552 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
May 2, 1891. 
rim very hard in some provincial towns by 
the splendid shows there found. Thus ample 
evidence is furnished that, after all, each 
locality can better perform its own work than 
it can he done by others, in London or 
elsewhere.__ 
‘Natural Gardening. —"We have to thank 
"o our contemporary The Gardeners' Chronicle 
for having reproduced in its pages last week 
an illustration of the quaint and yet at the 
same time positively abhorrent example of 
Dutch or clipped gardening seen at Elvaston 
Castle. Whatever of merit the late Mr. 
William Barron, of Borrowash, possessed as 
a landscape gardener, and he. was a man 
of no inconsiderable talent and originality, 
we rejoice that our noble private gardens are 
in but few cases disfigured by such abortions 
in planting and trimming as the illustration 
we have referred to presents. Apart 
altogether from the gross disfigurement of 
Nature’s proportions, development, and beauty 
by the trimming and clipping of trees and 
shrubs into all sorts of grotesque shapes, there 
is the matter of cost of labour needful 
to maintain such a garden in its trim, formal 
aspect. 
Our gardeners generally in these days may 
well rejoice that they are saved from such 
difficulty as well as from such horticultural 
abortions. To plant a beautiful tree or shrub, 
and then to destroy all its natural grace and 
form by a free use of the shears is indeed 
barbarism. We have very happily got out of 
the barbaric age in gardening, and beyond that 
we have to no inconsiderable extent got out of 
the colour bedding craze too ; so that what we 
do now florally or arboriculturally, we do more 
wdsely and at far less cost of labour. We get 
in natural gardening far more of pleasure than 
all the formal planting, bedding, trimming, or 
similar decorative methods can possibly give. 
Practically ive make gardening the hand¬ 
maid of Nature—her helper and friend rather 
than, as in the old Dutch and some recent 
clays, her torturer and destroyer. Relatively 
if Ave do our gardening more cheaply because 
more naturally Ave also get from it far more 
of real enjoyment. Our tastes have been 
cultivated by Nature into a proper apprecia¬ 
tion of Avhat is true and beautiful, hence Ave 
realise that the more closely our gardening 
folloAvs Nature the more beautiful is the 
product. 
‘tpLUJis.—Writing early in the Aveek it Avould 
<r seem as if Ave shall see hardly a Plum 
tree except some very early variety in bloom 
during the month of April. That is indeed 
a feature of so unusual a kind that Ave have 
rarely seen it equalled. When Aveather pes¬ 
simists declare henceforth that Avhilst our 
winter area is extending, our summer period 
is contracting, they will be able to point to 
Avhat Ave may Avell hope Avill prove a special 
exception, that Plums or Pears Avere not in 
bloom in April in 1891. Of course, Ave 
except trees on Avails Avhere the blooming is 
excited by the special protection and warmth 
Aidiich Avails afford, 'So far as trees in the 
open air are concerned, hoAvever, the fact 
remains as stated, throughout the home 
districts, and Ave believe that exceptionally late 
blooming of the Plum is this year really 
general. 
Of course, all hope that it may be for the 
best ultimately, but there is some reason to 
fear that even whilst the petals of the blooms 
are not stimulated to expand, the fertile 
organs of the floAvers may be pushing, and 
because of the long and unnatural confine¬ 
ment in their petaloid casing, become con¬ 
torted and injured. Slioulcl there be any 
appreciable deficiency of fruit at all, this 
will, Ave apprehend, be found the primary 
cause of the failure. May such misfortune be 
averted, but still, that can only be by a 
change to warmer^ weather, and an early expan¬ 
sion of bloom. We are not sure that a very 
heavy Plum crop is desirable. Unhappily 
such a crop is usually obtained at the expense of 
several barren seasons, whilst the glut of fruit 
resulting does not often benefit the groiver 
in a relative degree. 
We do not fully utilise an excessive Plum 
crop, because Ai r e cannot dry the fruits as is 
done in France, nor preserve them as is done 
in California; although why avg should not 
do so by canning remains to be shoivn. All 
the same Ave shall have to take what Nature 
gives us, and as it looks as if this year it 
will be in no grudging spirit, so must Ave be 
correspondingly thankful. 
