March 10, 1894. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
439 
but really most pleasing. Picotee, white flushed 
flesh, and edged pale red, though hard to improve, 
indicates the possibility of getting someday a Picotee 
edged flower of constant character. Peach Bloom, 
flowers soft rosy pink, is another lovely flower. 
Swanley Giant has huge flowers of the old purple 
hue and from it has been selected a large group that 
gives this purple tint deepened, and thus becomes 
•one of the best of its class. Kentish Purple again 
furnishes a rich reddish magenta hue, indeed in 
nearly all these dark coloured giant forms there is a 
beautiful shading the which it is diflicult to describe, 
but in the bright Kentish light is exquisitely pleasing. 
My favourite is a very deep purplish magenta having 
huge blooms, and a recent seedling gives rich deep 
red with a distinct blue shading, showing that there 
are remarkable colour combinations yet in store. 
The salmon carmine hues are found very effectively 
in Emperor, and in some seedling carmines there is 
being developed a clear broad ring round the lemon 
eye that is hopeful of making a fixed form in time. 
The blue colour is still grown, but not in great 
abundance, as also are some of the pretty punctatum 
forms, two of which have slightly crested foliage. 
Of course every year, from out of so many crosses, 
brings newer forms or colour variations. These need 
time to fix but that result follows in good time. 
If progress be slow it is sure, but now that such 
wondrous perfection has been reached it is evident 
that development cannot run. It will creep slowly ; 
as it is there can hardly be found anywhere a more 
beautiful show of Chinese Primroses that Mr. 
Cannell invites the inspection of than is found at 
Swanley and Eynsford. Of semi-doubles, the deep 
scarlet is largely grown, and of true doubles there is 
a huge stock, literally hundreds, and of every 
known variety. These are, however, slow propaga¬ 
tors, and it is hardly safe to catalogue some of them, 
or they are so run upon that it is difficult to retain 
stock. Still the admirable way they are grown, and 
their exceeding abundance, shows that if understood 
they are easy to grow and bloom. 
-- 
GARDEN LABOUR. 
In your leader on garden wages, to which Mr. Swan 
has referred on p. 417, you say that “ it is well 
known that for every twenty shillings spent in drink 
by the consumer, only one shilling goes for labour,” 
meaning, I presume, the labour expended in its 
manufacture and in serving it out to the public. It 
is not my intention, even if your columns were open 
to me for that purpose, either to uphold the drink 
trafiSc or to denounce it, but I should like to state a 
few facts which, I think, must have been overlooked 
when the above statement was made. The labour 
employed in preparing the drink is only a modicum 
of the labour employed and paid for with the pro¬ 
ceeds resulting from its sale. Take, for instance, 
the enviable position which nearly every brewer’s 
gardener holds, the staff under him, the indoor 
domestics, the stablemen, keepers, extra farm 
labourers, the thriving farm bailiffs, the extravagant 
prices paid for horses, cows, sheep, and pigs, some 
of which finds its way or should do into the pockets 
of the poor farmer, and thence into those of the 
labourers. Then there are the coachbuilders and 
harnessmakers, and these varied occupations 
embrace hundreds of individuals that could not 
undergo the labour and fatigue of a market garden, 
and the bulk of the remainder would have no taste 
for it. 
Probably if the truth were known it would be 
found that the large brewers are the best supporters 
of garden labour, for during the London season the 
market gardeners and florists must benefit by their 
liberality, whilst impoverished landowners are com¬ 
pelled to forgo such luxuries or be satisfied with 
what comes from their own under-manned gardens. 
Then again there is the army of painters and 
decorators employed by the brewers and others on 
their premises, each public-house costing three 
times as much as a private dwelling. For instance, 
I live in a house that had not a paint brush on it for 
fourteen years, but had it been a common beer 
house it would have been painted inside and out 
four times during that period, and so much more 
money would have gone into the pocket of .those 
who make paint and those who apply it.— IV. P. R. 
