176 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
November 21, 1891. 
tation fall. We may plant others in their 
places, but these can never be to us what 
our old friends were, and only later genera¬ 
tions of humanity will see the young ones 
of to-day what the old and now prostrate 
trees have been to us. Trees literally be¬ 
come to us old friends. They seem as if 
ever constant, ever reliable—we never fear 
to trust them fully. No wonder that when 
they fall, never to rise again, they leave 
behind, if pleasant memories, yet also pangs 
of regret, that their lives could not have 
outlived ours. 
he Premier Japanese Chrysanthemum. 
—There has already been a good deal 
of discussion in private circles of Chrysan¬ 
themum growers as to which is the best of 
the new Japanese varieties, for exhibition 
purposes, seen during the recent show 
season. Many of our readers might, per¬ 
haps, help to the elucidation of that knotty 
point, if they would send a postcard to our 
office, naming the three best of the newer 
sorts, placed by them respectively in what 
they regard as the order of merit. We do 
not wish to go back further than two years, 
as that period has seen almost a flood of 
new varieties placed in commerce. That 
a very interesting election may follow if the 
suggestion be adopted generally there can 
be no question. 
Without doubt during the past few years 
many very fine varieties have been put 
into commerce, if even a far larger number 
has been found worthless. It is the 
growers for competition who generally have 
to eliminate the chaff from the corn. With 
the advance in quality seen in the really 
best varieties comes also a demand for 
higher average, therefore raisers have to 
set up higher standards. If the result 
should be the holding back of many new 
sorts until longer tried, or their early 
rejection before they have disappointed 
purchasers, so much the better, alike for 
those who buy and sell. We are con¬ 
strained to believe that many years will 
elapse ere the demand for high-class 
novelties is exhausted, but the continua¬ 
tion of that demand will depend materially 
upon the nature of those novelties. 
A swamping of the market with inferior 
sorts will soon breed disgust, whilst a very 
careful sifting of the good from the bad, and 
offering for sale only really standard varie¬ 
ties, will be productive of great good. It 
is better for any trader that he should have 
the reputation of having put one really first- 
class novelty in commerce than of having 
sent out a score of medium ones. Assum¬ 
ing that, in reference to our special 
suggestion above, our readers should have 
time, we should like to have also selections 
of the best three white, three yellow, three 
incurved, and three reflexed Japanese in 
order of merit, the latter two selections 
being independent of the whites and the 
yellows. 
f iRSUTE Chrysanthemums.— The com¬ 
parative failure of Mrs. Alpheus Hardy 
has naturally led to some doubts in the 
minds of Chrysanthemum growers as to 
the usefulness as well as suitability of hir¬ 
sute varieties for exhibition or other 
purposes. Louis Bcehmer has, on the other 
hand, proved to be a very robust grower 
and easy bloomer and carrying very fine 
flowers, yet it is not much fancied, not only 
because blooms, if they eventually fill up, 
take a month to do so, but all the time they 
are developing have such hard greenish- 
yellow centres as to militate largely against 
the beauty of the flowers. 
Then there is much doubt as to the worth 
of a race of hairy petalled flowers. The 
hirsute appendages do not in any way add 
to the beauty of a flower, but they do 
materially detract from it. Mrs. Alpheus 
Hardy, even in its best form, compares in¬ 
differently with Stanstead White, and 
Louis Bcehmer with Madame C. Audiguier. 
It is certain that were the Chrysanthemum 
growers of the kingdom polled as to the 
merits or otherwise of hairy-petalled 
flowers, they would almost universally 
decide against them. In a general way 
what we have seen of these hairy Chrysan¬ 
themums they are good ones spoiled. 
There is the making of a fine variety in 
Louis Bcehmer, and, were it smooth 
petalled and opened its centre well, it might 
eventually become a standard flower. It 
will, however, never take a position like 
that occupied by Avalanche, Sunflower, 
Viviand Morel, or scores of others of our 
best smooth petalled varieties. 
We do not think the trade is very wise 
in investingin these hairy Chrysanthemums 
largely. A couple of seasons’ further expe¬ 
rience may settle them effectually, or at 
least that is much more likely to result than 
that they will become popular. 
* ♦ m 
The Proposed International Fruit Show in 1892.— 
We are pleased to be able to announce that the 
Queen has consented to become patron of the great 
International Fruit Show in 1892. now being promoted 
by an influential body of horticulturists, of whom Sir 
James Whitehead is chairman. 
Manchester Royal Botanical and Horticultural 
Society. —The following dates have been fixed for the 
exhibitions of this society next year :—First Spring 
Show, in the Town Hall, Manchester, 15th and 16th 
of March. Second ditto, 26th of April. Special 
Exhibition of Orchids, Roses, and Rhododendrons, 
opens at the gardens 3rd of June. Orchid Conference, 
4th of June. Rose Show, at the gardens 16th of 
July. 
Chiswick Gardeners’ Mutual Improvement As ocia- 
tion. —The annual concert organised by this Associa¬ 
tion in aid of the Gardeners’ Orphan Fund, was held 
on the 29th ult., and the proceeds have now been 
realised. After paying all expenses, the profit 
amounted to nearly £ 20, and it is the intention of the 
members to complete this sum. 
Orange Groves at the Chicago Exhibition. —One 
acre of ground within the horticultural building has 
been reserved for an Orange grove from Florida, and 
the same amount for a grove from California. These 
trees will be taken to Chicago next year and planted, 
so that they will bear fruit while the Exposition is 
open. These two acres constitute two interior courts 
of the building. 
The Preston and Fulwood Horticultural Society held 
its usual monthly meeting on the 7th inst., when the 
chair was taken by the new president, R. W. 
