104 
the gardening world. 
October IB, 1894, 
FLORICULTURE. 
The Gold-Laced Polyanthus. 
When a leading florist like Mr. James Douglas—who, 
it is only reasonable to suppose has every convenience 
for wintering plants in safety—tells us, as he has 
done, that he finds it extremely difficult to winter 
Gold-laced Polyanthuses with anything like success, 
it is not to be wondered at that others fail also. I 
have tried many a time to winter a few named 
varieties only to find that they apparently do well 
for a time and then suddenly die away, gener¬ 
ally rotting away at the collar. Then one is 
disposed to say I will try no more, but what florist 
having anything like grit within him likes to be 
beaten by a simple plant ? It is not in the nature 
of an ardent florist to be conquered in this way, but I 
wish I knew how to surmount the difficulty. 
For years past I have purchased in the autumn— 
obtaining my supply from the Midlands—always 
receiving small plants having the appearance of being 
severely divided—these 1 have received in October, 
and placed round the sides of pots standing in a cold 
frame. For a time they appear to do well, and then 
in the depth of the winter they die, one after the 
other, as constitutionally unfit for the struggle for 
existence. I had thought the fault was my own until 
I saw that Mr. Douglas has the same experience, 
and then I began to think that after all my method 
of treatment was not so much at fault. 
The sorts I have been hitherto able to obtain are 
George IV., always scarce and dear; Exile, 
Cheshire Favourite, Lancashire Hero, Prince 
Regent, President, and William IV., a very good 
selection of black and red ground flowers, every one 
of them delightful when they grow freely and bloom 
finely. I have sometimes thought that the fogs, 
which were sweeping over London from east to west, 
had something to do with the failure, but last winter 
was unusually free from fog, and yet the plants died 
in the same way. Always it seems to me as if the 
roots were the most vulnerable part. Despite 
failure in the past I mean to try once more for the 
sake of the Gold-laced Polyanthus, and to preserve 
the classes for these in the schedule of prizes of the 
National Auricula Society. 
Advice from those who have failed is not worth 
much, but I may venture to say that the spring 
bloom depends very much upon the strength of the 
plant and upon its capacity to put forth young roots 
near the leaves. When a plant comes to me in 
autumn, I cut away all the roots that appear to be 
inactive, leaving only those that are so, and I then 
place the plants having a fair amount of roots in the 
middle of the smallest pots they can be put into, and 
I use a compost made up of good yellow loam, leaf 
soil, sand, and well-decomposed manure. The 
pots are well drained and the soil is used sufficiently 
ipoist to nourish the roots for a week at least, so 
that the necessity for giving water may not 
immediately arise. They are then placed in a cold 
frame where there is plenty of light, a little air being 
left on unless the weather turns frosty. All the 
smaller plants go round the sides of pots, three or 
four in a pot, and they are treated similarly. To all 
appearance this is the correct treatment, but to 
employ the words of Lady Macbeth, I Vc fail. It is 
after a time of severe frost that the signs of distress 
are held out, and then disaster follows disaster in 
quick succession. Mr. Douglas has stated that the 
same experience comes to him with seedlings, and I 
have had to undergo a similar disappointment, and 
that being so, one can hardly think the cause of 
death in the case of the named sorts is altogether 
traceable to constitutional debility. 
Last spring, when in Cambridgeshire, I saw in the 
flower garden of a country residence some plants of 
gold-laced Polyanthusses obtained from some seed 
from Messrs. Sutton & Sons, of Reading. In the bed 
were three or four very promising seedlings, and I 
obtained permission to bring one away with me, a 
black ground with a lovely clear golden centre. 
This plant I made into half-a-dozen, and I hope to 
get some seed from these in the early part of next 
summer, and so obtain a small family of promising 
seedling varieties. 
I think we may reasonably hope for something 
good from a strain of seedlings Mr. James Thurstan 
has. When he becomes settled in his new home in 
the Midlands, and has sufficient leisure to devote to 
his favourite flowers, I hope he will turn his attention 
to this gold-laced Polyanthus and score successes. 
