190 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
f Anffast 30, 1888. 
leaved Veronica incana is freely employed as a groundwork plant with 
good results, but the Mesembryanthemum cordifolium variegatum looks 
the best, having both grown and coloured satisfactorily. Echeveria 
Peacocki is one of the Hampton .Court specialities, and is in admirable 
condition, the ordinary Echeveria secunda glauca and Sedum glaucum 
with a few other succulents, appear much better than might have been 
expected. 
The majority of the carpet beds are oblong in form, and of so large 
a size that only bold, well defined designs and close planting can 
render them satisfactory; a multiplicity of minute panels would have 
a very disappointing effect, as indeed they do in most cases. One good 
design consists of a series of S-like scrolls in the centre of Alternan- 
thera paronychioides major upon a groundwork of Mesembryanthemum 
cordifolium variegatum, with seven small alternate circles of Leuco- 
pliyton and Alternanthera versicolor grandis. On the outside of this 
are bands of Herniaria and Alternanthera paronychioides, and scrolls of 
A. magnifica, with Mesembryanthemum, also on a ground of Herniaria. 
The edging is of Echeveria secunda glauca and Sedum glaucum, 
Another carpet bed of similar form has a centre of Echeveria Peacocki. 
surrounded by bands of Mesembryanthemum, at each side being harps 
of Alternanthera versicolor grandis on a ground of Leucophyton, three 
“ strings” being formed of Alternanthera aurea and two of A. amoena. The 
corners of the bed are filled with Alternanthera aurea, which has 
coloured remarkably well, panels of A. amoena and crescents of A. pur¬ 
purea being employed in the same bed. This is effective, but there 
is a little too much artificiality in the design to please some tastes. In 
a third bed is a centre of Pachyphyton roseum, surrounded by bands of 
Abutilon vexillarium variegatum, two bold crescent-like panels being 
placed on each side of the centre of Alternanthera versicolor grandis, 
which has assumed a fairly rich colour. The principal groundwork is 
of Herniaria, the ends of Mesembryanthemum, with panels of the Golden 
Alternanthera, Echeveria Peacocki, a few small circles of the dark 
Iresine Wallsi, and scattered plants of E. metallica glauca. 
But the flower garden attractions of Hampton Court do not rest ex¬ 
clusively upon the carpet beds, as numbers of large and small beds are 
occupied with “ mixtures,” “ combinations,” “ harmonies,” or “ con¬ 
trasts ” to suit the fancies of all. The system of associating several 
different kinds of plants in one bed, not in formal quadrangular figures 
or hard angular designs, but freely and naturally, has extended greatly 
in recent years, and as carried out in the London parks it has proved 
reliable when other systems have failed. It presents a wide range for 
the exercise of ingenuity in forming fresh “ combinations,” and there is 
practically no limit to the variations that can be introduced. In the 
absence of these beds the garden this year would have had a much duller 
appearance. 
One of the “ mixtures ” that looks well comprises Salvia patens, 
Abutilon naevium maculatum, and a dwarf Tropasolum, edged with 
Iresine Wallsi. Near this is a bed of Petunias, Iresine Lintleni, and 
Acer Negundo variegata pegged down, the whole edged with Abutilon 
vexillarium variegatum. A third includes Pelargonium Henry Jacoby, 
bordered with Golden Harry Hiever and Viola Tory mixed. Another 
of a similar character has Pelargonium Amaranth in the centre, with a 
broad mixed border of Pelargonium Mrs. Pollock and Viola Tory, edged 
with variegated Alyssum. A handsome mixed bed is formed of the 
variegated Pelargonium Manglesi and dark blue Violas, bordered with 
Iresine Lindeni, most effective and beautiful. Larger beds of standard 
Boses with the ground carpeted with Heliotrope, or of dwarf plants of 
Rose Souvenir de la Malmaison mixed with Pelargonium St. George 
also attract notice. Similar ideas are followed out in many other beds, 
though there are also some of the ordinary “massed” beds of Pelar¬ 
goniums, and amongst these Henry Jacoby is far and away the best, 
being in fact almost the only Zonal Pelargonium which has endured the 
wet season satisfactorily. 
The borders of herbaceous plants are gay Phloxes, looking espe¬ 
cially well, and Bocconia cordata has flourished surprisingly. Other 
conspicuous plants are Helianthus multiflorus, Lilium auratum, the 
yellow Achillea segyptiaca, with Clematis Jackmanni on the' walls. It 
is almost needless to say that the gardens are kept in the admirable 
condition which has so long marked Mr. Graham's superintendence. 
COMMERCIAL FLORICULTURE AND AMERICA. 
(Bead before the Massachusetts Horticultural Society by Mr. W. J. Stewart of Boston.] 
The whole history of commercial floriculture in this country is pro¬ 
gress—progress so rapid and so remarkable that it seems almost incredible. 
What is commercial floriculture ? What is a florist ? So great has been 
the development in all lines of business connected with the introduc¬ 
tion, culture, and sale of floral productions that our language even has 
not kept pace with the business ; and so we find a great combination 
of industries for which we have no distinctive or generally accepted 
names. Thirty years ago, when one spoke of a gardener or a florist 
everyone knew what was meant. What is a gardener now ? Who are 
the florists ? 
