March 21st, 1885. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
453 
watered in. If guano is used, one ounce should be 
put into a gallon of water, well stirred, and immediately 
applied. In all cases, liquid manure or a fertilizer 
should be employed only when the soil is wet. 
The very earliest sorts are Salter’s Early Blush, a 
charming variety flowering at the end of June ; colour 
bright blush pink, it is one of the best early sorts yet 
introduced; Eibretto, a beautiful Pompone, colour 
bright lemon yellow; Early Late Flora, also a 
charming yellow Pompone, dwarf, and a good grower; 
and Madeline Davis, one of the earliest blooming in 
May, colour yellow and very free. These are new 
varieties of recent introduction. A few of the best of the 
older sorts are Lyon, rosy-purple in colour, flo a ers and 
habit of growth both good, can be had in bloom for 
a considerable period; Madame C. Desgrange, a 
Japanese variety, and perhaps the very best of all the 
white summer bloomers, habit good, blooms at the 
beginning of August, the style of the flowers much of 
the character of Elaine ; Madame Piccol, rosy-purple, 
very early, will bloom at the end of June, a charming 
variety; Naumer, a very early white, can be had in 
bloom by the end of May from plants struck in the 
previous July, by putting in cuttings at different times 
this variety can be had in flower several months; 
Petite Marie is one of the smallest of Pompones, will 
bloom at 4 ins. high, and does not grow more than 
16 ins.; Precocite, a bright and very early yellow, will 
THE TRAINING AND STUDIES 
OF GARDENERS. 
I shall begin my comments on this important 
subject by quoting the motto or maxim at the head of 
the first column of The Gardening World, “Gar¬ 
dening is the purest of human pleasures, and the 
greatest refreshment to the spirit of man.” Lord 
Bacon, whose magnificent mind exempts him from 
every objection as a model for the rest of mankind, 
was enthusiastically fond of gardening and flowers, 
and he kept a succession of them constantly about 
him in his study and at his table. To a cultured 
mind the union of books and of flowers is most 
particularly agreeable. What a relief to the wearied 
brain and mind it is to settle one’s self down with a 
favourite author in the midst of flowers and plants 
and to forget for a time how the world wags ? It is 
the perfect enjoyment of nature and art together, a 
consummation of luxury that never palls upon the 
appetite. 
But come down to the everyday work-a-day subject 
of gardening in a more practical sense, and even then 
of what use is the gardener without his books ? 
Collect and burn all works on horticulture, as the 
Bibles were burnt in ancient times, and try to picture 
the consequences! I maintain that book-knowledge 
is of greater importance in the art and science of 
events, and that he should be adding to his 
knowledge by collecting specimens of plants when¬ 
ever he can, and of drying, fixing and classing them 
in his specimen book at his leisure. I think I need 
not say that these simple acquirements would not 
only give him a greater interest in his daily work, but 
would also incite him to further efforts in the way of 
gaining useful information, so that he would soon 
lift himself above the ordinary level and become of 
greater value to his employers. 
Though I hardly see the need for a special training- 
school or college for gardeners, there is certainly room 
for more attention to the subject in our elementary 
schools. That is where the work should begin, and I 
would have every schoolboy to be a gardener, in a 
sense; he would be no worse for it in after life. 
Time would be better spent over the training of rural 
children in the art of gardening and the science of 
botany than it now is spent on such subjects as Tonic- 
sol-fa and Euclid. Every school in the rural districts 
should have its school-garden and its horticultural 
and botanical collection of specimens, and every 
school teacher should be qualified to give instruction 
in the art as well as in the science. Had such been 
the case twenty or thirty years ago we should not 
now be hearing half so much about the migration 
of the agricultural labourer to the large towns, or of 
agricultural depression. We should have had a class 
PLAN OP A SCHOLL BED AT CHELSEA HOSPITAL. 
bloom in the middle of July; Anastasio, a first-rate 
summer-blooming Pompone, and a profuse bloomer, 
colour rosy-magenta ; and Curiosity, slightly lilac, and 
sometimes nearly white, very dwarf, growing to a 
height of about 12 ins., and will bloom in August. 
