March 31, 1894. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
481 
LAWNS 
AND 
TENNIS GROUNDS. 
PRIZE 
MIXTURES, 
Either with or without Clovers, rapidly 
produce the most beautiful and enduring 
turf for Garden Lawns, Bowling Greens, 
Tennis and Cricket Grounds, etc. 
First Quality, Is. id. per lb.. 25a. per bushel. 
Awarded the Gold Medal at Liverpool 
Exhibition, i886, and Prize Medal at Paris 
Exhibition, 1878, etc. 
WEBBS’ MIXTURES, 
FOR GOLF LINKS, RECREATION GROUNDS, &c. 
Is. per pound, 203 . per bushel. 
From H. N. GROVE, Esq., Walsall. 
“ My lawns, grown entirely from your seer^s, are the won¬ 
der and admiration of all who-have seen them. I think that 
even you would be surprised at the results in so short a time, 
considering the fact of their having stood the severe test of 
25 degrees of frost within five months of sowing.” 
WEBBS’, WORDSLEY, STOURBRIDGE. 
mmm 
T SAAC MATTHEWS and SON have for 
1 immediate disposal as follows, all of first-class quality, in 
full health and vigour;— 
RHODODENDRONS, White, full of buds. 
„ Scarlet and other varieties, full of buds. 
Hybrid Seedlings and Ponticum varieties, from i to 4 
feet, at remarkably low prices, all bushy fine plants. 
PRIVET, Oval-leaf, from 2 to 4 feet, fine; ASH, Common, 
and MOUNTAIN BEECH; HAZEL. HORSE CHEST¬ 
NUTS, ELM, LARCH, AUSTRIAN PINE, POPLARS 
(various), EVERGREEN PRIVET, THORN QUICK. 
SCOTCH FIR, SPRUCE, SYCAMORE, and WILLOWS, 
all good, well-grown Trees, from :J to 4 feet, and upwards. 
ROSES. AUCUBAS, BERBERIS, AQUIFOLIA, BOX, 
CUPRESSUS, DOGWOOD, GOLDEN ELDERS, HOL¬ 
LIES, IVIES. LAURELS, RETINOSPORAS, English 
and Irish YEWS, AZALEAS (various), and many other 
varieties. For Price List, apply to— 
The Nurseries, Milton, Stoke-on-Trent. 
FERNS 
A 
SPECIALITY. 
We have the finest, most varied, and interesting Trade 
Collection of Ferns in the world, comprising over 1,000 
different kinds of Stove, Greenhouse, and Filmy Ferns, and 
over 400 kinds of HartJy Ferns. Every Fern lover should 
have our Illustrated Catalogue fNo. 22), the best ever 
published. It contains 150 illustrations, and a large amount 
of valuable information, price 2S., post free. We send our 
smaller partially descriptive Catalogue free on application. 
We now offer 12 beautiful kinds of Stove and Greenhouse 
Ferns for 3s.; 25 varieties for 8s. 6d.; 50 for 21s.; 100, in 12 
varieties, 21s.; 100, in 25 varieties, 30s.; 100, in 50 varieties, 
40s. 100 different kinds, 63s. 
Hardy Ferns, 12 varieties for 3s.; 25 for 8s. 6d.; 50 for 25s.; 
100, in 12 varieties, 21s.; 100, in 23 kinds, 30s.; 100, in 50 kinds, 
45s.; 100, in 100 varieties, 75 s. 
W. & J. BIRKENHEAD, F.R.H.S., 
Fern Nurseries, Sale, near Manchester. 
Williams’ 
World ELcnowncd 
riow0r,Vcgetable and 
Agrieultrjral 
S€€DS 
-Carriage Paid — 
For Full Particulars 
See illustrated Seed. Gatalogue 
—=■> GT’atls ^ Post FTee."=— 
B.S.ZaiLLIAMS^SOM 
Upper Holloway, London.N. 
suners 
SEED 
POTITOS. 
THE HEST 
DISEASE-RESISTERS, 
THE EEST 
CROPPERS, 
THE HEST 
COOKERS, 
THE EEST 
FOR EXHIBITION 
A COLLECTION 
OF 
TWELVE OF SUTTON’S VARIETIES 
7 lbs. of each, our selection, 21 s. 
CARRIAGE FREE. 
SUTTON’S SEEDS 
GENUINE ONLY FROM SUTTON S SONS,READING. , 
For Index to Contents see page 490. 
“ Gardening is the purest of human pleasures, and the greatest 
refreshment to the spirit of man.”— Bacon. 
