56 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
September 22, 1894, 
FLORICULTURE. 
Fancy Pansies from Busby. 
It is evident that the weather in Scotland is still 
favourable to the production of large blooms of the 
Pansy tribe, judging from a box of blooms sent us 
by Mr. John Smellie, Pansy Gardens, Busby, N.B. 
Many of them represent fine types of the fancy 
Pansy, and for size could hardly be beaten even in 
June, as they often measure close upon 3 in. in 
diameter. They may readily be classed into those 
put into commerce in 1893 and 1894, with the best 
selection of those to be sent out in 1895. Mrs. D. 
Johnstone is a bold flower with blackish-violet 
blotches and a narrow, white margin. Wm. Watson 
also belongs to 1893, and has blackish-violet blotches 
on all the petals, and a yellow margin. The upper 
petals have a violet-purple band beyond the 
blotch. 
The varieties that were put into commerce this 
year show a greater amount of variation and some 
very striking colours. In this category we should 
place W. H. Smith, the three blotches of which are 
almost black; the margin is bright yellow, and the 
upper petals are of a beautiful violet. Mrs. Wm. 
Watson is also very handsome, having five dark 
violet blotches, those on the three lower petals being 
very fine. Willie Shanks is a beautiful maroon- 
crimson flower, but the yellow edge is not very clearly 
defined. Mrs. John Currie is a bold flower with 
blackish-violet blotches and dark purple edges. Very 
handsome also is J. P. Tait with velvety-black 
blotches, and dark purple-top petals ; but the mar¬ 
gins are about equally occupied with red and yellow 
Marmion has violet blotches, but the mauve and 
white edges do not furnish that distinctness of hue 
which we should like. 
Some of those to be sent out next year are really 
acquisitions to this class of Pansies. The dark 
violet-blue blotches of Edith F. Gabb, are well 
defined and the edges white ; the upper petals are 
several shades paler with a narrow edge. Ella 
Murray is perhaps equally choice, for it took the 
first prize for the best yellow-edged seedling at 
Glasgow last year. The blotches are of a rich 
velvety-brown and the upper petals brown and 
purple. A bold and handsome flower is David G. 
M’Kay with dark violet blotches and a broad red- 
dish-purple margin. Constance Steele is a huge 
flower with well-defined blackish-violet blotches on 
all the petals and white edges tinted with purple. 
Doubtless it would make a fine display on the exhibi¬ 
tion board, for it is convex and recurved at the 
edges, giving the flowers the appearance of great 
depth. Bold and striking is Mahogany with black 
blotches and broad edges of the same colour as 
brownish-crimson Wallflower. The dark blotches 
of John Myles are surrounded with a purple line 
followed by a broad, rosy margin. Attractive also 
is Mrs. John Smellie with its dark velvety blotches 
and brownish-crimson and yellow lacing ; the upper 
petals are yellow with broad purple margins. John 
H. Thornley has dark violet blotches, creamy lacing 
and rich purple-top petals. The eye in most cases is 
small, well defined, and bright yellow. 
Seedling Carnations. 
We have received a box of seedling Carnations from 
Mr. Thos. Wright, Station Master at Thornton 
Dale, on the North Eastern Railway, several of 
which are quite equal to good named kinds that are 
grown in the open border. We were very much 
pleased with No. 1 which we should class with 
Theodore and Camellia. The flower was very 
refined in form and dark heliotrope, striped and 
flaked with brilliant scarlet-red. No. 2 very much 
resembled a hybrid, the Carnation and Dianthus 
chinensis Heddewigii flore pleno. The flowers were 
very full, and rose tinted with crimson and having a 
white edge to the petals. We should be pleased to 
receive foliage of it for determination. A large 
maroon-crimson flower (No. 3) was notable for the 
breadth and richness of its almost smooth petals. A 
purple variety (No. 4) slightly shaded with crimson 
was also very choice in its way, but the inner petals 
were narrower. A fancy sort (No. 4) would probably 
meet with favour if the bloom had been a little larger. 
