June 15, 1695. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
667 
For the back row a selection may be made from 
amongst the following, the employment of these 
beiDg of course decided by the particular plants 
which are to go to form the front row. Calceolarias 
are very showy, Golden Gem being perhaps the best 
of all varieties for the purpose as it is not too strong 
growing and is withal a free and continuous flowerer ; 
Petunias, both single and double flowered varieties, 
being very gay; the dwarf or, as they are more 
frequently called, the Tom Thumb Nasturtiums ; 
white and yellow Marguerites; and Zonal Pelar¬ 
goniums of all sorts, some of the scented varieties 
such as Lady Plymouth, being very attractive. We 
have also now numbers of dwarf, green, and 
variegated Conifers that are very suitable for 
window work, although during the summer months 
it is not advisable to use these too freely, but to pro¬ 
duce a brighter, even if a less lasting effect by 
utilising the qualities of the showier flowering 
subjects during the summer months. The hardy 
element will, however, come in admirably for use 
during the autumn, winter, and spring months when 
the tenderer plants cannot be utilised for obvious 
reasons. 
-*$.-- 
THE WORLD’S FAIR MEDALS. 
The long and apparently unwarranted delay in 
delivering these medals to those entitled to receive 
them is being justly criticised by the exhibitors, 
several of whom have invoked the aid of the daily 
press in New York City to obtain now what should 
have been in their possession at least six months 
after the close of the Exposition, which occurred 
about two months after the Bureau of Awards had 
rendered their report in September, 1893. The 
preparation of the medal was placed in the hands of 
the Secretary of the Treasury, and after St. Gaudens’ 
first design had been altered and subsequently 
accepted, Congress authorised the issuance of electro¬ 
types of the medals awarded to exhibitors, the 
intention being to afford these parties the privilege 
of using the electrotypes for publication or adver¬ 
tising purposes ; but it has since transpired that no 
appropriation was made by Congress for the carrying 
out of their order. 
One of the exhibitors in the Horticultural Depart¬ 
ment (Frederick W. Kelsey, New York), who obtained 
a medal for his display of Rhododendrons, being 
anxious to reproduce the design of the medal in this 
year’s spring catalogue, entered into communication 
with the Director of the Mint, who has now charge 
of the matter, in August, 1894, and was then informed 
that delivery of the medals would be commenced in 
“about from four to five months from this date.” 
On January 5 of this year Mr. Kelsey again wrote 
the Director, and on 7th January received the informa¬ 
tion that "it has been decreed by law that no cuts or 
photographs of the medals of award can be furnished 
prior to the delivery of the medals in May or June 
next.” The medal not having arrived on 14th May 
Mr. Kelsey again pursued his inquiries, and on 17th 
May was rewarded with the statement that “ it is 
expected that the medals of award of the World’s 
Columbian Exposition will be ready for delivery in 
August next.” 
It will no doubt be gratifying to the exhibitors to 
learn that there is a likelihood of their obtaining the 
medals, even at that late date, on the principle of 
"better late than never,” but should they then 
materialize, their value for advertising purposes will 
be considerably curtailed, as the glory (if there ever 
was any) will be dimmed by the remoteness of the 
period when the prize was captured ; in other words, 
reference to a World's Fair award will have become 
stale. But this result is quite in keeping with some 
features of the management of the Columbian Ex¬ 
position, particularly the manner in which exhibitors 
were left to look out for themselves at the close of 
the Exposition. As is well known, little care was 
exercised and no system provided for releasing the 
exhibits, the result of which was great loss and 
probably the greatest aggregate annoyance and dis¬ 
satisfaction that has ever occurred at any Inter¬ 
national Exposition. It is to be hoped that at all 
great expositions hereafter some care will be exercised 
both as to the prompt award of medals and the 
adoption of some plan by which exhibits can be 
readily withdrawn without such serious loss and 
embarrassment as occurred at Chicago .—The Florist's 
Exchange. 
