. 
budded plants must win. I do not like to speak positively, but I fancy 
that it is during the year after striking that the plants do not bloom so 
freely. I have two or three-year-old plants from cuttings that appear to 
me just as floriferous as the budded plants whether on the Briar or 
Manetti. 
For “garden Boses” I certainly think the palm must be given to 
cuttings, and for this reason, that so long as the plant lives you will have the 
Bose itself and not the stock cultivated. It may be said that this accident 
should not occur. Granted, but nevertheless it does. Ordinary working 
gardeners are as a rule not sufficiently acquainted with the Manetti, 
for instance, to detect it, and as it is a grand grower its shoots are often 
carefully preserved, and the bud, the Rose par excellence, of the plant is a 
thing of the past. This every Rose-grower, I fancy, must have noticed. 
It rarely falls to my lot to go round a flower garden without spotting a 
Manetti shoot if there are two or three dozen Roses grown, and on one 
occasion a friend complained to me that her Rose trees never bloomed. 
I found there were large rampant bushes of Manetti, and scarcely a plant 
with any of the budded portion left. Such a condition could not exist 
with plants grown from cuttings. 
“A. M. B.” endorses the opinion promulgated during the last two 
or three years, that the Tea varieties are far less tender than was supposed. 
There is no question in my mind that many of the Teas are as hardy, if 
not more so than some of the Hybrid Perpetuals. Last season, February 
was so forcing that my Teas were throwing up young shoots through 
their protection. To harden off these I removed the protection ; then comes 
March, bitter, biting, and for ten days or a fortnight we had continuous 
frost of 10° to 20° below freezing. I feared the Teas would suffer, but 
the only plants that I saw injured, and I do not feel certain this was 
frost, were a Climbing Devoniensis and a Triomphe de Rennes. Of their 
extreme elegance and beauty one cannot say too much. They are the 
cream of Roses, not alluding at all to their colour, whilst for continuous 
blooming the H.P.’s cannot approach them. With all my intense 
admiration for them I must allow that a great number of them do not 
like wet, and if caught in the bud decline to open. The fuller they are 
the more probable is this to occur, but the blooms are worth a little 
protection then, they well repay it. Safrano merits all that “A. F. M.” 
writes. I would say more. “ A. F. M.” remarks that in November he can 
always find a bud, and 1 would add that in many Februarys he might 
find the same, at least it is one of the earliest bloomers bar Gloire de 
Dijon, which our old friend “ C. P. P.” maintains is not a true Tea, as it 
is one of the latest; and although it may have but a dozen petals, how 
exquisitely are they folded and tinted in the bud ! and in that stage how 
beautifully the poverty of petals is hidden !—Y. B. A. Z. 
VIOLAS. 
In the Journal of November 8th there is a further correspondence 
respecting Violas and Pansies. To those who have grown these plants 
for years there is really no difficulty in classifying them so far as trade 
lists are concerned. Holyrood and Blue Stone, as well as Blue King 
and others, are Pansies, but then the Pansy is a Viola, and is Viola 
tricolor. Such varieties as Blue Bell, Crown Jewel, Countess of Iiintore, 
Mrs. Gray, and all the small-flowering kinds, are safely classed as 
Violas to distinguish them from Pansies, both Show and Fancy, for as 
a rule the bedding Violas have stronger constitutions than Pansies, stand 
bad weather better, and are much better bedders. It is quite true that 
Pilrig Park comes very near to the Pansy in growth, still, as it is a 
capital bedding variety, and not of the slightest use as a show Pansy, 
I should place it amongst the Violas. Mr. Percival refers to the perfume 
of Miss Darling Pansy. In Mrs. Gray Viola we have a strong, delicious, 
Violet perfume, and this, added to the snowy white colour of the flower, 
and its robust habit and freedom of blooming, makes this a most desirable 
bedding plant for spring and summer. 
Mr. Murphy’s solution of the problem as to considering “ all those 
with radiating distinctly marked lines from the eye as Violas ” is 
altogether wrong. I have held for years past that we should aim at 
getting pure self-coloured Violas entirely free from any blotch or lines 
whatever, and in Golden Queen of Spring, Yellow Beauty, Yell@w Dwarf, 
all seedlings of mine, we have it. Mrs. Gray and Countess of Polwarth 
are almost free from markings. In the midland and northern districts 
thousands of Violas are now grown where only dozens were cultivated 
a few years since. One of our very best and most distinct varieties is 
elegans, by no means a new kind, an abundant and continuous bloomer 
of a pleasing pale lilac colour. Mrs. Gray is a grand white, and True 
Blue by far the best and most useful blue I know.— W. Dean, Florist, 
Walsall. 
CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 
NEW VARIETIES. 
