Joly 7, 18*7. ] 
3 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
executive committee shall have power to suspend allowances where 
the circumstances of candidates have been misrepresented, or have 
since altered so as to render further assistance unnecessary. 
Arrangements may be made by the executive committee for placing 
the children elected to the benefits of the fund, either with care¬ 
fully selected foster parents as cottage-boarders, or with the master 
or mistiess of a school or institution, who shall be required to furnish 
satisfactory security for the proper discharge of their duties. The 
duties shall be to board, lodge, clothe, educate (finding all books), 
to do the washing, mending, and all that is necessary for maintaining 
and educating (including medical attendance and medicine) such 
child or children as may be placed in their care for the term of 
years agreed upon. The committee shall have power to remove such 
child, or children, at any time should circumstances arise which 
would render it desirable to do so, and such foster-parent, or 
master, or mistress shall not be allowed to relinquish the charge of 
any child or children under their care unless by special permission 
of the executive committee. The provisions and clothing shall be 
thoroughly good in quality, and samples shall be produced for the 
inspection of the committee when required. 
XIV.— Special Grants. —The executive committee may, if the? see 
fit, make special grants in cases of extreme urgency to orphans not 
elected to the fund, but such grants shall in no case exceed the sum 
of 2s. (kl. pgr week for one year. 
Rules VI., VII., VIII., IX., and X. are of a routine character, and 
refer to the investment of moneys, the duties of trustees, treasurer, 
secretary, auditing of accounts, and the holding of the annual general 
meetings. 
It will be seen that the Gardeners’ Orphan F und will shortly be 
an established fact 1 and will take its place amongst other good insti¬ 
tutions in the country. The benefits it will confer must obviously 
be controlled by the support that is accorded, and this it is hoped 
will be great, and that young as well as gardeners of long experi¬ 
ence will regard it as worthy of their support. 
We may add that persons who have had wide experience in the 
founding of benevolent societies express the opinion that the 
Gardeners’ Orphan Fund will commence its career under conditions 
decidedly more favourable than pertained to the founding of many 
existing institutions that have secured a strongly established posi¬ 
tion and dispense assistance to persons who are entitled to share in 
their benefits. 
The Gardeners’ Orphan Fund is not an opponent of, but an ally 
to, other agencies that grant aid in the time of adversity ; and 
we believe the active Secretary of the Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent 
Institution, which affords the means of support to aged gardeners 
and widows of gardeners, is a contributor to the younger fund that 
is intended to minister to the wants of gardeners’ children who may 
be left, as many are left, without the means of subsistence. 
The co-operation of gardeners of all grades, and of persons who 
are engaged in trades and industries connected with horticulture, is 
desired for this excellent object, and it is believed that the fund being 
established their support will not be looked for in vain. Already 
good friends and substantial helpers are enrolled, and a favourable 
report is expected to be submitted to the general meeting by the 
chairmen of the provisional and sub-committees that hive endea¬ 
voured to place the matter on a business footing. The secretaries 
and members of these committees having finished the preliminary 
w r ork they were appointed to do will then resign their positions, but 
we believe they are willing to give their services to the fund if 
elected by the subscribers present at the meeting in question. 
At this meeting Sir Julian Goldsmid, Bart., M.P., the nominated 
President of the fund, is expected to preside, and all subscribers 
and intending subscribers to the fund are cordially invited to attend. 
The exact time of the meeting has not yet been fixed, but it will 
probably be soon after the Fruit and Floral Committees rise, which 
is usually before one o’clock. 
TUBEROUS BEGONIAS AT FOREST HILL. 
An astonishing example of the progress made in the improvement of 
Tuberous Begonias can now be seen in the houses of Messrs. J. Laing 
and Co.’s Stanstead Park Nursery, Forest Hill, and all those who are 
interested iu these handsome plants would do well to take a journey 
thither. We cannot point to any group of plants in which such a 
wonderful development has been effected within the same short period, 
for Tuberous Begonias have now become almost indispensable in thou¬ 
sands of gardens where they were unknown a few years since. When 
Messrs. Laing & Co. issued their first coloured illustration of their best 
varieties nine or ten years ago, the incredulous thought the artist had 
given full scope to his imagination, and some even ventured to say that 
one of the best formed flowers was an impossibility. The doubters have 
long since been silenced, and now, so great has been the advance, those 
varieties would not be tolerated in a fourth class garden, and even 
those engaged in the work had no conception at the time what grand 
results they would ultimately secure. No better instance could be given 
to show the effects produced by a continuous, intelligent, persevering 
course of crossing and selection with a limited number of forms to start 
with than is found in the Tuberous Begonias of the present time. Year 
by year it has seemed that the limits of improvement had been reached, 
the finest varieties only were distinguished by names, and each season 
the selection of those to be so honoured was more rigorous. This season 
still further progress is evident, and the raisers are almost disposed to 
give up naming as regards the single varieties, for the difficulty of 
making a selection where all are of such nearly equal merit is too 
great. _ . . 
Having attained so large a measure of success with the single 
varieties, Messrs. Laing & Co. turned their attention specially to the 
double forms, and now a corresponding advance is being made with them. 
