THE GARDENING WORLD. 
July 10, 1886. 
714 
montanas, Bouvardias, Poinsettias, Euphorbia jacqui- 
niflera, Boses, Chrysanthemums, and the largest lot 
we ever saw of the fragrant white Pancratium fragrans. 
In three of the houses the pretty old Plumbago rosea 
and P. coceinea are specially grown to cover the back wall 
and arch over the walks. These are cut back every 
year, and are beautiful as well as useful from late summer 
to early winter. The several varieties of Calanthes are 
also grown in quantity and in fine condition, the aid of 
a little Clay’s Fertiliser with them, as with most other 
terrestrial Orchids and other flowering plants, being 
found of great service in getting a sturdy growth on 
them, and thus ensuring a fine crop of flowers. 
The kitchen gardens and fruits outdoors are in a 
neat and satisfactory condition, and the whole place is 
in just such a trim condition as might be expected under 
the supervision of Mr. Ollerliead, who is well known as 
a thorough gardener, although he does not now stage 
exhibits at our great flower shows as of yore. Pro¬ 
bably, the calls made on his- time by Sir Henry’s large 
and magnificent estate of Rowdon, in Devonshire, 
prevents it. Sir Henry Peek is known to have a great 
love for his garden, and with two such fine estates as 
those at Wimbledon and in Devonshire he has ample 
means for gratifying his tastes in that direction. 
-- 
GARDENERS’ ROYAL BENEVO¬ 
LENT INSTITUTION. 
It is with the greatest pleasure that we record the 
fact of the forty-third annual festival of this admirable 
institution, being the most successful yet recorded. 
The annual gathering of the supporters of the institu¬ 
tion took place at the Albion, Aldersgate Street, on the 
2nd inst., under the presidency of N. N. Sherwood, 
Esq., of the firm of Messrs. Hurst & Son, Seed Mer¬ 
chants, of Houndsditch and Mark Lane (whose portrait 
will be found in another page), and this being the 
first occasion upon which the chair has been taken by 
a member of the Seed trade, we need scarcely add that 
“the trade” was strongly represented. The attendance 
was indeed very large, every seat being occupied, and 
the subscription list, which amounted to nearly £1,450, 
was the largest that has ever been obtained. The 
usual loyal and patriotic toasts having been ably given 
from the chair, and most heartily received by the com¬ 
pany, the chairman proceeded to give the toast of the 
evening, “ Continued Prosperity to the Gardeners’ 
Royal Benevolent Institution,” and, in so doing, gave 
an interesting resume of the history of the Institution 
from its foundation in 1838. Started by the late Mr. 
George Glenny, with the assistance of Mr. John Lee, 
and a few other gentlemen, of whom, alas! but one or 
two now remain—in order to afford relief to poor and 
distressed gardeners in their old age, the Institution 
has grown and flourished to a most gratifying extent, 
and it was now in the satisfactory financial position of 
having an annual income of some £2,000, and a reserve 
of £21,000 invested in public securities. But when 
it was remembered that it was estimated that 
there were over 21,000 gardeners in the country, that 
as a class they were not highly remunerated, and that 
their duties were of a laborious and most trying cha¬ 
racter to their health, it was clear that the supporters 
of the institution must not relax in their efforts. Their 
mission was to ask for more, and by good and eco¬ 
nomical management of the funds entrusted to them, to 
afford help to as many as they possibly could. The 
reserve fund they must look upon as a nest egg, so that 
they had necessarily to rely upon annual subscriptions 
and donations to meet current expenditure. He re¬ 
gretted to say that the gardeners, on whose behalf the 
institution was maintained, had not added much to his 
list, but he could not too strongly impress upon them the 
importance of becoming subscribers to the institution, 
for, looking at it as an investment, he knew of nothing 
to equal it. Having further alluded to the advantages 
of gardeners being subscribing members, to the great 
amount of good the institution had done in the past, 
and to its future prospects, Mr. Sherwood concluded with 
an eloquent appeal to all present to unloosen their purse 
strings, and to give liberally in the cause of so good a 
charity ; and with the toast coupled the name of Mr. 
John Lee, the father of the institution. 
Mr. Lee, who on rising met with an enthusiastic re¬ 
ception, reminded his hearers that he had had the 
pleasure of attending forty-two out of the forty-three 
annual festivals, and alluded in warm terms of com¬ 
mendation to the success of the efforts that had been 
made to increase the amount of the pensions. Mr. J. 
