060 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
June 15, 1889. 
Rl^ICSiRTlff^. 
Death of David Jackson. 
A few weeks ago our columns contained a characteristic 
story relating to this fine old Lancashire florist, from 
the pen of Mr. S. Barlow, an old and intimate friend. 
To day it is our sad duty to announce his death on the 
6th inst., at the ripe old age of eighty-four years. 
David Jackson was a hand-loom silk weaver, and lived 
at Middleton, near Manchester, all his life. He was 
a famous grower of Tulips and gold-laced Polyanthuses, 
and had been a noted exhibitor in the district for 
nearly fifty years. Perhaps his finest seedling Polyan¬ 
thus was the Rev. F. D. Horner, which he obtained 
from Cox’s Lord Lincoln ; and among the many 
seedling Tulips which he raised, there are three which 
will keep his name green for many years to come. 
These are Mrs. Jackson, the blackest feathered byblog- 
men ; David Jackson, a feathered and flamed byblcemen ; 
and Music, a feathered byblcemen also. These were all 
obtained from one pod of seed of Ashmole’s Emma. 
He also raised a batch of seedlings from Aglaia, a 
flamed rose, and among them were about a dozen 
yellow seifs, the appearance of which in such company 
has always been regarded as a very curious fact. Mr. 
Jackson, who was buried at Middleton last Saturday 
afternoon, ceased to grow and exhibit some five years 
ago, when Mr. Barlow secured the last of his stock of 
bulbs. 
Florists' Laced Pink9. 
We are pleased to be able to announce that the Council 
of the Manchester Botanical and Horticultural Society 
have arranged to give a series of prizes for Pinks, to be 
competed for on the occasion of their annual Rose show, 
to be held in the gardens at Old Trafford on July 20th. 
The date is a little late for the season, nevertheless we 
hope to see a good start made in the attempt to revive 
public interest in these once popular and very pleasing 
flowers. 
Tea Rose, Souvenir de S. A. Prince. 
The general appearance of this new Rose reminds one 
of Niphetos, being of the same pure colour, but the 
bloom is larger than averaged-sized specimens of the 
latter grown out of doors as this was. The petals are 
broad and rounded, and the outer ones droop away 
from the others somewhat loosely after a time ; they all 
appear to remain of a pure white from first to last. The 
foliage is of a rich dark colour, and the seedling Briar 
alone is used as a stock. It was exhibited at the Drill 
Hall on Tuesday last by Mr. G. Prince, Oxford, when 
a First Class Certificate was awarded it. 
Fuchsia, Dorothy Fry. 
Three plants of this new seedling Fuchsia were 
exhibited by Mr. George Fry at the last meeting of 
the Floral Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society, 
when an Award of Merit was granted. The short tube 
and recurved sepals are red, and present nothing very 
striking ; but the corolla constitutes by far the larger 
bulk of the flower, consisting of several supernumerary 
petals, besides the ordinary ones, so that the flower is 
really semi-double. They (the petals) are white, 4 ins. 
in length, and are wrapped very compactly round the 
crimson stamens, giving the whole flower )a handsome 
and striking effect. 
Pyrethrum Pericles. 
In general terms this may be described as a new double 
yellow Pyrethrum. The ray florets, however, are long, 
drooping, and white or blush. The central or disk 
florets are much shorter, erect, or nearly so, forming a 
dense light yellow cushion, and are jagged at their 
edges. Cut flowers were exhibited by Messrs. Kelway 
& Son, Langport, Somerset, at the Drill Hall on 
Tuesday last, when an Award of Merit was granted it. 
Begonia, Mrs. J. Chamberlain. 
As exhibited before the Floral Committee of the Royal 
Horticultural Society on Tuesday last, the plant stood 
about 12 ins. or 14 ins. high and was well clothed with 
bloom. Every flower was of large size, single, and 
heavily suffused with a beautiful pink on a white 
ground from the margin inwards, the central portion 
being white. They were very regular in outline, 
as large as they ought to be ; and more persistent 
than any other single variety. The leaves were of 
great breadth, deep green, and rather finely pubescent. 
The plant was shown by Messrs. John Laing & Sons, 
Forest Hill, and an Award of Merit was granted. 
Pseony, Princess Christian. 
The general contour of this variety recalls that of a 
Hollyhock, owing to the great length and breadth of 
the outer petals, which are pure white, and form a 
guard to the rest of the flower. The outer ones are, of 
course, the true petals, while the inner ones are also 
white, but narrow, shallowly jagged at the apex, and 
consist of the metamorphosed stamens. The whole 
bloom is moderate in size, but pleasing. An Award 
of Merit was given it by the Floral Committee of the 
Royal Horticultural Society on Tuesday last, when it 
was exhibited by Messrs. Kelway & Son, of Langport. 
