592 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
May 18, 1889. 
ruit Prospects.— Whilst everybody seems 
just now prepared to offer congratulations 
upon the glorious bloom found on fruit trees, 
and especially upon Apple trees, we are pleased 
to learn that this wealth of bloom and beauty 
is not confined to one locality, but is very 
general, so that a big Apple crop seems 
singularly likely, and we trust will soon be 
found a certainty. There is now almost 
unwonted glory in the Apple bloom this 
year, for it is richer in colour; this may be 
due to the softer air which has prevailed 
during its expansion, than is ordinarily found, 
and the existence of which renders the 
fertility of the bloom so much more hopeful. 
We have learnt in past years, when colour 
seemed to be lacking, that such want was 
fatal to fertility. We believe that assertion 
to be based on truth, therefore all the more 
now look for good results this year. 
But more than that, the bloom is very fine, 
and apparently well supplied with pollen; 
this seems to be abundantly shown by the 
reports of its condition to hand. During the 
week the Apple bloom has been a glorious 
sight, such as no other flowering trees in 
bulk give, and it is a matter for hearty 
congratulation. Cherries of all kinds too 
have bloomed with wondrous profuseness, 
Plums moderately, and Pears generally sparsely, 
but on the whole the prospects of hardy 
fruit trees are excellent. With bush fruits 
there is ample reason to anticipate a very 
heavy crop, and this fact lends special 
interest to the proposed Sugar Bounties 
Convention, which if agreed to—as happily 
does not now seem probable—will inevitably 
double the price of sugar, and thus seriously 
affect the preserving trade. As for Straw¬ 
berries, only sunshine and absence of frost 
are needed to ensure a glorious bloom and a 
grand crop of fruit. 
TP oses at Paris.— The correspondent of the 
At Standard, in Paris, mentions that a grand 
collection of 5,000 Rose trees are planted 
at the great Exhibition there, and includes 
3,000 varieties. This will constitute a brilliant 
feature in connection with the Horticultural 
Show to be held in the grounds next July. 
Thereupon one of the Evening Standard leader 
writers assumes the British public will think 
that “ by comparison with our great growers”— 
rather a confused sentence—the 5,000 trees 
and 3,000 varieties do not overwhelm the 
imagination. Eor, says this critic, “why, there 
are 300 varieties in the catalogue of the local 
nurseryman anywhere, and 1,000 in those 
of any important firm.” Here this braggadocio 
Britisher rushes headlong to the conclusion 
that every different firm of Rose growers offers 
for sale different varieties from the rest, and 
thus accumulates as many thousands as there 
are but hundreds of sorts in cultivation. 
We are disposed to think that to a vast 
body of the public who have hitherto been 
shut out from the Rose nurseries of the 
great English growers, 5,000 Rose trees in 
bloom at once, and including 3,000 varieties 
(we accept even that trifling number with 
due reservation), will present an unwonted 
and attractive spectacle. However, it will 
doubtless surprise even the most ignorant of 
their craft to find after all how like each other 
wdl he myriads of these so-called varieties. 
But the leader writer in delightful confusion 
asserts at once that the art of Rose-growing 
is so well understood in France that each kind 
will be assuredly distinct and yet adds, “it 
would puzzle the most ingenious to name 
3,000 real distinct Roses.” In that view we 
agree, but not in the former one. There are 
in France, it is said, “scores of the loveliest 
varieties in common growth of which we 
know nothing—especially the nurseiymen.” 
That is a slap in curious English at our home 
growers, but they are not quite such fools as 
the writer assumes. He asserts that the fine 
old Rosa rugosa is rare in England. So much 
for the knowledge concerning Roses of a daily 
leader writer. 
how Plants at Slough.— We were specially 
favoured in dropping into the Royal 
Nursery, Slough, just previous to the Crystal 
Palace show, in finding the truly grand 
collections of Azaleas and Pelargoniums 
intended for that and the Botanic exhibitions 
at their very best. Rot only did the 
specimens display all that fine culture and 
training for which the establishment has so 
long been famous, but they possessed in this 
case peculiar freshness and beauty, because 
seen ere being in any way disturbed. One 
big cool house which contained the Azaleas 
was indeed a remarkable sight; one of 
similar dimensions has rarely shown at once 
more colour, and more of perfect development 
in trained form has rarely been seen. 