Chrysanthemums and their Culture. By Edwin 
Molyneux. Sixth Edition. By far the best practical work yet 
written on this subject. Price, is.; post free, is.2d. Publisher 
Gardening World, i, Clement’s Ino, Strand, London W.C, 
Iardening Miscellany. 
CROCUSES AT WINDSOR. 
For some time past several Crocuses have been 
conspicuous in the gardens round Windsor Castle. 
One of the earliest to appear was Cloth of Gold 
(Crocus susianus), the rich purple-brown bands of 
which are very conspicuous and charming while still 
in the bud state and ready to expand. After that 
takes place, golden yellow only is noticeable, 
because the outer three segments when once 
recurved never regain their original upright position. 
The golden Crocus (C. aurea) is always of a bright 
yellow, but the Dutch Yellow (C. aureus luteus) has 
a few brown stripes near the base. It is the largest 
of the three and perhaps the most conspicuous for 
garden work, but it is not the most interesting. The 
fact of there being a garden round Windsor Castle 
reminds me that it is a very old one, for there was 
a beautiful garden there in the vicinity of the tower 
at least as long ago as 1405. James I. of Scotland, 
while on his way to France in that year to be edu¬ 
cated there, was captured by English merchantmen 
and confined in Windsor Castle for 19 years. While 
looking from a window of the Castle into the garden 
he saw and fell in love with the daughter of the Duke 
of Somerset, after which he was liberated, taking his 
queen to Scotland with him. Concerning the garden, 
he wrote the following in a poem relating to the 
incident above given :— 
Now there was made, fast by the touris wall, 
A garden fair, and in the corners set, 
Ane herbere green, with wands long and small 
Railed about, and so with treis set 
Was all the place, and Hawthorn hedges knet. 
Not being a botanist, he has not named any of the 
trees or other plants there with exception of the 
Hawthorn. Doubtless he was most concerned with 
the object of his attention in the arbor, and sc forgot 
to name the other plants coming under his observa¬ 
tion .—De facto. 
OLIVIAS AT CHELSEA. 
The collection of Clivias is now in full bloom in the 
nursery of Messrs J. Veitch & Sons, Chelsea. A 
number of them has been placed in the rockery 
house, but the central stage of another house is 
completely occupied and a fine effect they produce. 
The foliage is of the richest, dark, shining green, 
and adds in no small degree to the beauty of this 
plant. Being evergreen it is no eyesore if the plants 
are retained in a stove or conservatory all the year 
round ; but as variety demands something in bloom, 
a few may be introduced at a time to greater heat, 
thereby securing a succession. President is a fine 
one with orange-scarlet flowers ; Excelsior is some¬ 
what paler but produces huge trusses of bloom. 
The funnel shaped flowers of Marie Reimer are very 
dark with a long tube. The blooms of Acquisition 
are similar in shape but very large and of a rich 
orange-scarlet. The most distinct we noticed was 
that named Distinction. The upper half of the 
segments is orange-scarlet, while the lower portion 
is white on the edges with a yellow centre. The 
throat of the flower therefore appears striped. 
Some might prefer those in which the richest colour 
predominated and the colouring in the throat 
reduced to the smallest limits, but where variety is 
an object this should certainly be included. 
ECHEVERIA RETUSA. 
Amongst old-fashioned greenhouse plants, this is 
still very effective and worth caring for. When well 
grown, the quantity of flowers it will produce is 
astonishing. Some large plants in 48-size pots 
largely assist in making the greenhouse gay in the 
nursery of Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons, Chelsea. The 
stems, with their crown of leaves, are very short, 
probably not exceeding 2 in. The reason for this is 
that the plants are never allowed to get old, but by 
frequent or even annual propagation of the crowns 
the plants can always be kept in the dwarfest con¬ 
dition possible. The height of the plants then de¬ 
pends upon that of the flower stems, which seldom 
exceed g in. to 12 in. The central stem might be 
slightly taller, and this gives off a large number of 
branches, which in the mass produce a brave show. 
