July 29, 1886. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
89 
lias, we believe, yielded a considerable proportion of novelties, including a 
number of genera not hitherto known from the islands. Information 
respecting these additions will probably be forthcoming in due course, as 
■already we have an outline of the flora at the hands of one of the Kew 
Stas'. The above, together with the fact that the large island of Mindanao, 
and several others, is practically unexplored, shows how much yet remains 
to be done in this direction. From an economic standpoint, and for the 
development of the natural resources of the islands, the work of the 
department is an important one. The demand for timber, owing to the 
exhaustion of the forests in various directions, is assuredly forcing the 
forestry question into the foreground. As an example of how little we 
know of the Philippine flora, we may mention the St. Ignatius’s Bean, 
of which until recently nothing was known beyond the fact that it finds 
its way into the markets of this country as a source of the deadly poison 
-strychnine, and was said to be sold in the market at Manila. Now, we 
believe, the plant has been discovered, and information respecting it will 
•doubtless be shortly forthcoming. Such matters as these naturally en¬ 
gage the attention of the Forest Department, and it will be a matter for 
sincere regret if the work so well begun should come to a sudden termina¬ 
tion just at a time when its importance is beginning to be realised.” 
FLOWERS FOR THE MILLION. 
One of the pleasing characteristics of public taste is the increasing 
disposition of the inhabitants of towns especially, but not exclusively, 
to render the surroundings of their homes cheerful with flowers. This is 
not the outburst of mere fashion that predominates for a time, then 
subsides, but is, without doubt, the steady progressive growth of a fixed 
idea that flowers, like sunshine, are essential factors in contributing to 
-domestic enjoyment and human happiness. 
That the love of flowers is ever widening and deepening there is 
abundant evidence all around, and it is nowhere more apparent than in 
those establishments for producing them that the public demand has 
created. Roses have of lata held the pride of plaoe. They are seen in 
gardens large and small almost everywhere, and each year in greater 
numbers than before, but to comprehend anything like the full measure 
•of interest that is centered in them, the great homes of manufacture 
must be visited. There the acres of ground occupied with millions of 
plants appeal with overwhelming force to the convictions, and the great 
fact is, and must be acknowledged, that flowers, as represented by this 
one flower, have come to be regarded as necessities of life. 
Various other flowers bear testimony to this fact. If anyone 
should question, for instance, the established popularity of Orchids, let 
him visit the great trade emporiums, and when he sees house after h >use 
packed with plants, stages crowded, roofs laden, and floors covered with 
them, he will doubt no longer. They are provided because the demand 
for them is so great. It is the same with plants of more familiar type, 
and acre is added to acre yearly to satisfy the requirements for old and 
new favourites among hardy plants—Violets, Primroses, Daffodils, Ane¬ 
mones, &c., in the spring; Irises, Stocks, Pinks, Carnations, Liliums, and 
■‘border” plants innumerable in the summer; Asters and Corysan- 
themums in the autumn ; Christmas Roses in the winter—more of each and 
of all have to be grown yearly to satisfy the wants of the flower-loving 
multitude. And if this is so in respect to those more or less costly kinds 
that are more or less difficult to preserve and cultivate, it would be strange 
indeed if the most easily raised and cheapest of all, the graceful and gay 
annuals, and other flowers readily raised from seed, were not propor¬ 
tionately appreciated. That these flowers are in the very van of popu¬ 
larity one example will suffice. It is probably the greatest example that 
can be found in this if not in any other country, and on that account is 
the more conclusive. Let us, then, take such of our readers who care 
to accompany us to a fertile corner in Essex, where at the present time 
is to be seen what may be fairly described as the most extensive and 
varied floral display in the dominions of the Queen. 
The flower seed farms of Messrs. James Carter & Co. at Dedham and 
St. Osyth are widely and justly celebrated. They are not in the “bea en 
tracks of tourists,” and on that account it is the more incumbent that the 
few who visit them should endeavour to give some idea of their magnitude 
and appearance for the information of the many who are unable to inspect 
what is undoubtedly one of the most wonderful in its way, and certainly 
most beautiful tights in the kingdom. In one respect it seems a pity that 
these farms, or the chief of them, should be so inaccessible, but viewing 
the case from another—that is, a business standpoint, it is probably well 
that they are out of the way of the crowd, or visitors would prove 
seriously obstructive. Those Belgian horticulturists now visiting our 
shores on a gardening tour will doubtless see much to gratify them, but 
nothing that would probably astonish them more than the fields of flowers 
in question. But a long journey and a long day must be spent in accom¬ 
plishing the object, and time, nowadays, is a precious item that has to 
be considered in the execution of a programme. If all the flowers in 
Belgium were crowded together they would not approach the number to 
be seen at St. Os>th, and the excellence of cultuie, the sciupulous care 
that is exercised ia maintaining the purity of the stocks, with the admir¬ 
able system of management that is apparent, are commensurate with the 
magnitude of the display. That is the simple statement of a sober fact, 
and there is no fear of its being questioned by any competent and im¬ 
partial person who may be fortunate enough to examine the fields on a 
fine day in July before the flowers are faded. 
