68 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
September 29, 1894. 
must account for the favourable reception 
that is now very widely accorded them. 
The strictly florist’s types of the Carna¬ 
tion, such as Picotees, bizarres and flakes 
have lost considerably in popular estimation, 
and we cannot wonder at it seeing how 
poor a constitution and how inconstant as 
to colour, many of them are. The florist 
still clings to them as strongly as he. can, 
but the public declares for hardy varieties 
that may be grown in the open border 
without any artifical protection, and of well 
defined self or even fancy colours. The 
flowers themselves may be as refined as it 
is possible to make them, but they and 
the plants must possess the valuable pro¬ 
perties above named. If this want is 
honestly supplied, Carnations in the near 
future will be more widely cultivated than 
ever they were before. 
-- 
L'Orchideene.—The Annual General Meeting of 
the members of this Belgian Society of Amateur 
Orchidists, will be held at io a.m. on Sunday, at 
79, Rue Wiertz, Brussels, to receive the report of 
the Managing Committee for the past year, and to 
select eighteen members to form a jury for the 
meetings of the ensuing year. 
The Crystal Palace Fruit Show.—The fruit show to be 
held by the Royal Horticultural Society at the Crystal 
Palace on Sept. 29th and Oct. 1st and 2nd promises to 
be a very large one. The gardeners’ luncheon will take 
place in the garden hall, on the left-hand side of the 
great clock, at 1.30 p.m. punctually. At 3.30 p.m. a 
paper on “ Fruit Growing in Small Gardens," pre¬ 
pared by the Rev. W. Wilks and Mr. Geo. Bunyard, 
will be read in the garden hall, and discussion 
thereon invited. On Monday and Tuesday, at the 
same time and place, Mr. Chas. Wise and Mr. Geo. 
Monro will lecture respectively on “ Fruit Growing 
on a Large Scale," and "Packing, Grading, and 
Marketing Fruit." 
The Potato Harvest in Lincolnshire.—The Potato 
harvest has now commenced in South Lincolnshire, 
and the results so far are a striking contrast to last 
year. The crops are found to be light, and in 
addition disease is prevalent. On some land a large 
proportion of the tubers are wholly unfit for market. 
The Devon and Exeter Gardeners’ Mutual Improve¬ 
ment Association.—The following is the autumn pro¬ 
gramme of this Society for the session 1894-95. The 
meetings will be held in the Council Chamber of the 
Guildhall, at 8 o'clock prompt : 3rd October, Mr. 
W. Swan, Bystock Gardens, on “ Present Day 
Gardening ” 17th October, Mr.. T. Brealey, Exeter, 
on “ Covent Garden ’’; 31st October, Mr. S. Radley, 
Exeter, on “ Hyacinths, Tulips, and Bulbous Plants 
for Exhibition ” 14th November, Mr. A. C. Bartlett, 
Dropmore Gardens, on " Flowering Trees and 
Shrubs"; 28th November, Mr. F. W. Parker, 
Exeter, on “ The Devon and Exeter Horticultural 
Society—Its History and Development”; 12th 
December, Mr. F. W. Meyer, Royal Nurseries, 
Exeter, on “ Public Parks and Gardens.” 
North of Scotland Horticultural and ArboricuItura| 
Association. —The Annual General Meeting of the 
members of this Association was held in the Christian 
Institute, Aberdeen, on the 20th inst. Mr. J. Munro, 
Bonnymuir, President, in the chair. The secretary’s 
and treasurer's reports were submitted and approved. 
The secretary then read the report of a sub¬ 
committee appointed to deal with the arrangements 
for the winter's programme. The first question 
was:—Should the Association be carried on 
for another year, and, also, if it* were to be carried 
on, what should the nature of the programme be ? 
The committee recommended, in the event of the 
Association being carried on, that an endeavour 
should be made to get up a course of lectures bearing 
on the subject of horticulture. The chairman 
strongly protested against the idea of breaking 
up the Association, even for a single year, 
and was supported in his views by several 
of the members, and it was agreed to keep 
the Association going for another year. Office¬ 
bearers were appointed as follows :—President, Mr. 
J. Munro, Bonnymuir; Vice-President, Mr. A. 
Mortimer, Tullos; Secretaries, Messrs. William 
Reid and Mr. Minty, Treasurer, Mr. William 
Wyllie. 
