March 23, 1895. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
467 
IF YOU WANT 
REALLY GOOD SEEDS 
AT MODERATE PRICES apply to 
Mr. ROBERT SYDENHAM, 
Tenby Street , BIRMINGHAM. 
No Nurseryman will serve you better in quality, 
quantity, or price. 
THE SIX BEST TOMATOS 
In cultivation, often sold under ether names to get fancy prices. 
Each packet contains nearly 200 seeds. Perfection, 3d.; Ham 
Green Favourite, 3d.; Hackvvood Park ProliBc, 3d.; Challenger, 
3d.; Roseleigh Gem, a grand new large smooth selection, 3d.; 
Golden Perfection, the best yellow. 3d. Collection, is. 8d , post 
free ; singly, id. each extra for postage. 
THE FOUR BEST CUCUMBERS. 
Each packet contains 10 seeds, Lcckie’s Perfection, Rollisson's 
Selected Telegraph, Epicurean, and Covent Garden Favourite, 
6d. each ; or the collection, 2s., post free ; singly, id. extra for 
postage. 
SWEET PEAS-A SPECIALITY. 
ECKFORD’S and other choice varieties at a third 
or a fourth usual prices. 
Nothing gives so much cut bloom at so small a cost, or so 
little trouble. To get best results SOW AT ONCE, as 
directions sent with each collection. 
SPECIAL VERY CHEAP OFFER. 
8 Really Good Yarieties— Queen of England, 
white ; Blanche Ferry, pink and white; Princess 
Beatrice, pale pink; Apple Blossom, apple blossom 
tint; Orange Prince, orange pink ; Splendour, rich 
deep rose; Cardinal, bright cardinal; Countess of 
Radnor, pale heliotrope, 25 seeds of each, is. 3d. 
10 Other New Yarieties —Emily Henderson, 
fine large white; Venus, pale lemon flushed 
with pink; Mrs. Gladstone, delicate pink; Her 
Majesty, soft rosy-pink ; Lady Penzance, bright pale 
rose; Firefly, bright glowing crimson; Monarch, 
large bronzy-purple, 25 seeds of each, is. 6d. 
The Two Collections, 2s. 6d. —Postage 2d. each 
Collection extra ; or the two 3d. extra. 
Extra Choice Mixture, 3d. per 100 seeds: postage Id. extra. 
ALL OTHER SEEDS EQUALLY MODERATE. 
FULL LISTS POST FREE ON APPLICATION. 
Please mention this Paper. 
H. DEVERILL, 
The Onion Specialist, 
offers his well-known varieties of 
PEDIGREE ONIONS in is. and 2s. 6d. 
packets. Specimens grown from his 
seed have been known to weigh from 
3 lbs. to 4 lbs. each. 
VEGETABLE & FLOWER SEEDS 
OF UNSURPASSED QUALITY. 
The above have been awarded hundreds 
of Prizes at the various Horticultural 
Shows. 
Catalogue Free upon Application , 
Carnations ! Carnations ! 
Carnations! 
The Choicest Varieties in Cultivation, from the 
late Mr. Dodwell's Garden, 
FROM 6s. PER DOZEN, UPWARDS. 
DESCRIPTIVE LIST ON APPLICATION TO— 
ARTHUR MEDHURST, 
THE COTTAGE, STANLEY ROAD, OXFORD. 
GHEALS 
Y/&KLD-WIDE i\EH0WN- STRIKING fiO\/ELTIES 
CATALOGUE POST FREEST 
WEBBS' 
ASTERS 
AND STOCKS. 
WEBBS' NEW BEDDING ASTER. 
The plants are- dwarf and compact in habit of 
growth, and the varieties uniform in time of flower¬ 
ing. Height, i ft. 
Per packet. 
s. d. 
Per packet. 
s. 
d. 
Rose 
1 0 I 
Pink 
1 
0 
Dark Crimson 
1 0 ! 
Purple 
1 
0 
White .. 
1 0 
Light Blue 
1 
0 
Mixed colours, per packet, Is. 
6 distinct colours, separate, 3s. 
WEBBS' NEW BEDDING STOCK. 
creating effect in 
ground. Height, 
beds 
1 ft. 
and masses in the 
open 
Per packet. 
s. d. 
Per packet. 
s. 
d. 
Scarlet 
1 0 
Light Blue 
1 
0 
Canary Yellow 
1 0 
White 
1 
0 
Purple.. 
1 0 
Rose 
1 
0 
Mixed colours, 
per packet, Is. 
6 distinct colours, separate, 3s. 
All Flower Seeds sent Post Free. 
