March 13, 1886. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
435 
I_i_ 
I by royal warrants, 
Seedsmen to Seedsmen to 
The Queen. Prn. of Wales. 
SUTTON’S 
I i i i 
(season 1886. _ CHOICE ( Season 1886. | j 
NOVELTIES.' 
NEW VEGETABLES. 
CABBAGE —Sutton’s Little Gem. Per pkt., 
Is., post free 
CABBAGE —Sutton’s Dwarf Blood-Red. _ Per 
packet, Is., post free 
BROCCOLI —Sutton’s Michaelmas White. 
Per packet, 2s. 6 d., post free 
BROCCOLI —Sutton’s Winter Mammoth. 
Per packet, 2s. 6d. post free 
BROCCOLI —Sutton’s Vanguard. Per pkt., 
Is. 6d., post free 
CAULIFLOWER —Sutton’s First Crop. 
Per packet, 2s. 6ct., post free 
CUCUMBER —Sutton’s Purley Park Hero. 
Per packet, Is. 6d. and 2s. 6 d., post free 
CARROT— Sutton’s New Intermediate. Per 
oz., Is. 6 d., post free 
CARROT— Sutton’s Early Gem. Per oz., 
Is. 6 d., p>ost free 
CELERY —Sutton’s White Gem. Per packet, 
Is. 6 d. and 2s. 6 d., post free 
CHICORY —Sutton’s Crimson-Flaked. Per 
packet, Is., post free 
LEEK —Sutton’s Prizetaker. Per packet, 
Is. 6d., post free 
LETTU CE —Sutton’s Reading Mammoth 
White Cos. Per packet, Is., post free 
MELON —Sutton’s Imperial Green-Flesh. 
per packet, 2s. 6 d., post free 
MELON —Sutton’s Invincible Scarlet-Flesh. 
Per packet, Is. 6d. and 2s. 6 d., post free 
ONION —Sutton’s Silver Globe. Per packet, 
Is., post free 
ONION —Sutton’s Golden Globe. Per packet, 
Is., 'post free 
ONION —Sutton’s Crimson Globe. Per pkt., 
Is., post free 
PEA —Sutton’s Satisfaction. Per quart, 3s. 6d. 
PEA —Earliest Blue. Per quart, 2s. 
PEA —Duke of Albany. Per packet, 2s. 
TOMATO —Sutton’s Abundance. Per packet, 
2s. 6 d., post free. 
NEW POTATOS. 
SUTTON’S SEEDLING. Per 6 lb., 2s. 6 d. 
SUTTON’S ABUNDANCE. 6 lb., 2s. 6 d. 
NEW FLOWERS. 
ANEMONE CORONARIA FL. PL. 
Per packet, Is. and 2s. 6d., post free 
CARNATION— Sutton’s New Dwarf Per¬ 
petual. Per packet, 5s., post free 
FREESIA —Sutton’s Superb. Per packet, 
2s. 6 d., post free 
PRIMULA —Sutton’s Double Scarlet. Per 
packet, 5s., piost free 
PRIMULA— Sutton’s Gipsy Queen (Fern¬ 
leaved). Per pkt., 2s. 6 d. and 5s., piost free 
PRIMULA —Sutton’s Giant Lilac. Per pkt., 
2s. 6 d. and 5s., post free 
STOCK, TEN-WEEK— Sutton’s Purity. 
Per packet, 2s. 6 d., piost free 
SUNFLOWER —Sutton’s Miniature. Per 
packet, Is., post free. 
Fes eempigtg Particulars s§© 
Sdttoh’s Amateur’s Guide for 1886 , 
“ One of the most useful Gardening Books." 
Beautifully Illustrated. 
Post free for 12 stamps, or gratis to customers to the value of 
20s. and upwards. 
Seedsmen by Royal Warrants to H.H. the Queen 
and H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, 
READING. 
Liverpool Horticultural Association. 
POSTPONEMENT OF SPRING SHOW. 
T HE fourth grand Spring Flower Show of 
Hyacinths, Tulips, Narcissus, Azaleas, Rhododendrons, 
Roses, and forced hardy plants will be held in St. George’s Hall, 
on Thursday, March 18th. 
