580 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
May 11, 1889. 
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Polyanthuses at Bedfont. 
Seen under the bright sunshine of the past few days, 
but especially in the evening when the sun is declining 
in the heavens, the large breadths of border or fancy 
Polyanthuses at Bedfont present a feature once seen not 
easily forgotten. These fancy Polyanthuses may well 
be termed wet weather flowers. It was true that when 
we saw them at Bedfont there had been two consecutive 
dry days—something almost marvellous there—but 
just previously there had been from day to day literally 
floods of rain, and yet the brightness and beauty of the 
flowers seemed to be absolutely unimpaired. 
The quarters in different parts of the grounds, of which 
there are several, comprise perhaps from 500 to 600 
plants each. We could not but wish that beds of these 
wondrously varied and beautiful flowers could be seen 
in some of our London parks. What a sensation they 
would create! Here are yellows, oranges, whites, 
sulphurs, reds, mauves, purples, crimsons, salmons— 
indeed, a whole lot of colours, absolutely indescribable, 
many of the plants carrying solid heads of bloom from 
10 ins. to 15 ins. across, according to their age. In 
the Hose-in-hose forms there are being exhibited some 
striking developments, the flowers, which are carried 
on stiff stems, attaining great size, and of the most 
wonderful colours imaginable. 
Seen with the declining sun shining softly upon them 
these flowers presented a study in floral colouring such 
as an artist might well have revelled in. Out of all 
these myriads of plants not one escapes the eye of the 
grower, for we noted that anything specially fine or 
novel in colour had been duly marked. Really Mr. 
Dean’s strain of these beautiful spring flowers is a 
remarkable one, and much of its excellence is due to 
the fact that selection is made only from the best 
forms. All the plants are the product of seed sown as 
soon as ripe. 
The Florists' Laced Pink. 
Some of your correspondents seem to think that good 
sorts of laced Pinks are difficult to meet with, but this 
is not my experience. I grew the Pink years ago, and 
a love for the flower has come over me again— 
stimulated, no doubt, by the correspondence in your 
columns. Well, having no time to ramble about the 
country peeping into cottage gardens, I remembered 
that I used to get good sorts from Altrincham, and a 
letter addressed to Messrs. W. Clibran & Son, asking 
them to send me a collection, promptly brought me a 
box of plants—nice clean stuff in thumb pots, carefully 
packed and labelled. They were speedily transferred 
into 60’s, and put into my Carnation house, where 
they soon looked prim and beautiful. I do not, of 
course, anticipate much from them this season, but if 
spared till another year I hope to have stock that will 
do me credit. I have lost the names of my old stock 
plants, but hope to identify some of them at least by 
comparing them with my new batch, so that I may be 
able to stage a few blooms this year if it be found 
practicable to hold a show at such a time as will per¬ 
mit those which are grown naturally to be exhibited. 
I hope it will always be borne in mind that the hardy 
florists’ flowers are essentially the flowers for the 
million, and that no encouragement will be given to 
those who practice forcing. — JV. W. 
The Manchester Auricula Show. 
This show was exceedingly interesting to my mind, 
but why all this mystery at flower shows generally 
with regard to seedlings ? How many times ought 
plants to be termed seedlings? Surely, if they have 
once had a father to christen them Gem or Hypatia, 
they should not be trotted out as Ginks’s babies. Let 
Horner’s Melaine ever remain true, and let no one desire 
to claim it again as a seedling. If our late friend, 
Pohlmann, of Halifax, could have looked in last week, 
he would have seen flowers dubbed “seedlings ” which, 
given their due, would have borne names that he gave 
them. Cannot this be remedied ?— Auld Lanrj Sync. 
Alpine Auriculas. 
“ R. D.’s” protest against the present rage for large 
size in Alpine Auricula flowers is needful. It is but 
too painfully apparent that the choicer features of these 
very delightful flowers are being sacrificed in the race 
for dimensions. The Floral Committee of the Royal 
Horticultural Society a few years ago gave to some 
rather coarse white or creamy centred flowers Certifi¬ 
cates of Merit, and it is to be feared that such 
recognition of flowers having the merit of size only has 
led to this exaggerated estimate of their value on the 
show table. One grower has pleaded for them that in 
some cases colours have been obtained which the 
smaller but more perfectly formed flowers have failed 
to produce. This is dubious doctrine, and does not 
justify the putting of coarse flowers on the exhibition 
table. 