WEBBS, Wordsley, Stourbridge. 
E. D. SHUTTLEWORTH & Co, Limited. 
Awarded 20 Medals in 6 Months. 
Nothing is too small or too much trouble ! ! ! 
HERBACEOUS 
HARDY PERENNIALS &c. 
Roses, Fruits, 
Shrubs, Stocks &c. 
PELARGONIUMS, FUCHSIAS k. 
FERNS. Pflums &e. 
CARNATIONS, 
DAHMAS, 
Stamps or P.O. for Sample or trial order. 
TRADE. 
Write us :— 
SHUTTLEWORTH, Limited, 
FLEET, HANTS. 
"THE NATIONAL CHRYSANTHE- 
1 MUM SOCIETY'S YEAR BOOK FOR 1895. Edited 
by C. Harman Payne, F.R.H.S. Just published. Price One 
Shilling. Post free is. ijd. from the Publisher of the 
Gardening World, i, Clement’s Inn, Strand, W,G, 
JACK FROST 
has caused many losses that can be made good in 
an easy and cheap manner by purchasing the follow¬ 
ing bulbs and plants which I can recommend as being 
first class. 
BEGONIA, SINGLE. 
20,000 grand bulbs, mixed colours, finest ever offered 
at the price, 3s. per dozen. 
PELARGONIUMS, SHOW AND DECORATIVE. 
Fine plants in best kinds, 6s., gs , and r2s. per dozeu. 
ZONAL PELARGONIUMS. 
Best kinds only, 6 for 2s. 6d., 12 for 4s 
IYY-LEAF PELARGONIUMS. 
A very choice lot, 6 for 2s. 6d , 12 for 4s. 
DOUBLE PETUNIAS. 
Extra fine new kinds, 6 for 3s. 6d , 12 for 6s. 
Send fo> Catalogue, Free. 
H. J. JONES, 
Ryecroft Nursery, Hither Green, Lewisham. 
For Index to Contents see page ill 
“ Gardening is the purest of human pleasures, and the greate: t 
refreshment to the spirit of man "—Bacon. 
Ifftf 
Edited by BRIAN WYNNE. 
SATURDAY , MARCH 2 yd, 1895. 
NEXT WEEK'S ENGAGEMENTS. 
Monday, March 25th.—Sale of Lily bulbs at Messrs. Protheroe 
& Morris' Rooms. 
Tuesday, March 26th.—Royal Horticultural Society: Meeting 
of Committees at 12 o’clock. 
Sale of Orchids at Messrs. Protheroe & Morris’ Room c . 
Wednesday, March 27th.—Brighton Spring Show (2 days). 
Sale of Imported Lilies, etc., at Messrs. Protheroe & Morris’ 
Rooms. 
Thursday, March 2Stb.—Liverpool Spring Show. 
Friday, March 291b. —Sale of Orchids at Messrs. Protheroe 
& Morris' Rooms. 
jg^o plants eat the soil ?— On the face of 
- ' it this is rather a dubious question, yet 
one which has often been asked by gar¬ 
deners and others for some generations 
past. Though the question is a perfectly 
legitimate one, yet to the average gardener 
it is very difficult to answer. Even those 
who are perfectly competent to elucidate 
the matter, are. perfectly within their rights 
to reply by asking another question, namely, 
“ what do you mean ? ” There are those 
who would say that a bird pecks, a mouse 
nibbles, and some other creature swallows, 
and at the same time deny that any 'of 
them eats, being confused with the manner 
in which it is done and the thing itself. 
Reverting to the question of the pfant, we 
begin by saying that it would be a loose 
application of the term to admit that a 
plant eats its food, and a grave admission 
of the poverty of the English language in 
the means of-expressing an idea. A corres¬ 
pondent at p. 440, quotes the fact that “ the 
food of plants is liquid and gaseous, never 
solid,” and at whatever date that was first 
promulgated, it is equally good science to¬ 
day. It does not altogether detract from 
the question of eating, though it must be 
regarded in a limited sense. To eat, is 
generally applied to the consumption of 
solid food, but its use has a much wider 
application since our language permits 11s 
to say that metal may be eaten by rust, the 
health by disease, the spirits by misfortune, 
and that a man may eat his words. 
Let us now turn to the so-called mouths 
of plants. The old theory that the spongi- 
oles (see p. 454) of roots are their mouths 
by which they collect plant food has long 
been exploded, though several old garden¬ 
ing books still gravely assert the contrary. 
When once an error has been widely pro¬ 
mulgated, it is extremely difficult to hunt 
it down and eradicate it from the minds of 
