734 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
July 18, 1896. 
take a lot of beating in the heavy crimson-edged 
section, although it is closely followed by John 
Smith, which closely resembles it. Amy Robsart is 
a grand heavy purple-edged variety, having large and 
well shaped flowers with the border colour well 
defined. Coming to the much admired yellow 
ground section we were very favourably impressed by 
Cowslip. This is a grand new variety with a bright 
rose edge. It is vigorous, free flowering, and not 
given to bursting its calices. President Carnot is a 
rather old sort but still one of the best. Theground 
colour is deeper in hue than in Cowslip, being 
liberally flushed with oraDge. The blooms, if any¬ 
thing, are also a shade larger. With The Dey we 
must bring to a close a list that might be consider¬ 
ably extended. The flowers here are much above 
ordinary size, and of a rich buff colour, beauti¬ 
fully flaked and streaked with rose. In habit, it is 
erect and vigorous. 
Malmaison varieties are also grown in large 
quantities at Chelsea, of course, under glass, but 
their glories are now a thing of the past. The 
plants look healthy, however, and there will be no 
lack of material for layering down once a start is 
made. 
- — - 
VIOLAS FROM HAWICK. 
With the increased popularity of Violas, many 
growers are making determined efforts not to be left 
behind. A boxful of blooms, representing all the 
leading types, and mostly new, have reached us from 
Mr. John Forbes, Buccleuch Nurseries, Hawick. 
The older and best known rayed varieties were most 
numerously represented. Two seedlings, No. ii 
and 12 had soft, pale yellow flowers, but No. 
12, a beautifully proportioned and prettily rayed 
flower was to our taste. Buccleuch Gem was 
creamy-white, but otherwise similar to the last- 
named, and is a good bedding variety. Lady Salis¬ 
bury is pale primrose. Several very pretty lavender 
flow r ers accompanied the rest, including Cherry 
Park, Lottie McNeil, and Miss Melville. Mrs. 
Smellie is darker and veined with indigo. Rosemary, 
and Mrs. James Dickson are rosy-lilac flowers of 
considerable beauly, the latter in our opinion being 
best. All of the above may be described as seifs 
belonging to the rayed type. That named Mary 
McDonald is rich plum purple, and the darkest sent. 
The edged flowers are popular at present, judging 
from the number that finds its way into cultivation. 
Colleen Bawn is a creamy flower with light sky blue 
edging, and charming. Duchess of Montrose has a 
darker edging, and Mary Jack, Mary Stuart 
Hamilton, and Cecilia have broad borders varying 
from lavender to lilac, the latter being indeed a gem 
with a soft creamy centre. Accushla is creamy with 
an ultramarine blue border, while that of Mrs. 
Palmer is indigo blue and very distinct. J. Tullett 
is pale yellow with an intense ultramarine margin. 
Lady Hay is peculiarly striking with a coppery 
border to a golden centre. 
Parti-coloured flowers are usually well represented 
and though we have no great penchant for a large pro¬ 
portion of them, yet some of them are attractive. 
Jackanapes is a development upon Vernon Lee, and 
apparently a larger and darker flower with a different 
centre from the last named. Hamlet is purple with 
a yellow centre. Mrs. R. K. Mitchell is dark blue 
and plum with a white centre. Lady Reay is in the 
way of Evelyn, but by no means the same. Fascination 
is a combination of purple and rose, with a black 
centre, and good of its kind. We like Princess 
Beatrice better, however, the dark centre contrasting 
beautifully with the pale rosy upper petals. Iona is 
an improvement upon the old Magpie, with a dark 
sky blue cross on a dark plum-coloured ground. 
Rayless Violas, when in good form, are always desir¬ 
able. Seedling No. 2 of this type is a well-balanced 
white flower. Wragment is creamy-yellow with narrow 
pale blue edges. Picotee might well be taken as the 
type of the group of rayless sorts having a darker 
margin. Mary Scott is a charming creamy flower, 
beautifully and delicately clouded with lavender 
except in the centre. Rose Queen is another charm¬ 
ing flower of a soft rosy lavender. Charming has 
faint indications of rays at the eye, otherwise it is a 
delicate and charming lavender flower. Amongst 
the yellows we mention H. Lander as a beautifully 
formed and soft primrose yellow flower ; some would 
say sulphur or lemon, but the tint is so subtle and 
refined that it must be seen to be grasped. Georg* 
Lord is a beautiful clear yellow ; and Oriole is several 
shades darker. Seedling No. i is still darker and 
smaller, but of good substance. 
