September 4, 1886. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
11 
shown and gained the first prize at the Manchester 
floral exhibition the previous week, while lie W'as 
sleeping away into the higher existence, was to be made 
sensible of the mystery, the pathos, and the tragedy of 
life. The beauty and the fragrance of his flowers passed 
beyond the atmosphere of Todmorden, as his name and 
fame w r ere known in the floral world of England. The 
particulars of his later successes and prizes, especially 
at the National Carnation and Picotee Society’s show 
at Old Trafford last Saturday but one were given in the 
Todmorden Advertiser, and he need not say more 
upon that, but he would like to read an extract from a 
work on “Carnations and Picotees,” written by Mr. 
Dodwell, which showed the quaint humour of their 
departed friend, who talked of his flowers as if they 
were living beings. The quotation showed that Mr. 
Lord was not only a loss to Todmorden but to the floral 
world. The author writes : 
Said my friend, Mr. Robert Lord to me last July 
(personifying the Carnation with a pleasant power of a 
quaint and glowing imagination), “To me the Car¬ 
nation seems .to say—Do what you will with me in 
autumn, and I am your willing servitor, your most 
obedient servant; send me from the soft air of the 
south to the sharp atmosphere of the north, and T com¬ 
plain not; from the breezy hillside to the close air of 
the sweltering valley, and I murmur not; subject me 
to the confinement of long journeys and indifferent 
packing, to disrooting, change of soil, and even to 
crushed foliage, and I retrieve the disaster and recover 
the injury from my winter’s sleep. But woe to the 
wight who subjects me to change after I have doffed 
my winter’s nightcap, or trespasses upon my rights in 
spring. Then I brook no injury, permit no liberties 
with impunity ; then a broken leaf or crushed rootlet is 
a mortal injury, and involves the penalty of a mortal 
offence.” 
—They knew it was said that he who makes two blades 
of grass grow were only one grew before is a benefactor 
to his race, and of their friend they certainly could say 
that he made new gleams of beauty and new shapes of 
loveliness to bloom in the floral world. There was a 
romance in the science of flowers which was very 
tempting, but he could do no more than make a pass¬ 
ing reference to it. The authority on Carnations and 
Picotees from whom he had already quoted said of their 
late friend’s productions— “ The light-edged red raised 
at Todmorden by Mr. Robert Lord was the finest that 
had up to that time bloomed.” “The heavy-edged, 
the last upon my list, is among the very first in my 
regard ; ” and then he adds : 
“ It is impossible to exaggerate the excellence of these 
flowers, or over exalt their quality. Raisers in all 
generations may develop new forms and shades of 
colour, but they will never surpass the richness of 
quality, stoutness of subtance, distinctness of markings, 
smoothness of edge and surface, symmetry of form, or 
breadth of petal, which distinguishes these and other 
fine varieties.” 
—Again, speaking specially of one of the flowers grown 
by Mr. Lord, named Miss Horner, Mr. Rudd speaks of 
it in his latest list as 
“The best of its class, and in reviewing the Picotee 
bloom of 1876 I remarked, ‘ undoubtedly the belle of 
the class.’ Well done, indeed; especially in the 
colour-giving atmosphere of the Yorkshire hills. Miss 
Horner is superb ; marginal colour of bright rose, 
evenly laid on, and the white ground without spot or 
bar. ’ ’ 
—If they could but read the romance of these flowers 
they would have an interesting chapter in the auto¬ 
biography of their departed friend, for their names 
seemed to have some reference to the likings and loves 
of his life. Here were a few of them :—Mrs. Dodwell, 
Rev. P. D. Horner, Alice, Ann Lord, Dr. Foster, 
Minnie, Nymph, Zerlina, Cynthia, Miss Horner, Miss 
Lee, and Mrs. Lord. ...... 
Strange, was it not, that as the funeral procession 
was moving slowly along the streets the previous day, 
they should meet a stream of people going to the flower 
show ! Their old friend, however, had not passed 
away into darkness ; he had gone into a realm of higher 
beauty, into the sweeter loveliness of the gardens of the 
Lord. Before his death he knew him only as one who 
had two great tastes—flowers and music. Flowers 
belonged to those influences which fringed the border 
of the actual and led up to the ideal. Music, flowers, 
and poetry formed the trinity of the beautiful, and Mr. 
