February 14, 1891. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
379 
Woodside. The reds are wonderfully fine ; in fact, 
both in size and colour a long way beyond tho small 
reds we have been so accustomed to see in previous 
years elsewhere. We have really now a rich deep red 
agaultean strain, and some 500 plants of these, nearly 
filling one large house, male the finest show of the 
colour in diverse shades in the Cyclamen we have yet 
seen. No colours are so much in request as whites and 
reds, and for that reason these have the preference for 
seed production. The varied-hued form of the Giant 
German type aro also well done, the strain being of the 
very finest. Nothing in florists’ flowers, perhaps, shows 
more marked advance than do the newer forms of the 
Cyclamen. 
In Chinese Primulas the Woodside collection is very 
rich, as the plants may be counted in batches of colour, 
hundreds in number. There are about a score of diverse 
forms and colours, but the pick may be found in 
perhaps a dozen ; yet all are good, and as tastes differ, 
all find admirers. Whites, both in the plain leaf and 
Fern leaf, light and dark, are superb. White Perfection; 
Ivory White; Snowflake, pure white ; 
Purity, paper-white on dark foliage ; and 
Pearl, an improved Market White, are 
all very fine and effective. Those on the 
Fern leaf, notably White Perfection and 
Purity, are indeed superb strains, and 
apparently for heads of bloom, size and 
quality of flowers, and habit, are 
unbeatable. 
A wonderfully fine-flowered form of the 
white margined lilac hue is Mary James, 
and the Blue Primula at Woodside, not 
otherwise designated, is really a clear 
lavender-blue here, and blooming pro¬ 
fusely. It is a charming variety out in 
the clear country light. Peach-blossom is 
a charming variety, having flowers of a 
rosy peach colour, very fine and stout. 
Improvement is a pale purple in the centre, 
also excellent. The dark red forms are 
best seen in Syon Red, one of intense 
magenta-crimson, and of the finest form of 
flower ; and Brilliant, rich deep vermilion- 
crimson, the very deepest-coloured of its 
type, and having the best form and sub¬ 
stance in the flowers. Some of the older- 
red strains serve to show how remarkably 
• the newer selections have distanced them. 
If we turn to those most useful varieties 
the semi-doubles, there seems to be even 
more cause to rejoice at the advance made. 
The White Double is a perfect market 
plant as also a greenhouse decorative 
plant, and the flowers are valuable indeed, 
gathered solely for hutton-hole or bouquet 
purposes. What remarkably dense heads 
of bloom some of the plants of this strain 
have, and how welcome they would be 
to gardeners everywhere! Perhaps Mr. 
James knows better than some others how 
to grow them, but the secret, if any, seems 
to be chiefly in span houses which give 
plenty of light and air. The Double 
Scarlet is also another superb variety, 
truly glorious in colour. Some of the 
plants have flowers of the most intense 
blood-crimson, and should, selected, make 
a new type or colour ; this is also a grand variety to 
grow for cut-flower purposes. 
A big batch of seedlings from crosses of the giant 
type, promises some beautiful varieties, not so much 
in new colours, although some in pink, rose and 
magenta are very beautiful, as in the massiveness of 
habit seen in both foliage and flowers. Whether these 
very large-flowered forms are on the whole so deeora- 
tively effective as are the older types has yet to be 
proved, but still we seem to have got flowers large 
enough to suit the most exacting. Still, florists laugh 
at such big flowers, and tell us that what the Chinese 
Primrose may yet develop no one can tell. 
-- 
THE LATE WILLIAM COURT. 
To the memory of the late Mr. William Court-there has 
just been erected, by his American friends, a very 
handsome red granite monument, in Brompton Ceme¬ 
tery. William Court was for many years propagator 
in the Chelsea nursery of Messrs. James Yeitch k Sons, 
and was very widely known and respected in this 
country for his sterling worth as a man, and his rare 
ability as a plant propagator. He also several times 
travelled through the United States for his firm, and 
in that country seems to have made as many warm 
personal friends as at home. His early death in the 
prime of life in September, 1888, is still deeply 
regretted, and by none more than by his American 
friends, who some months ago entrusted Mr. Alfred 
Outram with the design, and the means to carry it out, - 
of the monument that has just been completed, and of 
which the accompanying sketch will doubtless be 
appreciated by readers on both sides of the Atlantic. 
-- 
FLORAL DECORATIONS AT 
BIRMINGHAM. 
