May 9th, 1885. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
573 
great substance, and extremely rich in colour. Our 
principal raiser is Mr. James, formerly gardener to 
the late W. F. Watson, Esq., of Eedlees, Isleworth, 
and now of Farnham Eoyal, Slough. For many 
years he has been a raiser of Cinerarias, and the 
bulk of the most substantial work of improvement 
made during the last twenty years is clearly due 
to him. 
Formerly the types of improved Cinerarias were 
somewhat tall in growth, and so it happened when 
specimenswere grown for exhibition purposes that they 
bad to be tied out into shape, so as to keep the plants 
dwarf. Some continental raiser obtained a race of 
dwarf, compact-growing Cinerarias; these were im¬ 
proved by English raisers, and it was with the best 
of these that Mr. James went to work, crossing them 
and the very best also of the English-raised varieties. 
This was the commencement of a strain of remarkable 
individuality of character; of dwarf, yet vigorous 
growth, and flowers of surpassing size and colour, 
form and substance. With increased size has come 
certain manifestations of coarseness, but evidence 
is forthcoming that high quality will in a season 
or two reward Mr. James’s painstaking labour. He 
is a true florist; and is now working for the higher 
qualities so ardently contended for by florists of a 
quarter of a century ago. But as a market and 
decorative strain, that in the hands of Mr. James 
cannot be surpassed. 
The Cultuee of the Cinebabia is now so well 
understood that it appears almost unnecessary to 
devote much space to it. Mr. James sows his seed in 
the ordinary way, pricks off his seedlings into store 
pots, and when large enough pots them singly into 
small pots, and grows on into size, blooming them in 
32-sized and 34-sized pots. He resides close to one 
of the famous Buckinghamshire woods, round which 
the purest atmosphere circulates; there is an abundance 
of good loam and leaf-mould, and from the Dropmore 
Woods he can obtain from the charcoal burners a 
quantity of charcoal dust which he mixes with his 
Cineraria soil, and on which they thrive, for the 
plants put forth leaves of the most vigorous character. 
He has another advantage—he lives by the side of a 
country road that is mended with yellow gravel, not 
granite; and he can collect from its sides plenty of 
turves that grow between the sides of the road and the 
hedgerows. These he collects and lays aside until 
decomposed, and then they form a potting material of 
the best character. The pots are well drained, and 
the plants are well looked after; they are kept watered, 
plenty of air is given at the proper time, and they are 
fumigated when necessary. 
It is well known that Mr. James is a successful 
exhibitor of specimen Cinerarias. He manages these 
different to the method usually observed. Time was 
when the old plan of putting three plants of a variety 
into a pot in order to make a fine specimen was 
followed, and I have known instances where, for want 
of due care, two plants of one, and one of another 
variety made up the specimen, and so it was rendered 
useless for exhibition purposes. Mr. James makes one- 
year old plants into fine specimens by placing them in 
a cold frame when they have done blooming, looking 
after them during the winter, repotting them in spring, 
and then, when they throw up young growths, reducing 
them to about three main shoots. Carefully tended, 
these plants grow into very fine specimens, and by 
April and May make a rare display on the exhibition 
stage. I have always thought we lost a great deal 
when specimen Cinerarias declined at our early 
exhibitions, but there may be a glorious resurrection 
in store for them at no distant date. 
I have lately had an opportunity of looking over 
Mr. James’s fine collection at Farnham Eoyal. I was 
too early to see the main body of the yearling flowers 
at their best, but I saw enough to demonstrate that 
the advance is continuous, striking, and valuable. 
There were enough of them in flower, however, to 
enable me to say something positive about them ; and 
they justify the awards of certificates made to Mr. 
James’s strain in the past. 
Self Flowees are in the majority; or rather, 
flowers having combinations of colours of the self 
character. Shades of magenta are numerous and 
very striking, especially those of mauve tints; shades 
of maroon flushed with purple; bright, deep, and 
pale crimsons—ruby, red, and almost vermilion ; 
rich purples and purple-blue; magenta with distinct 
edgings of purple at the sides and tips of the florets. 