There are other varieties, but these are about the pick 
of them. But they are all well worthy of cultivation.— 
R. D. 
A SCROLL BED. 
Few designs are more easily laid out, or more 
pleasing in a garden than such a scroll as that illustrated 
above, which was planned and carried out in the 
Chelsea Hospital Garden, by our friend, Mr. William 
Gibson, who, as our readers will have learnt from 
previous illustrations of his work, is a master hand in 
this branch of the profession. The design in question 
was planted as follows :—The three large circles were 
composed of the yellow-leaved Zonal Pelargonium 
Creed’s Seedling (an old variety still unsurpassed for 
this sort of work), edged with Lobelia Porcelain 
Brilliant. The ten circles in the scroll were dot- 
plants of the handsome Fish-bone Thistle, Chamtepuce 
diacantha. The outer ends of the beds were 
composed of Lobelia Lustrous, and the two inner ones 
of Alternanthera amoena, which plant also occupied 
the divisions between the circles alternately with 
Lobelia Porcelain Brilliant; while the inner edging 
was composed of Golden Feather Pyrethrum, and the 
outer one of Koniga variegata. 
gardening than it is to any other vocation. But by 
book-knowledge I do not mean a dependence on 
books or even a use of books as everyday works of 
reference to aid and relieve the inexperience and want 
of memory of the man who, through neglected 
opportunities and want of study, is obliged to fly to 
his Gardener's Assistant , or what not, to help him over 
the difficulty of the moment. I think it requires no 
argument to show that the gardener who is in the 
habit of doing this is not master of his profession. 
Then, it may be argued, how are we to change all 
this, for it is, doubtless, of very common occurrence ? 
Well, certainly it would not be wise to even expect 
that the average gardener of to-day should go to 
school again, and school, as it is, would not benefit 
him to any great extent. 
Neither would I impose a task which neither time 
nor education will allow some gardeners to master ; 
but surely it is not too much to expect that every 
gardener who can read and write (without a know¬ 
ledge of which he has no business to be a gardener) 
ought at least to inform himself of the names of 
plants, their native-places, time of their introduction 
and flowering, and proper inodes of culture. And I 
may be allowed to say the same of entomology. 
Although he may think he is not able to master that 
science, there is no reason why he should not acquaint 
himself with the habits of those insects that are 
injurious to vegetation or that are part of the 
economy of nature. It is equally necessary that he 
should be able to keep a daily diary of gardening 
quite qualified to take up the vegetable farming and 
the fruit growing that would be such a boon to the 
country under existing circumstances. 
But referring again to horticultural training 
colleges, is it not the duty of horticultural societies 
to promote the science of gardening ? In this I argue 
that they fail decidedly in their most useful sphere— 
the training of the young and rising generation of 
gardeners in a course of such studies as is recommended 
at p. 434 of last week’s issue of this paper. Probably 
in this respect there would be at least two courses 
worthy of adoption : the one of offering certificates 
and awards to home students who are now occupied 
in the profession ; and the other and wider one of 
establishing scholarships at the public schools, to be 
gained by youths in elementary schools as rewards 
for skill and knowledge in gardening and botanical 
subjects. The united effort of all the leading British 
horticultural societies in this direction should surely 
be a very strong one ; and it is more than probable 
that if once that effort is made in the right direction 
the Legislature will be disposed to further the aims 
and to support the objects of the promoters. That 
the great majority of youths thus educated would 
greatly add to the honour of the “ oldest and noblest” 
profession is not to be doubted ; or that they would 
ever be ashamed to handle a spade or wheel a barrow 
either. But the spade and barrow-work would soon 
be passed over, and the higher rounds of the ladder 
reached. True nobility ennobles labour; and the youth 
who fears hard work is not good enough to be a gardener. 
