510 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
April 11, 1896. 
proportions. Bold kinds are Magog, with a yellow 
crown ; Queen Sophia, with an orange crown ; and 
Queen Bess, notable for its widely-expanded chalce 
like a great bowl. The great size of the flowers and 
the peculiar disposition of the yellow segments of 
Frank Miles render the variety telling and distinct. 
If a scarlet Daffodil is not yet an actual accomplish¬ 
ment, Gloria Mundi, with its orange-scarlet crown, 
is something in that direction. C. J. Backhouse 
differs chiefly in its long and narrow, instead of a 
wide, crown, and is certainly a very choice thing. 
Charming also is Maurice Vilmorin, with a much 
narrower, flaming orange-red cup to the flower. 
The sulphur segments of Goliath are of great length 
and the golden crown is also long. Duchess of 
Westminster is well known to those who use 
Daffodils to any extent for spring bedding purposes. 
The huge flowers have white segments and a yellow 
crown. Double varieties of merit belonging to the 
N. incomparabilis section are Butter and Eggs and 
Codlins and Cream. The segments of the former 
are of orange and pale yellow shades in mixture, 
while the well-shaped flowers of Codlins and Cream 
are of a pale sulphur hue in more than one shade. 
The so-called Eucharis Daffodils belonging to the 
Leedsii section cannot be overlooked, for they supply 
subtle shades of colouring that are hardly met with 
even amongst the descendants of N. moschatus. 
Mrs. Langtry is extensively grown at Long Ditton 
on account of its usefulness for bedding purposes. It 
has long white segments and a pale yellow crown. 
Very delicate in hue is Catherine Spurrell, with 
sulphur segments and a pale yellow crown, ultimately 
becoming white. Extremely pretty is Princess of 
Wales, with white segments and a palest lemon, 
widely-expanded cup, reminding one of Queen Bess 
in this latter respect. The crown of Beatrice is 
palest apricot passing into French-white with age. 
The flowers are also pleasantly fragrant. The crown 
of Grand Duchess is canary-yellow edged with soft 
salmon-apricot, passing into pale yellow and 
ultimately white, all of these shades being noticeable 
in flowers of different age. 
Of the fine things still to be noticed, Barrii con- 
spicuus must head the list. The lemon segments 
forma good setting for the cup, which is edged with 
bright orange-scarlet. Barrii Flora Wilson differs 
by having white segments. Another of the natural 
hybrid types is Burbidgei with its numerous forms, 
including Burbidgei Falstaff and Burbidgei Wm. 
Barr. They conform closely to N. poeticus, but the 
crown is deeper. The old N. odorus heminalis of 
Parkinson may be seen here. It has golden flowers 
and a longer cup than the type. N. Hume's Giant 
is a natural hybrid with a trumpet nearly as long as 
the segments. N. triandrus albus, often termed 
Angels' Tears, is grown in quantity, and now coming 
into bloom. The charming little N. cyclamineus has 
been in flower since February, and was, in fact, the 
first Daffodil to open ; it is still in perfection. 
All the Daffodils are dwarf this year because there 
was very little early rain when they should have been 
making vigorous growth. The blood-red foliage of 
the Paeonies of the P. albiflora, would make a capital 
background and setting for Daffodils. 
-- - — 
VERNAL FLOWERS. 
{Continued.) 
IV.— Primrose. 
Sweet Primrose, of the wild-flower train 
My favourite, take this humble strain 1 
How often, with a joyous group 
Of children, have I lov'd to stoop 
Where thou wert found with careless grace 
Starring “ the solitary place ! ” 
How oft have homeward borne in sheaves 
Thy flowers, illumin’d by their leaves ! 
Contrasting thy pale pensive blow 
With Daffodil's gay golden glow, 
And muttering as I stroll’d along 
Some fragment of poetic song. 
In “ Primrose pale " would Shakespeare seek 
Semblance of dead Fidele’s cheek* ; 
And o'er fair infant, in the tomb 
Laid like a flower of blighted bloom, 
Young Milton f breath'd the tuneful sigh— 
11 Soft silken Primrose faded timelessly ! " 
Arviragus : “ With fairest flowers, Fidele, 
I'll sweeten thy sad grave : thou shalt not lack 
Tee flower that's like thy face—pale Primrose.'’ 
— CymDeline Act iv., Scene 2. 
Milton wrote the “ Ode on the Death of a Fair Infant ” in 
his seventeenth year — the earliest of his original poems, 
V.—Violet. 
Can 1 midst my flowers forget 
Thee, beloved Violet ? 
Thee for whom in schoolboy day 
I fondly fram’d a votive lay! 
Yet thou need’st not verse of mine, 
Avon's, Eden’s, bard divine, 
Bards of elder later age 
With thy name perfume their page. 
Lurking in thy hedgerow shade, 
Thou, meek Violet, wert made 
Type of excellence retir’d, 
To be sought for and admir’d ! 
Shakespeare likening to thy scent 
Music’s richest ravishment, 
Makes his love-sick Duke* exclaim 
To Viola, who shares thy name— 
Her, who “ never told ” her flame—■ 
" O, that dying strain ! it stole 
Like the sweet south e’er my soul, 
When he breathes upon a bed 
Where Violets their sweetness shed, 
And steals and gives the redolence 
Like wafted music to the sense ! ” 
— Thos. Gvinfie'd, 5, Ellenboro' Park, Weston-super-Mare, 
March 17 th, 1896. 
-—•»- 
PEOPLE WE HAVE MET. 
The subject of our present notice is a Florist and 
Seedsman, whose energy has largely contributed to 
make Rothesay so well known in the horticultural 
world. 
