644 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
June 10, 1898. 
FLORICULTURE. 
Pansy Bella Duncan. 
Flowers of a new fancy Pansy have been sent us 
by Mr. Michael Cuthbertson, Public Park Nursery, 
Rothesay, N.B. For garden decoration in the south 
at least they come second to Violas in popularity. 
Bella Duncan here noted has been put into com¬ 
merce for the first time, and the flowers measuring 
close upon 3 in. in diameter have a bold and telling 
appearance. The large violet purple blotches cover 
the whole surface of the flower with exception of a 
creamy white edge. The blotches on the upper 
petals are slightly rayed at the edges, but on the 
lower three are but very slightly indented. The eye 
is golden yellow. The variety is proving of first- 
class merit, both for exhibition and for bedding 
purposes. It is robust and dwarf, and has been 
flowering for the past month without any special 
attention in the open, where it was wintered and 
and every plant lived. 
The National Auricuia Society. 
I have no desire to indulge in a war of words with 
my old friend Mr. Dodwell, in regard to this matter. 
He has not been present at any of the recent shows, 
and can have no personal knowledge of what took 
place. My contention is with the committee of that 
society. But in reference to the letter from Mr. B. 
Simonite, in which, in writing to Mr. Dodwell, he 
accused me of “ making malicious insinuations that 
Mr. Horner and himself are destroying flower 
shows" (an accusation he will neither justify nor 
withdraw) I can only state that on my arrival at 
Stanley Road, Oxford, Mr. Dodwell placed the 
letter in my hands. In reply to my question as to 
whether I could make use of the statement in the 
letter given above, he said, as it was not marked 
"private,” he thought I might, and I then and there 
made a careful copy of the phrase. This is my 
deliberate statement, and my recollection of the 
episode is very clear and distinct.— R. Dean. 
-- 
NOTES FROM HAM HOUSE. 
The land at Ham House, Richmond, Surrey, one of 
the seats of Lord Dysart, consists of a fine alluvial 
silt as might be expected from its close vicinity to 
the banks of the Thames. It is very rich in plant 
food as a rule, but requires a considerable amount 
of moisture to enable the plants to avail themselves 
of this food. In common with other cultivators 
Mr G. H. Sage, the gardener, has had a good deal 
to contend with on account of the drought, but with 
few exceptions he has little to complain of where 
skill has the power to remedy the evil. 
The fruits under glass have been benefited rather 
than otherwise with the unusual amount of sunshine. 
The fruits in the earliest Peach house are fast 
approaching maturity and in general are highly 
coloured. Lord Napier and Rivers’ Early Orange 
Nectarines are unusually heavily cropped, while 
Violette Hative also bears heavily A curious freak 
is noticeable in a tree of the latter with the fruits 
coloured on one branch and small and green upon 
the rest. It may here be remarked that a tree of 
Lord Napier Nectarine on the open wall is also 
heavily loaded. The second early house is occupied 
with Humboldt and Violette Hative Nectarines which 
bear a good crop. In this house is a fine lot of 
Sutton's Perfection Tomato in pots. The plants are 
6 ft. to 8 ft. high, bearing a good crop of fruit, and 
fine samples have been gathered for some time past. 
The third house in succession is occupied by Pit- 
maston Orange, Humboldt, and Pine Apple 
Nectarines, the trees of which are well cropped and 
the fruits have just about completed the stoning 
process. 
One house is largely occupied with Figs in pots, 
and planted out. Judging from a large bush of 
Pingo de Mel in a pot, it is a heavy fruiting variety, 
and the first crop has nearly reached maturity. 
Another comparatively new variety is St. John, also 
bearing well; but the crop of Negro Largo is not 
quite so heavy. A tree of Brown Turkey, planted 
out and trained up against the back wall of the 
house behaves in rather a peculiar manner. It de¬ 
velops and ripens the first crop in the ordinary way, 
and proceeds to swell up the fruits of the second 
crop in the ordinary way, but at the same time de¬ 
velops another set of fruit on the old wood below the 
place where the first crop was borne. This set is en¬ 
tirely different in character from the rest, inasmuch 
as the fruits are small, top-shaped, and white at 
maturity. They are, moreover, of good quality. 
