198 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
November 29, 1890. 
as those most adapted for our climate ; and this in fact 
means the more popular kinds. The Dwarf Green 
Curled is a very old sort, well adapted for garden 
culture, and well suited to those countries where snow 
lies heavily at times in winter, because the short stems 
allow of the plants being covered by snow, and therefore 
protected not only from frost, but from the ravages of 
birds, which sometimes eat every green blade appearing 
above the snow, leaving nothing except the stumps and 
midribs. It is of vigorous and robust growth, although 
dwarf, and the leaves are finely curled. It is the Dwarf 
Curlies of the Scotch gardeners. Chelsea Exquisite is 
of the same dwarf type, but the leaves are more finely 
curled, and when seen growing, the distinction is quite 
evident. Yeitch’s Late Curled is also dwarf, but 
the leaves are broad, less curled, and the plants of strong 
hardy constitution. As a variety it also comes in later 
than the Dwarf Green Curled. Read’s Hearting Kale 
may be compared to the Late Curled with respect to 
the time it comes into use. The term “hearting” is 
applied to the habit the inner and younger leaves have 
of infolding, so as to form a close, although not a hard 
heart about the size of the two fists. This makes deli¬ 
cate eating, and the larger leaves are also very finely 
curled. The plant stands the winter well, and remains 
in use after the other kinds have run to flower. The 
Prince of Wales Plume is similar in height, say from 
12 ins. to 15 ins., and has large leaves of a light green 
colour, and beautifully curled, the latter character and 
the pale green hue being its distinguishing features. 
The Dwarf Moss Curled is taller than any of the 
above, and in fact may be looked upon as a refined 
form of Tall Green Curled. It stands about 18 ins. or 
20 ins. high, and the stems are rather slender, bearing 
small, dark green, very finely curled leaves, as the 
name would imply. Carters’ Welsh Kale is about 
18 ins. to 20 ins. high, and is notably distinct from any 
other kind upon the grounds. The leaves are long, 
very narrow, and closely curled. Individual plants 
vary in being of a light green or of a rich dark green 
hue. The Tall Green Curled is a well-known old sort, 
capable of giving a greater quantity of leaves that 
would be useful for cottagers who keep cattle, pigs, or 
poultry. The quality of the younger leaves is, no 
doubt, as fine as that of the Dwarf Green Curled, and 
the leaves are as finely coloured. The plants in the 
grounds here vary from 18 ins. to 30 ins. in height. 
The Yariegated or Garnishing Kale, as it is called, 
is notable for the rich and varied tints of colouring in 
the leaves. The midrib and principal veins, or the 
whole of the centre of the leaf, is creamy yellow 
or nearly white, clear yellow, rose, pink, purple, 
red, or violet-purple. The ground colour of some is 
green or bronzy purple ; while the leaves themselves 
may be finely curled or but- slightly so. They are 
sometimes used for garnishing, and, apart from preju¬ 
dice, are very ornamental used in that way. Flower 
beds have sometimes been filled with them during 
winter. 
The Cottagers’ Kale is about the same height as 
the Tall Green Curled, but altogether different in 
character. The leaves are coarse, dark glaucous green 
or tinted with purple, and not curled. A strain called 
the Green Cottagers’ Kale has leaves that are more 
inclined to be green or glaucous green. The large 
quantity of leaves produced makes this Kale useful to 
cottagers in the same way as mentioned for the Tall 
Green Curled. In addition to this, the plants produce 
a large quantity of sprouts in the axils of the leaves in 
spring, and which make good eating. For this purpose 
the Cottagers’ Kale might be grown in gardens to supply 
a good vegetable in spring. The Chou de Milan of 
English gardens might be used for the same purpose. 
It has tall stems, and glaucous slightly lobed leaves 
similar to those of Brussels Sprouts, and produces open 
rosettes or sprouts in spring. The Buda Kale also 
comes useful in the spring'. It produces numerous side 
shoots, which are blanched and used by some as a sub¬ 
stitute for Sea Kale. The same may be said of Jerusalem 
Kale or Delaware Greens. The stem is very dwarf, and 
the leaves produced from numerous crowns are of a deep 
glaucous green. The shoots attain a length of 12 ins. 
or more, and are very tender. 
Celosia pyramidalis PLUMOSA. —How seldom we 
see this most valuable autumn-blooming plant in 
greenhouses, and yet how easily it is grown ! I dropped 
in at The Henburys, near Birmingham, the other day 
and saw several plants in full bloom, chiefly in 48-pots. 
