June 27, 1891. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
681 
The London Parks.—At the meeting of the County 
Council on Tuesday, the General Purposes Committee 
reeommended that £700 a year should be offered as the 
salary for the Superintendent of Parks and Open 
Spaces.—Mr. Saunders, as an amendment, moved :— 
“That, as the business of the Parks Department has 
been carried on in an able manner since the appoint¬ 
ment was first proposed, it is not now desirable to 
appoint a superintendent, especially as artistic as¬ 
sistance can be obtained from experts when re¬ 
quired.”— This was seconded by Mr. Corbett.— 
Colonel Rotton was of opinion that if they had 
one man acting as superintendent of the Parks 
it could only result in the destruction of the beau¬ 
tiful diversity which now characterised the parks. For 
that reason he supported the amendment.—Mr. E. 
Jones thought that great economy could be secured by 
having a superintendent w T ho had the power to remove 
the men from one park to another.—Mr. Fardell failed 
to see that the committee had given any reason why 
the salary of the office should he raised from £500 to 
£700, or why any official should he placed over the 
head of officers who had already done good work. He 
thought the committee were launching on a course of 
extravagance. Already the expenditure of that com¬ 
mittee had mounted up to £71,000 a year.—Mr. 
Westacott pointed out that the committee advertised 
for a superintendent, but not one of the forty-nine 
applicants was considered competent. The matter had 
slumbered for a year, and yet it did not seem to have 
caused any inconvenience. —On a division, the amend¬ 
ment was negativedby 50 to 39.—Mr.Westacott moved, 
and Mr. Tims seconded, a further amendment, the 
effect of which was that the salary attaching to the 
office of superintendent should be £500 per annum.— 
On a division, this amendment was lost by 41 to 38 
votes.—The chairman then put the recommendation 
of the committee, upon which another division was 
challenged, with the following result -.—For the recom¬ 
mendation, 40 ; against, 41. The result of the division 
was that the recommendation of the committee was 
disagreed with. 
-- >X< -- 
BEGONIAS AT FOREST HILL. 
Would that all who have greenhouses or have flowers 
could just now be transported bodily to Forest Hill, 
and there see the truly magnificent show of Begonias 
made by Messrs. J. Laing & Sons. Really no less 
superlative fully expresses the wondrous extent and 
beauty of the display of these immensely popular 
flowers to be seen there, for so beautiful is it that it 
really beggars description. The large span-house 
devoted to the more advanced singles alone may be 
described as a fairy scene. No other plant in cultiva¬ 
tion, not even the finest of Orchids, could furnish the 
glorious hues, gigantic flowers, and the brilliant effects 
created by Begonias as seen in this case. Groups at 
the Temple or other flower shows are poor indeed 
when compared with what is seen in a huge mass, such 
as this one house presents, and we feel assured that 
could it with all its contents but be bodily transported 
into one of our London squares it would furnish the 
floral sensation of the season. 
We think it is but needful to get people to the 
flowers to induce them to purchase and cultivate 
Begonias universally, and yet such is the demand that 
the firm we refer to had last year to obtain beyond 
their own enormous stock thousands of tubers to satisfy 
the demand. Ample evidence is afforded that the 
Begonia is already the most popular greenhouse or 
bedding plant in cultivation. This year the firm have 
raised somewhere about a quarter of a million of 
seedlings. The number is enormous, and very difficult 
for any one to grasp. A better conception of what 
that number is may, however, be found if Forest Hill 
be visited in August, when all these plants will be in 
bloom. In one vast block alone there are put out 
already 110,000 plants. This is no rough guess or 
exaggeration, for we made the breadth the subject of 
careful calculation, and if any of our readers choose 
to calculate the 163 rows of 670 plants in a row they 
will find our estimate is not far off. The plants run 
all over this breadth at about 7 ins. apart, and are 
broken into big beds by narrow footways. The sight 
will be, indeed, worth going hundreds of miles to see 
in August, and can hardly he equalled in the kingdom. 
All these, with literally enormous quantities of 
others in shallow boxes all-over the place waiting to be 
planted out elsewhere, are from seed saved in colours 
and sown in heat in January. From the seed pans the 
plants are dibbled up thickly into boxes, then a second 
transplanting takes place, and finally a third one, 
until, as seen the other day, there are formed many 
thousands of boxes, each containing the exact count of 
forty plants. In that way the seedling stock is readily 
estimated. The enormous number thus raised, how¬ 
ever, are not merely bloomed and got into colours. 
Singles and doubles alike are put out, but experience 
shows that the singles are most reliable to colour from 
seed, the doubles being the most fickle. Out of this 
vast array of plants, probably from one-half to two- 
thirds, perhaps more, are individually labelled to 
represent colour and quality, whilst those specially 
good are selected for pot growth the following year ; 
the next best follow in gradations of quality and conse¬ 
quently of price, so that those who purchase tubers get 
exactly the quality they pay for, and are absolutely 
assured as to colour. 
What is to be the end of the Begonia trade it will be 
hard to say. It is but some fifteen years since that 
Mr. Laing took the plant in hand, and has developed 
out of what then existed such truly marvellous results. 
