March 12, 1892. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
4X8 
"Japs” against "Japs,” and incurved against 
incurved, whilst it will afford opportunities for 
competition to exhibitors who cannot manage a 
forty-eight, but who can muster a twenty-four, at 
the same time admitting, as before, those who can 
manage to exhibit both. The committee have 
further decided to introduce a rule making the use 
of gum or other adhesive in the dressing of cut 
blooms or blooms on plants a disqualification ; and 
further that all Orchids exhibited at their next 
Chrysanthemum show and their spring show in 
1893 shall be bona fide specimens exhibited in the 
pots as grown and not made up for the occasion. 
National Amateur Gardeners’ Association. —The 
amateur gardeners of Liverpool have established a 
branch of the National Amateur Gardeners’ Associa¬ 
tion, and held their first monthly meeting on the 3rd 
inst., when Mr. W. A. Ardran read a paper on “ The 
failures and successes of an Amateur Gardener.” 
Prof. Harvey Gibson has consented to become presi¬ 
dent of the branch. 
The Whit-week Show at Manchester. —We under¬ 
stand that the Great National Horticultural Exhi¬ 
bition, which for some years past has been one of 
the specially successful horticultural events of the 
season, and which this year was to have taken the 
character of an Orchid show mainly, has been 
abandoned in view of arrangements which have been 
made for letting the gardens at Old Trafford for the 
season, to a syndicate who are going to run an exhibition 
there, entitled " Old America.” Some flower shows 
will probably be held in the gardens, but they wil 
be under the control of the syndicate in question. 
Kent County Chrysanthemum Sociely. —The fourth 
annual dinner of this flourishing society took place 
on Wednesday evening, March 2nd, at the Bridge 
House Hotel, London Bridge. About fifty members 
and their friends sat down to an excellently arranged 
repast, and the evening proved to be a very pleasant 
one indeed. After the usual loyal toast had been 
given, Mr. D. B. Crane proposed " The Kent County 
Chrysanthemum Society,” and in doing so spoke in 
praise of the high standard of public utility which 
the society had maintained during the past year. 
The chief event of the evening was the presentation 
of a testimonial to the late Hon. Secretary, Mr. H. A. 
Needs, who was leaving the neighbourhood. The 
testimonial took the form of a silver tea and coffee 
service, which was much admired. The chairman, 
Mr. Stevens, in making the presentation, spoke very 
highly of the manner in which Mr. Needs had 
carried out the work of the society. Mr. Needs res¬ 
ponded, and in doing so assured the members that 
be left the society officially very reluctantly, but was 
extremely pleased that the secretaryship had been 
taken up by his old and esteemed friend Mr. H. J. 
Jones. After Mr. Needs had returned thanks for the 
tangible manner in which the members of the society 
had expressed their goodwill, the remainder of the 
evening was given up to toasts, songs, and sentiment. 
The arrangements for the dinner were admirably 
carried out by the new secretary, Mr. H. J. Jones, 
Ryecroft Nursery, Lewisham. 
THE OLD DOUBLE WHITE 
PRIMULA. 
The beauty and usefulness of this grand old 
Primula can scarcely be over-estimated where cut 
flowers are in great demand during the winter 
months. They are particularly well adapted for 
filling small vases and glasses for the dinner table, 
also for making crosses and wreaths. The individual 
blooms can be placed together, in small bunches 
from six to twelve together, and so distributed 
over the frame of the cross or wreath, and no 
flower can surpass it for its purity of snowy 
whiteness, and very few for the vast quantity of 
bloom which it will produce during the short days 
of winter. There really seems to be no limit in this 
respect. 
The grandest sight I have seen for a very long time 
was a house full of this Primula in Messrs Jefferies 
& Son's nursery, Cirencester, which the other day 
presented a perfect sheet of snowy whiteness. The 
plants were arranged on the side stages, and at the 
further end of the house was a bank which defies 
description, each plant representing a complete cone 
of bloom, each bloom being of very large size and 
good substance. I should very much like a hint or 
two from Mr. Dyer (Messrs. Jefferies & Son’s 
foreman) as to the treatment these plants have 
received to bring about such satisfactory results. 
Although several new varieties have been intro¬ 
duced from time to time, the good old double white 
still holds its own. Some of these newer varieties 
are miffy things to deal with ; they are very liable to 
damping, and very suddenly too, for to-day a plant 
may look healthy and to-morrow it may be hanging 
down over the side of the pot. On examining it, it 
will be found to be perfectly rotten at the collar or 
just above the soil, I should very much like to know 
the origin of this useful plant.— Visitor. 
-- 
TWO CHOICE BORONIAS. 
Within recent years more attention has been given 
to the Boronias than formerly. The sweet-scented 
B. megastigma has no doubt assisted greatly to give 
an impetus to the growing of this class of plants 
owing to the delicious fragrance of its blossoms 
which make their presence felt in a house notwith¬ 
standing their small size, inconspicuous colours and 
general unattractiveness. So far as appearance goes 
the graceful habit of the plant, and the finely divided 
leaves with their linear divisions clothing the twiggy 
branches, are all that recommend the plant to the 
general cultivator. The roundly bell-shaped flowers 
of a maroon purple externally and yellow internally, 
recommend the plant for conservatory work on 
account of their odour alone. The accompanying 
illustration shows a spray of this plant, universally 
a favourite when it is known. It is a native of 
South Western Australia, from whence it was intro¬ 
duced in 1873. 