R. Bourne, proposed the next toast, viz., The President, 
Vice-Presidents, and Treasurer, coupled with the names 
of Baron Schroder and Mr. Edward Tidswell, and on 
rising to respond, the Baron met with an ovation of a very 
hearty character, so great is his popularity among horti¬ 
culturists of all degrees. Mr. Tidswell having humour 1 
ously remarked that as Chancellor of the Exchequer 
to the institution, he would be pleased to hear from 
anyone whose “conscience” troubled them in the matter 
of unpaid subscriptions or donations, returned thanks 
on behalf of the committee of management to Miss 
"Williams, of Holloway, who had kindly arranged the 
decorations, and to Mr. B. S."Williams, Messrs. Veitch 
& Sons, Chelsea, Messrs. Cutbush & Son, Messrs. John 
Laing & Co., Mr. Veitch, Exeter, Messrs. Paul & Son, 
Cheshunt, Messrs. Low & Co., Clapton, and others for the 
loan of plants, flowers, &c. Major Lambert next gave 
the health of “The Chairman,”' and in response, Mr. 
Sherwood thanked all who had assisted him in making 
his tenure of the chair so agreeable to himself, and so 
satisfactory to the institution, and before sitting down, 
proposed the health of the secretary, Mr. Edward Roger 
Cutler, whom he described as the best beggar he had 
ever met with, a remark which elicited hearty recog¬ 
nition of its truth from all present, on the indefatigable 
secretary rising to make his financial statement, and 
to return thanks for the acknowledgment by the 
company of the long and valuable services he had 
rendered to the institution. Sir Trevor Lawrence, 
Bart, M.P., responded to the toast of “ The Botanical 
and Horticultural Societies”; and Mr. George Dickson, 
Mayor of Chester, responded for “ The Seed and Nursery 
Trades,” proposed by Mr. Shirley Hibberd. During the 
evening the proceedings were agreeably diversified by 
a choice selection of songs, rendered under the direction 
of Miss Mary Belval, whose “Under a Hedge” was, as 
usual, heartily applauded. 
-- 
UTRICULARIAS. 
Although not Orchids these are more generally 
grown with them, and by many of the inexperienced 
considered to be such. Both the old U. montana, 
whose flowers are pure white, with yellow blotch, and 
U. Endresi, of a mauve or pale lilac, make very pretty 
and handsome plants, and last in flower several weeks. 
They may be grown either in shallow pans or baskets 
but I much prefer the latter, which, if not disturbed 
too often—say once in two years—furnish the sides of 
the baskets, and which side growth would, of course, 
be lost in pans. Some cultivators grow them on 
blocks, but from personal experience I can only refer to 
that method, but having been successful with baskets 
myself, I am in a position to recommend the same to 
others. 
As soon as the plants go out of flower, I either top- 
dress them or rebasket, according to requirements, 
using peat, sphagnum, charcoal, and coarse sand. 
The curious semi-transparent roots somewhat resemble 
miniature Dahlia tubers, and which are impatient of 
being bruised in the operation. U. Endresi, which is 
both new and delicate, requires careful attention as to 
water during the winter months, but must not be 
allowed to become so dry as to cause the bulbs to 
shrivel. U. montana being evergreen, requires to be 
kept more damp than its lovely congenor ; and as soon 
as they commence to grow, copious supplies of water is 
necessary to ensure strong growth, which means strong 
drooping racemes of flowers later on, and the latter 
being so graceful, are sure to be appreciated. 
The cool end of a stove or East Indian house is the 
most suitable place to grow them. I tried U. montana 
in a Cattleya house two years since, through seeing it 
thus advised in a contemporary, but shall not do so 
again. If grown in a dry atmosphere, Utricularias are 
subject to red spider, but in a moist house this pest 
will be tolerably safe. I make it a practice to dip them 
head and ears, to use a common expression, and keep 
them well syringed.— E. D. 
->S<—- 
DOUBLE & SINGLE-FLOWERED 
PYRETHRUMS. 
