February 2, 1889. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
351 
WORLD 
RENOWNED 
OF 
CHOICE VEGETABLES 
ALL THE YEAR ROUND. 
CARTERS^ 
BOXES 
JESTED SEE OS, 
FREE FREE 
PACKING. CARRIAGE. 
Containing Vegetable Seeds Only, 
Price, 2/6, 5/-, 7/6, 9/-, 17/6. 
Containing Flower Seeds Only, 
Price, 2/6, 5/=, 16/6, 15/-, 
21/-, 31/6, 42/-, 63/-. 
Containing Vegetable & Flower Seeds, 
Price, 16/6,14/-,22/6, 30/-. 
Sent to any address in Great Britain 
on receipt or Cash. 
FULL LIST OF CONTENTS GRATIS & PCST FREE, 
Royal Seedsmen by Sealed Appointment. 
S, HIGH HOLBORN, LONDON. 
THE EARLIEST PEAS. 
WHEELER’S GIANT WONDER BEANS 
THE MOST BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS. 
THE PABCEL POST affords an opportunity of 
sending WHEELER’S CHOICEST VEGETABLE and 
FLOWER SEEDS to all parts of the kingdom, where 
there is a difficulty in procuring Seeds of “proved” 
excellence. 
A PRICED LIST OF WHEELER’S VEGETABLE 
and FLOWER SEEDS will be sent gratis and Post 
Free. It comprises all the best varieties for exhibition. 
J.C. Wheeler & Son, 
Seed G-rowers, G-LOUOESTEB. 
CHRYSANTHEMUMS. 
T O and from all parts of the Globe.—By far 
the best collection of new and old varieties in commerce. 
Descriptive Catalogue with cultural directions by E. Molyneux 
and C. Orchard. Acknowledged in Europe and America as the 
best Descriptive Catalogue. Price 6d. Free to customers. 
Awarded Three Medals and Twenty First Class Certificates. 
I never Exhibit for Prizes in competition with Gardeners or 
Amateurs. Open to purchase new varieties of merit. 
R. OWEN, F.N.C.S., Floral Nursery, MAIDENHEAD. 
Full of Useful Information. No Charge. 
B ABE’S 1889 SEED CATALOGUE, now 
ready. In addition to the usual valuable information, 
will be found special remarks on the Culture of the TOMATO 
and TOBACCO as industries, with a Special List of HIGH- 
CLASS POTATOS, handsome in form, pleasant in flavour, and 
bountiful croppers. CATALOGUE free on application to 
BARR & SON, King Street, Co vent Garden, W.C. 
= II 1 1 III 11 1111 1 ! mil! 111II11111 III II! 11 111 1 11 m 11 LI 11 IIIIII 111 mi i Hill! 11! I Iiimiii 1111 1111111 = 
(Trees, Seefls, Plants, Bullis, &c.| 
i Tkgpg/ QnUQ SEEDMERCHANTS PHEQTGB I 
= JjiuftOUElO Nurserymen, &c, UtfiCQ I Ell = 
= (LIMITED) = 
1 PRICED CATALOGUES POST FREE. 1 
1 Address: DlCKSONS, CHESTER. | 
. ..Illlllllllllllllllllll.I.MM.Ill.Illllllllllllli 
FRUIT TREES. 
SEVENTY-FOUR ACRES. 
APPLES, PEARS, PLUMS, CHERRIES, PEACHES, 
NECTARINES, APRICOTS, and other FRUIT TREES, as 
Standards, Dwarfs, Pyramids, Bushes, Cordon, and Trained 
Trees in great variety. 
VINES, excellent Canes, 3s. 6 d., 5s., 7s. 6 d., and 10s. 6 d. 
Orchard House Trees in pots, PEACHES, APRICOTS, NEC¬ 
TARINES, &c., from 5s. FIGS from 3s. 6 d. 
