586 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
May 16, 1891. 
orange or sickly yellow flowers ; no shape, no beauty, 
that I can see, though I have known the flower-heads 
used effectually in harvest decorations. Still, they 
always remind me of the rosettes seen sometimes on 
horses’ heads, or of the favours worn at elections. 
The scent of the Marigold is not at all unpleasant ; 
it resides chiefly in the leaves and stalks ;" but the 
stickiness (doubtless a protection against undesirable 
insect visitors) of the common kinds makes the gather- 
ingof a posy a disagreeable operation. The juice has 
its virtues, for have we not in our pharmacopoeia 
“ Calendula,” of healing virtue to wounds of the skin ? 
Lastly, the name is a sweet reminder of the Blessed 
M oman to whom so many of our English flowers are 
dedicated, and in whose honour this sojourner bears its 
English name.— M. E. Pope, in Science Gossip. 
- -*»£<— - 
CROWN IMPERIALS. 
What a stately plant for the border the Crown 
Imperial is ! I recently saw some clumps in Messrs. 
Sutton & Sons’ Portland Nursery, at Reading, that 
had grown strongly and thrown up stout stems, bearing 
fine coronals of flowers, and I have seen them in old- 
fashioned gardens, in country cottage gardens espe¬ 
cially—clumps that have probably remained undisturbed 
for years, and that year after year flower in a right 
royal fashion. 11 is a flower that bears the stamp of 
majesty and power, it has a noble bearing, and it is 
brilliant in colour, whether the flowers be red or 
yellow. It has been in cultivation for many years in 
this country, for Shakespeare makes allusion to it in 
one of his plays. Botanically it is a Fritillaria, the 
most noble of the species included in the genus. The 
Eritillarias came mainly from the north, but they 
are widely dispersed, the head-quarters being in Europe 
and Asia Minor. With the exception of the ex¬ 
tremely eastern or western species all are quite hardy. 
The Crown Imperial is F. imperialis, and the 
common name is easily understood, from the fact of its 
specific name and coronal of flowers. All writers say 
that it blooms about March 18th, the day of St. 
Edward, King of the West Saxons, and they reasoned 
therefore that Nature honoured the day with a royal 
flower. 
When well grown, the Crown Imperial reaches to a 
height of from 3 ft. to 4 ft., and the coronal of flowers 
is surmounted by a tuft or crown of foliage. One of the 
poets has said of the Crown Imperial— 
“ The Lily’s height bespoke command, 
A fair imperial flower, 
She seemed designed for Flora’s hand, 
The sceptre of her power.” 
There are several varieties of the Crown Imperial. 
Among them is Aurora, the common Single Yellow, and 
a larger-flowered form known as Lutea maxima, and 
from these a pale sulphur-coloured variety has been 
obtained, and also an orange-coloured one. Then there 
is the Single Red, and a large-flowered variety also. 
The Crown-on-Crown varieties of the red and yellow 
are simply plants which have thrown up a fasciated 
stem, practically two stems joined in one, and this is 
sometimes crowned with two coronals of flowers. But 
a variety of this character cannot be depended upon to 
come true the following year. Staagsward, or the 
monstrous sword-stemmed Crown Imperial, is a variety 
of this type. Then there are the Double Yellow and 
the Double Red, with several more varieties differing 
but little from those already named, and some also 
with variegated foliage. In some bulb lists can be 
found the gold-striped Crown Imperial, but it is really 
a plant with gold-striped leaves, and not flowers of 
this character. 
The Crown Imperial will grow well in any good 
garden soil, and if it can be said to have preferences, 
it is for a deep loam. At the time of planting, the soil 
should be deeply trenched and well manured. The 
main supply of roots come from Holland ; they are 
largely grown in the bulb -fields of Haarlem, and 
received in this country about the month of August. 
They should be planted as soon as possible after they 
are received in this country, as they become weakened 
if left too long out of the ground. They should be 
planted two or three in a clump, and then left alone 
for years. When established they flower abundantly, 
and it is said that the stems should not be cut off, but 
allowed to decay naturally. To cut them away is to 
rob the plant of some of its strength. It has also 
been noticed that the bulbs flower better after a hot 
summer, the supposition being that they become well 
ripened after a hot, dry season. 