The big specimens brought to mind those 
wonderful plants which proved so marked a 
feature at the International show of 1866, an 
exhibition the like of which it is to be feared 
we may never look upon again. The Pelar¬ 
goniums also seemed to present evidence of 
the revival of taste as well as of skill in 
their production, and yet the same practised 
hand has had control of these fine show plants 
for the past thirty years. Here at least 
is evidence that age does not always dim the 
eye or dull the skill Avhieh creates such 
remarkable specimens. All forward plants 
are in a cool house ; all less early are 
enjoying a little more of warmth to have 
them well up to the mark for the pending 
exhibitions. It is indeed pleasant to find 
Charles Turner’s old reputation as an exhibitor 
being thus fully sustained by his successors. 
old-laced Poltanthuses.— It is an exceed¬ 
ingly interesting fact that following so 
soon upon our recent wail over the apparent 
decadence of gold-laced Polyanthuses, we 
should learn of a remarkably 7 good batch of 
seedlings growing at Woodside, Farnliam 
Royal. Mr. James brought a box of flowers 
of his selected seedlings up to the West¬ 
minster Drill Hall, on the occasion of the 
Auricula Show, and they elicited high praise. 
We saw the plants growing out in the open 
ground at Woodside the other day 7 , and found 
a batch of high merit, not a few showing 
qualities which seemed to put them on a 
par with our best named varieties. When 
gold-laced Polyanthuses, growing in the open 
ground and in a stiff harsh clayey 7 soil, 
produce pips of fine form and very perfect 
markings, there is good reason to hope that, 
cultivated in pots another year, the markings 
will be even more refined and the colouring 
more pure. 
Amongst the batch we noted two or 
three very striking red grounds, one more 
especially, a robust grower, showing a 
very rich and brilliant colour which was 
permanent; but out of the lot it was not 
difficult to pick a dozen diverse and yet all 
apparently first-rate. Such success has been 
the product of several years’ breeding on, 
rather from an old strain than from the 
infusion of high-class blood, and therefore 
there is in the plants robustness of habit also. 
The product is interesting as showing that it 
is possible to raise fine new gold-laced 
Polyanthuses after all. When under pot 
culture we find the plants prefer rich soil of 
a somewhat firm nature, with limited pot 
room, as tending to produce the most refined 
flowers. 
-- 
Gardening Engagement.—Mr. Thomas Greenway, 
late foreman in the gardens of the Hon. F. Leveson 
Gower, at Holmbury, Dorking, as gardener to Mrs. 
Clive, Perrystone Court, Ross, Herefordshire. 
Eccles, Patricroft, Pendleton and District Chry¬ 
santhemum Show.—The dates fixed for holding this 
annual Chrysanthemum show are the loth and 16th 
November. 
Birkenhead's Beetle Trap. —Since Messrs. W. k J. 
Birkenhead, of Sale, near Manchester, introduced 
their beetle and cockroach trap about three years ago, 
it has remained unbeaten for simplicity, durability and 
effectiveness as a beetle catcher, and has received high 
praise from all who have had occasion to use it. The 
Messrs. Birkenhead have, however, succeeded in im¬ 
proving it by making the trap even more simple still. 
The improved form is simply a pitch-pine box 9 ins. 
long, 5| ins. wide and 4 ins. deep, with a groove on the 
top of the side pieces, into which is dropped the glass 
top, moulded in one piece and dipping from all sides, 
with a convex surface, to an opening in the centre 
3 ins. long and f in. wide. It is impossible to make 
anything more simple. 
