6 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
September 6, 1890. 
EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL 
OF 1891. 
Our Edinburgh friends, in view of the great horticultural 
exhibition, which they have decided to hold in the 
Waverly Market on the 9 th, 10 th and 11 th of 
September next year, have, apparently, decided also 
to take time by the forelock and leave nothing 
undone that will tend to make their efforts successful, 
and we can only express our admiration of their 
business-like energy and promptitude. Twelve months 
hence they hope to immortalise the modern Athens 
by holding a monster show of the products of 
British gardens, and the schedule of prizes is now before 
us. A careful examination of its contents leaves little 
to be desired. We note little disproportions in value 
here and there, but there are prizes enough to tempt 
every skilful grower to compete, and the sum total of 
the rewards offered, upwards of £1,200, should bring 
together such a display of the useful and ornamental 
productions of the gardeners art, such as never before 
has been seen even in “ bonnie Scotland.” May the 
end be worthy of the energy shown at the beginning. 
The schedule includes in all over 260 classes, divided 
into ten sections, and most liberal are the sums offered 
in each competition. Fruits and vegetables, as befits 
the occasion, take the lion’s share of the prize money, 
and Grapes, of course, will be the most prominent 
feature, no less than forty-three classes being appor¬ 
tioned to this prime favourite. For eight bunches of 
Grapes, in four varieties, £ 15 , £8, and £4 are offered, 
handsome prizes truly, as also are the sums of 
£10 10 s., £5 and £ 3 , to be given for six bunches, in 
not less than three varieties. In two classes for twelve 
dishes of fruit, similar amounts are offered, and this is 
a case of disproportion in the estimation of value that 
we think should have been avoided. Much greater skill 
is surely required to produce a first class dessert of twelve 
dishes, than to produce six bunches of Grapes out of 
one house, and that being admitted, the reward should 
clearly be in proportion. Classes for twelve dishes of 
fruit grown in orchard houses, eighteen dishes of hardy 
fruits, grown in the open air, in Scotland, and a 
similar competition for England, with £ 10 , £ 5 , and £3 
respectively offered in each class should bring together 
a grand display, if the season should prove favourable. 
Fruits of foreign growth are most liberally provided for. 
The premier prizes for plants are £ 20 , £ 15 , and £10 
for ten stove and greenhouse plants, distinct, in equal 
proportions of flowering and fine foliage ; £10 10s., £5, 
and £3 eight foliage plants, in 10 in. pots, and a table of 
plants respectively ; and £ 7 , £ 5 , and £3 for six stove 
and greenhouse flowering plants. For nurserymen only, 
£ 20 , £ 10 , and £o are offered form table of plants 30 ft. 
by 8 ft. Vegetable growers have offered them .£10 10 s., 
£ 3 , £ 2 , and £1 for a collection of twelve distinct 
varieties, but as it is possible that there may be but a 
few points of difference between the first and second, 
we cannot recognise the great disproportion in value 
between the two prizes as at all satisfactory. Potatos 
are favoured by a class for eighteen dishes, in which 
the prizes are £10 10 s., £ 5 , and £ 3 , and these amounts 
should bring the noble tuber well to the front. 
•-—- 
PACKING FLOWERS. 
I AM in the habit of receiving cut flowers by post, and 
as in a general way they come to me half dried up, I 
trust that a few remarks on this important matter may 
not be considered out of place. The best time to cut 
flowers is in the cool of the morning, and when they 
are at their best character. As a matter of course I am 
dealing with cut flowers sent for opinion or com¬ 
parison, though what T have to say will no doubt 
be found useful to those who are in the habit 
of sending a few cut flowers to distant friends 
If anything special has to be forwarded, say to the 
Editor of The Gardening 'World, take a piece of 
cotton-wool, wet it, wring the moisture from it, and 
then twist it about the stalk. At the bottom of the 
box place a piece of moistened blotting paper, then 
add a piece of tissue paper, and place the flowers upon 
it, and if two or three layers are placed in the box, a 
strip of tissue paper can be laid between them. This 
will save them from bruising each other in the transit. 
A piece of tissue paper should be placed over the top, 
and the box filled up with soft damp moss. Secure the 
box carefully, and then it can be sent by post from one 
end of the United Kingdom to the other, without the 
contents receiving injury. 
Now, how are flowers too frequently packed? By 
placing them in dry cotton wool, which absorbs their 
moisture ; by placing them in boxes of thin material 
which get crushed in the passage through the post. 
