March 17, 1888. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
459 
it costs the other £216 17s. Id. to distribute that, and 
in addition, the winners of prizes other than medals 
and certificates at the Chrysanthemum Show, get 
nothing at all. These prizes alone amounted to 
£27. The exhibition was held on the 11th and 12th 
November last, and the medals and certificates have 
only just reached the exhibitors; these medals have 
no inscriptions engraved upon them, and, like the 
medals awarded by this society in 1886, are just as they 
were issued by the National Chrysanthemum Society. 
The actual amount of prize money offered in the 1887 
schedule was £96 18s. 0>d., together with ten silver and 
six bronze medals, and two cups. The prize-winners 
at the summer show received their money in full; but 
I understand that after the summer show had been held 
and the expenses and prizes were paid a sum of about 
11s. was left in the hands of the treasurer, to hold a 
Chrysanthemum Show and meet a liability according 
to the schedule for prizes alone of £42 Is., and £10 Is. 
due to the N. C. S. for medals and certificates, so that 
the whole of the members’ subscriptions for the year, 
the donations, etc. (a greater portion of which was 
presented to the society to provide special Chrysan¬ 
themum prizes) were swallowed up, and the Chrysan¬ 
themum Show was left with 11s. to look after itself. 
But to proceed with the expenditure. £34 11s. 3d. 
hire of tents, tabling, &c. Surely this must be an 
error; it is almost enough to purchase them right out. 
£8 3s. 6d. temporary bridge, &e., at summer show 
(this was across a ditch). £6 6 d. judges’ fees. Well, 
I suppose they earned their money ; but if I had my 
choice I would prefer being a judge to an exhibitor at 
Lewisham. The printing account is a perfect eye- 
opener—£32 8s. 9 d. —as well as the next item, stationer}', 
&e., £9 4s. 5 d. I notice in the National Chrysan¬ 
themum Society’s balance-sheet for last year the 
printing account was only £34 5s. 3d., not £2 more 
than the Lewisham Society. The remainder of the 
expenditure, such as bill posting, &c., £9 4s. 5 d.; 
Police, £4 Is., all tend to prove the incompetency of 
the management. 
The annual general meeting of the society was called 
for March 7th, but when the members attended the 
meeting, expecting an account of their stewardship from 
the officers, and an explanation of some of the items in 
the balance-sheet, both the honorary secretary and the 
chairman failed to put in an appearance, and as no one 
could give any information respecting the society’s 
affairs there was nothing for the meeting to do but pass 
a resolution winding up the society.— Practical. 
rARDENING MISCELLANY. 
Double-spathed Richardias. 
These are becoming pretty frequent in collections 
where the plants receive high-class cultivation. A 
specimen of Richardia africana, sent us by Air. W. R. 
Greenway, Fretherne Court Gardens, Stoneliouse, 
Gloucester, bears two spathes on a stem, one within the 
other, and opposite or facing one another. Both 
spathes are very perfect and of good substance, and 
owing to the non-development of the internode between 
them, they are closely placed or lying one on the other 
at the base. The outer is the larger, and both are 
green at the base externally, but otherwise well-coloured 
and white, the inner one being the purest. The long 
period of time during which it has been under culti¬ 
vation has, no doubt, some effect upon the inconstancy 
of its original wild state. 
Tuberous Begonias. 
My neighbours, who, one after another, are falling 
victims to Begonia fever, are not infrequently asking 
me, as an amateur of some years’ experience, whether 
they had better buy tubers or seed ? Perhaps some of 
your readers may be in a similar state of uncertainty. 
If a man be slightly deficient in patience, and 
without much practical skill, either of his own 
or at command, it will certainly be more satisfactory 
to buy tubers—not necessarily named varieties, but 
the best of last year’s seedlings that he can obtain. 
These (singles) he can secure from any of our great 
growers at about 20s. per dozen, while the doubles will 
cost about 40s. per dozen. If, however, together with 
moderate skill and patience, he can rely upon a tem¬ 
perature of 75° from December, and through January, 
February, and March, till the plants are strong enough 
to he moved into an ordinary greenhouse, or planted 
out into frames (if wanted for bedding), with a gentle 
bottom heat at first to make them root well, then I 
should advise him to raise seedlings. I cannot help 
thinking that the days of named sorts are numbered. 
