August 9, 1890. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
779 
good watering. The result is a mass of bloom, which 
is simply surprising. A large proportion of the seed¬ 
lings are double, and amongst them may be found self, 
flaked, and bizarre Carnations, as well as edged, fancy, 
and yellow ground Picotees. The range of colour is 
also exceedingly variable, presenting various shades of 
white, yellow, pink, salmon, rose, orange, scarlet, red 
and crimson. For ordinary garden decoration this is 
undoubtedly the best way to secure flowers in quantity, 
even if some of them are not very refined. Seedlings 
are more vigorous than plants raised from layers, and 
give a large quantity of flowers. 
Hydrangea paniculata grandiflora. 
This, when well grown as a standard, is a very orna¬ 
mental and beautiful object. In the extensive floral 
decorations carried out by Messrs. Hewitt & Co., Soli¬ 
hull Nurseries, for the various receptions of the Medical 
Association, Mr. Spinks, the manager, used some very 
fine standard plants, 3-ft. stems, with from ten to 
fifteen large heads of bloom upon each. These plants 
were in 7-in. pots, stood in larger pots with manure in 
them, to obviate the risk of their toppling over, and 
also to keep the roots cooler. Those grown in this 
way (bush plauts also) are plunged in the open air, 
after blooming, in a sunny place, so as to get the wood 
well ripened. In the spring, when the buds begin to 
push, the plants are pruned back, and all the smaller 
growths removed, leaving only the strong ones to pro¬ 
duce fine heads of flower, and the plants are grown on 
in a cool house. 
Netted Gloxinias. 
Amongst recent new types or races of Gloxinias are 
those which Messrs. Sutton & Sons, Reading, have been 
developing and fixing, so as to obtain them from seed 
under the name of the Netted Stfain, for which they 
received an Award of Meiit at the Temple Show last 
May. The ground colour of the lamina is of various 
shades, such as blue, purple, and red, while the netting 
or reticulation is white. Sometimes there is a darker 
purple zone at the base of the lamina, or the colours 
may be variously disposed, as occurs in any collection 
of the erect, modern types of flower ; and the white 
netting, which is quite unique in its way, is confined to 
the lamina. Like the spotted kinds, these netted 
varieties will be appreciated by the public in proportion 
to the distinctness and regularity of the markings. 
The present types can doubtless be improved upon by 
seed sowing and selection of the best and most 
regularly-marked seedlings. 
Nepeta macrantha. 
Amongst the taller kinds of Nepeta in cultivation, 
probably none have larger or showier flowers than the 
subject of this note. Under good cultural treatment, 
it grows to the height of 3 ft., but it looks sufficiently 
showy when only half that height to warrant its 
admission into a select collection of border plants. 
The flowers are lilac-blue, have a long tube, and expand 
at the mouth, where they are strongly two-lipped, 
closely resembling a Salvia, for which the plant might 
readily be mistaken at a short distance, and this is, in 
fact, the case in some gardens, where the name Salvia 
has been applied. As in other species, the foliage is 
rather strongly aromatic, but by no means disagreeable. 
The species is perfectly hardy, and easily propagated 
by division. 
The Bog Pimpernell. 
"When grown in the open fully exposed to the sun this 
gem amongst British plants flowers most profusely, 
and assumes a dark rosy purple hue. In shady places, 
or when grown under glass, the flowers are lilac, 
beautifully lined with rosy purple veins. Some small 
pans of it may be seen in the nursery of Messrs. 
Charlesworth & Shuttleworth, at Park Road, Clapham, 
suspended from the roof of one of the cool Orchid 
houses. The trailing stems, with their small leaves, 
hang over the sides of the pans, and being surmounted 
by their charmingly-striped flowers, have a remarkably 
pretty effect. ' The low temperature and the moist 
atmosphere are congenial to the welfare of this hardy 
British bog plant. It is the Anagallis tenella of the 
botanist. 
Market Strawberries. 
A week or two ago you had a leading article on 
Strawberries, and remarked that after all the new kinds 
that have been introduced of late years, we have not 
made much progress as regards really good kinds, and 
I feel that all you said was quite true so far as my 
experience goes. I have tried a good many kinds, but 
only have six now which I can rely upon for market. 
