56 
September 27 , 1890. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
FLOfjidUuW^- 
The Pink. 
What of the future of the Pink as an exhibition flower 
in the south ? What has been the result of the Pink 
show in London in June last, as bearing on the 
extension of the culture of the Pink round London? 
Are we likely to witness an accession of growers for show 
purposes? These are questions that may be appro¬ 
priately put at this season of the year. I have heard 
fanciers of the Pink say that there can be no hope of 
amateurs taking up the culture of the Pink for 
exhibition purposes so long as Messrs. Turner and 
Hooper are permitted to come in and sweep the board. 
I am certainly not in favour of this kind of thing ; we 
have far too much of it in connection with the National 
Auricula, and the National Carnation and Picotee 
Societies in London ; but I would ask what sort of a 
Pink show would it have been at the Royal Aquarium 
if Messrs. Turner and Hooper had not exhibited 
somewhat largely? Really they made the show ; and 
if anything could have operated to promote the object 
that the founders of the National Pink Society had in 
view, it 'would have been the fine flowers shown by Mr. 
Turner. They enabled amateurs to see what beautiful 
blossoms can be produced under high culture, and I 
would fain hope that some were attracted towards the 
flower, and have since undertaken its culture. 
Keeping in view a desire that any exhibition held in 
1891 should surpass in extent and in the number of 
those exhibiting that held in June last, it may be said 
that it is during the month of September that the bed 
should be prepared for the reception of the plants. 
One grower states :—“ The beginning of September I 
make up my bed for blooming. This I prepare as 
follows : I take off the soil from the surface of the bed, 
and place in its stead a layer of well-rotted manure 
about 4 ins. iu depth ; over this I place about 4 ins. 
of soil and as much of river-sand. This I well mix 
together with a fork, and form into a bed, keeping it 
4 ins. or 5 ins. higher in the centre than at the sides. 
This bed is prepared about the beginning of September, 
and at the end of the month the plants are placed in 
it, about 7 ins. apart.” 
There should be plenty of good plants of Pinks 
available for planting out at the end of this month or 
early in October. I saw in Mr. Barlow’s garden at 
Stakehill, the other day, a nursery bed of Pinks—of 
some of the best varieties—of which anyone could be 
proud. They were all fine, young, well-rooted plants, 
just fit for transplanting. It is of the utmost import¬ 
ance in carrying the plants safely through the winter 
that the bed be raised—it is not too much to say eight 
inches higher in the centre than the paths at the sides, 
and always a little higher in the middle than at the 
sides. The advantage of this is that rain to some 
extent is thrown off from the centre to the sides. In 
planting out, any “leggy” plants, as they are termed 
—that is, those with long stems—should be secured 
from being blown about by the wind, and this can be 
done by placing two small sticks crosswise. One 
leading duty during the winter is to see that such 
plants are kept properly secured. 
In March it is well to tread down the soil about the 
plants firmly, as they become loosened by frost. Then 
top-dressing should be applied in the proportion of one 
part of good loam to three of well-decayed manure ; 
these two are well mixed together, and laid on to the 
depth cf an inch or so. Should dry weather set in 
after the top-dressing, a good sprinkling of water is 
occasionally given, and here let me state, with all due 
emphasis, that if finely-laced exhibition flowers are 
desired, they are much more likely to be secured from 
early planting in the autumn. Plants wintered in pots 
in cold frames—and it is well to adopt this plan with 
any varieties of weakly growth—will, if planted out in 
March, bear as good flowers as those planted in Septem¬ 
ber ; but early planting is decidedly of advantage, 
especially when the plants are taken from a nursery 
bed. 
A few good laced Pinks that are procurable are 
Bertram (Turner), Boiard (Turner), Empress of India, 
Emerald (Hooper), George White (Paul), Plarry Hooper 
(Hooper), John Darke, Modesty (Paul), and Prince 
Frederick William (Hooper). I have not included any 
of Mr. Thurstan’s fine new varieties, such as George 
Hodgkinson, John Dorrington, Mrs. Thurstan and 
James Thurstan, because they are not in commerce. 
A few good border varieties will be found in Ascot, Her 
Majesty, Lord Lyon, Anna Boleyn, Newmarket, Derby 
Day, Fimbriata and Paddington.— R D, 
Pansies. 