Charming symmetrical blooms are seen in profusion, which for their 
regularity of forms and richness of colours are entitled to rank amongst 
the best of florists’ flowers. For placing on elevated stages in pots 
suspended from the roof, or in baskets, most of these varieties are 
admirably adapted, owing to their flowers drooping gracefully from the 
stems. When arranged on a low level stage the plants are not seen to 
the best advantage, and at a first glance it might be supposed that the 
colours were not nearly so bright as they really are, because the back 
part of the flowers only is seen. The shades are in fact as varied, delicate, 
bright, or rich as in the majority of the single forms, and there is a neat¬ 
ness about the better forms that is particularly pleasing. Another good 
point is that the flowers are excellent for cutting, standing remarkably 
well when placed in water, and in some cases they bear carriage better 
than the others. One sturdy compact variety has been secured which 
holds its blooms very firmly and more erect than the others ; it will 
make a useful decorative plant, and will probably be largely propagated 
for another season. From a host of varieties a dozen “ J ubiiee double- 
Begonias ” have been selected for distribution this season, named as 
follows Alba fimbriata, a beautiful white variety, very full, sym¬ 
metrical, with petals fringed like the well-known Camellia of the same 
name, of which it might be considered a reproduction on a smaller 
scale. Alba magna is another handsome double white variety of great, 
size and excellent form ; Alba rosea is pretty and very distinct, bright 
rose with a white centre ; J ubiiee has large, deep, rosy crimson flowers, 
very full ; Lady Lennox is one of the best of the double yellows, bright 
in colour and capital in form and substance ; Lillie, a charmingly 
symmetrical flower, like a diminutive Camellia, rosy salmon with a 
white centre ; Little Beauty, also remarkable for its beautiful form, pale 
rose with lighter centre ; Lord Loughborough, a grand variety, brilliant, 
scarlet; Lord Randolph, crimson, full and beautiful ; Marchioness of 
Stafford, a fine flower, creamy white ; Marquis of Stafford, rich crimson,, 
very effective; Mrs. Amy Adcock, reddish salmon, white centre, very 
distinct and handsome. 
For another season a group of novelties is being formed amongst the- 
double varieties in which the petals are beautifully undulated, imparting 
a crisped appearance to the blooms that is quite unique. Several of 
these have not yet been named, but they will be certain to become 
general favourites. Of the recent double varieties, many of which have 
been honoured with two and three certificates each, the following 
deserve notice :—Blanche Duval, creamy white ; Clemence Denizard, 
rich rose ; Comtesse Horace de Choiseul, white and rose ; Formosa, rich 
crimson, white centre, large drooping flowers, one of the best for a 
basket ; Goliath, crimson, large and full; Lord Mayor, rich rose, another 
fine basket variety ; Madame Arnoult, rosy salmon, very beautiful; Mrs. 
Howe, salmon mauve, white centre ; Prince Albert Victor, bright crim¬ 
son ; Prince of Wales, a grand crimson variety , which has been awarded 
three first-class certificates ; Robin Adair, brilliant crimson, excellent 
form and free. As a curiosity a variety named viridiflora deserves a line 
or two of description. The axis of the flower has elongated and some 
of the petals are wholly or partially transformed into miniature leaves, in 
some cases the lower portion retaining the colour and texture of the 
petals, the upper that of the true leaves. In another form of the same 
type, in which there is a combination of rose and green in a similar way, 
the effect is peculiar and even pleasing. Those interested in abnormal 
forms of this character would find a subject worth their attention in 
these varieties. 
A larger span-roofed house is appropriated to the single Begonias, 
100 feet long and 25 feet wide, with a central and two side stages. In 
this structure a most brilliant effect is produced, dazzling to the beholder, 
especially on a bright sunny day. The flowers are of remarkable size, 
5 to 7 inches in diameter, with hundreds C inches across, the petals broad, 
rounded, massive, inches in diameter. The colours comprise varied 
shades of scarlet, orange, yellow, and cream to white, with dark and 
light crimson, rose, pink, and blush. Extremely elegant are those in 
which the petals are margined with rose more or less deeply, with the 
centre white ; in some the colour is confined to a narrow picotee-like 
edge, in others extends to half the depth of the petal, but all are attrac¬ 
tive. One remarkable variety suspended in a basket from the roof of 
this house is very conspicuous. The flowers are 6 inches in diameter, very 
open, of a deep rose, and borne in spikes of eight to ten, which, droop¬ 
ing round the plant, giro a magnificent appearance. The “Royal” 
Begonias represent the cream of the single varieties both in shape, size, 
and colours. They are as follows Queen Victoria, rich rose, very 
large ; Prince of Wales, scarlet-crimson; Princess of Wales, rich rose ; 
Prince Albert Victor, scarlet with orange ; Princess Louise, pure white, 
excellent shape; Princess Victoria, rosy crimson margin and light 
centre ; Duke of Edinburgh, maroon, one of the darkest flowers yet 
obtained ; Duchess of Edinburgh, yellow shaded with orange. 
As already stated the unnamed plants comprise some excellent addi- 
