178 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ March 1, 1883. 
Mr. G. Glenny ; in the following year a golden sport, which was 
named Mrs. Dixon, and is still known in some parts as Golden 
Mr. G. Glenny. Barbara and Baraba: this last I have never 
grown, but I have found that the early buds of Barbara differ in 
colour from the later flowers, and perhaps the names have been 
applied to the different stages. Prince of Wales and Lord Derby 
are very distinct in foliage and build of flower. Empress of India 
and Snowball are identical. Bobert James, General Bainbrigge, 
and Beauty of Stoke : the first-named I have never grown, but the 
last two, as I have grown them, are distinct. Empress of India 
and White Globe are very distinct both in flower and foliage. 
Golden Empress of India and Emily Dale are distinct. Prince 
Alfred and Lord Wolseley are distinct in colour ; the latter is a 
sport from the former, but not yet in commerce, and ought not to 
have been named. 
Princess of Wales and Mrs. Heales : if these two are distinct, 
they are so closely allied in every particular that they ought not 
to be admitted in a stand of twelve varieties ; in fact two flowers 
have been known to have been cut from the same plant and shown 
under both names. Inner Temple and Aregina are distinct, but 
the last has frequently been sold under the former name. Em¬ 
press of India, White Queen, and Mrs. Cunningham are identical. 
Lady Slade and Lady Hardinge are very distinct in habit of 
growth, form of flower, and colour. Venus and Hetty Barker are 
distinct. Mrs. G. Bundle and Mount Edgcumbe : the last-named 
I have not grown, but it is singular that Mrs. G. Bundle was 
raised very near Mount Edgcumbe. Empress Eugdnie and Pink 
Perfection are quite distinct. John Salter and Angelina are very 
distinct in form and colour of flower, as well as in foliage and 
habit of growth. Princess Beatrice and Lady Slade are quite 
distinct. Canary and Canary Cherub are identical, as are also 
Queen of England and Blush Queen. St. Patrick and Golden 
Eagle are distinct. Mr. Brunlees and Mr. Jay are very distinct; 
the last has quite a quilled petal. 
Empress of India, Virgin Queen, and Vesta are all distinct, the 
last-named being reflexed. Jardin des Plantes and Mr. Bunn are 
distinct in size and shape of flower and foliage. Princess of 
Wales, Princess Teck, Le Grande, Mrs. Heales, and Countess of 
Granville are all distinct, except the first-named and Mrs. Heales. 
Venus, Lady Slade, Mrs. Sharpe, and Beauty are all distinct in 
both colour of flowers and foliage. Barbara, Mr. Brunlees, and 
Golden Eagle are all distinct from each other. Pink Venus, Pink 
Perfection, and Lady Hardinge all distinct in form of flower and 
foliage. Mr. G. Glenny and Emily Dale are very distinct. Bev. 
C. Boys and Inner Temple are distinct, but the first is sometimes 
sold for the latter. Mabel Ward and Angelina are perfectly dis¬ 
tinct ; the first is a sport from Eve, the latter from Lady Slade. 
Venus and Countess of Dudley, Baron Beust and Orange Perfec¬ 
tion are all distinct. Oliver Cromwell and Mr. Evans, Golden 
Eagle and Orange Perfection are identical. Prince of Wales and 
Mr. Corbay are distinct in colour of flower, the last-named a sport 
from the first. Lord Wolseley, Incognito, and Mabel'Ward—a 
strange combination—are all distinct; as also are Mrs. Dixon 
and Aureum Multiflorum. 
All the following are distinct:—John Salter and Baron Beust, 
Mrs. G. Bundle and Duchess of Manchester, White Beverley and 
Blonde Beauty, Hero of Stoke Newington and Novelty, Isabella 
Bott and Empress of India, Befulgence and Prince of Wales, 
White Venus and White Beverley, Mr. G. Glenny and Guernsey 
Nugget, Mrs. Bundle and Mrs. Shipman, Mr. G. Glenny and 
Golden Empress of India, Golden Queen of England and Golden 
Empress of India, Isabella Bott and Lady Hardinge, Novelty and 
Beauty, Mr. G. Glenny and Mrs. Dixon. 
That seventy-seven electors should have named seventy-seven 
varieties as worthy of a place in the first twelve is astonishing, 
and if space could only be spared in some future issue it would 
be interesting if the lists of the best twelve from each elector 
could be published. The high position that Jardin des Plantes 
attained is surprising. Its colour is magnificent, but the form is 
generally bad, and is rarely seen in a collection of twelve varie¬ 
ties. It is curious to note the relative positions of Princess Teck 
and Hero of Stoke Newington—two varieties only differing in 
colour of the flower. The first-named only received twenty-seven 
first-class votes, while the latter received forty-one ; yet with the 
second-class votes thirty-nine and twenty-one respectively. Prin¬ 
cess Teck has a total of sixty-six to sixty-two, or four more than 
her parent. The colour of Hero of Stoke Newington is most 
desirable, but I have a weakness for the daughter, Princess Teck, 
and named her instead. This, together w T ith my reluctance to 
place Mrs. Heales on the same stand as Princess of Wales, places 
me in a minority as to naming the best twelve varieties. 
