296 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
January 10, 1891. 
Fancy and Show Pansies. 
I have noticed with lively interest the controversy 
raised by “ Yeritas ” in your columns anent the newer 
fancy Pansies and am much gratified that it has been 
the means of obtaining the opinions of thirteen of the 
leading Scotch amateurs at the solicitation of Mr. 
Campbell, of Blantyre. This is a step in the right 
direction, and will, I have no doubt, be much appre¬ 
ciated by those who, like myself, are desirous of 
obtaining a collection of really good exhibition varieties. 
It occurs to me that there may be many varieties of 
sterling merit sent out annually by growers south of 
the Tweed which have not reached Scotland, and I 
would suggest to the amateur growers in England that 
they follow the initiative so kindly taken by our 
Scotch friends, and give us the benefit of their 
experience as to what they consider the best twenty- 
four varieties both of Fancy and Show Pansies. 
I notice in the catalogue for 1890 issued by Mr. F. 
Hooper, of Bath (a very successful exhibitor I believe), 
no less than thirty-three new fancy varieties, not one 
of which appears in the list obtained by Mr. Campbell. 
Surely some of them must be first rate, and worthy of 
a place in any collection. Perhaps our English 
amateurs will give us their opinion of them and other 
varieties, thereby conferring a favour on all lovers of 
this charming flower.— A. S. Treacher, New Barnet, 
Herts , 1st January , 1891. 
Tire Newer Fancy Pansies. 
I AM glad that Mr. Campbell agrees with my remarks 
at p. 232, but would have very much liked his 
opinion whether or not it would be possible or advanta¬ 
geous to start such a society as I proposed. However, 
he certainly deserves the best thanks of the Pansy 
fanciers for the trouble he has taken in ascertaining the 
opinions of the best amateur Pansy growers in Scotland 
as to which are the most popular varieties in culti¬ 
vation ; but the aggregated lists accompanying his 
note can scarcely be said to give a fair indication of 
that opinion. If Mr. Campbell had asked each of the 
amateurs to place the Pansies in the order of merit, 
and given several of their lists as received, they 
would have been much more instructive than the 
form presented, because each of the thirteen amateurs 
might think a certain Pansy good enough to be 
included in the best twenty-four, and yet all of them 
might consider it only the twenty-fourth best Pansy. 
I am very far from saying-that the Pansies at the top 
of Mr. Campbell’s list are the worst in them, but it is 
quite possible that they might be. lu looking over the 
list, it struck me as being very strange that only 
Maggie A. Scott was thought good enough by all the 
amateurs to be included in the best twenty-four fancies. 
I am quite sure that the majority of Pansy growers 
will consider that at least a dozen in it have a perfect 
right to be there, but probably some varieties escaped 
the memory of several of the amateurs when making 
up their lists. Most of those occupying the premier 
position in the list of the five varieties of show Pansies 
might probably, by almost universal consent, be kept 
there; but I am sure that very few of the thirteen 
amateurs consulted think that Royal Visit, which got 
ten votes, is a better and more reliable Pansy than either 
Benachie or Victoria Gem, which only got seven and 
four respectively. 
I am on the whole well pleased with Mr. Dean’s 
criticism in your issue of last week, and can assure him 
that when I made the statement about being shocked 
at seeing weeds that should never have been named 
nor put into commerce, lauded up as something grand, 
I had no thought of him, but meant my remarks to be 
taken as a general condemnation of the practice—the 
suicidal practice followed by some nurserymen of 
annually flooding the country with worthless flowers, 
which most of the purchasers pitch “over the garden 
wall” in disgust whenever they see the first bloom. 
The only point of difference between Mr. Dean and 
myself is whether or not he described certain Pansies 
correctly. He asks me if I can assert that he has not 
grown or seen growing the flowers he described 1 My 
answer is, I cannot; but I inferred, from what he said 
about some of the blooms, that they must have been 
damaged during transit, and consequently must have 
been carried some distance, and what more likely than 
by post ? If my surmise is correct, although Mr. Dean 
may be a much better judge of a Pansy than I am, he 
had not the same advantages of forming his opinion as 
I had, because I grew the varieties in question, viz. : 
Mrs. Maxwell, Bonnie Annie Laurie, and Bella Coutts, 
in my own garden, and had them in the very best of 
health and blooming throughout the whole season. I 
never at any time had a bloom of either that was 
anything like a first-class competition flower, and I am 
confident that Mr. Dean will not need long experience 
of them to arrive at the same conclusion. 