Schedules onapplicatiou to the Secretary, EDWARD BRIDGE, 
3, Cedar Terrace, Huyton._ 
Royal Aquarium, Westminster. 
H orticultural exhibitions.— 
GREAT EXHIBITION of HYACINTHS, &c., MAR¬ 
KET PLANTS and cut DAFFODILS, on March 30th and 31st. 
GREAT ARTISTIC ROSE SHOW, on June 25th and 26th. 
GREAT STRAWBERRY EXHIBITION AND FETE, on July 
2nd and 3rd. Great display of TABLE DECORATIONS, BOU¬ 
QUETS, &c., on August 20th and 21st. 
Liberal Prizes are offered. 
Schedule of Prizes on application to Mr. Richard Dean, Super¬ 
intendent of the Exhibition, Ranelagh Road, Ealing. 
Wilts Horticultural Society, Salisbury. 
S HOW ON JULY 29th, 1886.—Division 
A Open—12 Stove and Greenhouse-flowering Plants, First 
Prize £15. 12 Variegated and Fine Foliage Stove and Green¬ 
house Plants, First Prize £13. Schedules may be had on appli¬ 
cation to the honorary secretary, W. H. WILLIAMS, The 
Nurseries, Salisbury. 
Royal Horticultural Society. 
T HE REPORT OF THE ORCHID con¬ 
ference is now ready, and may he had by Fellows of 
the Society on application to the Assistant Secretary at the 
Office, South Kensington, S.W. 
/CRYSTAL PALACE SPRING FLOWER 
V_V SHOW—March 26th and 27th. Schedules of this and other 
Flower and Fruit Shows during 1886, to be had on application to 
Mr. W. G. HEAD, Garden Superintendent, Crystal Palace. 
CONTENTS. 
PAGE 
Allotments . 442 
Amateurs’ Garden, the.... 439 
Beauty and the Beast .... 441 
Beet .440 
Begonias, useful. 443 
Camellias. 439 
Campanula Vidalii . 436 
Chionodoxas, notes on .... 440 
Chrysanthemum culture .. 43S 
Dahlia Show, National.... 436 
Erythranium Dens Canis.. 444 
Everlasting flowers . 436 
Ferns, on potting . 444 
Fish Manures . 442 
Gardeners’ Calendar. 444 
Gardeners' Royal Benevolent 
Institution . 435 
Grapes and Peaches, Pre. 
serving . 443 
Green Vegetables . 435 
PAGE 
Horticultural Societies.... 445 
Narcissus monophyllus .. 443 
Obituary . 446 
Onion Fly. 443 
Orchard Trees, on pruning. 436 
Peas, notes on. 443 
Plants for Rockery Borders 43S 
Potatos, Red . 438 
Praise of Gardens, the .... 435 
Primula floribunda . 443 
Scottish Gardening . 43S 
Soot and Onion Maggot .. 444 
Stock and Scion. 442 
Strawberries, on forcing .. 437 
Strawberries, Wintering .. 443 
Table and Indoor Plants.. 436 
Tulips, Ancient and Modern 440 
Vegetables, Planting. 438 
Vegetables, preserved _ 430 
Weather and the Crops .. 439 
that egotism which seems to characterise so 
many modern critics who set themselves up 
to disparage or otherwise comment upon gar¬ 
dening as it now exists. It is true some small 
thoughts here and there peep out in the selec¬ 
tions of which the book is composed, especially 
in those of more recent date; hut upon the 
whole the -writers of these “ praises,” dating 
from 1,300 years b.c. down to the present day, 
seem animated by large conceptions, some, per¬ 
haps, weird and romantic, hut still praising 
gardening in eloquent language, and with appre¬ 
ciative descriptiveness. We are indebted to Mr. 
Albert F. Sieveking for this collection of 
garden thoughts, gathered from the works and 
writings of some 130 eminent writers; and whose 
thoughts, there collated, offer interesting reading 
to those who may desire from motives of curiosity, 
if from no higher motives, to ascertain what 
Solomon, Cicero, Bacon, Voltaire, Longfellow, 
and even Phil Robinson has to say about gardens. 