Mr. Bunn received fifty-six votes and Golden Beverley nine¬ 
teen, and yet in the too-much-alike varieties twenty-two electors 
bracket them together. This is singular. White Beverley re¬ 
ceived twenty-one votes and Beverley ten, but they are only one 
variety. The same remarks apply to Venus and Pink Venus, the 
term “ pink ” being merely added by some to more readily dis¬ 
tinguish them from the other sports from the same parent. In 
conclusion, the thanks of all growers are due to the Editor for 
the trouble this election has given him. All will benefit by its 
results, and a better system of nomenclature must necessarily be 
obtained.— J. W. Moorman. 
GLADIOLI. 
Nothing can be further from the truth than the statement 
vouchsafed to “W. J. M. ” (see page 157), that Mr Banks’s 
Gladioli were left in the ground all the winter. Indeed, as I 
have seen those initials in the Journal for a number of years, 
the owner of them might have remembered that some years ago 
I gave a sketch of the very excellent stand which Mr. Banks had 
invented for storing his roots ; and I can only add that I have 
never seen except in France corms so carefully harvested as his 
—indeed they were exactly like Souchet’s in the silkiness of the 
outer skin, so that this finely built theory falls to the ground. 
Assuredly had Mr. Banks left his bulbs in the ground all the 
winter I should have said so : but perhaps “ W. J. M.” will 
recollect that this has been the advice tendered by some of our 
best gardeners, although I do not think the advice is sound. 
Fight against it as we may, I fear that my conclusions, whether 
it be disease, exhaustion, or degeneration, are none the less cor¬ 
rect ; that the growing of the choicer varieties of this beautiful 
flower are simply vanity and vexation of spirit; and that those 
who indulge in it must make up their minds to a somewhat costly 
and disappointing hobby. 
I have lately received letters from two gentlemen who live in 
Somerset—Mr. Dobree, who has always taken the chief prizes in 
the shows of the west of England, and Mr. Marshall of Belmont, 
Taunton, a.very enthusiastic and successful horticulturist, and 
they both agree with my own experience. The former gentleman 
says that two years ago he expended £20 on them, and that he 
has hardly any of them left; the latter, after buying all the new 
varieties for several years, has abandoned the practice, and he 
threw those he had into mixture, planting them in the borders, 
but with the same result, and that he has now hardly any of them 
left. Now in neither of these cases can ignorance be put down as 
the cause ; nor can it be climate, which is supposed to account 
for the success of Mr. Kelway’s culture, for they are but a few 
miles from Langport. 
The idea has been hazarded by Mr. Elwes, who as a grower of 
bulbs and all kinds of garden plants is well entitled to be regarded 
as an authority, that we are to account for these losses by the 
exceptional character of the last few seasons. I fear that this 
cannot be regarded as sufficient reason, although wet autumns 
may tend to aggravate the malady ; but it is nearly twenty years 
since I lost almost entirely a collection of about three hundred 
bulbs of the then best named varieties, and the loss of many bulbs 
in the collections of all whom I have known has been a matter of 
yearly occurrence. 
It has been a matter of considerable pain to me to write as I 
have felt compelled to do on this subject. 1 greatly admire the 
flower and think it far superior to the Dahlia or Hollyhock, and 
as a florist would do all I could to encourage the growth of any 
flower, but I feel none the less that the whole truth ought to be 
told about it. The Hollyhock has in the same way been affected 
by a very fatal disease. Did Hollyhock growers hide the fact, 
even although it led to the discontinuance of their cultivation by 
a great number of persons 1 No : they were fain to confess their 
losses, to tell of the remedies they had tried, and to deplore the 
condition of their favourite flower ; so I have felt with regard to 
the Gladiolus, and I must leave it to others to judge of the cor¬ 
rectness of my views. My motives are, I am sure, simply those 
of one who wishes well to all lovers of our favourite pursuit. 
I have just been placing in pots a quantity of spawn of some 
of the leading sorts. These I look upon as the spes grcgis , and 
believe that some of them will give me good blooms during the 
ensuing season. This, as I have already stated, I believe to be 
the only way in which one can hope to keep up a collection, 
buying in if necessary good varieties which are sold at a moderate 
price, for I dare not look for a time when I should cease to grow 
this lovely autumn flower.—D., Deal. 
"ZYGOPETALUM MACKAYI. 
In reference to the true variety of this handsome Orchid men¬ 
tioned on page 159, last issue, Mr. F. W. Burbidge, Curator of 