Gardening Miscellany. 
SEEDLESS FRUITS. 
Fruit cultivators abroad, and even at home, 
are trying their best to get rid of seeds in 
fruits. Already we have the Jaffa Orange, which is 
nearly always seedless. Some varieties of Apples 
have been produced that have almost no seeds. The 
core is very small, and commonly there is a hollow 
at the end opposite the stem. These seedless Apples 
are generally poor in flavour, being grown merely as 
curiosities. Raisin producers in Greece and else¬ 
where are trying to obtain seedless Grapes for raisins. 
The object in view is to get size and seedlessness in 
the same fruit. You are familiar with the seedless 
Grapes of Corinth, which are commonly known as 
"currants." The Sultana Raisins of South-eastern 
Europe are likewise seedless Grapes. Efforts are 
being made to get rid of the thorns on Raspberry and 
Blackberry plants, simply for convenience in picking 
the fruit. The thorns are intended by nature to 
protect the plants from animals. Cultivators select 
those plants which by chance happen to be thornless, 
or comparatively so. 
WALLFLOWERS. 
Few persons could disagree with the opening 
remarks of your correspondent, “ Con.,” p. 636, 
concerning these invaluable and indispensable sub¬ 
jects. It was indeed piteous to behold their destruc¬ 
tion. In this neighbourhood acres and acres might 
last autumn have been seen healthy and promising. 
The loss to the owner must have been considerable ; 
one patch alone of ten acres was entirely destroyed 
in a field near by. Of the varieties I sowed, viz., 
Harbinger, Blood Red, Covent Garden, andBelvoir 
Castle, the latter alone, with a few exceptions, has 
survived the winter. I planted largely in borders, 
shrubberies, and open ground also, and the survivors 
were those under shelter of the trees in a dry and 
poor border.— A. P. 
SOLANUM WENDLANDII. 
The Kew specimens of this beautiful plant are once 
again presenting a magnificent spectacle with a pro¬ 
fusion of bloom that is, if anything, more remark¬ 
able than that afforded during previous years. Both 
in the warm end of the succulent house and also in 
the tropical Water Lily house the display is magnifi¬ 
cent. The flowers are a magnificent lilac-blue in 
colour, large, and of good substance, being fully two 
and a half inches in diameter, and produced in huge, 
many-flowered cymes. What a pity it is that such a 
fine plant as this should not find a place in a far 
greater number of our plant houses throughout the 
country than it does at the present time. Its 
requirements are very simple and easily attended to, 
merely a stove temperature and a good, rich, loamy 
soil for its roots to ramble in. Plenty of water must 
be given it throughout the summer season, although 
the supply may be considerably curtailed during the 
winter months. S. Wendlandii is a native of Costa 
Rica, from whence it was introduced about the year 
1882. 
BEARDLESS FLAG IRISES. 
In this section of the genus Iris are to be found 
many handsome plants, which should not only find 
a place in the herbaceous border, where they usually 
succeed remarkably well as long as they are kept 
provided with a sufficient supply of water, but which 
appear to great advantage when planted around the 
margins of ponds or in any damp and boggy places 
where their roots are at liberty to absorb as much 
moisture as they will. Of useful varieties for 
utilising in this way I. sibirica atro-purpurea is a 
gem. The plant grows to a height of about 3 ft. 
under ordinary conditions, although under very 
favourable circumstances it will exceed that. The 
flowers are of medium size, both standards and falls 
being of a rich purple hue. Another fine sort for 
employing in a similar manner is I. sibirica orientalis, 
which also reaches a height of 3 ft. or thereabouts, 
the standards and falls in this case being of a lovely 
velvety-blue, very pretty and attractive. Both these 
varieties have been flowering exceedingly well this 
season at Messrs. Barr & Son's Nurseries at Long 
Ditton. 
SCHIZANTHUS PINNATUS. 
