June 6» 1896 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
687 
founded in the public mind with those festivities 
associated with May Day, which were so particularly 
marked by the use of greenery and floral decorations. 
One or two of the Royal Oak Day customs in various 
parts of the country are remarkably suggestive of 
May Day customs.” 
Early Peas and Potatos.—It is not otfen that these 
can be dug and gathered in the open border in May. 
I do not remember ever gathering Peas on May 20th, 
and digging Potatos at the same time during my 
gardening experience, which extends over thirty 
years. The Potatos were growing in front of a vine 
border and in front of a stove close up to the wall, 
just allowing room to open the front lights. These 
were covered at night, the variety being Sharpe’s 
Victor. Early in January we sowed a quart of 
Chelsea Gem Pea at the foot of our Apricot trees 
close to the wall giving them frequent waterings 
during the dry weather. On May 20th we were able 
to gather a good dish of Peas.— Chard. 
The Royal Botanic Society.—The Duke of Teck 
presided at the meeting of this society on Saturday 
last. The Marquis of Bute, the Marquis of Bristol, 
Earl Annesley, and other distinguished members of 
the council were present. Arrangements for a garden 
party and reception to be given by the Duke of Teck 
to the Fellows on the 25th inst. were made. It was 
also decided that, as twenty-three Fellows of the 
Society, including ten members of the council had 
guaranteed the expense, the experiment should be 
tried of providing a band on the Saturdays in June 
and July, commencing with the 13th inst. It was 
announced that 3,246 visitors paid the charge of six¬ 
pence as entrance fee on Whit-Monday last, as 
against 4,900 who visited the gardens on the Whit- 
Monday of the previous year. 
The Paris Flower Show.—The far-famed gardens 
of the Tuileries have of late been the scene of one of 
the most successful flower shows ever held by the 
Paris Horticultural Society. Orchids, Begonias, 
Roses, Azaleas, Rhododendrons, and Calceolarias 
were all strongly in evidence. A notable feature of 
the exhibition was the bouquet contest, in which the 
competition was wondrously keen, a fact not to be 
wondered at when we consider the high reputation 
of the Parisian florists The grand Gloxinias sent 
by Messrs. Vallerand were awarded a prix d'honneur. 
A special prize given by the Minister of Agriculture 
was carried off by Messrs. Vilmorin Andrieux & Cie., 
who made a superb display with Pelargoniums. 
Messrs. Levequewon the President of the Republic’s 
special prize for Roses. Some superb Caladiums 
that were contributed by the Baroness de Bussiere 
attracted a deal of well merited attention. The 
best Orchids in the exhibition came from Ram- 
bouillet; Versailles took honours for Rhododen¬ 
drons and Azaleas; and Plessis-Piquet was in the 
van for Begonias. In view of the great competition 
that was manifested all round the task of the judges 
was anything but a sinecure. 
Cockchafers or May Bugs.—According to the testi¬ 
mony of eye-witnesses, the cockchafer (Melolontha 
vulgaris) is not so common as it used to be when 
swarms might be found clinging to the trees in the 
evenings of May and June. The Board of 
Agriculture has issued a pamphlet upon the subject 
giving a description and life history of this pest 
which is most injurious to grass lawns and pasture in 
the grub state, but also attacks the roots of many 
other subjects, both woody and herbaceous. The 
perfect insect again is very destructive to the foliage 
of trees, when present in large swarms. In France 
and Germany, the beetles are beaten down upon 
tarred boards or into large sacks and forthwith 
destroyed. In those countries so well-known are the 
habits of the insect that the years in which they are 
expected in swarms are regularly chronicled, and 
preparations made to combat them. Nets are also 
placed over seed beds and valuable plantations of 
various subjects to prevent the deposition of eggs 
there. Baits of various things are laid about to trap 
the grubs much in the same way as we deal with 
wireworms. Rooks, tame gulls, starlings, owls 
night jars and bats should be encouraged about 
gardens and orchards, for they all feed upon May 
bugs and other vermin of this kind. The much- 
hunted mole and the shrew-mouse should also 
receive some measure of protection, for they destroy 
noxious grubs largely. 
