April 12, 1890. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
D01 
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. 
TEITCH’S 
FINEST MIXED 
LAWN GRASSES 
AND GLOVERS. 
Per Pound, Is.; per Bushel, 25s. 
JAMES VEITCH & SONS, 
Royal Exotic Nursery, Chelsea, S.W. 
IF YOU WANT 
TENBY STREET , 
BIRM J 
Of the Finn of Sydenham Brothers , Wholesale Jewellers. 
HIS UNIQUE 
SEED LIST 
Sent Post Free on application. 
The Business be'ng worked upon an 
unique and co-operative principle, Mr. 
SYDENHAM can offer 
BETTER VALUE in QUALITY & PRICE 
than any firm in the trade. 
MY ORIGINAL GUARANTEE 
C Such as never offered by the Trade). 
ALL BULBS which fail under fair and 
proper treatment, WILL BE REPLACED 
AT HALF-PRICE. All Seeds from which 
a fair proportion fail to germinate under 
fair and proper treatment WILL BE 
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SUTTON’S 
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SUTTON’S SUPERB PRIMULA ... 3/6 per pkt. 
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Next Week’s Engagements. 
Tuesday, April 15th.—Daffodil Exhibition and Conference at 
Chiswick (four days). 
Wednesday, April 16th.—Newcastle-upon-Tyne Flower Show. 
Birmingham Spring Flower Show. Sale of Japan Lilies, 
Greenhouse Plants, &c., at Protheroe & Morris's Rooms. 
Thursday, April 17th.—Royal Horticultural Society of Ireland ; 
Spring Show. 
Friday, April ISth. —Sale of Orchids at Protheroe & Morris’s 
Rooms. 
11 Gardening is the purest of human pleasures, and the greatest 
refreshment to the spirit of man.” —Bacon. 
SATURDAY , APRIL 12, IS90. 
CURRENT TOPICS. 
TgfHE Narcissus Conference. —The Chiswick 
season opens on Tuesday next and three 
following days, with the Narcissus Confer¬ 
ence. Four days devoted to one section of 
spring flowers seems to he rather overdoing 
the thing, and will probably lead to a com¬ 
parative collapse before the last day arrives. 
We should have thought all that it is pur¬ 
posed to do could have been more conveniently 
accomplished in a couple of days, and would 
have proved very much less exacting for those 
who may take part in the conference. The 
Rose Conference of last year was not a brilliant 
success, because its proceedings were long- 
drawn-out, and we should consider that the 
Queen of Flowers would find a wider range of 
courtiers than will the Daffodil. Whatever 
our much-lauded spring flower may he defi¬ 
cient in number of worshippers, is made up for 
largely in the undoubted enthusiasm of those 
who do worship. We doubt whether any 
other flower can boast of such intensely 
devoted admirers as the Daffodil does—their 
enthusiasm amounting almost to a craze. 
Without doubt the Narcissus family is a 
large, interesting, and a very beautiful one ; 
but the same may be said of many other 
flowers. We prefer to love all flowers a little, 
and thus exhaust our powers of affection im¬ 
partially upon all alike, and find something 
■worthy of devotion in a moderate form nearly 
all the year through. We hope our Daffodil 
friends v T ill have pleasant weather, and make 
up a big show' of their favourite flower. If 
they can show us anything at once new ancl 
striking we shall be only too pleased to record 
it. The great feature of Daffodil novelties is 
that their distinctiveness from older forms is 
so exceedingly minute that it is hard to detect 
it. That is perhaps the inevitable outcome 
of a garden flower which, whilst prolific in 
production, is yet almost firmly fixed in 
character. 
No doubt the papers to he read during the 
conference will deal largely with nomenclature, 
with respect to which there is need for reform ; 
and, if possible, a big reduction of varieties. 
A good deal will he heard as to culture and 
selection, with respect to which not much that 
is new can be said. Still, much that is inter¬ 
esting to those specially attached to the Daffodil 
will he heard, and in the interests of the Royal 
Horticultural Society we hope for a large 
attendance of the public. 
7khe Weather. —Like to a heartless coquette 
^ the weather of the preceding week 
merits the appellation of brilliant but cruel. 
Looked at superficially more beautiful weather 
for tiie time of year could hardly have been 
conceived of. Scarcely a cloud in the sky to 
intercept the full brightness of the sun’s rays, 
and nights intensely clear and light, the moon 
beaming with a gradually expanding face until 
her smiles seemed almost to equal in intensity 
the powerful charms of the sister orb. Alas 
that so much beauty should be but the false 
glamour beneath which was hidden so much 
that was evil and treacherous ! The light¬ 
hearted reveller who basked in the warm 
sunshine of the day or rejoiced in the purity 
and strength of the moon’s charms at night, 
thought little of what all this exceeding beauty 
and clearness of atmosphere portended. 
It was during the small hours of the morn¬ 
ings when the weather, which had previously 
been so beautiful, became so cruel. Then, ere 
the sun rose again, and the moon was fading 
to insignificance away in the west, the earth 
was found—to the few very early risers—to be 
white as a shroud with hoar frost, fit illustra¬ 
tion indeed of the death-dealing potency of the 
intensely cold visitations. Plants which the, 
day previous had been encouraged to put forth 
leaves and blossoms, were now lying low on 
the soil, covered with the icy film of white 
frost. The air was so cold as to cause a 
shudder to pass through the human frame ; and 
a sense of profound bitterness at the work of 
destruction thus evidenced naturally took pos¬ 
session of the human mind. Brilliant hut 
cruel—yes, bitterly cruel indeed, were these 
nocturnal visitations of low temperature, which 
seemed to grow in intensity as the night rolled 
on, and the moon became broader. Its power 
to rarefy the atmosphere simply helped to give 
the frost greater power to work mischief. 
Perhaps it may he said that after all the air 
was very dry, and no great harm was done. 
The harm done by insidious spring frosts never 
is seen in its worst aspect until late, but the 
harm is worked unhappily all the same. 
7s he Cineraria. —With the introduction of 
^ various diverse showy flowers such as 
the Begonia, Gloxinia, Cyclamen, Ac., so 
largely into greenhouses early in the year, the 
Cineraria has found formidable competitors. 
Our greenhouses have been all the more richly 
furnished in consequence, but still it does 
seem as if the old decorative plant had suffered 
nothing in the competition. We have now 
much finer strains of the Cineraria than have 
been seen in earlier days, and although blooms 
have become big enough to satisfy the cravings 
of the most devoted admirer of size, there 
has been a corresponding increase in quality, 
so that never were blooms stouter or having; 
broader petals than now. It is to be deplored 
that because of the comparative decadence of 
spring flower shows, specimen Cinerarias are 
so rarely seen. A good bank of ordinary¬ 
sized plants, such as Mr. James has at Wood- 
side, Farnham Royal, Mr. Cannell at Swanley, 
or Messrs. James Carter & Co. have at Forest 
Hill, makes a show that cannot be well excelled 
by any other blooming plant in the season. 
Mr. James’ grand collection of some 2,500 
plants forms a superb sight just now, and 
Mr. Cannell showed, at the Westminster Drill 
Hall not long since, a sample of his quality. 
The Cineraria shows us, in blues, reds, crim¬ 
sons, purples and carmines, both of self-coloured 
and edged, or margined flowers, almost a 
