752 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
July 28, 1894. 
of which will be strictly tied up. Unless frequently 
restored and renovated the worthy citizen’s monu¬ 
ment cannot be of great value in commemorating 
him and handing down his name to posterity, and 
must prove a white elephant to those who know him 
not. 
Trip to Lintrathen. —The employees of Messrs. 
W. P. Laird & Sinclair, nurserymen and seedsmen, 
Dundee and Cupar Fife, held their annual excursion 
on Wednesday the nth inst. The party, to the 
number of fifty left by brakes, at seven a m., the 
destination being the Loch of Lintrathen. Although 
rain fell very heavily at intervals, football and other 
sports were heartily engaged in by the company 
during the day. After a substantial tea the return 
journey was commenced, and the party arrived in 
Dundee at 10.30. Before parting a hearty vote of 
thanks was awarded to Messrs. Laird & Sinclair for 
contributing to the expenses. 
Large Roses.—A correspondent of the Nottingham 
Daily Guardian v/iites :—“Not till this year had I 
seen a red Rose, while yet in perfect form, measure 
lyjin. in circumference. Gloire Margottin reached 
this on June 25th ult. Again on the loth inst.. 
Captain Christy (pink) quite circular, measured 6J 
inches in diameter, or 19J in circumference. I took 
these measurements in the presence of a witness, 
who said they were records. I have never exhibited 
and dislike rivalry per se.” If some one of your 
readers would kindly say whether the above results 
are, or are not, exceptional, I should be exceedingly 
obliged." 
London Parks and Open Spaces. —In his annual 
address to the London County Council on Tuesday, 
Sir John. Hutton said:—“The work of the Parks 
and Open Spaces Committee has not diminished 
either in quantity or importance. It is quite em¬ 
barrassing even to glance at the list of our parks and 
open spaces, so numerous have they become. In 
i88g the grand total was forty ; at the end of our 
last financial year it was seventy-eight. The acre¬ 
age in the first case was 2,656, with a permanent staff 
of 333 ; and in 1893 the acreage was 3,665. with a 
staff of 700. The erection of band stands, cricket 
shelters, refreshment houses, park lodges, and seated 
shelters has, in the opinion of some members of the 
Council, exceeded the reasonable requirements of 
the public. I do not think so. I have upon numer¬ 
ous occasions watched,with great interest, the delight 
and satisfaction that these things give to the 
thousands of persons of all ages who frequent our 
parks and open spaces.” 
Damage by Frost.— The visitation of frost which 
did so much damage to Strawberries and Scarlet 
Runners, and in a smaller degree to various other 
subjects in this country on the 21st May, was 
followed by others equally if not more severe on 
the Continent, during the nights of the 26th and 
27th May last. “ The frost in our country,” says the 
Bulletin d' Arboriculture has had serious effects not 
only in the valleys, but also in the elevated territor¬ 
ies of our Ardennes. The Bulletin of the Central 
Foresty Society of Belgium, publishes, in its number 
for June, p. 586, interesting particulars with respect 
to the occurence. The Acacias are damaged by 
frost, the Chestnut-tree had its young shoots de¬ 
stroyed, the American Oak is better preserved than 
the indigenous species, the Sycamore is hurt, the 
purple Beech has suffered less than the type, and the 
Larch is damaged. The Virginian Maple, the 
Fowler’s Service, the Elms, the Willows, and the 
Pines have well withstood it. 
Shirley Gardeners’ and Amateurs’ Mutual Improve¬ 
ment Association. —A meeting of the above Associa¬ 
tion was held at Shirley, Southampton, on the i6th 
inst., Mr. B. Ladhams presiding. A most interesting 
and instructive paper on the “Cultivation of the 
Carnation and Picotee," was read by Mr. F. Nutt, 
of Rose Road, Southampton, well known amongst 
Carnation fanciers as a most successful amateur 
grower and exhibitor. Mr. Nutt staged a splendid 
group of plants and also cut blooms to illustrate his 
pages, and he was awarded Certificates of Merit for 
grand flowers of Squire Potts, S. B. Martin Rowan, 
P. H., Emmie Pink, self, and Niphetos white. Mr. 
T. Rebbeck, amateur, staged a box of twelve cut 
blooms, and was awarded a Certificate of Merit for 
a bloom of Miss Clements Picotee. Mr. B. 