A showier plant is B. heterophylla, shown in the 
same illustration, and which may readily be recog¬ 
nised by the more ovate drooping and partially closed 
flowers with the variably formed leaves, sometimes 
1. Boronia megastigma. 2. B. heterophylla. 
simple and sometimes with one or two pairs of linear 
leaflets at the base. The flowers are of a rich 
reddish purple, but of that peculiar hue which some 
describe as scarlet, and they are borne in clusters in 
the axils of the leaves all along the slender twiggy 
shoots. When grown vigorously, the plant makes 
long shoots annually, and consequently a great 
amount of bloom. For conservatory work it is 
certainly handsome, and produces a display of bloom 
from February to April according to treatment. 
The species was introduced from Western Australia 
in 1881, and is already getting widely disseminated 
in British gardens. In its native home it forms a 
bush about the height of a man, but in pots may 
always be kept down to 2 ft. or 2J ft., and young 
plants flower freely in quite a small state. 
- ♦ 
CYCLAMENS AND 
PRIMULAS AT WOODSIDE. 
Both Cyclamens and Chinese Primulas, in the 
nursery of Messrs. J. James & Son, Woodside, Farn- 
ham Royal, Slough, are now past their prime, but they 
have been exceedingly fine. They are grown solely 
for seed, so that when in full bloom they are ferti¬ 
lised with the camel's hair brush, which causes the 
flowers to drop quickly. The Cyclamens were still 
grand when we saw them last week, notwithstanding 
that many of the flowers were old and others had set 
their seed pods. A large number of the flowers had 
been pulled out when still quite young to prevent the 
weakening of the plants in view of the production of 
seed, but a large proportion of the plants were 
nevertheless simply one mass of bloom. The Prim¬ 
ulas, on the contrary, are a mass of young seed pods 
and only a few flowers remain to show what their 
colours, size, and character were. All are grown in 
low, span-roofed, well lighted houses. 
Cyclamens. 
These are separated into groups according to their 
colours, but very few of them receive special names. 
We were particularly taken with the floriferous 
character of the pure white strain, which is grown 
in considerable quantity. No other type bore a 
greater quantity of flowers. At the other end of the 
house were the very dark flowered kinds, with blooms 
of an intense red or crimson, some of which would 
be difficult to excel in richness. Near the latter was 
a batch of the giganteum type, with large, dark rose- 
coloured flowers. Another lot had bright rose 
flowers with a dark mouth. A white-flowered variety 
with a dark red mouth was also very choice, and the 
same might be said of a pink one with a warm rose 
or carmine edge to the segments, deepening in colour 
with age. In process of time this might be developed 
into a good and attractive Picotee-edged strain. 
Chinese Primulas. 
The number of varieties grown is considerable, but 
some of them have been raised and flowered by way 
of trial, and will be discarded where they have failed 
to come up to thedesired standard. There are 1,500 
of them all grown in 40-size pots, a very suitable 
size where the plants are intended for seed. 
Semi-double Sorts. 
As most gardeners are now well aware the semi¬ 
double kinds can be raised from seeds in the same 
way as the single ones. Sutton’s Double White has 
light green leaves and petioles with pure white 
flowers, produced freely in two or four trusses from 
a plant. Double White having red petioles, dark 
green leaves, and pure white flowers is a cross be¬ 
tween the last named and another variety. A riehly- 
coloured variety is the Double Salmon. The Double 
Purple is also of a rich shade of purple, shaded with 
a hue which, for want of a better term, we should 
call violet. 
The Giant Strain. 
One of the finest of this type is Giant White, with 
light green leaves and petioles, and white flowers 
shaded with blush. This is generally the case when 
the foliage is entirely of a light hue, but is different 
from what we should expect. The Giant Pink has 
large warm pink flowers, very freely produced for 
this strain. The blade of the leaves is of a deep 
green, while the petioles are light green. The flowers 
of Giant Crimson are of an intense purple shade 
with a crimson shading at the edge, and the leaves 
are of a dark green w-ith red petioles. Sutton's 
Giant White is a much weaker grower than J ames’ 
Giant White, at least under the same conditions. 
The Giant Rose is a fern-leaved variety, with dark 
red petioles and rich rose flowers, with a broad crim¬ 
son band round the eye. 
Other Varieties. 
Of all the varieties we noted none had the flowers so 
compactly arranged as Ruby King, for they form a 
dense truss arising from the centre of the tuft of 
leaves and merely surmounting them in a conical 
truss. The whole plant is also very dwarf with red 
petioles. What Messrs. James term Market White is 
notable for its floriferous character, and pyramidal 
trusses of white flowers becoming slightly tinted 
with pink as they fade. Both leaves and petioles 
are of a light green as usual where the white flowers 
become tinted with blush, or pink. A new and 
greatly improved variety has however been raised 
here having pure white flowers carried well above 
the foliage in pyramidal trusses and in great 
abundance. In fact the variety is more vigorous in 
everyway than the Market White. The blade of 
the leaves is of a dark green, but the petioles are 
light green. Hitherto it has been regarded as 
almost impossible to get pure white flowers on 
plants having light green leaf stalks. Reading Blue 
is dwarf and very freely flowered. An improve¬ 
ment has also been obtained upon Chiswick Red in 
a dwarf habited sort with intense red flowers. The 
leaves are of a dark green, rather sharply cut and 
closely arranged. Purity is also a fine kin having 
large pure white flowers, produced in ramidal 
trusses, and with a five-angled yellow eye. The 
foliage is of the fern-leaved type with deep red 
petioles. 
