Sept. 20th, 1884. 
36 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
flowers become, that we fear few can raise seed¬ 
lings in an ordinary way that will compare with 
the best in the hands of our trade growers. There 
is, too, in the Single Dahlia not only a free habit 
of seeding, but also of reproducing itself, and 
rarely can distinct breaks in colour be obtained 
except by careful crossing. "We notice that 
nearly all the leading growers have superb scar¬ 
lets under diverse names, though almost identical 
in form and hue. That arises from the fact that 
scarlet is a brilliant hue, and as such is widely 
favoured ; but the infusion into some good scarlet 
of a rosy or magenta shading might be productive 
of striking results. We strongly advise small 
growers of Single Dahlias to secure plants of the 
most perfect kinds in commerce, and thus not 
only see what good flowers really are, but to 
employ those to produce choice seed through 
intercrossing. We must remember, however, 
that whilst Single Dahlias are so beautiful and 
attractive when set up on the show table in 
bunches, their chief purpose is to decorate our 
gardens, and to that end we need dwarf habited 
free bloomers and effective colours. Now that 
Single-flowered Dahlias are deservedly getting 
such attention from gardeners the early notes 
respecting them are very interesting, showing 
that they must either have lain hidden some¬ 
where for a great many years, or that they were 
entirety lost after their introduction, and the loss 
being made good in recent years by importation 
and by cross fertilization. In the first volume of 
The Botanical Register, 1815, we find a fine plate 
of as good a crimson-scarlet single variety as we 
have now, figured under the name of Dahlia 
superflua, together with an account of it, which 
states that it was introduced by Lady Bute in 
the year 1789 from Mexico by the way of Spain. 
The varieties D. frustranea (scarlet), D. f. lutea 
(sulphur), D. f. crocea (saffron), and D. f. 
aurantia (orange), all introduced in 1802, are 
also spoken highly of. Thus we see that nearly 
one hundred years ago the gardener had in his 
hands good material for raising all those wonder¬ 
ful parti-coloured and gorgeous varieties which 
we now see, and that for the greater part of a 
century the opportunity was neglected. In view 
of these facts, few things can give a better testi¬ 
monial to the advanced state of gardening and 
the love for flowers in our time than those lovely 
stands of Single Dahlias of all shades and hues 
which Turner of Slough, Ware, Keynes, Cannell, 
and others have staged at our shows this season. 
-- 
English Apples in Noemandy. —At the end 
of this month, Dr. Bull, of Hereford, Dr. Hogg, 
and Mr. Piper, as a deputation from the Wool- 
hope Club, leave England for the great Apple 
Congress at Itouen, in order to compare the 
Herefordshire with the Normandy Apples. The 
Hereford Club will exhibit about two hundred 
varieties of Apples and Pears with Cider and 
Perry in bottles, and will besides exhibit some 
actual Apple Trees of the best Herefordshire 
varieties. It is proposed to bring back about 
half-a-dozen trees of the best Normandy kinds, 
which will be carefully cultivated in the Hereford¬ 
shire orchards under the name of “ Club Nor¬ 
mans.” The report of the deputation will be 
incorporated in the last Part now nearly ready, 
of the “ Herefordshire Pomona.” 
-- 
Mildew. —Mr. Dumper, writing from Summer¬ 
ville Gardens, Limerick, informs us that the dry 
and comparatively sunless weather has favoured 
the rapid spread of this dreaded fungus in that 
locality. Sulphur was applied to Peas, Roses, 
Clematises, &c., both when the foliage was dry 
and again in the early morning while damp, but 
without much success until he made a decoction 
of sulphur and soft soap, with which the plants 
were syringed, and which had the desired effect. 
(larkmtrg 
The Fruit and Vegetable Show to be held at South 
Kensington next Tuesday and Wednesday, in connec¬ 
tion with the Health Exhibition, promises to bring 
out a more than usually brisk competition. The 
display of Grapes alone is expected to be the finest 
that will be seen in London this season. 