The seed was sown in the spring, and the plants grown 
on in a moderately warm house for a time, and then 
received cool treatment, never stopping them. They 
are becoming popular about Birmingham, and their 
brilliant colours are very telling, but it is necessary to 
get seed of a good strain. — D. S. H. 
RHUBARB SHOWS. 
Hate these quite died out in the northern and midland 
districts? Forty years ago they were quite numerous, 
and a Rhubarb Book was published at that time, on 
the same principle as the Gooseberry Growers ’ Register, 
From the records given in the Rhubarb Book for 1851, 
the heaviest entire stalk, shown by a grower at Black¬ 
burn, weighed 8 lbs. 1 oz,, and the best trimmed one 
weighed 5 lbs. 4 ozs. I have just come across the rules 
of a Rhubarb show, and in the way of directions for 
exhibitors it is stated that the leaves had to be cut to 
the length of 10 ins. from the centre of the crown of 
the stalk. Any crack or blemish more than skin deep 
was regarded as a disqualification. It would appear 
that weight, colour and flavour, in company with 
smoothness and symmetry, were the principal points 
kept in view in awarding prizes, and the Victoria was a 
leading variety in those days as in ours. The names of 
a dozen or more of other varieties are given, not one 
of which appears in the lists of the present day, but it 
is just probable we are growing the old northern sorts 
' under new designations. 
One of the regulations referring to the selection of 
judges is to the effect that they are appointed by vote 
on the day of showing, and they were required to make 
a declaration that they would show no partiality, and 
that they would act according to the best of their 
ability. I should have liked to have seen one of these 
Rhubarb shows, and to have understood something of 
the lines upon which they made their awards. It is a 
common occurrence for prizes to be offered for sticks 
of Rhubarb at cottagers’ and other exhibitions, and in 
making the awards the work appears to be done in a 
hap-hazard fashion, and not according to any properly 
recognised rules. I have seen prizes given to bulk 
without any reference to quality in appearance, or even¬ 
ness in the number of sticks. Some judges go to the 
other extreme, and give their awards to the best coloured 
exhibits, others to the most shapely and symmetrical, 
quite regardless of colour or size. I candidly confess 
this is the main principle upon which I proceed when 
called upon to make awards to sticks of Rhubarb, and 
I scarcely see that a more satisfactory one could be 
followed. If colour is to be the test, and nothing else, 
it is easy to make an award ; but if flavour is set up I 
am at a loss to know how that point is to be satisfac¬ 
torily determined. 
A half century ago wonderful Rhubarb used to be 
grown by cottagers in the neighbourhood of Nottingham 
There are records of stalks 40 ins. in length 8 ins. in. 
girth, and the leaves 5 ft. across. In 1849 a stalk of 
Victoria Rhubarb was grown upwards of 10J lbs. in 
weight. In order to produce such a result, the culti¬ 
vator made a point of selecting from his stock of roots 
one with a good strong crown, and this was allowed to 
grow for a year without pulling away any of the stalks. 
Then at the proper season the soil was removed from it, 
disturbing the soil as little as possible ; then by means 
of a knife all the side shoots were cut away, leaving 
only the crown, and then plenty of good manure was 
added. In the spring, when the plant was making a 
'free growth, and the weather being warm and dry, water 
and liquid manure were both given, while owing to the 
dimensions of the leaves, there was danger of them 
breaking down, and so supports were given. Stakes 
were.driven into the ground, with wrappings of some 
kind placed about them, to secure them from flaws, &c. 
This method ma.y be useful to some readers of The 
Gardening World. 
Our cultivated Rhubarbs are generally referred to as 
Rheum hybridum, a native of Mongolia, according to 
some authorities ; others say they are traceable to R. 
Rhapaonticum. It is said to have been grown in this 
country since 1573, and in Queen Elizabeth's time it 
was used as a pot herb, and was considered superior to 
Spinach or Beet. The use of the tender leaf-stalks is 
comparatively of modern date, for although they are 
now so common during the spring and early part of 
the summer, it was not until the beginning of the 
present century that they came to be employed for 
tarts, and were found so valuable for various other 
culinary preparations. 
