556 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
May 2, 1891. 
Garden Border Pinks. 
Looking through the schedule of the National Pink 
Society’s Show to be held in the Royal Aquarium in 
■June next, I notice classes for cut blooms in bunches 
of garden border Pinks. I am well aware that similar 
classes appeared in last year’s schedule, but then the 
flowers to all appearance were from plants never grown 
outdoors or in borders, but were grown in pots and 
under glass. The point I want cleared up is this. 
Does “garden border Pinks” as used in the schedule 
mean hardy Pinks grown in garden borders, from which 
the flowers shown are cut, or are these said “ border 
Pinks ” to be anything—no matter what—other than 
laced ? If it be the latter, it would have been more fair 
to have asked for bunches of flowers of any varieties, 
twelve or six in number, other than laced Pinks. If 
the former, then the schedule should specially require 
that the blooms should be from plants grown out in the 
open ground, and unprotected. It would seem as if the 
object of the classes was to encourage the production 
and cultivation of really hardy garden Pinks—an 
admirable idea, and well worthy of support. If, 
however, the old tender form, which will not live in the 
open border, but can only be induced to thrive in pots 
under glass, be admissible, the effort to encourage the 
growth of really hardy sorts is wasted. In another 
class a single bunch of any garden border Pinks, any 
colour, is invited. As there is also a class for some of 
white only, is it presumed that white Pinks are excluded 
from the former class? If not, why give whites 
practically two classes, and other colours only one ? 
— Dianihus. 
The Pink. 
The month of May has been termed the growing time 
for Pinks, and let us hope it may be so. Thb plants 
are on the alert and ready for activity. They aie 
waiting for warm, genial, refreshing shoivers that 
appear very loth indeed to come. How gladdened the 
Pink grower’s heart would be if only some pleasant 
growing weather were to happen! 
A few days since I saw the Pink beds at the Royal 
Nursery, Slough. The plants are most promising if 
they can only get well into growth. They are putting 
forth an abundance of grass, and despite the hard 
winter, the plants have come through it in a very satis¬ 
factory manner, and there is scarcely a vacancy to be 
seen. The old plants which bloomed last year and 
were left in the beds have stood remarkably well ; and 
though they may not furnish flowers good enough for 
the exhibition table, they will supply stock for pipings. 
I may remark that the old plants of Carnations kept 
through the winter in beds have suffered worse than 
the Pinks, which perhaps is not surprising. 
A good soaking of warm rain-water is badly needed 
on the beds. “If the season prove a dry one,” remarks 
an old grower, “ take care the plants have a plentiful 
supply of water.” At present they do not call for an 
artificial supply, for the ground is yet moist about the 
roots. What is wanting is invigorating warmth. But 
as at Slough the soil is fairly heavy, and therefore 
moist, there are yet lighter and drier soils in which 
Pinks have to be grown, and if a good mulching of 
manure can be given—cow manure is preferred by 
some—it is a decided advantage as it serves to keep 
the roots cool and moist. But I think it will be well 
not to mulch until after a warm spring rain has fallen, 
if such a rain ever does come. Surface stirrings are 
helpful ; and not a vagrant weed should be allowed to 
become a casual inhabitant of the Pink bed. Secure 
any shoots that are in danger of being injured through 
the action of the wind. 
I am presuming that all the cultivators of Pinks read 
The Gardening World, and as every one of them 
intends to exhibit his Pink blooms at some time and 
place or the other during the coming season, a few 
hints may prove of service. Fine blooms being required 
in order to take the best prizes, there must be a reduc¬ 
tion in the number of flower stems, the reason being 
obvious —to direct the force of the plant into the 
perfection of a few fine blossoms rather than a number 
of small and imperfect ones. The strength and capa¬ 
cities of the plant need to be considered in regulating 
the thinning process. Sorts that produce large, full 
flowers need to be thinned somewhat sparingly, if 
indeed at all, else bloated flowers—derisively termed 
“mops” by the midland and northern growers, who 
abominate a gross fullness of petals—become the result. 
Weakly-growing varieties that produce small-sized 
blossoms, and fewer petals than others, maybe reduced 
to one flower stem or two, according to the condition of 
the plants. 
