278 
THE FLORIST, 
in all these flowers, viz., their excellent habit of growth; it is very 
true we may have flowers nearly as good, but then these have habit, 
which is a matter of great consequence in all florists’ flowers. 
Having finished my survey at Slough, admired the beds of Phloxes, 
and the general arrangement of the bedding plants, I then got into^ 
not oriy the Iron Horse—a more wonderful one than the wooden one of 
Troy—and paid a long-threatened visit to Worton Cottage. Who has 
not heard of its former owner ? who has not grieved over the kindly 
and Christian heart that, until this year, directed all its arrangements ? 
who has not felt that, when the “old gardener” was gathered to his. 
rest, English floriculture lost one who had done much to rescue 
gardening publications from the low personalties and vulgar jests that 
formerly disfigured them ? Surely, at any rate, no reader of the 
Florist but recalls the name of Edward Beck with feelings of lively 
gratitude. Well, Worton Cottage and all its arrangements are still ihere, 
and under the care of its intelligent gardener. The flowers its owner 
loved will be fostered; and as Mrs. Beck takes a warm interest in 
them, the list of Pelargoniums will still contain seedlings with that 
honoured name attached to them. It was too late to see them ; and 
one only had I a glimpse of. Maiden Fair, v/hich is in the same 
style as Fairest of the Fair, but improved upon it—will be, I doubt 
not, a very useful flower. My visit here was a very hurried one, but 
if God spare me for another year, I hope to go there when the collection 
of Pelargoniums is in full bloom. 
The chief cause of my being in so great a hurry was to enable me 
to get to Chiswick in time to go through the work arranged for the 
Floral Committee, in deciding on the varieties ot bedding plants and 
annuals which had been grown there for comparison; suffice it to say, 
that the new annuals were almost universally condemned, the Stocks 
considered a failure, the Phloxes many of them greatly admired, and 
the Geraniums and Verbenas hardly considered forward enough for a 
right decision to be come to on their merits. The main points of 
interest will be duly detailed in the Royal Horticultural Society’s 
proceedings. 
In the evening, escaping safely from the perils of the Eastern Counties 
Railway, I found myself at a place long known to me by name, and 
enjoying the friendly hospitality of its owner; for as a Rose grower in 
however small a way, I could not but have a lively interest in the 
Sawbridgeworth nurseries and their owner—for if the one has been 
famous as the place from whence so many new Roses have first found 
their way into the world, the other by his popular method of writing up 
the subject, has been no less successful in making it everybody’s flower. 
Having no orchard house, and not being an enthusiast on the subject 
of fruits, I could only, I fear with too little interest, receive the intel¬ 
ligence Mr. Rivers kindly gave. His Curate's Vinery struck me as 
being, however, an excellent idea. A Vine is planted in the open 
border, and a glass case is then put over it, raised on a loose brick at 
each end, slates are laid on the earth, and the Vine is then allowed to 
run along it; there is abundance of heat to ripen them, and ventilation 
of course secured. It will be also an excellent method for getting in a 
