468 
March 26, 1892. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
FLlOHlCL(IlTUf?E. 
Cinerarias for late flowering. 
Where shade from strong sunshine can be afforded, 
without being prejudicial to the growth or flowering 
of other subjects, the show of these admirable 
spring flowering plants may be prolonged for a con¬ 
siderable time yet; indeed, in one conservatory which 
I remember, where fully the half of the building 
consisted of masonry, a good display was 
maintained till well into June, the maximum of shade 
which such a structure affords being of course 
largely conducive in preserving the plants in good 
condition for a lengthened period. Seedlings 
raised last autumn, which have occupied 5 in. pots 
for some time past, may now be shifted into 8 in. or 
9 in. sizes, well draining the pots and using a 
compost of rich turfy loam, adding about a third 
part of old cow-dung or horse-droppings, the re¬ 
maining parts i in. pieces of charcoal, silver sand, 
and half-decomposed leaf soil. 
When potted, stand them in a cool, shady position 
not far from the glass, care being taken that they 
are never in danger of being injured by frost, to 
which they are very susceptible. Extra care will be 
needful that they are not allowed to suffer from want 
of water during the dry spring months. Green-fly 
must also be sharply guarded against by fumigating 
lightly once or twice a week. Large floriferous 
specimens of Cinerarias during May and June 
associate well with Herbaceous Calceolarias, 
Fuchsias, Azaleas, and numerous other subjects 
which are amenable to greenhouse treatment during 
the period indicated, but they should be allotted a 
position on one side of a house among such plants 
as are also benefited by more or less shade, and 
which ought to be provided for them if necessary.— 
D. MAyrshire. 
Pansies and Violas. 
It will now be the time for planting these out from 
their winter quarters, and beds should at once be 
got ready for them if not already done. Before 
planting out, the frames should have a good watering 
so that all the earth possible may hang about the 
roots. Plant with care and press the plants firmly 
into the ground. Watering beyond a sprinkling now 
and then overhead in fine weather is not necessary 
until the soil is found to be getting too dry. The 
plants will soon make root and then top growth, and 
a little pegging down of long shoots is advisable to 
prevent their being blown about by the wind. A 
watchful look out should be kept for the brown aphis, 
and the moment it is detected steps should be taken 
to exterminate it. 
There are now so many grand varieties of new 
fancy Pansies and Violas that it is not easy to give a 
list of say two dozen as the best without excluding a 
lot of others equally as good. In Violas also we now 
have so many very beautiful varieties, and some of 
the best known and most lovely are, Beauty (new), 
Duchess of Fife, Countess of Wharncliffe, William 
Neil, Bridesmaid,Master of Arts, Mrs. Grant, Cottage 
Maid, Ethel Baxter, Golden Gem, Princess Beatrice, 
Wonder, Bessie Clark, Bullion, Lady Amory, The 
Mearns, and Sir Joseph Terry. These should be in 
every collection.— W. Dean. 
The Fertilization of the Pansy. 
I am glad that my remarks in your issue of the 27th 
ult. on this subject have been the means of drawing 
out the very interesting article from Mr. J. D. Stuart 
which appeared in your issue of March 12. Although 
I cannot endorse all his conclusions I can see eye 
to eye with him on many points. One of the points 
of difference is that Mr. Stuart does not think a 
scarlet pansy would be a great acquisition if we had 
it. I can assure him that I know a good many pansy 
enthusiasts who think differently, and who believe 
that it would be a very great gain if we could get the 
colours prevalent in the Begonia added to the 
already extensive range of colours in our fancy 
Pansy. I quite agree with Mr. Stuart that there is much 
to do in the way of attaining more perfect symmetry 
in the form and marking of our flowers ; at the same 
time size should not be lost sight of, for weight 
always tells on a competition stand, and many of our 
Pansies are none too large, in fact one of the greatest 
difficulties competitors have to contend with is 
to get flowers up to the proper standard of size 
before the colours begin to fade. 
My experiments with the Pansy have not been 
conducted over so long a period as Mr. Stuart's— 
only some six or seven years—and my principal 
object has been to raise new varieties fit for the 
show table quite regardless of what the habit of the 
plant might be, and my aim, in keeping as far as 
possible a correct note of every pod of seed saved, 
was to ascertain which varieties were best for breed¬ 
ing purposes, or in other words were the best to take 
seed from for the purpose of raising new varieties. 