It was very much striped with intense scarlet on a 
flesh-coloured ground. Another one (No. 6) striped 
and mottled with red, we did not consider very 
handsome. Nos. 7 and 8, if free flowering, would 
make good border Carnations on account of their 
bright scarlet colour ; the outer petals of the latter 
were very broad. The petals of No 9 were broad, 
smooth and clearer in colour, than those of the 
previous two ; and though the blooms were smaller 
they appeared much more refined, although rather 
past their best when we received them. A yellow 
ground variety (No. 10) was densely striped with 
crimson and red. A pale yellow one (No. 11) slightly 
striped with red might prove useful for border 
decoration if it is free flowering and hardy. The 
buff yellow variety (No. 12) striped with blackish 
crimson we could not very much admire. The 
same might be said of No. 13, which was heavily 
striped with blackish crimson on a red ground. 
Some might like it for the darkness of its tint. A 
fancy one (No. 14) was thinly striped with crimson 
and mottled with purple. No. 15 was a yellow sort 
slightly shaded with bufl ; and No. 16 was a yellow 
ground with a broad outer margin of crimson-scarlet 
to each petal. We should prefer it to either of the 
two preceding ones. Of all the above we consider 
1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8 and 9 the best and most attractive for 
border purposes. Both 2 and 3 and possibly some 
of the others were distinctly and pleasantly scented. 
Carnation Bucoleucn Clove. 
Under this name we have received from Mr. John 
Forbes, of Hawick, what may be described as a 
fancy variety very closely lined or striped with rose 
on a white ground, and deliciously clove scented. 
The blooms are moderate in size, perfectly double, 
with moderately broad petals, and the calyx is not 
liable to split. Mr. Forbes tells us that the plant 
grows very vigorously and flowers freely, so that it 
would constitute a suitable subject for border 
decoration. The chief value of the variety, how¬ 
ever, depends upon the delicious clove scent emitted 
by the flowers even after they have been cut for 
some time. Add to this that the flowers are of a 
light and pleasing colour, and easily grown under 
ordinary culture in the open border, and we have a 
novelty of considerable value. It has already been 
awarded five First-class Certificates at different 
exhibitions. 
Pansy Rev. Jas. Robertson. 
With the northern, the midland, and the London 
shows for Pansises and Violas a great impulse has 
recently been given to the cultivation of these beau¬ 
tiful flowers, and an incentive to raise new and 
improved varieties. The variety under notice is one 
of those fine improvements. It is a fancy variety, 
quite circular in outline, and a great acquisition to 
the class to which it belongs. All the petals have 
blackish-violet blotches, those on the three lower 
being the best. The upper petals are crimson- 
purple fading slightly towards the edge, which is 
clear yellow. The lacing of the three lower petals 
is almost perfect, much broader than that of the 
upper petals, but of the same hue. The small 
golden-yellow eye is well defined. We received it 
from Mr. John Forbes, of Hawick. 
Carnation Raby Castle. 
This variety was awarded a First-class Certificate 
by the Royal Horticultural Society at the Chiswick 
trials in 1890. The flowers are of medium size, and 
bright salmon-pink in colour, while the edges of the 
petals are very prettily serrated. It is one of the 
most profuse bloomers amongst all the varieties in 
cultivation. Coming into flower before most of the 
other sorts, it keeps on blooming for some time after 
they have ceased to do so. This renders it a most 
desirable variety for planting in large quantities 
where an abundance of cut flowers are needed. 
When we add that in addition to its extreme flori- 
ferousness, it has a hardy constitution which enables 
it to thrive under most adverse circumstances, we 
feel justified in asserting, that, as a standard variety 
it has very few to equal it, and certainly none to 
surpass it. I have seen it growing in places in the 
North of England where the winters are long 
and, as a rule, severe, and this, too, in ground that 
certainly was not the ideal of the Carnation grower. 
Masses of it remained untouched from year to year, 
and each season threw immense quantities of bloom 
that met with the greatest appreciation, for the filling 
of vases, etc., indoors. It may be propagated easily 
by layering in the usual way. The layers must be 
lifted when rooted, potted off and kept in a cold 
frame until the ensuing spring, when they may be 
planted out in the positions intended for them to 
bloom in. Once they are established they will grow 
as freely and give no more trouble than do clumps 
of the old-fashioned Pink.— G. 
VICTORIA PARK. 
