July 21, 1892. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
53 
of places where they are not seen yet. Their names are Octavie and 
Rosebud. The. former is white, and as beautiful as any Gardenia ever 
produced. It is charming on the plant, charming in a buttonhole— 
charming for everything and everywhere. The plant is a compact 
grower and a free bloomer. There are finer Begonias than this ; there 
is not one more attractive and useful. The other is a gem, too, delightful 
both in form and colour. A young flower is as dainty as any Rose. I 
commend Octavie and Rosebud to the notice of every Begonia lover. 
To be without them is to be deprived of two of the most beautiful of 
the whole beautiful race. 
The Begonia is the flower of the present, the Verbena of the past. 
One sighs to think of it when entering the long house of them at 
Swanley, but it is true. Can nothing save them from the oblivion that 
is coming so rapidly upon them ? They are such old friends that they 
cannot be parted with without regret. Mr. Cannell has clung to them 
nobly, but even he is driven to contemplate their dismissal. Seeing 
them as they are grown at Swanley—large, healthy, with huge Phlox¬ 
like heads of bloom and delightful colours—rich, tender, and varied—it 
is sad to think they are going down hill so fast. It is true they are not 
the best of plants to manage, and perhaps this has had something to do 
with their decline. No one would be likely to question the beauty of the 
best varieties, such as those in the Swanley collection, and their perfume 
is another point in their favour. Acquisition, rosy red ; Ball of Fire, 
brilliant scavlet; Blue Superb, light blue with white eye; Crimson 
<*em, very rich in colour ; Delicata, pale rose ; Flambeau, rosy scarlet ; 
Flocon de Neige, white ; Lilacina, lilac ; Paragon, claret ; Purity, 
white; Rose Perfection, rose, white eye; and Turquoise, violet, are a 
dozen fine varieties amongst this grand collection. 
Plants out op Doors. 
It is too early to say much about Chrysanthemums, but if there are 
any stronger and healthier plants in existence than those at Swanley, or 
that will yield better cuttings, I should like to see them. To turn to 
outdoor plants proper, there is a beautiful bed of Foxgloves ranging 
from 2 to 5 feet high and full of bloom. I was particularly struck with 
the grand strain of white. Another feature is a splendid bed of 
Antirrhinums, the strain of these fine old flowers being such as is rarely 
seen outside a Scottish fancier’s garden. The striped and spotted 
flowers were magnificent. There must have been 1000 spikes of them. 
They have a body guard of the fine herbaceous plant Verbascum 
olympicum, rearing its huge spikes of yellow bloom to a height of 8 feet 
or more. This noble perennial is perfectly hardy, and could be utilised 
with striking effect in many gardens. Dahlias are planted out on a very 
large scale and look wonderfully well. Robert Cannell, one of the 
finest Cactus varieties ever introduced, is in strong force. This beautiful 
variety, which is of perfect Cactus shape as well as very rich and 
distinct in colour, should be marked “ indispensable ” by every Dahlia 
grower. Another most useful and beautiful plant is the new yellow 
Marguerite, Branching Etoile d’Or, which is of splendid habit and 
blooms with wonderful freedom. 
Mr. Cannell believes in a nursery being to as large an extent as 
possible self-supporting, and in bis establishment box and basket making 
for packing purposes find regular employment for several hands. He goes 
a little further, and lets his men fill up time by making show boxes, so 
that a customer wishing to exhibit cut blooms has no difficulty in obtain¬ 
ing the necessary conveniences. Another “ sundry ” is the wasp glass 
represented by the pngraving (fig. 8). These are excellent things 
for suspending in vineries and elsewhere. With a little sweetened 
beer they provide an excellent trap for wasps and flies. 
These are but a fraction of the good things to be seen during a 
summer visit to Swanley. A writer would need a whole issue of the 
Journal to do the place full justice. But its gates are always open to 
visitors, and a cordial welcome is extended to all comers. He would be 
a learned and experienced man who could visit it without deriving some 
information, for not only is everything of the best, but the culture is of 
the highest class. Those who find the busy head of the firm with an 
hour to spare will be fortunate, for those who know Mr. Cannell best 
respect him as a man of sound common sense, good judgment, and 
practical knowledge. If be were not, Swanley would not be what it 
now is—a town of great horticultural importance and prosperity. Few 
recognise, perhaps, when they read of the vast quantities of fruit and 
flowers that are sent thence to the markets every year how large is the 
share that Mr. Cannell has had in centralising horticultural enterprise 
and industry upon it.— Wanderer. 
THE ARTISTIC AND EFFECTIVE ARRANGEMENT 
OF PLANTS AND FLOWERS. 