The Mayor of Birmingham gave a fancy dress ball at 
the Council House on the 4 th inst., and the floral decor¬ 
ations, which were on an extensive scale, were placed in 
the hands of Messrs. Wills & Segar Onslow Crescent, 
London, who sent eighteen railway truck-loads of plants 
and materials, which were supplemented by supplies 
obtained in the neighbourhood. The Council House 
is a large and handsome building, and the decorations 
plants, 
Monument erected to the memory of William Court, 
in Brompton Cemetery. 
as designed by Mr. Wills necessitated a large 
supply of tall specimen Palms and other plants; 
and a large number of handsome graceful Bamboos, 
from 10 ft. to 20 ft. high, and other cut foliage 
of various Palms, &c., had been procured specially 
from Cannes. There were so many places to be 
decorated that a very large number of plants were 
required. The superb staircase and seven large 
windows, two long corridors—in one of which the tall 
Bamboos were most effectively used—and another were 
fitted up as a spring flower garden, in which thousands 
of Tulips and Hyacinths were used, with ornamental 
and other plants. The spacious reception rooms and 
the various others were tastefully decorated, large 
quantities of Orchids being used, and over 1,000 dozen 
bunches of double scarlet Pelargonium blooms in the 
various devices. The firm had also provided zinc pans 
and devices painted green, for the many dozen places 
where groups of plants were used, and when filled in 
also with a carpet of Lycopods and Ferns, the effect was 
most pleasing. 
The work was carried out with no sparing hand. 
From entrance through corridors to ball-room and ante¬ 
rooms the most magnificent specimens of countless 
exotics stood in rows or groups along the wall, balanced 
themselves on pedestals or pillars, peeped out from the 
inmost recesses of alcoves, or timidly shrank back into 
the little niches or crevices where they nestled almost 
undetected by the casual glance. Above from masonry 
or gaselier drooped long sombre festoons of wreathc-d 
Ivy and evergreen, with here and there superb flower- 
bells of gigantic dimensions, composed of fine double 
Pelagoniums, whose scarlet tints appeared to full advan¬ 
tage by the side of an occasional pearly white Arum. 
The prosaic had for the nonce completely vanished 
and given place to a carnival of flowers and Ferns. 
It would scarcely be possible, and certainly- not safe, in 
view of the difference of taste, to assign special promin¬ 
ence of floral brilliancy to any particular part of the 
building, yet few would care to dispute the concession 
of unusual “effect” to the decoration of the entrance 
hall and the grand staircase. On either side the 
entrance stood a massive group of green, with tall 
Palms rising perpendicularly from’the centres; and at 
the bases in a ground of Ferns and sombre-hued 
number of gleaming Arums, Narcissi, and 
really fine Hyacinths. On the curved 
space each side of the stairs were wide- 
extending Palms, while similar plants 
helped at the top to block out the 
corridors light and left, and thus enhance 
the elegance of the decorations on the wide 
ascent. A brilliant bell of double scarlet 
Pelargoniums hung aloft from the gaselier; 
Azaleas in flower were perched on each of 
the eight pedestals, whose bases were 
prettily decked with Ferns, trailing plants 
and Lycopodium. The appearance of the 
seven window-ledges gave a foretaste of 
what might be expected in the alcoves of 
the ball-room. The grouping of green, 
slightly relieved with flowers, was very 
effective—a characteristic which might 
with equal justice be used in reference to 
similar masses of foliage in the two corners 
of the first landing. The moment the 
visitor placed foot on the main corridor he 
realised the charming effect which may 
often be secured by a judicious utilisation 
of comparatively little material, but that 
good. Graceful Palms, with a few smaller 
plants, partially enshrouded the statues of 
the Queen and of Albert the Good, which 
face the staircase, while on either side of 
the corridor, right and left at intervals, 
these slender Bamboo Palms, so well 
known to residents in the South of 
France, lazily drooped their foliage, which 
rustled about the dress of the constant 
passers-by. 
The ball-room, of course, lent itself to 
the most lavish decoration. The left-hand 
division served primarily as the drawing¬ 
room, and over the dais in the corner 
waved a large spreading Palm, with two 
other plants of the same genus, but different 
species, one on either side. The chimney- 
pieces and alcoves were a triumph of 
skilful ornamentation ; in the fireplaces 
were grouped a number of choice foliage 
and flowering plants—Lilies of the Yalley, 
Orchids, Ericas, Acacias and Marguerites— 
while on the mantels was more decorous 
green and chaster bloom, with here, as every w-here, tower¬ 
ing Palms. Ineschalcovethroughout theball roomstood 
a tall Palm banked with exquisitely green Ferns and 
Mosses, with scattered Orchids, Lilies of the Yalley 
and other flowers, all of the chastest kind. About the 
room in different places stood feathery Palms, Bamboos 
and Pampas Grass, the gallery was Ivy draped, over 
the archway hung floral bells, the window recesses 
were filled with flowers, and from the gaseliers were 
elegant pendent festoons of Ivy and various dark-hued 
sprays. The same thoroughness which was displayed 
in the ball-room and the main corridor was evinced 
elsewhere in less important portions of the edifice. 
-- 
FORECOURT FLOWER 
GARDENING. 
The exceptionally prominent positions occupied by- 
forecourt flower beds, as regards their close proximity 
to dwelling houses and public thoroughfares, render 
the selection of plants for their decoration a matter of 
considerable importance. In making out a plan for 
the ensuing season’s display of bloom, the chief point, 
therefore, to be kept in view should be the employment 
of such plants only as will ensure the effective appear* 