Ladhams,exhibited a large collection of cut blooms. 
which was awarded a certificate, and he was also 
awarded a similar honour for a fine collection of 
hardy Perrenials. Mr. F. Green, of Fremantle, was 
highly commended for six blooms of Malmaison. A 
vote of thanks to Mr. Nutt for his valuable paper, 
and to the exhibitors for their fine display brought 
a successful meeting to a close. The subject for 
for next month will be “ The Culture of the Vine," 
by Mr. W. Mitchell, The Gardens, Chilworth 
Manor. 
A New Aspidistra.—The Bulletin of the Linnean 
Society, of Paris, as stated by the Bulletin d'Arbori¬ 
culture, gives a description of a new species which 
recently flowered at the Museum of Natural History, 
of Paris. The plant is distinguished from Aspi¬ 
distra elatior. of which it has the aspect, by its 
constantly trimerous perianth as well as the other 
floral whorls. The plant is described by M. 
Baillon. According to the Revue Horticole, it is of 
Tonkin origin and as ornamental as A. elatior. The 
lamina of the leaves is unsymmetrical. The very 
numerous flowers have short and thick peduncles, 
their colour becoming wholly of a dull and vinous 
red. The sepals and petals deviate from one 
another very well, but are not reflected like those of 
A. elatior. 
Early Peas.—A correspondent writes :—■" I have 
read your notes on the trial of Peas at Buxted Park 
with great interest, although I cannot boast of 
having picked any Peas during the month of May. 
My garden is situated some flfteen miles to the 
north-west of Maresfield, and is on a slope looking 
north. I sowed early Peas in the open garden on 
the 13th of February. They came on well, but 
were much checked by the cold of the month of 
May. The first to come in was Exonian on the 
23rd of June, and a very excellent Pea it is, but 
Gradus, sown on the same day, did not come in till 
a week after. The pods were all well filled.” 
Mr. Louis Guerineau, a native of Chartres, France, 
whose ancestors, for 250 years back, from father to 
son, were gardeners, died recently at Northampton, 
U.S.A., where he was engaged in the creation of a 
botanic garden for the use of Smith College there. 
A WALK IN THE 
COUNTRY ( 2 ). 
The Sundew and the Asphodel. 
Twenty-eight miles from London, on the L. and B. 
Railway, is situate Bellagio, the station being Dor¬ 
mans on the East Grinstead branch of the railway, 
and here is to be found one of the most comfortable 
hotels in the Kingdom, where the food and wines are 
most excellent, being under the management of Mr. 
Letheby, the well-known caterer and contractor. 
The hotel has lately passed into the hands of new 
proprietors, who are doing all that is possible to make 
the place better known, and they have succeeded in 
obtaining an excellent Sunday train service. In 
addition to this there is a daily coach running from 
London during the summer months. 
The wild flowers flourish in and around Bellaggio, 
and I have found there and close by the Great 
Valerian, the Adders-tongue fern, the Vipers Bugloss, 
the Yellow Wort, the Lesser Toad flax, and other 
more or less rare flowers. Last week, with a friend, 
I took the train to Forest Row, a station three miles 
to the south of East Grinstead, where there is a very 
well-known Golf Club, the links being in the forest 
—Ashdown Forest—a large tract of wood and moor¬ 
land. We took our way across the moor and there 
found, growing on the heather, the Lesser Dodder 
flowering in profusion, with its tiny wax-like flowers. 
The Dodder is an annual, producing great quantities, 
of seed, which germinate in the ground and send up 
a slender thread-like stem, which, twisting itself 
about, attaches itself to the heather and other plants. 
After this takes place the Dodder separates itself 
from the ground and sustains itself entirely by 
appropriating the sap of the plant on which it is 
twisted. The Ling grows profusely as well as the 
Common Heath, and here and there were to be found 
the Cross leaved Heath, blooming with very large 
spikes of delicate pink flowers. On the larger 
bushes the little blue Butterflies were resting by 
twenties and thirties, with their wings closed, giving 
the appearance of a Heath bearing pea-like flower. 
