356 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
February 2, 1889. 
FEO^lOl/l^Ui^. 
The Kilmurry Yellow-ground Carnations. 
The following transcript of notes made during the 
bloom may be of interest. 
The varieties are all from home-raised seed. Mrs. 
Gyles says:—“The only seeds I kept distinct were 
those from Sultana and Mrs. Colman. From Sultana 
I raised Sovereign Lady, Queen of Hearts, Dulce, and, 
I believe, Gretchen. From Mrs. Colman, Patricia, 
Tournament, and Nancy. Other seeds obtained from 
Lady Rosebery, Lady Armstrong, Sunbeam, Sir Garnet 
Wolseley, R. AlegatiMe, Andalusia, Florence, and 
Eleanor were mixed,” so that the mother parentage 
cannot be fixed, but probably whilst Nora, the sweetest 
primrose self I know, comes from Lady Rosebery, Alfred 
Grey, Alfreds, Exile, Rachel, and Troubadour owe 
much of their brilliant markings to more or less of the 
blood of Alegatiere. 
Alfred Grey. -Gold-yellow ground, richly flamed 
or flaked with scarlet; full and full size ; extra fine. 
Alfreda. —Much like the former, save that the colours, 
both of the ground and markings, are slightly varied. 
Dulce. —Delicate buff-apricot self, with a warmer 
centre; very pleasing. 
Exile. —Soft yellow ground, richly feathered, flaked 
and flamed with rose ; full and well formed, very fine. 
Gretclim. —Delicate straw-yellow, sparsely flamed on 
some of the petals with soft rose ; exquisite. 
Nancy. —Delicate primrose ground, picoteed with 
rose down the centre of the petal; full size and well 
formed. 
Nanlcin. —Warm apricot, flamed and edged rosy red; 
thin ; useless as a flower for competition, but of the 
highest value to the seedling raiser. Fine also as a 
cut flower. 
Nora. —Bright primrose self, of fine form and habit ; 
very refined. 
Patricia. —Bright yellow, sparsely marked with fine 
lines of red down the middle of the petal ; large, fine. 
Queen of Hearts .—A glorious variety, rich apricot 
ground, large, finely shaped petal, with a distinct flame 
or flake of red down the centre ; of full size and fine 
form. 
Rachel. —Soft yellow ground, richly marked with 
rose, petals large, smooth, and finely formed ; of full 
size and great refinement. 
Sovereign Lady .—Fawn-apricot self, full and well 
formed; will be seen at its best in a warm bright 
season. 
Tournament. — Primrose-yellow ground, finely 
picoteed with rosy red ; large, full, and fine form. 
Troubadour. —Apricot-yellow ground, edged and 
flamed with red ; petals well formed, size medium. 
Ursula. —Primrose ground, with picoteed markings 
of bright red ; fine, shell-shaped, large petal, of good 
form and size ; not full.— E. S. Dodwell, Stanley Road, 
Oxford. 
Chinese Primulas. 
We have received from Messrs. James Veitch & Sons 
a box of blooms of their grand strains of Primula 
sinensis, which exhibit a wonderful variety of colouring. 
Specially noticeable for size and delicacy of colouring is 
the old variety named The Queen, together with two 
new hybrids or rather crosses from it. The flowers of 
the type are of a clear soft pink, paler round the eye, of 
great size, and raised into strong undulations where the 
segments meet. The eye is of great size, orbicular, and 
orange-yellow, tinted with green in the centre. The 
green-stemmed cross from this variety has also large 
flowers of a delicate pink, with the same undulations, 
although not so strong, and a somewhat angular eye. 
The red-stemmed cross has similar flowers of an almost 
pure white shade. Chelsea Rose is a large clear rosy 
pink almost flat flower, with a pale green-angled eye. 
Chelsea Blue is very little inferior in point of size to the 
last, and the lobes of the corolla are much imbricated. 
Yeitch’s White is a flat flower of great substance, 
but somewhat smaller than any of the above named, 
and delicately tinted with pink, with a very conspicuous 
five to six-lobed orange-yellow eye. Chelsea White is a 
very chaste pure white flower, which is shown off 
to great advantage by a bright green angled eye. A 
smaller flower than the last is Alba magnifies, faintly 
tinted with blush, and having a five-lobed greenish 
yellow eye. It is rendered pretty and interesting by 
its beautifully frilled overlapping segments. Double 
White is a semi-double variety, with flowers coloured 
similarly to those of the Queen, but rather paler, and 
would no doubt prove useful for cut-flower purposes. 