Mr. James is adding the dark disc to many of the 
flowers having white grounds and margins of different 
shades of crimson, &c. The dark disc was an im¬ 
portant point of quality with the old florists, and they 
were right. In the case of Mr. James’s strain, the 
white ground, which is all that can be desired in the 
matter of purity, needs broadening; it is now over¬ 
powered by the unduly wide margins, and Mr. James 
is working for the attainment of this. A true florist 
himself, and one well acquainted with the properties 
of flowers, he readily seizes upon these defects, and 
in course of time will eradicate them. 
A Steiped Section of Flowees, both in the cases 
of the self and margined character, is a proximate 
attainment. Beautiful crimson-magenta flowers are 
seen to be distinctly striped with purple, and the 
same can be observed in those of other colours. A 
white-ground flower, broadly margined with magenta- 
crimson, had this last distinctly flaked with white. 
The tricolor type is rapidly developing; the different 
zones of colour are more distinctly set forth, a few 
showing new and novel colouring. Eeally, there appears 
to lie before Mr. James possibilities of indefinite 
development. 
There are to be seen at Woodside some 1500 
Cinerarias, mainly in 32-sized pots. It may be 
thought that Mr. James is able to obtain large supplies 
of seed. Like many another florist, he has to pay 
the penalty of improvement by reduced supplies. 
Many of the finer varieties yield seed of a very 
limited character, to an extent that is surprising. 
But that is no reason why the work of improvement 
should cease. “ Never hasting, never resting,” it 
goes on slowly and surely; the gain of to-day pro¬ 
phetic of something even better to be reached a year 
or two hence.— ft. D. 
- O—-- - p — 
©fcttuatj). 
Me. G. Phippen. —Many a horticulturist in Bucks 
and Berks, as well as in other of the southern coun¬ 
ties, will learn, with regret of the death of Mr. George 
Phippen, of the Victoria Nurseries, Beading, on 
May 1st, at the age of forty-nine. Of somewhat 
delicate constitution, he was during the winter 
attacked by illness, and after intense and protracted 
suffering died on the above date, deeply lamented 
by a large circle of friends and fellow-townsmen. 
He was a native of the district, for he was born at 
Horton, Bucks, and near to Windsor, in March, 1836. 
He appeared to be a gardener by instinct. On leav¬ 
ing school he took a great interest in gardening, and 
at the early age of eighteen became head gardener to 
C. J. Andrews, Esq., of Beading. He threw himself 
into the prosecution of his work with spirit and 
activity, and soon made a name as a successful 
exhibitor at the shows of the Beading Horticultural 
Society, beating some gardeners of note. He married 
at the age of twenty-one, and a few years later started 
in business for himself at Beading, eventually work¬ 
ing up, by steady and untiring effort, a good connection 
as a nurseryman, seedsman, and florist. When Mr. 
Bobinson left the service of Bichard Benyon, Esq., 
of Englefield House, Mr. Phippen took him as a 
partner, and a commodious seed-shop was opened in 
one of the principal thoroughfares in Beading. The 
partnership was of short duration, and Mr. Phippen 
continued business on his own account. At the 
Victoria Nurseries, in the Oxford Boad, he put up 
a quantity of glass, and, in addition to a general 
business, made a distinct mark as a floral decorator, 
both himself and his daughters exhibiting floral deco¬ 
rations with much success at the Beading shows, up 
to the last exhibition in August, 1884, and also at the 
Chrysanthemum exhibition in November last. 
Under the Corporation of Beading, Mr. Phippen 
had the management of the Public Gardens in the 
Forbury, and did his work with great satisfaction ; 
his spring and summer displays were in the highest 
degree satisfactory. 
For twenty years he had been the trusted Superin¬ 
tendent of the Spring and Summer Exhibitions of the 
Beading Horticultural Society, discharging his func¬ 
tions with tact and courtesy, and his loss will be 
regretted by the great body of exhibitors and the 
officials of the Society. He was twice married, and 
leaves a family of three children by his first wife. 
The business will be continued by his only son and 
successor. 