Mr. Thurstan has a lofty ideal to work by. I know of 
no one who sets such store upon the essential points 
of quality in a gold-laced Polyanthus, and I am sure 
he will keep the attainment of these steadily in view : 
may I not also hope that others wi'l be induced to 
turn their attention to this fascinating flower. A 
well-developed Polyanthus is supremely beautiful— 
a deliverance of opinion I stand by. There are some 
who say in depreciation of the flower that black and 
red grounds are all alike, but this is the voice of 
prejudice, of which we have a great deal too much in 
the floriculture world. A distinguished (?) florist said 
the other day that he would not vote for an award to 
a particular seedling flower because he did not like 
the colour. I reminded him that what he did not like 
hundreds of others might, and that he should think 
of the likings of others as well as his own dislikes ; 
all other points of quality being present in the flower. 
But he wrapped his narrow robe of prejudice about 
him, and his vote was counted among the noes.— 
R.D. 
- -** - 
RESTING ADIANTUMS. 
If these useful plants are to throw up well next 
season they should have perfect rest during the 
winter months. Keeping them in heat during this 
part of the year is simply ruinous to them, weakening 
the crowns so much as to mike it impossible for 
them to make strong growth when wanted. From 
now, the temperature of the house in which they are 
kept should be gradually lowered, and only sufficient 
water given to keep the remaining fronds in good 
condition for cutting. When these are removed the 
cooler the plants are kept the better. In fact, I 
heard a man say that his Adiantums stood ever so 
many degrees of frost last year. They were wintered 
in a cool house, without fire-heat of any kind, and 
they seem to have taken no harm whatever. 
To provide good fronds for winter cutting we 
have a wall 25 ft. long and 6 ft. high, planted with 
Adiantum cuneatum and A. c. mundulum, the latter 
being grown chiefly for the making of button-holes. 
The late Mr. Booty’s fern tiles are fixed upon this 
wall a foot apart from each other, and in these the 
Ferns are planted. The plants were started into 
growth last Christmas, and by July all the fronds 
were cut off. After being given a top-dressing they 
were started again, and at the present the tiles are 
scarcely visible, so vigorous is the growth made.— 
J. G. Pettinger, Strawberry Dale Nursery, Harrogate. 
-- 5 -- 
THE WILD GARDEN.* 
It is over twenty years since the first edition of this 
book first saw the light, and the author says that 
much experience tells him that the “ Wild Garden ” 
deserved to live, and that the ideas contained in it 
“ may be fertile in making our open air gardens more 
artistic and delightful.” We heartily concur in this 
sentiment, and think the wild garden, if carried out 
on natural lines, a phase of gardening which may 
add much to the embellishment and natural beauty 
of a place, and afford endless pleasure and instruc¬ 
tion to the gardener who carries it out, as well as 
wholesome recreation and pleasure to the owner and 
his family. It would be highly inappropriate, however, 
to carry out the idea in a confined or closely walled- 
in garden. A wild garden should have hedges, 
streams, banks, rocks, woods, or copses as its 
natural boundaries, and within such confines there is 
hardly any limit to the variety of picturesque 
scenes which may be introduced, provided always 
the physical aspect of the place is not outraged by 
the introduction of grossly foreign elements. 
The author devotes a long chapter to the subject 
of British wild flowers and trees. He cannot be 
more surprised than we are at the comparative 
neglect which British plants, whether trees, shrubs, 
border, Alpine, or aquatic subjects, suffer at the hand 
of collectors and planters. We cannot agree with 
Emerson that botany consists merely of Latin 
names. The flora of any country or district is to be 
regarded merely as a dictionary, a key or a reference 
book, to which the collector can at any time refer for 
the information which he may require about his 
treasures. Nor do we consider the pleasure in 
collecting plants for herbari or the garden different 
* The Wild Garden, or the Naturalization and Natural 
Grouping of Hardy Exotic Plants, with a chapter on the 
Garden of British Wild Flowers by W. Robinson, Author of 
“ The English Flower Garden.” Fourth Edition; Illustrated 
by Alfred Parsons. London : John Murray. 
in kind. The practice of collecting would be whole¬ 
some recreation in both cases, and the ultimate des¬ 
tiny of the plants collected, merely a matter of con¬ 
venience or taste, or of both. We hope, however, 
that the practice of collecting Orchids will not be¬ 
come common in this country, otherwise our native 
species will soon get exterminated. We have seen 
heaps of Orchids roughly dug up while in full bloom, 
huddled together in the collecting box, bruised, 
broken, and planted out when apparently half dead. 