I am very sorry that Mr. Dean does not understand 
some of my remarks, but as I do not know the parti¬ 
cular points complained of, I cannot help him. "When 
I find myself in difficulties of that kind, I generally 
consult the “parson.” Mr. Dean and I are almost in 
perfect agreement about Lord Hamilton. I said 
that it was a grand flower, and I can conscientiously 
supplement that opinion with the remark that if it is 
well grown it is one of the very best, but that it is apt 
to run is not only my experience, but the experience of 
most people who have grown it. I had six plants of it 
last year, and although they all looked in equally good 
health, only two of them threw correct flowers, the 
blooms of the other four merely showing the framework 
of the blotches—the bare ribs as it were. Two of my 
neighbours even fared worse with “his lordship” than 
I did, for they had not a good bloom of it throughout 
the entiro season, so that Mr. Dean will see that my 
remarks are based on my own experience, and not on 
the opinions of others. I can also assure him that, having 
no fish of my own to fry, they are quite unprejudiced. 
My sole object in writing was to ascertain the views 
of other Pansy enthusiasts as to the feasibility of 
instituting a society for the purpose of giving a sort of 
hall mark to really good seedling Pansies. The present 
system of granting certificates of merit by various local 
and other societies is not quite satisfactory. Certificates 
granted by these societies cannot carry the same 
weight, or command the same amount of public confi¬ 
dence as would the certificates of a great central society 
instituted for the purpose. Some years ago I attended 
a show at which a friend of mine was judging. After 
the judging was over he and I were having a quiet look 
over the exhibits, and when we came to the seedlings 
shown for certificates I remarked, “You have not 
granted any certificates this year.” “Ho,” he said, 
“this one and that one”—pointing towards two— 
“were the only ones that we thought of granting 
certificates to, but ultimately we thought that they 
were scarcely clear enough in the outline.’’ When 
making another examination an hour or so later, I 
was surprised to see that three or four other seedlings 
had been awarded certificates. The only explanation 
that seemed to be probable was that interested parties 
had brought some influence to bear on the committee 
or the j ndges. — Veritas. 
Carnation, Mary Morris. 
With reference to the article of “ R. D.,” which ap¬ 
peared in last week’s issue of The Gardening World, 
upon the Carnations and the severe weather, I would 
, add that the frost and snow seem to have been general 
throughout the kingdom, and Cardiff has been favoured 
with its fair proportion. I walked into my little garden 
to-day for the first time during tho past three weeks, 
and although the borders are still covered with snow, 
I was astonished to find three partly-developed blooms 
of that fine, bright pink border Carnation, Mary Morris, 
conspicuously presenting themselves to view, in defiance 
of the frost and snow, on the top of a bright green 
stem, standing 2 ft. 9 ins. high. 
This variety of border Carnation is, in my opinion, 
about the hardiest and most free bloomer in cultivation. 
My plants, which stood out all the previous winter, 
commenced blooming early in July, and their extra¬ 
ordinary strength of habit produces numerous side- 
shoots, which follow the parent bloom week after week 
until they are checked by frost. I enclose you the 
three blooms in question, that you may be satisfied 
yourself that my statement is not an exaggerated one. 
Mr. Pettigrew, Lord Bute’s head gardener at Cardiff 
Castle, does not hesitate in pronouncing it the very best 
ever raised. It produces immense double flowers of the 
brightest colour imaginable, without any appearance 
of confusion, the petals are well shaped, and when 
well grown, are almost smooth on the edges, and the 
calyx never bursts. 
A friend of Mr. Pettigrew’s, who is one of the 
principals of a very large florists’ firm in America, and 
who happened at the time to be a guest of the former, 
was so attracted with a bloom of Mary Morris which I 
had in my coat, that he exclaimed, “ What would I not 
give if I had that variety in America ! ” As he was 
not returning until the following September, I promised 
him a pair of early layers, and these Mr. Pettigrew sent 
to him where he was staying in Scotland. He has since 
written to say that he reached home with his plants in 
fine condition, and that he is delighted with having 
met with such a charming thing. —James Thursto/a, 
Cardiff, January 3 rd, 1891. 
