54 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
September 23, 189s. 
seventy-one I shall perhaps select ten to twelve fit 
for exhibition. The remainder will find their way to 
the rubbish heap. Xo doubt '■ G. H. K. ” finds it 
much easier to obtain seed than we do in England, 
for just at the time when the plants want light and 
sun for seed sowing we are getting thick, dark fogs 
and cold damp weather; but in spite of this with 
much care and patience combined with a nice light 
house and plenty of fuel; seed can be saved in dear, 
foggy old England.— H. J. Jones, Ryecroft Nursery, 
Lewisham. 
--j-- 
FLOWERS AT READING. 
It has been a glorious season for all indoor plants, 
whether flowers or fruits, because the abundance of 
sunshine supplied that of which our climate is often 
all too deficient. Then the cultivator under glass 
could supply the other good qualities of climate by 
means of the watering pot, the syringe, judicious 
shading, and ventilation. The atmospheric condi¬ 
tions out of doors it has always been impossible to 
manage upon the same or any other principle. It 
follows then that many classes of plants have been 
put to a severe test, and while some revelled in the 
sunshine, it has been a hard matter to keep many 
others alive. Amongst the latter, China Asters have 
suffered badly, while Stocks, another popular class 
of plants, seem to like the sunshine and drought. 
When we paid a visit to Messrs. Sutton & Sons’ 
establishment at Reading in the beginning of the 
month, the China Asters were somewhat past their 
best, but there was still an abundance of flowers on 
all the varieties to show their true characters. They 
are grown by way of trial at the Portland Road 
Nursery, to determine how true they are to character 
and name. The effect of the great drought has been 
to dwarf the stems, while it urged the plants into 
bloom and hastened the lasting power of the flowers 
too unduly. 
China Asters. 
The number of strains of these popular garden 
annuals is now very great, and still increasing as time 
rolls on. Each strain consists of varieties of a 
particular habit and blooms of a certain form. The 
next object of the cultivator is to secure as many 
distinct and good colours as are possible throughout 
the range of variation as it exists in the China Aster. 
The amount of success is really astonishing to those 
who used to grow China Asters, a large number of 
which would persistently come single. The strain 
of Dwarf Bouquet Asters may be taken as a type of 
the range of colours, such as white, rose, purple, 
pink, dark blue, purple with a white edge, blue with 
a white edge. The plants this year are 6 in. to 
12 in. high. Alongside of this is a strain of Dwarf 
German Asters 3 in. to 6 in. high. Pyramidal Asters 
are very suitable for pot culture, as they are erect 
and produce a compact mass of bloom in numerous 
shades of colour. A German strain named Triumph 
shows crimson and crimson-red hues of a rich, 
intense shade. Harbinger, a French strain, was 
over by the time of our visit. The stems varied 
from 8 in. to 12 in. in height. It was the earliest 
flowering strain we noted on the grounds. Dwarf 
bedding Asters were of the Chrysanthemum type, 
having very large flowers in numerous shades of 
colour, including Snowball, pure white in compact 
masses, and a coppery-red variety. 
Amongst the more popular and widely grown 
strains, Victoria Asters still hold a leading position. 
The large blooms, and compact, closely imbricated 
florets show a great variety of colouring. On a par 
with this type, as far as popularity is concerned, are 
Truffaut’s Dwarf Paeony-flowered Asters^ having all 
the florets incurved, like an incurved Chrysanthemum, 
with exception of a few of the outer rays which form 
a sort of guard, best seen when the flowers are staged 
for exhibition. They exhibit all shades of colour, 
and are very beautiful. The Cockade is a newer 
strain, of which there are dwarf and tall races. 
There are numerous shades of colour in them, but 
all are characterised by having a white centre, which 
gives them an enlivening efl'ect. Truffaut’s Tall 
Paeony-flowered Asters have grown 12 in. to 18 in. 
high, notwithstanding the drought, and exhibit all 
colours. The Washington strain has very large 
flowers, with slightly recurved florets, showing con¬ 
siderable range of colour, of which a kind with 
silvery-grey flowers was both novel, distinct, and 
choice. The Queen is a similar strain with some¬ 
what smaller flowers. 
