340 
THE gardening world. 
January 27, 1894. 
FHOfJICOliTUI^E. 
The Decaaence of the Pink. 
Circumstances prevented my seeing iSIr. Thurstan’s 
appeal to Pink growers in The Gardening World 
last August, or I should certainly have made a re¬ 
sponse to it of some kind. I fully share his en¬ 
thusiasm for the Laced Pink, and my predilections 
also include every variety of self and border Pinks. 
In fact I love every member of the Dianthus family, 
single or double. I cannot, however, go so far as 
my friend Mr. Thurstan in forecasting a period when 
the Laced Pink shall reign triumphant upon the 
highest throne, and look down upon the humble 
Carnation and Picotee. Every dog has his day, but 
I don’t think the Laced Pink will have its day to 
that extent. Reasons innumerable point all the 
other way, and it is scarcely worth while enumera¬ 
ting them ; but I will mention one or two. Pinks are 
much more difficult, or at least, troublesome to grow, 
and to propagate. You cannot do much good with 
Pinks in pots ; to do them at their best you must 
grow them in the open. That means going down on 
your knees a good deal, and people are very loth to 
do that even in church. And it means much trouble 
in protecting—from cats and earwigs ; and in shad¬ 
ing and in many other matters. And then, when you 
have selected a lovely stand of twelve or twenty-four, 
with of course a small reserve, how about the dress¬ 
ing ? You could dress at least half-a-dozen Carna¬ 
tions or Picotees in the time it takes to dress a 
single Pink. These are objections from the exhibitor’s 
point of view, and I might add that the period of 
blooming shuts the Pink out from most spring and 
summer shows, and if it did not, the schedule 
committees effectually do so by offering no prizes. 
We cannot afford to put these considerations on 
one side; experience tells me that it is impossible to 
popularise a plant or a flower unless you can place 
it on the exhibition table. Almost all floral 
favourites appear on the show stage again and 
again, and so constantly keep themselves eneiidence, 
as the French say. Now you may have some kinds 
of border Pinks in bloom during two or perhaps 
three months, but nothing worth exhibiting. The 
Laced Pink is very fickle, but its blooming period 
seldom extends over a longer time than three weeks, 
though you may get stray blooms as late as August in 
the south. Last year they lasted about ten days, and 
were all over very early in June, while in the pre¬ 
vious year, 1892, there were not twelve open blooms 
to be found in the neighbourhood of London till the 
1st of July. How different is it with Carnations 
and Picotees, Pansies and Violas, Chrysanthemums, 
and many other florists’ flowers. They crop up 
almost all the year round, and they possess an 
important commercial value. 
It is with very great regret that I venture to differ 
from Mr. Thurstan as to the future in store for the 
Laced Pink. Its beauty, its fragrance, its hardiness 
I recognise to the full, and I long to see those new 
varieties which our friend has raised with so much 
patience, skill, and discrimination. If they were 
going to be exhibited at Cardiff I would make a 
pilgrimage thither to see them. Perhaps our friends 
in the Midlands may have the honour of introducing 
them to public admiration. But I cannot shut my 
eyes to the fact that there are but few growers of 
the Laced Pink in the vicinity of the metropolis, and 
that London is an unsuitable centre for so extensive 
a district as the South of England and South Wales. 
There ought to be, at least, three societies for so 
large an area, and I question whether enough 
growers could be found to support them. The 
National Pink Society (Southern Section) e.xists, I 
believe, only in the form of a few unpaid subscrip¬ 
tions ; and although I would willingly support any 
further effort to rehabilitate it—fruitless though I 
think it would be—I do not feel able to undertake 
the task of galvanising the " fleshless skeleton ” 
myself. 
One word as to layering and piping. In iSgt I 
had two beds of Pinks side by side, one furnished 
with plants raised from layers, sent me from the 
Royal Nurseries, Slough, the other with plants 
raised from pipings, some struck by myself, others 
received from various sources, and including a few 
kindly given me by Mr. Thurstan. The plants 
raised from layers increased and multiplied, passed 
through the winter unscathed, and were vigorous 
and healthy the following spring. Scarcely one per 
cent, of the stock raised from pipings lived through 
the winter. In my younger days I never heard of 
layering Pinks, and pipings taken off in June used to 
make strong plants for the following year. Piping 
is the simplest and easiest, but I think the best 
flowers are to be got from layers.— E. Ranger Johnson, 
21, Kempsford Gardens, S.IF. 
