June 14, 1890. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
C51 
better to make a note of anything you read and do not 
clearly understand, and at a seasonable opportunity 
ask someone with whom you are associated and whom 
you think can explain it to you ; by such means a new 
light is often thrown upon it. 
It has been well said that we live in an age when it 
is much easier to learn this business than formerly. 
This means that the opportunities are much greater 
from the fact that so many able men have spent years 
in gathering together valuable data and publishing the 
same in book form for our benefit and instruction. 
Such fine works as Loudon’s Encyclopcedia of Plants, 
Thompson’s Gardeners' Assistant, Rhind’s Vegetable 
Kingdom, Gray’s Manual of Botany, &c., were not in 
existence in the last century, and the gardener then 
had to spend the best half of his life in acquiring the 
knowledge that was to support him in the other half. 
In this our favoured time we have the opportunity of 
profiting from such works as above named, and 
hundreds of others, and by close study, learning our 
business in a much shorter time. But here let 
me say that the requirements to-day to compete 
successfully in business are much greater than formerly ; 
therefore we have so much more to learn, and it is only 
by close application, careful study, and determination 
to overcome all obstacles, that we can hope to succeed. 
And although we have so many advantages over our 
forefathers in gaining knowledge, yet I would earnestly 
advise you all not to try to run before you can walk, 
but rather spend a few years longer in gaining a good 
general knowledge before embarking on your own 
responsibility ; it will be both time and money well 
spent. On the other hand any reasonable employer 
will endeavour to encourage by kind words and deeds 
the efforts of all who try to faithfully discharge their 
duties, and are careful not to waste or destroy anything 
he can possibly help. And let me lastly impress upon 
you the absolute necessity of truthfulness in all things, 
to yourself, your fellow-workmen, and your employer. 
It is, and always will be, the first grand corner stone 
towards building up the successful business man, and 
do much to elevate our calling to the highest degree. 
rARDENING MISCELLANY. 
The R. H. S. and H.M. Commissioners. 
In a paper circulated at the recent Temple show are 
these words:—“With the Prince-President seems to 
have passed away gradually also, as far as our society 
is concerned, the Commissioners’ friendliness.” This 
is unjust to the memory of my old friend, General 
Scott, who was one of the truest friends the society 
has ever had, and as he was at one time both secretary 
to H.M. Commissioners and also to the society, an 
influential one. It is too long a question to be gone 
into now. In 1874 I published a pamphlet on “The 
Royal Horticultural Society : As it Is and as it Might 
be.” If ever I get time to continue the story, it will be 
seen that something can be said on H. M. Commissioners’ 
side of the question.-— George F. Wilson, PPeatherbanlc, 
Weybridge Heath, June 5th. 
Early Peas. 
The first dish of green Peas brought to Exeter Market 
this season from the open ground was on May 23rd, 
but Peas do not come in very freely yet. The first lot 
of Strawberries from the open was on the 30th ult., 
when a quart basket of rather scrubby fruit was 
offered for 2s., and this was the only lot on offer. This 
applies to the immediate neighbourhood of Exeter. 
The Pea in favour for a first picking, and for the early 
crop generally, is Veitch’s Extra Early, which is not 
only very early, but is hardy and prolific as well.— 
Devoniensis. 
Strawberry, Noble. 
Though this variety has been commented upon many 
times in your columns, I have not seen it growing 
anywhere until to-day, when calling at Brooke Hall, 
near Norwich, I saw some long rows of it, with some 
other half dozen of our most popular kinds. Of its 
earliness there can be no doubt, as I saw plenty of 
fruit all along the row as large as my thumb, whilst 
my own Keen’s Seedlings, growing on a sunny spot, 
were not half so large ; and I expect Noble will even¬ 
tually lead to the extermination of many of our older 
so-called early kinds. Strawberries, like everything 
else, are well done at Brooke Hall, very large breadths 
of this luscious fruit being grown, and as the plants 
are not allowed to remain on the same ground over two 
years, a large area is planted annually. At the present 
time the beds are all mulched with clean straw, and 
look well. It was a great treat to look round the 
gardens at Brooke Hall with Mr. Brinn, the gardener, 
who has been in charge for several years. — T. W., 
June 5th. 
