456 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
March 22, 1890. 
FLo^iCi/uTiff]^. 
_ 
The Rev. G. Jeans on the Philosophy of 
Florists’ Flowers. —IX. 
“I have now brought this essay to a close ; and beg 
to return my sincere thanks for the courtesy which has 
borne with its extension to a much greater length than 
I anticipated. The earlier papers, not from having 
had more care bestowed upon them, but from the 
nature of their subjects, are more complete than the 
latter ones, nor have I omitted in them anything I 
intended to say. The same cannot be affirmed of the 
portions on auxiliary forms, and on the province of 
taste, because the principle being, fully given, it was 
unnecessary to lengthen these letters still further by 
applying it to every case to which it is applicable. 
The observations on colour require a more ample 
apology ; for having (with the exception mentioned in 
the note) been drawn exclusively from the inspection of 
Nature, and that with very confined opportunities, 
they cannot claim to exhibit the completeness of a 
system. As far as they go, however, I have but little 
misgiving about their correctness. 
“That I have made no mistake in the philosophical 
elements of beauty in a flower is rather to be wished 
than expected, but I have taken the best means that 
lay in my power to make none. Neither can I be a 
competent judge of the extent to which I have succeeded 
in my original purpose, but this, I hope, may be con¬ 
sidered as proved, that the pursuit of the florist is as 
little to be branded as childish, and is not less rational 
as a recreation thau any other part of horticulture. I 
do not scruple boldly to avow before the most fastidious 
that it is a pursuit not unworthy of a wise man, nor 
unbefitting a good one ; it is elegant, instructive, 
scientific, and full of results. And the reader of his 
Bible may see, and grow wiser by seeing, in it another 
earth, that the ground and the things that grow out of 
it do not yield to him their advantages without the 
labour of his hands and the exercise of his intelligence. 
“ I have no wish to place the occupation of the florist 
above its natural mark, but I am sure that, in itself, in 
all its branches it is undeserving of any reproach, 
unless it be one to fill the beauties God has created 
for our pleasure, and to draw them forth from the 
obscurity in which He has hidden them, by the means 
He has appointed for the purpose. The same objection 
which is made to cultivated varieties of a natural flower 
would equally condemn the diamond to remain in 
obscurity in the mine where God has placed it, and 
would stigmatise the adventitious splendour it derives 
from cutting and polishing at man’s will as an inter¬ 
ference with nature. It may be—we know not, but it 
is neither impossible nor violently improbable—that 
before sin entered into the world, when the earth gave 
forth her increase without labour, the flowers may have 
spontaneously exhibited that standard of perfection, an 
approach which the florist now laboriously aims at 
drawing forth from them. It may have been the same, 
too, with the harvest of the field and the fiuits of the 
orchard ; and that varieties of both, as incomparably 
superior in kind as superabounding in quantity to any¬ 
thing we now see, may have been, on their progress to 
maturity, to call forth the thanksgiving of pure hearts, 
had those hearts continued pure. And such may also 
be in store for a future period. But, in the meantime, 
we know that labour is enjoined, and that not of the 
hands alone, but of the brow ; an expression which 
seems to betoken what is certainly true in fact, that 
to obtain the riches of the soil, a trial of mental skill is 
required on the part of man—a putting forth of the 
resources of his intelligence—to overcome the reluctance 
of nature to rise up to its capabilities. And whether 
his ingenuity be exercised on the corn, on the fruit, or 
on the flower, it is rightly exercised ; and the results are 
additions to the sum of human pleasures, which the 
Creator Himself has not thought beneath His care.” 
instance of the tenure on which he holds his portion on 
Synopsis of the Es.say on the Philosophy of Flokists’ Flowers. 
Beauty in r a 
flow T er is 
produced by 
r 
I. Form, 
consisting of 
outlines, 
general and 
subordinate. 
II. Colour. 
I 
1. Absolute, 
requiring 
2. Relative. 
1. In general, 
or separately. 
2. In union ; 
must be in 
juxtaposition and 
mutually adapted, 
producing 
(1) Unity : infringed in idea, by a plurality of equiva¬ 
lent parts. In outline, by intervals or by abrupt 
changes. 