Lord was not without a sense of the third element in 
that trinity. Some years ago, when in conversation 
with another friend who loved flowers, when talking 
about the dull appearance of the root and the greyness 
of the soil, without one gleam of beauty or breath of 
fragrance, all dead, hard, and ugly, one said to the 
other, “Who can deny a great Creator, a supreme 
spirit, when out of these hard and seemingly ugly 
things there can be developed the beauty and perfection 
of a flower ?” It was that which led him to have faith 
in God and immortality. Another writer had said, 
“Flower in the crannied wall, I will pluck thee, and 
with thee in my hand, little flower, if I could but 
understand thee—what thou art—root and all, then 
should I know what God and man is.” Yes, flowers 
were on the borderland of the realms of the higher 
bliss, and their friend had passed that boundary now. 
His ruling passion was strong in death, for when lying 
unconscious on his death-bed the automatic action of 
the brain from long repetition and use w y ent on. While 
he knew not what he was doing, the tender fingers that 
were placed on his brow to soothe his pain (though, 
fortunately, he had so little) were taken by him, and 
the fingers were placed one over the other as if he was 
layering Carnations in his garden ; at another time he 
was beating time, “One, two, three,” and repeating 
the words, “I will call upon the Lord,” which was 
the last anthem sung in his presence in that church. 
Their friend might, perhaps, have had faults—who had 
not ?—but at any rate he knew of none ; he did, how¬ 
ever, know enough to say, with confidence, that he was 
a good husband, a good father, a good citizen, and a 
good religious man. 
-- 
<§ARDENING fflSCELLANY. 
Crinuin amabile. —This lovely plant has been 
flowering freely for some weeks past at the Castle 
Gardens, Warwick, and has been very much admired. 
The bulb measures 24 ins. in circumference, and 17 ins. 
in height. The flower spikes and leaves stand 4 ft. 
high with about two dozen flowers on each spike ; and 
the fragrance of the blossoms perfumes the whole house. 
Paulownia imperialis is also a lovely sight at 
Warwick Castle, being splendidly in flower. This fine 
old tree I should fancy is quite a hundred years old, 
and seems to immensely enjoy its position, and the 
shelter its gets from the old and well-known Cedars. — D. 
Earwigs and Chrysanthemums. —I have 
read Mr. Kidson’s article on this subject in your last, 
and am surprised that he has not been able to 
satisfy himself that'Earwigs do harm to the “mums.” 
I am sure myself that they do eat the stems, the young 
leaves, and the flowers, and the green-fly also. I have 
caught them in the act over and over again, and, as a 
rule, such evidence is good enough for both judge and 
jury, but, if need be, I have no doubt there are others 
who can confirm it. Mr. Kidson denies that Earwigs 
eat the foliage, but if anyone will take a lamp in the 
night when the Earwigs are feeding, they will find them 
with their heads in the holes on the stem, just under 
the bud, and eating. But they must be very quick, 
because the Earwig will drop as soon as the Bull’s-eye 
is turned upon them. You can see that the hole is 
freshly made, and that there are no caterpillars or any- 
thing else on the plants to make it. I have seen only 
too often the caterpillar described by Mr. Kidson, and 
must say that if it makes such a large hole as I have 
seen, it must be larger than a small piece of cotton. If 
I thought the Earwigs only eat green-fly, I should be 
kind to them as I am to lady birds, and put them on 
my plants to enjoy a good repast. I am sure Mr. 
Kidson will understand that in writing I only want the 
point cleared up for the benefit of all concerned, as I 
think we all ought to know if it is beneficial to destroy 
or preserve life, even in) the case of Earwigs.— A 
Gardener. 
Fig Trees for Fruiting in Pots.— Your in¬ 
teresting account of the mode of treating Vines in pots 
for table decoration, at p. 825, recalls to my mind a 
similar practice adopted by me nearly forty years ago 
to enable me to form, in a very short time, fine, bushy, 
fruitful plants of Fig trees for growing in pots. Having 
some very fine old plants growing against open w'alls, 
I used to select special branches with well-formed heads 
of four or five shoots ; these were unnailed and brought 
down to the border, when the branches forming the 
head of the main branch were tied together carefully 
and brought through the bottom of the West Kent pot. 