Several of these panicles arise from each plant, giv¬ 
ing in the aggregate a large number of flowers. The 
latter are described as yellowish, but whether the 
open winter and spring, with their attendant good 
light, has been unusually beneficial, the fact remains 
that the flowers are of a bright orange-red externally, 
and yellowish only internally. 
TRILLIUM SESSILE. 
One of the earliest of the Trilliums or Wood Lilies 
to flower is Trillium sessile, which if sheltered in a 
cold frame will come into bloom about the beginning 
of February. The flowers in themselves are not 
particularly brilliant, but the leaves are beautifully 
marked. The sepals are green, but the petals are of 
a dark and rather dull brownish-purple. The three 
leaves are ovale, variously and irregularly blotched 
with purple. We noted it some time in a cold frame, 
in the nursery of Messrs. J. Laing & Sons, Forest 
Hill. If grown in a sheltered situation out of doors 
the flower stems would be much later in making 
their appearance, and consequently would escape 
the worst of the early spring weather which we 
frequently experience. It likes a peaty soil or one 
containing plenty of leaf soil, and to be planted in a 
somewhat shady and fairly moist situation such as it 
would get in its native habitations in woods and 
similarly sheltered positions, where the falling leaves 
would supply a sort of natural top-dressing. There 
are often situations in the gardens of private 
establishments which would supply these conditions. 
Variety in spring flowers is by no means over plenti¬ 
ful, and the foliage of this one, independently of the 
flower which rests upon the top of the leaves, is 
interesting. 
PRUNUS PANICULATA WATERERI. 
For conservatory and greenhouse decoration this is 
a useful subject, from the fact of its being easily 
forced, and the flowers are large and showy. They 
may be described as semi-double, with numerous 
petals that are white or nearly so when they first 
expand, but gradually assume a delicate pink hue. 
The stems and branches are of stiff and rather slow 
growth, like the more sturdy and rigid forms of the 
garden Cherry, but like the last, they are well 
furnished with bnds and short spurs all along the 
short branches. These buds give rise to closely 
arranged trusses of flowers that far exceed any of the 
garden Cherries or their double varieties for size. 
Being of slow growth, and in much demand for 
forcing purposes, good sized pieces are grafted upon 
strong stocks, so that a plant is soon formed, or at 
least, sooner than if weak stocks and pieces bearing 
only one bud were used as grafts. Specimens about 
three years old would stand about 2^ ft. high or 
thereby, as grown in pots by Messrs. J. Veitch & 
Sons, Chelsea. 
--fo- 
BEES AS FLOWER 
FERTILISERS. 
I HAVE been watching the discussion of the question 
of bees and their utility in gardens with great 
interest, but not having seen the quasi august 
declarations of the original promoters of this dis¬ 
cussion, I fail to make out the case for the plaintiff 
or plaintiffs or what they are driving at. There 
must be some specific form of complaint, otherwise 
the bee may be charged with any or every form of 
misdeed either through faults of commission, or of 
the omission of supposed or attributed duties. This 
would really be saddling bees both wild and 
domesticated, that is, hive bees and bumble bees 
generally, with duties which Nature has never 
assigned them, or in other words which they have 
not of themselves assumed nor could assume if they 
would. When the case is stated too broadly, the 
British public or humanity generally is too liable to 
assume that bees visit and fertilise or ought to 
fertilise all manner of flowers. This is similar to the 
charge sometimes attributed to gardeners, that they 
can only conceive of two kinds of fungi, namely. 
Mildew and Mushrooms. As this falls very short of 
the facts, so neither must we expect that British nor 
European bees generally can fertilise, if they would, 
all manner and forms of flowers which we find 
huddled together in modern gardens. The species 
of bees, even in the widest sense of the term, are but 
moderately numerous, and many flowers have 
become specialised for insects altogether diflerent in 
size, form, propensities and capabilities, from bees. 
Hive and bumble bees are the more common kinds, 
and those with which we are most familiar, and they 
are evidently the defendents in this case or the 