In the case of singles, I feel sure that this is so. I have 
more than once asked for a fine named variety, and have 
been met with the answer, “We are sorry we are out 
of it, but will send you a seedling as nearly like it as 
possible.” This speaks for itself, and, looking at the 
names of single Begonias in the catalogues, one would 
almost venture to say that the sooner some of the old 
stuff is sold off, at nominal prices, the better ! And 
even as to doubles, when our first-rate growers can get 
two and three guineas a dozen for their choice seed¬ 
lings, a time is surely not far distant when they will 
grow more seedlings indeed, but no more named sorts 
at all.— Somersetshire Rector. 
Selaginella Emiliana. 
This is evidently a form of S. caulescens, a variable 
plant, of which there are several forms in cultivation, 
all differing, more or less, from the type, and even more 
useful or ornamental, from a horticultural point of view, 
than the species itself, valuable as that is either for 
growing in pots, baskets, for the pockets of rockwork, 
or the back wall of a fernery. S. Emiliana forms 
dense low-growing tufts, of a delicate and beautiful 
shade of green, and ranges from 3 ins. to 6 ins. in 
height; whereas the ordinary form of S. caulescens 
grows to a height of 12 ins. or 15 ins., or even more 
under favourable circumstances. The low-growing and 
bushy form, or the plant known as S. Emiliana, closely 
covers the soil and pot; while there is a decided absence 
of long, leggy, and naked stems. Large batches of 
fine young stuff may be seen in the nurseries of Messrs. 
John Laing & Sons, Forest Hill. 
Chinese Primula Blooms. 
A box of these comes to us from Mr. J. H. Horton, 
The Gardens, Oakmount, Birmingham, who states 
that the blooms are in every case from old and com¬ 
paratively spent plants from which he has been cutting 
for decorative purposes for the last three months. We 
generally expect the first trusses of bloom to be the 
largest, provided the plants are well grown and not 
allowed to flower till they have attained some size. 
In the present case, however, the plants have been 
well cared for, and the removal of the flowers as they 
expand prevents loss of energy to the plants themselves. 
The blush and white shades were most prominent; but 
very distinct and good shades of rose, rosy red and 
intense reddish crimson served to give variety. Of the 
size and substance of the blooms we must speak in very 
favourable terms, the segments also being broad and 
well imbricated. —«— 
Lethorion. 
Upon reading some remarks in your columns I de¬ 
termined to give this insecticide a trial. One evening 
I returned from town armed with a box of cones ; it 
was damp and still (we had one such evening about six 
weeks ago, though you may scarcely think it), just the 
evening to give the novelty every chance. My gardener 
was certainly incredulous, and I, if not incredulous, was 
still a little uncertain about the fate of Adiantums and 
other tender subjects. Five or six cones were placed 
at equal distances apart along the floor of a 40 ft. house 
and lighted up. I think we were rather disappointed 
with the firework part of the business, which was 
decidedly feeble, and we left the house for the night in 
considerable doubt as to whether the cones would even 
burn out; in the morning, however, even this was as 
it should be—each cone was burnt out, every green-fly 
stone dead, and not a leaf the worse for the fumigation; 
no second doing was needed. We shall certainly 
continue to use it, with only one anxiety, and that is, 
that the patentees may soon see their way to letting us 
have it a little cheaper.— Somersetshire R.ector. 
Saxifraga ligulata. 
Those who are familiar with this plant know that it is 
the earliest-flowering species of the Megasea group. 
This results from the forward and plump state of the 
flow r er-buds in autumn, especially if the plant should 
have, from situation or otherwise, been well ripened. 