The Pretty Whin was also there in flower. In Scot¬ 
land the Gorse or Furze is called a Whin. It was 
constantly mentioned by that name in the late trial 
relating to the death of young Mr. Hambrough. 
The Milkworts were flowering everywhere in various 
shades of blue, deep pink, and white. One would 
have thought, had one not read to the contrary, that 
they must be different species. The Mat Grass was 
most abundant. 
Upwards we went, wending our way through a 
large wood, here known as a warren, and picked the 
Lesser Skull cap, and the Ivy-leaved Bell-flower, 
the most delicate and beautiful of all our native 
flowers, and as we approached the high road we 
found the ij^Jountain Willow and the Lesser Red 
Rattle or—but I wont give so pretty a flower the 
objectionable and silly name by which is is commonly 
known. We pursued our way along the road, 
which is the direct road from London to Lewes, and 
by the side I found growing in a wet place the 
Marsh Pennywort and w'as fortunate enough to 
gather a piece growing in Sphagnum, which bore 
a flower. This was the first time I had gathered a 
flower though I had often searched for one. The 
wastes by the roadside were covered with Eye- 
bright, a delicate little flower, which is still used 
successfully in decoctions for the eyes. One old 
herbalist says of it, “ if the herb was but as much 
used as it is neglected, it would half spoil the spec¬ 
tacle makers trade.” 
We reached the top of the hill (630 ft.) at the 
village of Wych Cross, and here there was a magni¬ 
ficent view of the whole range of the South Downs. 
Growing over a pond is a very large Wych Elm, 
which, or its predecessors, no doubt, gave the name 
to the Cross. Here, too, in a garden with a northern 
aspect were two fine bushes of Cryptomeria elegans 
and two of Siebold's Polygonum. The former I cannot 
get to grow in my garden as frost always kills it. There 
was also a white Jasmine growing over the northern 
porch. On the ordnance map an inn was marked 
but this we found had been closed and the house 
was now the vicarage, so we had to put up with a 
glass of ginger beer obtained at the P.O. Our 
intention was to return by West Hoathly, a station 
on the line between East Grinstead and Lewes, so we 
started westwards by the road across the moor, and 
on searching in a boggy piece cf land we were 
delighted with the find of the round-leaved Sundew 
growing luxuriantly. Some were in flower-bud and 
all glistening in the sun with their tiny drops on the 
ends of the bristles of the leaf. I understand that 
it is a very rare plant to find in open flower, 
and that the best chance of a glimpse of its bloom 
is when the sun comes out in all its heat and strength 
after a summer shower. Plenty of the Reindeer 
Moss was to be found about in the Heather, and on 
the roadside we found a Buck horn Plantain which 
I had hitherto beleived was only to be found near 
the sea. 
At the cross roads, a mile and a half from Wych 
Cross we altered our plans and determined to return 
by Forest Row, and were very lucky in doing so, for 
at a short distance on our way back we suddenly 
came upon a bog in which the Asphodel in full 
bloom, was growing by thousands, mingled with the 
Cotton plant, and another plant we did not know the 
name of, but which we provisionally named the 
Curry Powder plant, so strong was the smell of 
Curry Powder given out by the flowers. On 
reference to the books the proper name turned 
out to be the Marsh St. John’s Wort. The 
present generic name of the Asphodel is 
Narthecium derived from a Greek word meaning 
a rod or spike, but Linneus classed it in the genus 
Anthericum. Sir Joseph Hooker points out that by 
mere chance the one is an anagram of the other. 
I carried away some of the Asphodels and Sundews, 
and planted them in a moist spot in my bog garden, 
when up till now (they have been planted ten days) 
they are doing well. 
We saw but few ferns—often the Hard fern 
growing in very large clumps, and occasionally a 
Lady fern. As we came down the hill we passed a 
field lit up by the acre with the brilliant yellow 
flowers of the Dyers Broom, and in Jhe hedge picked 
a flower spike of the Golden Rod, the first of the 
year. In the valley we found a ring snake asleep in 
the middle of the road which we teased with our 
sticks, in order to watch its contortions, and its long 
darting tongue which country people declare to be 
its sting, and then allowed it to glide away into the 
grass. As we neared Forest Row we gathered a branch 