The kinds I grow in bulk are Black Prince, Sir Joseph 
Paxton, President, Sir C. Napier, and Vicomtesse 
Hericart de Thury. Noble I cannot speak of from 
experience, as I have only tried it this year, and I find 
on our soil that Black Prince is from ten days to a 
fortnight earlier—at least it was so this year. We get 
good crops of good sized fruit from our old friend 
Black Prince ; then I have Jubilee, but I cannot say 
much for it; also Latest of All, which did not bear, 
as I had only a few weak runners planted last year. 
Would some of your readers kindly give me the names 
of any other really good kinds that are valuable for 
market purposes besides those I have mentioned? I 
should be greatly obliged for such information.—- IV. S'. 
-- 
THE WILLOWS OF THE EAST 
OF SCOTLAND. 
In a paper on this subject read at the recent meeting of 
the East of Scotland Union of Naturalists’ Societies, 
Dr. F. Buchanan White, after briefly sketching the 
history of the study of Willows in Britain, remarked 
that about the beginning of the century the celebrated 
botanist, Sir T. E. Smith, devoted very considerable 
attention to Willows, and either by himself or his 
disciples raised the number of supposed British species 
to about seventy. Before the middle of the century 
the number was reduced to about half of that figure, 
but the majority of Smith’s species were and are still 
retained in the lists of British plants as varieties. As 
a matter of fact, a great many of Smith’s Willows were 
described fr.om individual plants, and represent not 
even true varieties, much less species. Apart altogether 
from this, the study of these shrubs is really very diffi¬ 
cult for several reasons, the chief of which are First, 
the exceeding variability of the plants ; second, the 
facility with which hybrids are formed ; and third, the 
fact that they flower before any or at least mature 
leaves appear, and the necessity for having both flower 
and leaf specimens for the correct determination of the 
plant. 
The phenomenon of hybridisation is one that cannot 
be ignored in the study of Willows. Briefly, it may be 
stated that every species of Willow, if it has the oppor¬ 
tunity, will form a union with every other species, and 
as the resulting progeny is not only fertile, but ready 
to form a new hybrid with yet another species, the 
amount of variation in structure is enormously increased. 
Experiments have been made which show that hybrids 
derived from six species can be produced, though in 
nature only those of three species—and these rarely— 
are to be met with. 
Dr. Buchanan White then proceeded to notice the 
species of the district under review, and their distri¬ 
bution in it. All the British species—seventeen in 
number—occurred, and some of them were, in Britain, 
almost confined to a few spots in the mountains of 
Perthshire, Forfarshire, and Aberdeenshire. One of 
the most notable of these was Salix lanata, a species 
found in Northern Europe, but not on the Alps. This 
had long ago been described by a Swedish botanist as, 
when in flower, the most, beautiful Willow in all 
Scandinavia, if not in all the world. Of the hybrid 
Willows not less than forty had been already detected 
in the district of the Union, and probably the few 
others which were known to be British would be found 
in time. Amongst the forty there were several which 
had as yet been found nowhere else, either in Britain 
or out of it. A hybrid which the author had recently 
found in Perthshire possessed a special interest for 
Scottish botanists. Specimens were found (perhaps in 
Forfarshire) about the beginning of the century by 
George Don, and being supposed to be a new species 
(hybridity in Willows was denied at that time) was 
called by Smith, Salix Doniana, after its discoverer. 
Though now it is well known in Continental Europe, 
it had not till a month ago been re-discovered in 
Britain. Thus one after another of Don’s “reputed 
discoveries ” (as some southern botanists term them) 
are being confirmed. 
-- 
STOCKS FOR ROSES. 
Although the battle of the stocks has now raged for 
many years, rosarians are as yet by no means in 
agreement as to the main points at issue, that is to say, 
which are the best stocks to use for different varieties 
of Roses under various conditions of soil and climate. 