The blooms are, moreover, of good size and substance. 
Of dark-coloured varieties, the brightest is Chelsea 
Crimson, a medium-sized flower of a brilliant crimson- 
red. Double Crimson is a semi-double variety, with 
rather small blooms of a very intense colour—in fact, 
darker than those of Chelsea Crimson. Chelsea Scarlet 
is a larger flower than either, and although, strictly 
speaking, not scarlet, is a very near approach to it. 
The blooms are perfectly flat, with a small angular eye. 
The largest-flowered variety amongst dark kinds is that 
named Chelsea Carmine, which well describes itself, as 
the blooms are of a deep rosy carmine, somewhat paler 
towards the nearly orbicular greenish yellow eye. 
Veitch’s Red is very little smaller, and is several shades 
darker, with a much smaller greenish yellow eye, sur¬ 
rounded with a narrow crimson line. The blooms of all 
the dark varieties are flat, with the exception of Chelsea 
Carmine, which is slightly undulated, and the semi¬ 
double crimson form. 
-->X<-- 
THE R. H. S. COMMITTEES. 
Without doubt the recent decision of the Council of 
the Royal Horticultural Society to the effect that 
Fellows only shall henceforth be members of the 
adjudicating committees has produced some soreness. 
The impression prevails in some quarters that the 
Council are more anxious to secure subscriptions than 
ability. No doubt the Council, especially now that 
there is the reduced annual subscription of one guinea 
available, can find an ample range of fitting persons 
within the Society’s membership to sit on the various 
committees, but all the same a good deal of the very 
best talent and most practical knowledge maj T be 
practically shut out. 
To many persons, membership of a R. H. S. com¬ 
mittee, if the duties associated with it be conscientiously 
performed, of itself entails very considerable expense, 
perhaps from £5 to £10 yearly, a formidable item 
certainly, and all spent out of pure love to horticulture. 
It seems, therefore, unduly hard that in addition to 
such pecuniary burthen, the sum of yet another guinea 
should be added ere the member may be permitted to 
discharge the duties he is fitted to undertake. The 
secretary of the society recently asserted that in 
no other society were members of committees non-sub¬ 
scribers ; but then it must be remembered that there 
can hardly he found beyond the National Chrysanthe¬ 
mum Society, and its floral committee (but with its 
very moderate annual subscription of 5s .) any which have 
committees that have absolutely no administrative 
functions, but are purely j udicial in character. 
When horticultural societies obtain judges for their 
shows, experts who are not members are almost 
invariably selected. Members of the Fruit and Floral 
Committees of the R. H. S. are practically judicial 
experts, and the best should be got for the work 
irrespective of subscription.— L. ' 
--- 
SEEDLING BEGONIAS AS 
BEDDING PLANTS. 
I observe in your last week’s paper that you advise an 
inquirer not to depend upon Tuberous Begonias as 
bedding plants in the first year. As an amateur who 
annually beds out many hundreds, I thought you 
would not object to my saying a word or two on the 
subject, even if I should presume to offer advice con¬ 
trary to your own. I say that provided there is a house 
which can be kept at about 70° during the first three 
months of the year, I would by all means advise 
dependence upon seedlings. Begonias, have improved 
so rapidly lately that seedlings should be considerably 
in advance of tubers in general merit, and with proper 
treatment should make plants hig enough to please 
everyone by the end of July. 
Last season was trying enough, as everyone knows, 
yet the beds here showed a fair sprinkling of bloom 
during June ; while in July, and more notably in 
August and September, they were a sight to be remem¬ 
bered. No bedding plants I am acquainted with would 
have covered the ground so thoroughly in the same 
time. At all events, if your inquirer has the heat at 
command, and can find time to sow at once, I should 
recommend him to try the experiment. It will be un¬ 
necessary to do anything in the way of potting. We 
prick out the seedlings in batches into pots or pans, 
and when they crowd one another, repeat the operation 
into boxes, where they can have more room. Towards 
the beginning of May they go into a cool house for a 
week or two, and later still we stand them out where 
the boxes can be sheltered at night if necessary. 
