624 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
June 1, 1889. 
rooted for the next month at least. Very 
likely we shall hear of precociously heavy grass 
crops being laid, but on less fertile soils the 
recent rain should make the swathes heavy. 
The soil generally is now getting well covered 
with vegetation. Peas, Beans, Potatos, and all 
other crops are rapidly developing and affording 
some shade to the soil, so that drought can 
hardly now he feared by anyone. 
quilegias.— It is difficult to find any hardy 
border plants which exhibit more grace 
and elegance than Aquilegias. The plants 
have a very pleasing habit, as their broad and 
handsome foliage forms to each plant a graceful 
base, from out of which the stout flower-stems 
rise to a desirable height, and when these are 
laden with some of the charming flowers of 
which Aquilegias of all kinds produce, we have 
lovely plants indeed. Many of the common 
garden forms are pleasing, and they also give a 
quaint variety of colouring. The hybrid 
forms which have grown out of crossing garden 
varieties with species, are more robust and 
beautiful, and beyond these come the species, 
such as Chrysantha, Coerulea, fSkinneri, &c., 
with their hybrids, which are of all the most 
charming. 
There is a peculiar grace about the long- 
spurred flowers of Aquilegias which bring them 
nearer to Orchids in quaint beauty than is 
found in other hardy flowers. The beautiful 
but somewhat sparse-flowering Glandulosa, 
although almost spurless, is held in very high 
esteem, but we regard Coerulea as perhaps the 
loveliest of all the family. It comes inter¬ 
mediate between Glandulosa and the canary- 
flowered Chrysantha in habit, and is none too 
robust, but is a very free bloomer and seeder, 
and a stock of it may, therefore, be readily 
maintained. We should like to see Aquilegias, 
and especially all the long-spurred kinds, more 
widely grown in gardens. Ladies we find 
invariably admire them greatly, as, indeed, it 
would he very difficult for anyone to do other¬ 
wise. The plants seem to favour almost any 
soil, are very easily raised, and once existent 
will endure for some years. 
ulips. —That admirable home grower of 
bulbs, Mr. Walker, of Whitton, seems 
to be of opinion that bulb roots for sale 
may be produced as finely in this country 
as in Holland. The matter is one well worthy 
the attention of bulb fanciers of all kinds, 
because we may well have some regard for 
our own products, whenever they prove to 
be as good all round as are those of other 
countries. Whether we can grow bulbs as 
cheaply as we can purchase them in Holland 
is a matter open to considerable doubt, but 
at least, Mr. Walker, who seems to have 
found admirable soil for bulb culture at Ham, 
just beyond Richmond, Surrey, is competent 
to give an opinion on the matter. 
We have been informed that one great 
drawback to the production of Dutch Tulip 
bulbs here (and by Dutch bulbs we refer 
chiefly to the numerous single and double 
early kinds so commonly termed), is that 
the skins split or burst, and show the white 
flesh of the roots. That fact, if it be true, 
would suffice to materially discount the value 
of the bulbs in the market, even though they 
may grow ever so well. Late Tulips, and 
evidently the Parrot kinds, seem free from 
that defect when grown at home, and if, as 
stated on Mr. Walker’s authority, they really 
produce finer blooms than do Dutch-raised 
roots, then English bulbs, if fine and clean, 
should meet with ready sale. After all, it 
becomes really a question of cost, and unless 
we can produce fine Tulip bulbs as cheaply 
as the Dutch can, our aspirations must be 
limited indeed. 
lood Showers. —A newspaper reports as a 
sort of local wonder that recently a 
shower of rain fell in a country district 
which was so suffused with red colour as to 
bear the construction of being a shower of 
blood. We have heard of these wonderful 
things before, and, indeed, have often seen 
after showers that a sulphureous aspect has 
been given to their deposits, but then 
anyone acquainted with the nature of pollen 
when abundant on trees, was enabled to 
elucidate satisfactorily the nature of the 
phenomenon. Our country friends who have 
been so alarmed at the blood shower that 
they have prognosticated all sorts of coming 
ills, may take heart of grace that the visitation 
has been but a natural shower of water 
coloured by pollen of a reddish colour which 
happened to be just then abundant in the 
air, and was brought to earth by the falling 
rain. 