Pyrus spectabilis.—Trees of this Pyrus, ranging 
from 8 ft. to 30 ft. in height, constitute beautiful ob- 
-jects, whether planted on the lawn, or in the pleasure 
grounds. The flowers are most abundantly produced 
in stalkless, many-flowered umbels during the month 
of May, and while in bud are of a deep rose or red 
colour. After expansion they are seen to be semi-double, 
and of a pale rose and white internally. The fruit, 
when it ripens in this country, is about the size of a 
Morello Cherry, and bright red, so that whether in 
flower or fruit, this Pyrus or Crab Apple constitutes an 
ornamental tree that ought to be more largely planted, 
so as to diversify the landscape where there is an 
inclination to plant the evergreen Conifers too largely, 
to the exclusion of showy or handsome deciduous 
subjects. We noted a fine specimen of the Pyrus in 
question in the pleasure grounds at Gunnersbury 
House, Acton. 
Eucliaris Sanderiana. — Owing probably to the 
ravages of the Eucharis mite, this species has not 
increased at a rate proportionate to the expectations 
that were entertained of it when first introduced. The 
flowers are rather smaller than those of E. grandiflora, 
very freely produced, and for these reasons are very 
suitable for cut-flower purposes, where the older and 
better known species would prove too large. The special 
characteristic of this species is the shortness of the 
staminal corona, which scarcely projects beyond the 
tube of the flower. The leaves are more distinctly ribbed 
after the manner of a Funkia than the other species. 
We noted a large batch of it in the Pine Apple Nursery 
of Messrs. Hooper k Co., Maida Yale. 
Cypripedium Godefroyae var. Jlarite.—The Revue 
de VHorticulture Beige gives a beautifully-coloured 
figure of a Cypripedium under the above name. In 
this country it would be classed as a variety of C. 
bellatulum, and shows a tendency towards C. b. roseum, 
the ground colour of the standard being rose. The 
distinction, however, lies in the spotting of the latter 
organ ; the blotches run together in masses and 
irregular lines, forming a rich reticulation of blood-red 
on a rose-coloured ground. On the petals are suffused 
masses of small rose-coloured spots, such as we occa¬ 
sionally find on well-coloured forms of C. bellatulum 
in this country ; but although we usually speak of the 
latter as a distinct species, we never entertained any 
doubt as to its being merely a fine form of C. Godefroy®. 
Another feature of interest about C. Godefroyse and its 
forms is the shortness of the peduncle. It is also 
claimed as a mark of distinction for C. Godefroy® 
Mari® that the petals are bilobed near the apex, but 
whether this character will prove permanent seems to 
us a matter that remains to be proved. 
Saxifraga sarmentosa tricolor superba. — The 
typical form of this plant is a native of China and 
Japan, from whence it was introduced to the Continent 
in 1771, and to Britain in 1815. It soon obtained a 
wide-spread popularity, both on the Continent and in 
this country, where it has been one of the most 
common window plants, even in remote country villages 
and farm-houses, ever since we can remember. As an 
instance of its wide-spread popularity, we may refer to 
the numerous popular names given to it. One of the 
most common is Mother of Thousands, and according to 
the Revue de l’Horticulture Beige, it is known on the 
Continent under the French name of Mere de famillc, 
and the Flemish one of Mcederkcn van duizend kindern, 
all of which mean nearly the same thing, and refer to 
the habit of reproducing itself by small rosettes de¬ 
veloped on runners, much in the same manner as the 
Strawberry does. There is a handsome coloured plate 
of the variety under notice in the Revue already 
mentioned for this month. In the centre of the leaf is 
a large, lobed, green blotch, while all the rest is rose, 
or white suffused with rose, which again often deepens 
into a deep carmine. The edges of the palest leaves are 
often surrounded with a narrow band of carmine. The 
plant is already grown in this country, and is very 
beautiful. 
