May 10,1894. 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
357 
and Raspberry appear to be beneath the islanders’ notice. Nuts do 
not seem to be grown at all. 
In conclusion, Guernsey can be thoroughly commended to any 
one seeking a rest from business cares. The air is pure and 
invigorating, and the numerous trips by car, steamer or boat, and 
the electric railway from St. Peter Port to St. Sampson’s, offer a 
change of scene without fatigue, while the many bays and coast 
scenes are easily reached, and offer a panorama of picturesque 
beauty to Jovers of romantic and bold scenery. The courtesy 
of the inhabitants lends a charm to conversation, and all seemed 
ready and willing to assist with information and direction. The 
conchologist should not fail to visit Herm Island, the only place 
where any variety of shells can be found. The history of the 
Channel Islands is worth reading, and the churches are mostly 
ancient, and being built of granite are solid structures. As one 
expects they are mostly Norman, and date about 1100 and onwards. 
The “ Druidical ” remains point to a very early Celtic occupation, 
and the barrows on Laucresse Common should be visited, also the 
remains at La Rochelle. The local antiquarian is most obliging in 
exhibiting his relics to persons who take an interest in such 
matters, and the museum is a well arranged, but rather overloaded, 
record of the island products now and in the past.— Visitor. 
FRITILLARIA AUREA. 
This is a re-importation of a plant once in cultivation in England. 
Among the millions of bulbs collected by Mr. Wbittall in Asia Minor 
and sent to the Koyal Gardens, Kew, in 1893, a few of the bulbs of 
Fritillaria aurea were included. The vicinity given by Mr. Whittall | 
for the Golden Fritillary is Yoryi Baraali. In the gardens it is grown | 
in cold frames, and was exhibited in the alpine house, where it flowered j 
in March and the first half of April. The blooms are of a rich golden j 
yellow of a soft clear tone. The vertical veinings are of pale green of j 
about the same depth as the yellow ; the irregular transverse markings j 
are purple in colour, becoming more accentuated and richer in tone ! 
near the base, particularly on the margins of the outer members of the > 
perianth. The height varies from 5 to 8 inches. Two flowers usually j 
appear at the summit of the stem with seven or eight glaucous green 
leaves below. The plant should prove, through its early appearance, 
rich colouring, ease of culture, and graceful habit, a valuable addition 
to the border and cool house. The illustration (fig. 58), has been 
prepared from a sketch taken at the Koyal Gardens, Kew. 
QUESTIONABLE ADVICE. 
The note by Mr. Wm. Taylor on page 336 is to me very 
suggestive. It illustrates that every gardener, old as well as 
young, but more especially young, should use his head, his eyes, 
his brain, in making his daily round. It is that cultivtion of keen 
and accurate observation, clear, calm judgment and prompt 
decision which makes up the gardener’s skill, and is more needed in 
his vocation than in any other, simply because he has to do with 
such a varying class of elements—heat, air, water, climatical 
variations, and plant diversities. 
Gardening cannot be learnt by any mechanical process ; a 
gardener educates himself. Lessons from past experience 
can, and ought to be given to the young and the inquirer 
generally, but the application, individual and practical, can 
only be done by the learner himself. This truth needs 
impressing more and more. Much may be said for persons 
who attempt to give practical advice such as that quoted 
by Mr. Taylor. That advice was no doubt given from the 
writer’s own practice, and with him answered perfectly, and to some 
who followed it. It may have helped them either in confirming 
their own practice, or in modifying some other manner of proce¬ 
dure ; but every gardener of much experience knows that what 
Mr. Taylor says is absolutely true, and if it only sets some to 
think on the subject your correspondent will not have written in 
vain. 
I am reminded of the demand made upon gardeners by would- 
be gardeners, especially lady gardeners, as to how they should act 
with such-and-such a plant. If you give a plant to a lady friend 
she is sure to ask, “ And how often shall I water it ? ” “ Oh, when 
it needs it,” of course you say. “Yes, but how often ?” she will 
persistently say ; “ once a week or twice a week, so that I may 
know ?” This corners you, and you get out of it as well as you 
can by saying that she is to watch it, and give it water just when 
it needs it. “ Very good,” she says ; “ but how shall I know 
exactly when it needs it ? I thought you could tell me just how 
often I should do it,” and she looks at you with a look that makes 
you feel small all over, as it seems to say, “ I don’t think you are 
much of a gardener.” So, in desperation, you say, “ Once or twice 
a week,’’ and get rid of the subject, as you think. Not so, however. 
The next time you pass her house, or she meets you, she will pro¬ 
bably say, “ Ob, Mr.-, I want you to look at my plant. It 
does not seem to do well.” You look, and the probability is that 
she has so watered it that the soil is sodden, or that she has 
watered by tablespoonfuls or so, and that has run off down the 
sides of the pot, and the poor plant is dying from thirst. Ah, me ! 
“what troubles do environ” all of us when we try to do good. 
To remedy matters you give some more advice, which in this par¬ 
ticular case is all right. She gives this advice to some neighbour 
FIG. 58.— fritillaria AUREA. 
and it is all wrong in her case, and the poor man gets condemned 
with the harshest words the wronged one can find. 
Let it be understood thoroughly. All advice is conditional, 
even if general; and it is the brains, the thought, the observation, 
the discriminatinor judgment, the calm but prompt ruling and action 
which makes the best advice resultful in healthy ends. This is so in 
many pha»es and walks of life, but specially so is it true in 
gardening. The Journal of Horticulture has done much in 
stimulating thought in its readers (I particularly should like to 
mention Donald Beaton and Robert Fish) in the past, and is 
doing so every week by all its writers, and none will quicken it 
more, according to my judgment, than the short note by Mr. 
Taylor.—N. H. P. __ 
IN A SCOTTISH MANSE GARDEN. 
The beginning of May is always to me the fairest period of the 
year. It is full to overflowing of fragrant blossoms and passionate 
woodland songs. Of the wild flowers perhaps the sweetest is the 
snow-white Wood Sorrel (Oxalis acetosella), which is so unambitious 