Chelsea Gem Pea. 
I SAW a good breadth of this early Pea growing at 
Brooke Hall to-day, and judging from its appearance, 
I think it is a very profitable and useful kind to grow 
for early work. Its height is about 18 ins. or 2 ft. 
It is very free flowering, and was swelling off good- 
sized pods that had set before all the flowers had opened. 
This variety was new to me, and certainly more for¬ 
ward than any I am growing this spring.— T. W., 
Norwich, June 5th. 
Veitch’s Golden Queen Lettuce. 
This is the favourite Lettuce for early use at Brooke 
Hall. I saw a large bed that had been freely drawn 
from, and was much struck with the distinct habit and 
appearance of this small golden-coloured Cabbage 
variety. It is quite a novelty to me, and appears to 
be a very good one.— T. W., Norwich, June 5th. 
Abelia floribunda. 
The several species of Abelia grown in gardens vary 
greatly in habit and appearance. That under notice is 
evergreen, and by no means common. The leaves are 
small, oblong, and when seen at a short distance 
somewhat resemble those of an Azalea. We noted a 
specimen in one of the greenhouses at The Grange, 
Wallington. The flowers are produced in clusters or 
racemes, terminating short lateral branches. They are 
about 2 ins. in length, tubular in the lower part, with 
a five-lobed spreading lamina, and are of a rosy red 
or deep rose, with exception of a few white petioles at 
the mouth of the lamina. The shape of the flowers is 
quite different from all other kinds in cultivation, 
and when in bloom they have a pretty effect, owing 
to their pendulous habit and warm rose colour, 
resembling, in fact, Cantua buxifolia or some species of 
Fuchsia rather than the more common forms of Abelia. 
Myrtus Ugni. 
Possibly this plant is better known in gardens under 
the name of Eugenia Ugni, having been pretty widely 
distributed under that title. The widely bell-shaped 
flowers are beautifully regular in contour, with the red 
stamens forming a mass in the centre, much shorter 
than the petals, and therefore very different from the 
common Myrtle, with its brush-like mass of stamens 
extending much beyond the flower. The leaves are 
ovate, dark green, much broader, and relatively shorter 
than those of the Myrtus communis. The fruits are 
deep brownish red or black when mature, and possessed 
of an agreeably aromatic flavour. The fruits are much 
esteemed in Chili, and even in this country are pleasing 
to the palate. It fruits freely against a wall in the 
open, and might receive more attention than it does. 
We noted it recently in a greenhouse at The Grange, 
Wallington. 
Model Cucumber. 
Some really remarkable fruits of this variety were recently 
shown at Reading,byMr.T. Lockie, The Gardens, Oakley 
Court, Windsor. This variety was originally distributed 
by Messrs. Carter & Co., and by selecting from the 
very best types for three or four years, Mr. Lockie has 
succeeded in producing a type averaging 18 ins. to 20 
ins. in length, faultless in shape, without any heel, 
and carrying a beautiful bloom. Two fruits in 
particular shown by Mr. Lockie were perfect. It seems 
practically impossible to make an advance upon these 
handsome examples of Cucumbers.— R. D. 
Pistillody of the Stamens in Wallflower. 
The flowers of Cheiranthus Cheiri, or the common 
Wallflower, are subject to a curious malformation, 
which, if it were anything like general, would be 
looked upon by gardeners in no very favourable light; 
in fact, to them the flowers would be as useless as if 
they had been completely destroyed by insects or some 
virulent disease. Several instances occurred in a batch 
of plants used for spring bedding at Devonhurst, 
Chiswick. They were perfectly healthy and vigorous 
apparently, and produced a large quantity of flowers 
on branching stems, but they were perfectly green and 
never expanded. The sepals were normal, or occa¬ 
sionally united in pairs. The linear petals were green, 
and much smaller than the sepals, consequently the 
only part of the flower of any ornamental value had 
failed to develop in the usual way. The stamens had 
all become carpels, and united with one another for the 
greater part of their length to form a sheath round the 
true pistil; and they were also often adnate or united 
to the latter. So complete was the metamorphosis of 
the stamens that they were tipped with stigmas like 
the pistil itself. They were further partly open along 
their inner face, and bore rows of stalked, green ovules, 
instead of containing pollen grains.— J. F. 
