420 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ November 10, 1892. 
habit of the plant ia very strong and sturdy. Miss Annie Manda is a 
ure white with the hairy petals of Mrs. Alpheus Hardy, and much more 
vigorous. Of Colonel Smith there are some good blooms. This noble 
variety is splendidly grown at Hextable. 
One of the most distinct Chrysanthemums yet introduced is Lord 
Brooke, and there is every promise of its turning out a splendid acquisi¬ 
tion, for plants in 48’s have done remarkably well, and are noteworthy 
for their line foliage. The flower will probably be classed among the 
Japanese incurved. The colour is somewhat difficult to describe ; 
apricot suffused with bronzy red, perhaps, hits it off pretty well. Mrs. 
Harman Payne is very likely to take a high position amongst the 
Japanese, for its soft rosy mauve flowers with their silvery reverse are 
very fine from the terminal bud ; crowns are comparatively poor. 
Edwin Beckett is in very good condition, and makes an effective plant. 
The Tribune is a new yellow Japanese with very broad substantial 
florets of a clear pale yellow, and should be tried. Mrs. Ramsay is 
another well worthy of a trial. It is a Japanese with very broad rich 
rosy crimson florets. Delaware, the fine new Anemone flowered, is in 
splendid condition. 
These named are a few among the many novelties grown, and which 
collectively make the display well worth inspecting. Visitors must not 
expect a great number of old varieties, for Messrs. Pitcher & Manda 
aspire to lead rather than follow, hence concentrate their attention upon 
new aspirants for favour. Their nursery is about twenty minutes’ walk 
from Swanley Junction on the L. C. and D. main line, and is one of the 
places which should be marked for a call. The plants are excellently 
grown and form with the Cypripediums, of which a special feature is 
made, a display of more than ordinary interest. 
Chrysanthemums around Sheffield. 
Mr. Henry Greaves, an amateur who grows a number of plants 
remarkably well in a part of the town not noted for its pure atmosphere, 
has this year, as in previous years, a fairly representative collection of 
the best leading Japanese and incurved varieties. The Japanese have a 
long low house to themselves, where they are developing some very fine 
blooms. Some of the most noticeable were several grand flowers of 
Viviand Morel, deep, clean, and large. Louis Boehmer and H. Ballantine, 
the hairy varieties, were promising well. W. Tricker had blooms of good 
size, substance, and colour, nearly fully developed at the end of October, 
and were shaded from strong sunshine. W. H. Lincoln was well 
forward ; Etoile de Lyon had commenced to open ; Mrs. J. Wright, with 
its compact white flower, composed of fluted florets ; L’Automne, an 
incurved Japanese, and a beautiful flower of Elaine, symmetrical in 
form and of the purest white ; also Stanstead Surprise were fully 
open. Many other good varieties promised well. The incurved flowers, 
which also had a separate house, were opening fairly well, among them 
Mons. R. Bahuant being grandly to the fore with good rich blooms. 
Noel Pragnell, the new sport from Empress of India, had nearly 
expanded flowers, distinctly displaying the narrow purple line down 
the centre of most of the petals. Many other leading kinds by their 
appearance indicated the unfolding of compact and shapely blooms, 
but upon the whole the majority are late this year. 
Mr. Greaves has been a very creditable exhibitor of dwarf plants in 
bloom, but it is feared he will be considerably behind this year, as his 
plants though healthy and promising are scarcely sufficiently forward 
to make as large a display a9 he formerly has done at the Sheffield Show. 
Many of course will be right, including Mons. Bernard, L’Automne, 
and Sunflower. The plants have an excellent light house to themselves, 
and are of various heights in 4£, 5, and 6-inch pots. A week of favour¬ 
able weather will hasten many on, now just showing, and though 
perhaps not able to construct a large group he may be able to form 
an interesting collection. He considers he ought to have taken cuttings 
earlier for his dwarf plants, the end of May being rather late in such 
a season as the present has been hereabouts. Probably another year 
he will act on his own advice and insert them, as he says he ought 
to have done, at the beginning of May. He has also utilised the 
plants from which the cuttings were taken, many of them breaking 
strongly after the topping, and giving good shoots that are now 
furnished with fine blooms.—E. D. S. 
Chrysanthemums at Downside. 
The village of glass houses which a few years since Mr. W. Lee had 
full of Orchids at Downside, is now under the control of Mr. W. Mease, 
whose liberal employer is Mr. Tate, son of Mr. H. Tate of Streatham. 
Mr. Mease is an old Liverpool man, and was amongst the foremost of 
Chrysanthemum growers in the famous town on the Mersey, when it 
was the function of Liverpool men to come south even so far as 
Kingston, and by taking all the best prizes show the southrons what 
they had to do to enable them to produce first-class flowers. Mr. Mease, 
like Mr. Molyneux, has come south himself, and for some two and a half 
years has been in charge of the Downside gardens at Leatherhead. He 
exhibits with some pride many fine cups and medals he has obtained for 
Chrysanthemums and other products from time to time, amongst 
others being the beautiful silver vase of the Wimbledon Chrysanthemum 
Society, won two years in succession, and to be won once more ere it 
becomes his property. Whether that consummation will result this year 
will be known shortly, as the Show takes place on November 15th inst. 
Then Mr. Mease is naturally desirous, if possible, of winning the King¬ 
ston challenge vase, and he means to have a good try for it this year. 
He was second to Mr. Carpenter, Major Collis Browne’s gardener, at 
Byfleet last year, and as both mean to do their very best on the 8tb 
naturally the competition is looked forward to with exceeding interest. 
