THE GARDENING WORLD 
October 27, 1894. 
FliORICUkTUSE. 
The Florist’s Polyanthus. 
In the culture of this Polyanthus, which is the only 
truly gold-laced type, two very important points 
are—(i) not to grow the plants under pot culture if 
it can be avoided ; and (2) not to try to propagate or 
establish plants in the autumn. If pot culture must 
needs be adopted, then Mr. Thurstan's plan of keep¬ 
ing the pots well plunged is the best. I should say 
that to be shelved under greenhouse glass would be 
distastefu to a plant that loves cool moist surround¬ 
ings and no coddling. The lateral fibres on the 
roots the Polyanthus are extremely fine and 
delicate, and hence very susceptible to heat and 
dryness reaching them through a pot exposed to any 
such influences. 
There is a magic month for propagating the Poly¬ 
anthus by division, and that month is May. Pull 
the plant to pieces when the flowers are well over 
and the spring foliage has attained its full length and 
breadth. At that time the growths for the future 
appear as several almost sessile eyes of short red 
bracts seated on the old root stem neck, and each 
connected with a few full-sized leaves. 
Each new heart, with its share of foliage, should 
be slipped off the parent stem and planted firmly 
and deeply enough to all but cover the proud young 
heart with its red leaf bracts. No part of the old 
root stem should be left attached. The young plant 
is able and ready to strike at once from the collar, 
but the strong leading new roots must meet with the 
earth immediately and receive no check. 
I have heard much and seen something of the so- 
called gold-laced Polyanthus of other than our florist 
section, but would trust none of them for seed 
parentage. 
The lacing is generally uneven, ragged or heavy, 
and broken in that critical central line down the 
middle of each petal. Neither is the yellow of the 
eye and lacing uniform, that of the lacing being often 
of a different, (usually weaker) shade from the yellow 
of the eye, which in its turn is often faulty in 
smoothness, purity, roundness and breadth. 
If we only had “ Kingfisher ’’ still with us in red- 
ground flowers, and “ Lord Lincoln ” in black, there 
would be much more hope for advancement in the 
true gold-laced Polyanthus. At present I only see 
" Lancer •' and “Geo. IV,” worth trying with, 
though Lancer is of short and dumpy habit in flower 
stems, and Geo. IV is, as a rule, coarse and big. In 
black grounds, “ Cheshire Favourite” is our most 
correct flower, and “ Lord Lincoln ” would have 
been the mate for that. Yet. have I raised great 
rubbish out of “ Cheshire Favourite,” even down to 
plain coloured primroses. 
Anyone taking up the florist Polyanthus should 
be prepared for profound disappointment and many 
false starts, or no start at all till he has some 
seedlings that look like promising departures in a 
move onward. The flower is very sportive, and 
faults imperceptible almost to a casual observer are 
grave in the eyes of the specialist. He is a man 
pretty well abused for being so particular, that is, 
for having eyes where other men have none; and in 
silent amusement we read the exhortations to 
abandon our special aim and to do no more than 
add to the already easy abundance of flowers in 
popular and common types. 
Well, though we have had better gold-laced 
Polyanthuses than we possess now, still they will 
surely come again to anyone with time and per¬ 
severance and room enough to follow the flower 
with patience and thoughtful care.— F. D. Horner, 
Burton-in-Lonsdale. 
Cimicifuga simplex.—This plant is well-nigh an 
unknown quantity to many gardeners, a fact 
to be regretted, for like other strangers it 
possesses intrinsic merits. In a show house, 
or conservatory its tall, graceful habit and the 
long panicled racemes of white flowers render it 
peculiarly suitable as a dot plant for dwarfer and 
bushier subjects. It is also known under the name 
of C. foetida, is a native of Siberia, where it is said 
it is used for the driving away of bugs, for which 
purpose the unpleasant odour which it possesses 
renders it particularly suitable. 
BRIAR ROSES. 