Considerable alterations have been effected since 
this time last year in Victoria Park, which seems to 
be getting out of the groove in which it has been 
running for years past. The extensive grounds 
stretching to the north-east, and which have been 
trodden almost absolutely bare of grass, are now 
being taken in hand by the recently appointed 
superintendent, Mr. J.W.Moorman, who will in a short 
time make them more worthy of the name of a 
park. To avoid shutting up the grounds against the 
public, they are being taken in squares, trenched, 
levelled, and sown down with suitable grasses, and 
after the latter have got well established, the public 
are then allowed to roam over the ground as 
formerly. Another new feature of public interest is 
the construction of a large Palm house or winter 
garden, towards the west-end of the park, and half¬ 
way between the Bonner Hall Bridge entrance, and 
the gate opposite. This house was opened to the 
public on the 7th of December last, and is 60 ft. 
long, 35 ft. wide and 40 ft. high. It is a curvilinear 
structure, with a sharp ridge and when completed 
will have a wing added to it on either side, each 59 ft. 
long, and 30 ft. wide, and will thus forma transept. 
Several trees of Eucalyptus globulus planted out in 
the central bed are already 30 ft. high, and furnished 
with both forms of leaves. Two large specimens 
of Dicksonia antartica originally consisted of one 
piece of two stems, but one of them was sawn off 
with a cross-cut saw, and both have heads of 
twenty-six and eighteen fronds respectively. Trees 
of Ficus elastica in pots are also 10 ft. to 12 ft. high, 
and together with Fatsia japonica, tall Dracaenas, 
Araucaria excelsa, Kentia Fosteriana, Latanias, 
Corypha australis, and other Palms form the 
primary furnishing of the house. All round the side 
shelves are various flowering plants such as Hedy- 
chium Gardnerianum, Abutilons, Plumbagos, 
Celosias, Fuchsias, Pelargoniums, and numerous 
other subjects, which have kept the house gay all 
the summer. It is open to the public from 10 a.m. 
to 4 p.m. in winter, and till 9 p.m. in summer. 
There are several ranges of smaller houses both old 
and new, in which the many thousands of bedding 
plants are wintered. A new departure is being 
inaugurated by Mr. Moorman in an attempt to 
enliven the park in spring by the use of hundreds 
or thousands of Polyanthus and other hardy subjects 
now being rapidly brought to the front for spring 
bedding. Formerly the beds were wont to lie bare 
for eight months in the year, a fact which was not 
very creditable to a large London park. There are 
several broad borders surrounding clumps of Hollies 
or other shrubbery, and at present occupied with 
Pelargoniums, Cannas, and other bedding subjects, 
but which Mr. Moorman would like to see filled 
with ornamental, and representative hardy herb¬ 
aceous plants, which would keep up a more perennial 
interest than the tender subjects which are rather 
overdone for modern ideas and tastes. 
The Bedding. 
Here as elsewhere there are some bedding plants 
which have not given great satisfaction owing to the 
unfavourable character of the past summer. Fine 
foliaged subjects on the contrary have as a rule 
grown splendidly. The most notable exception to 
this is Begonia semperflorens Vernon’s var. with the 
metallic red leaves. Commencing near the Bonner 
Hall Bridge entrance and passing round the north 
side of the ornamental water we pass a series of beds 
that are usually very interesting. The first is a cir¬ 
cular bed filled with tall Ficus elastica, Fatsia 
japonica, Lilium auratum and Lobelia splendens 
Victoriae with an undergrowth of blue Ageratum 
and Coleus, edged with Crystal Palace Gem Pelar¬ 
gonium. This has done well. Close by is a rockery 
of a somewhat exotic character, carpeted with golden 
Creeping Jenny, Sedums, Mesembryanthemum, and 
Antennaria tomentosa, and planted with spiny 
Opuntias, Aloes and Canary Island Houseleeks. A 
circular bed of spring-struck Fuchsias interspersed 
with Ficus and carpeted with Alternanthera shows 
what can be dene with Fuchsias in a cold, wet 
summer. None of the flowering plants have done 
better. A similar bed of Ricinus Gibsoni, Solanum 
robustum, rusty and spiny, and yellow Marguerites 
with an undergrowth of Perilla, has also done well. 
A curved bank of Cannas, Lilium speciosum, and 
Nicotianaaffinis with an undergrowth of Gnaphalium 
