July 5, 1890. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
697 
DEATH OF MR. GEORGE DEAL. 
Last week it was our melancholy duty to announce the 
loss by death of a distinguished and much-respected 
horticulturist, in the person of Mr. B. S. Williams. 
To-day it is our painful duty to announce the passing 
away of another well-known gentleman in the horti¬ 
cultural world, who was no less highly respected and 
esteemed. Mr. George Deal died at his residence, 
Wroxton Grange, Ealing, on the 30th ult. after some 
weeks of suffering, which was most patiently borne. 
Among his most intimate friends it was well known 
that for many months past Mr. Deal had been silently 
hearing the torture of mental worry in an acute form, 
and which ended in his being seized with an apoplectic 
fit at Gloucester Road Station, one morning about the 
middle of April. We believe that other attacks fol¬ 
lowed, leaving the patient almost speechless and help¬ 
less, to the great sorrow of a wide circle of sympathising 
friends. 
Mr. Deal was a native of Suffolk, and in early life 
became a clerk in the office of Messrs. Coleman Bros., 
a firm of builders on the Surrey 
side of the Thames. Subsequently 
he became an assistant to Mr. 
J. Weeks, the then head of the 
great horticultural building and 
heating business which was estab¬ 
lished some ninety years ago by 
Mr. Edward Weeks, the father of 
one of the present members of the 
firm of Messrs. J. Weeks & Co. 
Mr. Edward Weeks was a nursery¬ 
man or market gardener before he 
established himself as a horticultural 
builder on the premises still occupied 
by the firm in Maude Grove, 
Chelsea, and Mr. Bull’s nursery 
now occupies a portion of the 
ground which Mr. Edward Weeks 
originally cultivated. Mr. Edward 
Weeks’ first patent, taken out about 
1818, was for a plant protector. He 
subsequently invented the kitchen 
range which was afterwards patented 
by Dr. Kitchener, and was also the 
inventor of the system of heating by 
hot-water on what is called the 
ascending and descending principle, 
and which has since worked a com¬ 
plete revolution in the mode of 
heating horticultural and other 
buildings. Mr. J. Weeks introduced 
the system with wonderful success 
into most of the best gardens in 
Great Britain, and it was under 
his tuition that Mr. Deal made 
himself a master of the business 
with which he was so long and so 
honourably identified. 
About twenty-two years ago, 
with the three gentlemen still 
happily with us, Mr. Deal became 
a partner in the firm of Messrs. 
J. Weeks & Co., and assisted by 
his energy and ability in still further developing 
a business which has long ranked amongst the 
highest in the land in its way. A man of fine physique 
and manly commanding presence, honourably ambitious, 
cool-headed, of clear sound judgment in most things, 
and of a genial, kindly, and courteous disposition, 
it cannot be wondered that he was greatly respected 
by all who had the pleasure of his acquaintance. By 
a mere accident, we believe, he was present in the 
conservatory of the Royal Horticultural Society, at South 
Kensington, when the first meeting was held in March, 
1887, to consider the advisability of establishing the 
Gardeners’ Orphan Fund. He was unanimously elected 
chairman of the meeting, and subsequently attended 
every meeting that was held until the Fund was 
regularly instituted and the first Executive Committee 
formed. During the probationary period so greatly had 
Mr. Deal won the confidence of his co-workers, by his 
firm but no less courteous ruling in the chair, and the 
valuable information and admirable business qualities 
and tact that he brought to bear on the organising 
part of the committee’s labours, that he was unani¬ 
mously elected permanent chairman for the year, and 
re-appointed at the commencement of the second year. 
Heed we say, so great was-his interest in the Fund, that 
he missed attendance at but one meeting of the com¬ 
mittee from the date of the establishment of the Fund 
until he was unfortunately stricken down by apoplexy, 
as has been before stated. His loss will be greatly felt, 
and by none more than the members of the Orphan 
Fund Committee, with whom he laboured so earnestly 
and so harmoniously for its welfare. The funeral 
will take place at Woking Cemetery on Saturday. 
POPPIES AND CORNFLOWERS. 
A char Jung and pretty effect can be obtained by the 
blending of a few simple flowers, which may either be 
wild ones or of garden production. Whether arranged 
in baskets or in vases, of which clear glass ones give 
additional effect, the flowers should be cut with long 
stalks and arranged loosely, without any of that 
crowding which mars the effect of what might other¬ 
wise be a beautiful arrangement. 
Amongst garden plants, Iceland Poppies in yellow, 
white, and orange colours may be used mixed with blue 
Cornflowers (Centaurea cyanus), the latter being more 
graceful and effective than the Mountain Cornflower 
(C. montana). Paris Daisies are sufficiently distinct to 
be admitted in the series ; and if these are set off with 
Maidenhair Fern, with the addition of a few orna¬ 
mental grasses, such as Briza gracilis and Bromus 
brizieformis, a picture can be made which few lovers of 
the beautiful could fail to admire. With such an open 
arrangement every flower is seen to advantage by thus 
being individualised, and by having its particular 
beauty thus brought prominently into notice. Should 
wild flowers alone be preferred, something nearly 
similar may be got up by the use of the Welsh Poppy 
(Meconopsis cambrica), having blooms of a bright 
yellow, but slightly larger, perhaps, than those of the 
Iceland Poppy. White flowers can be supplied by the 
Ox-eye Daisy (Chrysanthemum leucanthemum), and 
blue by the Cornflower. Both of the latter are 
plentiful in some districts, and the Welsh Poppy is 
also abundant in some neighbourhoods. Grasses can 
be supplied by Briza media, Bromus mollis, the Hair 
Grass (Aira ccespitosa), and Poa pratensis, P. trivialis, 
or P. nemorum ; while Ferns may be furnished by 
Asplenium Adiantum-nigrum, by the Bladder Ferns, 
or small graceful fronds of the Lady Fern. 