Peloria in Iris pallida. 
Two flowers of this Iris exhibiting a curious freak have 
been 3ent us by Mr. Win. Davis, The Old House, 
Shalford, near Guildford. The falls of the flower were 
quite normal, but the standards had made an attempt 
to become bearded like them. One of the standards in 
each flower was as heavily bearded from a little below 
the middle, down almost to the very base. The other 
two standards in each flower were slightly bearded in 
the channel or groove of the convolute or folded claw, 
thus making a bold attempt at complete peloria in 
the flower, as happens in Dendrobium and Cattleya in 
the closely allied Orchid family, or in Linaria amongst 
the Scrophularineie. The flowers were of the usual 
size, and delicately and agreeably fragrant. Another 
anomaly presented itself in the development of an 
anther containing an abundance of pollen, opposite the 
bearded standard. Likewise in one flower there was a 
rudimentary petaloid style, about a quarter the length 
of the normal ones ; and in the other flower this style 
was more rudimentary and attached to the side of one 
cf the normal and perfectly developed ones.— J. F. 
Gymnogramme schizophylla gloriosa. 
When carefully grown on without check till it attains 
the dimensions of which it is capable, the variety here 
named is one of the most graceful and beautiful of 
Ferns. The fronds are three or four times divided, and 
assume a gracefully archiDg habit when they attain 
full size. It is, however, a comparatively short-lived 
Fern, and like Pteris tremula soon loses its beauty 
when put in the dry atmosphere of a room, and espe¬ 
cially if allowed to become dry at the root. For this 
reason it is always well to have a stock of young 
plants coming on to take the place of those which are 
lost from time to time. Provision for a plentiful stock is 
made by the production of a young plant at the tip of 
each frond, and when this is taken off, after it attains 
some size, with a few small fronds, it soon makes a 
plant. We noted a specimen at Tower House, 
Chiswick, the individual fronds of which measured 
from 18 ins. to 24 ins. long, and 4 ins. to 6 ins. across. 
The plant itself measured 3£ ft. in diameter. 
Lobelia Erinus Reine Blanche. 
A variety of the common bedding Lobelia was shown 
under the name of Reine Blanche, at the Drill Hall, 
on the 10th inst., by Mr. T. Witney, Turvey, Beds. 
The habit of the plant was erect and the flowers large, 
pure white and abundant. Half-a-dozen pots of it were 
shown. An Award of Merit was accorded. 
Bertolonia Souvenir de Gand. 
The leaves of this fine foliaged plant are cordate, 
blunt, opposite, deep olive-green with five longitudinal 
rosy purple nerves, slightly connected by shorter ones 
of the same colour and similarly but sparsely spotted. 
The plants shown by Messrs. B. S. Williams & Son, 
Upper Holloway, at the Drill Hall, on the 10th inst., 
varied from 1 in. to 4 ins. high. An Award of Merit 
was granted them. 
Crinum brachynema. 
The leaves of this plant are deeply channelled, dark 
green, and arranged in two rows. The flower-scapes 
are the same height as the leaves, and bear numerous 
pure white flowers in an umbel. The tube is slender, 
and 2 ins. to 2^ ins. long, with a six-lobed lamina, 
and short, broad, oblong segments. The filaments are 
very short and scarcely project beyond the mouth of 
the flower. A flowering plant was exhibited by Mr. 
J. Smith, Mentmore, Leighton-Buzzard, at the Drill 
Hall, on the 10th inst., and was accorded an Award 6f 
Merit. 
Gloxinia Agnes Cook. 
The flowers of this variety are of large size, but rather 
thin in substance, and densely spotted all over with 
violet, and also marked with a violet blotch at the base 
of the sinus between each pair of segments. A plant 
was shown by Messrs. H. Cannell & Sons at the Drill 
Hall on the 10th inst., and received an Award of Merit, 