I am again attempting the culture of some of the 
finer laced Pinks in pots. I know that the great Pink 
authorities regard the attempt as a decided indication 
of floral lunacy, but what am I to do ? The Pink is a 
favourite of mine, and I like to grow a few. To plant 
them out in the open is ruinous both to the Pinks and 
my reputation for common sense, for the cats come 
nightly and hold an open-air orchestral concert, alter¬ 
nated with a good deal of quarrelling, and a bed of 
Pinks appears to be their beau ideal battle ground, and 
so I placed my plants in pots. Mr. Barlow kindly sent 
me a collection from Manchester, bringing with them 
traces of the carboniferous descent that so plentifully 
visits his Stakehill Gardens, suggesting a kind of 
antechamber to pandemonium—only that the people 
are so good at Stakehill that anything suggestive of 
evil is far removed from it. The plants are rapidly 
changing their leafy garb of sooty blackness for one of 
active, silvery greeD, and I hope with attention — 
other things being, of course, equal— I shall get a good 
head of bloom, and have the plants at the Pink Show. 
Let us all work and hope for a meeting on the 25th of 
June that shall be a credit all round.— R. D. 
Ranunculus asiaticus. 
Mr. Thurstan has given me a new impulse. I had 
begun to fear that our real old strain bad become quite 
extinct. A remembrance of the perfect form, delicate 
tinting, and exquisite edging has been to me as the 
remembrance of the fairy tales of my childhood. As a 
boy it was my delight to cultivate the choicer varieties 
on the east coast of Yoikshire, and their peculiar 
beauties are indelibly impressed on my mind as a 
perfect photograph, but with more permanency than 
any photo yet produced. Judge, then, the delight I 
felt when Mr. Cary Tyso offered the remains of his 
stock for sale. I immediately made application for a 
share of the stock ; these I carefully cultivated for 
some years, but, alas, 1 was called away from my home 
to visit the scenes of my childhood, leaving my pets 
in charge of the gardener, and what became of them I 
never could learn. From that time I have year after 
year bought fresh stock from various sources, but never 
could equal the old strain. Who could be satisfied 
with barley bread after feeding on the choicest con¬ 
fectionery ? From whatever source obtained, the lack 
of that perfect symmetry and colouring was so dis¬ 
satisfying to the taste that I gave them up as lost, but 
since have learned that they still exist. Although I 
may never see them I am cheered with a sense of the 
possibility of them at some time becoming, as in the 
past, a great and wondrous favourite. The varieties to 
be found are really beautiful for cutting for decorative 
flowers ; but—ah, sirs, that but !—the remembrance of 
former beauties leaves a great void for the true lover 
of ‘flowers. Well may the possessors value them ! 
— TV. Wardill. 
Gold-laced Polyanthuses. 
I went to the show at the Drill Hall last week, hoping 
at least to see something to keep up the fame and the 
honour of Mr. Thurstan’s special favourite, but whether 
it was the untoward season, or the partial withdrawal of 
the prizes, or it may possibly be that the committee 
felt a little ashamed and wanted to show that there 
was an excuse for such action, certainly the poor 
little miserable things cut such a sorry figure that it 
was painful to look at them. Nay, I thought it an 
insult to the memory of what used to be one of the 
most brilliant of the spring garden flowers. I thought 
my friend “ R. D.” very unfeeling to hold up to ridi¬ 
cule what in years past he held in such great esteem, 
for whatever Mr. Thurstan may say, and whether 
“R. D.” is a florist or not, I will not pretend to say ; 
but the gold-laced Polyanthus of the past had not a 
more devoted worshipper. The thought struck me that 
if our friends would turn them out to grass for a season 
to restore their constitution, there might be a possi¬ 
bility of resuscitation, instead of the coddling process to 
which they appear to be subjected. Let those who 
have the true refined old strain consign them to somo 
country home where they could be planted in good 
maiden loam under the lee of a Gooseberry bush, and 
so be protected from the rays of the scorching sun 
during the summer season. They might and 
undoubtedly would recover their vitality. Then in 
the autumn lift and replant again in pure loam and 
leaf-soil where they would have the free breathing of 
the rural breezes. They would be so regenerated that 
they might again be found in form and brilliancy of 
lacing—a glory and a joy. 
