340 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
January 26, 1895. 
begins to suspect whether or not there has 
been some defect in our elementary education. 
Doubtless the subject of colour is left to 
take chance amidst the many subjects that 
engross the attention during school hours. 
This neglect is doubtlessly based upon the 
assumption that the science of colour is 
altogether a secondary matter. Neverthe¬ 
less it is a question affecting the interests 
of a considerable section of the community, 
and gardeners amongst the rest. To them it 
is of very considerable importance to under¬ 
stand their fellows when speaking of, or 
enquiring about flowers of which it is 
always important to know the colours. 
The question is continually cropping up 
and as constantly causing misappre¬ 
hension. 
In speaking of any given class of flowers 
how many are there, gardeners, or other¬ 
wise, who would coincide in opinion of 
such colours as blue, purple, crimson, red, 
pink and salmon ? The reply may be that 
all are not constituted alike, that different 
eyes or different individuals see the same 
colours differently. That need not be 
denied ; but whatever impressions the same 
colours might have on different eyes, if a 
uniform system of teaching, object lessons 
and demonstrations were adopted, it follows 
that the students would all apply the same 
names to the same hues, whatever the 
actual appearance presented to their eyes. 
The impression upon the nerves of the eye 
would always call up the same sensations, 
and the same train of ideas with regard to 
any given colours, that had been impressed 
upon them in school hours. Those people 
could hardly fail to understand one another 
in after life in the matter of colours; or to 
say the least of it, the chaotic confusion at 
present prevailing could not then exist. 
The great number of colours which pre¬ 
vail in Nature is doubtless the primary 
cause of all the difficulty. A great authority 
on the subject has stated that a thousand 
hues could be distinguished in the solar 
spectrum under different quantities of light, 
and that by the addition or detraction of 
light with the addition of the purple hues, 
which do not occur in the spectrum, the 
sum total of hues would mount up to 
hundreds of thousands! Hue is the term 
for colour properly, and when we speak of 
its purity we imply that there is no ad¬ 
mixture of white with it. When various 
proportions of white are mixed with a hue 
we get different tints, and when mixed with 
black in varying degrees then we get 
shades; when varying amounts of gray are 
added we get broken colours generally 
termed grays. Brightness, or luminosity 
is the third constant of colour and implies 
the total amount of light reflected to the 
eye. It is clear then that the number of 
colours which the human eye can detect is 
very great. At the same time the deficiency 
of colour-names in our language is 
notorious, and its inflexibility prevents us 
from coining new ones. It would seem to 
be a step in the right direction when such 
words as lilac, heliotrope, dahlia, auricula, 
pansy, aster, phlox, pomegranate, and 
plums are used to indicate colours; but 
even with such names, both gardeners and 
amateurs would often be puzzled to con¬ 
ceive what colours they are intended to 
indicate. 
The above flowers might or might not 
be present, but they would only tend to 
confuse the student if they were. Turning 
to an English dictionary would afford but 
little help. There is no such colour as 
lilac mentioned, it is merely a plant culti¬ 
vated for the beauty and fragrance of its 
flowers, which may be purple or white. 
But all of the above names are intended to 
indicate hues belonging to the group of 
purples, and as many as twenty are given 
by a maker of colour-names, all lying 
between the red and blue lines of the 
spectrum. The hues to be met with 
amongst the garden varieties of most of 
the above, are legion, so that the mere 
names are hardly capable of expressing any 
definite idea with regard to colour, partic¬ 
ularly if the original, or wild form of the 
plant is seldom or never seen by the 
student of colour. In certain cases, 
several hues or shades of purple may be 
present in the same flower, all ultimately 
blending with one another. 
Should the student resort to the micro¬ 
scope, it will hardly help him, for in many 
cases, that instrument will show a number 
of colours in different parts of the same 
flower, or in contiguous cells, or the hues 
may be mixed or apparently so in the 
same or different cells. The question at 
issue is to apply a name to the combination 
produced, and as it appears to the naked 
eye, Yellow, orange and brown, rarely 
blue, are confined to corpuscles of the proto¬ 
plasm of greater or less size and density. 
White, violet, blue and red, (rarely yellow), 
are dissolved in the cell sap. Physiologists 
tell us that all colours are originally derived 
from chlorophyll, that they are green at 
first and change their hues as the flower 
expands or the fruit ripens. In the leaves 
of the purple Beech, Hazel, Plum and 
Peach, chlorophyll and purple cell sap are 
both present, and are dissolved colouring 
matters probably derived from tannin and 
allied substances, all waste products of the 
protoplasm ; but often of indirect use to the 
plant. A feasible solution of the question 
at issue would seem to be a book containing 
500 or 1,000 illustrations of the more com¬ 
mon hues to be met with in Nature. A 
small amount of text explanatory of each 
hue, and references to plants or flowers, in 
which the colours might be matched would 
also be essential, so that students might be 
able to grasp the subject pretty clearly with¬ 
out the aid of a teacher. A book on that 
principle published at a cost which would 
bring it within the means of the people at 
large, ought to find a ready sale, and might 
tempt some enterprising master or masters 
of colour and lithography to produce. 
Surely it would tend to reduce the chaos at 
present existing with regard to the naming 
and description of colour. 
--*■- 
Royal Gardeners' Orphan Fund.—The annual 
general meeting of the supporters of this fund will 
be held at the Cannon Street Hotel, E.C., on Friday, 
February 8th, at 2 p.m , when an election of six 
children to the benefits of the fund will also take 
place. 
The Late Dowager Duchess of Montrose’s collection 
of Orchids at Sefton Lodge, Newmarket, has passed 
into the hands of Messrs John Cowan & Co., Gars- 
ton, Liverpool. 
