246 
THE GARDENING WORLD, 
Dee. 20th, 1884. 
on August 12th, August 21st, and September 6th, and 
succession produce was gathered up to the middle of 
October. My two friends were equally successful with 
their portion of the half-pint. I look upon this variety 
as the very best of modern introductions, and, as an 
exhibition Pea, entirely unrivalled. I have not seen 
a dish of it exhibited at any of the shows I have 
visited this year, that it has not taken honours. 
Stratagem (Carter’s).—This is a grand 2-ft. 6-in. 
wrinkled marrow, possessing all the characteristics 
necessary in an exhibition Pea. Unfortunately it 
carries very heavy foliage, which, in a town and manu¬ 
facturing district where sunshine is more frequently 
absent and smoke always abounding, tells against its 
productiveness. In 1883 it was the leading prize 
winner, but from the drought of this summer and the 
causes just referred to, it has not done so well, and 
some of my friends have condemned it. In a clear 
district, with very thin sowing, I feel disposed to place 
it in the front rank as a dwarf-growing variety. 
Staffordshire Marrow. —This is a 5-ft. Pea, which 
seems to be peculiar to this district, where it is grown 
extensively. It was raised by a Wolverhampton 
amateur, and I have not been able to trace its pedigree. 
It is a very heavy cropper, nine to ten Peas in a pod, 
and a great favourite at all Cottager’s Shows. This year 
the schedule of the Bilston Horticultural Society, now 
the largestpn the Midlands not excepting Birmingham, 
contained a new departure, and prizes were offered for 
the-best dish of pods yielding the heaviest quantity of 
Peas when shelled fit for table. Both prizes were 
taken by this variety, the first dish yielding 9J ozs. of 
shelled Peas from the pound of pods, which weight 
just turned the balance of the second dish. 
President Garfield (Sutton’s).—This is a modern 
introduction, after the Dr. McLean type, and a very 
heavy cropper, 4 ft. to 5 ft. high, ten to twelve peas 
in a pod, and a very strong robust grower. I fear 
the light colour of the pods will militate against its 
becoming an exhibition favourite. It is, nevertheless, 
a good pea. 
Telephone.— This is now becoming well known, and 
has been looked upon as a most useful addition. It is 
a 5-ft. Pea, and experience has proved it to be of a 
very hardy constitution. I have seen it do well in 
situations very little better than pit-bank slag. The 
pods are very large and well filled. Were the colour 
of the pods better it would probably hold its own 
against the Duke of Albany, by which it is fairly 
superseded. 
John Bull.—A 3-ft. Pea. recently introduced with a 
flourish of trumpets as the longest pod in creation. 
Whatever may be the experience of cultivators in 
other districts, with me and in this district gene¬ 
rally it must be set down as a failure, being a bad 
filler and superseded in quality by those already 
enumerated. 
Pp.ide of the Market (Carter’s).—Two feet and a half 
high. A round green Pea, producing splendid green 
pods, nearly as fine as Stratagem. One of the best 
of dwarf Peas for general purposes, but scarcely up 
to exhibition standard. 
Evolution (Laxton’s).—One of this season’s intro¬ 
ductions ; 3 ft. 6 ins. to 4 ft. high, said to be a seedling 
from the well-known Omega, with pods twice the size ; 
if so, I have failed to discover its parents’ good 
qualities. The sealed half-pints purchased by myself 
and growers around me from various first-class houses 
all producing sports innumerable, so that it would be 
difficult to say which was the true Evolution, and each 
sufficiently distinct to have afforded Darwin a sub¬ 
stantial proof as to the truthfulness of the great theory 
of his life. I very much question even if the best 
types of it which I have selected from my row for trial 
again next year will much alter the opinion generally 
formed with regard to it by growers in this district. 
Wonder of the Age (Hawkins’).— A 6-ft. Pea, and 
one of the heaviest croppers I have yet seen. From a 
25-ft. row I gathered 7\ pecks. It is a marrow of good 
quality, filling the pods to bursting, but too short in 
the pods for general exhibition purposes. 
