June 15, 1895. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
661 
and Mr. J. G. Brown was in the vice-chair. There 
was a good attendance. Mr. T. Gartery, of Rother¬ 
ham, read an interesting and practical paper on 
" The Primula." He clearly and fully described 
how he had successfully raised these charming and 
useful winter-blooming plants for many years past, 
and in detailing his mode of treatment he impressed 
upon professional and amateur gardeners to do 
everything they could to produce strong and sturdy 
plants. A discussion ensued on the paper, having 
reference mainly to the "nettling effect ’’ which the 
handling of a certain species of Primula had on 
" thin-skinned gardeners,” some of whom asserted 
that it caused them an unpleasant sensation some¬ 
what resembling '* itch." Amongst those who took 
part in the discussion were Messrs. W. Hudson 
(Sandal Grange), Campbell (Painthorpe), Corden, 
Vere (Milnthorpe), Parkin, and the chairman and 
vice-chairman. On the suggestion of Mr. Parkin, 
it was agreed that a specimen of the foliage of the 
alleged troublesome variety of the plant should be 
handed to Mr. Alan Willis, of Normanton, for 
examination under the microscope. On the motion 
of Mr. J. Thomas (gardener to the Bishop of Wake¬ 
field), seconded by Mr. Campbell, and supported by 
Messrs. Brown and Willis, a very hearty vote of 
thanks was accorded to Mr. Gartery for his essay. 
Birmingham Amateur Gardeners’ Association.— 
Mr. W. H. Twist read a paper before the members 
of this Association on the 5th inst. on “Violas." 
There was a very large attendance. Mr. Twist 
described the various methods employed in growing 
them, both for ordinary decorative and exhibition 
purposes. He also gave on exhaustive list of the 
most suitable varieties for amateurs in this district, 
with their colours and habits of growth. There was 
a large number of exhibits for prizes offered by Mr. 
William Sydenham for twelve fancy Pansies, and 
the competition was very keen, many of the collec¬ 
tions being remarkable for their size and colour. Mr. 
T. M. Eglinton, Birchfield, was first ; Mr. C. F. 
Franklin, Balsall Heath, was second ; and Mr. W. 
England, Handsworth, took the third prize. In the 
competition for prizes offered by Mr. W. H. Gabb, 
for twelve Violas, there were some fine collections of 
blooms, many of the latest varieties being staged. 
Mr. S. Dascombe, Upper Bentley, Bromsgrove, was 
awarded the first ; Mr. C. F. Franklin came 
second; and Mr. G. F. Kent was disqualified 
through exhibiting less than twelve varieties. 
Messrs. Bliss, Daniell, S. Smith, and Wadley 
exhibited various plants and blooms, and the usual 
awards were made. Lord Windsor has granted per¬ 
mission for the members to visit Hewell Grange on 
the occasion of their annual excursion on June 22nd. 
Scottish Horticultural Association.—The monthly 
meeting of this Association took place on the qih 
inst. at 5, St. Andrew Square, Edinburgh. Mr. R. 
W. E. Murray, Blackford House, the president, in 
the chair. The assistant-secretary, Mr. Murray, 
read a short paper on “Apple culture," by Mr. J. 
H. Goodacre, Elvaston Castle, Derby. In the course 
of a brief discussion the importance of Apple culture 
was urged, Mr. James Grieve, Pilrig Park Nursery, 
holding that horticulturists should cultivate the 
growth of this tree wherever possible, and that every¬ 
body should eat its fruit. Mr. Alexander Mackenzie, 
Warriston Nursery, emphasised these remarks, and 
observed that greater attention had been paid during 
the past ten years to the cultivation of hardy fruit 
trees than had been the case for fifty years previously. 
The results of the last decade, he added, would make 
themselves manifest in the course of the next twenty 
or thirty years. He was satisfied that crops of Apples 
would be produced within that period that would 
be the envy of those who would see them. Mr. 
Mackenzie exhibited some preserved specimens of the 
locust from Mr. Ernest Waller, Tangier, Morocco, 
a former member of the society, and gave an 
account of the locust plague, indicating the extra¬ 
ordinary devastation caused thereby. 
-- 
PEA VEITCH’S AMERICAN WONDER. 