In the present modest contribution towards the eluci¬ 
dation of this vexed question, I propose simply stating 
the results of my own personal experience of the four 
stocks most frequently employed—the Manetti, the 
seedling Briar, the Briar cutting, and the standard 
Briar. During the fourteen years I cultivated Roses at 
Croydon, plants were purchased at different times on 
all these stocks, and each year Roses were budded on 
one or other of them. From casual observation of 
these purchased and budded plants I had no reason to 
prefer any one particular stock beyond the other three, 
all appearing to thrive about equally well. In making 
up fresh beds, plants on each stock were used indiscri¬ 
minately, so that I was unable afterwards to form any 
precise judgment as to their individual merits. As 
indirect testimony, however, in favour of all four, it 
may be mentioned that the plants were, with scarcely 
an exception, unusually vigorous, and that it was very 
rarely indeed that any plant in my Itose-beds either 
died or became so weakly as to justify its removal. 
In the winter of 1884—5, 120 of these dwarf plants 
were taken up, removed to Berkhamsted, and planted 
together in a single bed. At the present time, 
although both soil and climate are here very different 
to what they were at Croydon, they still continue to 
maintain to a great extent the character I formed of 
them when there. In fact, taken together, they are 
the best Rose plauts that I have. There are now only 
two blanks in the whole bed, and only a few plants, 
and those mostly of one variety (A. K. Williams), 
which are at all weakly ; and yet many of these plants 
were four or more years old when first brought to 
Berkhamsted, and the youngest of them all cannot 
well be less than six years old. It is from this bed 
that in most years I cut my finest exhibition blooms. 
The soil of the Rose-beds at Croydon consisted almost 
entirely of yellow fibrous loam, imported for this 
purpose, the sub-soil being of a very porous sandy 
nature. 
When starting a new Rose garden at Berkhamsted, I 
thought it would be interesting if I took advantage of 
the opportunity to test systematically the relative 
merits of the Manetti, seedling Briar, and Briar cutting 
as stocks. For this purpose I had beds dug across a 
small piece of grass land adjoining the house, suffici¬ 
ently wide to hold two rows of plants. This new Rose 
garden faces nearly due south and is on a steep slope, 
the gradient being about one in seven. The surface 
soil was found to consist of clayey loam, and large 
flints about a foot in thickness ; beneath this came a 
hard pan of clay and flints of about the same depth, 
which, in making the beds, was broken up. The sub¬ 
soil is pure chalk. In these beds the varieties of 
hybrid perpetuals selected were thus arranged. First 
came four plants of one sort on the Briar cutting, then 
four of the same kind on Manetti, and lastly, four 
plants on the seedling Briar, this order being main¬ 
tained throughout the collection. 
The following table shows the relative positions of 
each of the thirty-four varieties in these experimental 
beds five years after planting :— 
Name of Variety. 
Seedling 
Briar. 
Briar 
Cutting. 
Manetti. 
Abel Carriere. .. 
1 
2 
3 
Alfred Colomb . 
i 
2 
3 
Annie Wood. 
i 
2 
3 
Baroness Rothschild. 
i 
. 2 
3 
Beauty of Waltham. 
2 
1 
3 
Camille Bernardin . 
3 
1 
2 
Captain Christy . 
1 
2 
3 
Charles Lefebvre . 
1 
2 
3 
Comtesse d’Oxford . 
2 
1 
3 
Countess of Rosebery . 
1 
2 
3 
Dr. Andry. 
2 
1 
3 
Duchesse de Yallombrosa. 
1 
2 
3 
Duke of Edinburgh. 
1 
2 
3 
Duke of Wellington... 
1 
2 
3 
Dupuy Jamain . 
1 
2 
3 
Etienne Levet . 
2 
1 
3 
E. Y. Teas. 
2 
1 
3 
Franijois Michelon . 
2 
1 
3 
Horace Vernet. 
1 
3 
2 
La France. 
2 
1 
3 
Louis Van Houtte . 
1 
2 
3 
Madame Gabriel Luizet . 
2 
1 
3 
Madame Lacbarme . 
1 
2 
3 
Madame Victor Verdier . 
1 
2 
3 
Marguerite de St. Amand . 
1 
2 
3 , 
Marie Baumann . 
1 
2 
3 
Marie Finger. 
2 
1 
3 
Marie Rady . 
1 
3 
2 
Marie Verdier . 
1 
2 
3 
Marquise de Castellane . 
2 
1 
3 
Reynolds Hole . 
1 
2 
3 
Senateur Vaisse. 
1 
2 
3 
Star of Waltham . 
2 
1 
3 
Xavier Olibo. 
2 
1 
3 
