March 2, 1889. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
417 
National Chrysanthemum Society. — At a meeting 
of the general committee, held on the 18tli ult., it 
was unanimously decided again to hold autumn and 
mid-winter shows, the dates selected being September 
11th and 12th for the former, and January 8th and 
9th, 1890, for the latter. The dates fixed for holding 
the meetings of the Floral Committee were as follows : 
September 11th, October 9th and 23rd, November 12th 
and 26th, December 11th, and January 8th, 1890. 
Eight gentlemen were nominated for the five vacancies 
to be filled up on this committee, and a show of hands 
resulted in the election of Mr. E. Sanderson, Mr. Lewis 
Castle, Mr. J. Wright, Temple Gardens ; Mr. Kendall, 
and Mr. Swift. 
Gardeners’ Orphan Fund.—At the usual monthly 
meeting of the committee, held on the 22nd ult., it was 
announced that the result of the recent ticket benefit at 
the Royal Princess’s Theatre was a nett gain to the Fund 
of over £21. Besides other donations received during the 
month, was one of £3 10s. sent by Mr. Hodges, of 
Lindfield, Sussex, as the result of a concert given at 
that place by gardeners and gardeners’ children. The 
committee having considered the question of ways and 
means in conjunction with a valuable communication 
on the subject received from one of the trustees, Mr. A. 
H. Smee, decided that an election of five children to 
the benefits of the fund should take place at the annual 
meeting in July. The Duke of Bedford has again 
kindly given his consent to a floral fete being held in 
the Covent Garden Flower Market, and a meeting of 
the stand-holders will be called for at an early date to 
consider the best means of carrying it out. 
Glasnevin Seed List.—It may interest those on the 
outlook for fresh additions to their collections of hardy 
plants to know that the list of seeds for exchange this 
year at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin, 
is now published. The list extends to thirteen pages, 
nearly of the size of foolscap, and there are three 
columns of names on each page. The names are 
classified and arranged according to the natural orders 
to which the plants belong ; but the list, no doubt, is 
chiefly intended for exchange with other botanic gar¬ 
dens. As might be expected, a large proportion of the 
subjects mentioned are suitable only for botanic 
gardens, and for such the list is invaluable ; but gar¬ 
deners, speaking generally, unless they were tolerably 
well acquainted with hardy plants, would be unable to 
sift out those of horticultural value. For the benefit of 
such, an asterisk or some other mark placed opposite 
the names of useful decorative kinds would have been 
of great assistance. For instance, as far as botany is 
concerned, many of the species of Draba, Arenaria, 
Silene, Astragalus, Hieracium, Rumex, and grasses are 
very interesting, but the greater proportion of them are 
of no value horticulturally. Judging from the list of 
Asters of the perennial kind given, the seed harvest in 
Ireland must have been more abundant than on this 
side of the Channel last year, for very few seeds ripened, 
The specialist in hardy plants would, however, find a 
large number of species from which a really good 
selection could be made. 
Daffodils at the Drawing Room.—We understand 
that a large bouquet of the white Trumpet Daffodil, 
Bishop Mann, made in posy shape, pure and simple, 
with its own foliage, and containing nearly 100 blooms, 
tied and fastened with white satin ribbon, was sent 
from Mr. Wm. Baylor Hartland’s grounds at Cork, and 
carried by a lady at the Drawing Room, on Tuesday. As 
an Irish production, the flowers being cut from the open 
air on February 24th, the record is unique, and from 
a scientific point of view is of interest, as testifying to 
an extraordinary mild winter. 
Chinese Primroses.—A box of blooms of Primula 
sinensis has been sent usby Mr. Robert Owen, FloralNur- 
sery, Maidenhead. They are known as the Imperial 
Strain, and the blooms sent us, numerous as they were, 
scarcely presented two having the same shade of colour. 
Forinstance.therewereseveralshadesof red, vermilion or 
crimson ; but all differed more or less in that respect, 
as well as in the shape of the eye and its colour, both 
of which play an important feature in the general 
character of the flowers. One flower in particular was 
of a brilliant fiery vermilion. The white varieties were 
very pure, and of good substance. Then there were 
blush, rose, carmine, pink, spotted, freckled, mottled, 
and edged kinds. Some of the rosy mauve kinds were 
finely fringed and laced all round the margin with a 
white edge. Another one was beautifully marbled with 
rose on a white ground. He has also a very fine white 
edged with pink ; and another with a broad well- 
defined pink border. A rose-lake variety is also a 
choice and new colour. Another has a greenish orange 
eye occupying half the flower, while the rest is lilac, 
with a white edge. A light and a dark shade of blue 
were also large and beautiful. A number of semi¬ 
double kinds also presented the same intense shades of 
crimson, vermilion, rose, carmine, rose with a white 
laced edge, and pure white. 
