May 16, 1891. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
585 
time.” Several other subjects were also exhibited as 
new to the island. A group of plants was shown by 
Mr. W. J. Thompson, of the Botanic Garden, amongst 
which was a noble specimen of Cyathea Serra, a native 
of the West Indies, standing 10 ft. high, and 15 ft. in 
diameter. Both of the above-named exhibitors are old 
Kew men, and only left to take charge of their respon¬ 
sible positions in Jamaica a few years ago. 
Superintendent for the London Parks. — At the 
meeting of the County Council on Tuesday the General 
Purposes Committee recommended the Council to 
offer £700 a year as salary for a new superintendent of 
parks and open spaces, to be the head of a sub-depart¬ 
ment of the Council. Mr. Hubbard said this looked like 
making a post for somebody, and he moved that the 
recommendation should go back to the committee. Mr. 
Saunders seconded. Mr. John Burns said there was 
no need for the proposed office. The work was well 
done already by the various superintendents of the 
parks in conjunction with the Parks Committee. He 
believed this was a post which was being made for a 
gentleman who had not yet appeared on the scene. 
The post had been advertised at £500, and none of 
the candidates had been considered suitable ! The 
amendment was carried by 45 votes to 34. 
-- 
THE VIOLET. 
I HAVE been much interested in what has been pub¬ 
lished lately in your columns about the Violet, and 
thank the writer for the sound, practical advice given 
on its culture. Reading an old magazine the other day 
I came across the following, which may interest others 
as it did myself: “Although this favourite little 
flower has given its name to one of the primary colours, 
we must not imagine that the Violet'is always of a violet 
hue; it is often blue, purple, lilac or white. The Viola 
tricolor indeed is partly yellow. The flowers were 
formerly considered pectoral— i.e., useful in diseases of 
the chest—but the supposed virtues of the whole class 
of pectoral medicines have vanished before the severe 
medical criticism of the last fifty years, and at the present 
day the petals of the Violet are never prescribed by 
educated practitioners. The root of the Violet, how¬ 
ever, is an emetic, and may be useful as a domestic 
remedy in country practice. The dose is forty grains. 
The infusion of Violets is one of the most delicate 
tests of the presence of acids and alkalies ; the former 
changes its colour to red, the latter to green. Accord¬ 
ing to Lightfoot, the Highland ladies of former times 
used the Violet as a cosmetic, the old Gaelic recipe 
being, ‘ Anoint thy face with goats’ milk in which 
Violets have been infused, and there is not a young 
prince upon earth who will not be charmed with thy 
beauty.’ ” — J. Lofthouse , Gardener, Bilton House, 
Harrogate. 
-« >X< — 
MESSRS. VEITOH’S NURSERY, 
CHELSEA. 
With the return of a clearer sky and more genial 
weather the Orchids have picked up wonderfully, and 
there is now a very attractive display in the cool house. 
Odontoglossums are particularly numerous both in 
quantity and kind. We noted many good forms 
amongst O. crispum, with round flowers and over¬ 
lapping segments. O. luteo-purpureum bore fifteen 
flowers on a spike, and of its variety, Sceptrum, a very 
dark-flowered form was observable. The square lip 
and large flowers of O. Lehmanni were very bold. All 
over the stages, in profusion and variety, were long, 
arching racemes of 0. triumphans, 0. hastilabium, 0. 
odoratum, 0. polyxanthum, and shorter racemes of 0. 
inaculatum, 0. cordatum, 0. Cervantesii, 0. Rossii 
majus, and 0. Harryanum. The petals of the latter 
spread widely, and were curiously marbled with longi¬ 
tudinal and transverse yellow markings on a chocolate 
ground. Suspended from the roof were numerous 
pieces of the beautiful, clear yellow Oncidium concolor, 
offering a marked contrast to Oncidium retusum, with 
its dark scarlet flowers. Several Masdevallias were 
also flowering here, including M. Veitchii, M. Chelsoni, 
M. Shuttleworthii and M. S. xanthocorys. 
Some one or other of the Cypripediums are always 
in flower, and at present they are numerous, including 
C. Argus, C. Lawrenceanum, C. Lowii, C. Haynaldianum, 
C. selligerum majus, Mrs. Canham, C. Stonei, and C. 
barbatum Warneri. Some of them showed beautifully- 
marked flowers. A few of the Dendrobiums were 
flowering alongside of the Cypripediums, and included 
a fine bit of D. Jamesianum and the beautiful D. 
euosmum leueopterum, which had a large purple 
blotch in the throat. Dark-flowered varieties of Pha- 
laenopsis Luddemanniana were suspended from the 
roof, and the large flowers of P. grandiflora had much- 
imbricated segments. 