Royal Botanic Society.—At a meeting of this 
society, held recently in the gardens at Regent's 
Park, a suggestion by Mr. Rubenstein was con¬ 
sidered as to the admission of the public to the 
gardens on payment, and at the conclusion of the 
proceedings the suggestion was put to the vote, and 
lost by a large majority. 
Messrs. Hurst & Son’s Cricket Club.—A meeting of 
this newly-formed cricket club, of which N. N. 
Sherwood, Esq., is President, was held at 152, 
Houndsditch, on Saturday last, fifty members being 
present. Any London seed trade clubs having open 
dates for next season are invited to correspond with 
the Secretary, Mr. W. Riden, or the Captain, Mr. S. 
N. Sampson, as fixtures for next season are now 
being arranged. 
Royal Botanic Society of Manchester.—The Council 
of this Society have resolved to hold a great exhibi¬ 
tion of Lilies in the gardens at Old Trafiord to open 
on the first Monday in August next (Bank Holiday). 
This being the first special exhibition devoted to the 
Lily, it is expected that a very special interest will 
be excited, and it is requested that all interested in 
this important floricultural demonstration will com¬ 
municate at once with Mr. Bruce Findlay, Royal 
Botanic Gardens, Manchester. 
A Millionaire’s Modest Garden. -Adjoinirg the 
modest home of Mr. Cornelius Vanderbilt, the New 
York millionaire, just completed and opened at the 
corner of Fifty-seventh Street and Fifth Avenue, 
and built at a cost of £1,000,000, is the most 
expensive garden for its size in the world, for, 
although it is only the size of an ordinary city lot, 
the sum of £yo,ooo was paid for it, and a house 
which had cost £25,000 to build was torn down to 
make room for a few flower beds. 
Technical Education in Horticulture. —Under the 
auspices of the Scottish Horticultural Association a 
series of lectures on “ Plant Life 1 'will be given in 
the Lecture Hall of the Royal Botanic Gardens, 
Edinburgh, by Dr. Smith, on January 31st, February 
7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th, and March 7th. On 
March 14th and 21st Mr. James Grieve, Pilrig 
Nurseries, Leith Walk, will discourse on “ Hardy 
Florists’ Flowers ” ; and on March 28th and April 4th 
Mr. Hugh Fraser, Leith Walk Nurseries, will con¬ 
clude the series with lectures on “ American Plants.” 
Death of an old Florist.—We have to record the 
death on the 18th inst., of Mr. John Morris, who for 
nearly thirty years was the manager of Messrs. 
Pope & Sons, King's Norton Nurseries, near Bir¬ 
mingham. In his early life he was employed in the 
old Handsworth Nurseries, which half-a-century 
since was a famous nursery owned by Messrs. Pope, 
but about forty years since the ground was wanted 
for building purposes, and therefore ceased to exist. 
Mr. Morris was in good health up to a week before 
his death. He went to see a son, who was very ill 
during the severe weather, and caught a chill which 
brought on congestion of the lungs. His death is a 
source of much grief to a 'very large number of his 
old friends, for he was greatly esteemed. 
Shirley Gardeners’ Improvement Association. —At 
the monthly meeting held on the 21st inst., Mr. B. 
Ladhamp presiding. The lecture was supplied by 
the Hants County Council, the subject being “ Hardy 
Fruit Culture with Special Reference to Diseases,” 
and the lecturer, Mr. C. W. Herbert Greaves. 
Suitable soils, planting, manuring stocks, fungoid 
diseases, and destructive insects were all referred to 
in turn. A discussion followed, especially with 
reference to the lecturer's remark, that canker is 
caused by the canker fungus, Nectria ditissima. A 
hea-ty vote of thanks was accorded the lecturer on 
the proposition of Mr. E. Molyneux. Some excellent 
Orchids were exhibited by Mr. W. Peal, gardener to 
Miss Todd, Shirley. 
Liverpool Horticultural Association. —The annual 
dinner of this Society was held on the 12th inst., at 
theAdelphi Hotel, under the able Chairmanship of 
Mr. Fletcher Rogers, Treasurer of the Society. The 
muster proved a most interesting one, as 115 sat 
down to an excellent dinner. After the cloth was 
cleared, the loyal toasts were given, which were 
followed by “The Associatisn,” “Horticultural 
Trade,” “The Chairman,” “ Our Entertainers,&c.," 
in which the Chairman, Mr. R. W. Ker, Mr. T. 
Foster, Mr. Thos. White, and Mr. A. G. Davies 
took part. The musical portion of the entertain¬ 
ment was of a most gratifying nature, which made 
the evening far too short. The Chairman announced 
that the balance for the year was well on the right 
side, and gave promise of better things in store. 
Von Moltke as a Gardener. —The great delight of 
the famous Field-Marshal was gardening, and for 
hours together he was to be seen in an old straw hat 
and a gardener’s holland suit handling the pruning- 
knife or the gardener’s scissors. Once when on a 
visit to his brother-in-law, Major von Burt, at 
Blasewity, near Dresden, the news had got about 
that the great strategist was staying there. A 
stranger, seeing one who seemed to be an old gar¬ 
dener in the grounds, asked him when would be the 
best chance of seeing Moltke. " Oh ! " said the 
gardener, “about three o’clock.” Whereupon the 
stranger gratefully gave his informant a mark. What 
was his surprise when, on returning in the afternoon, 
he saw the field-marshal—the old gardener of the 
forenoon—surrounded by his friends. Moltke held 
up his hand; “Ah! I have got your mark.”— 
Fortnightly Rcvieiv. 