Paragon.— Four feet to five feet. The largest podded 
seeond early Pea I have yet come across. When better 
known it must become popular. Where Peas are 
required for exhibition the first week in July, it will 
prove an acquisition. 
Ne Plus Ultra. —This fine old tall Pea needs no 
eulogium. It has stood its ground too long to be 
lightly discarded where it can be grown, but it is not 
everyone who can find convenience for a 8-ft. Pea, and 
notwithstanding the dry summer myrow fully reached 
this height. Its quality is all that can be desired and 
for the latest crops preferable to any other among the 
many sorts I have tried. My last gathering this year 
was made the first week in November, from seed sown 
on May 20th. 
I might extend this list, but fear encroaching upon 
your space. Summing up my experience, I shall for 
next year’s growth specially rely upon the Duke of 
Albany, Stratagem, Staffordshire Marrow, and Ne Plus 
Ultra for my winning single dishes, and where I shall 
require six dishes to a collection, I shall most likely 
include President Garfield and Telephone, unless any 
of the new varieties that are coming out this season 
should be found to eclipse them. So much for'sorts, 
and this is one of the great points—a good sort 
producing better results even with inferior cultivation 
than a bad one. 
And now a word on cultivation. A correspondent, a 
fortnight ago, in these columns, said “ Muck paid for 
using in Pea growing.” I agree with him, but it must 
be thoroughly rotted down. I find a mixture of old 
cow-manure invaluable for Peas on soils liable to 
bum up, and in every instance I trench the ground 
two spit deep, working the manure down to the 
very bottom. When this is done the roots find 
the bottom in dry seasons, and in wet ones better 
drainage is the result. Two points in sowing I set 
down as a sina qu& non. -First-, let, the rows be a 
sufficient distance apart not to overlap each other 
when fully grown, and to allow full egress to air and 
sunshine, and where practicable let the rows run due 
north and south; and secondly, thin sowing. More 
than half the failures in not growing fine pods and 
obtaining a plentiful crop is to be attributed to thick 
sowing. A better crop is to be obtained from Peas 
6 ins. apart than 3 ins. from all the stronger growing 
branching kinds. 
The time of sowing must be regulated with regard 
to the time the produce is required. If this is wanted 
in July, February sowings with me I find the best. If 
wanted in August and September, I find the middle or 
end of March the best, and successions may be con¬ 
tinued profitably up to the middle of May. With deep 
trenching, suitable manure, and mulching in the 
event of dry weather, I have no fear of mildew, or 
of obtaining a good crop.— J. Knight, Bilston. 
THE AUBRIETIAS, 
This highly ornamental family of old-fashioned 
plants belongs to the great natural order of 
Crucifer®. The leaves are much smaller, the plants 
more dense and dwarf, with flowers also smaller 
and more numerous than in the Arabis. There is 
another great and broad distinction : hitherto there 
has been no white Aubrietia, though now a white 
variety of A. deltoidea is reported; and they are all 
very much alike in colour—that is, of a lilac-purple 
or violet shade, differing somewhat in the depth of the 
shade only. The flowers also vary considerably in 
shape and size. The first-introduced Aubrietia was 
deltoidea—or, Three-angled Flower—introduced from 
the Levant in 1TL0. The plant grows about 4 ins. 
high; and the small purple flowers are so closely 
packed over the silvery-greyish leaves as to hide them 
beneath a sheet of bloom during the flowering season, 
which lasts from March till June, the Aubrietias 
lasting far longer in flower than the Arabis. A. 
purpurea is a slightly deeper purple than deltoidea, 
and flowers later and rather longer. The flowers are 
also of a different form, and a little larger in size, 
the deltoidea, however, being generally preferred. 
Aubrietia Hesperidiflora is another purple variety, 
more like purpurea than deltoidea. 
All these, however, will speedily be superseded by 
two new varieties, A. grandiflora and Campbellii— 
both wonderful improvements on all previous species 
and varieties. A. grandiflora is a larger and vastly 
improved edition of the original species. A. Camp¬ 
bellii is also of a deeper colour as well as of larger 
size, and is, without doubt, the finest Aubrietia in 
cultivation. Another variety, Grseea, is a better strain 
of deltoidea. A. Hendersoni is of a deeper violet- 
purple than either of the others. Other and superior 
varieties are said to have been recently raised. 
