650 
June 8, 1895. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
THE CHRYSANTHEMUM IN NEW 
SOUTH WALES. 
There can be no mistaking the fact that we are 
making great strides in the cultivation of this 
beautiful autumn flower in the Colonies. New 
South Wales, too, appears to be leading the way. 
A few years ago the advent of a few flowers from 
neighbouring colonies used to be looked forward to 
with fear and trembling by some of the growers 
here. A little practice, however, on the show trays 
begets confidence, and, although very cordially wel¬ 
comed now, as they always will be when sent forward 
to compete with our own, we fear them not. Herel 
must frankly admit that it is very difficult indeed to 
obtain any very reliable test as to the merits of the 
productions of the various colonies—our seasons 
vary so much that any fixture suitable to the one 
can hardly fail to be either too early or the reverse 
for the others. The season here may be said to 
have commenced with the Royal Agricultural 
Society’s Show the week before last, where some 
good collections of rather different flowers were 
staged. The date was too early. 
At Goalburn, some 134 miles south, a very good 
display of fine blooms was set up in competition. 
This was exceedingly close, as you will understand 
when I tell you that of five exhibits of twelve blooms 
distinct two ran a dead heat for second place, and 
the winning twelve secured the verdict by one point 
only. The same even quality was noticeable in the 
classes for 36’s and 24’s, less than a dozen points 
separating them in the contest. The Goalburn dis¬ 
trict being a cool one, comparatively, I naturally 
expected to see some good flowers of the Chinese 
section, especially incurved. Strange to say but 
one grower appears to take up the cultivation of 
these in a kindly spirit, and he, as usual, staged a 
few nice blooms of good quality. They would have 
looked much finer had they been set up quite clear 
of the tray instead of resting upon it in many 
instances as they did. 
The Sydney Show of the Horticultural Society of 
New South Wales followed quickly on the heels of 
Goalburn, being held the following day in the Palace 
Skating Rink, York Street. It was a three days’ 
show, commencing April 17th. Here I expected 
to see some fine blooms and I was not disappointed. 
In the plant classes, of course, our old friend Mr. 
G. H. Kerslake as usual secured top position and 
worthily too. His plants were models of good culture, 
but were not I think carrying quiet the weight of bloom 
we usually notice upon them. The season for plants in 
pots has been a trying one. Mr. Kerslake,in addition 
to nearing first place,also obtained the certificate of 
the National Chrysanthemum Society. In the cut 
bloom classes Mr. Alf. Lee took all before him—36’s, 
24’s, 12’s, 6’s threes and singles, nothing came amiss, 
he simply “potted” the lot, champion class included 
—a gratifying and unique record. Mr. Lee is to be 
congratulated for he has at great expense persistently 
imported all that is good in Japs—his favourite 
section for years past—stuck as persistently to their 
cultivation and he has now obtained his reward. 
Having entered in many of these classes myself 
I had a splendid opportunity of witnessing Mr 
Lee’s success from a position very much in the 
rear. The most formidable opponents Mr. Lee 
had to encounter were Mr. Kerslake and Mr. 
Upton, and both were very close up. 
The winner staged his exhibits superbly, in fact, 
I have never seen blooms handled better anywhere. 
Kate Murrell was grandly shown by Mr. Lee, 
and in my opinion this was his best bloom, but it 
was run very closely indeed by Lady T. Law¬ 
rence, and a seedling from the latter of my own 
raising, which I have named Mrs J. H. Horton 
(a bloom of this latter neared champion honours), 
a photo of some dozen blooms of which, including 
the champion, set up as a non-competitive exhibit 
I am sending you by the same mail as this. 
I think highly of this particular seedling, and in 
this I am not singular, for at the close of the exhi¬ 
bition so alluring did it appear to be that one of the 
commandments was broken badly, for somebody 
" shook ” the lot. Friend Bennett, to whom the 
blooms you will see on the photo were presented, is 
still in search of the culprit. Florence Davis, Chas. 
Davis, Miss D. Shea, Col. W. B. Smith, and Mrs. 