(Concluded from page 29 .) 
Having thus referred to the schedule compilers, let us now take a 
look at the show itself. What is the usual feeling experienced ? I well 
know what it is with me ; there is an impression of formality running 
through the whole. At times we have so many hundred flowers of 
Dahlias set up in prim green painted boxes, not a vestige of foliage 
visible, and these staged upon lengths of straight tables. At other times 
we have fine Asters and Zinnias, staged in like manner. Then again, 
at some shows we have the lovely Carnations, many of which have 
been mutilated and dressed, set up in paper collars, and staged in the 
orthodox green box on the straight table. It 19 a pity these lovely 
flowers should be thus presented to the public. Where is the artistic to 
be found ? Take the queen of autumn flowers, the noble Chrys¬ 
anthemum. How are these flowers presented to us ? They are in 
boxes, and these boxes have to be made to a required size, bo many 
inches long, wide, and high ; and if your flowers happen to be large and 
extra fine, you must crush them into the box. In looking last season at 
a magnificent lot of flowers, I saw that this ruthless “ staging up ” had 
been carried out, and the result may be given in one word—failure. 
Many other of our lovely flowers are victims to the same treatment. 
Now, the public look to the horticulturists to lead in the matter of 
artistic and effective arrangement of plants and flowers. What, I ask, is 
the object, lesson often given in this respect ? We must agree that it is 
not what it should be, to say the least of it. Mind, I am not saying one 
word about the flowers themselves, because they at most times represent 
the highest state of cultivation, but it is the way they are presented to 
the public that I complain about. Specimen flowers of Chrysanthe¬ 
mums lend themselves to artistic treatment. For instance, if I had 
thirty-six Japanese blooms to set up, and 4 to 5 feet run of table space 
allowed for the purpose, I would dispense with the green box at once ; 
have the flowers cut with long stalks, varying from 9 inches to 2 feet in 
length ; each flower should be placed in a receptacle, which would hold 
water and be heavy enough at the base to prevent overturning ; the 
flower should also have some sort of support to maintain it in an erect 
position. Having the flowers thus prepared a number of suitable foliage 
plants should be utilised, say light feathery Palms about 3 feet high, to 
serve as a background. The flowers are then artistically grouped 
together with the small foliage plants, Maidenhair Ferns, Asparagus, &c., 
and edged with Isolepis and Panicum, so that the whole of the table 
space shall be hidden by this groundwork of plants and Ferns. The 
FIG. 8.—TRAPPING WASPS IN VINERIES. 
flowers rising from this would present a marked contrast to the formal 
box style, and I venture to predict that the public would appreciate the 
change. Of course this will mean a little more work, but I do not think 
the man who has looked after his plants for nearly twelve months would 
grudge this. Time will not permit me to go into detail of an artistic 
setting up of each of the classes of flowers which are usually found 
staged in the green boxes, but the instance I have given of the Chrys¬ 
anthemums will give you some idea of a more artistic treatment. 
While on this subject of flower shows perhaps I may be allowed 
incidentally to say a word or two in respect to stove and greenhouse 
plants in flower. These are usually presented on balloons of faultless 
shape, and each shoot tied into a mathematically accurate position, 
forming in my opinion one huge contortion, as useless as it is ugly. 
Could not these be trained in a more pyramidal form, and the shoots 
allowed to have a natural sway, not being tied closely in ? I remember 
seeing one such plant at a show, a Bougainvillea I think it was. It 
formed a picture, and favourable comment was freely bestowed upon it. 
Some plants answer better to this treatment than others, as I am' fully 
aware, but the change to the more natural would be a step in the right 
direction. The arrangement of groups of plants at exhibitions has in 
the last few years wonderfully improved. A more natural idea has 
been followed up ; ugly banks of plants are disappearing, and the light 
and artistic treatment is taking its place. One has only to visit metro¬ 
politan or large provincial shows to gain an object lesson, from which 
more practical knowledge can be gathered in five minutes than could 
be learned from any amount of paper and books. The arrangement of 
flowers in baskets, bouquets, vases, &c., at country flower shows exhibits 
a lack of knowledge of the rudiments of the artistic. Here we find the 
flowers packed together, jumbled up in inextricable confusion. At some 
shows at which I have judged I have found great difficulty in awarding 
the prizes, and after deciding which is the least ugly—for ugly they 
all are—the first prize has to be bestowed on a most unworthy 
object. Now how does this act? Simply in this wav. The people 
seem to look upon this first prize ugly thing, be it bouquet, basket, 
or vase, as an ideal, and next year, when the show comes round, all 
