}uly 18, 1895. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
729 
Cheers were then given for Mr. Gibbs and Mr. 
and Mrs. Beckett, and the visitors departed with 
some very pleasant recollections of their visit to 
Aldenham. 
Mr. Crane was an indefatigable Secretary, and 
with such officers as Mr. Sanders and Mr. Crane, 
there is no reason to doubt that the Association will 
continue to be a great success. 
-- 
TOMATO HOUSE, SWISS NURSERY, 
FARNHAM. 
We have frequently made mention in The Gardening 
World of the excellence of the exhibits of fruit and 
vegetables made at the various London shows by 
Mr. S. Mortimer, Swiss Nursery, Rowledge, Farn- 
ham, Surrey. At the meeting of the Royal Horti¬ 
cultural Society on June nth ult., Mr. Mortimer 
exhibited twenty-four dishes of ripe Tomatos, in¬ 
cluding several of Messrs. Sutton & Sons’ varieties 
which are now well known to every cultivator and 
exhibitor. He also had fine samples of Frogmore 
Conqueror, Mitchell’s Ham Green Favourite, Jones' 
Perfection and various others of greater or less 
repute amongst cultivators. At the same time he 
exhibited fifteen fruits of a new Cucumber named 
to keep on producing flowers and small fruits after 
they have really become exhausted. The better 
plan is to mature a limited number of fruits, and 
then pull up the plants, making a fresh plantation. 
-—-— 
GARDENIAS. 
Some years ago 4s per dozen was a common price 
for the flowers of these, but of late there has not 
been the rage for them that used to be, and their 
culture appears to have consequently declined. The 
flowers are scarcely saleable in some of the large 
towns in Lancashire. Three or four years ago I saw 
a fine batch in a florist’s nursery that were about to 
be thrown away, because, as the owner said, he did 
not believe that if he offered the flowers at a half¬ 
penny each he could sell them. The flowers in a 
cut state used for button-holes and other floral 
devices, turn a rusty brown sooner than one could 
wish, but their fragrance remains until the flowers are 
well nigh perished. 
Wearers of " button-holes" will however not take 
to the Gardenia, prefering something more durable at 
less price. At Whitsuntide the “button-holes" for 
the masses have to be made at a penny or twopence 
Has any one succeeded in growing them success, 
fully and largely in loam alone ?— W. P. R. 
-•$.- 
TUBEROUS BEGONIAS. 
A few years ago it was said of the tuberous 
Begonia that it was the coming flower. It has 
come, and apparently come to stay, for the flower is 
now with us in all its possibilities of form and hue. 
I say " possibilities ” because it is rather impro¬ 
bable that any marked diversion can accrue. We 
have single and double forms in great variation, and 
every gardener of any pretension aspires to possess 
them, either for pot culture or for bedding out. 
Used in either way the Begonia is alike beautiful ; 
at least, so I thought when I recently saw it at 
Hanger Hill House, Ealing, W., in floriferous form. 
Mr. Cooper, the gardener, employs it in both ways, 
and, although the droughty season has affected it 
somewhat out of doors, he has a very fine display 
under glass. 
Here the plants exhibit every sign of vigour and 
freedom from disease, for the stems are thick and 
solid, the leaves fleshy and clean, while the floral 
organs, for which they are held in such high esteem, 
are bright and fresh and clear. Mr. Cooper has, by 
continuous selection, got together a nice assortment 
Mr. Mortimer’s Tomato House. 
Marvel, and which was notable for its dark green 
and ribbed but spineless fruits. The latter were in 
fine condition, being about 15 in. long on an average, 
and characterised by a short neck. On that occasion 
a Silver Knightian Medal was awarded the exhibitor. 
All of the above and other fruits, flowers and vege¬ 
tables are grown chiefly for the production of seed. 
We have frequently noticed Mr.Mortimer’s admirable 
exhibits of show and fancy Dahlias on other 
occasions during the season for that popular flower, 
and we may say that he cultivates them extensively 
and well. 
On this occasion we wish to refer more particularly 
to the Tomato house in which most of the above 
mentioned varieties were grown. The accompanying 
illustration represents an outside view of the house, 
taken from a photograph, and for which we are 
indebted to Messrs. James Sendall & Co., horti¬ 
cultural builders and heating engineers, Cambridge, 
who built the house in question. The substantial 
character of the building is well shown. Only the 
tops of the Tomato plants are shown, but they serve 
to show Mr. Mortimer’s method of stopping them so 
that all of the fruits set are ultimately brought to 
perfection. There is no object in allowing the plants 
each, and a Gardenia wired with a piece of Maiden 
Hair Fern at the back cannot be produced at that 
price. Fashion changes in flowers as in other things, 
and there seems to be a revival of the taste for 
Gardenias for some purpose or another, for Mr. 
Walker of Golden Hill and Wellfield Nurseries, 
Leyland near Preston, has erected a large house for 
their culture which he planted this spring. And 
he is well satisfied with the prices realised at 
Manchester where most of the flowers have been 
sent. The plants when I saw them, early in June 
were remarkably clean and vigorous, promising a 
supply of flowers for some time to come. They 
were planted in peat on a raised wooden plat¬ 
form with the hot water pipes passing under them. 
There used to be an immense quantity of 
Gardenias grown by Mr. Ladds at Bexley years ago; 
I forget the kind of soil used but they were planted 
on the level and I well remember wading my way 
through (for there was no made pathway) a forest of 
them six feet high, and from the puddles of water that 
lay about one might think the plants aquatic. I have 
been very successful in their culture when planted 
in a mixture of peat and loam, with bottom heat, but 
in loam alone they do not at all do well. 
of colours ; and he informs me that although they 
started slowly at first they have lately more than 
made amends, and bid fair to surpass themselves 
this year in usefulness and beauty. They were 
wintered in boxes, in cocoanut fibre—a circumstance 
he makes a strong point of—hence he attributes their 
robustness and vigour to this fact more than any 
other.—C. B. G., Acton, W. 
———- 
RAISING CABBAGE PLANTS FOR THE 
EARLIEST CROP. 
In looking over an old volume of a horticultural 
journal recently I noted an instance of some seed¬ 
lings of Cabbage plants raised in spring, and which, 
after standing several months in the seed-bed, were 
planted out, with the result that a good crop of 
useful heads was cut early the following season, and 
that, too, without one going to seed. It would be of 
some practical value to know something of the 
weather conditions which obtained during the inter¬ 
val between the seedling stage of these plants and 
the date on which they became fit for use ; also the 
description of soil on which they were grown, and 
other cultural details. 
It is true that some varieties have special capa- 