Birmingham Amateur Gardeners’ Association. —A 
well-attended meeting of the Amateur Gardeners' 
Association was held at their rooms, 116, Colmore 
Row, on Wednesday evening last, Mr. C. Shotton in 
the chair. The exhibition of plants, flowers and fruit 
surpassed all previous ones in quality, although the 
number of exhibits was not so large as usual. Mr. 
J. H. White, of Worcester, exhibited (not for 
competition) a splendid collection of fruit, consisting 
of Apples, Pears, Plums and Damsons, in varieties 
most suitable for the district. Messrs. Hy. Beech, T. 
P. Cope, W. H. Peake and W. B. Child, of Acocks 
Green, were amongst the other exhibitors, a fine 
collection of herbaceous blooms shown by the latter 
was much admired. The Association has now 
adopted a medal of its own special design; this, of 
course, will make the owning of such a medal much 
more valuable. The membership is steadily increas¬ 
ing, and as the season for out-door gardening is now 
coming to a [close, it is hoped that there will be a 
large accession of new members. This is the only 
means by which amateurs can keep up their enthu¬ 
siasm as well as increase their knowledge. Full 
particulars may be had from the hon. secretary, Mr. 
Wm. B. Griffin, Wychbury, Alcester Road, 
Moseley. 
The Plague of Thistles.—It is said, and perhaps 
with some degree of truth, that a country without a 
grievance is usually accounted dull, and a perfectly 
contented agriculturist is rare as the sedge warbler 
or pine marten. In many places in the West and 
elsewhere at the present time, farmers and market 
gardeners are waxing wroth over the aggressiveness 
of the Thistle. They have no fancy for the " symbol 
dear,” which appealed so strongly to the heart and 
the imagination of the poet. Sentiment, gardens, 
and huge flower pots apart, the Thistle is apt to be a 
nuisance of the first rank. On some of the English 
flats where the wind bears Thistle-down over miles of 
country, it is a prime article in the agricultural 
creed to wage war against the uprising offender of 
the arable areas. With " spud " in hand the cleanly 
agriculturalist attacks betimes the offender which 
makes such extensive mischief once it reaches the 
downy-headed stage. A careless man may easily 
become a pest to his neighbours by rendering mercy 
to the wandering weed. The plague of Thistles now 
to the fore is a legacy from the sunshine of last year. 
Weeds of all kinds seeded to perfection during the 
clear summer of 1893, but the dull skies of the past 
few weeks and future diligence should keep Thistles 
and like foes within moderate bounds for a time. 
Market Gardening in Cornwall.— It is somewhat 
extraordinary that, whilst it is said there has been 
an extraordinary glut of stone fruit sent to market 
from most parts of the country, Cornwall should 
have to lament the absence in quantity of this fruit. 
This is very different to the state of things last year, 
when many growers in the west used the fruit as 
manure rather than pay the expenses of carriage. 
But the fruit has grown larger, and kept better. 
Grapes are considerably more in quantity and 
better in quality. We have it, however, from one 
of the largest buyers that the Cornish Grape is not 
so favoured in the London Market as could be 
wished, owing to the want of depth of colour. This 
is the first time such a remark has reached us. 
Mushrooms in Cornwall, are an entire failure this 
year. The Apple crop, too, is remarkably poor. 
On the point of Potatos according to Lord Falmouth’s 
gardener, Mr. J. Smith, they are, as a rule this year, 
free from disease. The following varieties have 
done well:—Ashleaf, Early Puritan, a very heavy 
cropper, and which cooks white and flowery ; Ruby, 
also good; Snowdrop, first-rate quality, but a few 
diseased ; Windsor Castle, a very fine second early 
Potato of first-class quality, very prolific and free 
from disease, top dwarf; Reading Giant, an immense 
cropper, tuber very large, and of excellent quality, 
should be planted three feet between the rows, 
and two feet in the rows ; Schoolmaster, a fine 
main crop variety, a few diseased. For latest of all 
we prefer that well-known variety Magnum Bonum, 
it is free from disease and of excellent quality, as 
grown in Cornwall in strong loam.— Z. 
