August 3, 1889. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
769 
larva period, this might account for it. After it is cut 
and dried, sheep and oxen will often eat it. It is a 
useful plant upon shifting banks, as its spreading roots 
will serve to bind and keep the soil together .—Alfred 
Gaut. __ 
THE SWANLEY NURSERY. 
At all seasons of the year the Messrs. Cannell & Sons 
have something in flower to interest their visitors, and 
it is seldom that a genuine lover of flowers cannot find 
something to interest him beyond any particular class 
of plants which may be his special fancy. The “ Home 
of Flowers ” at the present time is specially gay with 
hardy plants and such tender subjects as submit to 
summer culture in the open-air ; still, it is the 
astonishing display of tuberous Begonias that is the 
great magnetic attraction, and which claims the greatest 
amount of admiration from those who go to see them. 
It seems but a few years ago since Mr. Cannell added 
the cultivation of the Begonia to his many other 
specialties, but what he has done for the flower, and 
for the double 
section more 
especially, is truly 
surprising. That 
the Begonia gets 
admirable culti¬ 
vation at Swanley, 
all who have seen 
the immense col¬ 
lection during the 
last few seasons 
will readily bear 
testimony, but it 
will doubtless be 
a surprise to many 
to know, that 
this year the 
plants surpass in 
neatness of habit 
and grandeur of 
bloom any which 
Mr. Cannell has 
shown us before. 
House after house 
(each 100ft. long), 
is filled with 
plants in all stages 
of growth, from 
seedlings in small 
pots and freshly- 
rooted cuttings 
by thousands up 
to the noble- 
flowering, second 
and third season 
plants, which fill 
the principal show 
houses, and pro¬ 
duce such collec¬ 
tive masses of bril¬ 
liantly - coloured 
blossoms as com¬ 
pletely puts the 
famous houses of 
zonal Pelargo¬ 
niums in the 
shade. The latter 
will have their revenge in the winter, but there is no 
gainsaying the fact that in summer, in comparison with 
the Begonias, they have now to take the proverbial 
“back seat.” 
The strain of single-flowered varieties is an ex¬ 
ceedingly good one—they are indeed all good, and 
consequently not so many as at first are receiving 
names—and we are specially pleased to see that all due 
attention is being paid to the multiplication of such 
types only as are now regarded of the highest quality. 
These comprise the essential points of merit in all 
useful flowering plants— i.e., a neat, compact, yet 
vigorous habit of growth, a free production of flowers, 
and these of medium size, good substance, refined 
form, pure and bright in colour, and borne on stiff 
erect stalks. Flowers of immense size there still are ; 
they are inseparable from good strains, and many 
growers will still have them, but the fashion we are 
glad to see is steadily setting in in favour of more 
moderate dimensions. Where all are so good it would 
perhaps be invidious to single out any particular section 
of colour for special mention, but we cannot well pass 
over the strain of whites without according a word of 
praise—they are so fine in habit, form and purity. 
Among the new ones of the present season Nellie 
Pritchard is a great beauty, and possessing every good 
quality, will certainly become a favourite. Albert 
George, among light scarlets, is also a flower of high 
character. 
Perhaps the greatest amount of interest is centred in 
the double-flowering section, which includes the greater 
number of novelties. Here, too, we have a number of 
sorts remarkable for their monstrous size, but modera¬ 
tion happily prevails, and the greater number of 
novelties are characterised by high quality rather than 
undue proportions. Mrs. F. Jenkins is the largest 
yellow variety we have seen. It is of the Hollyhock 
type, being 4J ins. in diameter and 3 ins. deep, and 
very clear in colour. It is one of last year’s seedlings. 
Of the present season’s batch Duchess of Fife takes 
high rank among the blush-whites. It is not one of 
the fullest flowers, but has grand petals, a fine robust 
habit, and short stiff flower stalks. Mr. Mills is the 
stiffest of the erect-flowering type, so much coveted—a 
fine salmon-red, of medium size. Charles Turner is an 
old one, but still one of the best of the heavy drooping 
Begonia, Cannell’s Triumph. 
type, having petals of great substance, and of a pretty 
shade of salmon-peach. A. F. Barron, rose-pink ; Mrs. 
W. B. Miller, pink, salmon centre ; Her Majesty, white, 
with a shade of saffron at the base of the petals ; Mr. G. 