(2) Variety [effects of straight lines and curves] : of 
form—of number—of colour. 
Best dependent on characteristics of the flowers and 
mode of colouring. Actually, hemispherical the most 
perfect. Other examples. 
Must be bright, distinct. 
r (1) Combination, if in natural agreement. 
distinct, clouded, or compound. 
And this is 
(2) Contrast, if in natural contrariety. 
the two modes. 
Comparison of 
Province of Taste includes all not restricted by necessary laws of Nature. 
“THE COMPLEAT FLORIST.” 
This title may sound somewhat obscure and mis¬ 
leading to modern readers ; but it is merely the 
name of an old work with coloured illustrations of 
garden flowers which has recently been brought under 
our notice by Mr. Harman Payne. It consists of 
two volumes, bound in one, and both dated 1740, 
that is, just 150 years ago. Some of the figures 
are rather rude illustrations, while others would do 
credit to almost any work of 100 years ago. Great stress 
is laid upon the flowering season of the plants figured, 
as this is given on the top left-hand corner of every 
page. Below the plate a short description of the 
cultural requirements of each plant is given, and 
among them are some very interesting old florists' 
flowers. Unfortunately, however, no history is given 
of the origin of any of them, otherwise some interesting 
points might have been cleared up with regard to the 
birth of popular subjects that have remained extant to 
the present day, and are likely to continue so for many 
generations to come. One of these is the Clove Gilli- 
flower, as brightly coloured then as now. The Tube¬ 
rose, judging from a figure of it, was then single. A 
double Tropaeolum majus had yellow flowers striped with 
scarlet, but so full that no seeds were produced, and 
the plants had to be re-perpetuated by means of 
cuttings. Of Pceonia officinalis, there existed the 
“ double red, the double flesh colour, the double white, 
and the male and female Pyonies. ” What our ancestors 
meant by the latter two is not quite evident. The 
Snowball (Viburnum opulus sterilis) was as good then 
as now, and simply termed the Gelder Rose. Picotees 
were still very ragged at the margin, and the dark 
colours were not wholly confined to the margin as 
they are at the present day. The Due Van Thol 
Tulip could then be flowered in December and 
January in greenhouses, a fact which says a 
good deal for cultivation in those days. It was 
termed the Duke Vantol Tulip. The African Marigold 
was perfectly double even then. Amaryllis Belladonna 
was termed the Bella Donna Lilly or Lilly of Damascus, 
thus showing that in olden times English names 
applied to plants were not faultless. Amongst 
Hyacinths it is interesting to note that the old Roman 
Hyacinth, or what very much resembles it, was grown 
under the name of Winter White Hyacinth. In King 
of Great Britain and Diamond Hyacinths the growers 
of those days must have possessed some remarkable 
varieties for size. The former especially had flowers of 
enormous size, with spreading, reflexed, and closely im¬ 
bricated segments. In the foot-note it is described as 
“the most double oriental Jacinth with a white 
flower of an elegant rose colour in the middle.” Many 
fine Irises, Anemones, Roses, Carnations, Pinks, 
Picotees, Auriculas, Tulips, and Lilies, in a high 
state of improvement, existed even then. Amongst 
double-flowered subjects were the double Peach, double 
Catch-fly (Lychnis diurna flore pleno), double Stock or 
July flower, double Orange Lily, apparently Lilium 
tigrinum flore pleno, and others. 
TheGreater Early Snowdrop isnow Leucojum vernum. 
A red and white striped Rose was then grown under its 
proper name Rosa Mundi. At present it is better 
known, but erroneously, under the name of York and 
Lancaster. It is interesting to note that the old 
growers could manage our native Lady’s Slipper 
(Cypripedium calceolus). The directions are that “it 
must be transplanted in May, with a large ball of the 
natural soil to them ; you must plant them in a shady 
place ; they require no culture but weeding.” The 
Winter-flowering Pear is a tree that seems to have 
become lost to cultivation. It is described as flowering 
O 
twice a year, and in a great measure resembling the 
Glastonbury Thorn. The flowers were rose and white, 
like Apple blossom. 