Florists’ Flowers at Farnham Royal. 
I HAVE been frequently asked since the death of Mr. 
J. James, of Farnham Royal, whether the same very 
fine quality of strain is maintained in the respective 
florists’ flowers he so patiently created, or whether 
they have receded. So far as the Cinerarias are 
concerned they have exhibited their own qualities so 
frequently at the Drill Hall and elsewhere that it 
seems hardly needful to refer to them. They some¬ 
how never are excelled. As much may be said for 
the fine strain of Calceolarias shown at the Temple 
Gardens and elsewhere. Just now the chief floral 
display at Woodside is found in extensive breadths 
of Chinese Primulas growing almost exclusively in 
48-sized pots. These are to be classed into single 
and semi-double, giant and ordinary, palmate and 
fern-leaved, green-leaved and dark-leaved, and in 
great varieties of colour. 
The collection comprises several strains and 
crosses from the best selections; indeed the capacity 
of the Chinese Primrose to intercross seems to be 
boundless, yet is it edged in by the possibility that 
some day absolute barrenness may ensue. To those 
who grow for seed production, as Mr. W. J. James 
does, that is a danger that must be avoided, hence 
it is the rule to bring in fresh blood from time to 
time to prevent such a catastrophe. The reds, 
whites and blues, crimsons, purples, roses, magentas, 
and other hues are most beautiful. Some of the 
giant forms, especially a salmon-pink on green 
palmate and fern leaves, and a brilliant rosy-red on 
dark leafage, are splendid forms. So far as relates 
to culture nothing could be more perfect, for the 
plants throughout are models of habit. The collec¬ 
tion is indeed worth a long tramp to see. 
The Cyclamen strains are, too, of the best— 
Giganteums and Persicums have been so blended 
that the distinctions are hard to find. The flowers 
are of the finest in crimson, red, rose, magenta, white 
and coloured base whites. It seems difficult to find 
better. Mr. James does not hurry his plants into 
bloom early, as he prefers to seed after the light is 
greater. There are some 3,000 Cinerarias all in 32- 
sized pots to bloom in a few weeks. It will then be 
a truly beautiful sight. Already some are opening, 
and all are very dwarf and compact habited. They 
are yet kept rather dry than otherwise, but very 
soon water will be given more freely. There are 
some 600 Calceolarias, some quite strong, others yet 
in large 6o’s. These will give a brilliant mass of 
bloom of the finest forms somewhere about the end 
of May.— A. D. 
- •tm - 
PRIMULAS FROM MAIDENHEAD. 
A BOX of blooms of Primula sinensis has reached us 
from Mr. Robert Owen, Castle Hill, Maidenhead. 
They were meant to represent the shades of colour 
to be found in his Imperial Strain, and numbered 
25 to 30 shades of colour, to which, however, no 
names were attached. Judging from the conforma¬ 
tion of the flowers, but more particularly the form 
of the eye, we take it for granted that most of the 
varieties were of the plain-leaved type as opposed 
to the Fern-leaved kinds. There were three shades 
of blue, including a large and dark one, and a paler, 
semi-double kind. Single and semi-double deep 
crimson varieties were also very striking. But -we 
w’ere deeply interested by the brilliancy of a rich 
Vermillion shade both single and semi-double. 
Large dark purple and magenta purple shades were 
also noticeable, as was the rich carmine tint of a 
semi-double sort. On the other hand there were 
several shades of mauve and rosy mauve, single and 
semi-double. The lighter colours were equally varied 
and pleasing, particularly a w'arm rosy salmon kind • 
the semi-double corresponding to this was several 
shades darker and practically a shade of carmine. A 
darker carmine purple flower was curiously laced 
with white at the margins. The shades of pink, 
both single and semi-double, were numerous; and 
one semi-double white was finely mottled with 
carmine and pink. A large pure white flower was 
very fine and we liked it better than the semi-double. 