Double Zonal Pelargonium, Le Bruant. 
At the last meeting of the Birmingham Gardeners’ 
Association, Messrs. Pope & Sons exhibited a well- 
grown specimen of this variety in full bloom with 
quite two dozen trusses of flowers upon it, worth some 
money at this festive season. This variety should not 
be grown in rich soil, as it is naturally a strong grower 
with large foliage, but in this instance the plant had 
been kept well in hand, foliage good and not too large ; 
and was admirably grown and flowered, semi-double, as 
shown now, with good-sized trusses of scarlet flowers. 
It evidently can be made a good winter bloomer.— 
FALKLAND PARK. 
If one wishes to see a striking example ot what money, 
energy, and skill can effect in landscape gardening, let 
him pay a visit to Falkland Park. This fine old 
domain, situated on the ridge of Upper Norwood Hill, 
and commanding a delightful prospect of the woods 
and orchards of Kent and Surrey, has undergone a 
marked transformation during the past year. One 
used to know it as an ill-kept place, where splendid 
capabilities, from a horticultural point of view, were 
sadly neglected. "With its fine exposure to the sun, a 
soil specially suited for fruit growing, and an extensive 
finely-wooded park, it seemed the beau-ideal of what 
the haunt of flora ought to be. We were therefore 
agreeably surprised to find, on taking a run down 
from London lately, that in the hands of the present 
wealthy proprietor, whose deep interest in horticulture 
is of a very practical kind, a marked change had come 
over the scene. 
Mr. MacMeekin’s determination to make this fine 
possession worthy of itself, is being rapidly realised 
under the management of his energetic gardener, Mr. 
McKinnon, who has brought a varied experience, 
gained at Kylemore and Dalkeith, to bear on the task 
of remodelling the park. In place of the old house, 
which stands in a secluded hollow, a magnificent 
mansion has been erected on a commanding site, so 
that full advantage has been taken of the fine situation 
of the ridge overlooking Norwood. The transformation 
from the old to the new, reminds one of the change 
between the present Norwood and that of the past. 
The modern resort of fashion is scarcely recognisable to 
one who has heard of it as the haunt of the gipsy, and 
the spectator of such scenes as Chaucer has depicted in 
his Canterbury tales. 
Around the new mansion, the ground has been 
extensively and tastefully laid out in grass, interspersed 
with groups of Conifene, instead of the brush that had 
been allowed to grow up. The next surprise is a fine 
range of glass, which runs along the summit of the 
ridge for fully 250 ft., which forms a marked contrast 
to the dingy and frail lean-to houses in the old kitchen 
garden. Approaching from the east, you enter, by an 
ornamental porch, a noble-looking conservatory 70 ft. 
long by 25 It. wide. In the centre, opposite the 
entrance, a fountain is in full play throwing its 
refreshing spray on the two beds of fine healthy plants 
on either side, including large specimen Camellias, 
tree Ferns, &c., A passage runs round the whole 
house and separates these from the side stages, which 
contain a fine collection of Primulas, Heaths, Cycla¬ 
mens, and other winter-flowering plants. From this 
conservatory you enter a corridor 240 ft. in length. It 
is really a lean-to, but the twelve arches, constructed of 
metal fretwork, and festooned with creeping plants, 
give the impression of a Gothic avenue to the spectator 
looking from end to end. Lined on either side with a 
row of Chrysanthemums, bearing the most varied 
flowers and interspersed with Ferns and Palms, it fully 
fulfils the idea of its construction, which was to combine 
picturesque effect with the convenience of a passage 
from which access could be had to the various houses of 
which the range is composed on the one hand, and the 
necessary accessories, such as propagating house, potting 
shed, head gardener’s office, boiler house, accommodation 
for ten gardeners, &c., on the other. 
The five houses opening in this corridor are all on 
the same substantial style, the centre one, 25 ft. wide 
by 38 ft. long, containing a choice collection of specimen 
stove plants. A glance at this house, as well as at the 