Our old friend the blue Hyacinth of Peru is, of 
course, the Scilla peruviana of the modern botanist. 
The old gardeners evidently succeeded as well with the 
Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis) and the fruit¬ 
bearing Passion Flower as do their modern repre¬ 
sentatives. The last-named plant is Passiflora 
ccerulea, and although not the only one to fruit in this 
country, it is more often fruited than any other. The 
Tulip Tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) had evidently been 
flowered in this country prior to the publication of The 
Comgolcat Florist in 1740, although it had only been 
introduced fifty-two years before that date. The 
Charlotte Pink would represent a good double form of 
Dianthus plumarius hortensis, and had long, fringed, 
white petals, with a red blotch on the base of each. 
The Yellow Everlasting and the Immortelles of the 
moderns (Helichrysum arenarium of the botanist) was 
the Everlasting Daisie of those times. What our 
ancestors meaut by the single striped Female Balsam 
is not quite evident. The coloured illustration repre¬ 
sented a variety of the common Balsam (Impatiens 
Balsamina), 
-->1A»- 
PENTSTEMONS. 
Make a sowing of seed of a good strain of Pentstemons 
at once in a greenhouse or frame, and get it to germi¬ 
nate quickly, with the aid of a little warmth if 
possible. In any case, seed, if new, will soon 
germinate, and give plenty of seedling plants fit to 
dibble out into the opeu ground by the middle of May. 
The product of such seedling plants will be a fine lot of 
spikes of bloom in the autumn, right up to the setting 
in of winter. There is a great advantage in having a 
good breadth of Pentstemons then, as they are such 
hardy plants, that when the early autumn frosts have 
destroyed all the tender flowers, these will* bloom on 
for a long time afterwards. 
Cuttings taken from plants which produce the best 
flowers, put in about October, will root freely during 
the winter, and give fine robust plants for early summer 
blooming. These, however, only reproduce the parent 
plants, whilst seed not only reproduces the old forms 
but adds many others. There is a great charm attached 
to seedling raising, which fully compensates for the 
production, almost inevitable, of some inferior things. 
Still, there are very few plants which do produce 
improved forms allied to variety of colour so admirably 
as do Pentstemons. The hardiness of the plants renders 
them amenable to rough treatment. 
My own, when ready for transplanting, are lifted 
from the seed bed and dibbled out rapidly into the 
open ground. They soon make fresh roots and grow. 
The old small-tubed flowers should now be fast 
disappearing from gardens, giving place to the large- 
throated blooms, which now, thanks to good strains, 
are plentiful. These are very beautiful, and merit 
cultivation in every garden where hardy plants are 
appreciated.— A. D. 
- —»$*• - 
OODICEUM WARRENII. 
The species of Codiccum constitute a large genus of 
stove plants, a large number of which are grown in 
gardens under the name of Croton. That represented 
in the accompanying illustration is one of the finest 
of the long narrow-leaved kinds, and when well 
grown is certainly a very handsome plant. In addition 
to being narrow, they are very much undulated, 
owing to the unequal growth of the margin, making 
them spirally twisted. Strong, vigorously growing 
plants will make leaves from 20 ins. to 30 ins. long, 
while they are only 1 in. to lj in. in diameter, and 
drooping elegantly on all sides. They are irregularly 
blotched and suffused with orange-yellow and carmine, 
intensifying in the latter case to crimson as the leaves 
become matured, especially if they have been properly 
exposed to sunshine, which is the secret of well- 
coloured plants of this genus in all cases. Large 
exhibition plants are not held in such high estimation 
as they used to be ; but more attention is given to 
the culture of narrow-leaved varieties for table and 
other decorations, the demand for this section being 
greatest at the present time. The broad-leaved and 
stiffer exhibition kinds are less suitable for this 
purpose. C. Warrenii w T as, we believe, raised in the 
nursery of Messrs. B. S. Williams & Son, Upper 
Holloway, by whom it was sent out. 
