October 10, 1891. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
83 
SCOTTISH NOTES. 
Begonias at Holmehill, Dunblane. —Begonias, 
as bedding out plants, are attracting so much 
attention in Scotland at present, that we think it 
would be a matter of interest to many of your 
readers to have an abridged account of a visit we 
paid a few weeks ago to Holmehill, where we saw 
Begonias most successfully and artistically used in 
bedding out. Our curiosity had been whetted by 
accounts of the good and rare things to be seen in the 
vicinity of Dunblane, so we determined to pay a visit 
to some of our gardener friends who reside there. 
But unfortunately our programme for the day was 
curtailed by bad weather. We had therefore to 
content ourselves with viewing the surroundings of 
Holmehill, which stands on a considerable elevation 
overlooking the pretty village of Dunblane with its 
old cathedral. 
We met our friend, the gardener, at the entrance 
gate, and after a hearty welcome and a chat on 
matters concerning the craft, were invited to inspect 
the garden and grounds, an invitation we gladly 
accepted. We accordingly proceeded to the glass 
houses, the first of which was the stove, a neat little 
half-span structure, most tastefully arranged with 
Ferns, Palms, Dracaenas, etc., all in excellent 
condition. Passing on we entered the Tomato 
house, in which there was a most abundant crop, one 
variety in particular, the Eclipse, attracting our 
attention and receiving our commendation. The 
Vinery was the next place to visit, and the Vines, 
which were carrying an excellent looking general 
crop, came in for a good share of criticism. Passing 
on we entered the conservatory, a large building 
which was one gay mass of bloom. We then had a 
turn round the well-stocked kitchen garden, the 
vegetables being all in good condition, with the 
exception of Onions, which had succumbed to their 
deadly enemy the maggot. 
The flower garden, a sight in itself, then received 
our minute and critical attention. There was a 
grand display of Roses and Carnations. We now 
come to the Begonias, which were certainly the best 
we have seen this season, and which, in a marked 
degree, showed the capabilities of this flower as a 
bedder. One large star-shaped bed, where several 
hundred tubers of various colours were planted, pre¬ 
sented a most charming and elegant appearance. 
The other beds, five or six in number, were equally 
as good, but not so large. They are truly well 
worthy of a visit from anyone who admires the 
Begonia. Mr. Pillans, the gardener, who is a young 
but enthusiastic grower, informed us that he intends 
to go in more strongly in future for the Begonia as a 
bedder. In conclusion we may state that if 
Begonias in places around Dunblane equal those at 
Holmehill, then a visit, even from a distance, will 
well repay any who are interested in this plant. 
There .is a general feeling that Begonias will yet 
play an important part in our bedding out system, a 
feeling which was confirmed on our part after we 
saw the splendid display at Dunblane. Other 
places may have larger displays of the flower, but 
none can, we think, show more the capabilities of the 
Begonia than the well-arranged beds we had the 
pleasure of beholding at Holmehill.—A'. 
Local Flower Shows. —When amateurs as well 
as practical cultivators give their attention to horti¬ 
cultural exhibitions (and in the county in which I 
reside there is scarcely a village with a population of 
a few hundreds in which shows are not held), and are 
encouraged by the support of the wealthy and influ¬ 
ential local proprietors, the impetus which is given 
to gardening is a great gain to the working classes. 
In some mining villages where a few years ago decent 
cottage gardens were a rarity, they are now abun¬ 
dant, and the inhabitants enjoy home comforts of many 
kinds that were formerly unknown to them. In one 
village in particular, of some 8oo or 900 inhabitants, 
there is a garden to every cottage, and in many of 
them small glass houses in which the men can work 
when out-door oocupation is impracticable, and it is 
simply astonishing what these cottagers raise. 