Flowers sent by post should be placed in tin or strong 
wood boxes if they are to reach their destination in 
safety. The packer should be careful not to have the 
cotton wool too wet, so that there is a danger of the 
moisture finding its way to the flowers and spoiling 
their colours. It is a bad practice to cut flowers while 
subject to the full exposure of the sun, as. they soon 
fall to pieces, but it is frequently done. Old flowers 
are apt to fall to pieces during a transit through the 
post or by rail. On the other hand, some persons, 
in sending seedling florists’ flowers for an opinion, cut 
them when too young, doubtless thinking they will 
expand in water, but if they do, they do not display 
their true character as they would if allowed to remain 
on the plant a little longer. Any person passing an 
opinion upon a flower can only do so according to the 
character in which it is presented to view, and he may 
underrate it if the flower is placed before him only half 
developed.— R. D. 
-->K-- 
METHVEN CASTLE. 
There is always much to interest a traveller—during 
a season like the present—in noting climatic effects. 
Where the soil is sharp, and deep cultivation is 
practised, little harm has been sustained by vegetable 
crops through the excessive humidity and low tempera¬ 
ture, but it will take, however, an extra fine autumn 
to prepare trees for fruiting next year. When from 
home on business in Perthshire, lately, I took the 
opportunity to call at such gardens as were com eatable 
in order to compare notes, and was pleased to find that 
in many cases there had been comparatively little to 
grieve over—far less in proportion than might be seen 
hundreds of miles further south. 
Being in the neighbourhood of Methven Castle, 
advantage was taken of a little time at my disposal to 
visit this fine old seat so full of arboricultural interest, 
and I was pleased to find much in the gardens which 
showed that Mr. Whitton, the experienced gardener, by 
his painstaking practice, had a good return for his labours 
in an untoward season like the present. The flower 
garden was gay, and the long lines of early Chrysanthe¬ 
mums, associated with gay Pentstemons, made a 
remarkably fine display. The now indispensable 
herbaceous borders were full of interesting plants, and 
many in fine condition for supplying cut flowers. By 
far the finest beds of tuberous Begonias I have seen 
this season were in the flower garden at Methven. 
They were full of flower, standing the rain where other 
subjects were almost washed out of existence. 
Among vegetables French Beans were better than I 
have seen them elsewhere, and other crops were abundant 
and of good quality. Among hardy fruits Apples of 
of some classes were plentiful, a row of trees—the whole 
length of the garden, nearly—were mostly King of the 
Pippins and French Pippins. The trees were loaded 
with fruit, showing how experience gives wisdom to 
the cultivator in making selections which will give 
ab.undance of produce a great part of the season. The 
favourite Strawberries are Bothwell Bank Seedling and 
Dr. Hogg. The other classes of fruits (except bush 
kinds) have suffered this season, as elsewhere. In the 
grounds of this old place I was much interested. The 
numerous specimens of Conifer® are very attractive, 
collections too large to give a just report in these notes ; 
Wellingtonia, Cedrus deodora, and many species of 
Cupressus are in fine form. The ranges of glass set 
apart for fruit were well filled with Peaches and Grapes. 
Noblesse Peach seems to be the favourite kind grown, 
and Black Hamburgh Grapes are in greatest abundance. 
Plants are chiefly cultivated for table decoration and 
cut flowers.— Stirling. 
--- 
PENTSTEMONS AND VIOLAS 
FROM HAWIC K. 
A boxful of flowers, including the whole length of 
the branching flower-stems of Pentstemons and some 
bedding Violas has reached us from Mr. John Forbes, 
Buccleuch Nurseries, Hawick. The size now 
attained by the flowers of Pentstemons is something 
wonderful, and if seen as they are growing must be 
grand. The flowers of Vesuve are dark crimson 
externally, and of a glowing or fiery crimson on the 
inner face. Another dark sort is Matamore, the 
crimson of which was tinted with purple. Le Borda, 
certificated at the last meeting of the Koyal Horticul¬ 
tural Society, is notable for the great size of its bell¬ 
shaped, dafk purple flowers. Those of Madlle. A. 
Shauffelle are short, bell-shaped, and white with 
carmine segments; Pyramids, funnel-shaped, and 
white with mauve segments ; Mont Blanc, white with 
piDk-tipped segments fading to pure white ; Thebaide, 
rosy purple and white at the base ; Leviathan, dark 
purple and white at the very base ; and Teneriffe, 
purple with heavy crimson stain around the mouth. 