The route to this land of flowers, starting from London, is by the 
Great Eastern Railway from Liverpool Street to Manningtree, a distance 
of about sixty miles. A well-appointed service of express trains, however, 
renders the journey pleasant rather than tedious, and travellers to the 
Continent via Harwich, with a day at their disposal, might break their 
journey homewards, see the flowers, and go on by the favourite night 
continental express. It is fourteen miles by road from Manningtree to 
St. Osyth, a delightful drive on a fine day, and it is no use going on any 
other, for apart from the discomfort to travellers of a fourteen-miles rain, 
annuals are flowers of the snn, and do not show to advantage in wet 
weather. It may be too late for our visitors to make further engagements, 
but on any future visit of a similar nature about midsummer, this, the 
head quarters of flower-seed-growing in England, might be kept in mind 
as a place of call, and it is certain the proprietors, if communicated with 
on the subject, would afford every facility for an inspection of their 
farms. 
Dedham is only a short distance from Manningtree, probably less than 
two miles ; and representative horticulturists who rest for a little time at 
Stour House, the beautiful and charmingly situated residence of Mr. 
Dunnett, the esteemed senior partner of the firm of (Carter) Dunnett and 
Beale, will not be disappointed. Mr. Dunnett is a fine type of an English 
gentleman, and gives a genuine and hospitable reception to his friends 
that lingers in the memory—a sort of a help-yourself kind of welcome, 
go where you like and see what you can. We saw what we could in an 
hour. The gardener showed with pride, and well he might, young and 
old trees of the Champion Black Currant. The crop of fruit was mar¬ 
vellous, hanging in huge black clusters from old and young wood just in 
the same way that Red Currants hang on well-managed bushes ; and the 
fruit, on the young trees especially, was of such enormous size there is no 
wonder that the Fruit Committee of the R.H.S. with similar samples 
before them granted a first-class certificate. Then we inspected the Coni¬ 
fers that have been planted in almost a prodigal manner as an irregular 
and broad fringe round the grounds, affording at once excellent shelter 
and a beautiful background to the spacious lawn and its bright flower 
beds. The soil is strong and deep, and the trees, eighteen years planted, 
have grown marvellously. A Wellingtonia may be adduced as a type, 
now over 40 feet high, perfectly furnished, and of the deepest green. 
Abies lasiocarpa is rarely seen in such fine condition. A. Douglassi, 
A. Nordmanniana, and A. pinsapo are in splendid form, while the Cupres- 
suses and Junipers have made equally satisfactory growth. In effective 
contrast are some wonderfully fine variegated Maples and handsome 
golden pyramids of Thuiaaurea elegantissima 8 feet high, while here and 
there on the lawn beehive-shape i Golden Yews have a remarkable effect. 
This is a delightful and obviously cherished garden, kept in excellent 
order, and preparations are being made* for the erection of glass 
stru dures. 
But where are the flowers we went to see—the annuals ? Well, there 
are not many at Dedham, perhaps not fifty acres. The first to arrest 
attention is a new variety of Chrysanthemum carinatum, one of the 
tricolor varieties, with a rosette-like centre and broad margin of ray 
florets of a pale peach colour and dark brown or claret at the base—a 
singular combination of colours, attractive and distinct from all others in 
the grounds. From this neutral tint the eye is irresistibly drawn to a 
fiery mas3 of orange scarlet, a selected variety of the scarlet Tom Thumb 
Tropseolum, often mis-called Nasturtium, so bright that workmen can 
only spend an hour or two at a time for weeding and “roguing,” the 
intensity of the colour affecting their eyes. Large breadths of French 
Poppies are gorgeous, but less dazzling, for being in mixture the effect of 
the richly coloured varieties are subdued by the neutral tints. Next we 
find a quiet bed of a charming annual not very common in gardens— 
Calendula Pongei, or, as it was named in the bed, C. Pongei flore-pleno, a 
mistake that also appears in the catalogue of the firm. The flowers bear 
no resemblance to Marigolds, as the generic name would suggest, but are 
Cmeraria-like with ivory white florets dark on the under side. They have 
alight and charming appearance,and would be suitable for the decoration 
of vases. In bold contrast is a great mass of Malope grandiflora, much 
the finest type of this annual we have seen, both as regards the size and 
depth of colour of the flowers. It must be a very select stock. Very fine 
indeed also is a choice selection of the Tom Thumb variety of Clarkia 
integripetala, the great breadth of petals and the dark colour of the flowers 
reudering the bed highly effective. Mesembryanthemum tricolor was 
charm ng, its lovely flowers glistening in the sun ; as a low carpet plant 
for sunny positions it is worthy of cultivation, and is decidedly attractive 
when well grown in pots; but “time” is called and we must haste to 
S-. Osyth. 
The road traverses a fertile and generally well farmed district, the 
grain crops being particularly full and good as a rule, though some are 
inferior ; and the same remarks apply to the fields of roots—Mangolds. 
The fields are not bounded by neat hedges, as in the best agricultural 
counties of the north, but are picturesque as festooned with Brambles, 
Honeysuckles, and Rises. Roses festoon the cottages, too, by the way- 
side, an't the little front gardens sparkle with flowers, while here and 
there are family clumps of white Lilies springing from a Potato patch. 
The drive though long is pleasant, and eventually we reach i ur destina¬ 
tion, and we are among the annuals once again. Toe first to be examined 
is of a substantial kind—a new Pea named “ Anticipation ” when 
txamined in the field. That will, no uoubt, be its tradename, but when 
tasted a few hours afterwards “ Realisation ” appeared to be the mo e 
appropriate, for its great excellence was realised and unanimously ad- 