Paeony, Princess Irene. 
This new herbaceous Pseony was also shown by Messrs. 
Kelway & Son on Tuesday last at the Drill Hall, when 
it received an Award of Merit. A large stand of cut 
blooms of it was exhibited. The outer guard-like petals 
are very broad, rosy pink, and surround the inner ones, 
which are narrow, irregularly jagged and white, 
ultimately turning to a soft blush colour. 
New Delphiniums. 
Regalia. —The flowering part of the stem of this 
variety is of moderate length, but the lower bracts are 
leafy, giving the raceme an unwonted appearance. 
The flowers individually are of large size, and the outer 
sepals are blue, the inner ones purple, while the petals 
are small, numerous and white. 
Faust. —The flowers in this case are of great size 
and closely arranged on a long raceme. The sepals are 
a peculiar shade of purple, the outer ones alone being 
tipped with blue. 
Orbit. —Blue and purple are the predominant colours 
of the sepals, which form the most conspicuous part of 
the flower. This variety differs from others in the rich 
dark blue of the sepals being but slightly shaded with 
purple, while the numerous miniature petals filling up 
the centre of the flowers are white. Each individual 
bloom is of great size. 
Ardite. —The inflorescence of this seedling is of 
great length, and densely covered with flowers of 
handsome size. About half of the sepals is blue and 
the rest purple. The petals are mixed in this case, 
some being brown, others white, and all covered with 
dusky hairs. Brown was the original hue of the petals. 
All the four varieties here described were exhibited by 
Messrs. Kelway & Son, Langport, at the Drill Hall 
on Tuesday last, when they severally received an 
Award of Merit. 
The Tulip Show at Manchester. 
The Royal National Tulip Society, which held its 
annual exhibition in conjunction with the great Whit¬ 
suntide exhibition at Manchester (details of which will 
be found in another column), was unfortunate in the 
date being so late that the bloom was nearly past, and 
consequently there were very few good flowers left. A 
good number of blooms were staged, but exceedingly 
few perfect ones, the majority being uneven in size, 
many quartered, and all more or less showing the 
effects of the weather. The following is the prize 
list:— 
Rectified Tulips. —Five stands of twelve dissimilar 
Tulips, two feathered and two flamed in each class : 
First, Mr. W. Kitchen, Stockport ; second, Mr. S. 
Barlow, Stakehill. Eight stands of six dissimilar 
Tulips, one feathered and one flamed in each class : 
First, Mr. W. Kitchen ; second, Mr. Jas. Knowles ; 
third, Mr. S. Barlow ; fourth, Mr. T. H. Wood. Four 
stands of six dissimilar Tulips, one feathered and one 
flamed in each class : First, Mr. H. Housley ; second, 
Mr. R. Woolfenden. Six stands of three feathered 
Tulips, one in each class : First, Mr. W. Kitchen ; 
second, Mr. R. Woolfenden ; third, Mr. S. Barlow. 
Six stands of three flamed Tulips, one of each class : 
First, Mr. H. Housley ; second, Mr. J. Knowles ; 
third, Mr. W. Prescott ; fourth, Mr. W. Kitchen ; 
fifth, Mr. S. Barlow; sixth, Mr. J. W. Bentley. 
Three stands of two Tulips, one feathered and one 
flamed, of any class, open only to maiden growers : 
First, Mr. C. W. Needham; second, Mr. J. W. 
Bentley. Six stands of two Tulips, feathered and 
flamed : First, Mr. S. Barlow ; second, Mr. W. Kitchen ; 
third, Mr. D. Woolley ; fourth, Mr. Wright Prescott; 
fifth, Mr. J. H. Wood ; sixth, Mr. J. Knowles. 
Single bloom in each of the six classes—feathered 
bizarres, roses and byblcemens, flamed bizarres, roses 
and byblcemens. Ten prizes were given in each class. 
Breeder Tulips. —Six stands of six dissimilar 
Tulips, two of each class: First, Mr. S. Barlow ; 
second, Mr. W. Kitchen. Eight stands of three Tulips, 
one of each class: First, Mr. S. Barlow ; second, Mr. 
W. Kitchen ; third, Mr. J. W. Bentley. Single blooms 
in each of the three classes—bizarres, roses, and byblce¬ 
mens ; eight prizes in each class : Mr. Barlow gained 
the first prize in each of the classes. 