The date on which the first dish of Peas can be 
picked in the open is a matter of the greatest im¬ 
portance to every gardener who has the interest of 
his employer at heart and desires to serve him to the 
best of his ability, so far as the circumstances of the 
case permit. Mr. A. Pentney, Worton Hall Gardens, 
Isleworth, writes to say that he sowed Veitch’s 
American Wonder Pea in 60-sized pots, on the 6th of 
February, and placed the pots in a cool vinery. He 
planted them at the foot of a south aspect wall in 
March, and gathered his first dish during the second 
week of May. In Mr. Pentney’s opinion this is the 
best of all early Peas. 
By another post came a dish of the same variety, 
together with some stems showing their height and 
degree of fertility. Twelve inches is the average 
height, and each stem bore from four to seven pods, 
containing about four to eight seeds apiece. The 
specimens sent might have been fit for use 
several days previously, so full were the pods. A 
good authority on seeing the sample was confident 
that it was the white wrinkled marrow Chelsea Gem, 
and not American Wonder. The pods of the latter 
are broader and of a darker green. In any case the 
value of the variety, whatever its name, is an 
undoubted fact, and Mr. Pentney is to be con¬ 
gratulated for his cultural success, for, as far as we 
have heard, he has picked peas in the open before 
anybody else in his locality. We know also that if 
attention and cultural skill will advance any par¬ 
ticular crop Mr. Pentney is the man to push his 
opportunity, even if he feels it necessary to call in 
scientific aid, with all modern improvements. 
-- 
VIOLAS AND POPPIES. 
Violas are having a hard time of it in the southern 
counties on account of the severe and long protracted 
drought; but if they weather it for a time they will 
doubtless grow away more vigorously and flower 
profusely after the turn of the summer solstice, even 
if the rain keeps off till then. The Poppies do not 
seem to mind the drought, but the flowers, as might 
be expected, will be short-lived, and the plants will 
bear an abundance of seed. Last Saturday we found 
ourselves in the seed grounds of Mr. Richard Dean, 
Bedfont, Middlesex. The celebrated strain of 
Primulas and Polyanthus was developing a crop of 
seed, but the large collection of named Violas which 
Mr. Dean has got together at the ancient village of 
Bedfont was flowering away freely, notwithstanding 
the fact that they had not been planted out till May. 
Every Pansy and Viola grower knows that March is 
the orthodox spring month to plant their favourites, 
but the heavy clayey ground here prevents the 
operation from being carried out then. At present 
the soil is as hard as it was plastic in March, but it 
is very fertile, and a heavy shower of rain would 
make it crumble down beautifully, and then all will 
go well. 
Violas. 
All the large types are patronised here, including the 
rayed, rayless, edged, self, striped, and parti-coloured 
sorts. Wm. Neil is the best of the rose varieties. 
The old Blue Bell, a true cottage garden Viola, still 
finds a place here, and no doubt Mr. Dean still looks 
with favour upon this child of his own raising. 
Something similar may be said of True Blue, raised 
by the late Mr. Wm. Dean, and which is still the 
best of its particular shade of dark blue. The true 
tufted types are represented by Duchess of Fife and 
Ardwell Gem. The flowers of Gipsy Queen are of 
great size and remarkably pale, almost white, but 
they will get darker when the cool, moist weather 
returns. The fragrant Lilias is beautifully clouded 
with lavender on the upper petals. A free flowering 
and soft lilac variety is Northern Spy. Skylark and 
Blue Cloud will show their ultramarine blue edging 
to better effect after the turn of the day. A large 
plantation of Snowflake is very floriferous just now. 
Raj less varieties are represented by Countess of 
Hopetoun, with very large flowers ; by the popular 
Sylvia, which is more of a creamy shade ; and by 
the beautifully dwarf Blue Gown ; as well as by the 
fine, light yellow George Muirhead. York and 
Lancaster represents the striped varieties. Archie 
Grant is still one of the best of the dark violet types. 
Harry W. Stuart is a dark plum-purple flower striped 
with white. Parti-coloured varieties are pretty 
numerous, and in one plantation we noted Ada 
Adair, Mrs. Bellamy, and Edina doing well; the 
latter has a mauve centre, and the white upper petals 
veined with porcelain-blue. Amongst some seedlings 
selected from last year's sowing we noted some 
pretty rose-purple, dark-purple, plum-purple, and 
light blue varieties. 
In another large plantation we noted several of the 
best as they appear at the present time. Maud 
Stuart is a dark blue flower of great size. The pale 
lilac flowers of Annie King have a bronzy blotch 
below the eye, and are produced with great freedom. 
