1883 .] 
GARDEN GOSSIP. 
47 
GARDEN GOSSIP. 
E hear that a Supplementary Carna¬ 
tion and Picotee Show, similar to 
that held at Oxford last year, is 
arranged to take place at Slough during 
the coming summer. Mr. Dodwell, with whom 
the idea originated, requests us to make the an¬ 
nouncement, which we do most willingly, trusting 
that the matter will be taken up with spirit and 
carried to a successful issue. The following circular, 
which will be issued in due course, further explains 
the character and object of the gathering:— 
“ Dear Sir,—It has been suggested to me that as 
the Supplementary Exhibition of the National 
Carnation and Picotee Society, held in this city last 
year, was a mark of attention to myself, a similar 
Exhibition should this year be held on July 31st in 
the grounds of the Royal Nursery, Slough, as a 
recognition of the work and worth of Mr. Turner. 
The suggestion has been submitted to Mr. Turner, 
and I am happy to say accepted by him, and I have 
now therefore very respectfully to beg your aid and 
co-operation in making the meeting worthy of the 
place and the man. Thirty-four years since (1849) 
Mr. Turner commemorated his entrance into occupa¬ 
tion of the Royal Nursery with the largest and finest 
display of Carnations and Picotees I had up to that 
time seen, besides providing funds for a competition, 
in which he took no part. In the next year, the 
first of the celebrated trial exhibitions (northern 
versus southern raised flowers), instituted to dispel 
the vain notion then promulgated that there was a 
cardinal difference in the flowers of north and south 
respectively, took place in the same grounds ; and in 
the year thereafter (1851) the first exhibition of the 
National Carnation and Picotee Society itself. I 
aspire to make the proposed meeting worthy of its 
predecessors, ’and hope, though the competition he 
confined to Carnations and Picotees, the friends 
gathering together will not be limited to the growers 
and admirers of those flowers only, hut will include 
the much larger number who have known, admired, 
and sympathised with Mr. Turner’s work. A sub¬ 
scription list has been opened for the purpose of 
providing funds for the needful prizes, and any aid 
you may give will be gratefully appreciated. Begging 
an early reply, I am. Dear Sir, your faithful servant, 
E. S. Dodwell, Stanley Road, Oxford ” 
The following subscriptions have been already pro¬ 
mised:—John T. D. Llewelyn, £5 5s.; C. Turner, 
£5 5s.; E. S. Dodwell, £5 5s.; J. Macintosh, £3 3s.; 
J. Douglas, £1 Is.; Shirley Hibberd, £1 Is.; Tbomas 
Moore, £1 Is.; W. M. Hewitt, 10s. 6d.; S. Brown 
10s. 6d. 
— ©he International Horticultural 
Exhibition at St. Petersburg will be opened 
on May 17, and be continued till the 28th. 
Those who desire to exhibit must give notice of their 
intention to Dr. Regel, at the Imperial Botanic 
Garden, St. Petersburg, on or before March 13. 
The Schedule of Prizes is very comprehensive, and 
extends to 182 classes, the prizes consisting of gold and 
silver medals. Copies may be had on application to 
the Foreign Secretary of the Royal Horticultural 
Society. 
— m e are pleased to see that our friend 
Mr. J. Douglas, one of whose fine new 
Auriculas we figure in our present number, 
has been presented with a handsome marble time¬ 
piece and tazzas, on the occasion of his removal to 
Mr. Whitbourn’s new establishment at Great 
Gearies, Barkingside, by the teachers of the Con¬ 
gregational Sunday-school at Barking, of which he 
has been for some years Superintendent. The time¬ 
piece bore the following inscription:—“Presented to 
Mr. James Douglas by the teachers and friends con¬ 
nected with the Congregational Sunday-school, 
Barking, as a testimony of their appreciation of 
nineteen years faithful service as Teacher and Super¬ 
intendent. January 26, 1883.” 
— {[Those charming little spring-blooming 
bulbs, the Scillas, can scarcely be over¬ 
praised. Scilla sibirica is admired and appre¬ 
ciated by everybody for its bright blue flowers. 
S. bifolia is almost equally popular, but effective as 
it is, the S. bifolia maxima may be noted as being 
immeasurably superior to the typical form, and well 
deserving its name, for the flowers are not only 
larger, but produced in far greater abundance, 
forming broad corymbs rather than racemes. S. 
taurica is another of the finest of the early-blooming 
species, surpassing the beautiful S. sibirica; the 
contrast of its red flower stalks with the intensely blue 
flowers is very fine, and being of taller growth 
than the others, the plant shows its flowers off to 
better advantage. It is one of the many choice 
gems grown by Mr. Ware at Tottenham. 
— {[The Ciiou de Russie, sent out by 
Messrs. Carter & Co., has been very strongly 
commended. Nothing, it is said, belonging to 
the Brassica tribe is more useful, and nothing will 
compare with it for delicacy of flavour. It attains 
the size of an ordinary Savoy, is very solid and thick 
in texture. Its colour when cooked is very pleasing, 
best described as a sea-green. After being cut the 
stem produces in early spring an abundance of 
sprouts of exquisite flavour; it is also very hardy and 
ornamental, the leaves being cut and serrated in a 
most curious manner. It is a really good winter 
green. 
— $n Messrs. Veitch’s Collection of 
Pitcher-plants the first point which strikes 
the observer is the exceptional uniformity in 
their appearance, the whole of the plants seeming to 
have every leaf furnished with a healthy pitcher, so 
that, being suspended from the roof close together, 
the space below the baskets, from end to end of the 
house, is so densely crowded with pitchers as to form 
a complete thicket. There is not a plant stove that 
would not have additional interest thrown into it by 
the presence of a selection of the best Nepenthes. 
The erroneous idea that they are difficult to manage 
deters many people from growing them, yet any one 
who has a house or pit, with heat and atmospheric 
conditions such as will grow cucumbers well, need 
not fear as to their pitcher plants succeeding, as 
such warmth and moisture as are required by cu¬ 
cumbers are all that is needed, if also the roots are 
always kept moist. Beyond a thin shade when the 
sun is on them, they cannot have too much light. 
They produce their pitchers most freely when the 
heads of the plants are close to the roof. 
— ©f the noble Magnolia Campbellii, 
we learn from the Revue Horticole that there 
is a grand specimen at the Villa Franzosini 
Infra, on Lago Maggiore, which is every year 
covered with its magnificent rose-coloured flowers. 
It is also stated to have flowered in the nursery 
establishment of MM. Rovelli, at Pallanza. 