1 am rather at a loss to understand why our German 
friends are so easily satisfied in the matter of Pansies, 
and our French neighbours seem equally easy on the 
matter. I have had a fair comparative trial of seedlings 
obtained from different sources, and find the foreign 
strains far behind our own. I sowed Odier’s, Cassier’s, 
and Bugnot’s ; and, side by side with them, two 
packets from noted Pansy growers in Scotland, and 
two from the West of England. The foreign strains 
were flimsy, badly made flowers, and were blurred 
and run in their markings ; the Scotch strains were 
beautifully and distinctly marked, most of them ; and 
while they had the substance, they sadly lacked size. 
The West of England strain was superior to the Scotch, 
inasmuch as, in addition to the blooms being shapely 
and well marked, they were thick in substance and 
large in size. I think that Pansies can be well grown 
in Devonshire, and as a mattter of fact, I saw an 
exceedingly fine collection in the trial grounds of 
Messrs. Yeitch, of Exeter, last June, which would 
have compared favourably with some of the north- 
country collections I have seen. The climate seems 
to suit them, provided they be given a north aspect 
and suitable soil. — Devoniensis. 
-- 
BEE-KEEPING. 
The hopes of the bee-keeper are almost past for the 
season, not so the fears, I am afraid, for after the wet 
sunless summer, many hives will be very weak to 
commence winter. Therefore, stock hives ought to be 
looked to, and fed if they are too light. But it will be 
found an expensive undertaking to feed many hives up 
to keeping weight, and instead of feeding, which costs 
a deal of honey, it would be better to join the weak 
hives to the strong ones. There is no difficulty in 
joining hives, nor is there anything new in the mode 
I adopt. However, with the Editor’s permission I will 
describe my method of procedure. Perhaps it may 
help those new beginners who are not yet initiated 
into the ways of manipulating bees. I leave my 
strongest hives untouched, and on a fine morning 
during this month I commence by blowing a few whiffs 
of smoke in at the entrance to the weakest hive, then 
I turn up the hive and place it upon its top on the 
ground, applying a little more smoke to stupefy the 
bees and prevent them from becoming irritated, and 
to force them to retire between the combs. 
Beginning with the outside one, I cut all the comb 
out in succession, sweeping the bees off each piece back 
into the hive, placing each comb in a dish, and keeping 
them carefully covered over with a cloth, to prevent 
the bees returning to the combs. I always find the 
last combs the most difficult to get cleared, being 
completely covered with bees. I detach it in the 
same way as the others, but with greater care, sweeping 
the bees gently off it until not one is left on. Then I 
place the hive on its board, and leave it there till the 
evening, by which time the bees have clustered 
together like a swarm. Before night I take the smoker 
and blow in a few whiffs of smoke at the entrance of 
the hive which I mean my deprived bees to occupy, 
bearing in mind that it should always be the hive as 
near to their own as possible, then turning it up I 
sprinkle it all over with run-honey, especially where I 
perceive the greatest number of bees. A few table¬ 
spoonfuls will generally be sufficient. If rather little 
be given, the new-comers will not be well received, 
so that it is better to give a little too much, only 
be careful not to drown them. 
Then I replace the hive on its board, and raise it up 
a little in front with two pieces, of wood, so as to leave 
a division of an inch between it and the board, to give 
free access for the bees to enter ; then I spread a sheet 
upon the ground before the hive which I mean my 
deprived swarm to enter, and secure it close up to the 
division or entrance. Then taking the swarm, with a 
shake I throw the bees out of it upon the sheet, which 
they soon begin to ascend, and by the aid of a feather 
I guide a cluster to the entrance of the hive ; they enter 
at once and others quickly follow, apparently enjoying 
the drops of honey that come in their waj r . Next morn¬ 
ing I replace the hive just half-way between its own 
stand and that occupied by the deprived swarm. This 
done I ascertain the weight of the hive, and if, after 
allowing for the weight of the board and box, the hive 
does not weigh 24 lbs., they must be fed until they do. 
After having got them fed up to the desired weight, all 
that is required is to keep them dry and warm during 
the winter, to guard against gales of wind, and see that 
the hives stand solid on their pedestals or shelves, 
otherwise hives becoming moved by the force of the 
wind cause a good many bees to rush out and perish in 
the storm.— J. Charlton, Farnley Grove Gardens, Cor- 
bridge-on-Tyne. 
