THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION.— May 27, 1856. 149 
large, white centre, a great improvement on Violacea; 
habit good. 
12. Victory (Edmonds). — Rosy-purple colour, with 
large, white eye; truss large; pips well formed. An 
excellent variety. 
Price 3s. Cd. to 5s. each. If the twelve are ordered, a 
considerable reduction ought to be made. 
Twelve Selected Older Varieties. 
1. Annie Laurie (Edmonds). — Rosy-purple colour, 
with large, white centre ; trusses large and well formed; 
pips also large, very flat, and round; habit good. A 
free grower, and abundant bloomer. 
2. Arisosto. —Truss medium; blooms ditto; colour a 
rich maroon. A fine, dark variety. 
3. Brilliant <le Vaise (Chauviere). — Rich, brilliant 
crimson colour, shaded in the centre with purple. A 
splendid variety, of good form and excellent habit. 
4. Duchess of Northumberland (Barker).—Colour a 
light pink or peach ; trusses large and compact; blooms 
well formed; habit very dwarf, and a free bloomer. 
Quite a novel, distinct variety, suitable for any purpose, j 
5. Etoile de Venus (Leon Lille).—Colour a delicate 
blush, with large, rosy-purple centre; trusses large; 
habit spreading. A free bloomer, and a most excellent 
variety. 
6. King of Purples (Scobie).—Truss compact and 
medium size; pip good and well-shaped; habit dwarf 
and compact; colour a fine purple, with deep chocolate 
eye. One of the best bedding varieties we possess. 
7. King of Scarlets (Thomson).—Colour a brilliant 
scarlet, with' large lemon-colour eye; trusses large ; pip 
well formed. One of the most effectual bedders ; ought 
to be grown universally. 
names of plants said to be white, such as, Verbena, 
Petunia, Geranium, Salvia, Pentstemou, and, more 
recently, Calceolaria ; but though all those are good in 
their way, they all fall short of what I call a pure white. 
There is in most of them a tinge of some other colour, ■ 
or they lack that degree of purity which is so essential 
in this colour. 
Now, can some of our florists (who add, year after 
year, to our long list of bedding-plants) turn their at¬ 
tention to this matter? It would be well to sacrifice 
some of those points of shape and habit which they are 
too often induced to regard as the most important points 
of a plant’s qualification; yet, in some, colour is the 
one thing most necessary; and, as pure white is, perhaps, 
the most difficult of all colours to attain, its acquisition 
would be the more honourable to the acquirer. 
Boses contain few varieties that can be called really 
good, pure whites; and it is not every stand of Dahlias 
that can boast of one of that hue, although I confess, 
when it does so, its value is much enhanced; for if a 
prize for dissimilar colours be given, the wider the range 
of such colours the better, the stand ought to be con¬ 
sidered, other things being attended to likewise. 
Now, in ordinary flower-gardening, quite two-thirds 
of the flower-beds are surrounded by turf, which, in 
spite of all that can be said to the contrary, exercises a 
large influence on the general effect of the flowers 
planted there, rendering certain colours more useful 
than others; and whites aud yellows are seldom mis¬ 
placed where a green base, or back ground, is to be 
worked upon. 
If any one feels sceptical of the effects of white 
flowers as being, perhaps, the most effective of any in 
floral display, let him look at what is exhibited in a 
8. Madame Bandinal (Chauviere).—Truss medium i large way by Nature herself. First, we have the delicate 
size ; pip well formed : colour a deep rose (very unique), 
with a light centre; habit a free grower, and abundant 
bloomer. 
9. Madame deSavalliere (Chauviere).—Colour a clear, 
pale lilac, or silver-grey, with a dark purple centre; 
trusses large and compact; pip good ; and habit excel¬ 
lent. Very novel and striking. 
10. (Eil Brilliant. — Colour pink, with large, rich 
crimson centre. A very distinct and beautiful variety. 
11. Purpurea magnifica (Bragg).—Truss large; pip 
good ; colour purplish-crimson. A good, self-coloured, 
bedding variety. 
12. Wonderful (Edmonds).—Rich plum-purple colour, 
with a large, white centre; trusses large and compact; 
pip fine form. Most excellent for bedding or pot-culture. 
Prices, Is. to 2s. 6d. T. Appleby. 
(To be continued.) 
THE BEAUTY OF WHITE FLOWERS. 
It is not often that I step out of my province into 
the moro fashionable one of flowers, but there are certain 
points in which our relative positions run into each other 
with one of those fine connecting links by which so 
many other things are united together; for it happens 
that flowers and food sometimes become united in 
the same object, but my present intention was not 
to confine myself to such things, but to malco a sort 
of sally into the flower-garden, with the double purpose 
of asking advice and offering some opinions; and ilio 
subject l have taken is one of the many useful ones 
into which our “bedding system" of flower-garden is 
divided, but it is equally applicable to other branches 
as well, i.e., of the flower or decorative garden depart¬ 
ment. 
The purpose I have in view is to call attention to the 
meagre list of white-flowered bedding-plants which we 
have to deal with. It is true, we have long arrays of 
Snowdrop, vieing with its half name-sake in delicacy 
of colouring; next, we have the Blaclc Thorn, the Plum, 
wild and cultivated Cherry, the White Thorn, and, when 
summer is fairly settled, we have the Elder', besides 
which, we have innumerable small plants, of which white 
is the most prominent portion of their flowers’ colouring. 
Compared with these, what are our other prominent 
colours? It is true, a more gorgeous display is made 
by the Furze, or Whin, when flowering in a mass; and 
I have seen a similar display from some acres of Broom, 
when grown in a similar large way; while our moors, 
gay with the Heath bloom, are splendid enough in 
August; still, I confess to have a partiality for white, 
and next to that to yellow; they being usually more 
early bloomers than other colours,—and one display of 
hardy flowers in spring would be meagre without the 
Arabis, Alyssum, Iberis, and other plants that way ; 
aud if we remove the white Camellia and yellow Cytisus 
from the conservatory, its two most important ornaments 
are gone. In fact, I regard the white Camellia the 
nearest approach to pure white of any flower we possess; 
aud if we had any thing in the flower-garden way like 
it in colour that w r ould bloom continuously, I should 
regard it as a most important acquisition, and deserving 
a place everywhere. 
I may here be allowed to say that the best white 
flower I have for bedding purposes is the Double White 
Feverfew. Mine is a seedling raised here, and it has 
less of the green centre than the old one. It is very 
effective while in early flower, but when it fades it is no 
longer ornamental, and it does not produce such an 
endless succession as the Verbena and Petunia, so that 
I often plant it mixed with something else to take its 
place when it is no longer useful, or, by planting the 
bed with plants of two or three stages of growth, a 
greater succession may be obtained, and the plant is, 
perhaps, the most accommodating of any in the way of 
propagating easily, and growing on all kinds of soil; but 
1 often grow it in mixed beds with the dwarf purple 