The interest in Gladioli is reviving, judging from 
the clearance of stock which the European growers 
have been able to effect during the planting season 
last spring. In many cases the stock of Gladiolus 
Colvillei alba, also known as The Bride, has been 
cleared out. The named hybrids of the G. ganda- 
vensis type have also sold well. 
Eremurus robustus. —There are numerous speci¬ 
mens of this noble liliaceous subject planted in the 
Bamboo Garden at Kew. Three of them have 
been flowering for some time past, and the solitary 
flower stem of each plant varies from 34 ft. to 5 ft. 
high. They are certainly very stately with their long 
terminal raceme of bloom on the leafless stem. The 
flowers are of a delicate salmony-pink flush at first 
with orange anthers, but they change almost to a 
pure white when fading. The plants were raised 
from seed and take some time to gain sufficient 
strength to bloom. Those not flowering this year 
will be the beauty of the Bamboo garden the next. 
Ehret, the flower painter.— As an appendix to the 
Proceedings of the Linnean Society (November, 1894, to 
June, 1895), is a memoir of the famous flower painter, 
George Ehret, translated by Miss E. S. Barton from 
his own MS., now kept in the Botanical Department 
of the British Museum, where are also a number of 
his drawings. Ehret was born at Heidelberg in 
1708, and spent a large portion ot his life as a 
working gardener. His story is one of assiduous 
perseverance. He seized every opportunity to perfect 
himself in the art of accurately and scientifically 
depicting plants, and at the date of writing the 
memoir (1758) he was living in London, a Fellow of 
the Royal Society, and so famous as an instructor in 
the " painting of plants and flowers ” that, to quote 
his own words, “ If I could have divided myself into 
twenty parts I could have had my hands full.” 
--■ 
ALPINE AURICULAS. 
There are few if any subjects better adapted for the 
requirements of those living in towns, who have a 
genuine love of flowers for their own sake, who wish 
to take up the cultivation of hardy flowering plants, 
and who desire a hobby as a source of recreation in 
their leisure time. To such as these, Alpine 
Auriculas, from their real beauty, hardiness, and 
simple requirements, offer advantages hardly attain¬ 
able in any other class of plants. The show 
varieties, which present a somewhat wider variety of 
colouration, are more delicate, although succeeding 
well enough under the same cultural conditions 
sometimes accorded the Alpines. But they can 
scarcely be expected to do well under the rough and 
ready treatment Alpines are often subjected to, for the 
lack of better facilities at command. We have had 
a nice show of fine flowers, which had no protection 
whatever from frost or rain, this season, the plants 
being grown in 48-sized pots, stood on shelves in a 
sheltered position. Our cultivation of them may be 
summed up in a few words. About the beginning of 
July we re-pot them, taking off the side suckers and 
pruning the roots a very little. We use fresh turfy 
loam, keeping the plants down in the soil to the base 
of the foliage ; we also protect from heavy rains and 
shade from the sun. Those having a cold frame will 
do well to let them have the benefit of it for a week 
or two, keeping them shaded from bright sun and 
rather close at first. The suckers we pot singly into 
large 60-sized pots. These make good plants for 
shifting on into 48-sized the following spring. Weak 
liquid manure water is given a few times when the 
flower spikes are developing ; and being taken under 
glass improves the flowers considerably.— -W. B. G. 
- 
FANCY PANSIES. 
When visiting a Scottish establishment where 
Pansies are largely and successfully grown, I was 
greatly struck with the beauty of some of the newer 
sorts, and as many of the readers of this paper are 
interested in Pansies a few remarks on the same 
might be instructive. Amongst new varieties of 1896 
the following are very good :—Geo. Sproul has large 
well-formed crimson blotches with margins of rose. 
Very showy is Col. Buchanan, with dark blotches 
edged yellow. A large flower is John Jackson, with 
rosy-purple blotches and rosy-white margin. Mrs. 
Wm. Steele is a first-rate sort, having bluish-purple 
blotches edged with creamy-white. A very bright 
yellow is Mrs. Robt. Stewart. Bessie has rosy- 
purple blotches and rose margin. Lord Salisbury 
has well formed deep plum blotches edged with a 
light shade. 