Vines and Vine Culture.—The best book on Grapes. By 
Archibald F. Barron, Superintendent of the Royal Horticultural 
Society's Gardens, Chiswick; Secretary of the Fruit Com¬ 
mittee. Demy 8vo., Handsomely bound in Cloth, Price, 5s., 
post free, 5s. 3d. Publisher, Gardening World, i, Clements 
Inn, Strand, W.C. 
CYCLAMEN PERSICUM 
AND ITS VARIETIES. 
There are very few plants, indeed, that enjoy so 
great a share of public favour as these beautiful 
flowers, and certain it is that none are more suitable 
for pot culture to furnish decorative material for the 
houses during winter and spring. Although thou¬ 
sands of plants are grown and sold every year by 
our nurserymen, very many gardeners are by no 
means successful in their culture. A well-known 
gardener, lately deceased, said, not very long before 
his death (and this after he had seen many of the 
best gardens in the country), that gardeners in 
private establishments could not grow Cyclamens. 
Whether he was justified in making this somewhat 
sweeping assertion or not, it is very true that there 
is plenty of room for improvement in the cultivation 
of this beautiful plant. One reason for so many 
failures is, I believe, the fondness that so many have 
for pinning their faith to the growing of old corms. 
In several places with which I am intimately 
acquainted the old roots were grown on year after 
year, and an immense amount of trouble taken with 
them, and yet very few flowers were obtained. 
Whether it is really profitable to attempt to grow a 
Cyclamen after it has passed through two flowering 
seasons is, I fancy, really doubtful, and yet there are 
plenty of gardeners who waste their time and energy 
in trying to get roots to produce flowers for six or 
seven, whereas the same amount of trouble directed 
towards the cultivation of young plants would have 
yielded infinitely better results. 
The seed should be sown in autumn in well drained 
pans and placed in a frame having a temperature of 
not less than 54 0 Fahr. In sowing the pot or pan 
should be filled within half an inch of the top after 
the seed has been covered. A piece of glass must 
then be placed over the pot. This will serve to 
protect the seeds from the ravages of slugs, etc., as 
well as to render the atmosphere immediately in 
contact with the soil in which the seed is sown moist 
and humid. As soon as the seedlings are sufficiently 
large to handle they must be pricked off into pots 
filled with some light compost. They may be kept 
through the winter in a temperature of between 50° 
and 55 0 Fahr. In spring the young plants should 
be potted off singly into thumb pots, using a compost 
containing a large percentage of leaf soil. If placed 
in a growing temperature the young plants will make 
rapid progress. They must be shifted on into larger 
pots as occasion requires. By the end of July or 
the beginning of August they should be given their 
final shift into 5 in. or, in case of very vigorous plants, 
6 in. pots, in which they will flower. 
Shading during bright days will be a necessary 
operation, and an occasional use of the syringe will 
serve to keep the foliage clean and healthy. Cycla¬ 
men are rather subject to the attacks of green fly 
and thrips; red spider will also cause trouble 
occasionally. Light fumigations at intervals will 
check the ardour of the green fly ; thrips, however, 
are rather more persistent in their attentions, and to 
fumigate strongly enough to kill them would result 
in serious injury to the p’ants. Sponging with soft- 
soap water must, therefore, be resorted to to effect 
their removal. After flowering, the plants will need 
a period of rest. Water should then be given 
sparingly, but not withheld altogether or the bulbs 
will shrivel. At one time, some cultivators used to 
urge the necessity of drying the bulbs off completely. 
Since their day this method of treatment has been 
proved over and over again to be a most erroneous 
one, and it is really a wonder that it was so 
thoroughly believed in and so extensively practised. 
While there are. as I have already stated, certain 
times during the life of a Cyclamen when the water 
supply may be largely curtailed with advantage, at 
no period of its growth should it be allowed to 
become dry. 
Cyclamen persicum originally came from Greece 
and Palestine, but it has been a familiar occupant of 
our plant houses for a considerable time. There 
are several forms or varieties upon the market at 
present, each more or less distinct. The beautiful 
C. p. grandiflorum The Bride is too well known and 
too highly valued to need other than a passing 
mention here, whilst many other varieties are con¬ 
stantly being introduced, the results of careful 
selection of seed from the plants exhibiting the 
greatest perfection of form and brilliancy of colour 
in its flowers.— G. 