I had observed in cattle breeding that a very 
superior animal was sometimes got from a very 
inferior sort, but such animals were invariably very 
unreliable breeders, that is to say they did not 
produce good offspring, not nearly so good as a much 
plainer animal of a good breed would produce. So 
far as my experience goes I think a similar law 
holds good amongst the Pansies. Seed from some 
varieties produced nothing but weeds, nothing even 
approaching the original, while the seed from others 
produced a large proportion of good flowers, and if 
with a change of crossing the same results followed 
a second season, I discarded the bad breeders and 
stuck to those that bred best. 
I cannot say that I have noticed generally a very 
decided tendency in the offspring to follow the seed¬ 
bearing parent in form and habit, or the fertilizing 
parent in colour. I have noticed that this tendency 
is very marked in some varieties, but not only not 
at all, but the very opposite in others. I noticed that 
seed from James Gardner as a rule produced tall 
straggling plants like itself, and seed from Mrs. E. P. 
Frame produced short bushy plants, but most of the 
flowers retained thecolour of the seed-bearing parent, 
as well as the habit ; on the other hand I fertilized 
Dan Brodie with pollen from a very tall growing 
seedling from James Gardner, and most of the off¬ 
spring took the habit of the fertilizing parent, and very 
few the colour. But then the utter impossibility of 
proving paternity comes in to upset our deductions ; 
besides, Dan, although not very tall himself, may have 
been descended from a leggy race, which would in 
some measure account for his tall offspring. 
I cannot see that fertilization by bees can be other 
than chance work. I think nobody will seriously 
hold that the bee has any intention of fertilizing the 
flower when it alights on it, but that it goes there 
to extract the honey and collect the pollen, and its 
legs, laden with the pollen from other flowers, acci¬ 
dently come in contact with the stigma and fertiliza¬ 
tion takes place. The bees may sometimes make 
happier matches than we can, for the simple reason 
that the pollen collected on their legs may have been 
taken from a good many varieties, and one of these 
varieties may be a suitable cross, and one or two 
good flowers out of the lot may be the result, 
whereas we generally fertilize with the pollen of only 
one flower, which may or may not be a suitable 
cross, with the result that we may have a number of 
good flowers from one pod of seed or none at all. It 
is surely too great a stretch of the imagination to 
think that the bees have an instinct that enables 
them not only to fertilize the Pansy flowers but to 
mate them better than we can. I have heard and 
read a good deal about the wonderful things the bees 
can do, but I have never heard that they could judge 
Pansies, and unless this be the case their work among 
the Pansies must certainly be treated as chance 
work.— Veritas. 
-- 
STOKE PARK, SLOUGH. 
At a distance of two miles from Slough is Stoke 
Park, the residence of T. B. Bryant, Esq., in the 
midst of a park of 300 acres in extent, and well 
stocked with large old Oaks, Beeches, Elms, and 
other giants of the forest. A fine herd of deer gives 
character to the surroundings, and adds considerable 
interest to the sylvan scene. The better kept plea¬ 
sure grounds comprise about g acres, and are beauti¬ 
fully laid out with ornamental trees and shrubs. The 
mansion is a fine building of great size and somewhat 
quadrangular, with a large wing on either end. The 
front facing the garden is surrounded by a balus¬ 
trade, and another forms part of the basal portion of 
the building. About half way up is a terrace pro¬ 
tected by a balustrade, and on the top along the 
whole front is another balustrade, while a dome 
occupies a central position on the top. The whole 
is painted white. Fine views are obtained here and 
there amongst the trees, and from a rustic house on 
one side of the pleasure grounds a view of Windsor 
Castle is obtained by means of a vista annually 
trimmed on purpose through the trees. 
Large beds of Rhododendrons of great height and 
well set with buds must be a handsome sight pre¬ 
sently when they come into bloom. Azaleas, stan¬ 
dard Roses, and other shrubs are also plentiful. 
