March 29, 1890. 
the gardening world. 
469 
BEAUTIFUL LAWNS 
AND 
TENNIS GROUNDS 
BEST OBTAINED BY SOWING 
VEITCH’S 
FINEST MIXED 
LAWN CRASS. 
Carefully prepared from the finest Dwarf 
Perennial Grasses only. 
Per Pound, Is.; per Bushel, 25s. 
VEITCH’S 
FINEST MIXED 
LAWN CRASSES 
AND GLOVERS. 
Per Pound, Is.; per Bushel, 25s. 
JAMES VEITCilsis, 
Roval Exotic Nursery. Chelsea. S.W. 
ALL SEEDS WARRANTED. 
ROBERT SYDENHAM, 
NEW TENBY ST, BIRMINGHAM, 
THE CELEBRATED AMATEUR IMPORTER OF BULBS. 
Having keen continually solicited by a large number of my Bulb 
friends to keep a select stock of the best and most reliable 
Vegetable and Flower Seeds, I have decided to do so. 
“ Quality before Quantity” being my “motto,” I shall 
spare no expense to get the very best strain of every variety 
offered in this list, and send out all fresh new seeds of the latest 
growth. The majority, if not nearly all ordinary Seedsmen say 
they will not be responsible for the failure of any Seeds. I 
cannot guarantee there shall be no failures, but as the best 
guarantee it is possible to give of my wish to sell only genuine 
Seeds, I will undertake to replace, free of charge, any Vegetable 
or Flower Seeds from which a fair proportion fail to germinate 
in due course, under fair and proper treatment, or which do not 
some true to name. 
I shall not confuse my friends with a long list of six or eight 
hundred varieties of Flower Seeds, but confine myself to about 
two hundred varieties that will be satisfactory to purchaser as 
well as seller. In Vegetable Seeds, I contend that few want 
more than six or eight varieties of Peas, three or four sorts of 
Cabbage or Broccoli, two or three of Carrots, one of Parsnips, 
and so on, and where the list is much increased, it often contains 
names manufactured to suit a particular locality, or selected 
stocks of old varieties slightly improved under new names. 
TERMS, strictly cash with order from unknown correspon¬ 
dents ; references given if required. 
All Flower Seeds sent post free ; all general Seed Orders over 
10s. carnage paid ; Orders over £3, 5 per cent, discount; Orders 
over £5,10 per cent, discount. 
My “UNIQUE SEED LIST,” entered at Stationers' Hall and 
Copyright, is the most original and useful List ever published 
tor amateurs. It contains only the most select varieties of 
vegetable and Flower Seeds in cultivation, and gives full cul¬ 
tural directions. 
This List sent Post Free on application. 
Choice Primula, Calceolaria, Carnation, and Ficotee 
SEEDS WILL BE OF A SPECIALLY GOOD STRAIN. 
Best "white Paflia Fibre, 6d. per pound. 
(Please Mention this Paper.) 
Letter Orders have same care as for my own planting. 
Robert Sydenham, 
NEW TENBY STREET, BIRMINGHAM. I 
“HALF-GUINEA” 
COLLECTION 
OF • 
ASTERS 
Including a Packet (Mixed Colours) of each 
of the following varieties: — 
Sutton’s Dwarf Bouquet, Sutton’s Reading 
Beauty, Dwarf Chrysanthemum-flowered, 
Dwarf Pseony Perfection, Dwarf Victoria, 
Sutton’s C-iant French, Sutton’s Tall Vic¬ 
toria, Crown-flowered, Quilled Victoria, and 
German Globe. 
Fo§t F'jree- for i@/#« 
Next Week’s Engagements. 
Monday, March 31st.—Sale of Japan and English-grown Lily 
Bulbs, &c., at Protheroe and Morris's Rooms. 
Tuesday, April 1st.—Haddington Hyacinth Show. Sale of 
Imported Orchids at Protheroe & Morris's Rooms. 
Wednesday, April 2nd. — Royal Caledonian Horticultural 
Society's Show (2 days). Phippen’s Flower Show in the 
new Town Hall, Reading. Sale of Lily Bulbs, Greenhouse 
Plants, Roses, &c., at Protheroe & Morris’s Rooms. 
For Indexto Contents & Advertisements, see p.478, 
" Gardening is the purest of human pleasures, and the greatest 
refreshment to the spirit of man."— Bacon. 