TRITONIAS. 
About twenty-four species of Tritonias are known to. 
science, but comparatively few of them are cultivated 
to any extent. They are natives of South Africa, and 
require treatment similar to Cape bulbous plants gen¬ 
erally. They are so nearly hardy that a few of them 
may be grown with tolerable success in the southern 
part of this country, in the open air. They should be 
planted in rather light but rich soil, and if a little 
peat is used, it will tend to keep the roots cool in 
summer, and save watering. Tritonia Pottsii and its 
forms, and the allied Crocosmia aurea, also known as 
Tritonia aurea in gardens, are perhaps the hardiest and 
most frequently planted out of doors, although greater 
success attends their cultivation in pots in this country, 
whether in the northern or southern part of the 
island. 
Tritonia Pottsii is best known to gardeners under 
the name of Montbretia rottsii. The typical form has 
the perianth limb of a bright orange, with a yellow 
tube, and a yellow spot marked with orange spots. 
The flowers are somewhat curved, with a rather narrow 
lamina, and produced in long spikes in somewhat two- 
ranked fashion. The leaves are similar to those of 
Crocosmia aurea, but are narrower and very effective as 
a back-ground to the flowers when the plants have 
been well grown. The variety Gerbe d’Or is well 
expressed in the name, which means golden sheaf, for 
the flowers are deep yellow, and when produced in 
large quantities from a good clump of corms the name 
is not inappropriate. The individual blooms of this 
form are much larger than those of T. Pottsii, and 
seem to have been influenced by Crocosmia aurea. The 
variety named Etoile de Feu seems to have been pro¬ 
duced from the same parents, for the flowers are of 
large size, and with widely spreading segments ; but 
instead of being yellow, as in Gerbe d’Or, they are 
vermilion-scarlet, with a yellow centre. 
A number of other varieties, varying in the colour of 
the flowers and other respects have been produced on 
the Continent by hybridisation and cross-breeding, but 
they are not yet grown to any extent in this country, 
at least not in private establishments. This is all the 
more regrettable from the fact that their culture in 
pots is of the easiest, and they make a fine display in 
the conservatory at various times, according to the 
treatment they receive, and the time the corms are 
potted up and started into growth. The above-named 
kinds have been flowering for some time past in the 
conservatory at High Elms, Hayes, Kent. 
-- 
THE LATE WILLIAM HOLMES. 
To no one outside of his family circle did the untimely 
death of my old friend and colleague, ’William Holmes, 
the secretary of the National Chrysanthemum Society, 
come with a greater shock than to myself. I assisted 
him at the early Chrysanthemum and Dahlia show at 
the Royal Aquarium, on the 10th irist., and when in 
the evening of that day I wished him good-bye, I con¬ 
gratulated him on the apparent improvement in 
his health from a sojourn at Lowestoft ; and though 
somewhat exhausted with a hard day’s work, he 
acknowledged he was feeling better for his holiday. 
Alas ! only eight days after, and I was standing by the 
side of the bed on which his dead body lay, looking 
upon his face for the last time. The disease which 
carried him off had made such fearful inroads upon his 
constitution during the last forty-eight hours, that he 
sank down before it as if utterly exhausted, and was 
quite unconscious for several hours before the end 
came. On the Tuesday, as he died on the Thursday 
morning, he walked across the street from his residence 
to the nursery, utterly unconscious that his state 
was so critical. The indomitable energy of his 
character always seemed to rise superior to physical 
weakness. 
My first knowledge of William Holmes dates back to 
one of the meetings of the original Horticultural Club, 
which used to be held at Anderton’s Hotel, Fleet Street. 
On the occasion of a dinner given in honour of the late 
Mr. John Keynes, his father brought him to the 
gathering, he at that time just entering upon man¬ 
hood. His father was an old friend of mine, and we 
used to go to a good many flower shows as fellow 
judges, and I naturally took to the son. The father 
died about 187S, and William Holmes, who had already 
undergone a suitable training, succeeded to the 
business. Under his management it gradually grew to 
large proportions; his father before him, who had 
started in business as a florist and seedsman merely, 