DESCRIPTIVE LIST, containing a sketch of the various 
forms of Trees, with Directions for Cultivation, Soil, Drainage, 
Manure, Pruning, Lifting, Cropping. Treatment under Gla^s ; 
also their Synonyms, Quality, Size, Form, Skin, Colour, Flesh, 
Flavour, Use, Growth, Duration, Season. Price, &e.. free by 
post. 
RICHARD SMITH & Co., 
WORCESTER. 
VEGETABLE SEEDS 
Fop Amateurs’ Gardens. 
IIICDDC 1 BflV Containing 15 varieties of Old 
WtDDO D U A , Vegetable Seeds, ^ ° 
C D D £ ’ DfJV Containing 19 varieties of fr / 
WlOEju E5 0 A j Vegetable Seeds, / 
Ul C D C ’ Dl11V Containing 26 varieties of 17 /o 
WtDDO Q U A , Vegetable Seeds, 1 / 0 
WEBBS’ BOX, '■‘‘Ig.S.S!” " 12/6 
Mf ETDDSV DflV Containing 47 varieties of lC/_ 
WCBoa D U A, Vegetable Seeds, 1 / 
llfCDDO’ POV Containing 61 varieties of Ql /_ 
WtQDu DU A, Vegetable Seeds, ^ 1 
Acknowledged to be the best value ever offered. For cash. 
FLOWER SEEDS 
For the Gardens of Ladies and Amateurs. 
ill p n n c ! n n v Containing 13 varieties of Q /£> 
WLDUo D 0 A , Floral Gems, ^/ 0 
lAf CD DO’ DfbV Containing 24 varieties of c/ 
W t U D u DUA j Floral Gems, ^ / 
Him DC’ DfiV Containing 36 varieties of 17 / 0 
WCDDO D U A , Floral Gems, 1 ' 0 
WEBBS’ BOX, C ° ntai ^ral 5 Glmt tieS ° f 10/6 
WEBBS’ BOX, Contei ^L/Vemf es of 15/- 
WEBBS’ BOX, C0Dtai t”ral 5 Gemf ieS * 21/- 
ggr* All Vegetable and Flower Seeds Post Free. 5 per cent. 
Discount for Cash. 
WEBBS’ SBEXHG CATALOGS. 
Beautifully illustrated ; post free. Is., gratis to customers. 
Abridged Edition, gratis and post free. 
L ILIUM AURATUM, THE GOLDEH- 
RAYED LILY OF JAPAN, can now r be purchased in 
cases containing 50 fine Bulbs, just as received from the Japanese 
Bulb Farms, unopened and unexamined, at 25s. per case, sent 
free to any Railway Station in England and Wales on receipt of 
Postal Order for 23s. 9 d. ; cases containing 100 fine Bulbs, price 
40s. Fine and sound Bulbs, per dozen, 4s., 6s., 9s., 12s. and ISs. 
Mammoth Bulbs, 2s. 6d. and 3s. 6 d. each. All sent packing and 
carriage free.—CARTERS', Roval Seedsmen by Sealed Warrants, 
237 and 238, HIGH HOLBORN, LONDON. 
85“ Teems of Subscription. —Post free from the office to any 
part of the United Kingdom, one copy, ljd.; three months 
Is. S d .; six months, 3s. 3d. ; twelve months, 6s. 6d. Foreign 
Subscription to all counties in the Postal Union, 8s. Sd. per 
annum. 
Next Week’s Engagements. 
Thursday, Feb. 7th.—Sale of Lily Bulbs, Greenhouse Plants, 
&c., at Protheroe & Morris's Rooms. 
For Index to Contents & Advertisements, see p. 362. 
11 Gardening is the purest of human pleasures, and the greatest 
refreshment to the spirit of man.”— Bacon. 
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 1889. 
HjfHE Winter’s Tail.— There is a good deal 
of diversity existing in the minds of the 
weathenvise as to the probable nature of the 
remainder of the winter. Whilst some regard 
the weather so far as certainly indicative of 
what the tail of the season will he, others are 
assured that February, at least, will give us a 
compensating taste of hard weather in repay¬ 
ment for the pleasant time so far experienced. 