-— -s > — 
THE INVENTIONS EXHIBITION. 
Hoeticdltueists visiting the “ Inventories ” on 
Tuesday and Wednesday next will note many im¬ 
provements in the grounds, not the least pleasant 
being the removal of a number of structures which 
could well be spared in order to increase the area 
available for promenading in the open air. Horti¬ 
culture is also better represented than at either of 
the preceding exhibitions, and gardening visitors of 
an inquiring turn of mind will find more to interest 
them of a character pertaining to their calling than 
they have been able to find before. Among the 
exhibitors of hardy ornamental trees and shrubs we 
noted on the opening day the names of Mr. A. Waterer, 
Mr. Maurice Young, Messrs. Paul & Son, Cheshunt, 
Messrs. W. Cutbush & Son, Messrs. W. Fromow & 
Sons, and Mr. Turner, Slough, whose collection of 
trained Ivies in pots is one of the features of the 
show. Mr. T. S. Ware has a fine display of hardy 
plants, and Messrs. Paul & Son, Cheshunt, contribute 
a nice assortment of rock plants. The same firm has 
also established a Bose tent in the Central Avenue, 
opposite the telegraph office, which should prove an 
attractive feature. Messrs. W. Paul & Son, of Waltham 
Cross, have also a fine show of Boses, &c., in one of 
Messrs. Foster & Pearson’s greenhouses, and on the 
opening day Messrs. H. Lane & Son, Berkhampstead, 
had a fine show of pot Boses in the old Council Boom. 
In the South Court will be found a host of exhibits 
pertaining to the garden, and many of them novelties 
of a useful character. We hope shortly to be able to 
give a more detailed report. 
- o —- 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Names of Plants. — J. 3IcP.—1 . Next week. 2. Ccelo. 
gyne ocellata. 3. Selaginella caulescens. 4. Anemone blanda. 
5. Sedum japomeum probably.— W. A—Both varieties of 
Oneidium Schillerianum.— R. H. F— Libonia Penrhosiana. 
Roses Dying. — Paul de Knock states that last November 
he planted two dozen Standard Roses, eighteen of which are 
doing well, while the other six are withering away, and seem 
to all appearance dead, yet all received the same treatment 
and the soil is of an uniform quality. Can anyone suggest the 
cause of this ? 
Books. — Juvenus. —Dr. Master’s Botany for Beginners 
(Bradbury, Agnew & Co.) will suit you best. — ticotus. — 
Sutherland’s Handy Book of Herbaceous and Alpine Plants 
(Blackwood & Sons). 
Dahlias. — C. S. —The double varieties of the florist have 
been obtained from D. variabilis, and the single ones now so 
popular mostly from D. coccinea. 
Communications Received.—J. L.—J. S.—W. T. F.— 
E. J.—A. F. L.—D. B. K.—Yiccars Collyer & Go. —T. W.— 
W. S.-H. & S.—W. R. & Co.—J. C.—B. S. W —W. R.'B.- 
T. W. 
-— o—- — 
Trade Catalogues Received. 
James Veitch & Sons, 544, King’s Road, Chelsea, S.W.— 
Catalogue of Plants, including Novelties for 1885.—Select List 
of Soft-wooded and Bedding Plants, &c. 
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NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
The Editoe begs to inform his readers that special 
attention will be paid in the columns of The Gardening 
Woeld to the answering of questions on all subjects 
connected with practical horticulture, in which depart¬ 
ment he will have the assistance of several gardeners oj 
great experience and known ability. To save time, 
however, as far as possible, correspondents are specially 
requested to write only on one side of the paper; to 
write their questions in as few words as possible con¬ 
sistent with clearness ; and where two or more questions 
are asked on ividely different subjects, to be good enough 
to put them on separate pieces of paper. 
Correspondents who may require their communica¬ 
tions, if not accepted, to be returned, must in all cases 
enclose stamps for the return postage. The name and 
address of every writer must be given, not necessarily 
for publication, if that is not desired, but simply as a 
guarantee of the writer's bonafides. No notice what¬ 
ever will be taken of anonymous letters. 
