August 18, 1888. 
THE GARDENING WORLD- 
811 
Many of the above are now in full vigour, and 
might, for all practical purposes, be described as main 
crop Peas for such a season as the present. Little 
appreciable difference can be detected between their 
earliness and those that follow, so far as a cursory 
examination can testify, although short intervals might 
have elapsed between their periods of coming into use. 
Good quality sorts are Yeitch’s Perfection, Carter’s 
Anticipation and Sharp’s Triumph, all ranging from 
3 ft. to 4 ft. in height, with pods 3 ins. to 3J ins. in 
length, broad, more or less flattened, and generally of 
good shape. 
Reliable differs in the pod being narrow and 
densely packed with peas, also in being a very heavy 
cropper, but the quality is inferior to the above. A 
dwarf and very heavy-cropping variety is Little Good, 
with light green, inflated pods, and large sweet peas. 
Better in quality if anything is Renown, whose straight, 
flattened, dark green pods are densely filled, and look 
well. Consummate, Heroine, and Echo seem to be 
of a similar strain to Renown, all ranging from 3 ft. to 
4 ft. in height, heavily cropped, and varying with 
flattened or rounded well-filled pods. They also vary 
to some extent in flavour. 
An excellently flavoured sort is Empress, which has 
straight, flat, usually well-filled pods, with large peas. 
When taken in proper season they are soft and tender, 
as if they partly melted ; but whether they compare 
favourably with firmer kinds after boiling is another 
question. It is a very vigorous grower, being at 
present 6 ft. or 8 ft. high. Duke of Albany is another 
first class Pea, for either home use or exhibition 
purposes. It is a blue-wrinkled marrow, growing 
about 6 ft. high. Telephone differs in having large, 
more decidedly inflated pods and other particulars, but 
is a useful main-crop sort. He Plus Ultra is considered 
by some as being the finest in cultivation. It is, 
moreover, a heavy cropper, and keeps a long time in 
bearing, even in dry seasons. Already the haulm is 
6 ft. or 8 ft. in height, and apparently still growing 
vigorously. The pods are flattened, glaucous and of 
moderate length, but well filled with peas of good 
quality. 
Similar in many respects to the latter is Gloria Mundi, 
but the flavour of the peas and the crop we considered 
were only moderate. It might be more fruitful and 
less bulky in dry seasons such as we experienced last 
year. A dwarf variety named Burpee’s Best, about 
18 ins. in height, seems to have been misplaced in the 
trial collection with regard to time of ripening. It is 
a round white Pea, now ripe, and should be placed 
amongst the first-early kinds, but as far as flavour or 
other qualities go, it is not in advance of, if so 
good even as William the First. 
For late use Speciality and Emperor William deserve 
noting. The first mentioned is now in bearing, but 
being still in full vigour and flowering it may yield a 
supply for a long time yet. The stems are about 3| ft. 
high, and the foliage very dark in colour, similar to a 
great number of the mid-season and late kinds. The 
pods are much flattened, and of a deep glaucous green, 
but often not well filled at the apex—a character that 
may have been due to bad setting during the wet 
weather ; the peas are of good quality. Emperor 
William is even later, being, in fact, hardly ready for 
use. In general appearance it much resembles the 
last. Besides these two, a number of those above 
mentioned have been sown late, and are not yet in 
flower. 
Our object here has been to make a fair comparative 
sketch of the more important points with regard to 
flavour or quality, general appearance, and weight of 
crop of the best sorts—early, median, and late—taken 
from the whole collection on trial. To have made a 
rigid selection of a few of the very best kinds possessing 
the greatest number of points in each class would have 
necessitated a visit to the trial grounds on several 
successive occasions before formulating a positive 
opinion as to the exact value of each. Besides, many 
of them vary somewhat from year to year. 
Pea Vagaries. 
The unusual amount of rain during the past month 
seems to have affected Peas in more ways than one. 