^The Strawberries.—I t is a pleasing fact 
^ that Strawberry plants this year have 
not only bloomed with almost marvellous 
profuseness, but that the plants are very 
strong and full of luxuriant foliage. Then, 
during the blooming period, whilst there 
has been remarkably warm sunny weather, 
there has not been the least frost; indeed, 
the whole of May was marked by an entire 
absence of frost. The prospect of a really 
grand crop of Strawberries therefore seems 
assured. But there are two dangers, the first 
of which is that the wondrous profusion of 
fruit set may materially deteriorate from the 
fineness of the whole crop—most certainly a 
misfortune, and one which may, in a small 
way, be avoided by judicious thinning; the 
other is the possibility of a wet ripening 
time, such as prevailed last year. The latter 
evil we earnestly hope will not befal us. 
-->Xo- 
Rose Show at the Alexandra Palace.—We under¬ 
stand that a Rose show will be held at the Alexandra 
Palace early in July, of which particulars will shortly 
be announced. 
Norton Pansy Club.—The fourth annual exhibition 
of Pansies and other flowers promoted hy this club will 
be held in the large Hall at King’s Norton, near 
Birmingham, on Whit-Monday, June 10th, and the 
secretary, Mr. R. Austin, Woodfield Road, King’s 
Heath, will he glad to receive entries from growers 
outside the district in which the show is held. 
The Order of the Netherland Lion.—We learn 
from Haarlem that His Majesty the King of the Nether¬ 
lands, at the celebration of his reign of forty years, 
honoured Mr. J. H. Krelage with the Cross of Knight 
of the Order of the Netherland Lion. 
The Lord Mayor at Swanley.—On Saturday last the 
Lord and Lady Mayoress, accompanied by a number of 
ladies and gentlemen, paid a visit to Messrs. H. 
Cannell & Sons’ Nursery at Swanley, and were highly 
delighted with the superb display of flowers now to be 
seen there. The Lord and Lady Mayoress on leaving 
thanked Mr. Cannell, senr., most warmly, com¬ 
plimented his firm on the lovely display of flowers 
shown to their visitors, and expressed their determina¬ 
tion to repeat their visit the first opportunity. 
The Thousand-headed Kale.—The death is announced 
of Mr. Robert Russell, of Horton Kirby, Kent, at the 
ripe old age of four-score years. Mr. Russell was a 
famous breeder of Hampshire Down sheep, and for 
many years enthusiastically promoted the cultivation 
of the Thousand-headed Kale, which has proved in the 
south of England such a valuable crop for the winter 
and spring feed of sheep. 
Seedsmen’s Enemies. — “A Cork Seedsman ” 
writes :—“ The greatest enemies the seedsman has, and 
which lose him many customers, are slugs and snails. 
I would suggest their destruction in this way : Brewers’ 
grains (full of sugary matter) should be put down under 
an ordinary deal floor-board, tilted on one edge, with 
some moss put over the grains. In this way you 
provide for the invading hosts a rich and attractive 
repast—so rich, in fact, that the moss and board 
become a place of seclusion after the night’s debauch, 
and there they remain, generally adhering to the board, 
and are easily captured. A few nights’ entertainment 
of this kind will generally result in great slaughter.” 
The Production of Seeds on the Pacific Coast.— 
The seed trade, says th 6 Society of Arts Journal, appears 
to be destined to a very great expansion in California 
at a not very distant period. In the single county of 
Santa Clara, not less than 1,200 acres are now devoted 
to the production of garden seeds. Over 60,000 lhs. of 
Lettuce seed, and 120,000 lbs. of Onion seed, have been 
shipped east from these grounds in a single season. In 
other counties a quite important business has been 
developed in the production of Clover seed, Beans, and 
Peas, for the supply of distant markets. Whilst that 
State may not secure the monopoly of the seed business 
because good seeds are grown in the Atlantic States, 
the rapid increase of business in California indicates 
that one at least of the great centres of the seed business 
is to be in this State. 