Mr. Michael Cuthbertson, whose portrait appears 
below, started business in a quiet way in 1879, in the 
now famous Public Park Nursery. He is a native 
of Lanarkshire, and was born in the quiet little 
village of Ellsridghill, near the pretty country town 
of Biggar. Losing his father while yet a boy, he 
was obliged to face the world at a very early age. 
About twenty-five or twenty-six years ago he become 
apprenticed with his uncle, Mr. Thos. Cowper, then 
gardener at Stanmore, near Lanark. His apprentice¬ 
ship finished, he continued to follow his calling 
successfully in the gardens of Boddington (close by 
the famous and romantic Cora Linn, Falls of Clyde), 
Riccarton, Whitehill, and Mauldslie Castle, with a 
short time in the Pinkhill Nurseries of the then firm 
of Downie, Laird & Laing. After leaving Mauldslie, 
he started on his own account as jobbing gardener 
and florist in Wishaw ; but receiving strong induce¬ 
ment, he migrated to the Island of Bute, and 
ultimately commenced business in the *• Queen of 
Scottish Watering Places ”—Rothesay. This island 
town, beautifully situated on the Firth of Clyde, is 
reckoned the premier Scottish health resort, and 
attracts visitors, in quest of health, or on pleasure 
bent, from all parts of the world. The town is in 
the form of a huge amphitheatre, with a lovely bay- 
in the centre. As the song says :— 
“It's a bonny bay in the mornin’, 
And bonnier at the noon ; 
But bonniest when the sun drops. 
An' red comes up the moon ; 
As the mists creep o’er the waters, 
An’ the Arran peaks are grey, 
An' the great big hills, like sleeping kings, 
Stan’ gran' round Rothesay Bay.” 
It will be readily understood that a place like this, 
with steamersjmaking sixty or seventy calls a day 
in the height of the season, has peculiar advantages 
for carrying on a florists' business; and this, no 
doubt, has something to do with Mr, Cuthbertson's 
fame becoming so wide-spread. 
While pushing a general seed and florists’ trade, 
Mr. Cuthbertson lays himself out specially for 
supplying the wants of that ever-increasing class— 
the exhibitor. His training under his uncle, who was 
an enthusiastic and successful competitor, with the 
many years of experience since acquired, has 
eminently qualified him for carrying on such a 
difficult branch of the business, a branch which, to 
do well, requires no Ordinary amount of skill. 
The amateur, with his usually very limited space, 
has no room for second-class stuff. This Mr. 
Cuthbertson knows full well; so that, whether it be 
plants or seeds, flowers or vegetables, everything 
which science can devise, or experience suggest, is 
brought to bear on the production of the best exhibi¬ 
tion strains. That the majority of his numerous 
customers are connected with horticultural societies 
* See the opening of Shakespeare's Twelfth Kight, and the 
ensuing dialogue between the Duke of Illyria and Viola, which 
contain some of the most exquisite lines in English poetry, 
is what we expected to find. The names of many, 
too, appear in the books year after year, some from 
the very start, giving convincing proof that Mr. 
Cuthbertson’s efforts to supply exhibition strains are 
completely successful. 
Most of the principal florists’ flowers receive 
attention in the Public Park and Sunny Park 
Mr. Michael Cuthbertson, F.R.H.S. 
Nurseries. Mr. Cuthbertson’s “Leading Article,’ 
however, is herbaceous and alpine plants. During 
his apprenticeship he acquired a taste for these 
now popular flowers ; and from the first he went in 
enthusiastically for their cultivation. At that time 
herbaceous plants were in the cold shades of opposi¬ 
tion,the bedding system holding almost absolute sway. 
The result was that, from a commercial point of view, 
their cultivation was a failure. Convinced, how¬ 
ever, of their utility and beauty, he determined to do 
his best to educate the public taste, by persistently 
exhibiting them at shows all over the country, and 
with the result that he now has the satisfaction of 
seeing the flood tide set in their flavour. It is, no 
doubt, owing to Mr.Cuthbertson’s persevering efforts 
and magnificent displays at shows that the revival of 
taste for hardy flowers in the North is to a great 
extent due. 
In recent years he has won numerous honours, 
including gold and silver medals, in keen competition, 
at such great shows as Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, 
Aberdeen, Hawick, Dumfries, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 
Shrewsbury, Leicester, and Earl’s Court, etc., for 
herbaceous plants. Wherever he goes his exhibits 
are always a noticeable feature. 
Of Pansies and Violas he has a large stock and an 
ever-increasing demand. Three of his new Violas of 
this year—Mrs. R. Kennedy Mitchell, Wm. Haig, 
and Sweetness—are, judging from the numerous 
certificates they have received, of exceptional merit. 
Exhibition strains of vegetables have always been 
specialities with Mr. Cuthbertson—Leeks, Onions, 
Parsley, Celery, Carrots, Beet, and Turnips being 
some of them. In the spring season more than one 
house is almost exclusively devoted to the cultivation 
of Leeks, Onions, Parsley, and Celery in pots for the 
use of exhibitors, while long lines of specially-con¬ 
structed frames contain tens of thousands of unpotted 
plants, all grown for the use of exhibitors and afford¬ 
ing evidence of the wonderful development of this 
branch of the business. In the North the Leek is 
the king among vegetables; and in Scotland, the 
North of Engiaod, and in Wales, an extraordinary 
amount of time and expense is devoted to the culti¬ 
vation of exhibition specimens, and amongst these 
enthusiasts “ Cuthbertson's Hybrid ” has become a 
household word. 
We have a pleasing remembrance of our visit to 
his nurseries last summer. We were not long in his 
company till we became aware of his thorough 
practical knowledge of the plants he grows. To 
lovers of flowers it is quite a treat to see and hear 
him descanting on the merits and demerits of the 
