October 29. 1892. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
135 
somewhat like the unnamed one, is John Gibbons, 
but the corolla is shorter and broader. The largest 
of the singles is General Gordon, with purple petals 
ij in. wide and nearly if in. long. A very pretty 
and evidently free flowering sort is Letty Lye, with 
scarlet petals and all the rest white. Something in 
the same way is Gem of Lavington, but the flowers 
are altogether larger, as are the leaves. On the con¬ 
trary the corolla only of Flocon de Neige is white. 
Rose of Castile Improved is much larger than the 
old type. Beauty of Wilts is in the way of Letty 
Lye, but the tube is much longer, and Beauty of 
Clyffe Hall is smaller, with the flowers somewhat 
different in shape. The Earl of Beaconsfield is well 
known to most growers. The flowers of C. N. May 
are large, soft purple and red ; those of Swanley 
Gem are similar in hue but very short, with spread¬ 
ing petals, and graceful ; Harry Brookes also differs 
in shape; Lustrous Improved somewhat resembles 
Beauty of Clyffe Hall in size and colour, but is 
evidently very floriferous ; Lord Wolseley shows a 
curious mixture of violet and purple. 
--t-- 
HARDY PLANTS AT 
LANGPORT. 
Having heard so much of the Gladioli and other 
extensive cultures carried on by Messrs. Kelway & 
Son, at Langport, and seen their fine exhibits at 
many of our leading exhibitions, I had long resolved 
to pay their nursery a visit when opportunity offered, 
but it was not until one fine day in July last that the 
opportunity came. The long straggling town had a 
gay and festive appearance, it was in the throes of 
an election contest, but that concerned me not at all, 
I found more pleasure among the hardy plants than 
in the polling booth. 
The Messrs. Kelway's nursery is on the outskirts 
of the town, and about one mile from the railway 
station. The Delphiniums were the first things that 
attracted my attention, for they were just at their 
best, and there was about one acre of them. They 
made up such a sight as I shall not soon forget, so 
vast was the quantity in bloom, so grand the spikes, 
and so rich and varied the different shades of blue. 
Although I have been a grower of these lovely hardy 
border plants for some twenty years I was not pre¬ 
pared to see so much improvement in colour, and 
was much struck with the intensity of the shade in 
such varieties as Sir Trevor Lawrence, Lord Brassey 
and others, as compared with the old Bella Donna. 
The varieties which have a shade of bronze in the 
centre are also very fine, the contrast between the 
bronze centre and the deep blue exterior being very 
striking. But the shades of colour in many of the 
newer sorts almost baffle description, and I shall not 
attempt it. It is in the doubles and semi-doubles 
that the greatest advancement has been made, and 
many of them are truly lovely. They are much 
larger and more open than the old compact doubles 
of the Ranunculoides type, and consequently are 
much more valuable for ordinary garden adornment. 
The light blue flowers with the large white eyes are 
very striking, and of this section Britannia is, I think, 
the very best Delphinium I ever saw. Other good 
sorts that caught my eye were Prince Oscar, 
semi-double, bright blue plum colour with yellow 
centre; Princess Maud, Lord Charles Beresford, 
Robin Adair, and the Shah. Hitherto the prevailing 
colour in Delphiniums has been blue, but the Messrs. 
Kelway have some breaks away from this hue, nota¬ 
bly a good single white, and a fine creamy white 
double which will be heard of in due time. 
The Delphiniums do not receive any special 
treatment here, being simply planted on a strong 
loamy soil in an open position. Some few were tied 
to stakes, but the majority do not require it, being 
so dwarf by comparison with the old sorts. This 
dwarfness of habit is a great gain, and the greater 
portion of the Langport plants were not more than 
4 ft. to 5 ft. high, yet carrying immense spikes of 
large blooms. 
Of the perennial Gaillardias there were numerous 
large beds in full bloom, and the flowers were so 
large, and the colours so striking, that bearing in 
mind the characteristics of G. picta and grandiflora, 
one could hardly realise that they belong to the same 
race. Imagine a Gaillardia measuring from 5 in. to 
6 in. across, and that is the size that James Kelway 
sometimes attains; Dazzling, scarlet with a gold 
edge, Buffalo Bill, William Kelway, Oliver Wendell 
Holmes, and Magenta King are all highly desirable 
kinds. The Gaillardias are very showy and last a 
long time in bloom. 