A Floral Car.—The flower trade of New York was 
represented in the grand civic parade at Centennial 
by Messrs. Siebrecht & Wadley, who had a beautifully 
decorated vehicle, representing Flora’s Car. It was a 
very large truck drawn by four white horses. Each 
horse was attended by a man on foot leading it with 
a rope of Roses. The harness was trimmed with 
Smilax, and each horse wore a green saddle cloth 
trimmed with flowers. In the front of the vehicle was 
the Goddess Flora, her arm resting on a huge cornu¬ 
copia filled with choice Roses. Behind her was a 
superb specimen Thrinax, and on either side of this a 
huge tree Fern. Wires extending from one tree to 
another were hung with Orchids. In the centre was a 
formal little bed of Cacti; on either side were banks of 
Palms and flowering plants. A Japanese stood in the 
rear grafting a Camellia ; an Indian was standing on 
the other side holding an Orchid ; two girls in fancy 
costume sat in the waggon holding huge bouquets and 
baskets of loose flowers, which they threw out into the 
crowd. The vehicle was escorted by marching spear¬ 
men and outriders .—American Florist. 
Floricultural Joe Millers.—I have read a good 
many humorous sayings, and the witty things which 
used to pass current 60 or 80, or 100 years ago, of 
well-known wits, and I say that from many of our 
humble Lancashire florists I have heard more wit 
and more genuine humour than there is to he found 
in Joe Miller or every jest book that I have read. 
I will give one example as an instance. It is not quite 
“garden gossip,” but it is nearly allied to it. In 
August, 1851, I went to the Glodwick (near Oldham) 
Gooseberry Show. I went rather early in the afternoon 
because I wanted to have a look round. There were a 
number of men sitting in the house with glasses of beer 
before them, and all of them listening somewhat 
intently to a man who was relating a terrible experience 
he had had of a railway accident, which happened in 
the month of May of the same year, in Frodsham 
Tunnel, to a train coming from the Chester Races. He 
evidently interested his listeners very much, as some 
of them interrupted him with ejaculations, such as “It 
must have been terrible, though,” and so on ; and the 
man wound up by saying—“Aye, I’se never forget it, 
I con assure yo’, I’ve never bin reet sin’,” and went 
out ; when an old man, who hitherto had said nothing 
at all, said, “ Well, I dunno’ kno’ whot he’s been sin’, 
for this is the fost toime I’ve seen him, but I kno’ he 
never wor reet afore.” Now I think it would be diffi¬ 
cult to improve upon that, because it was quite natural; 
it was not a forced plant at all.— S. Barlow. 
-- 
THE HORSE CHESTNUT. 
If the Horse Chestnut were now introduced for the first 
time into this country, how we should rave about it, 
and award it First Class Certificates without the 
possibility of a dissentient voice. This large, showy, 
much-admired ornamental tree, which bears the 
botanical name of iEsculus Hippocastanum, is a native 
of central Asia, but flourishes in the temperate climes 
of both hemispheres. I wonder who first applied to it 
the name of Horse Chestnut ! It is said to bear it 
from the fruit being used in Turkey as food for “ horses 
that are broken or touched in the wind.” That old 
gardener, Mr. Parkinson, says, “Horse Chestnuts are 
given in the East, and so through all Turkey, unto 
horses to cure them of the cough, shortness of wind, 
and such other diseases.” In this country horses will 
not eat them, and Dr. Prior thinks the name is more 
likely to have been given to these nuts to express 
coarseness. The ingenious conjecture of a writer in 
Notes and Queries, that the name was suggested by the 
cicatrix of its leaf resembling a horse-shoe, with all its 
nails evenly placed, has no support of ancient authors. 
“Now this term Horse is continually cropping up in 
local flower names, and is apparently intended to 
designate the coarser kind as distinguished from 
the smaller. In Cornwall, the Elms of various kinds 
which have broad leaves, and were not employed as 