The new race of Comet Asters are characterised 
by their very large blooms and long recurved florets, 
resembling in some respects a Japanese Chrysanthe¬ 
mum. The stems, about 12 in. high, and the leaves 
were almost hidden by the profusion of bloom. 
Self colours are numerous, and in several cases the 
florets are edged with white. The Pompon Imbricated 
strain, as the name indicates, consists of small and 
compact blooms, with slightly fluted florets, pro¬ 
duced in great profusion on branching stems. They 
show a wide variation of colour. The Quilled 
Victoria or Needle Asters have stout, quilled florets 
almost closed at the top. The stems about a foot 
high, are branched at the top, and the blooms are 
rich in variety. The Liliput Asters are like a minia¬ 
ture form of the Quilled Victoria strain, but the 
florets are open at the top, and the variation of colour 
is equally great. The Exhibition Globe Asters are 
also quilled, but they are a strong growing race 
(12 in. to 18 in. high this year) with large, semi- 
globular blooms, in many shades of colour. 
Other Flowers. 
Zinnias have flowered uncommonly well this year, 
and evidently enjoyed the heat. There is a dwarf 
strain here, about 12 in. high, and a tall one or giant 
strain 18 in. high, showing many rich and distinct 
colours, including scarlet, carmine, rose, orange, 
yellow, sulphur, cream, and white. Seedling 
Verbenas have flowered very profusely in many self¬ 
colours, and others having a white eye. Petunias 
have been most profuse in bloom, and so have 
Gaillardias, which seemed inclined to prolong their 
season indefinitely. A large plantation of them, that 
failed to make much growth in the early part of the 
season, have now made bushy, healthy plants that 
will bloom till frost overtakes them. Phlox Drum- 
mondi is also grown in a great variety of showy and 
bright colours. 
A late batch of Gloxinias was still flowering freely 
in two of the houses. Her Majesty, pure white, 
Duke of York, with a broad crimson zone and a 
white edge, and Porcelain Blue, bright blue with a 
white edge, are choice and showy kinds, producing 
large flowers. Begonias of the semperflorens type 
were flowering very profusely in another house. 
Choice and useful, either for pot work or for bedding 
out, are Snowflake, white; Crimson Gem, crimson ; 
Duchess of York, rosy-cerise ; and Duchess of Edin¬ 
burgh, like Apple blossom. Out of doors Crimson 
Gem deepens the colour of its flowers, and the 
foliage assumes a burnished metallic-red hue, and is 
most effective in bedding arrangements. Several 
houses are occupied with tuberous Begonias, both 
single and double, grown for the sake of seed. Being 
grown in batches of a colour they were highly 
effective, and included Queen of Whites, pure white ; 
Prince of Orange, orange-scarlet; Yellow Queen, 
soft yellow; and others having distinct shades of 
colour. A large collection of Achimenes had also 
flowered magnificently, but they were past their best 
before the time of our visit. All of the above-men¬ 
tioned subjects are confined to the Portland Road 
Nursery, and exhibited great cultural care. 
-- 
PYRAMID APPLES IN A 
DRY SEASON. 
There are still many cultivators who regard the 
pruning of Apple trees in pyramidal form as a matter 
of fancy rather than utility. There are others who 
grow them for the sake of convenience in order 
that they may plant them in the narrow borders 
surrounding vegetable quarters in the kitchen garden. 
Here, by this method of pruning they can restrict 
the growth of the trees within the limited space of 
command by severe pruning every year. When the 
trees are grafted on the vigorous growing Crab they 
resent this mutilation and restriction of their natural 
vigour by throwing out a useless thicket of shoots 
that must be cut back again. In the meanwhile, 
little or no fruit is produced, and the trees or the 
seasons are blamed for the unsatisfactory results. 
If the cultivator took care to plant only trees that 
are worked on the English Paradise or the Doucin, 
the system of pruning would be not only satisfactory 
but profitable where high quality is one of the 
primary objects. The shallow rooting character of 
those stocks does not favour too rampant a growth 
except, perhaps, while the trees are quite young, and 
that can be prevented by lifting and replanting the 
trees at intervals of two or three years till the 
vigour of youth is to some extent overcome. 
especially when the restriction of the trees wdthin 
a limited space is compulsory. Another matter of 
prime importance is that the roots are near the 
surface and within the control of the cultivator as 
well as of the warming influence of the sun. This 
latter circumstance may seem disadvantageous in 
such a season as the past has been ; but such is by 
no means the case. A mulching placed round the 
trees at no great distance from the stem will pre¬ 
serve the moisture and enable the trees to derive 
the full advantage of any water that may be given 
them. 
