22 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
September 8, 1888. 
The Florists' Laced Pinks. 
Bt Arthur R. Brown. 
It was with great pleasure that I read the articles on this 
flower by those noted florists, Mr. S. Barlow and Mr. J. 
Thurstan, in your issues of August 11th and September 
1st, and especially the reference to the reviving interest 
in this, which is one of the sweetest flowers in nature’s 
rich collection. The question that just now greatly 
interests Pink growers is “How can these lovely 
flowers be again brought back to their proper place 
among florists’ flowers ? ” "Well, I think one reason 
why Pinks are not more grown is that they are not 
sufficiently brought before the public when in flower, 
and 1 believe that if a National Pink Society were 
established on the same lines as the other special florists’ 
societies, we should soon see the flower cultivated in 
quantity again. I believe that an attempt was made 
to form such a society in 1884, but it fell through, 
owing to there not being enough exhibitors to make a 
show. Now, if only a small show were held at first, it 
would soon grow in the same way as the National 
Carnation and Picotee Society has done since it was 
started in 1877. It should be held the first year in con¬ 
junction with some other show, and even if there were 
only a few exhibitors the Pinks would be seen, and 
being seen, would sure to be adniired. The provincial 
show of the National Rose Society is usually held 
about the time when Pinks are in bloom, and if the 
consent of the committee of that society could be 
obtained that would be the best course to pursue. 
I am pleased to see that Mr. Thurstan has promised 
us his views on the properties of a good exhibition 
Pink, as the ignorance displayed on this subject is 
something astonishing. To give an instance of this, I 
exhibited a stand of Pinks at the Handsworth show 
this season, and nine out of every ten, not only of the 
visitors, but of the exhibitors also, thought they were 
another sort of Picotee. 
The Pink, Mrs. Dark, mentioned by Mr. Barlow, 
was raised by my late father about fifteen years ago, 
and is a fine bold flower, but is not equal to some of 
his late seedlings, not yet in commerce, and among 
which I may name Amy, which I believe Mr. 
Thurstan considers the finest Pink in cultivation. 
The other one, which Mr. Barlow calls Brown’s Double 
Red, has since been named Clipper, and is a very large 
full flower, but like Mrs. Dark, is inferior in size of 
petal to Amy, which has a large broad petal, well- 
continued to the crown, and is also of large size. The 
best twelve Pinks I have seen, which are in commerce 
at the present time, are Bertram (Turner), Boiard 
(Turner), Clipper (Brown), George Hodgkinson 
(Thurstan), Galopin (Turner), George White (Paul), 
Harry Hooper (Hooper), Mrs. Dark (Brown), Mrs. 
Thurstan (Thurstan), Ne Plus Ultra (Paxford), Shirley 
Hibberd (Turner), and Wm. Paul (Paul). 
Wm. Paul is very late, much later than the other 
varieties mentioned, and to show a stand of twelve at 
one time, I should substitute Emerald (Hooper) for 
that variety, and I believe there are other fine varieties 
of Mr. Thurston’s raising besides the two mentioned, 
but I have not had the pleasure of growing them.— 
Crompton Road, Handsworth, Birmingham, Sept. ith. 
*** In the last line of the first column of Mr. Thurstan’s 
letter in our last issue, the name of “John Harris” 
was inadvertently printed for that of “John Haines.” 
Dahlias at Bishop's Stortford. 
If anyone were to write a series of floricultural papers 
entitled “Florists at Home,” Mr. Henry Glasscock, of 
Rye Street, Bishop s Stortford, the hon. secretary and 
treasurer to the National Dahlia Show held at the 
Crystal Palace, should be the subject of one of them. 
Mr. Glasscock has been a florist for many years, making 
Dahlias his chief fancy. They are grown in a piece of 
ground fronting his residence, but on the other side of 
the roadway, and a little north-east of the town. The 
Dahlia garden is situated on a sunny slope, which is 
sheltered to some extent from north and westerly 
winds, and in a position favourable to the well-being 
of the plants. That Mr. Glasscock grows very fine 
blooms is known to all who have seen the flowers he 
stages at the various Dahlia exhibitions. The garden 
is surrounded by a low stone wall, and the soil appears 
to be a good loam, though rather stony. One remark¬ 
able feature about Mr. Glasscock’s Dahlias is their 
dwarfness of growth, and out of the 130 to 140 varieties 
of show and fancies he cultivates, scarcely one of them 
rises much above 4 ft. in height, the average being 
2 ft. to 2J ft. This dwarfness of habit is all the more 
noticeable in a season when there has been such a 
heavy rainfall that it has caused succulent plants like 
the Dahlia to grow with remarkable freedom. 
In taking a hasty look over the collection of Dahlias, 
the plants being wonderfully clean and healthy, I made 
a note of the following varieties as strikingly good. 