The Pyrethrums, both double and single, were 
almost over at the time of my visit, but an enormous 
quantity is grown, and they are exposed in the open 
to every wind that blows. These are plants that 
abhor coddling, and they get none of it at Langport. 
The Gladioli were not in bloom, but a tremendous 
quantity is grown, very large breaks of ground being 
devoted to their culture. Pasonies too are handled 
to a large extent, some six or seven acres of ground 
being planted with them, and most vigorous and 
healthy the stock looked. Roses do well in the 
strong rich soil, and they were grandly in bloom. A 
large breadth of land was devoted to seedling briers, 
great quantities of which are budded with Tea 
Roses, for which no other stock is used by Messrs. 
Kelway. 
Nothing pleased me much more than to look upon 
a large patch of that good old Pink, Napoleon III., 
and I enjoyed also a look through the collections of 
Campanulas, Saxifrages, and other genera of hardy 
plants. 
Under glass a great feature was a magnificent crop 
of some two or three sorts of Cucumbers, grown 
specially for seed, Prince of Wales and Kelway's 
Prolific were very fine, and of the former the yellow 
ripening fruits hung as thickly as they well could do. 
In another house I noted a fine stock of dwarf 
Cannas, with some very fine varieties among them ; 
and I should not omit mention also of a good strain 
of single Petunias, which made a gay display. 
Mr. William Kelway, who lives near the nursery, 
also makes a feature of hardy plants in his own 
garden, a new one, in which he has gathered together 
a grand lot of things, and there I saw also Daphne 
Mezerium more beautifully berried than I had ever 
seen it before — Western. 
STRAWBERRIES. 
The past season will not be remembered for its 
heavy crops of fine Strawberries—in Scotland, at all 
events—and the fact of the crowns being unripened 
and unprepared for the severe frosts in April may in 
some measure account for the shortcomings. Not¬ 
withstanding all that we hear and read about Straw¬ 
berry culture, it is difficult to persuade old hands, 
like myself, that we have made any progress for a 
generation. Undoubtedly there are many varieties 
now that were not known thirty years ago, and some 
of them worthless enough. When there were but a 
few to choose from except Keen's Seedling, British 
Queen, and a few others, we had finer crops and fruit 
of better quality than we have now. 
The old system of cultivation was to manure well, 
trench deeply, and get strong healthy foliage and 
large crowns by the end of the year, and such Keen’s 
and British Queens as our fathers and grandfathers 
gathered we should like to see now. These remarks 
were suggested by the sight of some plots of Straw¬ 
berries, with strong foliage and in robust health, in 
a Perthshire garden ; and which, year by year, are 
managed on the old system, viz., removing a quan¬ 
tity of foliage and digging deeply among the plants 
—a practice that would shock some of our modern 
practitioners. I have not adopted this plan myself, 
but cannot be blind to facts. The garden in question 
is noted for its production of fine fruit, and Straw¬ 
berries in particular; yet the latter, though deeply 
dug among every autumn, do not get much manure, 
as the foliage grows rank without it. 
The cutting of the roots in the manner indicated 
causes a fresh break of roots from the old ones that 
are more vigorous feeders than they would have 
been had they remained. Our friend gave up 
modern practises because he found them wanting. 
It it well-known to Strawberry growers that young 
rootless runners in June will make finer fruiting 
plants by autumn than those rooted the previous 
year, and no one puts any value on the latter for 
forcing. Perhaps the best Strawberry grower that I 
am acquainted with cuts off all the foliage and 
runners, and manures liberally as soon as his crop is 
gathered. This system gives entirely new foliage, 
vigorous and healthy, and new roots are put forth 
ready to consume greedily the nourishment put 
within their reach.— Stirling. 
-- 
Forest Gate and Stratford Amateur Chrysanthemum 
Society. —The first annual exhibition of this society 
will be held on November 4th and 5th, at the 
Norwich Hall, near Forest Gate Station. 