Instead of moving them into a greenhouse, they can, 
if preferred, be planted out in leaf-soil and loam on 
the mildest of hot-beds, where they will grow freely, 
and from which, after gradual hardening, they will lift 
readily, with good balls bristling with roots, and with 
every advantage over pot-bound plants of their own 
age. Coco-nut fibre to the depth of an inch or two is 
spread over the borders immediately after planting. 
If the weather proves dry and hot, it keeps the roots 
reasonably moist; if wet, neither flowers nor foliage 
are splashed with mud. The seed pods are picked off 
as they appear, and some form of liquid manure is 
given from time to time. 
I do not contend that all this does not involve more 
trouble than buying or growing tubers for the purpose, 
but it is the kind of trouble most amateurs delight in, 
while it offers the possibility—so appreciated by all 
gardeners—of raising distinct varieties of a flower, the 
development of which may be truly said to be advancing 
“ by leaps and bounds.”— Somersetshire Rector. 
--- 
THE SEED TRADE AND THE 
MERCHANDISE MARKS ACT. 
We quote the following remarks on a subject of great 
importance to the Seed trade, from a letter written by 
Mr. James Elder, of Haddington, and published in 
The Scotsman, of January 23rd :— 
“ First, allow me to quote some of the clauses of the 
Act, which is called ‘An Act to Consolidate and Amend 
the Law relating to Fraudulent Marks on Merchandise 
(23rd August, 1887.) ’ 
“Section 2, clause 1 ( d ), says :—‘ Every person who 
applies any false trade description to goods shall, sub¬ 
ject to the provisions of this Act, and unless he proves 
that he acted without intent to defraud, be guilty of 
an offence against this Act.’ 
“Clause 2.—‘Every person who sells, or exposes for, 
or has in his possession for sale, or any purpose of trade 
or manufacture, any goods or things to which any 
forged trade mark or false trade description is applied, 
or to which any trade mark so nearly resembling a 
trade mark as to he calculated to deceive, is falsely 
applied, as the case may be, shall, unless he proves ’— 
there follows the extenuating circumstances, such as 
having no reason to suspect, &c.)—‘shall be guilty of 
an offence against this Act.’ 
“Clause 3.—‘Every person guilty of an offence 
against this Act shall be liable ( i) on conviction on 
indictment to imprisonment with or without hard 
labour for a term not exceeding two years, or to fine, 
or to both imprisonment and fine,’ &c. 
“I have quoted enough to show the nature of the 
Act, and I fear it is not so well known as its merits 
deserve it should be. Cases under this Act have now 
and again appeared in the newspapers, but if it were 
better known amongst traders, and more courageously 
brought into operation, a great service would be ren¬ 
dered to the genuine trade of the country. 
“ It is with the view of bringing it before the public 
that I have thus troubled you, and with the view of 
appealing to the retail members of the seed trade to be 
on their guard against, and on the look-out for, any 
infringement of this Act. Infringements, I fear, often 
happen. This is a year, however, in which such in¬ 
fringements can be easily detected. 
“ It is well known that, of all the Red Clovers, the 
English saved seed is as a rule the best, and commands 
the highest price. But besides being grown in 
England, Red is saved in several of the continental 
countries, and in America. The seed of these, however, 
commands a relatively lower figure, and a standing 
temptation naturally exists for wholesale houses to 
send out the foreign, either by itself or mixed with 
English, as pure grown English seed. This year the 
crop of English-saved Clover is almost nil. We will 
require to fall back on yearling seed if we want 
English. From a recent report of a large London 
wholesale house, I notice that they had only received 
an offer of 2 cwts. of new English seed up to the time 
of the issuing of the report. Notwithstanding this, I 
have within the last two weeks come across many 
samples of new seed sent out from England, offered as 
English, but which lacked the character of genuine 
English. Indeed it was not difficult to tell their 
nativity. Some of these samples I retain. 
“It will be well, therefore, if the trade be on its 
guard, and where unmistakeable evidence exists as to 
wrong description, let it bring the Merchandise Act 
into operation. To allow or blink at infringements of 
this kind is to do an injustice to the trade in general, 
and through the trade to the farmers, who have to rely 
on the respectability and word of their merchant. 
“A seed and nursery trade association exists for the 
purpose of looking after the trade’s interests, but 