The generic name Rheum is said to be derived from 
Itha, the ancient name of the Volga, on wdiose banks 
the plants grew ; but according to others, from the Greek 
Rhea, to flow — in allusion to the purgative properties 
of the roots. The common name Rhubarb comes 
probably from Rha, or its oriental name Raved , and 
barbarum, foreign, to distinguish the plant of the Volga 
from Rha-ponticum, another kind from the Roman 
province, Pontus. 
It is a remarkable fact that this plant is little 
cultivated on the Continent, as far as can be ascertained, 
but it is of great importance in both Great Britain and 
North America, where its area of cultivation is very 
large.— R. D. 
———- 
THE ORIGIN OP THE FLORISTS’ 
CHRYSANTHEMUM. 
Br Me. J. Shirley Hibbeed. 
(Concluded from p. 183 ). 
Now let us look into the subject of variation. The 
ligulate florets are, as regards actual and direct con¬ 
tribution to the formation of seed, useless. But nature 
is frugal, and all things have or have had uses to justify 
their being. That the ray florets were once upon a 
time fertile female flowers is probable, but if it be asked 
of what use are they now, it may be answered that they 
doubtless serve to attract insects to the flowers that the 
pollen may be usefully removed and scattered. Now 
what do we see as the result of the multiplication cf 
these ray florets at the expense of the disk florets ? We 
see nothing else but this, that the doubling .of the 
flower renders it infertile, and from the moment it 
acquires this new character it is actually dependent on 
man for its continuance. V hen man ceases to preserve 
the double Chrysanthemums they will absolutely 
perish, unless, indeed, neglect should quickly replace 
the inner ligulate florets with tubular florets, in which 
case they would save themselves by returning to a single 
form, and even that would be equivalent to destruction, 
for it is the continuance of the double flower we are 
considering. If you pull to pieces a double flower of 
any kind, whether incurved or reflexed, Pompon or Jap, 
if it has no yellow disk, it will be. found destitute of 
pollen and absolutely incapable of seed production. 
One reason, therefore, that the raising of seedling 
Chrysanthemums is a matter of difficulty, is that the 
flowers have become sterile, and therefore to obtain 
seed from them is impossible. I am well aware, of 
course, that seed is obtained not only by accident, but 
by method, and there is what may be called a science 
of seed production in this field of floriculture. But I 
am striving to get at the beginning of things and must 
be allowed to set forth bold generalities, and I repeat 
that the tendency of all improvement of the Chry¬ 
santhemum is to render the flower incapable of re¬ 
production, and therefore its entire care as a garden 
flower is in the hands of man. 
In our observations of garden favourites-we learn that 
variation is subject to laws of which we know at least 
something, though it is but little considering the 
vastness of the subject. One thing we know, that the 
great law of like begetting like holds good here as in 
the rest of creation. Let even in the most extravagant 
departures from types the law is illustrated, for when we 
can trace new forms to their parentage, we find they 
represent their origin fairly enough, though, perhaps, 
in a way we could never have predicated. A7hen the 
waggish soldiers at Scutari grafted the tails of rats on 
the snouts of other rats and so got up a new species 
which they called the truncated or proboscis rat, they 
were not much more extravagant than the florists, only 
less honest, for the thing was a cheat, but a florist’s 
flower, however far removed from its natural prototype, 
is a reality of nature, and like the truncated rat when 
examined, reveals its origin. You see, the variations 
of the Chrysanthemum are accomplishments of nature 
in the first instance, but they represent the taste, fancy, 
or fanaticism—call it what you will—of man, because 
he takes pains to divert Nature from her wonted course, 
and as regards results, will keep and perpetuate only 
what pleases him ; and one consequence of this is that 
with all our wide range and greater number of varieties, 
we do not possess all the materials needful to the 
enquiries before us, for in fact man would be sure to 
destroy the best evidences, which would be the varieties 
differing but little from the original types, and probably 
he would preserve nothing until he had obtained some 
very great remove, between which and the type the 
connecting links were lost. 
V e have to make the best of the case as it stands. 
It may be said at starting, that as regards form, the 
flower presents fewer difficulties than as regards size 
and colour. The ray florets are drawn out to an 
extravagant length in the Spiderkry, and the disk is 
contracted proportionately. It is the parallel of our 
elastic cord that served for an illustration of identity. 
The foundation of every group was imported. But the 
European cultivators have enlarged the groups and 
greatly improved the forms, and I use the term 
“improved ” in full consciousness of all that it implies. 
But please observe how the florists have been working 
