312 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
January 17, 1891. 
s^oifrdiri^ifSIs}. 
-- 
Pansies and Pinks. 
I rejoice to find that some of your correspondents are 
trying to revive an interest in Pansies which seem to 
have shared the fate of the Pinks in the southern 
counties. Why and how it has come about that florists’ 
flowers, with the exception of the Chrysanthemum have 
come to be so neglected, especially by working men in 
the suburbs of London, I cannot think, and the problem 
how to revive that faded interest is equally difficult of 
solution. I cannot help feeling that, so far as London 
is concerned, the Royal Horticultural Society is very 
much to blame. Years ago they used to give prizes for 
Pansies and Pinks, and I remember to have seen 
magnificent stands of Pansies at South Kensington. 
Instead of endeavouring to lead and sustain the popular 
taste in a right direction, it seems to me that the 
R. H. S. humbly follows in the wake of the masher 
section of flower lovers, and offers its “ valuable” prizes 
to those who can exhibit the largest amount of fashion¬ 
able flowers. Subjects that can be dealt with in a 
wholesale manner, manufactured by machinery, so to 
speak, receive every encouragement, but the refined 
and unpretentious florists’ flowers that evoke and con¬ 
centrate the enthusiasm and tend to elevate and idealise 
the humdrum life of the toiling artisan simply gets the 
cold shoulder. 
How long is it since the E. H. S. has offered a 
sixpence or a bronze medal to Pink or Pansy growers ? 
What, indeed, has it done for any florists’ flowers 
except to find stage-room for the exhibits of specialist 
societies ? I do not know that I should have uttered 
so long a growl against the E. H. S., only that it leads 
up to one point I wish to make about Pansies. Your 
correspondents have been contrasting English with 
Scottish Pansies, and I remember taking stock of both 
long years ago at |South Kensington. I can only 
recollect one instance in which the Northerners beat 
the Southerners for fancy Pansies. The best Southern 
Pansies came from Hooper, of Bath, and I suppose you 
could not select a more unpromising site than the 
sunny dry slope on which they were grown. Yet for 
variety, size, form, and colour too when in their prime, 
I hold thej T put all the Scots in the shade. The 
northern flowers appeared to me to be all cast in the 
same mould. The colours might vary, but the pattern 
was invariably the same. Of late years I have had few 
opportunities of seeing any Scottish Pansies, but 1 tried 
to grow a few last year, and although it was an exception¬ 
ally good year for Pansies (I had Euby, George Rudd, 
and other varieties in flower from May to November) I 
could not regard the experiment as a success. 
My own experience agrees with that of others as to 
the deterioration of the Scotch Pansy when it comes 
south ; and if we are to revive an interest in the 
Heartsease in our southern counties we must look to 
the Flemish or French sources for a good strain. We 
may lose a good deal in substance of petal, but we 
shall gain in size of flower, eccentricity of marking, 
and brilliancy of colour. I heartily agree with those 
who deprecate the sending out of many new varieties. 
With a flower that seeds so easily and rewards the 
hybridiser so plentifully it is ridiculous to put every 
new form into commerce. With regard to Pinks I 
have something more to say which I will keep for a 
future occasion, but I will venture now to remind 
your readers that I suggested a year ago that we might 
find it an advantage to couple some other florists’ 
flower with the laced Pink, and I thought the Pansy 
would be suitable. I am exceedingly glad to find that 
prizes are offered by the R. H.S. for Pinks at the 
show on June 23rd of the present year. I will “bet 
my bottom dollar ” that this is the work of some old 
friend, very possibly traceable, directly or indirectly, 
to the maiden and humble efforts of the National 
Pink Society .—Ranger Johnson. 
Florists' Flowers at Reading. 
1 never go to Reading without visiting Messrs. 
Sutton & Son’s nurseries, and being there lately, 
I enjoyed a rare transformation scene—from the cold 
winterly exterior to a charming display inside the 
houses. The Cyclamen houses are just now perfection, 
and the various structures devoted to the growth of the 
ever popular Chinese Primula are a sight worth a long 
journey to see. All the firm’s splendid and distinct 
varieties, arranged in batches of well-grown sturdy 
plants, are now and will be for some time in perfection. 
