106 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
August S, 1894. 
rCHR 
The National Chrysanthemum Society. 
Would it not be a good plan for this Society to hold a Committee 
or members’ meeting on one of the three days of the November exhibi¬ 
tion ? Many members, and especially country delegates, would like to 
attend such a meeting, but cannot incur the expense purposely which 
the distance involves. Most members visit the November exhibition at 
least one day of the three, and at the same time, and without incurring 
any extra expense, could attend such meeting. The meeting would 
certainly be very representative. The Royal Agricultural Society 
always hold their annual meeting on one of the days of exhibition. 
—C. D. 
New Zealand Seedlings. 
“ The Weekly Press,” a Christchurch (N.Z ) newspaper, contains an 
illustration of a new Japanese variety named Mr. Thomas Turner, raised 
from seed grown in the colony by a Mr. John Dutton, who has already 
given some time and attention to the work. The new flower, which is 
of excellent parentage, although not represented perhaps in its highest 
possible form, is described as of a rosy purple colour with silvery purple 
reverse ; a large flower, with long broad incurving florets, and a seedling 
from Edwin Molyneux, crossed with Madame C. Audiguier. 
After Mr. Earland’s achievements in Chrysanthemum culture, we 
should indeed be surprised to find the flower remain stationary in New 
Zealand, and no doubt there are other raisers whose names have not yet 
become so widely known that have taken up the interesting hobby of 
seedling growing. 
English Chrysanthemums. 
I observed a fortnight or so ago that a correspondent in a con¬ 
temporary seemed to think that the National Chrysanthemum Society 
do not offer sufficient encouragement for English-seedlings which he 
considers are destined to occupy the leading position in future. 
Curiosity has prompted me to look up the records of last season, and I 
find that at the eight Floral Committee meetings held at the Aquarium, 
there were thirty-eight first-class certificates awarded altogether, and of 
these twenty-two were awarded to seedlings or sports of English origin. 
This looks to me as though the Floral Committee were fully alive to 
their duties in respect to home-grown seedlings, and so that I may be 
corrected if wrong I append the names of those varieties which are 
believed to be English. They are as follows : Samuel Barlow, Mr. E. 
Rowbottom, Mrs. C. B. Myers, Charles Davis, Edith Rowbottom, Thomas 
Wilkins, Mrs. P. Blair, Violetta Yellow, Lady Selborne, Madame 
Cambon, Elsie Nevill, Colonel Chase, Mrs. C. J. Salter, Rose Wynne, 
W. W. Astor, John Bunyan, Wm. Tunnington, Prince du Bois, Cecil 
Wray, Colonel T. C. Bourne, Lord Rosebery, and Owen Thomas. 
In 1892, according to my notes, there were thirty-four varieties to 
which certificates were granted, and the English-raised varieties 
numbered twenty-three — viz, Lady Fitzwygram, General Hawkes, 
Beauty of Exmouth, Mrs, A. G. Hubbuck, William Seward, John Shrimp- 
ton, W, H. Atkinson, Ryecroft Glory, Mrs. Herbert Fowler, Baron Hirsch, 
Princess Victoria, Charles Shrimpton, Brookleigh Gem, Princess May, 
Lucy Kendall, Robert Petfield, Dorothea Shea, Rosy Morn, Charles Blick, 
Kentish Yellow, Mrs. Bruce Findlay, Robert Owen, and Enterprise. 
It seems so easy to verify a question of this kind either by reference 
to the papers or to the Society’s schedule, that there is little excuse for 
anyone, to my mind, to make so careless and erroneous a mis-statement. 
It is possible of course that the writer in question does not regard a 
first-class certificate as a proper encouragement.—P. 
CARNATIONS AT PUTNEY HILL. 
Anyone who may have been so ill-advised as to doubt the adaptability 
of Carnations for town gardens would on seeing the excellent collection 
grown by Dr. W. S. Wyman, Red Braes, Putney Hill, quickly alter their 
opinion, for the plants are, almost without exception, carrying numbers 
of well developed flowers and producing splendid “ grass.” 
_ The collection numbers upwards of 900 plants, so, though not what 
might be considered a large one, is sufficiently extensive to include 
numbers of the leading varieties. Then it must be remembered that 
Dr. Wyman is an amateur, and spends much of his leisure time amongst 
plants, only having a gardener two days a week, so that his 900 plants 
will give him an abundance of work, probably more than he can do at 
times, to maintain them in the excellent state of health in which they 
were found on the occasion of a recent visit. The plants are arranged 
in a wide border in rows, each containing ten plants. This year the 
plants have had fresh soil in which to root, and the beneficial effect 
of it is readily perceptible in the healthy growth and the number of 
shoots they are producing, and which will afford a supply of plants 
for next season. 