-- 
Gardeners’ Orphan Fund.—At a meeting of the 
Executive Committee held on the 24th ult., Mr. W. 
Marshall presiding, it was announced that since the 
previous meeting £10 had been received from the 
Executors of the late Mr. John Dominy, and a similar 
amount from Mr. Alderman B. Watson, J.P. of Leeds, 
as a birthday offering. Mr. Stevenson, of Bourne¬ 
mouth, was appointed local secretary for the district. 
Kent Chrysanthemum Shows.—We have received 
the schedules of prizes offered by the Kent County 
Chrysanthemum Society for competition at their show 
at Blackheath, on November 3rd and 4th ; and of the 
Sevenoaks and West Kent Chrysanthemum Society for 
their exhibition to be held in the Club Hall, Sevenoaks, 
on November 10th and 11th. 
Gardening Engagements—Mr. F. Deller as gardener 
to Edward Beanes, Esq., Moatlands, Paddock Wood, 
Kent. Mr. A. Baxter, late foreman at Canford Manor, 
Dorset, as gardener to Lord Rodney, Berrington, 
Leominster. Mr. G. Knight, late gardener at Sand 
Hall, Howden, as gardener to G. Ambler, Esq., Kirk¬ 
lands, Shipley, Yorks. 
The Royal Horticultural Society of Southampton’s 
programme for the current year includes a show at 
Westwood Park on Whit-Monday, a Great Summer 
Show and Gala on August 1st and 3rd and a Chry¬ 
santhemum Show on November 3rd and 4th. 
Swindon Horticultural Society.—The annual 
exhibition of this society is announced to be held at 
The Lawn, Swindon, on Wednesday, August 19th, when 
prizes will be offered for competition in some 160 
classes. 
Peaches on Almond Stocks Killed .—Le Jardin 
states that the cultivators of Montreuil, already so 
tried in 1880, complain of the ravages of frost. The 
Peaches have resisted, but the Almond on which they 
were grafted has been destroyed. Parts of the espalier, 
of 30 yards in length, present not a single live tree. 
In 1879 the snow had preserved the foot of the trees, 
which, once cut down, started again vigorously. 
The Royal National Tulip Society.—A meeting of 
the members of this society will be held this day, 
Saturday, the 2nd of May, at the Bull’s Head Inn, off 
Market Place, Manchester, at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, 
to fix the day of exhibition, to appoint judges, to 
consider the schedule of prizes, and to transact any 
other business. The schedule of prizes will be issued 
shortly after the meeting. The Committee hope that 
every member will do his utmost, by example and 
influence amongst growers and friends of the Tulip, to 
increase the number of subscribers and exhibitors, as 
the membership roll has been sadly thinned of late 
years by death. 
A New Use for Scorzonera.—In cold regions, where 
it has been tried to raise the silkworm, there has often 
been a restraint for want of the Mulberry tree. It 
appears that the foliage cherished by the Bom by x can, 
without the least inconvenience, be replaced by that 
of Scorzonera, of which the culture is everywhere easy. 
Sown in May, Scorzonera gives its nourishment in 
autumn, whereas it is necessary to wait at least six 
years with the Mulberry. The fact established is yet 
again and above all interesting in the sense that it 
shows the faculty of adaptation of an animal to other 
food than that Avhich it has received since many 
generations. —Le Jardin. 
The Mitcham Lavender Fields. — It is stated that 
the past winter has proved more disastrous to the 
lavender plantations of Surrey than aDy of its 
predecessors during the past 60 years. It is estimated 
that not far short of 100 acres of the plantations in the 
Mitcham, Wallington and Carshakon districts have 
been uprooted and committed to the flames this season, 
and the remaining standing crops are considered to be 
in a critical condition. The outlook for the wholesale 
trade is serious, perfumers depending largely on the 
English essential oil of lavender in the preparation of 
their finest perfumes. 