Nellie Cramond (Keynes & Co.), new of 1888, purple, 
shaded with cerise, a charming flower of high-class 
quality ; The Ameer (Keynes & Co.), new of 1888, dark 
maroon, shaded with purple, very fine and distinct, 
dwarf habit; Crimson King (Keynes & Co.), new of 
1887, rich crimson-scarlet, a good early-flowering 
variety ; Lustrous (Turner), new of 1888, deep bright 
scarlet, very promising, and likely to make an excellent 
show variety ; J. F. West (Rawlings), yellow, heavily 
tipped with purple ; a very constant and good variety ; 
King of Purples (Keynes & Co.), new of 1887, a flower 
of fine quality, having a bright flush of purple, distinct 
and very attractive ; Yictor (Keynes & Co.), new of 
1887, very fine, shaded crimson or dark maroon ; 
Royalty (Turner), new of 1888, bright yellow, tinged 
with rosy purple ; a fine flower, good petal and 
outline, highly promising; Mr. Gladstone (Hurst), 
very fine, Mr. Glasscock gets superb quality in this 
variety ; H. Glasscock (Rawlings), a fine glow of 
purple, large, and of good form ; Florence (Turner), 
bright golden yellow, an excellent addition to our 
yellow seifs ; Colonist (Keynes & Co.), new of 1887, a 
very distinct and most constant and useful flower ; Mr. 
George Rawlings (Rawlings), cream ground, suffused 
and edged with rosy pink ; a charming flower ; and 
Countess of Lonsdale, a lovely shade of pink, of the 
finest form, an old flower that appears to have gone to 
some extent out of cultivation, but a great favourite 
with Mr. Glasscock, and it must be admitted he grows 
it to perfection. 
Of fancy varieties, special mention must be made of 
the following: — Edmund Boston (Keynes & Co.), new 
of 1888, orange, heavily striped with crimson, very 
fine ; regarded by Mr. Glasscock as one of the finest 
fancies in the world ; Plutarch (Turner), new of 1888, 
buff ground, striped and splashed with crimson ; the 
wet season appears to have made this come some¬ 
what coarse ; Henry Eckford (Rawlings), yellow, 
striped with scarlet, very free and useful; and Valen¬ 
tine Humphrey (Humphrey), new of 1888, yellow 
ground, tipped with mauve, changing to silvery 
mauve, and striped with crimson ; a distinct and 
charming variety. 
Mr. Glasscock also grow T s a few Pompons, single 
Dahlias, and also varieties of the Cactus type. The 
following new varieties of Pompons were very good :— 
Grace (Keynes & Co.), bright cerise-salmon, a model 
flower and very pleasing ; J. Seult (Keynes & Co.), 
clear pale yellow, very good indeed ; and Janet, soft 
cerise, very pretty and pleasing. These are new varie¬ 
ties of the present year. Leila (Keynes & Co.), new of 
1887, reddish buff, tipped with white, is also a fine 
and charming variety. — R. D. 
Carnation, Mrs. Reynolds Hole. 
I am afraid that the bursting calyx, or what the florists 
term a “split pod,” is not merely an accidental, but a 
radical defect in this variety. How much a split pod 
detracts from the decorative value of a Carnation is 
seen by comparing it with one that does not possess 
this defect. Alas ! not a few of our finest Carnations 
and Picotees possess this defect; and the best course to 
follow is to place a tie of bast or a small india-rubber 
band round the pod when the blossom is nearly or 
quite half expanded. One of the disqualifications in 
the case of Carnations and Picotees set up by the florist 
is a “split” pod ; and as Mr. Dodwell states, in his 
book on the Carnation, “the reason impelling the 
disqualification of a flower exhibiting a split pod is, of 
course, to be found in the fact that were a split pod 
tolerated, its symmetry would be fatally impaired.” 
But it is evident that a split pod is not so strongly 
objected to on the exhibition stage as it formerly was, 
though it is a very serious defect indeed. The fact 
that a burst calyx has operated as a disqualification, has 
tended to make raisers cautious in crossing, so that in 
the case of new varieties the unsplit pod shall be a 
feature. Take the case ol a batch of ordinary seedlings 
of Carnations : when examined it will be found that a 
very large proportion of the flowers have split their 
pods in the act of expansion, and they, in consequence, 
present to view a very sorry and confused appearance ; 
and yet such strains are lauded up to the sky by 
writers in some of your contemporaries as if they were 
something of unlieard-of beauty ; the same writers 
having a little stab at the florist on account of what 
they deem his weak, formal, and artificially produced 
varieties. I think that in granting certificates of merit 
to new Carnations and Picotees, the split calyx should 
be regarded as a bad defect, and the flowers, otherwise 
good, remain uncertificated because of the presence of 
this defect.— R. D. 