-- >X< -- 
THE KING’S NORTON NUR¬ 
SERIES. 
As a rule, great depression in business has for a long 
time been felt by the nursery trade of the country, but 
with a revival of trade generally, and the mild winter 
we are so far having, the hopes of the nursery trade 
run higher than for some time past, and planting is 
being carried on with spirit. Mr. John Pope, the 
proprietor of The King’s Norton Nurseries, near Bir¬ 
mingham, has recently built, close to his private 
residence, about half-a-mile from the home nurseries, 
a large block of glasshouses, at a cost of about £1,600, 
for the growth of plants and flowers, chiefly to supply 
the wants of his stall in the Market Hall. There are 
ten houses, each about 95 ft. long, and these are built 
on sloping ground facing the south, the lowest of all 
being 24 ft. wide with an 18 ft. back wall, against 
which Marechal Niel Roses are planted, the ends being 
occupied by large Camellias. A north house of the 
same size is fixed against the back wall, and is filled 
with Camellias and Azaleas. 
The other houses are low span-roofed structures. No. 
1 is a propagating house 18 ft. wide, with centre and 
side beds. No. 2 has Tomatos planted out, and is 
also devoted to Maiden Hair Fern in pots, Cyperus, 
Arums, Aspidistras, Palms, Dracaenas, &c. No. 3 has 
Bouvardias, Maiden Hair and other Ferns, Heliotrope, 
double Pelargoniums, &c. No. 4 holds Roses, zonals, 
Euonymus, Aralias, a fine lot of Marechal Niels in 
pots, but is chiefly a Rose house. No. 5 is for zonal 
Pelargoniums, a very fine lot, Gloire Lyonnaise and La 
France preponderating, but Le Bruante is very fine, 
and a favourite here. No. 6 is also a house of zonals, 
Henri Jacoby, Raspail, Le Bruante, and Gloire 
Lyonnaise especially. No. 7 is devoted to Primulas, 
for which the firm of Pope & Sons have a great celebrity, 
some very fine sorts being now in bloom here. 
No. 8 contains zonals and tricolors, with an immense 
stock of the best of all the latter, Mr. Henry Cox, and 
a fine silver bicolor, Miss Kingsbury. No. 9 is filled 
with Niphetos, zonals, and other fine kinds. For the 
heating of this large block, one of Hartley & Sugden’s 
top-feeding single-flued saddle boilers is used, with a 
6-in. main and 4-in. feeders to each house, and 4,COO ft. 
of 4-in. pipes are in use. A spacious cistern in each 
house for water supply is under the floor-level, and 
altogether it is a fine lot of glass for plant growing. 
Amongst the new Primulas raised here, Lady 
Randolph Churchill, an improved Princess Louise, is 
very fine indeed ; and Mr. Rose, the Primula grower 
here, has succeeded in obtaining a good cross between 
Webb’s Purity—really a pure white, but wanting in 
size—and Princess Louise. This seedling, like Purity, 
is very floriferous, and retains the latter’s whiteness, 
but has also the substance, size, and form of Princess 
Louise. Mr. Rose is also making a great advance in 
the blue shades of Primulas. Mr. John Pope, in 
addition to his business of nurseryman and seedsman, 
has added that of horticultural auctioneer, and has 
just taken extensive premises close to the Market Hall 
for the sale of cut flowers, &c., by auction.— W. D. 
-— >X< -- 
EARLY-FLOWERING CROCUSES. 
Frail as are the flowers of this genus, and short-lived 
at best, there are few who do not admire their strikingly 
gay flowers with their endless diversity of colour. 
They are the flowers of sunnier skies than ours, hence 
the difficulty of securing so brilliant a display in winter 
in this country as they would otherwise do under more 
favourable conditions. The corms and foliage are 
hardy enough, but unless mild weather prevail a 
brilliant display of flowers we can hardly expect, 
without the protection of a hand-light or frame is 
given. The beauty and interest attaching to them is, 
however, sufficient recompense for any outlay in this 
respect. Out of doors, however, the flower-buds are 
ever ready to expand on the advent of a mild and bright 
day or two, and even should they be only of ephemeral 
duration they never fail to be appreciated. 
Yellow Species. 