A choice flower is Onesmine Reculus, of a pale 
mealy white hue, with a broad, regular and evenly- 
defined purple margin. George Ulrich is also choice 
in its way with large scarlet flowers and a pure white 
throat. Triumphant has a white-striped throat and a 
broad carmine-red margin. The flowers of Orphee have 
a broad bluish mauve margin, and are notable for their 
size ; and those of Argow are of a dark violet-purple. 
Of the above named kinds, Vesuve, Le Borda, Mont 
Blanc, Mdlle. A. Shauffelle, George Ulrich, Onesmine 
Eeculus, and Triumphant are the cream of the lot, and 
should be in every collection. 
Six of the Violas sent were yellow, varying in 
intensity from George Corbett of a soft yellow, through 
Eynsford Gem, Royalty, and Daldowie, yellow, to 
Goldfinder, of a golden yellow with black striations 
around the eye. Goldfinch is a pale yellow splashed 
with slaty blue round the margin, and is both curious 
and pretty. Mrs. Kinnear is white with a yellow eye, 
and a few faint blue lines on the lower petals ; it is 
distinctly fragrant. Blue Cloud is a beautiful creamy 
white with a broad deep blue margin ; Mrs. Hood has 
the ground colour of a similar hue, but the upper 
petals are much shaded with pale blue. Joy is nearly 
white, with tbe upper petals of a purple-bl ue tint 
Gipsy Queen, on the other hand, is variously shaded 
all over with lilac, white and blue. A rich dark purple 
is John Morrison ; and Bronze Queen is a velvety 
crimson, shaded with purple at the margins, and 
bronzed with orange or gold at some distance around 
the eye. 
A HOMELY FLOWER SHOW. 
I cannot well employ a more appropriate title for a 
flower show, I had the pleasure to attend on the 29 th 
ult. In the midst of one of those large industrial 
centres at Deptford, where valuable land which many 
years ago grew market garden crops by the acre, and 
especially Celery, for which the Deptford market gardens 
were always famous, are the brass and copper engineering 
works of Messrs. J. Stone & Co., which employ a large 
number of workmen. The present partners Messrs. E. 
and F. Preston, being solicitous for the social welfare 
of their workpeople, erected in the Kerry Road, New 
Cross, a large coffee tavern and public hall, with 
suitable offices, and it is known as the Welcome Institute. 
There are some four hundred members of the institute, 
and the subscription is one penny per week. By way 
of giving interest to the work of the institute, a flower 
show and exhibition of models, drawings and paintings 
took place on the above date. Many of the workmen’s 
houses have small gardens in the rear, and the more 
enthusiastic among them, put up homely glass erections, 
and in a few cases heating by hot water or flue is 
employed. The windows of many of the dwellings are 
also filled with creditable specimens of plant culture. 
The competition for the prizes offered was confined 
solely to members of the institute, and in the flower 
show department there were classes for groups of plants, 
for Lilies, Musk, Annuals, Fuchsia, Pelargoniums, &c. ; 
for bouquets and collections of cut flowers ; for Dahlias, 
&c. ; and a few classes for vegetables, though the latter 
were only sparingly produced. 
In conjunction with Mr. Waugh, the manager of the 
stores of the Agricultural and Horticultural Association 
at Deptford, I attended the show and made the awards. 
Being a first attempt, the contributions were limited in 
number, but generally of a very encouraging character. 
Fuchsias, Pelargoniums of the zonal class, some remark¬ 
ably creditable examples of Lilium auratum and L. 
speciosum, Begonia Weltoniensis, tuberous-rooted 
Begonias, Coleus, greenhouse Dracaenas, partridge¬ 
breasted Aloe, Aspidistra lurida variegata, Tobaccos, 
Plumbago capensis, Musk, Lobelias of the speciosa type, 
Isolepis tenella, and other plants, made up the bulk of 
the show, with Stocks, Asters, Zinnias, &c., as 
representing annuals. Of cut flowers there were 
Dahlias, Zinnias, Stocks, Asters, Phlox Drummondi, 
&c., all grown under considerable difficulty, but all 
showing determination on the part of the cultivators 
to produce the best possible. One workman named 
Bannister is deserving of special mention, because of 
the number of first prizes he took. Contributions of 
plants including excellent specimen Fuchsias, Ferns, 
Coleus, Lilies, early-flowering Chrysanthemums, &c., 
were contributed by the gardener to the two partners in 
the firm. 