Winter-flowering Brgonias, Calceolarias, Cinerarias 
and various florists’ flowers are to be seen in great 
quantities, so that one can never be wrong in calling at 
the London Road Nurseries.— Rustieus. 
Fancy Pansies. 
I have read with much pleasure the remarks made by 
“Veritas” in the last number of The Gardening 
World, and I think he will agree with me that for a 
great, central Pansy society, Birmingham may be 
regarded as a good spot, as it is easy of access from all 
the surrounding midland districts, and we are in the 
midst of a great number of Pansy growers. Mr. James 
Simkins (the author of the book on Pansies), Mr. John 
Pope, Mr. Alfred Hunt, and many other well-known 
Pansy growers are members of the committee, and my 
name is not entirely unknown in connection with the 
Pansy. We are enrolling members and shall have a 
strong society, and I am much mistaken if at our 
exhibition in June next we do not have the finest 
display of Pansies ever seen out of Scotland. Some of 
your friends in the north are cordially supporting us, 
Mr. Lister and Messrs. Dobbie & Co. especially, and we 
want to see as many seedlings and new flowers as 
possible, while a strong staff of the best growers from 
Scotland and the home districts will decide what 
flowers shall have certificates. 
I think that at our English shows it is very seldom 
that a certificate is given, excepting at York and 
Shrewsbury. 1 have had the honour of being one of 
the judges at York for many years, and when May 
Tate was shown there before it was sent out, 1 at once 
awarded it a First Class Certificate, and at the Norton 
Pansy Society’s show, when John Pope was first ex¬ 
hibited as a seedling, I unhesitatingly advocated a 
First Class Certificate for it. At York last year I was 
instrumental in awarding certificates to David Rennie, 
exhibited by Mr. Irwin, and at Shrewsbury last August 
to H. M. Stanley, William Steel, and Matthew 
Caskey, exhibited by Mr. Lister, and as I see that these 
flowers have each received certificates at the Scottish 
meetings, I begin to think my judgment was not far 
wrong. I, however, willingly admit that it would be 
much better if it were compulsory that all new varieties 
should be submitted to some high ordeal on the lines 
of the old National Fioricultural Society of London, 
which ceased to exist when the Royal Horticultural 
Society took up the work by its various committees. 
The good done, however, by the old National Society 
was incalculable, and the same work will be taken up 
for Pansies and Violas by the Midland Pansy Society. 
— W. Dean, Sparlchill, Birmingham. 
-- 
FRUIT CULTURE IN 
CALIFORNIA. 
Letter from Mr. J. Burnett. 
I send you herewith copy of a letter just received from 
Mr. Burnett, late of the Deepdene Gardens, Dorking, 
which I think may be of interest to his late 
colleagues and gardening friends. He writes from 
Rosedale, Bakersfield, Kern County, California.— 
“ I have settled here and taken up 40 acres of land ; 
I have had a house built, and planted 27 acres with 
Muscat Grapes for making Raisins ; also planted a few 
acres with Peaches and Pears. The country here is a 
vast plain, running 400 miles N.W., and from 50 to 
100 miles wide, and nearly surrounded by lofty moun¬ 
tains. The soil is a kind of decomposed granite of 
great depth, and with water applied is apparently very 
productive. Grapes grow splendidly, and owing to the 
absence of rain, Raisins can be made of very high 
quality. My Vines have made remarkably good growth, 
and I hope to have sufficient crop next year to pay 
expenses ; in two years it should pay well, and increase 
in annual value up to five years, when it ought to be 
worth about £35 per acre per annum, nett profit, after 
paying all expenses. The Vines are planted 8 ft. to 
10 ft. apart and are kept pruned very low, the Grapes 
in fact lying on the ground, but owing to the extremely 
dry weather are never spoiled by the soil. 
“ The country here before the introduction of canals 
for irrigation was a barren wilderness, but the effect of 
water on the soil seems like magic. The company from 
whom I bought the land own between 600,000 and 
700,000 acres, and they have only just begun to sell it, 
myself and two others being the very first to settle 
on the desert lands here. 