There is a group of free-flowering Roses known as 
“briars,” but not to be confounded with the com¬ 
mon Briar Rose of the hedgerows. They do not 
include varieties which are grown for exhibition, 
though they sometime appear at Rose shows in a 
collection of garden Roses—Roses which are culti¬ 
vated for the ornamentation of the garden. Among 
these " Briar ” Roses there are several that produce 
yellow flowers—and yellow is generally a favourite 
colour among lovers of Roses—though this tint is 
present among the tea-scented varieties. Marshal 
Niel, among the Noisette, and Boule d'Or among the 
Teas, being the two which perhaps have the most 
yellow in the blossoms. These Briar Roses are all 
hardy, as hardy as the common Dog Rose of the 
hedgerows, and they require no particular cultiva¬ 
tion except that they should be allowed to grow with 
scarcely any pruning, only the very weaker growths 
being cut away, which is necessary, as the flowers 
are always produced upon the wood of the previous 
year’s growth—a fact it is very important should be 
borne in mind. 
One of these is the yellow Austrian Briar, a very 
free-flowering Rose indeed, producing clear yellow 
flowers in great abundance. Another is the Austrian 
Copper, which bears purely single flowers of a 
nankeen or copper colour, the underpart of the 
petals shaded with orange. These are two very old 
Roses, as they were known in this country as far 
back as 1576. Another is Harrisoni, a double 
yellow Rose of a fine golden yellow colour, intro¬ 
duced to this country about 1830. Then there is the 
Persian Yellow, which is the deepest yellow of the 
Briar Roses, large, full, and very double, introduced 
to English gardens about the year 1838. Lastly, 
comes a charming Sweet Briar, known as Janet's 
Pride, which was found in a garden in the north of 
England a few years ago, and which has the fine 
perfumed foliage of the common Sweet Briar; the 
flowers are semi-double, shaded with crimson-lake, 
and having broad stripes of bright crimson, quite 
attractive in its colouring. I may add that these 
Roses can be bought of the Rose nurserymen in the 
autumn months at a moderate price, and they are 
either worked upon the stock of the old Dog Rose, 
or else raised from cuttings, and known as own root 
Roses. They do best in a fairly light soil, and in a 
somewhat dry and sunny position ; but during the 
hot summer months they should have the surface 
soil about them mulched with manure, and be well 
watered in dry weather.— R. D. 
-- 
THE VARIEGATED 
WINTER CRESS. 
Some day someone who is not at all particular about 
what is put into an advertisement will get hold of 
this and announce it as a new plant at a big price. 
He might advertise things a good deal less useful, 
but at the same time it is exasperating to a son of 
Adam who possesses a touch of Cain’s hasty temper 
to find he has been had. The most sweet-tempered 
man I ever knew swore (inwardly of course) when 
he was once had over a blue Rose—he went blue 
through the exertion of bottling up his noble rage. 
The variegated land Cress is a real thing, it is the 
common yellow Rocket in a kind of glorified form, 
but the blue Rose ! Reckitt’s Blue we know, and the 
blue at the tips of one's nose in frosty weather, 
saying nothing about other causes for the appearance 
of the colour in that prominent extremity. The 
blue rose is a dream of the ambitious rosarian. The 
other day a gardener sent me a plant of the variegated 
Winter Cress, and I had to blast his hope of making 
a fortune through it, for he really thought he had 
got hold of a bran new thing, and, for ought I know 
to the contrary, he may hug that belief to bis heart 
still. Not long since a gardener came to me at a 
flower show and described a new and wonderful 
plant which had come up in his garden. He gave 
me an elaborate description of it, and I had to tell 
him it was common enough. You should have seen 
how he received that intelligence. Like Naaman, 
the Syrian of old, he turned and went away in a 
rage. 
