4 
September 1, 1894. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
Bayham Abbey Gardens.—We understand that Mr. 
Walter Johnstone is leaving the service of the 
Marquis of Camden, after occupying the post of 
gardener at Bayham Abbey for many years, and that 
his successor will be Air. A Methven, formerly gar¬ 
dener to the Baroness A. de Rothschild, Pavilion de 
Pregny, Geneva, who is to be congratulated on the 
attainment of a position which promises to find 
abundant scope for the display of his undoubted 
ability as a gardener. 
Mr. Arthur Pope, for the last eighteen months 
gardener at Allington Hall, Grantham, and formerly 
gardener to the late Sir Chas. de Hoghton, Bart., 
Hoghton Towers, Preston, has been engaged as 
gardener to Capt. Neville Reeve, Ashby Hall, 
Lincoln, and will enter on his duties on September 
15th. 
The Crewe Chrysanthemum Society's Show is 
announced to be held on Saturday, November 
10th. 
Scabious, New dwarf yellow.—This is a continental 
novelty of 1893, but the hot summer of that year 
prevented it from being shown to the best advantage, 
This year it appears to be coming much better, the 
flowers fully double, and of a pleasing pale yellow 
colour. At the Basingstoke Flower Show last week 
a fine bunch of it was shown in a stand of hardy 
herbaceous perennials, but being an annual, the 
collection had to be shut out from competing. 
Kew Garden, Conservatories.—At a cost of about 
.£12,000 Her Majesty’s Office of Works is about to 
make extensive improvements in the conservatories 
at Kew Gardens. The Temperate House is to be 
enlarged by the addition of two wings—at the 
north and south ends—the heating apparatus in 
the Palm House is to be re-arranged, and the 
south wing of the large conservatory, known as 
No. 4, is to receive its final instalment of a 
reconstruction that was commenced three years 
ago. 
National Chrysanthemum Society.—At a meeting of 
the General Committee, held on Monday evening, 
Mr. B. Wynne, presiding, four Fellows and fourteen 
ordinary members were elected, and a w'arm greeting 
was accorded to Air. Briscoe-Ironside, on his re¬ 
appearance on the Committee after his lengthy stay 
in Italy. While residing in the sunny South, Air. 
Briscoe-Ironside, devoted much of his leisure to the 
scientific crossing of Chrysanthemums, and has 
brought a large number of seedlings home with him. 
The blooming of them this autumn is being looked 
forward to with great interest. 
Marigold, Single, Legion of Honour.—This is a 
very compact dwarf-growing single-striped French 
Marigold that is being recommended for bedding 
purposes. In the London Road Seed trial grounds 
of Messrs. Sutton & Sons, at Reading, it is largely 
used as an edging plant, and with the best effect— 
there is so much of it as to afford a satisfactory test 
as to its coming true from seed. That it does this 
there can be no doubt, and the flowers being 
uniformly yellow, with dark stripes on the segments, 
and also being stout, erect, and w T ell displayed, it 
does, indeed, make an excellent bedding plant, 
especially during the late summer and autumn 
months. 
Re-afforesting Welsh H i I Is.—On the vote for^u,748, 
to complete the sum necessary for salaries and ex¬ 
penses in connection with the Department of Woods 
and Forests, Air. Lloyd-George asked for the 
appointment of a Departmental Inquiry into the 
practicability of re-afforesting the Welsh hills which 
had been stripped for State purposes. Sir. J. 
Hibbert said the Commissioner of Woods, who was 
responsible for the management of the property in 
Wales, was in sympathy with hon. members from 
the Principality. The matter was under considera¬ 
tion. The Commissioner proposed to visit the 
several localities concerned in order to ascertain 
how far they were suitable for the purpose desired, 
and how far the feelings of the inhabitants were in 
favour of the proposal. The inquiries would be 
open. 