The neat, dwarf specimen plants, especially of 
Fuchsias, Pelargoniums, Cinerarias, Primulas and 
Calceolarias, which they produce would be no discredit 
tc any gentleman’s garden in the country. And then 
the giant Leeks, the huge sticks of Celery, the curled 
Kale, the monster Parsnips, Carrots and Potatos of 
the finest quality, equally show what these humble 
amateurs can accomplish when they take heartily to 
the cultivation of their gardens. Pansies, Stocks, 
Carnations, Pentstemons, Asters, Marigolds, Dahlias 
and Antirrhinums are the florists' flowers most 
specially favoured, and in many cases they are done 
remarkably well, and go far to make up the attrac¬ 
tions of the local exhibition. There are, however— 
and I regret to say it—some black sheep among these 
enthusiasts who do not scruple to show articles which 
they do not grow themselves. They are only a few 
in number, but always troublesome to deal with, and 
should be sternly dealt with when the petty swindling 
is discovered. 
In the case of practical cultivators, there are men 
in very obscure places who can turn out produce at 
the large shows of the greatest credit to them. 
Notably was this the case recently at Edinburgh, 
when good prizes were taken by men scarcely known 
out of their own locality. At some of the exhibitions 
at which I have assisted as a judge, I have seen pro¬ 
duce which I could not fail to admire, and in no 
case have I noticed any retrogression in the quality 
of the exhibitions. The Crief show was an immense 
improvement on last year’s effort. Though not yet 
supported to any great extent by the gentlemen of 
the district, there are some who consider it a privilege 
to do so. At Stirling, the county gentlemen give 
valuable aid, but nurserymen, excepting the Messrs. 
Drummond, do not contribute very largely of their 
resources to a show that has long been worthy of the 
high-class patronage which has been accorded to it. 
Alloa makes a grand display, especially of tables of 
choice plants and collections of vegetables. The 
same may be said of Falkirk, and many other minor 
societies, which goes to prove that, notwithstanding 
the agricultural depression, gardening is loved by 
the people, and practised with an amount of success 
that is of the greatest benefit to the community.—- 
Stirling. 
WATERCRESSES. 
Most people like watercresses, but few manage to 
have them as often as they would if they could ; even 
persons living, like myself, in the country, where 
there are many in some of the watercourses, find it 
difficult to get them at times when they may be most 
wanted. Under these circumstances I lately took to 
growing them artificially, and have been so successful 
that, perhaps, you may give me space to explain how 
I do it, so that others may do likewise, even in those 
parts of the country where they do not grow natur¬ 
ally, and in towns and villages, if there is only a 
backyard with a pump in it—or, perhaps, a water-tap 
might be made to suffice. I have a pump against a 
wall at the back part of my house to raise the water 
into a cistern which supplies the boilers in the 
kitchen ; and when this pump is used for this pur¬ 
pose, as it is at least two or three times a day, a little 
of this pure water, which would otherwise run to 
waste, is made to drop into a galvanised iron trough, 
which is 10 in. wide, 8 in. deep, and 8 ft. long, on the 
bottom of which I put about 3 in. of sand. In this I 
planted the watercresses, with their roots, fixing them 
down by placing a few stones on them, and a lump 
or two of old rusty iron, which is supposed to 
increase the growth of the Cresses. 
This trough I secured by two strong iron supports 
driven into the wall 3 ft. from the ground. I did 
this because I found that the poultry fed on the 
Cresses; but where there are no poultry I think it 
would be best on the ground. Of course I filled it 
with water to start. The size of the trough might be 
increased or reduced as required to suit the situation, 
and it should be fixed with a very slight incline to 
create a slight stream from where the water falls into 
it at one end, and at the other a small hole, an inch 
below the rim of the trough, should be bored so as 
to allow the superfluous water to escape, after run¬ 
ning through the crop of Cresses. Very soon after 
planting them they began to grow quickly, and are 
very crisp and good—much more so, I think, than 
those grown in the watercourses and ditches, and are 
not tough or stringy. When gathered they should 
be cut with a knife or scissors, and not torn up by 
the roots. 
I am quite aware that Watercresses are grown in 
large quantities for the London and other markets, 
and I am not attempting to teach the growers how 
to cultivate them. What I wish to show is how they 
can be grown at the back of most houses and cottages 
without much trouble or expense, and be ready 
whenever wanted. 
