628 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
June 1, 1889. 
Carnations. 
“Carnations are spindling,” is the burden of the 
complaints I have heard from two or three Carnation 
growers of late. Dull weather and much wet have 
operated to draw the plants, and the grass, instead of 
being short, thick, and vigorous, is fast becoming long 
and thin. Warm, dry, open sunny weather is badly 
wanted to restore the balance. All that one can do is 
to give the plants the best possible open and airy 
position. Keep the rising flower stems carefully 
secured to stakes ; the plants free from decaying foliage ; 
the soil from weeds, stirring it occasionally when an 
interval of drying weather enables it to be done. We 
have just got through a May characterised by great 
variety, as also by extremes of weather. Heat and 
cold, wet and dry, dullness and sunshine have alter¬ 
nated. We have had it unusually hot during the 
month, and at times quite cold—though, happily, we 
have been free from destructive frosts, and there has 
been a heavy fall of rain at times ; in fact, the May of 
the present year proved unusually moist. 
Mr. Dodwell says, in his hints to beginners in culti¬ 
vation, “Disbud as soon as the young buds can be 
conveniently removed.” As a matter of course, a good 
deal of discretion is necessary in this matter, and it is 
a great advantage to have some knowledge of the variety. 
How many blooms a plant should carry depends a good 
deal upon whether it is a variety that is thin or full in 
the flower. If thin, then only a very few should be 
left if they are required to be as full as possible ; on 
the other hand a full-flowered variety can have more 
buds left on it. Much depends also upon whether the 
flowers are wanted for exhibition, decorative or seed 
purposes. But Mr. Dodwell, with his large experience, 
and with an eye to the production of good exhibition 
blooms, states : “ If ‘full,’ and of strong growth, three 
buds may be left; if ‘thin,’ two buds, and if of 
weakly growth, one bud only. As a rule, the buds to 
be left will be the main bud and those proceeding from 
the third and fourth joint, or fourth and fifth, counting 
from the top, but the operater must be guided in his 
selection by their appearance, vigour, healthiness, and 
their regularity of form. A ‘ full ’ flower may be ex¬ 
pected where the young bud presents a broad obtuse 
top, whilst a ‘ thin ’ variety is generally indicated by a 
sharp and long pointed bud.” 
It is scarcely necessary to say that the plants should 
be kept scrupulously clean of all insects of a hurtful 
character ; cleanliness is one of the foremost marks of 
good cultivation.— R. D. 
Tulips at the Temple Show. 
As we go to press early, any extended notice of these 
must be left over until next week. It is something to 
see the florists’ Tulips again publicly exhibited in 
London ; with the exception of a stand shown some five 
years ago at one of the meetings of the Royal Horti¬ 
cultural Society at South Kensington, they have been 
comparatively unknown for years. From a point as 
far north as Burton-in-Lonsdale, the Rev. F. D. Horner 
has sent a collection, and one from Cardiff in the west, 
sent by Mr. James Thurstan. Mr. Samuel Barlow, 
J.P., Stakehill, Manchester, has a very good collection, 
consisting of fifty-four flowers, thirty-six rectified and 
eighteen breeders, and they illustrate in a remarkable 
degree the great beauty and variety which is seen in a 
collection of exhibition Tulips. They are the outcome 
of forty-one years of perseverance, industry and enthu¬ 
siasm in acquiring the very best varieties attainable, 
and in discarding inferior varieties. Let us hope a 
Tulip revival will be the result of the display of this 
gorgeous flower in the Temple Gardens. 
The Carnation Maggot. 
My losses from this pest last autumn were fully 20 per 
cent, of my layers, and I find that of these losses, 
sixteen in every twenty were from plants grown and 
layered in the open border. I had some 500 plants in 
pots and about 100 in the open ; those potted were 
syringed once a week with a mixture made as follows :— 
A 48-size pot of Quassia chips and 2 ozs. of soft-soap, 
boiled in 1 gallon of rain-water for about half an hour ; 
this was diluted so as to fill an ordinary bucket. Those 
in the border had no special attention, and this seems 
to prove that, although not thoroughly effectual, yet 
there is some check in this mixture. I find they are 
already at work, and would advise all growers to well 
examine their plants. Where they are is easily 
ascertained by the centre leaves of the young layer 
dying ; these can be pulled out and the intruder fished 
out with a sharp needle.— Win. L. Walker, Dunollie, 
Earley, Reading. 
A Black Tulip. 
Perhaps the Old Louis . XVI. came the nearest to 
black in colour, although I think the black Tulip 
would be like the parson’s horse, “it would take a 
great deal of looking for, and when you got it it 
would not be worth while keeping.” A man once 
said to me, “ Do you want a black Rose, because if you 
do I can tell you a safe way to get it. Graft it on a 
BlackCurrant tree,” he said, “it will not fail thi.” 
I knew he was not particular about the truth, and I 
said to him, “ But the flowers on a Black Currant tree 
are green.” “Well,” he said, “just thee try it, it 
will not fail thi.” “Have you got a black Rose ? ” I 
asked. “No,” he said. “Have you had one?” 