Such is the treatment pursued in the light, gravelly 
soil of Falkland Park, South Norwood Hill, the 
residence of John McMeekin, Esq., whose garden is 
under the charge of his able gardener, Mr. A. 
Wright. A plantation of a large number of varieties 
of young trees has borne an excellent crop, not of 
small, but large fruits. The trees were mulched, 
watered occasionally, and the fruits properly thinned, 
so that the remainder are of handsome proportions, 
which must be attributed solely to the treatment. 
The crop in several cases had been gathered at the 
time of our visit, and by this time a large propor¬ 
tion of the trees must be lightened of their burden, 
and the fruits stored in the new fruit room. Of 
course, like everything else. Apples are early this 
year. 
A number of the kinds are not yet very common in 
British collections. We shall first notice those kinds 
that were gathered and stored by the third week in 
August. Bietigheimer is comparatively new, and is 
a pale green Apple, flushed with pink on the exposed 
side, and deepening as it ripens. The eye is closed 
in a rather deep undulating cavity. A pretty Apple 
is Benoni, marked wit’n red on a yellow ground. The 
flesh is yellow and very firm, but tender and 
sweet eating, though, when kept too long it has a 
tendency to become dr}-. At no time, however, is 
the juice very abundant. Early Joe is an American 
Apple of medium size, variously streaked and 
splashed with red on a yellow ground, and being of 
delicate and pleasing flavour, is useful as an early 
dessert variety. Domino, having ovate fruits with 
five blunt angles, and a yellowish-green skin, is also 
early, as is Evargil, a moderate-sized Apple, with a 
lemon-yellow skin, strewed with russety dots. Early 
Julyan is naturally a slow growing tree, well adapted 
for this mode of treatment. The yellow fruits have 
an orange tint on the exposed side, and are con¬ 
sidered to have much the same properties as Haw- 
thornden. It usually ripens about the second week 
in August, and has a pleasant balsamic flavour. The 
large, conical green fruits of English Codlin had also 
been stored with the above. 
Amongst the later sorts was a new variety named 
High Canon, the fruits of which are lobed round the 
closed eye, in a deep cavity. The skin is green and 
marbled with red. Gloria Mundi is well known as a 
large Apple, and the fruits produced by small trees 
were truly wonderful. The same may be said of 
Hollandbury. Gravenstein is naturally a smaller 
fruit and is notable for its variations of colour in the 
neighbourhood of London, The trees of a yellowish 
Apple named Cospatrick bore a very heavy crop of 
good-sized fruits. It rarely happens that good 
American Apples thrive satisfactorily in this country, 
but Washington has done admirably at Falkland 
Park. The conical, yellow fruits are freely striped 
with red on the exposed side and less so on the other 
aspect. The yellowish flesh is richly flavoured and 
perfumed. A beautiful Apple is Queen Caroline, 
with a yellow skin like that of Golden Noble, but the 
eye is sunk in a deep cavity as in Stirling Castle. 
The great unshapely and curious fruits of Catshead 
have attained a wonderful size on the young trees 
here. The Queen was also of handsome proportions 
and yellowish green, softly streaked with red. 
A light and sandy, but rich, soil is generally con¬ 
sidered the best adapted for Cox’s Orange Pippin, 
and the gravelly soil here has evidently suited it well, 
for the trees have cropped well. A medium-sized, 
oblate, green fruit is that named Opction, 
though what the origin of the fruit or the name we 
do not know. Lord Derby is of handsome pro¬ 
portions on the young trees. One of the oldest 
English Apples is that named Dr. Harx ey in com¬ 
pliment to Dr. Gabriel Harvey, of Cambridge, who 
died somewhere about the year 1630, as related by 
the English naturalist Ray. It is better known in 
Norfolk than in the suburbs of London, and is a 
culinary Apple with a pleasantly acid and perfumed 