The first house of Grapes was started in January, 
and the berries are now close upon maturity. The 
varieties in this house are Black Hamburgh, Foster's 
Seedling, Muscat of Alexandria, and Madersfield 
Court, all of which are satisfactory, and the bunches 
of the last named particularly fine. The second 
house is chiefly occupied with Muscat of Alexandria, 
with some vines of Madersfield Court and Alicante. 
The berries in the third house are of some size, and 
some are nearly half grown. The varieties grown 
here are Gros Colman, Lady Downes, Muscats, and 
Black Alicante, all of which are carrying good crops of 
fruit. Cucumbers and Melons are also grown, the 
former having been in use for a long time past, 
while the Melons are mostly later. The leaves of 
the Gunton Orange variety are of enormous size, 
and should enable the plants to produce fruits of 
large size. 
Considerable quantities of Strawberries are grown 
in frames and are still in full bearing notwithstand¬ 
ing the fact that good dishes of fruit have been 
gathered from Noble since the 20th of May and 
other sorts have since come into bearing. For pot 
work, President and Sir Charles Napier are best 
liked, and BritHh Queen has also a claim on the 
grower’s consideration. John Ruskin is not relished 
at all. In view of what has already been said about 
the soil, it may be taken for granted that there would 
be some difficulty with strawberries in such an 
exceptional year as the present. Grown from last 
year’s runners, Noble has fruited well; it is never 
grown a second year. Old plantations of President 
and Premier have withstood the drought well and 
are now ripening their fruits. As is now well known 
to most gardeners, Dr. Hogg grows but indifferently 
at the best of times, and it need be no surprise to see 
it dying off under the present severe test. The 
foliage of the other kinds is, however, good. 
Apples and Pears grown as small pyramids have 
in many cases a good crop of fruit, which may now 
be expected to retain their hold upon the trees and 
reach maturity. Some of the varieties of Apple we 
noted in a good bearing condition were Alfriston, 
Cellini, and Duchess of Oldenburgh. They will not, 
however, have it all their own way this year as they 
did last year, for the Pears are as well fruited as 
Apples in most cases. The trees are grown as 
pryamids of no great age. The crop of Marie 
Louise d’Ucle is exceptionally heavy and somewhat 
lighter, but still good are Beurre Ranee on the wall, 
and Josephine de Malines and Winter Nelis grown 
as pyramids. Plums are not an equal all-round 
crop, but Green Gage upon a wall is bearing heavily. 
The tree is of considerable size and generally bears 
more or less abundantly every year. Mulching and 
watering in many cases is resorted to, and Mr. Sage 
is greatly improving a place that had been allowed 
to go to decay for many years. 
-- 
VARIEGATED PLANTS. 
I have no doubt but that the new cream edge form 
of the old silver-leaved Cineraria maritima will pre¬ 
sently become popular as a bedding plant. Still it 
will be a great mistake to employ it largely. A few 
plants intermixed with golden blotched Abutilons 
and red-flowered Fuchsias, on a carpet of some 
neutral tint, may look very pleasing, but the worst 
possible thing that can happen to so striking a plant 
is to use it too liberally, as in such case it soon 
satiates. The introduction into bedding of these 
carpets having about them thinly, disposed striking 
dot or tall plants constitutes very attractive features 
for which we are thankful. 
One great mistake made, however, is to plant 
these tall plants in straight lines, or in particularly 
formal fashion. In such case all pleasure in seeing 
such beds is destroyed. It is somewhat odd, but it is 
so all the same, that we endure masses or quantities 
of dark foliage plants in beds, better than we do 
those of white or silvery leafage. 
Takeforinstance,those exceedingly diverse coloured 
trees, the Purple Beech, and the variegated Maple. 
Whilst the former is always welcome, and the larger 
deeper coloured and more perfectly grown the tree or 
or trees, the greater the admiration ; the other has a 
gaudy and somewhat fantastic look, ill assorting with 
the sombre, yet beautiful greenery abounding in 
other trees. It is very much the same in beds or 
bedding plants. On the whole, however, it seems as 
if the fancy for violent contrasts in bedding was 
dying out. Now the taste seems rather to run in 
favour of smooth, soft, simple combinations of 
colours, a very gradual gliding from one tint to 
another, with an avoidance of gaudy, or loud effects. 
