62 
THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. 
[ Apeil, 
as they furnish such a large quantity of sprays 
or branches of flowers. Of course, double kinds 
are most desirable, hut, double or single, all 
are cut, and ofttimes none are left to give seed ; 
this is, however, of little consequence, as good 
seed can always be had in the locality from 
some of the cottagers, who cultivate a few for 
that purpose. In gardens where it is desirable 
to secure good masses of flower during the 
month of May, these dwarf, scarlet and purple 
Stocks make very showy beds, but to be well 
done they should be planted out in the summer 
in the beds where they are to bloom. This 
arrangement, however, is difficult to carry out 
in beds specially devoted to bedding display. 
Although not so valuable for market work, 
yet the Brompton Stocks are, perhaps, more 
favoured, especially by cottagers, who dearly 
love to have a few fine spikes of the deep 
scarlet Giant standing out in brilliant array in 
their gardens. Without doubt, a huge spike of 
either the scarlet or white double Brompton is 
a grand flower, and can scarcely be rivalled by 
any other hardy biennial. If these are largely 
grown to cut from, the leading spike is taken 
off before its fine c[ualitios are developed, and 
the side shoots furnish but a meagre handful. 
The Brompton Stock should be grown only as 
a decorative border flower, and then, if the 
plant be robust, its rich and massive beauties 
are fully displayed. The white Brompton 
gives of double floivers about 50 per cent., and 
the best strain of scarlet about 40 per cent. 
Intermediate Stocks are so commonly grown 
in pots, that it has got to be an article of belief 
that they can only be properly seeded hr pots. 
This is, however, wide of the truth, as they 
seed well, and produce as large a per-ceritage of 
double flowers in the open ground as when 
grown in pots. To get a good plant in the open, 
however, it is necessary that they should be 
turned out from pots townards the end of April, 
as, if lifted from the seed-bed in the ordinary 
way they root badly, and do not readily get 
established. If potted up singly into small 
sixties, or two plants in a large sixty, and kept 
in a cold frame for winter, they will turn out 
in April with a good mass of roots, and not feel 
the removal. Intermediate Stocks, both white 
and scarlet, give from 75 to 80 per cent, of double 
flowers, and the proportion left for seed is few 
enough to pay for their cultivation for that pur¬ 
pose. That well-known summer Stock, Mauve 
Beauty, has for several years well maintained its 
double character, invariably giving 75 per cent, 
of double flowers.— A.D.^Bedfoni^m Gardeners' 
Chronicle. 
GAKDEN GOSSIP. 
S T a recent meeting of the Committee 
for the International Horticultural 
Exhibition proposed to be held in 
London in 1880, Sir Daniel Cooper, Bart., in the 
chair, it was unanimously determined that it is in¬ 
expedient to go on at present with the proposed Ex¬ 
hibition ; and a resolution of adjournment for an 
indefinite period was consequently passed. At the 
same time, an explanatory letter to her Majesty’s 
Commissioners, with rvhom negotiations had just 
been opened for the use of the South-Kensington 
site, was agreed to. The Committee, in this letter, 
point out that they have come to the conclusion 
that, on accomit of the continued commercial depres¬ 
sion, they feel they would not, at the ju’esent junc¬ 
ture, be justified in entering upon a work the esti¬ 
mated cost of which will not be less than £15,000; 
but, though hesitating under present circumstances 
to incur this large expenditure, which would be 
necessary to carryout an exhibition at once creditable 
to the country and satisfactory to horticulturists, 
they are still of opinion that such an exhibition 
should be held in London, as soon as returning 
prosperity permits. They have conseciueutly made 
arrangements by which the question can be resumed 
as soon as the aspect of public affairs is more oppor¬ 
tune, and they have sought to engage the sympathies 
of her Majesty’s Commissioners in reference to the 
use of the site at South Kensington—the Eoyal 
Horticultural Society’s Garden—if it should not 
become otherwise permanently occupied, when the 
time of action arrives, so that the show, when it does 
take place, may bo held thereon. 
— ^,T the annual meeting of tbe Inter¬ 
national Potato Exhibition, tbe balance- 
sheet showed a surplus of £18 11s. 8d. to be 
carried forward for the current year’s expenses. It 
was resolved to hold an exhibition on September 
17th and 18th, 1879, at the Crystal Palace. Mr. 
Alderman Hadley was re-elected President; and 
James Abbiss, Esq., J.P., Mr. Shirley Hibberd, and 
Mr. Peter McKinlay, Vice-Presidents ; James Carder, 
Esq., Treasurer; and Mr. John McKenzie, Secretary. 
A schedule of prizes was agreed upon, and ordered 
to be printed and circulated among exhibitors. To 
meet a suggestion throw'n out by Mr. Alderman 
Hadley at the last exhibition, that prizes shoidd bo 
offered for Potatos suitable for field-culture, classes 
have been made for the best dish of Paterson’s 
Victoria, and also for the best dish of any wlute 
Pvegeut. 
— ®IiTHOUT doubt, the Eiiaphis humilis 
is one of the most graceful fan-leaved Palms in 
cultivation, and one of the rarest. Fortunately, 
it is possible to increase it liy removing the suckers 
—rather a slow' process, no doubt, but one sufficient 
in nurseries to keep up a stock of B. flahelliformis. 
Compared with this species, it is infinitely more 
graceful, and coming from China and Japan, it 
should be suited to the same comparatively low 
temperature. The stem is remarkably slender, 