Hanbury, Esq., M.P., who delivered an interesting 
address on general gardening subjects. The paper 
read was on the subject of the Bouvardia, by Mr. W. 
P. Roberts, of the Cuerdon Hall Gardens, and a 
brief discussion followed. Mr. Roberts’ paper will 
be found in another column. A considerable 
number of horticultural products were exhibited by 
members. 
California is the first state to respond to the request 
that each state contribute the trunks of three of its 
most characteristic trees, to be used in constructing 
a rustic colonnade for the forestry building, at the 
World’s Fair at Chicago, in 1893. California’s con¬ 
tribution includes a Sugar-pine furnished by Towle 
Bros., Company, of Alta; a Redwood, by J. F. 
Cunningham, of Santa Cruz; and a Sequoia, by 
Smith Comstock, of Tulare. 
Chrysanthemum Branching Etoile d'Or. —The 
yellow Marguerite is well known and much appre¬ 
ciated on account of its colour, but the habit of the 
plant as usually seen is less satisfactory than that of 
the white varieties. All the upper portion of the 
plant ends in flowers, and when these are over the 
plant has to be cut hard back in order to get eyes 
that will produce fresh growth. The plant under 
notice is more branching, more continuous in 
flowering, and therefore more generally useful. The 
flower heads are, however, somew’hat paler than 
those of the old and well known sort. We noted a 
large batch of it in the nursery of Messrs. H, Cannell 
& Sons, Swanley, Kent. 
The Glasgow Botanic Garden.—A Glasgow paper 
states that rather a nice point has arisen with the 
extension of the city and the merging of the Botanic 
Gardens into the Parks and Galleries Trust The 
matter touches the right of the corporation to shut 
the gardens on Sundays. What the precise powers 
of the town council are is possibly unknown to most 
members, if not even to learned officials. The 
situation provoked by the acquisition of the gardens 
and the shutting of them on Sundays is novel. So 
far action on the part of ratepayers has been con¬ 
fined to inquiry at the town-clerk’s office, but it is 
conceivable that steps may be taken to have the 
point authoritatively tested. The question is rather 
a nice one, and is not to be decided off-hand by the 
contention that, because the gardens are rate- 
supported, they consequently ought to be free to 
the public, like the other parks, at all times. 
A Model Chrysanthemum Catalogue —This is one 
just issued by Mr. H. J. Jones, of the Ryecroft 
Nurseries, Hither Green, Lewisham, and it is of much 
more than ordinary interest, and for several reasons. 
It is issued early, while the remembrance of novelties 
are fresh in the mind. It contains all the best new 
varieties seen this season ; and therefore thoroughly 
up to date. The various sections are well classified, 
and it contains an excellent and complete practical 
paper on growing the Japanese Chrysanthemum, by 
Mr. C. E. Shea, a most successful grower. It also 
contains an excellent calendar, by Mr. H. Shoesmith, 
who is well qualified to write it. Besides this there 
is much information of a novel character, put in a 
very acceptable form for the use of Chrysanthemum 
cultivators. It is a pamphlet of seventy pages, and 
on the last page of the cover is given a series of five 
reasons why all lovers of the Chrysanthemum should 
become members of the National Chrysanthemum 
Society. This is quite a new departure, and it 
shows on the part of Mr. Jones an interest in the 
National Chrysanthemum Society we should like to 
see exhibited by some other growers. 
Cineraria maritima variegata.—The ordinary form 
of this plant comes in very useful for the edging of 
beds of large size, but particularly beds of sub-tropi¬ 
cal plants, where the woolly-white character of the 
leaves serves as a foil and a contrast to dark foliaged 
subjects. The variety under notice differs from the 
type in the margins, being heavily variegated with 
clear yellow, and when in its best character is both 
distinct and striking. We noted it recently in the 
nursery of Messrs. H. Cannell & Sons, Swanley, 
Kent, wffiere, of course it was grown in pots, in one 
of the hothouses. When used as an edging out of 
doors, the best results with regard to the variegation 
would probably be obtained by planting in soil that 
is on the dry side, rather than otherwise, because 
the whiteness of the leaves gets spoiled in wet weather, 
or when the plant is growing vigorously in rich and 
moist soil. 
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" ♦ ' 
CHRYSANTHEMUM 
CUTTINGS. 
The King never dies, and in like manner the Chry¬ 
santhemum season has no ending. Almost before 
the Chrysanthemum bloom is on the wane—that is, 
the bloom of the main season varieties—the grower 
has to think of next year’s stock, and to make pro¬ 
vision for a supply. At this season of the year the 
leading trade growers put in cuttings by the thousand. 
Some in beds, in frames, with a gentle bottom heat to 
help the rooting process ; some in propagating 
houses, with a brisker heat to ensure rapid rooting, 
and in order to be able to execute orders, which pour 
in as soon as the autumn shows are over. 
Some cultivators commence to strike cuttings 
earlier than others ; but the end of November is not 
too early to make preparation for this work. There 
are many methods of striking cuttings. One of the 
best is to take 5-in. pots, filled to the depth of one- 
third with crocks, over this being placed a little 
moss to prevent the. soil falling down into it and 
choking the passages of water, and the pot then 
filled with a fine, light compost made up of leaf- 
mould, good loam, and sand in equal parts, all pre¬ 
viously passed through a fine sieve. These should 
be sprinkled with a fine rose and stood aside for a 
time before the cuttings are inserted. 
I do not advise anyone taking cuttings from 
plants that have produced exhibition blooms and 
been well fed. It is best to plant out for stock, in 
a spot where the plants can be sheltered when cut- 