I am sure that if I were to confine this essay to a narration 
merely of the progress in the culture of flowers for commercial purposes, 
I should not be fulfilling the duty expected by your Committee. They 
desire also to hear something about the great modern marts, where cut 
flowers are distributed, arranged, and sold, and which a few years ago 
did not exist. But what have those places to do with floriculture i 
Many of those employed in them never potted a plant, never syringed 
a house ; many of them know as little of the details required to perfect 
the flowers they sell as they do of the manufacture of the wire and tin- 
foil they use, or the baskets they fill, yet they occupy an important 
place in the florist’s business of to-day. The little imd’ustry which 
forty years ago was only in the embryo state has during the past twenty 
years made such strides, and its present rate of growth is so great, that 
it looks as though the future will have to coin new words if it will 
keep up with the florist’s trade. 
The commercial idea, this trading in cut flowers by the dozen or 
hundred, I am well aware is an unwelcome subject to some well-meaning 
people. I recall a conversation with a gentleman whom you all know,, 
and whose fame as a botanist is world wide, in which he made some- 
inquiries regarding my employment, and I shall never forget the look of 
disgust which overspread his face as he said, “ Yes, yes, peddle them' 
out so much a barrel, just as you would Potatoes.” There are doubtless 
many people who agree with him ; they grow a flower for itself, they 
say, and not for its value in dollars and cents. But where do our most 
beautiful flowers, our most luscious fruits come from, and whom shall we 
thank for them ? They are in many cases, no doubt, primarily the result 
of the labours and studies of men who have done the work for the love- 
of it alone ; but had it not been for that ever-present and all-powerful 
element in human nature, the desire for gain, and the energy and enter¬ 
prise begotten of business methods, these prized results of love’s labour 
would have stayed in the spot where they first saw the light, in the- 
possession only of their originator or his immediate friends, and the 
millions who have enjoyed them would have never known that pleasure. 
In these latter years, however, some of our most earnest students of 
plant life, and of methods of fertilisation and propagation, those who- 
are striving hardest to discover or to produce new varieties, are not 
amateurs, nor are they enthusiasts, working solely for love of the 
work, but they are men who know the value in hard cash of anything 
meritorious. The spirit which has spanned the Continent with railways,, 
and covered it with a maze of telegraph wires, which lines our streets 
with magnificent buildings and tasteful stores, and which has thrown 
the treasures of the whole world at our feet, is the same identical spirit 
as that which animates and spurs on our great hybridisers and rosarians,. 
and which ransacks every corner of the earth, braving the dangers of 
the wilderness and the pestilence of the tropics in the great quest for 
something new or rare. 
The florist of a generation ago was in most cases a rather humble 
and obscure individual. He was generally a man who was employed by 
one or several parties to keep their grounds in order, and occupying as 
he did a station socially about on a plane with the coachman and ostler- 
he was expected to be as expert at milking the cow and wheeling out 
the ashes as he was at tying bouquets. His hothouses were of the 
crudest pattern ; small, inconvenient, poorly heated, and set with but 
little regard to fitness of location or aspect. Our modern devices for- 
heating, ventilating, and propagating were unknown to him, and he 
was as innocent as a child regarding the much-discussed questions of 
the comparative merits of hot water and steam, theories of circulation 
and radiation, and many other problems that interest his more fortunate- 
brother of the present day. His stock of plants was more of a museum 
than anything else, and occasionally it was mainly a hospital. The 
hospitals in some instances are unfortunately still to be found. His 
bouquets, if we could see them now, would be regarded as curiosities. 
With a stick in the middle to keep them straight, and the flowers wound 
on as tightly as they could be packed together, they were indeed marvels 
of workmanship. About the only designs attempted besides bouquets- 
were wreaths and a few crosses. These were fashioned on sticks or- 
hoops. 
(To be continued.) 
ROLE CLARE CARNOT. 
I CAN only remember one instance in which any correspondent has; 
brought the claims of this Rose before the readers of the Journal, ancE 
yet for a late blooming variety we have no other that is so generally 
satisfactory. Being of a rambling habit we allowed it to have pretty 
much its own way as to how it will grow, only cutting back when per¬ 
sonal comfort or the well-being of a neighbouring plant necessitates fl¬ 
its clean growth is particularly pleasing, and the truss of bloom which 
terminates each shoot rivals the more popular W. A. Richardson in 
delicacy of shape and depth of colour. Coming into bloom just as most 
other Roses are waning is a point in its favour which ought not to be 
overlooked. Though by no means suitable for exhibition, it worthily 
deserves a place in every Rose garden.—M. D. 
AUTUMN ROSES. 
It is said the wood of plants and trees must be ripe- to ensure 
floriferousness, and that much sun is essential for the maturation of 
growth. This year we have not had much but little sue,therefore the 
wood of Roses cannot be so ripe as is usual at this season, and conse¬ 
quently we ought not to expect such a good autumn bloom as usual; yet 
1 have seen very fine stands of Roses at flower shows during the past 