The bulbs possess a very foetid odour, which has 
been said to resemble that of a fox. They are power¬ 
fully acrid and poisonous, and it is said that the honey 
distilled from the flowers acts as an emetic. My last 
word is, on no account needlessly disturb the bulbs if 
a fine head of bloom is hoped for. They seldom flower 
satisfactorily for a year or two after being transplanted. 
— 11. I). 
-- 
SPRING FLOWERS IN A LAN¬ 
CASHIRE VALE. 
A School Board Field Club has been established in 
Manchester in connection with the evening classes 
conducted by the Board, with the intention of affording 
students opportunities of becoming acquainted with the 
natural features of their own immediate district by 
means of Saturday afternoon excursions under com¬ 
petent leaders. The first ramble of the new society 
took place on Saturday, May 2nd, and was attended by 
a goodly number. Entering Reddish Vale by the 
print works, they immediately expressed themselves 
surprised at the beautiful scene that met their view—a 
winding river with picturesque slopes well wooded, 
and, on an eminence overlooking all, and giving that 
charm which only an old ruin can give, the grey towers 
of Ardern’s ancient Hall, once a substantial and moated 
Elizabethan mansion, and probably dating from the 
latter part of the sixteenth century. 
Although the second of May, the country presented 
an aspect more suggestive of the winds of March, this 
being emphasized by the many Anemones and Wind¬ 
flowers that displayed their pretty petals upon the 
wooded slopes — 
“ The coy Anemone that ne’er uncloses 
Her leaves until they are blown on by the wind.” 
On the river banks the large sprays of the flower of the 
Butter-bur reigned supreme, rising from the ground 
like so many purple candelabra, whilst closely pressed 
to the soil were the bright green leaves, now small and 
horse-shoe shaped, like those of its near relation, the 
Coltsfoot, but eventually destined to become the large 
Rhubarb-like leaves that fringe our streams, and lend 
themselves so delightfully to the artist to adorn his 
foregrounds, so much so that one can scarcely imagine 
an English river-scape without them. The vividly 
green Dog’s Mercury, the bright yellow Lesser Celandine 
favoured by Wordsworth, and a solitary Violet com¬ 
pleted the herbaceous plants found in this part of the 
ramble, but perhaps it was compensated by the oppor¬ 
tunities which the trees presented for the study of their 
flowers and their opening leaf-buds. 
Outside of the professed botanists few seem to know 
that our forest trees bear flower at all, and still less 
that in many cases these flowers come before the leaves, 
and yet they may, by their colour and their abundance, 
give a distinct character to the landscape in the early 
spring. This was especially noticeable on Saturday. 
Viewed from a little distance, a group of tall Elms 
glowed purple with the plenteous blossoms ; the Alders 
by the river’s brim had the darkness of their branches 
masked by the tender russet of their blooms ; a line 
of sturdy, wide-spreading English Poplars—not the 
trim, artificial, and gaunt-looking Lombardy Poplars of 
our gardens—showed resplendent with their tassels of 
red and purple flowers ; and close by the bright yellow 
catkins of some of the Willows flashed out like a beam 
of golden sunshine. 
Under the shade of an old wall, and close to Ardern, 
was a fine bush of the wild Gooseberry, and whilst 
some of the party were closely examining the 
flowers, a cry of pleased surprise escaped the lips of 
one, and looking in the direction of his extended 
finger, there was a sight worth a long journey to see. 
Over the hedge was a meadow literally ablaze with 
the golden crowns of the Daffodil—not a solitary 
group; they were there by the hundreds. Is it not 
Charles Lamb who asks, “Is childhood dead? Is 
there not in the bosom of the wisest and the best 
some of the child’s heart left to respond to its earliest 
enchantment?” Verily on that Saturday afternoon 
there was, for just as children with a cry of delight 
rush to gather their treasured daisies and buttercups, 
so over hedge and under hedge the whole party rushed, 
to go down upon their knees, not so much to gather as 
to observe and admire the dainty beauty of these wild 
floral treasures growing in their native haunts, planted 
there by Nature’s own hand. Most of those present 
were students who had worked hard in the classes during 
the winter, learning something of the truths of science 
and of the beauties of art; but perchance it may have 
dawned upon them, as they looked at the Daffodils in 
Daffodil Meadow, that Nature is the true teacher, and 
that Juvenal spoke well when he said, “Nature and 
"Wisdom always say the same .”—Manchester City News. 