NEXT WEEK'S ENGAGEMENTS. 
Tuesday, April 3rd.—Sale of established Orchids at 
Protheroe & Morris’ Rooms. 
Wednesday, April 4th.—Royal Caledonian Horticultural 
Society’s Spring Show. 
Sale of Lily Bulbs, Plants, &c., at Protheroe & Morris' 
Rooms. 
Friday, April 6th.—Sale of Orchids at Protheroe & Morris’ 
Rooms. 
Edited by BRIAN WYNNE, F.R.H.S. 
SATURDAY, MARCH 1894. 
Mn the Spring. —We have a good deal of 
^ real sympathy with ihose of our readers 
who tell us that a sight of our advertising 
columns at this season always sets them 
longing. We plead guilty to the same 
weakness. How is it possible for anyone 
who loves flowers, or, indeed, gardening of 
any description, to feel other than intensely 
desirous to possess a garden, as well as the 
means to obtain of the myriads of beautiful 
plants and seeds offered to abundantly and 
so cheaply to all who can purchase them. 
Were this feeling purely one of unthinking 
greed, a mere desire to possess for posses¬ 
sion’s sake and without reason, we should 
have for it no concern or sympathy whatever. 
But we know that the longing is of a 
very difl'erent and nobler kind. It is a 
longing not merely arising from gardening 
instincts, but also for beauty, such alone as 
flowers can give. Here are Roses, Carna¬ 
tions, Lilies, Pansies, Violas, Dahlias, 
Begonias, nay, literally, hundreds of beauti¬ 
ful plants that it would be such joy to grow, 
and when grown and flowered then to 
enjoy. Would that of the world’s great 
wealth more of it were spent in the promo¬ 
tion of gardening, and of the earth’s great 
surface more of those who love gardening 
had land on which to practise the gentle 
art. At least, our horticultural trades are 
wonderful flower commissaries. They find, 
literally, everything the world can furnish, 
and even beyond that the skill of man has 
been able, florally, to evolve. 
It is only a question of demand, the 
supply seems to be illimitable. We are 
proud of our horticultural trade, it is a 
famous and an honourable one. It spares 
neither pains nor expense to possess the 
best. It is only for those who want literally 
of everything in plant life to order, and the 
want is soon satisfied. Verily, horticulture 
with us is a great industry. 
®PPLE Prospects. —If the promise of 
bloom on Apples be not yet so pro¬ 
minent as on Pears, it does seem all the 
same as if we shall see a wondrous bloom 
in a few weeks. It may be said, perhaps, 
that all bloom will this year be most pro¬ 
fuse. That is quite true, but after all no 
fruit bloom compares in importance with 
that of the Apple, and no crop in its intrinsic 
value. Looking over the very interesting 
group of dwarf Apple trees in the Royal 
Horticultural Society’s garden at Chiswick 
recently, we were struck with the fact that 
stout bloom buds are appearing on the 
points of last summer’s growth, to an un¬ 
usual degree. 
That some varieties do commonly bloom 
in that way is of course well known, but it 
is not so usual to see it displa3’ed on many 
varieties as this year. It was but the other 
day shown that late ripening Apples of last 
year had kept during the winter wonderfully 
well, indeed never better, and that, too, in 
spite of the fact that large early ripeners 
have rarelj^ kept worse. Just w’hat the 
warm dry season did so well for the later 
ripening fruits, giving to them maturation 
they too seldom in our cold autumns 
receive, so it did for the summer wood, 
rendering it hard, ripe, and prolific, so that 
it will this season, where not unduly pruned 
off, carry at the points very fine fruits. 
It is not often the Plums can be induced 
to fruit from the previous year’s growth in 
the same way that they now promise to do, 
and with the Apple this feature is even 
more rare. We do not know that the bush 
Apple trees at Chiswick get any exceptional 
treatment, except that we note they are 
kept hard thinned. In any case they seem 
always prolific, and should again this year 
carry splendid crops. Generally it would 
seem as if the bush tree, chiefly on the 
paradise stock, planted comparatively 
thickly and thinned out as growth is made, 
or literally grubbed out after some twelve 
or fourteen years, to be replaced by other 
successional plantings on fresh ground, was 
the best possible way to secure almost 
perpetual good crops of fine Apples. 
Whe Onion Fly. —When we learn from 
the Board of Trade returns that there 
has been a very large increase in the im¬ 
portations of Onions during the past year 
over those of the preceding year, w'e 
naturally attribute this deficiency of our 