Not a tithe of them having a chance of living from the 
outset. British Ferns, particularly rare or choice 
kinds, have been exterminated in the same way in 
many parts of the country. Seeds of wild plants 
should be employed, when obtainable, with which to 
stock the wild garden. 
Hints for the stocking of a wild garden are given 
without number, and the intelligent planter has only 
to exercise his ingenuity in producing live pictures 
that are at once artistic, natural, and in accordance 
with the surroundings of the place. We cannot quite 
agree with the author that Golden Rods and 
Michaelmas Daises did not exist outside of botanic 
gardens when he first wrote the “ Wild Garden.” 
Our experience is that some of the best of them had 
taken refuge in cottage and farm gardens, whose 
glory they were at their appointed seasons. Acci¬ 
dental pictures, too, we have seen like that of the 
colony of Myrrh and Harebells ; but in the case to 
which we refer the Myrrh found a strong competitor 
in the common Comfrey, which flourished amaz¬ 
ingly in spite of the fact that at present a species of 
foreign growth is recommended to be grown as a 
fodder plant in this country. These plants were 
growing beneath tall trees, while early in the year 
Cowslips, and later on Meconopsis cambrica 
naturalised themselves along the course of a stream 
close by. 
The picture of tne Cape Pond Weed is another 
good instance of what might be done with Aquatics 
in ponds and ditches, where, however.it is necessary 
to take care that the coarser natives do not choke 
down the weaker exotics. We remember rescuing 
a small piece of the double Marsh Marigold from a 
stream which was heavily overhung with the 
stronger growing British Ferns, and after separating 
the roots into four crowns, planted them on the edges 
of an island in the middle of a piece of ornamental 
water. During the spring of the second year they 
flowered so grandly that the proprietor wished to 
know where they had all come from, as those he put 
in the hardy fernery failed to thrive. In such cases, 
nature merely shows a beauty in appropriateness for 
each plant; and in proportion as the cultivator 
recognises and understands these facts, so will he 
succeed. All this, of course, applies to the wild 
garden, for a huge climbing Rose sprawling over a 
half-dead tree may be appropriate enough and 
beautiful withal in a state of wild nature, but the 
system could not be adopted to any great extent in 
well-dressed grounds, and roseries, as they are at 
present understood and planted. In the main argu¬ 
ments we can but agree, however, with the author, 
whose book is got up in good form, and constitutes 
very pleasant reading. It seems that there are two 
Chrysanthemums both natives of Hungary, namely 
C. uliginosum and C. serotinum. The latter only 
is mentioned in this book, although the two most 
comprehensive and modern gardening dictionaries 
do not mention the latter as having been introduced. 
We have little doubt the author means the plant 
universally known as Chrysanthemum or Pyrethrum 
uliginosum. 
-- 
THE ORIENTAL POPPY. 
The most unobservant must have noticed how 
popular the Poppies have become within the last 
decade. Many of the species and varieties are un- 
doubtably highly suitable for garden decoration, 
and when cut just as the blooms are opening, they 
last for a greater length of time in perfection when 
placed in clean water. The Oriental Poppy (Papa- 
ver orientale) and its varieties produce the largest 
flowers of any, and the large, black blotches at the 
base of the brilliant scarlet petals, produce a bit of 
colour which would be difficult to beat. As a matter 
of course a huge plant laden with flowers is best 
seen at a little distance, especially when the sun 
is shining upon them. The accompanying illustration 
shows this Poppy in front with a back ground of 
Wistaria chinensis and other contemporaneous 
