Beoember 11, 1831 ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTJGULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER, 
533 
have never yet visited. There the greAt number of the older varietie? are 
cultivated, and from Thence corms are supplied to all the leading Inme 
and foreign houses, for they are exclusively wholesale merchants, and all 
are supplied through other houses. At Fontainbleau they cultivate the 
newer varieties, and also those seedlings which they have on trial. Every 
year the most promising seedlings are again subjected to close scrutiny 
before they are propagated for distribution, and nowadays it must be 
something very good which is selected. Experience has convinced me 
that it is a mistake to decide upon the merits of those sent out by this 
firm. I have condemned some which afterwards proved to be really good 
varieties. The season there has been equally favourable as ours, and I am 
more than ever persuaded that the disease (for disease it is now, I think, 
generally admitted to be) is the result of wet, and it may be of uuripened 
bulbs which the season befoi’e has hindered from being*fully ripened. I 
have never lifted my own bulbs in such good condition as this year ; at 
the same time I must say that the disease is often to be seen in the 
thoroughly ripened bulbs received from Fontainbleau. I have never seen 
much of it there, and certainly there was no trace of it this season. 
That there has been an accession of any fine varieties during the past 
two years is evident to those who have the opportunity of seeing them ; 
and I may here state that they are not the result of mere haphazard 
saving of seed, for the flowers were carefully hybridised, and the Gladiolus 
is perhaps one of the easiest flowers for the hybridiser to operate on. I 
saw here many seed pods (many had been gathered) with mirks on them 
indicating the flowers used in crossing, and it is one of those acts in which 
the confessed handiness of the French is most successfully employed. 
Long experience has taught Messrs. Souilliard & Brunelet how the best 
results may be obtained, and hence their success, as in all cases of care ul 
work. Numbers of flowers which promised well have uUima*ely to be 
discarded, and out of tens of thousands of seedlings raised annually only 
eight or nine flowers are deemed worthy of being put into commerce. 
During the past two years there have been nineteen. How different to 
what one remembers twenty years ago, when winged flowers, as they were 
called, were oftentimes sent out—that is, floivers where, instead of blooms 
all facing the spectator, they were opposite, and required a good deal of 
ingenuity to bring them to the right position 1 Then there were flowers 
where considerable gaps occurred between each bloom, and others where 
the blooms were one over the other, so making a narrow spike ; others, 
again, where the most that could be obtained was three or four blooms at 
one time. Now we have them all facing the same way, the blooms over¬ 
lapping one another, so as not to leave a space of a pin’s head between 
them, and we have heard of spikes of 2G inches long in full flower the 
whole way up. I have myself had them with thirteen blooms out at the 
same time. We are sometimes told that it would be better to grow from 
seed than to run the risk of having named sorts which we might soon lose. 
The fact that these large raisers can only get this smaU number each year 
of really good sorts shows how profitless it would be for most amateurs to 
attempt it. Moreover, seedlings are apt to go off as well as the named 
varieties, and hence I believe the best way is to rely on the spawn, care¬ 
fully saving and sowing this, so that if the old corms do perish the young 
corms may take their place. There was one point which they mentioned, 
and which is generally in the French catalogue of Gladioli—that medium¬ 
sized corms give the best flowers. This may possibly be because the larger 
ones throw up two or three shoots ; but I have for many years obviated 
this by cutting the corms in halves, leaving one eye to each piece, and 
some of the best spikes and the largest corms I have had came from corms 
thus divided. 
With regard to the varieties sent out in 1882-83 I have the following 
notes :— 
Abrioote. —Large rounded petals of a quite novel colour—apricot with 
a slight dash of rose colour. The variety seems to be vigorous. 
Arali Paolia. —Bright scarlet with a very large ivory-white blotch in 
the centre, giving it a very distinct and striking character. Quite new. 
Bayard. —Carmine red with white line in centre of petals ; a vigorous- 
growing varietj', although hardly flrst-class. 
Bicolore. —Large flowers of bright rosy salmon colour; lower petals 
ivory white suffused with rose at the edges. A remarkable and fine 
variety. 
Fatima. —Ivory white ground striped with bright rosy salmon, with 
violet blotch on creamy ground. Large flower. 
Feu Follet. —Yellowish ground with white throat, richly tinted with 
carmine on the edges. 
Grand Bouge. —A fine scarlet flower of the same series as Hercule, 
Le Vesuve, Flamboyant, &c. Very fine and effective. 
Nereide. —A very fine compact flower, forming a long and close spikp, 
“ rose naerh,” or mother-of-pearl rose, suffused with lilac ; bright violet 
blotch. I think this to be the best flower of this series. 
Pepita, —A small yellow flower, pretty but not first-rate, although the 
raisers think much of it. 
The series of 1883 84 consisted of nine varieties. 
Colorado. —This I have not grown, but saw it at Mr. Dobree’s at 
Wellington in Somersetshire. Ic is a distinct variety of brilliant rosy 
orange flowers with large white blotch. Very dist net. 
Conquerant. —Handsome spike, colour rosy carmine with pure white 
blotch, white line on petals. 
Constance. —Good spike of amaranth-red flowers, small white blotch. 
Crep^i^cmle .—A grand flower ; well-opened flowers, lilac-rose slightly 
f.u5hed with carmine, edges of petals tinted violet. 
Gallia. —Very long spike of rosy white flowers flushed with bright 
carmine. A first-rate variety. 