E. D. Adams were finely shown on various stands, 
and very conspicuous on the trays of Mr. Kerslake 
and Mr. Upton were some magnificent seedlings of 
their own raising. On the 24th a very pretty little 
display of flowers was made by the Balmain Horti¬ 
cultural Society, some fine exhibits coming from 
such public institutions as Gladsville and Callan 
Park, the gardener from the former having some 
really nice pot plants, while the display of cut 
blooms from each was highly creditable. 
After “doing ” this show I picked up the North¬ 
ern mail, 6.15 p.m., and journeyed to Scone, some 
190 miles from Sydney, where I was due to judge 
on the following day. There I found some very 
fine blooms indeed, including a fine non-competitive 
collection from Mr. S. Purchase, of the Somerset 
Nurseries, Parramatta. As in Sydney, however, one 
exhibitor seemed to carry all before him, Mr. H. 
White, of Bell Trees, being about a street in 
front of all others. Amos Perry, Mdlle. Marie 
Recoura, International, and Robert Owen were 
amongst the best, though Chas. Davis and V. 
Morel were very close up. Hay show was held 
on May 1st, and a brief note on this I will 
endeavour to send you by next mail. It will about 
wind up our season here.— H.J.H. 
THE HERBACEOUS 
BORDER. 
June commences rather dry, just as May continued 
for the greater portion, and many kinds of herbaceous 
plants naturally suffer for want of the needed 
moisture just at the time when much is required to 
support the flowers which are being hurried on all 
too rapidly. These facts prove, contrary to the 
opinion of some, that herbaceous borders not only re¬ 
quire digging during the winter, but that a coating 
of manure spread over the ground before the 
operation would be of the utmost service in retain¬ 
ing the moisture during such periods of drought as 
the present. In fairly retentive soils, however, many 
subjects are making a brave display. The orange- 
coloured Geum miniatum has been flowering for 
some time, and provided it can be kept fairly moist 
it will continue to form fresh crowns and flower all 
the summer. If it goes to rest partly during July 
and August the lengthening and more dewy nights 
will cause it to commence growing and flowering 
again. It is of neat, upright growth, requiring no 
staking, as it seldom much exceeds a foot in height 
in the southern counties of England. 
The Aquilegias decline to be overlooked at pre¬ 
sent, particularly where a goodly collection is grown. 
The large, graceful, blue and white flowers of A. 
caerulea, with their long, slender, diverging spurs 
merit a large share of attention, especially when it 
is borne in mind that they can be propagated so 
readily from seeds, and that considerable varietion in 
colour can be obtained. It is a native of the Rocky 
Mountains, and in some soils is liable to die off after 
a year or two, but any losses that may occur can 
quickly be repaired, and the plant is well worthy of 
the trouble of looking after. The closely allied A. 
chrysantha differs chiefly in the colour of the 
flowers so far as the eye of the general public would 
notice, and seeing that the two hybridise readily 
with one another they must be very closely related. 
The early flowering species of Leopard's Bane or 
Doronicum are now out of season, but D. planta- 
gineum excelsum has been flowering finely for some 
time, and will continue unless the drought proves 
too much for it. The secret of success with this 
plant is to lift and re-plant the stock during the moist 
weather every autumn, and in rich soil, which will 
induce a vigorous growth, for so long as the con¬ 
tinued growth of fresh crowns is encouraged so will 
the flowering be. Propagation is most readily 
effected by division, and so many plants can be 
raised in a few years from a single plant, that large 
beds of it can be planted if so desired. Being a 
British plant, thought rare in a wild state, it might 
be naturalised in woods and half shady places about 
a demesne, and near footpaths, where its beauty 
would be seen. There seems no reason why it 
should not flourish under those conditions, just like 
D. Pardalianches, which sometimes covers large 
areas of ground under similar conditions, where it 
appropriates the greater portion of the ground 
almost to the exclusion of other vegetation, and 
looks very handsome indeed. 