AmoDgst older varieties Mrs. D. Johnstone is large 
and showy. Tamworth Yellow is very bright, and 
Maggie Watson is of very large size. D. G. McKay 
is a very good sort. Princess is a perfect beauty, no 
one could do justice in describing it. Beauty is well 
named. W. H. Clarke is very good. David Rennie 
is a large yellow flower with dark top petals. Mrs. 
Wm. Watson is a fine yellow self. — Florist. 
[Accompanying the above notes was a box con¬ 
taining blooms of twenty named varieties. That 
named Princess most took our tancy, for in our 
opinion it came -very near perfection for a fancy 
Pansy. The bloom was circular and the blotches 
were well defined and dark violet. The ground 
colour was creamy, and all the petals were 
margined with a narrow, deep purple, and generally 
well defined lacing. Very handsome also was John 
Jackson, a much larger flower with large vivid 
violet blotches. The broad purple margin to the 
upper petals was also fine. Mrs. Robert Stewart was 
a bold light yellow flower, with dark maroon violet 
blotches. David Rennie had almost black 
blotches, and a beautiful violet border to the 
upper petals. Col, Buchanan, differed from the 
latter, chiefly in having a dark plum-purple 
border to the upper petals. The same portion 
of Mrs. Wm. Steele was not so well defined, 
otherwise it was a grand flower. David G. McKay 
and George Sproul were splendid flowers with a 
rosy purple margin; but differed in the ground 
colour of the upper petals. The velvety-brown 
blotches and the broad margins to the upper petals, 
of nearly the same hue, combined to make an 
attractive flower. Tamworth Yellow, with its dark 
velvety-violet blotches, was also fine. The orange- 
red lacing and the dark plum upper petals ot 
Beauty were handsome indeed. Mrs. David John¬ 
stone was of a blackish-violet, with the exception of 
the white edges. Each petal of an unnamed seed¬ 
ling had a large vivid violet blotch, but the white 
margin was shaded with a pale purple hue that was 
not very decided ; otherwise the seedling is one of 
great promise and an attractive flower. A rich and 
dark-coloured flower was Sir John Watson. The 
others did not take our fancy, though we admit that 
tastes differ.— Ed ] 
- 
ORCHIDS AND OTHER FLOWERS AT 
ST. ALBANS. 
Last week we made a hurried inspection of the 
establishment of Messrs. F. Sander & Co., St. Albans 
« 
but had insufficient time to examine the various 
cultures of that extensive establishment with the 
detail we should have liked. The range of glass is 
so extensive that we could merely walk through 
several of the houses, [or only look into them. 
There is much for the visitor to see, as readers may 
imagine from the numerous exhibits made by the 
firm in various parts of the country. Some of the 
houses had been, in fact, partly depleted of their 
contents to furnish exhibits at shows, both in Britain 
and on the Continent. 
Orchids. 
In the Phalaenopsis house we noted some of the 
summer-flowering species, including the beautiful P. 
luddemanniana with its sweetly-scented flowers, the 
brown spotted P. sumatrana, and P. Tetraspis, which 
was pure white with the exception of a yellow blotch 
on the lateral lobes of the lip. In a close case on one 
side of the house we noted a large quantity of the 
handsome leaved Anoectochilus s'anderianus, having 
velvety-green leaves netted with yellow. The side 
benches of another house were devoted to cuttings of 
Dendrobiums, which make excellent stock plants 
after one year’s growth. Elsewhere we noted these 
young plants, of one, two, and three years of age, in 
enormous quantities, growing in Orchid pans sus¬ 
pended from the roof—a plan which is being largely 
adopted by every good grower. 
Dendrobium Bensoniae is well done here, and wa 
noted quantities of it in a floriferous condition. D. 
Dearei, the Eucharis Dendrobe, and D. nobile, 
occupied the same house. Numerous specimens of 
Cattleya walkeriana, suspended in baskets, lend a 
charm to the house with their large flowers and 
pleasing colours. Here also we saw the pale blue 
flowers of Calanthe Masuca, and the golden-yellow 
ones of Epidendrum Wallisi. In another house close 
by was a fine piece of the uncommon Dendrobium 
amethystoglossum, with its pendulous racemes of 