Mr. W. Kitchen secured the prize for the best flamed 
Tulip, the best feathered Tulip, and the best breeder 
Tulip of any class. 
RHODODENDRON, HER 
MAJESTY. 
It has always been recognised by those who undertake 
the hybridisation of Rhododendrons, that the various 
species, often apparently widely separated in affinity, 
intercross with one another with great facility. Dean 
Herbert argued that the so-called North American 
Azaleas were merely deciduous Rhododendrons with 
five stamens, and no good botanist now disputes the 
fact. They intercrossed readily with the evergreen R. 
ponticum and R. Catawbiense, and these latter again 
with the Himalayan species, particularly R. arboreum. 
The latter is the male parent of the hybrid under 
notice, of which we give an illustration. The seed 
parent was R. Fosterianum. Her Majesty is remark¬ 
ably distinct from anything we have seen amongst 
hybrids, owing to the remarkably expanded character 
of the corolla, which is literally almost flat, with 
scarcely any tube. A small plant was exhibited some 
time ago by Messrs. J. Yeitch & Sons, Chelsea, at one 
of the meetings of the Royal Horticultural Society, 
when it received a First Class Certificate. Three huge 
flowers were produced at the apex of the stem, which 
did not exceed 8 ins. in height. They were pure white 
internally, and more or less supported with pink or 
pale purple externally. The obovate, leathery leaves 
are unusually small in proportion to the size of the 
plant. 
-- 
OLD-FASHIONED AROMATIC OR 
SCENTED HERBS. 
In many a rural parish in the northern counties at 
least of Britain several aromatic herbs were held in 
high estimation by the simple cottagers, solely for the 
sake of their fragrance. The flowers of most of them 
were altogether insignificant or of no decorative value 
whatever, as will be seen by the undermentioned, and 
they may fairly be compared with the herbs which they 
grew for medicinal purposes, chiefly tonics, including 
Wormwood (Artemisia Absinthinum), Feverfew (Matri¬ 
caria Parthenium), Chamomile (Anthemis nobilis), 
Peppermint (Mentha Piperita), and Spearmint (M. 
viridis). These they dried until required for making 
an infusion which was used as a beverage or as a sub¬ 
stitute for tea in the ease of Mint. 
Artemisia Abrotanum. —The leafy shoots alone of 
this aromatic Composite were cut for mixing with 
flowering plants, as it seldom blooms in the north. It 
is universally known as Southernwood (or Sudernwood 
in the north), but there are numerous other local names, 
of which Old Man seems to be the most common about 
London and the vicinity, where it is largely grown for 
Co vent Garden Market. In the rural districts above 
mentioned, it used to be largely mixed with cut flowers 
for the decoration of dwelling-rooms and for hand 
bouquets ; and many a parishioner might be seen 
carrying a sprig or two in his or her hand on the way 
to church on Sunday mornings, to sniff at during the 
long sermon. Indeed, so liberally was Southernwood 
and some other subjects carried to church and left 
there, that the interior of the building savoured very 
much of the herbs, especially in badly ventilated 
churches. The younger members of the family were as 
much given to the practice as the old. Being of easy 
cultivation and propagation, it was most widely 
disseminated in the gardens of rich and poor given to 
the cultivation of flowers. Every shoot inserted in the 
ground when not too soft or immature would grow, 
and not infrequently it was left in water in dwelling 
rooms till roots were developed. 
Balsamita vulgaris.— Costmary or Alecost of the 
English was equally, if not more widely disseminated 
in cottage gardens than Southernwood, and was grown 
for the same purpose—namely, its balsamic odour, 
which is particularly strong. It is also a Composite, 
with small, yellow, rayless flower-heads. The oblong, 
or roundly oblong, long-stalked, radical leaves, together 
with young leafy shoots, were cut or merely broken off 
and mixed with more showy flowering plants, or simply 
carried in the hand without other accompaniment. The 
name Alecost is derived from the fact that the English 
used_the leaves for putting into ale and negus. Cost¬ 
mary is derived from the old Latin name, Costal 
amarus. 
Melissa officinalis. —Balm is the widely-accepted 
popular name of this plant, a decoction of which was 
formerly given to sick persons to drink. The leaves 
were also occasionally used for culinary purposes. 
Amongst the country peasantry it was very popular, 
and being easily grown and propagated, was widely 
disseminated. There is a form of it beautifully varie¬ 
gated with yellow, and used for edging purposes. The 