-- 
USEFUL AND SHOWY 
FUCHSIAS. 
A houseful of well-grown Fuchsias is always an 
object of interest about an establishment, whether the 
plants are grown as dwarf bushes or trained pyramidal 
fashion, as they are for exhibition. By either method 
a house can be made quite gay for several months in 
succession. In order to ensure a lasting display, the 
plants must be potted annually in rich, light soil, and 
stood in a cool, well-lighted and well-ventilated green¬ 
house where they can come into bloom naturally. 
Under these conditions no hardening off is necessary to 
bring them into a floriferous . condition ; and if well 
supplied with water, both at the roots and overhead, a 
fine effect may be expected, and the result waited for. 
A large collection of the more modern varieties mostly, 
may be seen in the gardens of the Royal Horticultural 
Society at Chiswick, where they are grown on the 
central stage of a low, span-roofed house. 
Single Varieties. 
One of the most elegant and floriferous varieties is that 
named Alba Coccinea, the flowers of which have a 
crimson tube, spreading white sepals and carmine 
petals shaded with violet. They are borne in long, 
pendent, and most attractive sprays. Close by is 
another beautiful form, named Speciosa, much used for 
market purposes. The shoots are also heavily laden 
with bloom. The moderately long tube and the sepals 
are pink, while the petals are scarlet. The leaves are 
large and heart-shaped, giving the plant a distinct and 
telling appearance. Lord Beaconsfield is something 
after the same style, but the long tube and long narrow 
sepals are of a pale scarlet, while 
the petals are of deeper scarlet. 
The habit of the plant is stiffer, 
and not so elegant as that of 
Speciosa. One of the largest and 
boldest - flowered kinds is M. 
Thibaut, with the tube and spread¬ 
ing sepals scarlet, and the huge 
petals violet, variegated at the base 
with a scarlet venation. The 
branches ascend at an acute angle 
from the main stem, and the whole 
plant has a robust appearance, but, 
of course, the flowers are less 
numerous than in the two fine 
varieties above mentioned. 
Rather novel, in its way, and 
floriferous withal, is that named 
Harriet, with white tube and sepals 
(the latter tipped with greenish 
yellow) and soft violet-purple petals 
shaded with scarlet internally and 
on the margins. The erect habit 
of Mrs. Bright recalls that of the 
popular old Rose of Castile ; but 
the flowers, which are produced on 
long pendent stalks, have pink 
tube and sepals, and scarlet petals 
shaded with violet. It has a 
graceful appearance, although not 
so floriferous as some of the above 
named. The flowers of Rose of 
Castile, also grown here, are small, 
with a short yellowish tube tinted 
with pink, while the spreading 
sepals are white, tinted with purple 
at the base, and the petals are blue 
fading to violet-purple. Getty Lye 
is another erect-growing variety 
with light green foliage and droop¬ 
ing flowers, the tube and sepals of 
which are pinkish white, and the 
petals carmine-rose, with scarlet edge. 
Some varieties are naturally of dwarf habit, and are 
therefore suitable for culture in small houses where 
tall-growing kinds except in a small state would be 
inadmissible. De Mirbel is very dwarf with dark 
green foliage. The shoots are very floriferous towards 
their tips. The tube and recurved sepals are scarlet, 
of great substance, and the widely bell-shaped corolla 
is of a soft violet with scarlet veins. The dark olive 
ovaries are also sufficiently conspicuous to be noticeable 
in the flower. Mrs. Grote has light green heart- 
shaped leaves and drooping sprays of large flowers. 
The thick tube and sepals are white or blush, the latter 
being tipped with greenish yellow, and spreading, 
while the petals are rose, edged with scarlet. 
Double Varieties. 
These are not so numerously represented as the 
single varieties, nor do they seem to be so popular at 
the present day. Their flowers are heavier, drop 
earlier, and do not present such an elegant appearance as 
the single varieties. One of the good old kinds that 
has retained a place in greenhouses and in the public 
estimation for many years, is Marksman, which is of 
close compact habit, with large fully double flowers, 
the numerous petals of which are blue and slightly 
marked with scarlet at the very base. The short tube 
and the reflexed sepals are scarlet. A fine conti ast to 
the above is formed by Gustave Dore, a very floriferous, 
fully double kind, with light-coloured flowers. The 
petals are narrow and white, with a few purple veins, 
while the short crimson tube is closely covered by the 
sharply reflexed crimson sepals. The latter are, how¬ 
ever, rose coloured internally. The leaves are small and 
of a fine dark green hue. * 