Both cannot be right, neither may he either 
exactly ; but it is certain that gardeners 
generally would give much to know what sort 
of weather they may look for during the 
ensuing two months. 
It seems impossible that we can go on to the 
end of March with the comparatively open 
mild weather that has made the month of 
January one of the most agreeable of its name, 
although at times wet or foggy. But should 
the open weather continue, there is very much 
danger that the condition of the soil will lead 
to somewhat premature operations in sowing 
seeds, and otherwise performing labour perhaps 
best left for a month later. We must, judging 
by precedent, expect a prolonged winterly 
spring. We almost always find both April and 
May to be, if not cold months, yet cold relative 
to season or time of the year; and very early 
sown seeds have a long and arduous struggle 
with cold soil, easterly winds, and white frosts, 
from which too often the seedling plants 
emerge indifferently well. Sown later, with 
soil warmer, longer days, and greater sunshine, 
seeds which may perish if committed to earth 
in February would yet do admirably if sown in 
March. 
A good deal of useful work in planting and 
replanting hardy things, in thoroughly pre¬ 
paring the soil for seeds, or in other ways 
facilitating such work as must absolutely be 
performed, may he done earlier. Very adven¬ 
turous spirits, however, attempting to fly before 
fully fledged—that is, before the proper season 
—invariably come to grief. 
G arret Peas. — The indifferent crop of 
Potatos of last year has induced market 
growers to lay down large breadths of early 
Peas. Whilst the first or early December 
sowings are fairly well through the ground, 
those in succession have sprouted well, and 
the drill is being utilised largely for getting 
in other sowings, the soil gcneially work¬ 
ing pretty well. There arc Sangsters, William 
the First, Eclipse, Earliest of All, First and 
Best, Day’s Sunrise, and other earlies, sown 
or being sown, pretty much according to the 
house with which the market grower deals, 
each one, of course, having the best and 
earliest strain. Soil and situation will, how¬ 
ever, be found to command precocity pre¬ 
sen tty, quite as much as the sort, perhaps 
more so. 
However, ive are most concerned with the 
fact that so many Peas are being sown. 
These are elements of which it is hard to find 
rivals yet, for the fresh green Peas of the 
kingdom cannot well he competed with by the 
productions of warmer and, of course, distant 
climates. Early Peas do not now command 
the high prices once obtained in the market, 
however. The grower who can, by dint of 
sort and situation favouring, rush a load 
into the market hut a day before his fellows, 
makes a stiff price, but often at consider¬ 
able cost, as the “slats” are rarely half filled, 
and often are very immature. Thus the 
pleasure of catching the market early is often 
outweighed by loss in bulk later. 
It is rare that good early Peas get into 
market before the first week in July. Ho 
matter how early sown, there is always the 
terrible ordeal of late spring frosts to pass 
through, for these are sometimes very injuri¬ 
ous to the blooms. We do not find that 
earliness in field culture has been at all 
accelerated during the past twenty years. 
The market growers’ books show that fact too 
plainly. Perhaps raisers of new Peas, 
satisfied that we have as many, if not more 
mid-season and late sorts than we want, will 
now turn their attention to the production of 
really early varieties — sorts that will excel 
by several days that old and favourite variety, 
Sangster’s Ho. 1. 
IIJooked Potatos. — Potatos have seldom 
^ boiled worse than this winter. The wet, 
sunless summer, with severe visitations of 
the disease, so disastrously affected the quality 
of the tubers, that complaints of their cooking 
have been abundant. It is useless to complain 
of what could not be helped, and we may 
hope for better results during the coming 
season. But all Potato consumers do not 
think of such misfortune, and rail against 
cooks, placing the fault of quality on the 
shoulders of unfortunate people. How, some 