Both growers are real Greeks, and when they meet there will be a 
worthy tug of war. 
Mr. Mease’s collection of Chrysanthemum plants, disbudded for the 
production of show flowers, hardly exceeds 250—not a large batch, 
but he selects the best of their kinds, because any man of experience 
knows that eertain sorts are far more reliable than others, and are better 
qualified to give the best show blooms. I found his finest plants in a 
broad span-roof house standing on the side stages, and a raised centre 
bed that naturally threw up the flowers high, and therefore a 
temporary path was made round the house by placing boards across on 
the level of the stages, so that visitors or growers were enabled to get a 
good look at the blooms'. 
So far as appearances go, these are fine and full of promise. Natur¬ 
ally it would be easy to say they will be hard to beat, but the competi¬ 
tions reveal many secrets hitherto unknown. Those who have seen Mr. 
Mease’s blooms in the past, especially his splendid flowers at Wimbledon 
last year, admit that he can produce fine blooms. I should add that 
some 200 plants in large pots are grown for conservatory decoration and 
the furnishing of cut bloom. Of newer varieties, J. Stanborough Dibben, 
only 3J feet in height, is carrying huge blooms of a rich orange buff colour. 
Colonel W. Smith, somewhat resembling the preceding, but has broader 
and rather darker-hued florets, is also in very fine form. No wonder 
larger show boards are needed when there are types of the new Japs, 
now being so abundantly introduced. G. C. Schwabe is a very striking 
incurved Jap, florets broad, of a reddish terra cotta hue on the golden 
reverse. Very fine also is the older Florence Davis, the centres in its 
earlierstages being very green, but becomes white later. Viviand Morel 
shows on same plants how it varies in colour, some buds giving very 
fine pink flowers, others pure white ones. 
It seems evident that assumed white sports will have to be regarded 
with considerable dubiety. A very fine white is Vice-President 
Audiguier, the florets broadish and long, the outer ones having a pleasing 
pink tinge. Sunflower is very beautiful, and Mr. Cannell, anotler of 
the finest yellows when good, is opening well. Mr. Mease has a great 
liking for Cannell’s Eynsford White, which is a very beautiful variety. 
Cfesare Costa, a rich deep crimson, is very fine ; so also iB the somewhat 
early Gloire de Rocher, reddish buff with golden centre. W. H. Lincoln, 
very fine, too, is another of the grandest yellows; and Puritan, a 
beautiful flesh tinted white. These are but a few of the many varieties 
grown, but interest attaches far more to novelties now than to older 
varieties. Of incurved forms these are all the best. I only mention 
Mons. Bahuant, fine, and not too early for Kingston ; Robert Cannell, 
golden buff, a grand variety, but subject to damp very much ; and Ada 
Price, a beautiful incurved pink, not large, but very pleasing. Naturally 
in mixed classes the incurved flowers have to be first class to compete 
with the Japanese, which now are so fine. Any additions to the 
incurved section, especially of good sized blooms, is to be regarded with 
favour. 
At Downside myriads of things are grown, and all well. In the score 
of houses devoted to plants there is not a poor or badly grown plant. 
Foliage plants, though not large, are really remarkably good. Crotons, 
Acalyphas, and Dracaenas have very fine colouring ; Ferns are splendid. 
One gigantic Microlepia is fully 10 feet across. Gardenias, both in pots 
and planted out in a bed, are clean and in the finest condition. Winter¬ 
blooming Carnations are very largely grown and in capital form. Zonal 
Pelargoniums, some 250 plants, are a perfect mass of bloom in 
diverse colours, a wonderful glow of colour for the time of year. Double 
Primulas are a great feature, especially Marchioness of Exeter, pure 
white. This is finely grown and flowered profusely. Even a collection 
of Rivers’ best flavoured Oranges in pots are grown in one house, the 
varieties having the reputation of greatly excelling the best imported 
fruits in flavour. That is, at least, Mr. Mease’s opinion. Hydrangeas 
on single stems carry immense heads, some fully 3 feet in circumference. 
These are from one-year-old cuttings. 
Roses are very largely grown, although all the beds or borders in 
which the plants are have to be specially made, because the surface 
soil on the chalk is very shallow. When, however, first-prize flowers, 
chiefly of Teas, are found from Downside at the James Street Drill Hall 
and the Crystal Palace it is certain that the culture is good. In a very 
large Rose garden near the mansion one portion is devoted to Hybrid 
Perpetuals, one to Teas, and one to garden Roses in great variety, especi¬ 
ally the free blooming Polyanthas. Mr. Mease prefers Teas outdoors 
on standards as giving much the finest blooms. These both stock and 
heads are protected with Fern during the winter. In a long span house, 
formerly devoted to Orchids, Tea Roses are now growing in beds and 
doing well. From this house last summer came the twenty-four fine 
blooms which placed Mr. Mease first at the Drill Hall, Westminster. 
—A. D. 
Colonel Smith. 
Some attention was excited by the Japanese Colonel Smith when 
exhibited by Messrs. Cannell & Sons at the Crystal Palace show 
last year, but few, probably, imagined it would turn out so magnificent 
an acquisition as it has already proved itself to be. The Swanley 
growers have been the means of bringing several of our finest varieties 
into public notice, and the introduction of Colonel Smith is something 
for which we owe them a special debt of gratitude. It was one of a 
set of ten sent over by Mr, Spaulding, and soon turned out to be a gem 