(Hardening |}iscellany. 
THE VIRGINIAN CREEPER. 
In your remarks on this beautiful climber in your 
issue of the 8th inst., you refer to what use it can be 
applied for beautifying walls, buildings, etc., but 
there is another purpose to which it can be applied, 
and the one in which it perhaps excels all others, 
namely, for table decoration. There is no more 
charming feature than its beautiful red leaves when 
used in this way. They can be used in scrolls or 
designs laid flat on the cloth, and mixed with some 
light coloured flowers, or they can be used to take the 
place of Maidenhair Fern for centre pieces, epergnes 
or silver baskets, and when its bright red foliage is 
mixed with Gloire de Dijon Roses, and Clematis 
Jackmanii, and its long trailing branches arranged 
to hang loosely from the top of an epergne and 
falling gracefully upon the cloth, the whole forms a 
feature in table decoration which for prettiness and 
simplicity it would be hard to beat. There is one 
point, however, in its use for table decoration that 
must be borne in mind, and that is, not to overdo it. 
No style of table decoration requires to be overdone, 
but the foliage of the Ampelopsis is of so brilliant a 
hue when seen by artificial light, that it becomes 
very dazzling to the eyes when used too freely.— 
H. W. 
A HYBRID BEGONIA. 
When we published The Tuberous Begonia we stated 
(p. 18) that B. Frcebelli did not appear to be amen¬ 
able to hybridisation, nor did it ally itself with any 
of the other species. Since then, however, we have 
had reason to alter our opinion, for several hybrid 
seedlings have been obtained through the persistent 
efforts of Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons. On the 20th of 
October, 1888, we recorded the production of a batch 
of seedlings from B. Frcebelli crossed with a deep 
scarlet flowered variety of the tuberous type. The 
result was the production of numerous seedlings 
varying in colour from deep scarlet, almost crimson, 
to rosy pink. The leaves were hairy o_ both surfaces 
as in the case of the seed parent, and more or less 
bronzed on both surfaces. A few days ago the 
Messrs. Veitch kindly sent us some flowers of 
another hybrid, showing -a definite departure from 
Frcebelli, more particularly in the foliage. The 
leaves were oblate, obliquely heart-shaped at the 
base, slightly scabrous above, but not hairy and 
partly shining. The under surface is smooth, 
shining, and slightly bronzed. The hybrid therefore 
shows a more definite tendency towards the tuberous 
type as at present recognised. The pollen parent 
was a tuberous variety with crimson-scarlet flowers. 
The blooms of the hybrid measured 2§ in. across the 
larger sepals, all of which were bright scarlet on 
both surfaces. One of the flowers sent was peculiar 
inasmuch as it had only two stamens instead of the 
usual brush of them. This character, however, will 
in all likelihood not be permanent. 
NEW HYBRID STREP TOCARPUS. 
The feasibility of hybridising S.Galpini with another 
species has been demonstrated. We may therefore, 
in course of time, expect to get a new race, different 
from those already existing, or on the other hand it 
may be completely blended with the older types. 
The fresh blood may, however, increase the size of 
the flowers and improve the form of the flowers. 
Judging from the shape of the flowers of S. Galpini, 
the tube of progeny obtained from it will be shorter 
and the lamina more expanded. A hybrid between 
S. Galpini and S. Rexii was shown before the public 
on the 18th inst., at the Drill Hall, Westminster, and 
came from the Royal Gardens, Kew. It was raised 
from seed this year, and bears a single large ovate- 
oblong leaf, ribbed and wrinkled above, and hoary 
with grey hairs on both surfaces. One or two small 
leaves may also be noted on the plant, but whether 
they will attain any size remains to be seen. This 
character can no doubt be improved considerably in 
course of time by crossing it with other kinds. The 
flowers are larger than those of S. Galpini, with a 
short whitish tube externally. Several flower-stems 
are produced on the same plant, each bearing a 
cymose raceme of many blooms. The flowers are 
similar in shape to those of S. Galpini, but they are 
of a lilac-blue, and the three-lobed blotch in the 
throat is of an intense violet, extending downwards 
into the throat, in place of the white occurring in S. 
