1881 . ] 
GARDEN GOSSIP. 
79 
reason of the severe frost, lias been kept very- 
gay with a number of Alpine Auriculas , that 
have bloomed with great freedom, and pleased 
us vastly. There is no longer a deficiency of 
subjects, and the main thing is to keep all 
growing free and healthy for. service during the 
summer. Some seeds of Primula sinensis 
fhnhriata should be sown now, for bloom¬ 
ing in the autumn and winter, for it is at 
that season of the year that the plants, 
helped with a little heat, flower finely and in 
their best colours. Amateur gardeners with 
cold greenhouses have been taught one useful 
lesson by the past winter—that is, to depend 
more and more on hardy plants, and less on 
tender ones for their spring display, and it is 
at this season and during the summer that 
suitable subjects should be gathered together. 
Chrysanthemums for autumn flowering in pots 
now need a good deal of attention, to keep 
them from becoming drawn, or suffering for 
want of water. The greenhouse should not 
be opened for air on the side towards the cold, 
cutting, easterly winds ; and as the nights are 
cold, followed often by sharp frosts, watering 
should be done early in the forenoon, so that 
any spilled on the floor can be dried up before 
night. Plenty of air and shading must be 
given by day. A fumigation with tobacco-smoke 
will be found of great service, as in cold weather 
the house has to be kept somewhat close, and 
then green-fly multiply.— Suburbanus. 
GARDEN GOSSIP. 
HE magnificent Collection of Orchids 
formed by John Day, Esq., of Totten¬ 
ham, is, we regret to say, being dis¬ 
tributed by the hammer. Some idea of the value 
of the collection may be formed by the proceeds of 
the first two sales, each of two days’ duration. On 
the first occasion, March 31st, the total amount 
realised was £1,847 7s. The highest price given 
for one lot was 140 guineas, the bid of Sir Trevor 
Lawrence, Bart., M.P., for Cypripedium Sionei, var. 
platytmnium, a very strong plant, with one old 
growth showing flower, and two strong young leads 
of five leaves each ! On the next occasion, April 
12th, the amount realised was £1,803 7s. 6d., and 
amongst the highest prices realised were the follow¬ 
ing :— Cattleya exoniensis, 48 guineas ; Plialcenopsis 
intermedia, 62 guineas; and Dendrobrium Schroderi, 
66 guineas. Other sales are to follow until the 
whole collection is disposed of. 
— £Tiie Crystal Palace Company are about 
to establish a School of Gardening in connec¬ 
tion with their educational department. The 
School is to comprise two main divisions—1, Land¬ 
scape Gardening, under the direction of Mr. Mil¬ 
ner ; 2, Practical Gardening and Floriculture, 
under Mr. W. G. Head. We have, remarks the 
Gardeners’ Chronicle, so long and so strenuously ad¬ 
vocated the establishment of a school of horticulture 
comparable with those in Belgium and Germany, 
that we can but rejoice to see the idea not only 
again broached, but likely to assume a practical 
shape. In the first division the Crystal Palace offers 
exceptional facilities for instruction, but as to the 
practical management of the various departments 
of a large or complete garden establishment, the 
Palace at present supplies but few of the require¬ 
ments. Nevertheless, these might be supplied, or 
arrangements might be made whereby pupils 
thoroughly grounded in the principles at the Palace 
school, might afterwards pass some time in various 
public and private establishments, to acquire that 
practical knowledge of details which could not be 
obtained in the Palace itself. The success of the 
scheme depends in great measure on the zeal and 
capabilities of the teachers ; but given these, there 
is no reason why it should not be made a success, 
and thus a want will be supplied, and a reproach 
removed. 
— fiflEssRS. Veitch and Sons’ display of 
Hyacinths at Soutli Kensington on March 22nd 
was of a very high order of merit; every spike 
was worthy of being placed in a first-prize collec¬ 
tion ; one spike measured 8 in. in length and 13 in. 
in circumference. The best of the new varieties 
were Czar Alexander, a single deep purple-blue, with 
a massive spike of closely-placed bells of large size; 
and Primrose Perfection, a distinct and good variety, 
with the largest and best formed bells of any yellow 
Hyacinth in cultivation. Beatrice, single pale rose, 
in the way of Grandeur a Merveille, has a more 
compact spike than that variety, but is not so clear 
in colour. The double varieties were represented by 
Masterpiece, a very distinct pale blue, with large, well- 
formed bells, and which wall prove one of the best of 
double-blue Hyacinths, if it produces a longer spike. 
The best varieties of recent years were to be found 
amongst the siugle reds ; these were Prince Albert 
Victor, crimson, with well-shaped bells and a good 
spike; Vuurbaak, bright fiery red, very good; Lin¬ 
naeus, a distinct deep carmine ; Garibaldi, rich dark 
crimson; Lady Palmerston, rosy-pink ; La Joyeuse, 
pale rose-pink; Princess Helena, soft rose and a 
long spike; Etna and Von Schiller. The semi¬ 
double Koh-i-noor is also very fine in this colour. 
Amongst the single whites La Grandesse, by reason 
of its large pure white bells and long spike, is the 
best; and Mont Blanc stands next; but Baroness 
Van Tuyll, L’Innocence, Snowball, and La Fran- 
(jaise were also very fine. Of single blues thei’e 
were grand spikes of King of the Blues, the best 
and most constant Hyacinth in any colour; Marie, 
a dark blue, and very good this year; John Bright, 
new and good; Grand Lilas, a fine old variety, in 
remarkably good form ; Cavaignac, pale porcelain- 
blue, with very smooth large bells; Grand Bleu, 
brighter than Grand Lilas, though much like it in 
formation ; Czar Peter and Lord Derby, both fine 
pale-blue varieties; The Sultan and Duke of Con¬ 
naught, rich purple-blue. The collection received 
the award of the Gold Medal of the Society. 
— ftlR. Bull lias recently had a very in¬ 
teresting collection of Sarracenias in blossom, 
a state in which one seldom sees them, as they 
are more frequently grown for the sake of their 
pitchers ; they are, nevertheless, exceedingly beau¬ 
tiful, and full of interest. We may mention that 
there were plants of S. Drnmmondii—the Drnm- 
rnondii of gardens—growing in 12-in. pots, which 
had from 10 to 13 of the large quaintly-formed 
maroon-crimson blossoms, on scapes about a couple 
of feet in height, and slightly overtopping the hand¬ 
somely reticulated pitchers. Other sorts in effective 
bloom were the large yellow S. flava picta, the white 
S. crispata, and the deep blood-red S. rubra. It is 
interesting to note the varied odour of the different 