THE REV. G. HENSLOW ON 
POND LIFE. 
The Rev. G. Henslow, President of the Ealing Micro¬ 
scopical and Natural History Society, at a recent 
meeting said the subject of Pond life was a very wide 
one, and they might assume embraced both animals and 
vegetables. That wide subject had been selected for 
discussion that evening in the hope that many of the 
members of the society would have exhibited micro¬ 
scopical specimens bearing on it. It had always been 
the desire and aim of that society to encourage the 
members to make original observations, and to bring 
those observations before the members generally. It 
was sometimes difficult for beginners to know what 
to observe, and how to observe, and the object the 
society had in view in the original researches it sought 
to encourage, and in the publication of those researches, 
was to induce others to follow in the footsteps of the 
exhibitors. • Beginners in the study of science often 
thought, or used to think perhaps—the idea was dying 
out now—that when they had learned the names of a 
series of animals or plants they had acquired all that 
was necessary to know. He need hardly tell any 
member of that society that that was not the standard 
with which anyone seeking to acquire information on 
such matters ought to be contented. It would be far 
more important and useful to thoroughly understand 
the life-history of any one plant or animal than to 
have a mere acquaintance with the names of even 500. 
Names were unknown to Nature herself, and that was 
not a naming but an investigating society. 
Let the student take the life-history of some animal 
or plant, become fully conversant with its anatomy, 
and see how its functions were adapted to its parti¬ 
cular circumstances. That led him to a point about 
which he was busy now, and in reference to which he 
thought the members of that society could help him to 
a very great extent if they would. He was taking up 
the study of the action of environment upon plants, 
It was interesting to notice how plants changed in 
their constitution as soon as their circumstances were 
altered, and that was particularly so with pond plants. 
Some such plants died when taken out of water, but a 
very large proportion would grow upon land as well as 
in water, and would, perhaps, thrive even betten as 
land plants. When the two conditions of land and 
water plant life were studied, it was surprising what a 
difference was perceptible in the anatomical structure, 
as well as in the more visible parts of the plants. 
There was, as the members of that society might be 
aware, a little pond on the left-hand side of the road to 
Greenford, and that pond had supplied him with 
several specimen plants of this description. 
Professor Henslow showed to his audience illus¬ 
trations of the difference in the formation the leaves o 
the Water Crow-foot—which could be procured there— 
assumed when this pond was filled with water and 
when it was dried up (as it was last year). It adapted 
itself to its new conditions of existence. Though 
retaining the dissected, usually submerged, leaves, it 
altered their structure for an aerial existence. He 
had also been pursuing the study of the peculiarities of 
the same plant from Malta, which had a like power of 
regulating its existence either as a water or a land 
plant. In the case of the Malta specimens, the plants 
became, when the water was taken from them, indis¬ 
tinguishable from the ordinary mud form, no dissected 
leaves being produced at all. He had sown seeds of 
this particular Maltese plant both in mud and in water, 
and the plant showed that it had the power of pro¬ 
ducing what was wanted according to the circumstances 
of its existence either as a land or a water plant. 
He would further like to inquire what was 
The Origin of Dwarf Plants, 
and he asked his audience to make practical experi- 
ments in the direction of an attempt to establish a 
small race of a flower, a corn, or a vegetable, by 
selecting and sowing each year the smallest seeds or 
grains of any particular flower, plant, &c. There was 
scarcely a garden that did not produce dwarf varieties 
of flowers or plants, and gardeners by careful selection 
had been able to grow plants or flowers of small size. 
There was no doubt that gardeners as a body might 
afford botanists an enormous amount of information on 
this subject of the possible reduction to be achieved in 
the size of plants, as well as on other topics, if they 
would only record their observations; gardeners, 
however, were chiefly engaged in supplying the 
market, and were, it was to be feared, apt to be content 
with the result of an experiment or certain course of 
action, without troubling themselves greatly by an 