The public taste is either improving, or the gardeners 
are leading it into better directions.— A. D. 
---5-- 
LONDON PANSY SHOW. 
The first exhibition of the London Pansy and 
Violet Society was held at the Drill Hall, West¬ 
minster, in conjunction with the meeting of the 
Royal Horticultural Society on Tuesday last, and 
we are glad to be able to congratulate the promoters 
on their well-earned success, for certain it is that not 
for manv years has there been such a display of show 
and fancy Pansies in the South, and never before 
have we seen such a grand lot of Violas. The 
inaugural year of the society has not been a happy 
one for the Pansy grower in the south of England, 
but our Scotch friends on the other side of the 
Cheviots have contributed largely to make the first 
exhibition a success, and to show what can be done 
provided we get more rain during the spring months. 
Of course, the present has been a very exceptional 
season, and we may not get its like again for a long 
time. That Pansies and Violas can be grown with a 
little attention to their well being in the neighbour¬ 
hood of London, there can be no doubt, judging from 
the collection now flowering in the Royal Horticul¬ 
tural Society's Garden, at Chiswick, and some other 
places not far distant where the plants were put out 
in the early part of March, and fhe beds mulched 
with cocoanut fibre, decayed cow manure, horse 
droppings, or something else of that nature according 
to the fancy of the grower. The plants should be 
propagated from cuttings every autumn, and the 
beds filled with them in spring if large flowers are 
desired. The beds should also be well manured in 
autumn when dug or trenched. 
A Gold Medal was offered for the best trade 
exhibit of Pansies and Violas, and this was won 
easily by Messrs. Dobbie & Co., Rothesay, Scotland. 
They showed about ninety sprays of Violas, number¬ 
ing about sixty to seventy distinct varieties, includ¬ 
ing all the leading sorts in cultivation with exception 
of the new rayless and miniature Violas, which were 
not well represented. The procumbent varieties 
often termed “ tufted ’’ were shown in all the forms, 
namely, Duchess of Fife, White Duchess (a white 
sport from the former) Goldfinch, and Ardwell Gem. 
The first-named is shown in our illustration (No. 1), 
which was prepared from specimens received from 
Messrs. Dobbie & Co. some time ago. The mark¬ 
ings of this type are peculiar and very refined. 
Grand yellow sorts are Prince of Orange, Bullion, 
Ardwell Gem already noted, and Rothes, a golden 
yellow, rayless variety. We must not omit the 
golden Vernon Lee, with the mahogany upper petals 
(see No. 4). Lucy Ashton represents another type, 
with rosy purple edges and a white centre (see No, 
2). There were several varieties of this type in this 
fine collection. H. M. Stanley (No. 3) is intense 
purple flaked with rose, and comes more true to 
character with Messrs. Dobbie than we have seen 
elsewhere. York and Lancaster (No. 5) is white, 
heavily striped with purple and rose, and is the 
favourite of this type because one of the best defined. 
Grand blues were shown in Archibald Grant, Max 
Kolb, Holyrood, Ariel, Duchess of Sutherland, and 
many intermediate sorts. The last-named is pale 
lavender when grown in the south, but takes on a 
beautiful bluish mauve with Messrs. Dobbie; and 
the same thing was noticeable in many other 
varieties grown under the cooler and more favour¬ 
able conditions at Rothesay. Countess of Hope- 
toun, Sylvia, Lady Dundonald, and others well 
represented the white varieties too numerous to 
mention. The parti-coloured or variegated sorts 
were typified by The Mearns, Ida's Choice, Beauty, 
and others, all of which were wonderfully highly 
coloured. Peacock (No. 6) shows a striking mixture 
of crimson, rose, and blue, edged with white or rose. 
The firm also showed nine stands of fancy Pansies, 
containing some 216 blooms, all of which were 
named sorts. The second prize was also awarded 
to a Scotch firm, namely, Messrs. William Paul & 
Co., Bridge of Weir, whose collection was much 
smaller and contained a large proportion of fancy 
varieties; both the latter and the Violas ere 