The cost of galvanised iron troughs (which will 
last longer than any other in the wet) of any sizes 
and shapes will not be much, and will be repaid by 
a constant supply of Watercresses for the many who 
now seldom taste this very wholesome vegetable, 
—A. M. 0 ., in Land end Water, 
® leanings ftmit f Wmll r 
Alpine Plants on the Caucasus. —In a paper 
prepared for the Linnean Society, “ On the Vertical 
Range of Alpine Plants in the Caucasus,” by Dr. 
Gustav Radde, of Tiflis, some very interesting facts 
are given relating to the altitudes to which alpine 
plants ascend. The facts are all the more interesting 
inasmuch as they relate to many plants which are 
the common occupants of British gardens, thus 
attesting their extreme hardiness, as well as to plants 
which are equally or more common as weeds in this 
country. Some of the species occur above the line 
of perpetual snow, which, paradoxical as it may seem 
is explainable from the fact that during summer there 
are bare and peculiarly warm spots where plants can 
obtain a footing and complete their growth in the 
space of five or six weeks, ripening seeds before dying 
down. 
Many species occur at an elevation of 12,000 ft., 
and are considered those of the extreme alpine type. 
Draba araratica he found at an altitude of 14,300 ft. 
in company with Pedicularis araratica. Amongst 
those growing at an altitude of 12,000 ft. or more 
were Arabis albida (a common inhabitant of every 
garden), Draba bruniaefolia, Dianthus petraeus, 
Saxifraga muscoides, Primula algida, Gentiana 
verna, Myosotis sylvatica, and Veronica telephifolia, 
besides others which are less often seen in British 
gardens. 
A large number of cherished garden plants were 
also discovered at very high elevations on various 
ranges and mountain altitudes of the Caucasus. 
A new shrubby Primula. —A new species of 
Primula, resembling P. Aucheri and P. verticillata in 
its shrubby stems, has been collected by J. H. Lace, 
Esq.,F.L.S., in British Baluchistan, and is described 
by W. Botting Hemsley, F.R.S., A.L.S., in the Journal 
of the Linnean Society. The stem is somewhat 
woody in aged specimens and branched, bearing obo- 
vate-spathulate, more or less deeply toothed leaves 
at the apices of the branches. The latter are often 
clothed for some distance down with the withered 
remains of fallen leaves. The flowers are borne 
in clusters on short stalks from amongst the leaves, 
and are scarcely an inch long, funnel-shaped and 
yellow. 
The plants were found at Torkham, at an elevation 
ranging from 4,000 ft. to 4,500 ft. Owing to the rela¬ 
tively small size of the flowers and the peculiar habit 
of the plant, the latter is not likely to be grown 
here, except by those who grow collections of 
Primulas. 
Growth-curvatures in Plants. —A very learned 
and exhaustive address on this subject was given by 
Mr. Francis Darwin, M.A., M.B., F.R.S., of Christ’s 
College, Cambridge, before the British Association, 
of the biological section of which he was president. 
He indicated the nature of his subject by stating at 
the commencement that a Sunflower in a state of 
nature rises perpendicularly from the earth’s surface, 
while the main root penetrates the latter, pointing in 
a straight line to the earth’s centre. If a pot con¬ 
taining a plant is laid on its side, both the stem and the 
root curve so as to regain their vertical direction once 
more. This he explained as geotropic curvatures, or 
those caused by gravitation. Other curvatures were 
effected by light, and came under the term helio- 
tropism. 
Several other movements due to different cause 
also came under review, and were considered by 
the speaker as forming a natural group classified 
under the general term of growth-curvatures. The 
subject, however, divides into two branches, namely, 
(1) “ how does the plant recognise the vertical line ?” 
and (2) “ in what way are the curvatures which 
bring it into the vertical line executed ? ” The first 
question is explainable as due to irritability, and the 
second to the mechanism of movement. These the 
president treated of separately, and then went on to 
speak of circummutation, or that rotatory movement 
performed by the growing apex of the shoots or stems 
of plants, as a result of irregularities of growth. This 
latter movement, he continued to believe, was a wide¬ 
spread one, but probably not so universal as he and his 
father had supposed. Rectipetality, or the effort to 
grow straight, he looked upon as the power which 
reduced the irregularities inherent in growth and 
made them subservient to rectilinear growth 