Shirley Gardeners’ and Amateurs’ Improvement 
Association.—The monthly meeting of this Society 
was held on the 20th inst., Mr. B. Ladhams, 
F.R.H.S. presiding. The subject of the paper was 
“Vine culture and Grape growing generally 11 by 
Air. W. Mitchell, gardener to G. W. Fleming, Esq., 
Chilworth Alanor House. Air. Alitchell, who is a 
successful exhibitor of Grapes, based his remarks 
upon an experience of twenty-three years, dealt very' 
fully' with the methods of planting, setting, fruiting, 
&c. He also touched briefly on the subjects of 
manures, borders, rust, mildew, shanking, scalding, 
thrip, &c., and expressed a very decided opinion 
that a large number of vines suffered for the want of 
sufficient water at the roots. A great number of 
questions were put to Air. Alitchell, and, after reply¬ 
ing, Air. Alitchell was very heartily thanked for his 
paper on the proposition of the chairman, seconded 
by Mr. Armstrong. There was an interesting 
exhibition of Grapes, Vines in pots, &c., by Air. 
Alitchell, and Herbaceous Plants by Air. Ladhams. 
A Parish Flower Show.—The annual exhibition of 
the Glenbervie Hortus Club was held in the beauti¬ 
ful grounds of Glenbervie House, Kincardineshire, 
by the kind permission of J. B. Nicolson, Esq., on 
the 22nd ult.,and was as great a success as previously, 
while the exhibits were more numerous than for 
several years past. Competition is entirely limited 
to those living in the parish, and although the 
prizes are moderate in value, they are distributed 
over 205 classes, with the result that the show is 
well patronised by an industrial population, all 
striving with a healthy emulation to be prize-winners. 
The past season has been a rainy one, yet pot plants 
made a good display, while the cut flowers were ex¬ 
ceptionally fine. The principal feature of the show, 
however, was the vegetables, for which the district 
has long been famed. The Potato known as the 
Glenbervie used to be widely and extensively culti¬ 
vated in the north. Black Currants and Goose¬ 
berries were exceptionally large. Dairy produce and 
the products of household industry were all very 
superior and tempting in appearance. The district 
may be said to be situated almost amongst the out¬ 
lying spurs of the Grampians in fertile valleys, and 
as the shooting season is now in full swing, there was 
a large attendance of landed proprietors and others, 
who at other periods of the year reside in London, 
Edinburgh, and other large towns, so that the show 
in many respects might be looked upon as a social 
gathering of the people of the district. Sports and 
games were also held in connection with the show. 
--J-- 
TEACHING THE YOUNG 
IDEA* 
At first sight this book seemed intended as a popular 
history of plants for the public generally, but on 
perusal it bears evidence of having been written for 
the use of the students in some school, as is indeed 
explained in the preface, namely, for the students of 
the Chautauqua Town and County Club at Houghton 
Farm, Mountainville, New York. It is written in a 
popular style, and in simple language suitable for 
students in the elementary phases of gardening, and 
calculated to waken the powers of observation and 
“teach the young idea how to shoot.’’ It is really 
notorious how little is known about the useful vege¬ 
table products of the earth, and less about plants 
generally, by those who have never undertaken their 
study. 
The writer, in speaking of useful friends, says 
there are only about 240 kinds of really valuable 
and useful plants throughout the world. This 
number on the faee of it seems very small, but the 
definition is inadequate since the writer goes on to 
include flowering plants and forest trees afterwards. 
They are certainly valuable and useful, considering 
the large industries dependent upon them, and the 
means of a livelihood which they furnish to millions 
throughout the world. Altogether the useful sub¬ 
jects are grouped under the headings of food, fodder, 
wood, fabric, medicine, and flow'ering plants, and 
examples of each are given with advice to students 
to add such others as come under their notice. We 
are amused, however, to see Ginseng included under 
food plants. The Chinese physicians prescribe it 
for removing fatigue, restoring exhausted animal 
powers, and in fact to render man immortal, if any¬ 
thing on earth can do so. On the other hand, 
Tobacco is classed as a medicinal plant, a statement 
which is equally curious. Examples of classifica¬ 
tion and description are given, so that the students 
may work out others for themselves. 
