88 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
October 11, 1890. 
-- 
The Pink. 
“R. D.” has done well to recall us to the subject of 
the laced Pink. Yet he is rather despondent, because 
there was such a little response to the appeal of Mr. 
Ranger Johnson, when the attempt at the resuscitation 
of the Pink was made. True there were but few 
exhibitors, but then it was the first attempt to restore 
it to favour, and fashion has so long kept the florists 
flowers in the background that many began to despair 
of ever bringing them to the front again. Indeed, 
some of their greatest friends had told me that the 
Pink was dead, that the fine old varieties were quite 
lost, but that possibly a few, very few, might be in the 
hands of the old amateurs. It was therefore a grand 
proof to the contrary for those who visited the 
Aquarium to find that at least some of the trade- 
growers still retain their love for the beautiful laced 
Pink. 
Thanks for the suggestion as to the most suitable 
varieties for showing. As to the apparent objection to 
Messrs. Turner and Hooper taking the lion’s share of 
the prizes, surely those who are to reap the greatest 
advantage from the re-introduction of the Pink—the 
trade-growers—should be the heaviest contributors, 
both in subscriptions and flowers for exhibition, and 
thus the trade subscriptions should be devoted to the 
trade exhibits. It would be unfair to expect a small 
amateur to compete, either with blooms or in the 
dresssing of the flowers, with those who have the skill 
and the quantity of plants in culture to select from, 
and who have had the practice of years in exhibiting 
and dressing. Let the classes be distinct from each 
other, each one providing by subscription its own 
funds, and then there can be no ground for complaint. 
I would suggest to all who are prepared for a show 
in 1891 to immediately get in their plants, or they will 
have little chance of producing exhibition blooms next 
June. Let each and all the lovers of the Pink do their 
best, and we may have a grand exhibition in the 
coming season. Let there be an united effort to 
re-introduce such plants and flowers as will make the 
garden a paradise for beauty and diversity of colour, 
form and aroma, to the delight of the olfactory organs 
as well as the eye. The rich perfume of a well-kept 
garden should delight all who are privileged to enter 
the home of Flora.— William, Wardill, Luton. 
Seedling Alpine Auriculas. 
Having harvested a considerable amount of seed from 
my laced Alpine Auriculas, I sowed it as soon as it 
was ripe, and the seeds germinated by hundreds. I 
find this the best plan with all the Primula tribe, for 
if allowed to remain dry too long they may lay for six 
or twelve months ere they show any vitality; I have 
had some of the best make their appearance after two 
years. I never throw away the soil from the seed pans 
under two years at any time. As I grow all my Alpines 
in the border, without any protection, I never antici¬ 
pate having bloom in time to show with those at the 
Drill Hall.— W. W. 
Pansies. 
Being fond of Pansies, I read with interest anything I 
see written about them. In your issue of the 27th 
September, I noticed a short note signed “ Devoniensis, ” 
giving his experience of the results of sowing German, 
French, English, and Scotch saved seed. He may be 
right in the estimate he forms of the plants obtained 
from the foreign seed, but I am at issue with him in 
regard to the results of his experience in connection 
with the English and Scotch seed. One of two things 
has happened with him ; he must have sown one for the 
other by mistake, or the seed he got from the Scotch 
grower must have been a miserably poor sample, 
carelessly saved, and not seed saved from selected 
plants, such as the Scotch growers save for themselves, 
and as a rule send out to their customers. 
That Pansies may be grown in England as well as 
they are grown in Scotland 1 have not the least doubt, 
but that has not yet been done to any great extent. I 
have reason to know that when any of our Scotch 
growers cross the Border, and exhibit at any of the 
English shows, the spirit of fair play -which is charac¬ 
teristic of “John Bull ” compels him to admit that, as 
yet, in Pansy growing at least we are his superiors. 
As “Devoniensis” writes from the "West of England, 
I may inform him that one of our foremost Scotch 
growers staged such an exhibit at the Shrewsbury show 
this season, as drew forth the highest encomiums 
from every admirer of the Pansy who visited that 
great exhibition, and it was admitted by every 
expert there that a finer collection of well-grown 
Pansies was never staged there or anywhere else. 
