468 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
March 21, 1896. 
vary according to the purpose for which they are 
required. If large fruits are wanted, fcur or five to 
a plant will be quite sufficient, although eight or ten 
might be allowed to remain if only medium-sized 
fruits were in request. As a rule, a Melon weigh¬ 
ing from three or four pounds was quite large enough 
for ordinary purposes. 
Mr. Barkham then proceeded to deal with the 
diseases and insect pests to the attacks of which 
Melons were subject. Canker and red spider 
were the principal of these. The latter might easily 
be kept in check by the regular use of the syringe as 
previously advised, and the former might, in many 
cases, be prevented from making its appearance 
by careful watering and judicious pruning. The 
stems of such plants as were attacked by it 
should be dress.ed with freshly-slaked lime or 
powdered charcoal. Lime, especially, was an in¬ 
fallible remedy. 
The lecturer concluded by giving a selection of the 
best varieties to grow, mentioning a number of 
scarlet, white, and green-fleshed sorts. He had no 
hesitation, however, in saying that of all the good 
varieties he had tried, Hero of Lockinge and Sutton’s 
Ai were the very best, and could confidently 
recommend these to any cultivator as being certain 
to give every satisfaction. 
-- 
PHLOX DECUSSATA 
(Late Phloxes). 
This being the most suitable time to plant this 
popular class of hardy flowers, to those who propose 
to add to their collection, I would suggest the follow¬ 
ing twelve varieties as being about the best going up 
to last season. At least, I give them in alphabetical 
order, and not according to merit, which would be a 
difficult task where all are good. 
Emanuel Here is rosy-mauve, shading to white, of 
perfect form, and one of the largest flowers in culti¬ 
vation. Etna is orange-scarlet, with maroon centre, 
most brilliant and effective. Kossuth, a lovely rose, 
with maroon centre, is a perfect gem. Le Donon 
has bright rose, enormous-sized flowers. Le Ven- 
geur is deep carmine with salmon centre, and very 
fine. Moliere is salmon, shaded rose. Pencheur 
D’lslande is salmon shaded carmine, with a white 
eye. Roxelane is dark carmine, with bright eye, 
and very fine. Sesostris is an amaranth flower of 
fine form. Sylphide is pure white, and of finest 
form. Tourbillon is dark scarlet, with a white 
centre, and very striking. William Robinson is 
rosy-salmon, constituting a superb variety. 
These are all new varieties of the last few years, 
and which I venture to predict will soon become 
popular, when better known, either for garden, 
decoration, or competition purposes. They are a 
distinct advance on any other variety in the same 
line of colour that I have as yet seen. Good strong 
pieces if planted now, will, if given a fair chance, 
produce a fine display of handsome spikes of flower 
in August and September. 
Old plants are now throwing up a mass of youDg 
shoots. Those who wish to increase their stock 
should do so at once by means of cuttings, securing 
strong sturdy shoots of the best varieties. Insert 
them singly in small pots, and plunge the latter to 
the rim in a close frame or handlight until rooted, 
shading them in strong sunshine only. By the end 
of April they will be ready to plant where desired, 
and will give a good account of themselves before 
the season is over. If planted in threes they will 
have an established appearance at once. This plan 
is preferable to dividing the old stools which are 
never so satisfactory after the third season or so. 
Beds of one variety, or one line of colour, have a 
grand effect in autumn; and now that dwarf com¬ 
pact varieties of all shades are so plentiful there is 
no reason why they should not be taken advantage 
of more than they are at present, with such asso¬ 
ciates as Pentstemons, Montbretias,perennial Asters, 
herbaceous Lobelias, Kniphofias, etc. Each and all 
of them are so varied that when massed in beds on 
the lawn, flower garden, or elsewhere, they produce 
an effective autumn display of lasting and un¬ 
approachable beauty long after Jack Frost has 
placed the too-often-met-with bedding subjects 
amongst the things that were.— Coila. 
Vines and Vine Culture.—The best book on Grapes. By 
Archibald F. Barron, Superintendent of the Royal Horticultural 
Society’s Gardens, Chiswick; Secretary of the Fruit Com¬ 
mittee. Demy 8vo., Handsomely bound in Cloth, Price, 5s, 
post free, 5s. 3d., from Gardening World Office, 1, 
Clement's Inn, Strand, W.C. 
NOTICES OF BOOKS. 