The early ones partly ripened off in the usual way, but 
afterwards recommenced growth, flowered, and are 
again fruiting more or less. A curious freak has 
occurred amongst the trial of Peas in the gardens of the 
Royal Horticultural Society, Chiswick, in the case, at 
least, of two varieties—namely, Early Kenilworth and 
Dr. Hogg. The first is most affected, nearly half of 
the row having recommenced growth and now flowering 
freely. Nothing abnormal appears to have occurred in 
the first flowering, and the pods are now dry and the 
peas ripe. The flowers now open are double and singu¬ 
larly so. The petals have undergone multiplication, 
and the stamens have become petaloid. What should 
become the pod resembles a second flower emerging 
from the centre of the first. In some cases it consists 
of some flattened green organs with stamens, and a 
second distinct but very small pod. In other cases it 
is spread open for two-thirds of its length, bearing a 
few ovules on its margins, the two edges bearing each 
a style, while there are four or five leafy organs on 
the side corresponding to the back or midrib of the 
pod. 
Outwardly this singular pod resembles a calyx enclos¬ 
ing a great number of petals and a small central pod. 
Sometimes there are perfect stamens seated in this open 
pod, but they are free, or joined in pairs, instead of 
being in two bundles, as under normal conditions. The 
primary pod occasionally splits into two, each half 
becoming a secondary monstrous flower, containing a 
small central pistil surrounded with numerous petals 
and free stamens. The ovules on the naked margins of 
the primary pod, and sometimes the secondary one, 
recall what occurs in the case of the tuberous Begonia 
when female flowers become double. But the most 
singular case of all is, perhaps, that in which the pod 
from a double flower has reverted to a true leaf of some 
considerable size—rather malformed, but consisting 
distinctly of two stipules, two leaflets, and a terminal 
three-branched tendril. The branches themselves are 
over £ in. in length. This curious leaf is cup-shaped at 
the base, and encloses a mass of stamens and petals. 
The latter have green veins in all the above-mentioned 
cases. 
Autumn-sown Onions. 
At the present season, when gardeners are thinking 
about sowing Onions for standing through the winter, 
I should like to impress on those who have not 
hitherto done so, to try something different from the 
Tripoli and Giant Rocca. I could never understand 
gardeners growing the latter variety extensively except 
for the sake of having big lumps of something, ending 
in October and November with a few journeys to the 
rubbish heap, while there are such kinds as James’ 
Long-keeping, which, by expending on them the same 
amount of trouble in growing the crop, may be had 
large enough for any purpose, and which, moreover, 
will keep as long as they are likely in reason to be 
wanted. 
This year, at the end of May and beginning 
of June, I had good usable bulbs of the above variety 
grown from seed sown at the end of August, 1886. I 
have now plenty of them about ready for harvesting 
from last August sowing, ranging from 6 ins. to 9 ins. 
in circumference, most probably many are larger. The 
same of Trebons, another good kind for this purpose, 
which I usually keep good up to February. In buying 
the seed it is well to make sure of a good stock if 
possible, which may usually be done by going to a 
good dealer.— H., Sussex. 
The Ringleader Potato. 
After trying many early Kidneys, I find this is the 
earliest with me. During the last eight or nine years 
I have obtained early kinds from various sources, and 
planted them on early borders—often as many as from 
six to ten so-called varieties, and although several of 
them are distinct in haulm, &c., when it came to the 
question of comparative earliness there was little to 
choose between them. Further than this, I doubt if 
the tubers were all mixed together whether anyone 
could sort them out. We have far too many of these 
so-called early varieties, and to get a break away from 
them is a decided advantage. This we have in Ring¬ 
leader, which I have grown for five years, and consider 
it the earliest and best of all the Kidneys. We have 
tried it side by side with others, and it proved a week 
earlier than any of them. The flesh is white and mealy 
when cooked.— Con. 
Veitch’s Prodigy Pea. 
As seen in the garden of the Rev. J. E. C. Welldon, 
M. A., the head-master of Harrow School, this is one of 
the very finest Peas grown. Mr. Hay, the gardener, 
says it has every quality that a first-class Pea should 
have, being a good grower, good bearer, long laster, fine 
in appearance for show, and of the first quality when 
cooked. Certainly there is not a Pea grown in the 
district to touch it.— J. 