I am hoping in a few days to take a pilgrimage to 
the garden of one of the most devoted lovers of the 
Polyanthus, who has recently passed away. I hope to 
be able to find not only the old standard varieties, but 
under the shade of his fruit trees where they were 
allowed to shed their seed, something even in advance 
of those so highly honoured by the old florists. It is 
to be hoped that the committee of the National and the 
Royal in their united wisdom may be able to arrange 
so that the time of the show may better suit the exhi¬ 
bitors of hardy-grown Primulas. They may be per¬ 
suaded to bloom at their own proper time, but to 
forcing they will not submit.— W. W. 
- » - ! -*- - 
TWO ANCIENT PEAR TREES. 
In a recent issue of The Garden an interesting account 
was published of the well-known Pear tree in Merrion 
Square, Dublin. In the Scottish capital we have also 
our notable Pear tree, or rather I should say trees, for 
there are two of them—Jargonelles—growing at the 
back of the residence, 31, George Square, and extending 
to the full height of the building, four storeys. I have 
endeavoured to trace their age, and the following are 
the facts I have gleaned. In 1801 the house was 
occupied by James Pringle, Esq., of Torwoodlee, and 
the trees were planted by his instructions about that 
period, so that they have well-nigh completed their 
century of growth. The lady who now occupies the 
house, and to whose courtesy I am indebted for the 
particulars I have stated, well remembers them carrying 
enormous crops—from 1,500 to 2,000 fruits each. 
They appear, however, to have suffered neglect, hence 
the small crops of recent years. There is happily 
plenty of vitality in them, and with decent treatment 
there is no reason why they should not bear heavily 
again. They are in fact showing a fair amount of 
blossom this year, ready to open when the clerk of the 
weather pleases to favour us with a touch of “balmy 
spring.” I ought to mention that the trees are planted 
in a sunk area, the surface of which is completely 
covered with Caithness pavement, with the exception 
of stone cisterns, 4 ft. by 2 ft,, in which they were 
probably originally placed .—David P. Laird. 
-» >x< -- 
COLLINSIA VERNA. 
The species of Collinsia generally are pretty annuals, 
but as the most of them come at a season when the 
garden is replete with flowers of all kinds, their indi¬ 
vidual merits are partly overlooked. By sowing in 
autumn, as occurs under natural conditions, C. verna 
flowers in spring, and of course, by growing in pots 
under glass it may be had in bloom during March or 
April, according to treatment. The two upper lobes of 
the corolla are white, and the three lower ones sky- 
blue. The lower lip is curiously constructed, and 
shows a close affinity with that of Schizanthus ; the 
middle lobe is boat shaped, and under normal conditions 
is closed or folded together, enclosing the stamens, and 
completely concealing them from view. "When an 
insect, such as a bee, alights on the highly coloured 
lower lip, and if sufficiently large to depress it, the 
middle lobe opens, and the style is the first object to 
come in contact with the visitor. If the insect has 
previously been visiting another flower, it will most 
likely be dusted with pollen, some of which would 
adhere to the stigma and so effect fertilisation. The 
anthers next come in contact with the insect, which 
would assuredly carry it to another flower. The style 
is much longer than the stamens surrounding it, and 
self fertilisation cannot therefore be effected. 
-- 
NOTES FROM SYDNEY, N.S.W. 
Our summer is now fast breaking up, and the breezes 
of autumn are making things lively amongst the crown 
and terminal buds of the “Mum.” It has been many 
years, I believe, since such a magnificent summer was 
experienced in these parts. Green food is plentiful 
everywhere, and the beef we get is fat, but at the same 
time not particularly tender. Our Australian beef, as 
we get it, rarely is ; what its condition is at your end of 
the world, after lying for six weeks in the refrigerating 
chambers of the P. & O. and Orient fleets, I know not. 
It is a fact, an undoubted one, that seldom do we 
recognise here anything in it approaching the celebrated 
roast beef of old England, though it has sprung from 
the same stock. Cattle here have but a sorry time of 
it, especially in the bush. When fit for market, stock 