SATURDAY, MARCH 29, 1890. 
CURRENT TOPICS. 
H^he Country in Spring-time.— It is indeed 
strange that just as the country is 
expanding into life and beauty, it should be 
the fashion for those whose leisure affords 
ample opportunity to enjoy country life to 
the full, to congregate together in the 
towns—the metropolis especially—there to 
partake of that dubious joy commonly known 
as “the season.” A well-known gardener once 
remarked of his lovely gardens, that he 
enjoyed them far more than did his employers. 
This fact is so true of many other gardeners, 
and their surroundings, from the first burst 
of spring bloom to the fall of the latest of 
autumnal leafage, being both so interesting 
and so lovely, that rural life under such con¬ 
ditions becomes pleasure indeed. Even already 
the country is beginning to look delightful. 
There is life and activity in the fields, sowing 
and planting is going on everywhere, and all 
is prospectively pleasing! 
The denizens of the trees and the hedge¬ 
rows, the feathered songsters, arc now awaken¬ 
ing into joy witli their harmonious notes the 
whole expanse of the kingdom, but nowhere 
more joyously than in the truly rural districts. 
Trees and bushes are bursting into flower and 
leaf. The change from absolute barrenness 
of leafage to perfect foliation and florescence 
is indeed a process so full of interest and 
beauty that only those having ample oppor¬ 
tunity to watch the gradual development of 
nature’s work can realise how delightful is 
the observation. The meadows presently will 
be glittering, as it were, with the stars of 
earth—Buttercups, Daisies, Dandelions, Prim¬ 
roses and Squills. Myriads of sweet and 
lovely flowers will soon beautify the landscape. 
There is no end to the wondrous wealth of 
life and joyousness to be found in rural life, 
and there is no better time to see that 
wealth develop than in the spring. From 
the beginning of April to the end of June, 
country life is one round of pleasing interest. 
July heat brings some lassitude, yet how 
more readily endured than amidst the over¬ 
hanging foliage of dense trees and shrubs'? 
With August comes the harvest and all its 
delights, and soon after, with the fall of the 
leaf, the winter. Then may the rural dweller 
desire to hibernate for a few months in 
our crowded towns. 
HBRING Flower Shows.— There can he no 
doubt whatever that there is a wealth 
of beauty to be found in spring flower shows, 
which the Chrysanthemum, in all its glory 
in the autumn, cannot give. When Azaleas, 
Camellias, Deutzias, forced Roses, Rhododen¬ 
drons, Orchids, Clivias, and myriads of things 
which bloom in the spring, are giouped or 
stood out in classes, they give colour of the 
richest and most effective kind. Of lesser 
elements, there is in the spring quite a legion, 
all tending to make up banks and masses of 
exceeding beauty, and all the more acceptable 
considering that this wealth of bloom is found 
after passing through a long dull winter. But, 
still, shows should be shows, and not shams, 
and into this latter category must we put 
the so-called spring show recently held at the 
pretentious suburban town of Richmond. 
The society there does not seem happy in its 
ventures. Hot so long since, its summer show 
was the finest, and certainly the most 
fashionably attended around London. That 
exhibition is yearly dwindling down to a very 
second-rate place, and the committee ought to 
learn the reason wdiy at once, lest they see°their 
fine show of the past die out absolutely. 
Then a very good autumn show was held for a 
few years, but that collapsed. A spring show 
was started in its place last year, a very fair 
display resulting, but the one of last week was 
so poor, and held in such an unsuitable place, 
that we cannot- for one moment imagine that 
the committee will favour the holding of a 
third. We are sorry for this, because spring 
shows are far from being common, though they 
merit continuance only when they are good. 
Far better for Richmond, and all other pfaces, 
to ignore special season shows, and stick to their 
one summer effort, if they cannot do their 
special shows well. The public now, more than 
ever, require exhibitions to he worth the trouble 
of being seen. 
‘|)otato Planting.— “There is a larger breadth 
I of Potatos being put down this year than 
ever, remarked a large grower the other day. 
The reason seems to he found in the fact that 
whilst puces are abnormally low—indeed, never 
were lower, the demand does all the same 
increase, because of the increasing body of 
consumers. But there seems to be an additional 
reason for the liberal planting of Potatos, and 
that is the wonderfully free way in which the soil 
works this spring. Rarely in the experience 