The Neill Prize, which is of the value of £40, was 
on Wednesday afternoon awarded by the Council of 
the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society to the 
Assistant-Secretary of the Society, Mr. Young, for his 
long and untiring exertions in the cause of horti¬ 
culture. We congratulate Mr. Young on his receipt 
of a compliment so well deserved. 
At the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society’s 
Show in Edinburgh on Wednesday, Mr. MTndoe, 
Hutton Hall, Guisboro’, won the first prize for a 
collection of twelve dishes of Fruit, Mr. Johnstone, 
of Glamis Castle, being second. The best eight 
dishes were shown by Mr. M'Conochie, Cameron 
House, Alexandria; and Mr. Fairgrieve, Dunkeld, 
was first with hardy Fruits. The show of fruits and 
plants was a very good one. 
Mr. Sam Mendel, whose name a few years ago was 
a household word among gardeners, died on Wednes¬ 
day at Chislehurst. Mr. Mendel, who was one of the 
best known of Manchester merchants, began business 
in a small way some years ago, but ultimately became 
head of a great shipping and mercantile house, and 
realized an immense fortune. He had very extensive 
dealings with India, China, and America. Suffering 
some reverses, but still well off, he retired ten years 
ago, and sold his famous Manley Hall collection of 
pictures, china, and plants. 
On the 10th inst., the coming of age of Mr. John 
Baring, was celebrated at Membland Hall, Devon, 
and among the valuable presents made to him, we 
note a pair of Antique Silver Salvers, presented by 
Mr. George Baker, the gardener, on behalf of the 
employes and cottagers. 
The rare Cattleya Whitei is now in flower with 
Holbrook Gaskell, Esq., Woolton Wood, Liverpool. 
The plant is believed to be unique. 
The number of bushels of Onions imported during 
the week ending September 13th, was 115,536. During 
the same period the Potato imports amounted to 
16,039 cwts. 
On Wednesday, Mr. T. S. Ware, of Tottenham, and 
Messrs. Kelway & Son, of Langport, exhibited col¬ 
lections of Herbaceous plants and Gladioli at South 
Kensington. 
On Saturday last, the Mayor of Bradford opened the 
New Bradford Union Recreation Grounds, an estate 
consisting of about 48 acres, purchased by the 
Corporation at a cost of £10,000, and laid out as a 
pleasure garden at a further cost of about £8,000. 
Instead of felling a tree at Mar Lodge, while on a 
visit last week to the Earl of Fife, the Prime Minister 
planted one before his departure to commemorate his 
visit. 
On the 10th inst. Miss Alice Fortune, daughter of 
the late Mr. Robert Fortune, was married to Mr. J. 
Durie, Barneymains, Haddington. 
A society is in course of formation for the preserva¬ 
tion of foot and bridle paths, all rights of way by land 
and water, village greens, &c. Those who desire to 
support such a society should communicate with Mr. 
Allnutt, 3, Holland Road, Kensington. 
At Peckforton Castle, Cheshire, on Tuesday, Lord 
Tollemache of Helmingham inaugurated an important 
experiment by filling a silo specially constructed 
with maize grown on an acre and a half of land. 
The growth of this heavy cropping food has already 
been adequately demonstrated, as the maize cut a 
magnificent crop, some of the stalks growing to a 
height of 8 ft. The maize was cut, tied into bundles 
of about 25 lb. each, and carted to a shed adjacent 
to the silo, where it was put through a Chandler’s 
chaffcutter and transferred to the silo, a quarter of a 
pound of salt being mixed with each hundredweight 
of chopped maize—not for preserving purposes, but 
to make it sweeter for the stock. 
DOUBLE-FLOWERED 
CLEMATISES. 