Whether grown on in pots and used for the decora¬ 
tion of the greenhouse and cool conservatory, or 
whether accorded a place in the open air in the 
herbaceous border along with the rest of the half 
hardy annuals, these beautiful plants are always 
worth looking at. For pot work seed should be sown 
some time about the beginning of September, the 
seedlings pricked off, when large enough, into shallow 
pans and kept in an ordinary greenhouse or cool pit 
close to the glass throughout the winter. In spring, 
they may be potted up three or four in 48 or 32-sized 
pots, using a compost of equal parts of loam and leaf 
soil with a quantity of sand added. If grown on in a 
gentle heat they will commence to flower about the 
middle or end of May, and from thence onwards well 
into the autumn. Staking must be carefully looked 
after when required, or the plants soon become mis¬ 
shapen distorted specimens. Treated as suggested, 
they form very elegant decorative subjects, their 
pretty lilac flowers being variously blotched and 
spotted with violet and purple and the corollas 
deeply incised in a charming manner, to which the 
plant owes the name of the Fringe Flower, a title that 
is sometimes applied to it. 
IRIS MADAME CHEREAU. 
The appellation of Queen of the Irises which has 
been utilised to describe the beauty and value of this 
lovely little plant is certainly not a too extravagant 
one, as any one who has seen it in anything like 
condition, as it fell to our lot to do on Saturday last 
at Messrs. Barr & Son’s nurseries, at Long Ditton, 
would we think concede. The standard and falls are 
white beautifully frilled with azure blue, and the 
flower would bear favourable comparison with any 
Orchid for vividness of colouring and beauty of 
marking. Its flowering season ranges from the 
beginning to the middle of June, according to the 
earliness or lateness of the season, and thus it comes 
in just after the beautiful German Irises have 
fulfilled their allotted task, forming a very suitable 
succession to them. To those who have sufficient 
space at their disposal to enable them to grow a 
number of kinds of these gorgeous plants, Iris 
Madame Chereau should recommend itself as being 
well worthy the room it may occupy. 
HYPOLEPIS REPENS. 
Although this pretty Fern hails from tropical 
America, and on that account would reasonably lead 
a cultivator to expect that a stove temperature 
would be necessary to accommodate it properly, it 
will succeed wonderfully well in a cool house, that 
is to say a house in which during the winter the 
temperature is not suffered to fall below 40° Fahr. 
This fact makes the plant all the more valuable to 
those who are on the look-out for Ferns, which, while 
their wants are but few and easily attended to may 
yet be depended on to produce a good effect. Being 
as the name denotes of a creeping habit it is of no 
use to attempt to grow it in pots for these never 
present a satisfactory appearance. For the filling 
of hanging baskets, however, nothing finer could be 
desired, whilst it usually appears at its best when 
allowed to ramble at will over an old tree stump, 
which has been clothed with virgin cork; for treated 
thus its roots will strike into any crevice where a 
little soil is to be had, and the necessary moisture 
obtained. It is not at all particular as to soil, grow¬ 
ing just as freely in pure peat as in a mixture of peat 
and loam. Plenty of water at all times is, however, 
an absolute necessity to its welfare. Where this 
cannot be supplied by means of the watering can 
the syringe may be used pretty freely, as the plant 
stands syringing remarkably well—in fact it appears 
to like it rather than otherwise. 
HEUCHERA SANGUINEA. 
Despite the fact that this plant is a comparatively 
recent introduction, the many good qualities of which 
it is possessed have served to render it a general 
favourite and have procured for it a place in most 
collections of herbaceous plants. The genus com¬ 
prises some twenty species or thereabouts, one or 
two of which are of considerable value from a gar¬ 
dener’s point of view. To H. sanguinea, however, 
must be awarded the place of honour as the most 
ornamental of them all. The flowers are rather 
small, but rich deep red in colour and’ 
produced in long graceful panicles that look 
exceedingly well when cut and used for the- 