The show house for Orchids, which is ornamented 
with tufa rockwork, is always an interesting place, and 
at present contains Lycaste Skinneri alba, L. gigantea, 
L. Lawrenceana, dark Sobralia macrantha, the hybrid 
Epidendrum O’Brienianum, and the by no means 
common Cymbidium Devonianum. A fine piece of Den- 
drobium thyrsiflorum bore fourteen pendulous racemes 
of orange and white flowers. Harpophyllum giganteum 
has been flowering for weeks past, and is still fine. 
Good old subjects are Calanthe veratrifolia, Oncidium 
phymatochilum and Odontoglossum citrosmum. A 
goodly array of Dendrobiums were flowering here, 
including D. Brymerianum with the fringed lip, also 
D. transparens, D. cretaceum, D. suavissimum, and 
a glorious bit of D. Cambridgeanum growing on a 
branching piece of a tree. The latter species retains 
its leaves during the flowering period, which shows a 
marked improvement, therefore, over those having 
naked stems. Leading off from this house is another, 
in which a large tank has been constructed for the 
culture of Water Lilies. Tufa rockwork has been 
placed around the tank, and Ferns planted in it. 
The Cattleya-house is now gay with about 500— 
600 blooms of Cattleyas and Lselias. C. Mendelii is 
in great force, as well as C. Schroderse, of which there 
is a wonderful amount of variety, some having an 
undulated lip of unusual size, with a large orange 
blotch in the throat. C. Warneri is also flowering and 
C. Mossi® has just commenced. Laelia purpurata is 
now the glory of the season, and exists here in many 
fine forms, with a richly coloured lip. Amongst others 
was L. p. Russelliana. 
A hou.eful of Anthur.um Scheiz ianum i now a 
fine sight, as it has been for weeks past. There is a 
considerable amount of variety amongst the spathes. 
In another house is A. S. atropurpurea, A. Roths- 
childianum with its crushed-strawberry coloured 
spathes, and A. Makoyanum, with corrugated, scarlet 
spathes. Some of the newer Caladiums in another 
house are now assuming their rich and glowing colours. 
C. La Lorraine has small, deep red leaves ; Charle¬ 
magne has large red ones ; those of Raymond Lemonier 
are red with a pale greenish yellow margin ; L’Automne 
is pale green with pink spots ; and Imbert Koechlin 
has deep red spots. The leaves of Baronne James de 
Rothschild are of a soft salmon ; those of Mrs. Harry 
Veitch are deep carmine and bold ; Argyrites hardly 
needs description ; and Minus Erubescens, with its small 
leaves and dark red centre, is equally useful as the last 
for decorative purposes. 
Amongst the Palms are useful decorative specimens 
of Cocos Weddelliana, Geonoma gracilis, Rhapis humilis 
Phcenix rupicola, and Livistona rotundifolia, beautiful 
plants about 1 ft. high, and bearing eight to ten leaves. 
Dracaena Doucetti is also valuable for decorative work. 
The show house is now gay with a profusion of both 
soft and hard-wooded plants, including many fragrant 
kinds which make the house redolent with their 
perfume. Of soft-wooded sorts we noticed Spiraea 
astilboides, S. palmata purpurea, double dwarf 
Tropseolum, Harrison’s Musk, Rhodanthe maculata, 
Rochea jasminea, and the variegated Eulalia japonica 
variegata. Azalea Vervaeneana is a useful kind, with 
very fine semi-double pink and white flowers blotched 
with red. 
Heaths are both numerous and fine, including Erica 
Cavendis’niana, E. hybrida, with soft red tubular 
flowers ; E. hirsuta alba, white ; E. Spenseriana, pale 
purple with a white mouth ; E. perspicua erecta, E. 
persoluta alba, E. ventricosa magnifies, and others. 