The numerous double and single forms of Pyretlirum 
constitute some of the showiest and most beautiful of 
mid-summer flowering perennials. They are acknow¬ 
ledged by all to be well worth a place in every garden, 
not a position out of sight, but one where everyone who 
enters the garden may see and admire them, and I 
Wonder who cannot admire these charming flowers ? for 
they have points in their favour that cannot be over¬ 
looked, even if any were prone to do so. Taking the 
majority of them they average about 2 ft., some few 
others about 2 ft. 6 ins., and one or two kinds still, 
when about three years established in the ground, which 
attain to 3 ft. high. Looking at them from another 
stand point, we find them possessed of extremely hand¬ 
some tufts of Fern-like leaves, from amidst which the 
numerous flower stems issue, and still later on when 
viewing them in the pride of their flowering season, we 
can find numerous shades of ro^e and lilac, intense 
crimson and carmine hues ; the purest whites, together 
with the softest shades of sulphur and buff, besides which 
there are innumerable intermediate shades of the 
colours 1 have named. Then, if we turn to the dura¬ 
bility of their flowers, either on or off the plants, we 
have really few flowers which can equal them, and none 
to surpass. 
Despite the hot burning sun of late, I have had 
flowers of that magnificent variety, J. N. Tweedy, one 
of the largest and very best of high coloured double 
varieties, whose flowers have been expanded for up¬ 
wards of a month on the plant, and which has been 
one of the most conspicuous plants in the garden. But 
while I have singled out this kind, it should be stated 
that this is only the ordinary time which these plants 
last in flower, and this not the least overdrawn. Such 
then is a rough idea of the double-flowered Pyrethrums, 
which, with all their extreme floriferousness, are ex¬ 
celled in the latter respect by the single-flowered kinds, 
for we have nothing to touch these latter in this respect. 
Furthermore, we have a greater variety of colour, since 
we find several rich and valuable shades in these, which 
are not as yet found in the doubles ; conspicuous 
among which are decidedly deep velvet}’ maroon shades, 
which make up a very telling whole to the group. 
Then, again, we are beginning to find glimpses of fancy 
kinds, i.e. , where one flower is conspicuous in having 
various shades of colour distributed over the florets 
either regularly or irregularly blotched or marbled. 
Y r et another point in favour of the latter group, is their 
unique, elegant and graceful appearance, an uniform 
lightness, so much so that a slight breeze will waft them 
hither and thither, and which further greatly assists 
in the general effect, especially when Mewed from a 
distance. 
Many people have a dislike to double flowers owing 
to their stiff and somewhat formal appearance. Such, 
however, will find all they require in the singles, for 
no plants of my acquaintance are capable of producing 
such an effective, rich, and varied display as these ; 
but they must be seen in clumps to form an adequate 
idea of their beauty and usefulness. They invariably 
take two seasons to form fine clumps capable of pro¬ 
ducing a hundred or more blossoms each, though under 
good culture, and in a light, deep, rich soil, very good 
plants may be established in twelve months. Their 
cultural requirements are the simplest, given such a 
soil as above, with plenty of manure and an abundant 
supply of water in dry seasons, and there will be little 
difficulty in obtaining fine tufts of Pyrethrums, single 
or double, and an abundant supply of useful flowers. 
It may here be worthy of note to observe that the 
single-flowered kinds, although in many cases only 
possessed of a single row of florets, that they do not 
quickly fall, as in the case of single-flowered Dahlias, 
but that their petals remain, and almost without ex¬ 
ception wither upon the stems. This is an interesting 
fact to record, inasmuch as it illustrates most fully the 
real value of these flowers. 
Now a word as to planting. Provided good plants 
are obtainable now—and these should be numerous at 
any of the many hardy plant-growing establishments— 
my advice is to get them at once, giving preference to 
established plants in pots, and having well loosened 
the ball of earth, plant firmly in a well-prepared border 
or bed, after which give a thorough watering. If the 
weather continues dry occasional still thorough water¬ 
ings will be necessary till the plants have obtained a 
good hold of the soil ; and it need hardly be added 
that the constant use of the hoe is of great assistance, 
not only for keeping weeds in check, but for the general 
well-being and future of the plants. It may form a 
fitting supplement to these remarks, probably, if I give 
a few from the many distinct kinds of each section. 
Doubles :—Einilie Lemoine, purplish crimson, tipped 
with gold ; Dr. Livingstone, pale lilac ; Captain Nares, 