Carters' Practical Gardener: The best amateurs’ 
guide and handy book of every-day matters con¬ 
nected with garden routine. With many illus¬ 
trations of the most advanced types of Vegetables 
and beautiful garden flowers. James Carter & 
Co., 237 & 238, High Holborn, London. E. 
Marlborough & Co., Publishers, 51, Old Bailey, 
London. Price is. 
The title of this work indicates that it deals with all 
sorts of practical work relating to gardens and 
gardening, and that it is intended for the amateur in 
particular. A considerable portion of the book is 
occupied with calendrial directions, which it must be 
granted are of great importance not merely to the 
amateur, but also to the professional gardener who 
may just have managed to climb into a head 
gardener's place, but who may have neglected note¬ 
taking and such helps as enable him in after years to 
remember the dates when particular subjects should 
be potted, planted, sown, or otherwise treated at the 
proper time to secure the best results for any given 
purpose. There is first a vegetable calendar, and 
this is followed consecutively by calendars for the 
flower garden and pleasure ground, the fruit garden, 
the conservatory and greenhouse, and for a year’s 
work under glass. The latter treats of vineries, 
Peach-houses, Pinery, and pits and frames. 
The rest of the book is devoted to a great number 
of different subjects, all of which are of a practical 
character and discussed in a plain matter-of-fact way 
that anyone can understand. Cottage, market, and 
suburban gardens are all treated in separate chapters. 
Independently of these general subjects are special 
ones, to each of which a separate chapter is given. 
Roses are thus dealt with, as well as annuals in pots, 
Hyacinths for exhibition, Auriculas, Carnations, 
border Carnations, the best bulbs, Gladioli, florists’ 
flowers, Chrysanthemums, Orchids, Lilies, Begonias, 
Cinerarias, Calceolarias, and others. Many of these 
subjects come under the various calendars at 
particular seasons,but,in theseveral chapters devoted 
to them, the cultural treatment is dealt with more or 
less exclusively. Florists’ flowers include the 
Chinese Primula, Pansies and Violas, the Hollyhock, 
Dahlia, and Polyanthus, though we think that many 
others might well have been included under this 
heading. Chrysanthemums are treated at some 
length, both for exhibition and decorative purposes. 
Separate chapters are also devoted to the cultiva¬ 
tion of Mushrooms, Peas, Tomatos, Melons, Grapes, 
Strawberries, Potatos, and other things of interest 
and necessity for almost every garden. Carpet bed¬ 
ding is not neglected, though latterly it has been very 
much neglected for other styles of garden decoration. 
A good many illustrations of vegetables, fruits, and 
flowers are dispersed through the book, including 
some good representations of Potatos, Narcissi, 
Melons, Peas, and other subjects. The book runs 
to 211 pages, including a good index. Paper and 
printing leave nothing to be desired. This is the 
sixteenth edition of the book. 
--f*- 
VIOLET, PRINCESS OF WALES. 
We have for so many years been accustomed to see 
the Violet with relatively small flowers, that one 
could be condoned for setting down this flower as 
incapable of improvement. This notion will now 
have to be dispelled, seeing that large-flowered 
Violets are turning up here and there in various 
parts of the temperate zone. We are reminded of 
this fact by a large bunch of Princess of Wales that 
has been sent us by Messrs. H. Cannell & Sons, 
Swanley, Kent. The flowers are more of the shape 
of a Pansy than the old Violets with which we ivere 
familiar, the colour more decidedly blue, and the 
scent as sweet. Though not so large as a modern 
Pansy of the fancy type, yet we measured individual 
blooms ranging from 1 in. to i£ in. across. This we 
should regard as a stepping stone to something 
better. 
Whether Violets will ever reach the size of 
Pansies, we cannot say, but we do not set up a dog¬ 
matic negative to the contrary. Our advice to 
plant-lovers and plant-breeders is to try again. You 
never know what you can do till you try. One may 
get too much of a good thing, but that stage of the 
Violet has not yet been reached. Some one may 
tell us that it never will be reached. Well we can¬ 
not even adopt that view, because we cannot tell 
what will happen in the next ten or twenty years. 
Nor do we wish to throw cold water on any attempt 
at the improvement of any plant wild or cultivated. 