The object always kept in view by the doctor is not a few extra large 
flowers but a good number of medium sized ones, and as a consequence 
the border has presented a very gay appearance and afforded flowers 
for cutting during the past three weeks, and will continue to do so 
providing the weather is anything like favourable for a week or two yet, 
as there are still some hundreds of buds to expand. Of course much 
larger flowers may be seen in many gardens, but it is doubtful if a 
better display, considering the number of plants grown, will be found 
so near the metropolis. Many of the new varieties are tried, and those 
found to grow well are increased, but any that are shy in growing 
and weak are promptly discarded, for bad doers are not tolerated^ at 
Red Brae. 
As it may be of assistance to metropolitan growers of Carnations 
brief reference may be made to those varieties which have been proved 
to succeed the best. First and foremost stands the old favourite Alice 
Ayres, which has this season done as well as any. The growth is 
strong, the flowers abundant, superb in form, and chaste in colouration. 
Bright, free, and shapely is the scarlet Napoleon, which has also the 
additional merit of being of dwarf habit. Red Brae is a grand heavy 
edged Picotee, which is of charming form and fine substance. The 
bright purple shapely flowers of Beauty of Foxhall command attention 
and elicit general admiration, as also does the beautiful Rose Celestial. 
For a pure white Ossian is one of the best, though it is closely followed 
by Mrs. Prank Watts and Mrs. Fawcett, the latter having slightly 
fringed petals. An excellent bright scarlet variety is found in Montague, 
while as a rosy cerise Wordsworth will be difficult to supersede for 
floriferousness and colour. 
The yellow Germania and the crimson Winter Cheer are so well 
known for their many high qualities that more than a passing mention is 
unneeded. AnnieLouise is an extremely beautiful light rose-edged Picotee, 
which is well worthy a place in any collection, and the same may well 
be said of the yellow ground Picotee Stradrath Bail. It is of splendid 
contour and very pleasing in shade, besides being extremely floriferous. 
A couple of good pink coloured kinds are found in Princess Alice and 
Mary Morris. The last to be mentioned is The Coroner (he comes 
among the last in other cases besides Carnations), which is bright scarlet 
in colour, of good shape, and very free. It is a pleasure to see such a 
collection, and the heartiest congratulations are tendered to Dr. Wyman 
for his signal success, as also are they to his gardener, Mr. Wheeler, 
who zealously assists him in his labours among his favourite plant*.— 
Nomad. 
POTATO AND ONION DISEASE in the ISLE OF WIGHT. 
The remarks of “A. D.” (page 74) read very curious in the light of 
our experience here. He evidently has no faith in fighting diseases and 
pests, but rather advocates an “ Open your mouth and shut your eyes ” 
policy,quite different from the advice of “ Practitioner” (page 76), and 
also from my experience. To read that the most deadly of garden pests, 
the Potato fungus, has no terror for us now, certainly is premature, and 
not according to practice. “A. D.” should see the long face drawn by 
many a poor cottager and allotment holder as he views with dismay his 
blackened plots and blighted tubers ; or as he meets his neighbour in the 
street to tell each other of the suddenness and violence of the attack and 
the means adopted to arrest it. It shows terror to him who has been 
looking forward to paying his rent by his crops, or a winter’s supply of 
food from the noble tuber. 
The Potato disease here this year is as sudden and as severe as I 
have ever seen it. Many have profited by advice given and have 
removed and destroyed the haulm, but others whose occupation prevented 
them doing it at once have the mortification of seeing the whole crop 
blackened in a few days, the air in the neigbourhood of the plots 
being permeated with the dreaded stench. It has gone from the second 
earlies to the later varieties, although they are still green and robust, 
the continued wet weather being favourable to its development. Some 
persons lifting their crops find about half of them diseased. According to 
my experience the varieties of Ashleaf Kidneys, Sutton’s Matchless and 
Sutton’s Ringleader ripened and escaped ; but Lady Truscott, Duke of 
Albany, Early White Beauty, Windsor Castle, Silverskin, Early Puritan, 
Sutton’s Seedling, Vicar of Laleham has been attacked within the week 
in the order I have written the names. On Saturday last I noticed the 
plots of Jeannie Deans and Bruce going off rapidly and intend stripping 
them also. I hope by my prompt action to have saved my crop, as I 
have more than once done so in my experience. I will let you know 
the result. 
As regards other pests and diseases there are many to battle against. 
Either the extra dry weather last year or the long dry spring this year, 
or both, favoured the development of fresh insects and pests hitherto 
unknown to me. The early planted Brussels Sprouts were attacked 
with a small jumping weevil, which completely riddled them, similar 
to the Turnip fly. It was going right through the bed, but two or 
three applications of soot and lime stopped them. For three seasons our 
Onion crop here has been a failure on account of the dreaded maggot. 
The attention drawn to the matter this spring in the Journal determined 
me to take the matter in my own hands. I sowed the seed with wood 
ashes, and when the plants appeared I watched for the fly. They were 
so minute that I may not have detected them at first, as they were more 
plentiful than I cared to see. I dressed them at once with fresh soot, 
and another application two days after. They changed colour directly 
and grew freely, but about three weeks or a month later the maggots 
appeared in some of them in which the egg had been deposited before 
the application. I had them removed and destroyed, and had a good 
crop. 