The white one will be most welcome, as there 
is no white common flower that quite matches the 
purple or violet Aubrietia. Even the smallest- 
flowered Arabis are too large, and also too tall in the 
stem, to run nicely with them. There are several 
partially-variegated-leaved Aubrietias, but the varie¬ 
gation is neither so bold, striking, nor constant as in 
the ease of the eloselv-related plants, the Arabis. The 
extreme smallness of the leaves, unless the variegation 
is very striking, as in the case of the Golden Lemon- 
thyme, is also against its effectiveness; and at 
present Aubrietias are more grown for their flowers 
than then- foliage. Nevertheless, the variegated 
variety of A. purpurea — which is boldly margined 
with white— is frequently used as an edging plant. 
The Aubrietias are perfectly hardy, and will grow in 
almost any soil, though, like most other common 
flowers, they pay well for- a bit of good light loam, 
with a dash of leaf-mould in it, and fan- culture. In 
good soil, with plenty of water in a dry season, 
Aubrietias are seldom out of flower throughout the 
year. On poor dry soil, the bloom is less dense, and 
the time they last in bloom is very greatly curtailed. 
From the dense trailing habit of these plants, they 
propagate themselves with amazing rapidity, rooting 
then- stems as they run, so that the one speedily 
becomes any number at the will of the cultivator. 
As to the best time for dividing Aubrietias, most 
authorities recommend spring and autumn. Neither 
of these is theJbest season^but rather about mid¬ 
summer. Spring division injures the flower for that 
season ; autumnal division does not afford sufficient 
time to admit of the plants being well established 
before winter, and the flower-buds developed and 
filled for spring blooming. Divide as soon after 
flowering as practicable, and the plants will get 
rapidly established, and will have sufficient time 
to recoup themselves from the check, and bloom the 
following season as if nothing had happened. 
Propagation is also effected by cuttings. Small 
pieces of half-ripened wood placed under a handlight 
or in a close frame will root freely. As soon as 
rooted, harden off by partially removing the glass 
every day when it is mild, and plant them in the open 
so soon as hardened off. Any light sandy soil will do 
in which to root the cuttings. It should be made 
firm, the cuttings needing the compression to force 
the emission of roots. Late cuttings should be 
inserted where they may have protection in winter. 
Aubrietias do not ripen seeds very freely, excepting 
just here and there in warm and sheltered localities. 
'Where they do so the seed should be sown very thinly 
and as soon as ripe. These plants do not come very 
true from seeds, but maintain general uniformity of 
height and colour, and within these narrow bounds 
the more variety and individuality the better. The 
genus was named after a French botanical draughts¬ 
man, M. Aubriet, and the first Aubrietia was intro¬ 
duced from the Levant in 1710. They now abound 
in all directions, and hundreds of gardens, large and 
small, would look poor and stale in the spring if the 
Aubrietias were withdrawn. They look well almost 
everywhere, anyhow, in large tufts or wide edgings, 
in juxtaxposition with such plants as the Yellow or 
Bock Alyssum and the early Forget-me-not, Myosotis 
dissitifiora. With alternate patches of these, few 
plants can equal Aubrietias for the clothing of raised 
banks or rockeries, or intermixing with choice hardy 
ferns. —Pop ular Gardening. 
PQTTING-OFF BEDDING 
PLANTS. 
Where large quantities of plants are required for 
summer bedding, a very large amount of labour 
is incurred in potting them into small pots, and 
afterwards in keeping them well supplied with 
water at the roots till they are planted out ; and 
as this work has to be performed at the very 
busiest time of the year, when a large amount of 
energy and forethought is necessary to keep pace 
with the daily increasing attention required in 
every department, I think any good system that 
tends to lessen such labour is a great boon to all . 
concerned, as it enables them to give more attention 
to other and perhaps more important subjects. 
The system of growing bedding-plants that require 