The large rosette-like flowers of these charming 
double forms are great favourites, especially for cool 
conservatory decoration or pot culture, and we have 
known them do well in the open-air when planted on 
a sunny south wall in a suitable soil. If a little pro¬ 
tection can be afforded them from possibility of harm 
from spring frosts, which in warm positions are likely 
to be injurious, it is well to apply it, not so much 
because these Double Clematises are tender, but be¬ 
cause being in a position where the sun’s rays in 
early spring could shine directly upon them, they 
become excited into early growth, and then - tender 
shoots take harm from early frosts. It may be fur¬ 
ther remarked that these Double-flowered Clematises 
belong to what is known as the Florida type, this 
being a slender climbing Japanese species which 
under favourable climatic conditions grows to a con¬ 
siderable height and assumes an ornamental char¬ 
acter. 
The first of the group of Double-flowered Clematises 
was C. Fortunei, which was introduced from Japan 
by the late Mr. Robert Fortune, after whom it was 
named. It has sweet-scented, creamy-white, rosette¬ 
like flowers. C. monstrosa, also introduced from 
Japan, has semi-double flowers, but is inferior to the 
foregoing, and at the present time is but very little 
cultivated. C. John Gould Veitch is another of Mr. 
Fortune’s introductions from Japan, and it first came 
to this country in 1862 ; it has handsome full rosette- 
formed flowers of a pleasing lavender-blue colour. C. 
Lucie Lemoine is of French origin, and is said to 
have been obtained from C. Fortunei; the flowers 
resemble in form those of John Gould Yeitch, but 
are more fully double and symmetrical, and white, 
with pale yellow antlers. Messrs. George Jackman & 
Co., of the Woking Nurseries, so well known as the 
raisers of many fine varieties of Clematis, have pro¬ 
duced three very fine double forms, viz., Belle of 
Woking, silvery-grey, large, fully double, and very 
pleasing; Countess of Lovelace, a fine variety with 
large symmetrical flowers, bluish-lilac in colour, very 
pleasing; and Duchess of Edinburgh, pure white, 
deliciously scented, fine shape, very full, and the best 
of the white varieties. There yet remains one other, 
viz., Mrs. G. Innes, pale lavender-blue, and very 
handsome. 
One caution is necessary. Unlike the strong-grow¬ 
ing varieties of the summer-blooming Jackmannitype, 
these double varieties are of a more slender and less 
robust growth, flowering from the old or ripened wood 
of the previous year. Such pruning as they require 
should be confined to cutting away any decayed wood, 
and that only. None of the young growths of the 
summer should be cut away by any means, as they 
will produce the flowers of the following spring. They 
should have a deep rich soil in which to grow—a good 
yellow loam, rotten dung, and leaf soil. If carefully 
attended to they can scarcely fail to do well and give 
great satisfaction.— R. B. 
Ivy-leaf Pelargoniums. —An esteemed correspon¬ 
dent whites :—“ I am pleased to find at p. 24 a note 
drawing attention to these singularly beautiful 
decorative plants. During the summer, when in a 
friend’s garden, I was delighted with the beauty found 
in a pair of vases, filled each with one or two old plants 
of the lovely rosy magenta-hued Glorie d’Orleans, 
blooming marvellously, and producing an effect such 
as I have never before seen obtained out of vase plants. 
How much I wish that some one of our gardeners, 
who have vases in prominent places to fill, would 
secure some half-dozen of the best double kinds and 
fill the vases with them in distinct colours. I am 
sure the result would delight beyond measure. The 
habit of growth renders the Ivy-leaf Pelargoniums the 
beau-ideal of vase plants. Still farther, those who 
want an abundance of cut flowers will find the blooms 
of the double forms to be most valuable.” 
Costus igneus. —This is a beautiful addition to 
our stoves, and is now in flower. The leaves are 
lanceolate-oblong, 4 in. long, and the orange flowers 
one inch in diameter. It belongs to the family 
Seitamineie and was figured in The Illustration 
Horticole, new series, t. 511. Native of Brazil. 
