1880. ] 
GARDEN GOSSIP. 
63 
pose the company’s nurseries and gardens will be 
utilised; (7), a register of thoroughly practical 
competent gardeners will be kept, and facilities 
offered the shareholders of obtaining men of char¬ 
acter and ability. 
— Amongst the Prizes for Asparagus 
which, have been announced, Sir Henry Thomp¬ 
son has offered to add five guineas to the prizes 
offered some time ago by Mr. Robinson for improved 
asparagus-culture. The object in view is the im¬ 
provement of asparagus-culture in private gardens, 
by the adoption of a simpler and less expensive sys¬ 
tem than that now in use; also the home supply of 
our markets, which at the present time are so largely 
dependent on asparagus of foreign growth. The 
first competition is to take place next spi'ing, at the 
Bath and West of England show at Tunbridge Wells, 
and the exhibitions will be continued annually during 
seveuyears, each in a different locality. Mr. Spalding 
has promised five guineas, to be given as an extra 
prize the year the exhibition is held in Kent. The 
Hon. and Rev. J. T. Boscawen has given an extra 
prize of five guineas, to be competed for at the first 
competition. M. Godefroy-Lebeuf, of Argenteuil, 
near Paris, offers £10, to be distributed in prizes. 
Apart from these sums, over 100 guineas will be 
given in prizes for the improved culture of this 
vegetable. A schedule of the prizes will shortly be 
issued. The coming two months are those in which 
planting may be done with the greatest success. 
— ®he Properties of the Cineraria 
require to be kept in view, now tliat fine 
strains of named flowers are again coming into 
notice. The florists’ tribunals of thirty years ago, 
notably the National Floricultural Society, made 
the presence of the dark disc in the Cineraria an 
essential property, and there cau be no doubt that 
its presence does very much to produce a harmonious 
contrast, especially in the case of white-ground 
flowers. Of late yeai-s, we appear to have become 
less exacting, and not a few varieties certificated in 
recent times have possessed grey or pale-coloured 
discs—a fault which Avas apparent in the massive 
and finely rounded Cineraria Master Harold, from 
Mr. James’s collection, recently aAA r ardcd a Certifi¬ 
cate of Merit by the Floral Committee, for there was 
a want of artistic finish in the floAver, consequent upon 
the disc being greyish-white, which made the thin 
ring of white round this disc appear confused and 
indefinite. A single bloom of similar character, in 
a box of cut floAvers close by, had a well-defined band 
of pure white encircling a dark disc, Avith a brilliant 
magenta margin, and shoAved at a glance that the 
dark disc should be made a sine qud non. 
— ^t Blackadder, Berwickshire, Miller's 
Dwarf Broccoli, a fine old sort, which has 
of late years rather gone out of fashion, has 
proved to be the only one to AA r itlistund the cold, 
which was very intense there, being 23° below zero ; 
notwithstanding this cold, a lot of Miller’s Broccoli 
stood Avithout injury. Mr. Knight truly observes that 
in severe seasons such as Ave have had of late, varieties 
of hardy vegetables such as this cannot be too Avell 
knoAvn. Mr. Thompson says of this sort, that it is 
considered by many to be the best late variety, and 
this opinion will noAV bo strengthened, if, as lie adds, 
it can be obtained true. It requires to be planted 
early, and should be soAvn by the middle of April. 
It is kuoAvn as Miller’s Late White, Miller’s DAvarf, 
and White Russian ; it is remarkable for its chvarf 
habit of groAvth, scarcely exceeding a foot and a 
half iu height, and being remarkably compact. 
— M*. G. Lee, of Clevedon, sends us 
blossoms of liis Violet argentiflora— the 
Silver-flowered Violet—which is one of the 
best single-floAvered whites we have seen. The 
leaves are small and elegant, like those of the hedge 
violet, and have none of the coarseness of those of 
the large blne-floAvered sorts. The flowers, though 
delicately feathered Avitli pale purple on the out¬ 
side, are practically white, Avith a purple spur, and 
have very long foot-stalks, which throAV them Avell 
up above the foliage, and render them Avell suited 
for bouquets and for bunching. They are regularly 
and neatly formed, Avith blunt, broadly-oblong petals, 
and measure, when fully open, about three-quarters 
of an inch across, the petals being fully half an inch 
long. The scent is delicious, resembling that of the 
hedge violet. Mr. Lee suggests that it will be a 
good sort for growing under glass in Avinter, as it 
remains so long in season—seA’en or eight months— 
and is a most profuse bloomer. 
— Amongst the new Lawn Mowers of the 
present season, one called the Globe, an Anglo- 
American, sent out by Messrs. Ransomes and 
Co., of IpsAvich, is well spoken of. It is strongly re¬ 
commended, as being first-class in every respect, 
vpossessing the principal features of this class of 
machines ; AA T hile it is claimed for it that it surpasses 
most of its rivals in its greater accuracy of fitting, 
and in the nicer adjustment of its cutting parts. It 
has been introduced to meet the demand for 
machines adapted for cutting laAvn grass, Avhen it 
gets someAvhat long. It has all the appearance of 
being a light but strong and efficient machine, and 
one Avliich will accomplish good Avork in quick time 
and with little effort. The high standing of the manu¬ 
facturers is a guarantee that in its construction every 
care will be taken to turn out a good article. 
— Joseph Baumann Avrites respecting 
Tree Peonies, “ Some fifteen years ago I 
bought the tivo most renowned varieties of 
Tree Peeonies, \’iz., Gloria Belcjarum and Souvenir rle 
Gand, of the late Mr. Charles Goethals. At that 
time I grafted about 1,500 of these on the roots of 
the common Tree Paeony, by far the best and most 
suitable stock for the purpose; but since then I 
have grafted Tree Paeonies on the roots of all the 
herbaceous species Avithout exception, and with 
most satisfactory results. Nevertheless the P. 
sinensis of the herbaceous class is to be preferred, 
because it is not liable to produce so many suckers 
as P. officinalis, edulis, &c. The best time for 
grafting is July and August. In 1819 the late Dr. 
Siebold confided the Avhole collection of Tree 
Ptconies which he introduced to my care for pro¬ 
pagating, which I did on all the species of the 
herbaceous class Avith the greatest success. As to 
the hardiness of such Tree Pieonies, I may state 
that while plants, as Roses, Rhododendrons, fruit- 
trees, Conifers, &e., in the open ground were killed 
by the frost, all my Tree Pieonies, which had no 
protection whatever, suffered not in any way; they 
are, in fact, at the present moment in bud. In my 
opiniou, they do not suffer so much from a severe 
winter frost as they do from the late spring frosts 
in April and May.” 
— Referring to Choice Vegetables, “ K. 
Tweedside'’ writes;—Out of a number of excel¬ 
lent kinds of vegetables we grow liere annually, 
there are a fcAV which I look upon as special favour¬ 
ites—standard first-class varieties. Vicks' Criterion 