Altogether there were about a dozen semi-doubles, 
none of which w’ere to be despised. The plants are 
from seeds sown in autumn, and now in small 60 
size pots. The size of the blooms was very credit¬ 
able for so small plants. 
-- 
PLANTS AND THEIR ENEMIES. 
In a recent lecture on " Plants and their Enemies,” 
delivered to juveniles at the Society of Arts, Mr. 
Walter Gardner, M.A., F.R.S., said that many 
young people who had come to hear him were, per¬ 
haps, somewhat puzzled by the title of the lecture. 
What foes could such quiet and well-behaved 
creatures as plants have, except, perhaps, here and, 
there a caterpillar, or a slug or two in a garden.and, 
above all. how could they defend themselves even if 
they wished to ? As a proof that, at any rate, some 
plants possessed both foes and defences, a comic 
picture was thrown upon the screen, to which was 
attached the legend :— 
” Tommy stole of green Apples a quart; 
By the owner therof he was sought: 
These green Apples he ate. 
And he wished, ah, too late. 
That when he was chased he’d been caught.” 
The lecturer then seriously considered the question 
as to the foes of plants, and showed that no class of 
living beings had more persistent and remorseless 
foes than plants, since they were ever preyed upon, 
and ultimately formed the food of the whole of the 
animal kingdom. Whether man, animals, fish, or 
insects were held in view, all depended ultimately 
upon the plant kingdom for their existence and their 
food. This being the first lecture, he passed in re¬ 
view certain instances of plant foes. F'irst, other 
plants. Dean Herbert’s aphorism held good: 
“ Plants don’t grow where they like ; they grow 
where other plants let them.” The lecturer showed 
that among plants there was the same fierce struggle 
for existence as among animals. They struggled for 
space to grow and for food to eat. A picture of a 
battle-field was brought before the audience, showing 
the results of sowing a large number of seeds in a 
small space. The seeds were those of the giant 
Siberian Sheep’s Parsley (Heracleum giganteum). 
On June ist, i8go, 573 seedlings came up. On 
August igth, only 105 could be counted, and of these 
one plant reigned supreme. Attention was drawn to 
tropical vegetation as affording better and clearer 
proofs of the struggle for existence, and certain in¬ 
stances were brought before the audience. Thus in 
a tropical fig (Ficus parasitica) a seed dropped by a 
bird germinates on the fork of some tree—such as 
Jack fruit (Artocarpus integrifolia), sends a long 
root into the soil, gradually spreads itself over, and 
suffocates the foster-mother. In the germination of 
the Brazil Nut (Bertholletia excelsa) fifteen to 
twenty-four nuts are contained in each fruit, the 
fruit being indehiscent. All seeds germinate at once. 
The most vigorous gets first through a small hole at 
the top to the open air, and strangles and feeds upon 
all the rest. 
The lecturer then considered unfavourable 
external conditions as constituting the foes of plants, 
such as too great or too little heat, light, or moisture. 
He warned the audience that he should only bring 
forward picked and accomplished plants just as a 
circus manager brings to the fore his best animals, 
the majority of plants, as of human beings, being 
distinctly commonplace. Attention was drawn 
seriatim to the sleep movements of certain plants as 
being a mechanism to expose the smallest possible 
surface to cold, and so protect them on cold nights. 
Similarly some young leaves of tropical plants (for 
example, Amherstia), while very young, hang verti¬ 
cally downwards in a flaccid manner, and thus suffer 
as little as possible from the burning sun and the 
tropical heavy rains. When a damp, cold night 
succeeded a warm, dry day, and the roots of plants 
in feeding take up water which the leaves cannot get 
rid of by evaporation, there is at every leaf-tooth 
special mechanism in connection with the conducting 
veins in the shape of water stoma (or openings) and 
water glands to allow the superfluous liquid to 
escape, and thus to prevent the delicate leaf tissue 
from being injected and damaged. In many plants 
special mechanisms existed to protect the young, 
delicate bud, and it was not uncommon among 
plants to find the whole of the bud and the young 
leaves coated with a gum-resin, secreted by special 
hairs, which, so to speak, varnished the whole 