One of the brightest at this time is Crocus chrysanthus, 
a variable species, but in its typical form golden yellow. 
The flowers are medium-sized, and are rendered ad¬ 
ditionally attractive by the bright scarlet stigmas. 
There are several varieties named, according to the 
marking on the outer three segments. C. c. fusco- 
lineatus has brown lines over the yellow. C. aureus 
has bright golden yellow flowers in its typical state ; 
but, like C. chrysanthus, it is liable to considerable 
variation, and is the parent of the large Dutch yellow 
varieties of Crocus, the origin of which is altogether 
unknown, as they do not grow in a wild state. The 
latter is described under the name of C. luteus in some 
old books. A comparatively new species is C. 
Korolkowi, with pale yellow flowers, lightly feathered 
with brown. 
Parti-coloured Species. 
A number of Crocuses are notable for the number of 
shades of colour they display, even in the typical wild 
state. Foremost amongst these for early flowering is 
C. Imperati. The outer surface of the three outer 
segments of the flower are of a dull straw-yellow 
or buff colour, with blackish purple feathered lines, 
while their inner surface and the three inner segments 
are lilac-purple. Following close upon the last- 
named variety is C. etruscus. There is a close family 
likeness between them, and they are chiefly distinguished 
botanically by their corm tunics. The outer segments 
are here, however, of a French-grey, and finely feathered 
with purple, while interiorly the segments incline to 
blue. C. suaveolens is even more closely allied to C. 
Imperati, than which it has clearer purple markings, a 
purple tube, and is of hardy constitution and floriferous. 
A better-known and more widely-grown variety is C. 
biflorus, which varies exceedingly, both in a wild and 
cultivated state. The Scotch or Cloth of Silver, a 
large-flowering variety, is derived from it. The outer 
segments of the wild form are white, beautifully feathered 
with purple, while the inner ones are lavender. The 
variety C. b. nubigenus has very tiny flowers suffused 
with brownish yellow externally, and slightly feathered 
with purple. C. Thomasianum comes in the same 
group as C. etruscus, and is a strong-growing, free- 
flowering species ; the outer segments are French- 
white externally, lilac internally, as well as the three 
inner segments. C. Aucheri has lilac-purple flowers 
with darker veins, and the outer segments are of a 
straw-yellow externally. 
Blue or Lilac. 
Closely allied to C. vernus is a very distinct-looking 
species named C. banaticus, from the Banat, Hungary 
and Transylvania. The flowers are large, of a deep 
bluish purple, with a transverse much deeper-coloured 
band a little below the apex of the segments. The 
latter are curiously truncate at the tip, as if the flower 
had been clipped away there. C. lsevigatus is so 
closely allied to C. Boryi as to be considered a variety 
of it by some. The flowers are small, light blue, very 
pretty, and heavily feathered with blackish purple 
externally. It continues blooming from October to 
March when the weather is favourable. C. Sieberi, 
also known as C. nivalis, is also flowering at the Hale 
Farm, Tottenham, in Mr. T. S. Ware’s nursery, where 
we noted the above the other day. It has pale lilac- 
purple flowers, with a bluish tint internally 
-•*$«-- 
The Rose Garden, 
-- 
TEA ROSES ON THEIR OWN ROOTS.-1L 
Granted that the instructions given on p. 402 have 
been carried out, from the cutting up to making good 
established young plants, the time occupied in so doing 
will be but a trifle over twelve months, no longer a 
period in which to establish the stronger sorts of Teas 
than would be occupied if the same kinds had been 
grafted on to stocks, so that it at once becomes apparent 
to an observant mind that the real advantage must rest 
with the plants grown upon their own roots. I admit 
at once that the weaker kinds will take a longer time 
to establish themselves than they otherwise would 
do provided they were worked upon the Manetti 
or Seedling Briar. 
It is a generally acknowledged fact that Tea Roses 
require but very little pruning, and where a quantity 
of useful-sized buds are required, the greater part of 
the kinds require no pruning at all, except to cut out 
exhausted or decayed wood. The buds that unpruned 
plants yield are more useful to the florist than what 
larger ones would be ; but when both large buds and 
fine flowers are wanted, then it is advisable to prune 
the plants in rather sharp. 
In the case of climbing Teas or Noisettes, it becomes 
necessary to encourage these kinds to make shoots as 
long as possible in a season, so that they may be 
allowed to flower the full length of the shoot the 
following season—that is, allowed to flower from every 
eye all the way up the shoot, taking care that one or 