Hardening Miscellany. 
Early Asters. 
There is a much larger trial of China Asters in the 
gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society, Chiswick, 
this year than there was last. A race called the Queen 
of the Market (Vilmorin) came into flower in the first 
week of August, and is, therefore, not a bit later than 
it was last year, notwithstanding the extreme contrast 
between the two seasons. Last year it proved ten days 
earlier than any other kind, but it has been hard 
pressed by an early-flowering selection that has been in 
flower for some time past. Queen of the Market grows 
about a foot in height, branches from near the base, and 
bears a terminal head on each shoot, about 3 in. to 
3| ins. in diameter, with flat or ligulate florets, and 
has broken into red, rose, white, blue, and purple 
shades. Alongside of this is a selection of sixteen 
varieties, called Double Dwarf, cinsisting of a number 
of early-flowering sorts that have proved true to their 
character. They vary in height, according to the 
variety, from 5 ins. to 10 ins., the taller of them 
branching freely in a pyramidal way, with the branches 
terminating in flower-heads about 2J ins. to 3 ins. in 
diameter. 
Hollyhocks at Chiswick. 
A considerable collection of these now constitutes a 
striking feature in the gardens of the Royal Horti¬ 
cultural Society, at Chiswick. At present they may be 
described as in full bloom, but will continue for some 
time to come. The dreaded Hollyhock disease (Puc- 
cinia malvacearum) seems to be entirely absent ; but a 
few of the plants have been badly infested with a kind 
of small beetle, which punctures or riddles the leaves 
with holes, causing their early fall ; otherwise, the 
collection is in a vigorous and healthy condition, the 
plants ranging from 5 ft. to 9 ft. high. Princess of 
Wales is not far short of the latter height, and ter¬ 
minates in a spike about 3 ft. or 4 ft. in length, the 
large, double, salmony pink flowers having pink or 
blush guards, and owing to their great size, densely 
arranged or packed on the stem. Another very con¬ 
spicuous plant, about the same height, an unnamed 
seedling, has four stately stems covered with deep 
violet-purple flowers for about 4 ft. of their length, and 
are more or less branched at the base. A pretty white 
variety is Reine Blanche,- with pure white double 
flowers, the central mass of petals being surrounded by 
a broad conspicuous guard of the same colour, and con¬ 
sisting of the outer or true petals. Warrior is a deep 
crimson-red variety and very conspicuous, running up 
to a height of 8 ft. or 9 ft., with a number of stems. 
A more pleasing variety to some tastes is Mons. R. H. 
Barnes, with delicate pink double flowers and broad 
blush guards. 
Olearia Haastii. 
There can be no doubt of the real beauty of this hardy 
New Zealand shrub when seen in full bloom, as it is 
at present in the gardens of the Royal Horticultural 
Society, Chiswick, were some large bushes planted in 
different parts of the garden are now sheets of white 
bloom. For the front of a shrubbery there are few 
flowering plants to equal it, and be at the same time 
ornamental— simply on account of its foliage, the 
individual leaves of which, although small, are densely 
arranged on the stems, evergreen and leathery in tex¬ 
ture, so that they give a warm appearance to a border 
when all deciduous subjects are naked. In the winter 
of 1880-81 this species suffered considerable harm 
where planted in the open without protection ; but 
since then it has proved quite indifferent to the cold of 
our winters, in southern counties at least, and ought 
to be more extensively planted. 
Allamandas at Devonhurst. 
There are four kinds in flower at present in the houses 
at Devonhurst, Chiswick, where a comparison can be 
made between A. Cathcartica and A. Chelsoni, which 
resemble each other considerably. The latter is a 
garden hybrid, and the flowers are of a uniform yellow, 
with the exception of a small white spot at the base of 
each of the corolla segments. The leaves are variously 
arranged in fours, iu pairs, or singly, while in A. 
Cathcartii they seem to be more regularly arranged 
four or five in a whorl. The flowers, moreover, have a 
shorter tube, and are yellow with brown lines inter¬ 
nally, having the usual white spots at the base of the 
segments. A. Schottii, better known as A. Hendersoni 