Rhododendron Champion®.—This bold but rather 
curious species of Rhododendron is a native of Hong¬ 
kong, and differs from most other species in culti¬ 
vation by the great depth of the divisions of the 
corolla. The flowers are produced in terminal corymbs, 
and are large and white, with the exception of a large 
yellow blotch on the upper segment. The latter are 
obloDg in all cases, but the upper one is much the 
broadest, and more or less revolute at the edges. The 
leaves are lanceolate-elliptic, dull green, more or less 
netted and covered with coarse hairs on both surfaces, 
which give them a curious and rather unwonted 
appearance for a Rhododendron. A plant of it in 
a pot was shown at the Drill Hall on the 21st inst., by 
Messrs. J. Yeitch & Sons, Chelsea, when a Botanical 
Certificate was awarded it. 
The Yellow Musk Hyacinth.—On the whole, Mus- 
cari moschatum is less- conspicuous than many others 
under cultivation, yet it is pretty, very fragrant, 
and therefore worthy of a place in a collection. 
The yellow variety (M. m. flavum) is more decided 
in hue and very pretty when in full bloom. The 
flowers are pendulous, cylindrical, tinged with a 
dull purple in the young state, but as they expand 
they change to a clear yellowish hue. This hue, 
combined with the shape of the flowers, gives it a 
distinctness possessed by few. When grown in pots 
the scapes attain a height of 4 ins. to 5 ins. The 
leaves are subulate, deeply channelled, somewhat after 
the style of some Irises, such as I. xiphioides, and deep 
glaucous green, but only 2 ins. to 3 ins. long while the 
plant is in bloom. The type was originally introduced 
from Asia Minor in 1596, and the yellow variety more 
recently. It may be seen in Messrs. Barr’s nursery at 
Long Ditton. 
Saxifraga cordifblia purpurea. — Of all the forms 
generally spoken of under the name of Megasea, the 
variety here named is one of the boldest, and best 
adapted for cultivation on banks, mounds, and -wide 
borders. The leaves are roundly cordate, broad and 
massive, while the large and dense flower-head is 
well thrown above the foliage. The petals are of a 
deep reddish purple, supported by a red or scarlet 
calyx. When seen against any of the paler forms of 
the species, there can be no doubt as to the distinctness 
of the variety under notice. Last year the Megaseas 
were planted in the open ground of Messrs. Barr’s 
nursery, at Long Ditton, but they have since been 
planted in a narrow border, close to a hedge, near a 
high railway embankment, sheltering them from the 
north wind, and the effect has been wonderful con¬ 
sidering the coldness and duration of the east winds 
Avhich have prevailed lately. The subject of this note is 
grown in quantity, and when established by another 
year’s growth, cannot fail to be fine. 
Striped and Double Auriculas.—It is exceedingly 
interesting to note the way in which Auriculas vary 
in colour, even upon the same plant. A strain may 
be seen in the nursery of Messrs. Barr & Son, at 
LoDg Ditton, in which some of the plants bear clear 
yellow flowers ; others have them yellow and also 
striped with deep red in various ways, even upon the 
same plant, tending to a self red at one time and a 
self yellow at another. The flowers are moderate in 
size, and the plants evidently very hardy. A double 
variety bears clear yellow flowers, sometimes quite full, 
and less often merely one corolla within another. In 
the latter case the eye shows itself surrounded with a 
creamy white paste. The doubling is strictly confined 
to the corolla, as the calyx is small and green. The 
foliage of both kinds is green and without meal, so 
that they would be well suited for border decoration. 
Cortusa pubens.—The species of Cortusa are closely 
allied to Primula, and bear a close resemblance to P. 
eortusoides, which owes its name to that genus. P. 
mollis is a Himalayan species of Primula, to which 
Cortusa bears e\ T en a stronger resemblance. The best- 
known species is C. Matthiola, than which C. pubens is 
much smaller. The leaves are roundly reniform, lobed, 
toothed, and downy all over, as the name implies. 
The flowers are magenta-purple, or purple tinted with 
violet at certain stages of their growth, and are borne 
on scapes 3 ins. to 6 ins. high. The species was intro¬ 
duced from Transylvania in 1S7S, and may be described 
a3 pretty though small. 