OOOMBE WOOD NURSERY. 
On entering the nurseries of Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons 
at this place from the main London and Kingston road 
the first object of interest that greets the visitor is the 
grand avenue of Wellingtonia gigantea and Araucaria 
imbrieata, which are planted alternately with one 
another from the road to the brow of the hill that 
slopes downwards rather abruptly into a valley, which 
is wooded all round on the opposite sides beyond the 
nursery. The latter, therefore, occupies a piece of flat 
table land, the sunny slopes and the valley beneath. All 
the upper portion consists of light gravelly soil, while 
the valley is loam, peat, or clay, affording, therefore, 
a great variety of soils for the growth of a large number 
of subjects ; and the visitor is compelled to admit that 
every part is well occupied with something or other. 
Conifers. 
The trees constituting the avenue, of which we give an 
illustration, have been planted for about twenty years, 
and the Wellingtonias, all finely pyramidal trees, 
measure from 30 ft. to 40 ft. in height, overtopping 
the Araucarias, which grow more slowly, but are mostly 
fine trees, some 25 ft. or 30 ft. in height. Two other 
Conifers that thrive here after attaining a large size 
are Pinus excelsa and P. austriaca. There are also 
large quantities of young trees averaging from 2 ft. to 
4 ft. in height, the former variety being the taller 
and most rapid grower. Handsome trees are Abies 
brachyphylla and A. Yeitchii, especially the latter, the 
leaves of which are white on the underside, and 
owing to their curvature, the tree has a beautiful 
silvery appearance, especially when the sun shines upon 
it. There are specimens of many sizes up to 6 ft. or 
8 ft. Few can fail to admire the steel-blue colour of 
Picea pungens glauca, the leaves of which are shorter 
and stiffer than those of P. Englemanniana and its 
glaucous variety. Abies concolor violacea is a striking 
and distinct variety of that species, with a violet tinge 
to the foliage. The better-known species of Abies and 
Picea are grown in great abundance. The specimens of 
the Umbrella Pine, ranging from 2 ft. to 15 ft. in 
height, are worthy of inspection. The large one, that 
had been sent to an exhibition at Edinburgh some 
years ago, has now recovered itself, and has dark green 
foliage as healthy as any. The Retinosporas, including 
R. ericoides, R. plumosa aurea, and others, are grown 
in large numbers, and some carpet bedding worked out 
with these Conifers is very neat and effective. The 
varieties of Cupressus Lawsoniana are both numerous, 
rich, and varied in colouring. C. L. lutea is wholly of 
a bright yellow ; C. L. Allumiiis of erect habit, similar 
to C. L. erecta viridis, but is flatter on the sides, and 
of a deep glaucous colour; C. L. erecta alba spica has 
the branches very effectively tipped with white. Of 
the latter there is a dwarf form named C. L. alba spica 
nana. Altogether some eighteen distinct named 
varieties of C. Lawsoniana are grown. The young 
shoots of Larix leptolepa have scattered leaves 2 ins. to 
3 ins. in length, and with this may be classed Pseudo- 
larix Ksempferi, with curious fascicles of curved but 
flat leaves. 
Evergreen Shrubs and Trees. 
Yery fine evergreen Oaks are Quercus bambusaefolia 
and Q. acuta (Q. Beurgeri). The former has small, 
lance-shaped leaves, of a light green colour, while those 
of the latter are oblong, deep green, and shining, from 
4 ins. to 6 ins. in length, and li ins. to 2 ins. wide. 
Seeing that a tree here measures 12 ft. in height, and 
in vigorous health, it may be considered perfectly 
hardy. Q. cuspidata is also very fine, with bright 
green shining ovate leaves. Beautiful dwarf evergreen 
shrubs are Olearia Haastii, Phillyrea Yilmoriniana, 
Senecio eloeagnifolia (leaves rusty beneath), Daplini- 
phyllum glaucescens, with leaves like a large Rhodo¬ 
dendron, Andromeda japonica and Berberis illicifolia. 
The lower leaves of the latter are divided into three 
leaflets, which are finely serrated, while those on the 
upper portion of the shoots are ovate, with deep spiny 
teeth, resembling a Holly. It is dwarf, compact, 
bushy, and very dark green, and merits extended 
cultivation. Eucrypliia pinnatifolia, a Chilian shrub, 
belonging to the Rose family, and introduced in 18S0, 
is now one of the chief features of the shrubbery. The 
flowers are about the size of a single Rose, and pure 
white, but from the number of stamens might be 
called a white St. John’s Wort. When first introduced 
it was, indeed, classed in that family. The flowers 
are produced in great abundance, and are agreeably 
but not powerfully fragrant. The leaves are dark 
green, shilling, and divided into three or five leaflets. 
When better known it is destined to be largely planted. 