Medccis. —Very long sp'ke of large, bright, cherry rose, with well¬ 
shaped petals, streaked white and flushed with carmine on the edges. A 
fine flower. 
Papillon .—A pretty yellow flower; compact flowers of good form 
flaked and bordered with carmine. The best, I think, of its colour. 
Pyramide —Handsome and grand-looking flower ; large well-opened 
flowers, delicate and bright orange-rose. 
Tamerlan .—A truly re.narkable flower and, I think, the best of the 
series; flowers good size, upper petals brownish red suffused with slate 
c dour at the edges, under petals creamy yellow and shaded carmine. A 
flower of the Jupiter and Africaine series, but far superior to anything in 
its colour that has gone before. 
Toe varieties to be issued this autumn, of which I know nothing, are 
Ali, Amithe, Daphnis, Ganymede, Gordon Pasha, Latone, Madame Auber, 
and Therese de Vilmorin. Of this last the raisers have the very highest 
opinion, for it is sent out at a price exceeding: any that they have ever 
offered their corms at—28 francs. They describe it, as well they may, as 
one of exceptional merit.—D., Deal. 
PROLIFEROUS CHRYSANTHEMUxMS. 
I NOTICED a paragraph in the Journal of the 4th inst. remarking on a 
proliferous Chrysanthemum bloom of the variety Fair Maid of Guernsey. 
I had a similar bloom of Madame Berthie Rendatler a few weeks ago and 
showed it to Messrs. Cannell’s foreman, who gave it as his opinion that it 
was merely a deformity. The same plant had two other blooms of similar 
style, and very handsome blooms too. I should like to know if any of 
your readers have had any similar blooms, and also to have your opinion as 
to whether it is likely to be produced again from cuttings taken from just 
below the flower, and if so would it be a curiosity of any value and worth 
cultivation ?—F. W. Jameson. 
[We regard the production of the proliferous flowers as accidental. 
There is, however, a possibility that plants raised from cuttings as sug¬ 
gested might produce similar whorls of flowers round the terminal bloom. 
Such a variety would be a curiosity and interesting among other plants in 
a conservatory, but we do not apprehend it would possess any material 
commercial value.] 
BRITISH APPLES. 
Beport of the Committee of the National Apple Congress held in the 
Boyal Horticultural Gardens, ChLswich, October 5th to 25th, 18S3. 
London : Macmillan & Co. 
This work, which has been compiled and prepared by Mr. A. F. 
Barron, is a concise, useful, and substantial record of the great eve d above 
mentioned, at which 10,150 dishes or separate lots of Apples were staged 
by 231 exhibitors from various parts of the country. Tbe number of 
different names applied to tbe Apples exhibited was 2020, and the number 
of varieties regarded as presumably distinct 1545, all of which are described 
in tbe catalogue embodied in the Report. 
We cannot so clearly indicate the characters of this admirable com¬ 
pilation as by giving one or tw^J extracts- The work is divided into 
counties, and shows the number of varieties sent from each with the 
remarks of the exhibitors of them, and the observations of the Committee 
of Examiners. The first county on the list is Berkshire as follows :— 
BERKSHIRE. 
Exhibitors. 
1.—Mr. W. S. Campbell, Cowarth Park, Sunningdale, Ascot. 
Number of varieties exhibited .. .. .. 44 
Observations. —A vary fine lot of fruit. Blenheim Orange, large and re¬ 
markably high in co'our, also Hambledon Deux Ans, Court Pendu Plat, and 
No. 24, which was unknown to the Committee. 
Exhibitor'’s Remarks. —Grown on standards and espaliers, grafted chiefly 
on the Paradise. Situation sheltered. Soil, a light sandy loam; subsoil, 
sand and gravel. 
2 —Mr. T. Jones, Royal Gardens, Frogmore. 
Number of varieties exhibited .. .. .. 162 
Ohsercations. —An exceedingly interesting collection, containing many 
excellent old sorts not commonly met with. The examples were somewhat 
small,but mostly true to name. A numberof the dessert variet es were very 
fine, especially Court of Wick, Golden Harvey, and Braddick’s Nonpareil. 
Exhibitor's Remarks. —The specimens sent are not quite so large as usual, 
owing to the greater number of the trees having been lifted last winter. 
The majority of the trees were planted by the late Mr. Ingram, so that they 
arc now getting old. 
3.—Mr. S. Mortimer, Purley Park, Reading. 
Number of varieties exhibited .. .. ..40 
Observations. —Examples of moderate size and quality. 
E.vhibitor's Bemarks. —Some of the trees are very old standards, which 
bear abundantly, but we get our choicest fruit from bushes that have been 
planted about eight years. Some of the trees are grafted on the Paradise, 
some on the Crab. Situation, in a valley entirely surrounded with tall trees. 
Soil, a light shallow loam, on a gravelly subsoil. The varieties named are 
those we find most prolific and useful; a good many of the better kinds 
canker badly, for example, Lord SufSeld. Cellini bears well, but the fruit 
is always very small; but none of the Apples grow very fine on this thin 
soil. 
4.—Mr. C. Ro=s, gardener to Charles Eyre, Esq., Welford Park, Newbury. 
Number of varieties exhibited.72 
Observations. —A remarkably fine, well grown lot, specimens being of 
good size, very clear skinned and very correctly named. The following 
varieties wore specially noted—viz., Peasgood’s Nonsuch, very large, Stir¬ 
ling Casde, Annie Elizabeth, Mere de Mhnage, Hollandbury, Cox’s Pomona 