“The people are coming in to settle very fast. The 
land is cut up into square miles, which are again cut up 
into thirty-two 20-acre lots, and you can have any 
quantity that you are able to take. There is not much 
good for any man coming out here without money ; it 
requires a capital of at least £600 or £700 for a man 
coming here to take 20 acres. Wages are good, and 
if work were steady a man would soon make money, 
but the working men are so numerous that numbers of 
them are idle. 
“ Peaches are another fruit that do remarkably well 
and pay well. I have seen some fruit of what is called 
the Orange Cling, weighing from 1 lb. to 23 ozs. Some 
of the Peach growers have cleared as much as £60 per 
acre. Figs and Apricot3 also do extremely well. It 
is a little too hot for Apples, but Pears do splendidly. 
Oranges do very well, but there are none grown here 
for exporting. There seems to be a market in the eastern 
States for any quantity of fruit that can be grown here, 
and the prices, so far, are much in advance of what 
they are at home. 
“The climate is very hot in summer, but always with 
cool nights. The autumn months are very pleasant, 
but now it is chilly and raw. We have not seen much 
of the sun this month, but all through November the 
days were bright and warm, with cool, frosty nights 
and mornings. 
“ I do not think we are likely to regret coming here, as 
there seemsevery likelihood of making an independency, 
but still there is no place like home. I miss the horti¬ 
cultural meetings greatly, and should like very 
much to be able to drop in for an hour or two at James 
Street, or wherever the meetings are held. I am very 
sorry to see by the horticultural papers that you have 
lost two such prominent horticulturists, as Shirley 
Hibberd and William Holmes.”— Jos. Cheal, Crawley. 
-- 
ROSES AND THE FROST. 
Rusarians are looking for the thaw, which will come 
sooner or later, and the results of the severe frost upon 
Roses, with great anxiety. It is not a matter for 
wonder that such should be the case, as many years have 
elapsed sines such terribly cold weather visited us. 
Even during some not exceptionally hard winters, I 
have fbund Roses, and those worked on to standards 
especially, to suffer severely, many having been totally 
destroyed. Very much naturally depends upon the 
condition of the wood forming the heads, and because 
the autumn was, and the winter so far has been unusu¬ 
ally dry, less harm should result than when tho 
previous season has been wet. The comparative 
dryness of the soil now forms a strong point in their 
favour, and if it should happen that eventually all the 
plants have been but lightly affected, we shall know 
where to look for the cause of this immunity. 
Even now dwarfs have benefited by the covering of 
snow that nature has so liberally coated the country 
with, and where that very useful protector has thinned, 
under the influence of warmth, it is good policy to add 
snow from open spaces, so that the plants may continue 
to enjoy all the protection this covering will afford. 
Standards are not easily protected, even fern, hay, 
straw, or other material offers indifferent protection 
from such intense frost, whilst it also has a very 
unsightly aspect. Good Tea Roses on walls may b8 
matted up, as also may they be when trained up 
pillars, &c., but all cannot be so treated, whilst pro¬ 
tecting the thousands of heads found in the nurseries 
is out of the question. Fortunately for traders, however, 
their best strength lies in the dormant buds, and if 
these escape, the heads resulting later are safe enough. 
Whatever may be present appearances, I hope even¬ 
tually a safe haven for rosarians out of the winter 
fierceness.— D., Jan. 5. 
--— 
THE YOUNG MEN. 
I quite agree with all that “ Father Christmas ” says 
regarding the manner in which the young gardeners of 
the present day should spend their leisure hours so as 
to fit themselves, as “Father Christmas” puts it, for 
the arduous and responsible duties which they must in 
due time undertake. But is there much encourage¬ 
ment given to the majority of young men to be up 
and doing, and to endeavour to their utmost to make 
themselves masters of their profession? I, for one, 
say No, for do not we—the young gardeners — see every 
day instances wherein the men who have been 
frittering away their time in frivolous and wasteful 
amusements, are pushed forward into those very 
positions—the prizes, so to speak—which the young men 
who spend their leisure hours in the endeavour to 
perfect themselves as far as possible in their profession, 
and often under very arduous circumstances, strived 
to gain. 
This happens simply because those men have had 
the advantage of influences, without which the majority 