Probably, ivere any real gardener to sit down 
and pen a paragraph in praise of gardens, he 
would present us with a very diverse study from 
that offered by the myriads of literary giants 
whose writings are quoted in this work. But 
whilst the estimate of the professional gardener 
would, probably, fail to appear in that eloquent 
clothing which the literary man aspires to pre¬ 
sent his conceptions, the estimate would he far 
more exact, and the more truthful, because free 
from romance. The gardens of the Romancists 
are essentially of a pure Paradisiacal order ; they 
are rather of heaven than of earth, they exhibit 
no traces of labour, hut seem as if prepared by 
gods or fairies for the delectation of man. A 
dash of practice, of hard matter-of-fact thoughts, 
flung into these delightful pictures, seem to 
cause many to fade and die away. There are 
no Gardens of Eden on this mundane earth, 
and those of the famous Hesperides, with their 
golden fruits, exist only in the imagination. 
It may he not altogether agreeable to many 
fancifully disposed people to learn, hut it is a 
fact, none the less, that the most enjoyable and, 
probably, beautiful of gardens are those in 
which most human labour is seen. However, 
we are grateful to Mr. Sieveking for his book, 
because it opens to us the thoughts of so many 
great minds upon a topic which we hold dear. 
An introduction by that genial writer and accom¬ 
plished artist, E.Y.B., attracts attention, because 
it is the product of one yet in the flesh, although 
there the fancies of the Romancist seem to 
colour her praise of gardens. 
•--- 
SATURDAY, MARCH 13, 1886. 
“ The Praise of Gardens.” —As good wine is 
said to need no bush, nor the Lily to require 
painting, so does it seem somewhat superfluous 
labour to present to the public a book in praise 
of gardens. Of all the enjoyments of which 
man is privileged to partake, certainly garden¬ 
ing is one of the most pleasing and acceptable. 
Still more to the weaker sex, and especially to 
the sick and the aged, gardens offer means of 
enjoyment so desirable and so obvious as to 
need no extraneous praise. A garden is, or 
should he, its own praise. If it carries not 
that form of sweet labour to our minds, it is 
unworthy the appellation of garden; for if any 
such enclosure known by that term fails to 
afford the purest of enjoyment, then it is not a 
garden. Probably, most of our readers will 
appreciate our opinion in this matter just as 
they may possess gardens, he they ever so small, 
or may have found in them that enjoyment of 
which we have written. 
The hook to which we refer, The Praise of 
Gardens ,* is, however, not an original produc¬ 
tion, and it has the merit of being devoid of 
-* The Praise of Gardens. By Albert F. Sieveking. London: 
Elliot Stock. 
GARDENING MISCELLANY. 
The Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent Insti¬ 
tution. —In another column we record the death on 
February 23rd, of Mrs. Squibbs, of Godstone, at the 
age of seventy-eight years, and it may interest some of 
our readers, and, perhaps induce others to become 
subscribers to this admirable institution, if we state a 
few facts in connection with her case. Mrs. Squibbs 
was the widow of Mr. R. Squibbs, who for many years 
previous to his death in 1859, was gardener at Rook’s 
Nest, Godstone. During his lifetime Mr. Squibbs 
contributed the sum of fifteen guineas to the funds of 
the institution, and in the year in which he died his 
widow was placed on the pension list. At the time of 
her decease Mrs. Squibbs, though not the oldest 
pensioner of the institution, was the second on the list 
as regards the length of time she had enjoyed the 
pension, and altogether received from the institution 
the sum of £300. In the face of such facts as these 
who will say that the institution does not deserve the 
support of gardeners to a much greater extent than it 
at present enjoys ? 
The Green Crops. —What are we going to do 
for green crops? is one of the pressing questions of the 
hour. Owing to the continuous frosts and drying 
winds there is a great scarcity of greens, and the good 
housewife is paying a large sum for a very small 
quantity. The young Cabbage plants put out in the 
autumn have died in large quantities, and this is 