With the aid of stakes, these were tied firmly, and the 
pots properly adjusted and filled with a good compost 
made up of the top spit from a meadow, well-decom¬ 
posed manure, leaf-soil, &c. The pots were surrounded 
with leaves or some old hot-bed linings, to keep the 
soil in the pots in an uniform condition whilst the 
rooting process was going on. A good watering was 
given as occasion required it, and in from about three 
to four months the pots became filled with fine healthy 
roots. Such being the case, I carefully detached the 
new plants by removing the earth from the bottom of 
the pots, and severed the main branch that connected 
the newly-made plants from the mother tree. This 
done, a shift into a larger-sized pot was necessary, and 
attention being paid to watering, large handsome 
fruiting plants were expeditiously obtained possessing 
short-jointed fruit-bearing branches. By adopting this 
practice, I obtained strong, dwarf, robust trees in a 
very short space of time .—George Fry, Lewisham. 
Ciaelone barbata. —This is one of the most 
beautiful and graceful of hardy perennials. The flower- 
spike rises some 3 ft. 6 ins. high, and is clothed with 
rich coral-red flowers of tubular outline. The flowers 
are arranged on short footstalks jutting from the main 
spike, and continue for weeks in succession. For vaso 
decoration it is simply charming, to which purpose its 
long slender spikes of flowers admirably adapt them¬ 
selves. It is of free and easy growth, and a most 
elegant border plant.— J. 
Garden Pots. —Mr. Hunt’s patent process, 
(p. 820, vol. ii) may be an excellent one, and if proved 
to be such, doubtless the pots so prepared will be ex¬ 
tensively used. An accumulation of vegetable growth 
or other extraneous matter on flower pots is most 
unsightly, in fact, an abomination where neatness and 
order are aimed at. I have for a long time used a 
solution of salt, and put my pots iuto a bath of brine. 
They are first washed clean, then allowed to become 
thoroughly dry before being placed in pickle, when after 
a good soaking the pots are taken out, dried, and neatly 
stored till required for use. I have noticed that when 
used the roots of the plants seem to delight in reaching 
the sides of the pots. I think that should your readers 
try this method they will find it advantageous; of course 
it only applies to pots that have been used, and those 
that may have been badly kiln-dried .—George Fry. 
Eryngdum amethystinum.— Mere description 
falls a long way short of the real value and beauty of 
this plant. In the first place, it is not remarkable for 
its gaudy hue of colour, nor yet for its delicate grace. 
From tufts of spiny laciniated leaves rise the flower- 
heads, which are of a lovely amethystine blue, the same 
colour prevailing in the 'upper portion of the flower- 
stems and also the bracts. For association with cut 
flowers it is most pleasing, and the effect produced by 
the coloured stems and flower-heads quite unique ; it is 
fast becoming popular, and its popularity is well de¬ 
served. It grows well in any good garden soil, and is 
best if placed in a position where the full sun can 
bring out its colour to the best advantage. It attains 
a height of 3 ft., and is highly attractive just now. — J. 
-->i>£<•=—- 
The Gardeners’ Calendar. 
THE PLANT HOUSES. 
Attention must now be given without further delay 
to the stock of Gesneras and Tydseas. In both cases 
we have a very useful lot in small 32’s. If some are 
required for early flowering, it will be advisable not to 
pot on ; but otherwise the whole batch should at once 
be shifted into 7-in. pots, which, as a rule, are large 
enough to produce good specimens. Let the compost 
used be as light and open as possible, as anything ap¬ 
proaching stagnation at the roots with this class of 
plants is fatal, and at this period of the year there is 
no hope of recovery by re-potting as previously advised, 
so that much care should be exercised and the work 
thoroughly done. They may be returned to the inter¬ 
mediate house after potting, and as growth proceeds 
neat stakes should be placed to each, inclining out¬ 
wards so as to admit as much as possible of the full 
development of the foliage. Particularly is this neces¬ 
sary with the Gesneras, the foliage in nearly all the 
varieties being so prettily marked and so much admired. 
Where Gloxinias for mid-winter flowering are re¬ 
quired, those which flowered early in the season will be 
best suited for this purpose. We will, of course, pre¬ 
sume that they have been thoroughly ripened off by 
being placed in the cold pits after they had done 
flowering, and watered as required until at rest. By 