The multiplication or propagation of plants is 
* Talks About our Useful Plants. By Charles 
Barnard. New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company, London 
and Toronto, 1S94. 
dealt with under the fanciful heading of “Plants 
with two Lives,’’ and this is explained as repro¬ 
duction by seeds and by offsets, runners, etc. Two 
lives in one is explained by the phenomenon of two 
kinds of Apple on one tree, a result brought about 
by the process of budding or grafting. One tree 
might bear ten or fifty kinds of Apples, so that we 
could have ten or fifty lives in one according to the 
explanation. The teaching, however, is practical 
enough, although a few illustrations would have 
helped the student greatly to grasp the subject. 
Some woodcuts show the difference between an 
intelligent use of the pruning knife and a stupid and 
aimless abuse of it on the form of young Apple trees. 
This is a subject that the young gardener cannot 
afford to ignore, for the mischief caused by the mis¬ 
use of pruning implements is very great and 
disastrous to the well being of young trees. 
Weeds are spoken of as plants out of place, and the 
necessity of keeping them down with 'unsparing 
diligence to give the cultivated plants a chance is 
duly impressed upon the students, and the reasons 
for doing so given, The article on creatures out of 
place refers to animals of all kinds that must, if 
possible, be kept out of gardens, particularly during 
the fruit season. Various designs for scaring birds 
or keeping them from fruit are mentioned from the 
scarecrow, so unlike anything real that the birds take 
delight in sitting upon its head, to a boy or a man 
whose business is to drive them from the crops. 
Sometimes guns are arranged so as to fire off every 
few minutes, but in no case is the shooting of them 
advocated. On the other hand when the cultivator 
fails to exterminate or hold insect enemies in check, 
he is recommended to call the English sparrows to 
his aid. Further on the writer says “ above all, 
cultivate the friendship of the birds. Never, on any 
account, allow a song-bird to be killed on your land. 
It is better even to lose a few quarts of Cherries and 
to keep the birds." 
-- 
HARDY HERBACEOUS PLANTS IN 
FLOWER. 
Acanthus spinosus.— Although a few of the species 
of Bear’s Breech find a place in gardens, they by no 
means enjoy that distribution to w'hich their bold 
and handsome appearance entitles them. A. spinosus 
is by no means so well known as that whose leaves 
were copied upon the Corinthian capitals, namely A. 
mollis. The Spiny Bear's Breech has deeply cut 
leaves with narrow spiny segments, and tall, stately 
stems bearing curiously formed purplish flow'ers 
The species is a native of south Europe, is perfectly 
hardy and may be propagated by division in autumn, 
winter or spring during open weather. 
Helianthus multiflorus Bouquet d’Or. —There 
are three double varieties of this Sunflower, and 
Bouquet d’Or is, in the opinion of many, the best. The 
heads are semi-globular, golden yellow and consist of 
very numerous, narrow florets, compactly arranged, 
and without any ray. As a moderatelydwarf Sunflower 
it is highly desirable, either for the herbaceous bor¬ 
der or to plant amongst shrubs or in clumps or beds 
on the grass. It is easily increased by division. 
Lysimachiaciliata. —This North American species 
is very suitable for border culture, where it appears 
more graceful than certain others whose flowers are 
more densely crowded and stiff in habit. The up¬ 
right stems are generally about 2 ft. high and pro¬ 
duce small clusters of stalked flowers in the axils of 
the leaves. The latter are ovate-lanceolate and 
fringed on the stalks, a fact to w’hich the specific 
name applies. The flowers are of good average size 
for the genus and of a pleasing light yellow. The 
plant is easily grown in any garden soil that is not 
too dry, and may be propagated by division in 
autumn or spring, preferably the former, so that it 
may get thoroughly established before drought sets 
in. 
Lilium Chalcedonicum.— The Scarlet Turk’s- 
cap Lily is easily cultivated after it has got 
established, and is well worthy of waiting for. The 
densely leafy stems vary from 2 ft. to 4 ft. in height 
and terminate in a cluster of brilliant scarlet flowers 
generally without spots, but sometimes wdth small 
dark dots on the lower half of the segments. The 
flowers are drooping and contrast well with those 
of L. candidum and L. testaceum, which are as 
easily grown. 
Anemone japonica elegans. —The stems of this 
beautiful variety grow to a height of 3 ft., 4 ft., or 