“ Yes,” he said. “ Where is it now, then ? ” “Well,” 
he said, “it dee’d.”—.S'. Barlow. 
Large-flowered Zonal Pelargoniums. 
The perfection to which the zonal Pelargoniums as a 
class have been brought at the present day is truly 
astonishing. The size, roundness and regularity of the 
flowers cannot be overlooked, and the real dimensions 
in inches are very deceptive to the eye when looked at 
in a mass, owing to the size of the trusses. On ex¬ 
amining the plants that have been in bloom all the 
winter—even recently they were one blaze of scarlet, 
purple, crimson, magenta, orange, pink, and white—in 
the nursery of Messrs. H. Cannell k Sons, Swanley, 
Kent, individual flowers, or pips as they are sometimes 
termed, measured 2§ ins. across, and made a fair-sized 
English lever watch look small when placed over them. 
Some were not as regularly circular in outline as others, 
but the following are handsome for conservatory 
decoration :—John Mason, scarlet; Sissy, rosy salmon ; 
General Boulanger, plum-purple and orange; Lady 
Rosebery, rich salmon, with a large white eye ; C. H. 
Swinstead, bright scarlet ; Omphale, satiny salmon ; 
Swanley Gem, deep rosy salmon ; Rev. H. Harris, rosy 
red, and of great size ; Mrs. Strutt, pink, shaded 
purple ; and International, equally large and white. 
-- 
TWO HARDY MARGUERITES. 
The plant which, by the kindness of Mr. Ware, is 
illustrated above, is a recently-obtained form of the 
common Ox-eye Daisy or May Weed, and is named 
Chrysanthemum leucanthemum semi-duplex. It is 
probably the first instance on record of a plant of this 
species bearing flowers which show a tendency to 
become double, and if the florist takes it thoroughly in 
hand, we may yet obtain a race of beautiful garden 
plants well adapted for cut-flower purposes. The 
stems grow from 12 ins. to 18 ins. in height—a very 
suitable size for small or narrow herbaceous borders. 
The extreme hardiness of the plant, and the facility 
with which it can be propagated, would reccmmend it 
to the attention of all classes of plant growers. As the 
illustration shows, the supernumerary ligulate or 
flattened florets are much narrower than the outer ones, 
but they may yet be greatly improved by seed sowing 
and selection, by which perfectly double heads may in 
time be obtained. 
The species with the so-called single flower-heads is 
the true Chrysanthemum maximum, a plant by no 
means common as yet in gardens. What formerly 
passed muster for C. maximum was really C. latifolium, a 
much taller and coarser plant, with the habit of C. 
acustre, also widely disseminated in British gardens. 
The latter is readily distinguishable by its broad, 
oblong or ovate, rather coarse leaves. C. maximum 
grows from 18 ins. to 2 ft. in height, each stem 
terminating in a large flower with long white rays and 
a central yellow disc. Others may be produced later 
from axillary shoots, but the terminal one is the largest, 
and equals that of C. latifolium. The plant is perfectly 
hardy and of the easiest cultivation, and all the rosettes 
of leaves develop a flower stem, so that a good-sized 
specimen is an acquisition literally covered with a mass 
of white bloom. As cut flowers the heads last in 
perfection for a week or more. We are indebted to Mr. 
T. S. Ware, Hale Farm Nurseries, Tottenham, for an 
opportunity of illustrating the two kinds. 
-- 
PARAFFIN AS AN INSECTICIDE. 
More than once have the merits of paraffin been liber¬ 
ally dilated upon in the horticultural press, and that 
it is an efficacious and inexpensive insecticide is indis¬ 
putable ; but after all its good qualities have been 
taken into account, one is prone to fancy that in some 
communications its excellence has been overrated. 
For the destruction of grubs and other vermin in the 
soil it is a first-class agent; but for the eradication of 
mealy-bug, &c., from houses that contain a collection 
of valuable plants, its use is, in my opinion, far more 
extensive than judicious. Such insecticides as methy¬ 
lated spirit, Lemon and Fir Tree Oils, Nicotine Soap, 
&c., cannot be too highly recommended for use in 
houses amongst valuable plants ; but for this purpose 
I hold a correspondingly low opinion of paraffin, 
because when it is improperly or indiscriminately 
applied it inflicts irreparable injury on the subjects 
operated upon. 
After all the comments that have been made upon 
the proper method of applying it, instances could be 
chronicled which demonstrate that it is still sometimes 
either improperly or carelessly applied, otherwise such 
catastrophes as we hear of would not happen. 
In the spring I observed a valuable Lapageria, which 
monopolised the side and roof of a conservatory, and 
which was flowering beautifully ; but unfortunately 
a few stray bugs were detected in the axils of the 
leaves, and the gardener, knowing that paraffin would 
speedily stamp out the pest, the undertaking was 
immediately proceeded with, and the consequence was 
that in a few days afterwards the beautiful dark green 
foliage turned to the colour of ebony, and the stem 
shrivelled up ; in short, it was so injured that its 
lamentable appearance necessitated its removal from 
the conservatory ; and when I saw it last—one morning 
Chrysanthemum leucanthemum semi-duplex. 