Bryson, a very compact-habited and free-blooming sort, 
with salmon-rose-coloured flowers of the Camellia type ; 
and the Rev. E. Lascelles, a beautiful canary-yellow, 
with four striking guard petals, of good habit and free 
blooming, are all flowers of the highest merit. Among 
this season’s novelties, Nancy Pritchard is a dwarf 
compact plant, with flowers of the Hollyhock type, 
very double, and white with a tinge of saffron at the 
base of the petals. Edith M. Wynne is a pure double 
white, of the flat Camellia type, it is very persistent 
on the stalks, and will become a specially useful 
variety for working into wreaths. Dazzler is well 
named, being a wondrously bright scarlet; Mrs. 
Matthews is a very taking flower, more resembling a 
closely-tied bunch of Perle d’Or Roses than anything 
else we can compare it to ; Mrs. Cornwallis West is a 
very beautiful-saffron yellow ; Mrs. James Whitehead, 
a rich deep yellow ; and Cannell’s Triumph (illustrated 
above), deep rosy pink, lighter in the centre, is of the 
Brobdignagian order, and large enough to satisfy the 
greatest stickler for size. 
A CHILDREN’S FLOWER SHOW. 
Almost satiated with the stereotyped form of horticul¬ 
tural exhibitions, it was with singular pleasure I 
assisted in the management of a purely children’s 
flower show, which, organised under the auspices of the 
Egham Juvenile Floral and Industrial Society, was 
held on the borders of that town, and in the charming 
grounds of J. Macdonald, Esq., adjoining Englefield 
Green, on Thursday of last week. Readers of The 
Gardening World in the north will learn with 
interest that associated with me as fellow judge, was 
that noted orchid-grower, Mr. W. Swan, formerly of 
Fallowfield, and who is now located at Englefield 
Green. 
Now the conditions of the society are such, that the 
plants, like the growers, must of necessity be youthful 
also. Started last year with some forty juvenile 
members, there has this year been an increase up to 
some 200 members, and it is hoped that next year, as 
the children of all classes, but especially those attending 
the elementary and Sunday schools of this large and 
populous west 
Surrey parish, are 
all cordially in¬ 
vited to join, that 
the present num¬ 
ber of members 
will be doubled. 
The society has 
for its purposes 
two sections of 
members, the 
senior division— 
viz., children be¬ 
tween twelve and 
seventeen years of 
age, paying id. 
annually, and 
children under 
twelve paying 3d. 
annually, and 
called the j uniors. 
In the case of in¬ 
dustrial members 
only, the annual 
subscription is 2d. 
The member¬ 
ship fees are paid 
early in the 
spring, and then 
each floral member 
is entitled to re¬ 
ceive, and does so 
on application, 
from one of the 
committee, a 
worthy and en¬ 
ergetic florist, six 
rooted cuttings of 
various plants, 
and six packets 
of annuals. The 
annuals comprise 
Collinsia bicolor, 
Candytuft, Bal¬ 
sam, Nemophila, 
Mignonette, 
Linum grandi- 
florum, Ten-week Stocks, Dwarf Nasturtiums, &c. ; 
whilst the plants include Calceolaria (shrubby), Fuch¬ 
sias, Musk, zonal and variegated Pelargoniums, Lobelias, 
Gazania, Petunias, Isolepis gracilis, &c. These seeds 
and plants have to be grown in pots or small boxes by 
the children, and then be exhibited by them in sixes 
of each, or failing six, as many as possible in both plant 
and annual classes in both sections, making four classes. 
There is also a group class in which both annuals 
and plants may be shown as a sort of consolation class 
for those who can only thus jointly make a decent 
display. Farther, there are special prizes for the best 
plants in each division, and the best pot of seeds also, 
so that there is ample encouragement given by good 
prizes to induce the youngsters to grow their plants 
well. As a result, both to Mr. Swan and myself, the 
show was indeed a surprise. 
In the two classes for juniors, the same for the 
seniors, and in one extra class for four plants, there 
were from twelve to eighteen entries each, as also a 
large number of groups, so that altogether hardly less 
than 500 plants or pots of flowers or boxes, &c., could 
have been staged. Curiously enough, in each case of 
plants and annuals we found those in the junior division 
the best; many of the specimens, indeed, would have 