In your issue of last week, 1 notice a writer who signs 
himself “ Viola,” and who is one that seems to know 
well what he writes about, and who, if not a Scotchman 
has sympathies which are eminently Scotch, puts this 
matter in its proper light, and not only so, but goes so 
far as to challenge “Devoniensis ” to mortal combat in 
favour of his views of the question. If “Devoni¬ 
ensis ” proves game, and takes up the challenge, I have 
not the least fear that “Viola ” will come off victorious, 
and that the opinion of “ Devoniensis ” regarding the 
merits of English versus Scotch Pansies, will receive 
such a castigation as will be its death-blow, and 
another victory will have to be recorded for “puir Auld 
Scotland.”— Pansy. 
AFRICAN MARIGOLDS. 
A little egoism peeps out clearly in the remark of 
“'W.C.” last week that Marigolds are grown better in 
Scotland than anywhere else. I should have been 
very pleased to have exhibited African Marigolds 
against Rothesay growers during the autumn, and 
certainly those 1 exhibited in London on three 
occasions were finer than the Rothesay growers put up 
at the Crystal Palace last month. It may be that in the 
north, only orange and lemon-coloured flowers are 
recognised on exhibition stands ; that fact shows how 
florists’ rules may sit like an “Old Man of the sea” upon 
expansiveness in floriculture. Here in the south no 
such narrow ideas would prevail, but classes for these 
fine Marigolds are rare here. 
For one person in the kingdom who cultivates 
Marigolds for exhibition purely, one thousand grow 
them for garden decoration, and these prefer a fine 
strain which affords variety in colouring. To shut out 
the rich yellow and golden tints found in the African 
Marigold is like shutting out the sunshine on a 
winter’s day. The suggestion that our strains should 
be limited to two hues only is too utterly absurd for 
Southern digestion. In the south, too, where striped 
French Marigolds are seldom exhibited for prizes, the 
dwarf compact-habited large-flowered and varied-hued, 
French forms are in most favour. 
These plants form solid compact bunches about 16-in. 
in height, and as wide or more so, and are literally 
covered with rich handsome flowers, striped, self, and 
tipped. The old striped strain consists of plants which 
grow literally all over the place, and sprawl over 
everything near. Our floral tastes in the south are 
evidently broader than are those of Scotland.— Alex. 
Dean. 
On p. 77, “W. C.,” Rothesay, refers to your comments 
on Mr. A. Dean’s African Marigolds. I do not agree 
with him when he says that in Scotland the strains 
which come varied are everywhere avoided, and that 
only the pure lemon and the pure orange strains are 
recognised by exhibitors. At Perth, where African 
Marigolds are about the most keenly-contested exhibits 
in the show, I staged twelve blooms of four shades of 
colour at the last exhibition, and among the com¬ 
petitors were men who have been competing with 
African Marigolds at the various shows in the country 
for more than twenty years. These men should know 
what is wanted. My blooms were placed first by the 
judges, and what may surprise “ W. C.” is the fact 
that all the exhibitors, without exception, fully ac¬ 
knowledged that they got their right place. Flow I 
considered that having so much variety, coupled with 
good blooms, was greatly in my favour. I mention 
this incident merely to show what is done in this 
district. As a matter of course, we like to have the 
pure lemon and the pure orange, but as many inter¬ 
mediate shades as we can get also. — P. McCowan, 
Hamilton House Gardens, Perth. 
-.j.- 
Royal Horticultural Society of Aberdeen. —The 
acting directors of this society met on Friday evening, 
Mr. Alexander Robson, vice-chairman, presiding. The 
draft report and statement of accounts, showing a 
surplus of £60 6s. 5 d., were approved of. The annual 
meeting of the society was fixed for to-day (Saturday 
11th). The meeting unanimously agreed to request Mr. 
James Murray Garden, Advocate, Aberdeen, to continue 
to act as chairman of the society. 