Iris is a dark velvety-violet variety of huge size. 
The plum-purple flowers of H. M. Stanley are 
striped with rose and sometimes white. Duchess of 
Albany is white with a dark mauve centre, and The 
Knight differs chiefly by having a violet centre. Ina 
Simpson is a dark lilac flower of the same shade as 
Dawn of Day, but not netted. Purity is of dwarf 
habit and very floriferous. Queen of Whites is a 
large white variety with short rays. The variegated 
Countess of Kintore is well known, for it usually 
flowers very continuously in the dry and sunny 
south. In the same section comes Peggy Smith, 
with dark plum-purple flowers fading to rose on the 
upper petals. Lady Borthwick is a beautiful white 
with a small yellow eye. Here also we place Lady 
Dundonald with clear blue rays on the white ground ; 
it blooms very freely. Springville is a creamy white 
flower, and Lemon Queen is a large primrose-yellow. 
Nellie is darker blue than Blue King, but similar 
in form. Amongst this lot were some selected 
seedlings, including a large golden-yellow one. In 
another field is a plantation made last year, and 
which stood out last winter. The plants are now 
extremely floriferous, and we were highly interested 
with a large plant of Duchess of Fife, bearing upon 
one stem the true flower and three blooms of Ardwell 
Gem, pure and simple. They have reverted to their 
parent, for Duchess of Fife is a sport from Ardwell 
Gem. Close by was a plantation of Trentham 
Purple put out last year and now a mass of bloom. 
Seedlings. 
Mr Dean sows and raises quantities of seedlings 
every year. Those planted out over a year ago, and 
which stood the winter in the open ground, are now 
remarkably floriferous, notwithstanding the hardness 
of the ground. Amongst them we noted some 
French strains of fancy Pansies, including the 
Bleugnot strain, with large blotches like so many 
faces. Striped varieties of Continental strains were 
also fairly numerous, exhibiting dark and strange 
colours. There was great variety of colour in one 
plantation of seedlings, including a sort like Bullion, 
greatly improved in form. Another was light blue 
and floriferous; a free-flowering, light mauve one 
was very pleasing, and a fourth was plum-purple. 
A large sowing was made from yellow varieties, and 
the bulk of them have come yellow, though there are 
a few rogues amongst them The variety of shade, 
form, and habit is, however, endless. Some are of 
good form and range from golden-yellow through 
all the lighter hues. A rayless yellow variety 
has the upper petals shaded yellow on a white 
ground. Many are dwarf and floriferous, but we 
noted one particularly so with small golden flowers. 
A pretty one, somewhat similar to the Duchess of 
Fife, has the edges of the petals netted with blue. 
One like the variety Canary is notable for the very 
numerous,'long and slender rays on the three lower 
petals. A large batch from Hollyrood has given 
flowers of all imaginable colours, seifs, rayed, and 
striped as well as the type. The Silver Y Moth is 
responsible for the heterogeneity. 
Poppies and other Flowers. 
A long row of Oriental Poppies has been gay, or 
rather a blaze of scarlet, for several weeks past. Of 
course Papaver orientale and P. 0. bracteatum are 
the most numerous, and none in the whole tribe can 
beat them for size and brilliancy of colour, brought 
into more prominence by the black blotch at the 
base of each petal. Here, however, are several of 
best and most distinct varieties, including P. o. 
concolor without blotches. P. o. praecox is notable 
for its earliness, and the colours of Blush Queen and 
Salmon Queen are expressed in their names. The 
elegant and sprightly beauty of P. umbrosum must 
be seen to be realised. The plants are dwarf, ex¬ 
ceedingly floriferous, and the brilliant crimson-red 
flowers are rendered handsome and more con¬ 
spicuous by the large black blotch which shows at 
the base of each petal and on both surfaces. There 
is also a semi-double variety of some beauty here. 
One of the glass houses is occupied with large, 
old Roses, including Marechal Niel, Homer, and 
Katherine Mermet, which have been flowering for 
some time past, as other kinds are flowering freely 
upon the garden walls. Fancy Pinks raised from 
seed are now coming into bloom, and a large per¬ 
centage of them have double flowers of various 
colours. Aubrietia violacea and Leichtlinii have 
flowered most profusely, and have not yet given over, 