The old double yellow Crowfoot (Ranunculus 
acris flore pleno) seems to be neglected for its less 
known rival, R. speciosus. The two might well be 
included in a collection, for they are abundantly 
distinct, both in flower and habit. The last-named 
is the dwarfer of the two, and has short stout stems 
with large, dark green leaves, and large, perfectly 
double flowers of a rich golden-yellow colour, but 
they are less abundantly produced than in the case 
of the double R. acris. The stems of the latter in 
good soil attain a height of 18 in., and branching 
freely produce a great quantity of flowers that keep 
up a display for a considerable time. Its cultivation 
is of the easiest description in any good garden soil, 
as indeed is that of either of them, and both must 
be propagated by division, as neither produces 
runners like R. repens, and being perfectly double 
they are equally barren cf seeds. 
The two most interesting species, perhaps, of 
Erigeron in bloom at present are E. aurantiacus and 
E. philadelphicus. The latter has small but very 
numerous flowers produced on branching stems, and 
they are rosy-purple with a yellow centre. Those of 
the first-named are dark orange, intensified in the 
centre. They are of large size, but developed 
singly, as a rule, on short upright stems. Both are 
increased by divisions, but E. philadelphicus ripens 
seeds, from which any quantity of seedlings may be 
raised—indeed it often sows itself, and soon arrives 
at the flowering stage. The chief danger to seed¬ 
lings obtained in this way is that they are liable to 
be pulled or hoed down by the young men, who 
may readily mistake them for weeds, for they 
have not a promising appearance in their early 
stages. The orange-flowered species grows more 
slowly, and requires more care as a rule.— Propagator. 
--f-- 
THE CHRYSANTHEMUM IN 
NEW ZEALAND. 
The Chrysanthemum, the Queen of Autumn, is 
about the third week of April in the zenith of its 
glory, and reigns supreme over all flowers of the 
present season. “ Far ahead of last year” might be 
termed a stereotyped phrase, as applied to Chrysan¬ 
themum shows ; the remark is certainly true as far 
as the exhibition at Auckland is concerned, and 
which was opened on the 19th April at the Choral 
Hall by the Earl ef Glasgow and a large party from 
Government House. The show lasted for three 
days. After witnessing the magnificent collections 
of cut blooms, one wonders what further new 
creations are in store for us, and when the limit of 
improvement will be reached, and Chrysanthemums 
have attained their highest developments. Present 
indications lead us to hope for further achievements 
and a long and successful career for this ever- 
popular genus. No description can convey an 
adequate idea of the splendid effects and pleasing 
impressions produced by the grand array of blooms, 
remarkable for their diversity of colour and variety 
of form and size and exquisite finish. The Japanese 
sections being represented by blooms of the largest 
size, some with loose broad petals gracefully re¬ 
curving, others regularly and evenly incurved, form¬ 
ing a perfect ball or globe, others again curled and 
twisted, the petals interlacing in fantastic form. 
The Chinese, or incurved Chrysanthemums, as a 
whole were not as good as we have seen at some 
previous exhibitions, the continued dry weather ex¬ 
perienced throughout their growing season is no 
doubt accountable for their shortcomings. The 
committee of the Auckland Chrysanthemum Society 
are to be congratulated upon the success of the pre¬ 
sent exhibition, and upon their endeavours to meet 
all tastes and growers, and make the display as 
attractive as possible; to this end the hall has been 
tastefully decorated, and in addition to Chrysanthe¬ 
mum blooms, table decorations, and bouquets 
collections of decorative pot plants, arrange! in 
groups and hanging baskets, and various collections 
of Dahlias and other cut flowers were provided for 
in the schedule, all of which materially added to the 
attractions of the show, and contrasted with the 
blaze of colour produced by the numerous collections 
of Chrysanthemum flowers. 
A few notes upon the leading and new varieties 
will be of interest. Amongst the most prominent 
features of the show, and where the competition was 
very keen, were the numerous entries for six blooms 
Japanese, one variety, the following sorts were 
shown Lilian B. Bird and its Sport, Mrs. J. W. 
Tibbs, Viviand Morel, Charles Davis, Col. W. B. 
Smith, Domination, Sunflower, Yellow Lacroix, 
Edwin Molyneux, Eynsford White, with the result 
that the award was allotted to the old favourite and 
beautiful yellow Sunflower, with Domination a close 
second. The latter was large, of perfect form, 