As to the relative merits of white and gold centres, 
I hold that no Alpine Auricula should be recognised as 
first class which does not show a bright gold or yellow 
centre. It may seem odd that whilst we find in a 
dense pure white paste the chief beauty and charm of a 
self stage Auricula, we should contemn a white-centred 
Alpine ; but the white of the latter is but a bastard 
imitation indeed of the wondrous density and purity of 
the white paste of a show flower. Let any person 
absolutely ignorant of the relative merits of Alpine 
Auriculas compare pure gold-centred flowers with those 
having white or creamy centres, and I am sure that the 
verdict will be for the former. 
To me the gold centres are incomparably the chief 
charms of Alpine Auriculas. Gold centres and pale 
grounds may be incompatible, but all the more reason 
why growers should breed for rich reds, maroons, 
purples, or other hues, which in conjunction with gold 
centres, form glorious flowers.— Alpine. 
The Auricula Show at Westminster. 
In common with every visitor to the late show in the 
Drill Hall, I was delighted with the marvellons display, 
considering the date and the season. The green, grey 
and white-edged flowers were indeed charming in their 
refinement, and worthy of all the encomiums bestowed 
upon them by the Rev. F. D. Horner. Still, I must 
confess that I am of the same way of thinking as those 
who assert that lovely as are the show varieties, they 
do not possess all the beauty. In the so-called Alpine 
section they have sturdy rivals for popular favour. 
Here we have a greater variety of colour, diversity of 
form, an exquisite blending of lovely shades, and rich 
golden centres, which, in conjunction with stronger 
constitutions, render them plants adaptable for almost 
anyone to grow. The sweet and delicate lacing of some 
of the varieties greatly pleased me, and showed that 
steady, if slow, progress is being made in the de¬ 
velopment of this type, which has been a fancy of 
mine ever since “ R. D.” exhibited the first varieties 
of them at the Crystal Palace.— IV. IV. 
- ->$<« - 
LILIES OP THE VALLEY. 
For many years past—indeed, we believe since 1852 or 
1853, when Messrs. Hawkins & Bennett established 
themselves as growers of flowers for market near by 
Twickenham Station, on the South Western Railway, 
they have been content to grow only a few things, but 
to grow them well—a golden rule well understood and 
thoroughly worked up to throughout the market¬ 
gardening profession. Scarlet, white and pink flowers 
for cutting are the specialties of Messrs. Hawkins & 
Bennett, and these are mainly supplied by zonal and 
Ivy-leaved Pelargoniums, Stephanotis, Liliums and 
Lilies of the Valley—and at any season of the year 
flowers of either or all of the colours named can be had 
in quantity. 
For the moment, however, we are more directly 
concerned with the Lilies of the Valley, which are 
rapidly coming into bloom en masse, and fill the air 
with one of the most delicate and delightful of odours. 
The variety grown is known as the Victoria, and until 
comparatively lately the firm held the whole of the 
stock. It is a very strong grower, and the flowers, 
which come large and pure white, are borne on a long, 
stiff, wiry stem, which gives it a special value for 
pulling for bunching purposes. Whatever may have 
been the origin of the variety—and of that we know 
nothing—there can be no doubt but that high cultiva¬ 
tion, extended over many years, has done much to 
bring it to its present grand state of perfection. 
How many thousands of plants the firm grow—all 
in beds in the open air—we should not like to say, 
but the number must be enormous, as they have many 
beds, mostly about 150 ft. long and about 8 ft. wide, 
each square yard containing about 500 crowns. The 
beds are all so situated as regards shade and exposure 
that a continuous and heavy gathering of flowers can 
be maintained over a period ranging from two to three 
months, according to the season. The system of culti¬ 
vation adopted is simplicity itself, and in the main 
consists of close planting in rich soil, and heavily 
mulching with short well-rotted manure, throughout 
the life of each bed, which is from six to seven years, 
and a regular system of renewing a certain numbei of 
the beds each season. 