The single flowers are marked by their great siz ri , 
literally equalling the finest single Dahlias, with much 
more substance, and such variety of colouring as seem 
to be unequalled in other flowers. We doubt whether 
such exquisite flesh, pink, carmine, rose, apricot, 
golden, or salmon tints are found anywhere else in 
flowers as seen in Begonias, whilst there are fast 
developing some beautiful edged varieties. Here, as 
was the case in the earliest stages of the now beautiful 
marked Picotee, the flushings and flakings are being 
first developed on white grounds. Then presently and 
shortly, too, these will be driven out of the ground to 
form a densely coloured but clearly defined edging of 
some dark colour. Even in some of the doubles this 
edging is already apparent, and we shall presently see 
both single and double Picotee Begonias. There is, 
too, a break to sweet-scented flowers, the yellows 
chiefly giving forth perfume in both its forms, but it 
seems to be stronger in the singles. 
Yellows have not been in the double section so 
marked in richness as could be desired, such a fine, 
but still pale-hued form as the Duchess of Teck being 
the best. A glorious hybrid golden double is, however, 
just now blooming, and will, we think, considerably 
excel all others until such times as later ones shall 
excel that. There is no finality in flowers, and glorious 
golden and orange hues may yet be plentiful. The 
new form may be fitly named the Golden Gem, because 
it is a gem of the first water. Both in doubles and 
singles there is, too, a marked tendency to produce 
corrugated or laciniated petals. A grand semi-double 
Juarezii, intense crimson, has flowers that somewhat 
resemble those of a Cattleya, except in colour. This 
form may develop in Begonias what Juarezii Dahlia has 
done for that family of flowers. 
Then there is a medium double and single strain 
which are specially termed floriferous, because they are 
exceptionally prolific of bloom. Some of these, the 
doubles especially, have flowers which as much resemble 
the compact doubleness of the Ranunculus, as the 
finest doubles do those of the Hollyhock. As basket 
plants, many of the doubles are singularly effective, 
whilst singles are becoming bold, holding up their 
glorious flowers on stout erect stems. The doubles are 
more modest, and many of the flowers are pendent, by 
reason of their great weight; these look very beautiful 
indeed when hung above the eye line. 
We have written of Begonias as they are at Forest 
Hill; there are doubtless grand displays elsewhere also, 
but Forest Hill furnishes a feast which satisfies for the 
moment. Florally it is far more than a feast; it is a 
grand banquet of which we wish, so far as sight is con¬ 
cerned, all could partake. However, those who cannot 
journey so far, can at least, with moderate outlay, 
obtain tubers, and then may have a feast of Begonia 
flowers in their own gardens. 
-- 
NOLANA PROSTRATA. 
There are about eight species of Nolana known to 
science, all of whichjare herbs, frequently prostrate or 
spreading on the ground, and producing flowers like 
those of a Convolvulus, and about the size of C. arven- 
sis. The stems are not twining, however, but vary in 
length according to the soil and season. Seeds may be 
sown in beds, borders, or clumps according to con¬ 
venience, but they should not be placed in alternate 
lines with other subjects, unless the latter are similar 
in habit and equally dwarf so that the Nolanas may 
not be shaded, for they require a sunny exposure to 
flower well. They may, however, be sown as a front 
row on borders receiving plenty of the mid-day sun. 
The species are really perennial, but they may be 
sown in the open border during April or May, and 
treated as annuals, for they will flower freely during 
the summer. N. prostrata has ovate or rhomboid- 
ovate, entire leaves and pale blue flowers. The accom¬ 
panying illustration will give an idea of the habit of 
the plant and its general appearance. 
-->X<-- 
DEVONSHIRE FERNS. 
It is but natural that the famous county of Devon, 
with its luxuriant Fern-clad woods, and possessing as 
it does a surface territory of at least 2,500 square miles 
of the greatest number of fertile valleys and sheltered 
coombes of any in the kingdom, as well as an extensive 
coast line, should be unusually rich both in Phseno- 
gamous and Cryptogamous plants, which number many 
hundreds of species ; in fact, it has been said that quite 
two-thirds of the kinds known as the indigenous plants 
of the British Isles are to be found there. Moreover, 
there is no spot in the land where the birds sing so 
sweetly. I was not, however, prepared to receive the 
information given in the notes contributed by “ The 
Strolling Devonian ” in the county chat column of the 
Devon Weekly Times last week, that the kinds of Devon¬ 
shire Ferns were so numerous that the admirers of those 
interesting plants were in sad trouble and perplexity as 
to their identification, and that there was no Fern book 
in existence which gave plain English descriptions and 
illustrations. 
Things must have strangely altered since I left my 
old home at Alphington, or “The Strolling Devonian ” 
has been mixed up. There was a time in long past 
years when I delighted in the study of the wild Ferns 
of my native county, and made a hobby of hunting 
out their haunts in every part of that vast district. 
So far as I am aware there were only about a score of 
species, including some extremely rare ones, which ere 
now, I fear, have been annihilated, for of late years the 
advertisements of the Fern collectors have been 
continuous, and every issue of one newspaper in 
particular, reveals tempting offers from persons— 
especially females—who practice this work of destruction 
and vandalism. I for one do not see much harm 'in 
the removal of a few of our native Ferns by the amateur 
or student ; and with a view of helping “ The Strolling 
Devonian” and his puzzled friends, cheap, reliable, and 
illustrated books on Ferns are easily obtainable. 
It is true that many species are known by different 
generic names, which I suspect has contributed to the 
confusion he speaks,of. Some authors adopt one name 
and some another ; for example : the common male 
Fern, according to a recent publication, is named 