A mild winter has the effect of bringing the flowers on 
too rapidly in positions that are at all well sheltered, 
so that should frost follow after their expansion, they 
are frequently more or less destroyed. Advantage may 
be taken of their early-flowering habit by growing 
plants in pots which will flower without danger of being 
destroyed in a cool greenhouse or cold frame, even 
without the aid of fire-heat. This is a great advantage 
to amateurs who admire hardy flowers, and can have 
them thus early without any trouble in the matter 
either of culture or fire-heat. Large cuttings, including 
the best crowns, may be taken from the open ground, 
inserted in sandy soil in a frame or under a hand-light, 
where they will root, and after beiDg potted up will 
flower during the ensuing spring, earlier or later, 
according to the degree of heat to which they have 
been subjected. Pot specimens have been flowering 
for some considerable time in a cold north-aspect 
frame in the Gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society, 
Chiswick. — 
The Late Gale. 
A severe gale from the west was experienced here on 
the night of the 10th, and during Sunday, the 11th 
inst. Some 26 yards of the kitchen garden wall, which 
is 12 ft. high, was blown down, totally destroying 
three productive Cherry trees and a Pear tree. Several 
other trees of various kinds in the grounds round the 
mansion were also uprooted.— O. Bowers, Castle Hill, 
Dorset. — 
A Group of Cyclamen Atkinsi. 
In the new house for hardy plants in the herbaceous 
ground at Kew, a number of varieties of this hardy 
Cyclamen are grouped, together with C. ibericum from 
which it originated. There is no doubt that this kind 
of treatment is the most suitable in this country, owing 
to the uncertain and changeable nature of our climate 
about the time these early-flowering subjects come into 
bloom, when without artificial protection the flowers 
are almost certain to come to grief by the storms of 
wind and rain to which they would be subjected in 
the open. The response the above have given to the 
skill of the florist shows that they are capable of 
improvement. Several shades of colour prevail amongst 
the plants in the show house, but one named C. Atkinsi 
rubrum not only exhibits a rich reddish purple colour, 
but is decidedly a great advance on the original as a 
garden decorative plant. 
Doronicum columnaa. 
Although introduced for the first time more than half 
a century ago, this neat-growing species does not seem 
to have found its way into many gardens, notwith¬ 
standing that it is one of the dwarfest yet introduced, 
and one of the first to flower. A small pot specimen 
may be seen in the new house for hardy plants at Kew. 
The flower-head is bright golden yellow, and might be 
about 2| ins. across, while the stem at present does 
not exceed 2 ins. in height. It is a native of Europe, 
perfectly hardy, and, we hope, may soon become dis¬ 
seminated in gardens, where it may take its place 
by the side of D. caucasicum and D. austriacum, 
already well known in the spring garden and on rock- 
work for the display they make in the early part of the 
year, to be succeeded by taller-growing later-flowering 
species. — 
Chinese Primulas at Swanley. 
These are even now in finer condition than when wc 
saw them some time ago, seeing that they have had 
time to develop to perfection so far as this year’s 
flowering is concerned. The flower-scapes have had 
time to develop, so that now most of the kinds appear 
as pyramidal masses of bloom, excepting in those cases 
where the peculiar habit of the variety is to be flat- 
topped. For ourselves, we prefer those of pyramidal 
habit, and for the present mention those that are in 
grand form just now. The best of all the whites here is 
that named White Perfection—a pure white, with 
flowers ranging from ins. to 2| ins. across, flat, 
much imbricated, of great substance, produced in 
pyramidal masses, and a distinct advance on Swanley 
White itself. Both are Fern-leaved varieties of first- 
class merit, and now at their best. The Queen is 
another Fern-leaved sort, differing chiefly in the 
flowers being of a blush tint instead of pure white. 
They are also of great size and substance, while the 
constitution of the plant is strong and vigorous. A 
blush-tinted variety of the ordinary triangular-leaved 
type, named Princess of Wales, is also characterised by 
great vigour, producing pyramidal masses of flowers at 
present in great perfection. A large batch of Swanley 
Blue is also very attractive, representing a singular 
shade of colour for this genus. The plants are dwarf 
and very floriferous. Braid’s Seedling—known also as 
Auriculteflora or Auricula-eyed—is a very distinct type, 
and one that might be improved upon, or its dis¬ 
tinguishing characters infused into other and differently 
coloured varieties. It may be described as a deep rose, 
with a yellow eye surrounded by a crimson line, which, 
to say the least of, is very attractive. Swanley Giant 
is also a meritorious dark-flowered kind. Amongst 
double varieties the old Alba plena is grown in great 