When an exhausted bed is cleared out for re-planting, 
the old soil is replaced with good loam that has been 
laid up for a time, with a liberal admixture of manure, 
soot, and old lime, and the largest crowns only being 
planted, a fair head of bloom is obtained the first season. 
In the second year the plants apparently take a rest 
and flower more sparingly, but in the third season they 
come on again, and from the fourth to the sixth or 
seventh season they are in their prime. The beds in 
their sixth year are those which are induced to come 
into bloom first, by being covered with lights, and 
having a pipe run along the back and front, heated by 
a small independent boiler. The successional beds are 
simply protected by a skeleton frame, with wires 
stretched along the top, over which canvas is spread at 
night and during bad weather, for though no attempt 
at confinement is practised, except in the case of the 
early beds, every precaution is taken to protect the 
plants from heavy rains and hailstorms, and even after 
the flowers are gathered the greatest possible care is 
taken of the foliage, any injury to which means im¬ 
paired strength in the crowns for the following season. 
The secrets of the business—if there are any—and 
our genial and kindly guide over the establishment 
(Mr. Hawkins) did not claim that he had any to with¬ 
hold, seem to consist simply of close planting in a rich 
compost, and high feeding by means of mulching 
afterwards, so as to keep the roots moist and cool, and 
at all times during growth to prevent injury to the 
leaves. 
-- 
SCARLET, PINK, AND WHITE. 
In the preceding remarks we have dealt only with one of 
the specialties so well done by Messrs. Hawkins & 
Bennett, at Twickenham, but there are two others 
which claim a passing word—the Pelargonium and 
Stephanotis. The latter occupy a low lean-to house 
some fifty feet long and six feet wide, the roof of which 
is completely covered by some half-dozen old plants in 
rare health and vigour, and perfectly free from their 
natural enemy the mealy-bug. They are planted in 
slate tubs, which can be extended as more root-room is 
required, and provision is made for flooding the bottom 
half of them as required to keep the ball of soil moist 
right through. For tying and training purposes 
nothing is used but lead wire, cut into short lengths, 
placed round the shoot3 and given one or two twists. 
This provides no harbour for bug, is easily undone, and 
practically lasts for ever. 
The Pelargonium houses, huge span-roofed and lean- 
to structures, are a glorious sight—perfect masses of 
scarlet, pink, and white in houses of different colours 
— notwithstanding the regular and heavy demands 
made upon them for flowers. The best scarlet is the 
semi-double, F. Y. Raspail, and this is grown by 
thousands. The best white in quantity is Ladd's 
Queen of Whites, next to which come Niphetos, very 
pure if somewhat ragged in the truss, and Eureka. 
-•»£«•- 
BEDDING PANSIES. 
As I stood the other day in one of those hardy plant 
nurseries wherein all sorts of hardy roots, and Pansies 
especially, are grown by thousands for market sale, 
a feeling of regret arose that we have no pure white 
variety which can in any way equal that wonderfully 
early and free-blooming variety, Blue King. It is true 
that Mr. Smith, of Newry, claims to have in a sport 
from Blue King, named by him White King, a bond 
fide white to match, but before regarding it as the gem 
needed, I prefer to await the opinions of some dis¬ 
interested critic. 
Now, in any ordinary garden, Pansies are planted for 
effect at some 10 ins. to 12 ins. apart, but at the nursery 
in question, as, indeed all about the neighbourhood, 
where myriads of small gardens are given over to 
flower-root production, the plants are put out in the 
autumn at about 7 ins. apart, and by the spring, when 
in bloom, they become a perfect mass of flowers. 
Whilst Blue King is the very earliest blue, and because 
of its neat compact habit is a great favourite, Cliveden 
Purple still remains the earliest and most effective of 
purples, and big masses of these, perhaps of 5,000 
plants, are indeed wonderful carpets of colour. 
A white and a yellow counterpart to these two very 
early, very hardy, and very compact kinds seem to be 
sadly needed. There are yellows and there are whites, 
but all are some three weeks later. Dickson’s Queen 
has a first-rate habit, but it is far too tall in flowering, 
and even then blooms sparsely. Some of the finest 