It appears that increased attention is now being paid to raising 
Chrysanthemums from seed, and as a consequence the new varieties are 
rapidly becoming more numerous; indeed there is just a possibility that 
the demand for novelties may cause the market to be flooded with many 
that are inferior to older and proved sorts. This is one evil which it is 
to be hoped will be avoided, and most of the leading nurserymen who 
trade in these plants will undoubtedly be careful in recommending their 
new productions until their merits have been tried or submitted to the 
test of examination by a competent tribunal, such as the Floral Com¬ 
mittee of the Royal Horticultural Society. Without some guarantee the 
public are likely to become the unhappy possessors of worthless additions 
to their stock at prices greatly in advance of those for which they could 
obtain really useful and beautiful forms. Ik seems that some of thosn 
who devote themselves to raising new Chrysanthemums on the continent 
must do so in a very haphazard manner, no definite attempts at systematic 
crossing being made, and the chief object is apparently to get all the 
seed possible, and nearly every plant so raised which differs at its 
first flowering in the slightest perceptible degree is honoured with a name 
and sent out with a magniloquent description. Fortunately, however, 
this is not a general practice, and there are some continental firms who 
have distinguished themselves by the high quality of the varieties they 
have contributed to commerce. The same remark applies to all the best 
home growers, who are very careful in introducing to their lists those 
alone which possess sterling merit, and it is only by acting on this 
principle that they can gain the confidence of the public. Still selection 
becomes of greater importance as the numbers increase to preserve the 
character and high quality of the different sections in general estimation. 
It is strange that so few additions are made to the incurved group. 
We still need brighter and more [diversified colours amongst these ; yet 
the three best novelties of the present season—namely, Lord Alcester, 
Bendigo, and Jeanne d’Arc are all light-coloured. Two of these are 
sports, and seedlings are of very infrequent occurrence. The Japanese 
produce seed more freely, and there seems to be no difficulty in getting 
a supply from France and some other districts in South Europe where 
the autumn temperature is sufficient to mature the seeds. Some English 
seedsmen now offer seed at moderate prices, and those who wish to 
indulge in the agreeable excitement of raising new varieties can readily 
do so, as the seed usually germinates very readily in a little heat, young 
plants being obtained within a fortnight if the seed is good. It is rather 
surprising that more efforts are not made in crossing Chrysanthemums 
in England, as there is every probability that with a moderate amount of 
perseverance and study of the peculiarities of the floral structure in these 
plants satisfactory results could soon be insured. Mr. Broome of the 
Temple Gardens, one of the most noted of the earlier growers of Chrys¬ 
anthemums, tried experiments of this character more than twenty years 
ago, and his efforts were sufficiently successful to encourage others in the 
same path. In a lecture delivered in 1863 the above grower thus 
describes the method adopted :— 
“ The following mode I saw practised in Guernsey, where I went 
twenty years ago, at Christmas, to look after some new varieties. At the 
town of St. Peter’s, which is built on a rock a considerable height above 
the sea, I found the Chrysanthemum seeded freely, and that many of our 
newest and best varieties were raised in an alcove on the top of a rock. 
About one hundred pots were crowded together in the dry, and all the 
late blooms of the season were full of seed half ripe. I saw the petals 
had been carefully cut off with a sharp pair of scissors close to the florets, 
avoiding disturbing the pollen. The buds were quite firm with the seed. 
I have practised the same mode myself with perfect success. Mr. Wyness 
of Buckingham Palace has also raised a great number of very good 
varieties. He takes the seed off in February, and puts it into his pocket 
to dry for a week or two, and then sows it in a sharp heat in silver sand, 
and it comes up in nine days. I am persuaded that anyone can seed 
them in the greenhouses or dry stoves in this country if kept free from 
damp.” 
The structure of the florets should be carefully observed, and where, 
as is usually the case in the incurved as well as other varieties, the florets 
contain a pistil only, pollen could be gathered from the central tubular 
florets of the best single or semi-double varieties if it could not be other¬ 
wise obtained, and by this means it is very probable that seed might 
often be secured if the plants were grown in a light, dry, and warm 
position after the crossing had been effected. Should anyone be induced 
to undertake the task they should by all means direct their efforts to 
improving the colour of the incurved ; and if it were possible to get a 
cross between some of the highly coloured Japanese and the superbly 
formed varieties of the former type, a beautiful race would probably be 
originated. 
It should be observed that Mr. John Salter, who did 60 much to 
improve the Chrysanthemum and added so many fine varieties to those 
in cultivation at that time, once expressed an opinion that on an average 
not more than one out of every 2000 seedlings raised were worth naming 
as distinct. This was the result of long experience, and if it were true 
twenty years ago, the probability of obtaining meritorious novelties must 
be even less at the present time. 
Some of the best of the varieties that have been recently honoured 
with certificates are the following :— 
Lord Alcester. —A grand substantial bloom, pale creamy yellow, 
quite of the Empress of India type, from the golden form of which it was 
described at Southampton as being a sport, though it was stated at 
Kingston to have been obtained from Golden Queen of England. The 
former is the more probable, and some doubts were expressed at 
Kingston respecting the correctness of the information. It is, however, 
a superb bloom, and is likely to become a great favourite for the back 
rows of exhibition stands. 
Jeanne d'Arc. —This, also an incurved variety, will undoubtedly 1 
become a favourite if it retains the character which distinguished the 
blooms shown at Kingston by Messrs. Jackson & Son. The petals are 
broad, strongly incurved, the bloom substantial and full, while the pure 
white tipped with pale purple has a very distinct effect. 
M. Astory. —A magnificent Elaine, with much broader petals and 
extremely full handsome blooms, pure white. This may be expected to 
prove a fine exhibition variety. 
Itoscvvi suverhm. —Both Messrs. Laing and Messrs. Jackson have 