Several very refined and pretty miniature Violas 
accompanied the above, including Gnome, soft yellow 
with a darker lip. Ophir, golden yellow, and Jeanie 
Turnbull, sky blue with a white centre, but in this 
instance much darker than we are accustomed to see 
in the south. All arrived in fresh condition, and 
were enclosed in oiled silk or waterproof paper. 
Of the abovenamed rayed varieties we should make 
a first selection of Cecilia, Colleen Bawn, Mrs. 
Palmer, Seedling No. 12, Buccleuch Gem, J. 
Tullet, Mr. James Dickson, Cherry Park, Jackanapes, 
Mary McDonald, Princess Beatrice and Iona. All 
the rayless varieties are good, and the miniature 
varieties are equally excellent in their way, for those 
who like this type. Some consider that the cultiva¬ 
tion of miniature varieties is only a fancy ; but we 
consider it a very refined one. They should be 
grown in beds by themselves, to give them a chance 
of displaying their particular beauty. If we were to 
see all of the above sorts that are new, in a growing 
state, it is just possible that we should reject some and 
select others in their stead, or even add to their 
number. The habit of the plants and their continuity 
of blooming should be taken into consideration. 
- - I - - 
WATERING. 
When it is pouring with rain, it may seem a little 
out of place to talk about watering ; yet under some 
conditions would it not be well to supplement the 
downpour from the clouds by artificial means ? For 
instance, after a prolonged drought like what we 
have recently experienced, in very many places the 
soil has become dust dry for a considerable distance 
down, so t! at, unless a really very heavy rain-fall 
takes place, the chances are that when the rain 
penetrates the soil for only a few inches, and fine 
bright weather follows almost immediately, the soil 
shortly becomes dust dry again. Those who have 
bedded out during the recent dry weather after 
having saturated the soil for some distance down, 
will benefit from the rain that has since fallen to an 
almost immeasurable extent beyond those v'ho have 
either from choice or necessity have only given 
dribblets of water with a can. The amount of 
water it takes to soak a piece of really dry ground in 
hot weather is most surprising ; the surface may be 
flooded one day and oft times in a day or so will 
become just as dry as before because enough has not 
been put on theground to penetrate more than a few 
inches-. Vine borders often get over dry in spite of 
heavy surface watering which soon dry up, leaving 
the roots of Vines untouched. This, we believe, to 
be a very frequent source of shanking, the roots in 
search of moisture having got down too low for any 
ordinary watering to benefit them. We-give our 
border a good soaking at top and insert No. 16 pots 
in the border at about 3 ft. apart; these serve as 
channels to convey the water to a lower level where 
it is not so rapidly evaporated in the air ; and it per¬ 
colates through the border among the roots insuring 
them a thorough wetting. This hint may be of 
service to many of your amateur readers.— W. B. G. 
--- 
THE READING AND DISTRICT GAR¬ 
DENERS’ MUTUAL IMPROVEMENT 
ASSOCIATION. 
The annual outing of the above association which 
is always looked forward to with the greatest 
pleasure by the members, took place on Thursday, 
July 2nd. and proved to be one of the largest 
attended and most successful yet held by the asso¬ 
ciation, over no members taking part in the trip. 
Not only were the gardens of Reading being well 
represented but also of Wokingham, Burghfield, 
Caversham, Sandhurst, Crowthorne, Sonning, 
Henley, Sindlesham, Mortimer, Sulhampstead 
Early, &c. The places selected to be visited were 
Englefield (the seat of R. Benyon, Esq.), Pang- 
bourne, and Whitchurch. 
Starting from the "British Workman" at 1045 
in six large brakes, provided by Mr. Humphries 
of the Lodge Hotel, the party after a pleasant drive 
along the Bath Road via Theale, arrived at Engle¬ 
field w'here they were received by Mr. Coombes the 
head gardener. The church, a beautiful edifice 
situated just within the grounds was first inspected. 