Other houses are also attractive with Rhododendron 
Veitchii, A. Fosteriana, Leschenaultia biloba major, 
Boronia heterophylla, B. tetrandra, Pimelea spectabilis, 
and many other old-fashioned New Holland Plants of 
great decorative beauty. 
-- 
CANNA INDICA. 
Since the Cannas were first tried as bedding plants in 
this country, greatly improved varieties have been 
raised, both in respect to the foliage and the size and 
beauty of the flowers, but more especially with respect 
to the dwarf habit of the plant itself. They then be¬ 
come amenable to cultivation in pots and can be used 
for greenhouse or conservatory decoration. Add to this 
their beauty as bedding plants, and we may justly feel 
surprised that their use has been so limited in this 
country compared with that on the Continent. The 
large fleshy rhizomes require only to be kept cool and 
dry in a greenhouse temperature during winter, to be 
broken up in spring, potted up and placed in a warm 
pit to start them. 
Then if the plants are intended for indoor work, 
all that is necessary is to shift them into larg -r-sized 
pots and supply them with an abundance of water. 
For outdoor work the pieces may be put at once into 
32-size pots, started in a pit, then well hardened off and 
finally planted in the open ground when the weather 
becomes suitably mild. The hardening off is important, 
as the foliage is otherwise liable to suffer either from 
sun or wind if suddenly placed in full exposure. The 
illustration accompanying this shows the habit of the 
plant just as the foliage attains perfection. 
-.*$*-- 
CONCERNING MARIGOLDS. 
It is curious to notice the tendency of late years 
towards the planting of yellow or orange flowers in 
English gardens. A railway journey round any London 
suburb will illustrate this : the little back gardens in 
the dingier streets are often ablaze with Sunflowers, 
and cottage gardens in purer air follow suit. The 
Marigold, under one or other of its varieties, seems to 
be an especial favourite, and that not in our own 
country alone. Cross to France and you will find the 
common one figuring as a pot-herb, and its petals 
introduced under the name of “soucis” into your 
soup. In the Channel Isles the same use is made of it, 
and it is so nearly wild as to be seen growing in waste 
places by the roadsides, while children make wreaths 
of the flowers to adorn the “ cheap tripper ” as he rides 
in the “ cars ’’ round the island. It is a pity that such 
a flower should be so vulgarised. 
But truth to tell, it has a certain tendency towards 
gaudiness, a sort of rollicking behaviour, arising from 
its rapid growth and sprawling habit (I speak of the 
common juicy kinds), which causes one to banish it 
from one’s choicest flower-beds, and to relegate it to 
the shrubbery or to the kitchen garden. It has some 
tendency to become a weed, and is treated as such. 
But for getting rapidly a blaze of colour with plenty of 
luscious green to back it up, for covering square yards 
of unsightly soil or rubbish-heap, commend me to our 
friend Marigold. It is sensitive to light, like many of 
its comrades in the great Composite family, and ere the 
dew falls shuts its yellow eyes, as if it were a magnified, 
glorified Daisy. 
One variety which is now before me, seems to illus¬ 
trate Mr. Grant Allen’s theory of the development of 
colour, for its ray-florets—the outer circle—besides 
doubling or semi-sterilising themselves, have attained 
a broad stripe of yellowish white up each strap-shaped 
corolla, the original orange being relegated to a tiny 
margin up each side, producing in the whole flower- 
head the prettiest effect. An even more refined mem¬ 
ber of the genus is the little French Marigold with its 
stiff, slender branching stem and delicate, strongly- 
scented, pinnate leaves. This kind seems to be aiming 
at a further stage in colouring, for it is striped with 
dark brown, which, I take it, is only red overlaid with 
orange. Sometimes the disc-florets of the common 
kinds take on this brown velvety tint, as if they were 
aping their big kinsfolk, the Sunflowers. 
Side by side with these tiny flowers gardeners have 
produced those huge, unwieldy, double Marigolds, 
which send up a juicy stem — admirable pasture for 
slugs and snails—crowned with a solid mass of glaring 