But though it is a weed in my garden, it is a real 
good thing in autumn, winter and spring until it 
flowers, and then it is of little value, t allow the 
plants in my garden to seed, and seedlings come up 
freely and almost everywhere. How the seeds 
reach such long distances from the plant I do not 
know, but they get there. It is so hardy, so bright, 
and persistent, and so accommodating that it is 
almost a pity it is so common, for it would otherwise 
be run after. Probably at no remote date some 
enterprising seedsman will offer seed at five shillings 
per packet, but that must be when we have more 
spare cash than at the present time. If I went in 
for early spring gardening the variegated Cress 
would be one of my most prominent plants.— R. D. 
--' 
THE LATE FROSTS. 
The few degrees of frosts we have experienced 
during the last three or four nights has put a full stop 
to the unusually plentiful supply of late vegetables. I 
suppose it is a good few years since such freedom 
from frost has been experienced, the splendid con¬ 
dition of the Dahlia at this advanced season being 
sufficient evidence of this. Up to the middle of 
last week, that is to say about October 17th, in many 
parts of the country good dishes of Runners and 
French Beans were being gathered, and I saw a lot 
of Tomatos in the open ripening off wonderfully 
well. Preparations have been made to cover these 
latter should occasion require, but up to that date 
protection had not been necessary. 
Now, however, a different tale may be told. In 
some localities ten degrees of frost have been 
registered, and this of course is enough to com¬ 
pletely cut up such tender subjects as Beans, 
Marrows, Tomatos, etc. As might be expected the 
autumn tints of which we heard so much a few days 
ago are now no more, for the leaves, whose dying 
efforts imparted those rich glowing tints to the land¬ 
scape which are so dear to all of us, forcing upon us 
as they do the conviction that the season of beauty 
is fast slipping from us, are in very many cases lying 
upon the ground beneath the trees upon whose 
branches but a few short days ago they so joyously 
fluttered. I have no doubt the prosaic matter of 
fact gardener will say with bated breath, and a good 
job too. This may seem to be gross Vandalism, but 
it certainly is very justifiable and by no means 
difficult to understand. 
There seems this year to be a great quantity of 
Holly berries, and these are fast acquiring the vivid 
red tint so suggestive to the minds of all of us of the 
season of frost and snow, mutual congratulations, 
and joyous revelry. In the hedges, too, the duller 
scarlet berries of the Hawthorn and the brighter 
“ Hips and Haws ” of the Wild Rose are now plainly 
visible, for the leaves which sheltered and hid them 
from our gaze have also succumbed to the advancing 
season. If there is any truth at all in the old idea 
that an abundance of wild fruits of this kind fore¬ 
tells a hard winter, a wise provision of Nature for 
the sustenance of her feathered children, we may 
expect a very trying season to all except the coal 
dealer.— H. 
-•*-- 
APPLE AND PEAR 
STOCKS. 
It is somewhat curious to an old gardener who can 
remember the advent of the Paradise Stock for Apples 
and the Quince stock for Pears, to find the subject 
cropping up in the gardening papers quite freshly 
every now and then, and being written about as if it 
was a new idea. Any reader of the gardening papers 
in the fifties and sixties will know what an excite¬ 
ment there was then about these stocks, and how, 
almost furiously, the battle on their merits and 
failings was fought by men who have been under 
the Daisies now for many years ; I quote three:— 
Mr.Thomas Rivers, of Sawbridgeworth, Herts ; Mr. J. 
R. Pearson, Chilwell, Notts ; and Mr. John Scott, of 
Merriott, Somerset. There was some very plain 
plain speaking done by these gentlemen in their con¬ 
tentions as to favourite stock, one against the other, 
as I was reminded the other day on turning over 
the pages of "The Orchardist,” by John Scott, 
specially on page 8. All these men were thorough¬ 
going fruitists, and each spoke or wrote as their 
individual, practical knowledge dictated, and each 
was, no doubt, right according to his own theory and 
practice. 
The question of stocks is just one of those debate- 
able questions which every gardener has to think out 
and work out for himself according to his soil, climatic 