Amongst the trees are some fine old Cedars of 
Lebanon ; also two trees of Abies nobilis, 50 ft. to 
60 ft. high; the Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga Doug- 
lasii), 45 ft. and 50 ft. ; Thuya gigantea, 35 ft. ; 
Araucaria imbricata, 36 ft.; two specimens of Abies 
Nordmanniana, 40 ft. to 45 ft. ; and two of Cupressus 
Nutkaensis, about 40 ft. high. The gravel of the 
lower London tertiaries, here of some depth, seems to 
suit them well. Two giants of Libocedrus decurrens, 
about 40 ft. high, have six and two leading stems 
respectively. Two trees of Sequoia sempervirens, 
50 ft. to 60 ft. high, suffered considerable injury from 
the severe winter of 1890-91 ; but one of them has 
partly recovered. S. gigantea is, however, in robust 
health, forming a beautiful tapering pyramid. Many 
of the trees were top-dressed with rich material a few 
years ago by Mr. David Kemp, the gardener, and the 
trees rooting abundantly into this have shown a 
marked improvement, particularly in the case of the 
handsomest specimen of Cryptomeria japonica we 
have seen. It stands about 40 ft. high, and is very 
broad at the base, with numerous ascending growths 
around it resembling young trees, while the old 
branches at the base are breaking beautifully into 
fresh growth. About six or eight cart loads of fresh 
material were put over the roots. We cannot omit 
mentioning some fine trees of Abies concolor, A. Pin- 
sapo, 45 ft. high, A. cephalonica, 80 ft. to 85 ft. high, 
and a massive tree of Pinus insignis, 50 ft. high, and 
which was greatly injured by the sudden and heavy 
fall of wet snow at Christmas, 1886, as were several 
others at the same time. 
The Hothouses. 
The conservatory is the only plant house in the 
vicinity of the mansion, as the rest are in the kitchen 
garden, about half a mile from the mansion. The 
old mansion, built in the Elizabethan style, and in 
which Queen Elizabeth is said to have slept, stands 
just outside the garden wall. Other features of his¬ 
toric interest is a monument in the park to the judge 
who sentenced Guy Fawkes, and another to the poet 
Gray. The conservatory is a high building, the roof 
of which internally is covered with a large Bignonia, 
while two of the sides are clothed with Camellias. 
The flowering plants varying with the season are 
arranged in a large group upon the floor chiefly. At 
present a fine piece of Dielytra, about 4 ft. in dia¬ 
meter, occupies the centre, while Azaleas, Deutzias, 
Hyacinths, and other forced subjects are grouped 
round it. Amongst them were plants of Richardia 
africana, and the new dwarf R. a. Little Gem. There 
are some trees of Araucaria excelsa in tubs. The 
spring bedding surrounded by the balustrade is not 
yet in bloom. 
In the kitchen garden the chief feature of attrac¬ 
tion at present is the display of Cattleyas and Den- 
drobiums arranged in the Melon and Cucumber 
house — a low, span-roofed and well lighted structure. 
The Cattleyas consist chiefly of C. Trianae and its 
numerous forms, which have been in bloom for the 
past five weeks. One form of C. T. alba had petals 
over 2.J in. in diameter, and the usual shade of blush 
on the lip. Others were C. T. delicata, some with a 
dark lip surrounded by a pale lilac or almost white 
border, and some having a rich crimson-purple lip 
The old C. labiata from the collecting ground of 
Swainson has found its way here in some quantity, 
and one plant curiously enough was in bloom, with 
rosy sepals and petals, and the lip lined and suffused 
with rich purple. Amongst the Dendrobiums here 
are seven huge pieces in pans and five others in 
baskets in a most floriferous condition. Besides the 
type the varieties D. n. elegans, D. n. pendulum, D. 
n. ccerulescens, with dark flowers especially in the 
younger stages, and D. n. Wallichi are grown. In 
another house close by is a magnificent specimen of 
the last named in a pan and carrying between 450 
and 500 flowers. Here also were Ccelogyne cristata, 
C. c. lemoniana, and Dendrobium Wardianum. D. 
Ainsworthi and Odontoglossum Rossii majus are 
also ranged with the Cattleyas 
A similar house to the last contains a grand lot of 
Chinese Primulas, which were sown last May, came 
into bloom in October, and have remained so ever 
since. They are mostly in 32-size pots, and furnished 
with pyramidal masses of bloom in numerous trusses 
from the same plant. Ruby King, Gipsy Queen, and 
Alba magnifica are still prominent amongst the 