Not only was the Sweet Violet cultivated as long ago 
as 1578, but several varieties of it existed, including 
one as double as Marie Louise, and also a pure white 
and a dark reddish-purple variety. The figure of the 
garden or Sweet Violet as given by Dodoens, more 
than 300 years ago was very small indeed, compared 
with the commonest forms now to be met with. 
Moreover, the flowers of Princess of Wales and other 
Violets respond to the effects of a mild and genial 
atmosphere, just as the Daisy does, so that the 
flowers produced in the open air in February cannot 
be expected to rival in size those which are 
stimulated by genial March weather. 
«»- ■ ■— 
ORCHIDS AT MAI DA VALE. 
As winter gives place to spring, flowers become 
more plentiful both out of doors and under glass. 
Orchids also feel the effects of the lengthening days 
and more genial atmosphere. The other day we 
dropped into the nursery of Mr. P. McArthur, 4, 
Maida Vale, London, W., and found the Den- 
drobiums and Cypripediums most plentiful, though 
there was a considerable variety of other subjects. 
Amongst several forms of Dendrobium wardianum 
we noted the beautiful D. w. Lady Elvinia, with pure 
white sepals and petals. Here also were D. nobile 
nobilius, D. findlayanum, and the beautifully-fringed 
D. devonianum. Saccolabium bellinum seems to be 
always in flower. Coelogyne cristata lemoniana and 
the snowy-white C. c. alba are now at their best. 
The long spike of Laelia cinnabarina shows good 
culture. 
The Cypripediums are plentiful, but space will 
only allow mention of a few of them, including C. 
sibolense, with its upper sepal heavily spotted black, 
except towards the apex where the spots are violet. 
The dorsal sepal of C. harrisianum roseum is dark 
in the centre, but rose and white towards the edges. 
Both the upper sepal and the petals of C. swinburnia- 
num are densely spotted and beautiful. Well known and 
very useful kinds areC lathamianum.C.hirsutissimum, 
C. Jupiter, C. bellatulum, C. leeanum superbum, and 
C. Calypso, the latter of which is pretty with its 
wavy petals. Chysis bractescens, with its fleshy- 
white flowers and yellow lip, seems quite at home by 
the way it is flowering. Strange-looking flowers 
are those of Mormodes buccinator, whose greenish- 
yellow sepals and petals ultimately become almost 
white. The trumpet-like lip is creamy-white and 
fleshy. The pseudo-bulbs are of great size and bear 
more than one flower each. A massive piece of 
Dendrochilum glumaceum, occupying a basket 
18 in. square, bears about 300 of its graceful spikes 
of bloom. The individual flowers are small, but 
their delicious aroma fills the atmosphere of the 
house. The plant is in one piece, the finest we have 
seen, and possibly the finest in the country. 
More than one house is monopolised with newly- 
imported Orchids in fine condition. There are 
several fine pieces of the white-flowered Cattleya 
Wageneri. A large consignment of C. gluckianahas 
unusually stout pseudo-bulbs, and the variation 
amongst them as well as the leaves gives promise of 
something distinct. It flowers in February. One 
lot consists of long, slender pseudo-bulbs, and short, 
stout ones in mixture. The only name attached by 
the collector is Lirios pau, possibly a native name. 
A new Laelia, with stout pseudo-bulbs 2 in. to 6 in. 
long, also gives promise of something distinct. It 
flowers about Christmas. A fine lot of Cattleya 
percivaliana and C. p. spleDdens is also full of 
promise. A very large consignment of Cattleya 
Mossiae is full of promise, there being some white 
ones amongst them judging from the pale colour of 
the stems and foliage. Some of the pseudo-bulbs of 
Peristeria elata bear three old flower stems each. 
Amongst Odontoglossums we noted the rare O. 
schilleriana, also O. ramosissimum liliiflorum, O. 
nevadense, O. Wallisii, and the beautiful O. 
stellimicans, a supposed natural hybrid, with clear 
yellow sepals and petals, washed with reddish-mauve 
outside and spotted with purple-brown inside. 
Others include a Pilumna, Houlletia odoratissima, 
an Anguloa, with pseudo-bulbs about £ lb. in weight, 
and Anguloa Ruckeri superba, whose pseudo-bulbs 
would weigh 1 lb. each and measure 6 in. to 9 in. in 
length. They are starting into growth finely. 
Valuable white Cattleyas are C. Wallisii, C. Mossiae 
Bergreni, and C. M. reineckeana, the latter a fine 
piece of 150 pseudo-bulbs, 