Proceeding to the terrace many beautiful views were 
pointed out. At the entrance to the mansion, Mrs, 
Hobart, the genial housekeeper (through the kind¬ 
ness of Mrs. Benyom was waiting to conduct the 
members through the principal rooms, where the 
pictures by many of the old masters, the magnificent 
inlaid furniture, which was exhibited at the exhibi¬ 
tion in 1867 to show the great strides made in this 
class of workmanship since the time of the 1851 
exhibition, and the many valuable curios, excited the 
admiration of the visitors. Leaving the billiard 
room, the party wended their way to the terrace, 
gardens, and wood. Much interest was manifested 
in the beautiful trees which studded the grounds, 
notably the Abies, Taxodiums, Wellingtonias, Acers, 
variegated and green, also the grand specimen of 
Magnolia growing against the mansion ; many of the 
varieties owing to their great size must have been 
planted soon after their introduction into this country. 
At one o'clock the Long Gallery was entered, a room 
of historic renown, having been built for the recep¬ 
tion of Queen Elizabeth on her visit to Englefield. 
Here the party sat down to a sumptuous lunch 
provided by the kind generosity of Mr. Benyon. 
After full justice had been done to the good things 
and grace being said, Mr. J. P. Jones rose and made 
a few remarks on the advantages which fell to the 
lot of the gardener of the present day than to those 
of fifty years ago, and concluded by proposing that 
their best thanks should be conveyed to Mr. Benyon 
for the kind way in which he had entertained them and 
thrown open his mansion and grounds for their 
inspection ; this was seconded by the chairman of 
the association, Mr. T. Neve, and needless to say 
was carried with unanimous approval. A word of 
praise is here due to the excellent way in which Mr. 
Sherval carried out the catering. 
As Mr. Benyon was unable to be present at the 
luncheon he expressed a wish that he would much 
like to see a deputation of the members in the 
drawing room,where it was received by Mr and Mrs. 
Benyon. Mr Benyon said that it afforded him 
much pleasure to be of any help to such a society as 
theirs, and if the members only enjoyed their visit to 
Englefield as much as he did in being able to invite 
them, then the outing would be a pleasant one. 
This being over, the various greenhouses, fruit 
and forcing departments were inspected, and an 
hour was profitably spent. 
The brakes were now ready to go on to 
Pangbourne, the ride through Englefield Village 
and Tidmarsh being much enjoyed. Here 
the party dispersed, some for a row on 
the river, others to view Shooter’s Hill, and a 
ramble along the meadows. Assembling at the 
Elephant Hotel at five o'clock, the company found 
an excellent tea awaiting them through the kindness 
of the president, Mr. Arthur W. Sutton, who unfor¬ 
tunately was not able to take part in the outing 
OAing to a business journey in France, which was 
unforeseen at the time the arrangements for the out¬ 
ing were made. After tea the chairman reminded 
them that the programme was not yet finished, and 
therefore speech-making would have to be curtailed 
as visits had to be made to Coombe Lodge, Whit¬ 
church (the residence of —Foster, Esq.) and — 
Evans, Esq., Shooter’s Hill, Pangbourne; but he 
would take the opportunity of saying how much they 
appreciated the kindness of their president in pro¬ 
viding them such an excellent tea, and for the great 
interest he took in their Society. 
The party then divided, one portion going under 
the direction of Mr. Trollope, head gardener at 
Coombe Lodge, the other under the supervision of 
Mr. Basil, head gardener at Shooter's Hill. At the 
former place the gardening was found to be of the 
highest order and reflected the greatest credit on the 
head gardener and his staff, whilst the smaller yet 
compact gardens and lawns at the latter place were 
greatly admired. Reading was reached at nine 
o'clock. The arrangements, which through the 
absence of the Hpn. Secretary, Mr. J. Pound. Jnr. 
through illness, were carried out by a sub-committee, 
and gave the greatest satisfaction, not a hitch having 
ocurred to mar the pleasure of the day. 
NEW BRIGHTON ROSE SHOW. 
Dr. Bell is worthy of high commendation for the 
charming display in his grounds last Saturday (the 
nth inst ). This little show always holds a high 
position for quality, and this year proved no 
exception to the rule; in fact, one of the judges 
affirmed that the winning stand on Saturday was 
superior to the Trophy collection at the Crystal 
Palace, at which he was also an adjudicator, 
