792 
August 12, 1893. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
has to be liberated from the keel before it can be 
operated upon. Mr. Eckford accomplished the same 
work with culinary Peas that he has with the sweet- 
scented varieties, and is doing so still and with the 
best results. There is this peculiarity about the 
impregnated Peas—supposing the ripened seed pod 
contains eight Peas, no two of them scarcely will 
produce plants exactly alike, and from a pod can be 
obtained dwarf and tall growing types, round and 
wrinkled varieties ; the colour of some in a ripe state 
white or cream, others green, and others a mixture of 
cream and green. Pea flowers that have not been 
impregnated by artificial means may be expected to 
produce their kind, though some amount of sportive¬ 
ness occasionally takes place. Sweet Peas have 
varied in the same way, and a fertilised pod has been 
found to produce several distinct varieties. 
NEW VARIETIES OF SWEET PEAS. 
I have before me, as I write, a catalogue of Sweet 
Peas issued by Mr. Eckford. It contains forty-two 
new varieties of his own raising, and as during the 
last few days he has exhibited a dozen more, some 
idea of the extent of his work may be obtained. Of 
his newest varieties which have been distributed, I 
may mention Mrs. Eckford, delicate shaped primrose, 
a colour in sweet peas of which our forefathers 
never dreamed even ; Dorothy Tennant, pucy violet 
or blue, a charming variety ; Emily Eckford, reddish 
mauve, approaching a true blue—very fine indeed ; 
Lady Penzance, very bright rose, extra fine ; Blush¬ 
ing Beauty, soft pink, suffused with violet ; Firefly, 
glowing crimson, very fine and showy ; Countess of 
Aberdeen, delicate blush ; Venus, Salmon buff, 
delicately shaded with rose pink ; a very distinct and 
beautiful variety; Lady Beaconsfield, salmon and 
rose, the wings pale yellow ; Stanley, a deep maroon 
self, which has been described as by far the finest 
dark variety yet raised ; Royal Robe, delicate blush 
pink ; Ovid, bright rosy pink, a very pleasing flower ; 
Gaiety, the standards white, striped and flaked with 
bright rosy lilac ; and Duke of Clarence, rosy claret, 
the wings shaded with violet, very fine. Of older 
standard varieties of Mr. Eckford’s raising, I may 
mention Mrs. Gladstone, delicate pink and blush ; 
Imperial Blue, blue shaded with mauve; Cardinal, 
bright shining crimson scarlet ; Orange Prince, 
bright orange pink ; Mr. Sankey, pure white ; Sena¬ 
tor, creamy ground, striped and flaked in violet, 
very fine ; Captain of the Blues, bright purple and 
pale blue; Princess Victoria, dark cerise and mauve- 
pink ; and Splendour, rich, bright, pinkish-rose, 
extra fine, which I take to be one of the most useful 
varieties Mr. Eckford has raised. Here, then, is a 
list of varieties which, if anyone would grow next 
season, they would find to be not only extremely 
ornamental in the garden, but valuable for 'cutting 
from. The introduction of so many new and pretty 
varieties of Sweet Peas has given a great impetus to 
their cultivation, and Mr. Eckford reports that it is 
necessary he should harvest seeds by the ton in 
order to supply the demand ; indeed, in most 
gardens, one can now find some patches of Sweet 
Peas. 
Cultural Notes—Preparing the Ground. 
If anyone would grow fine blooms of Sweet Peas 
the soil must be good; it should be deeply dug and 
well manured some time before the time for sowing 
arrives, and then it should be thrown up rough for 
the elements to operate upon it. 
Sowing the Seeds. 
When the time comes round for this, all that is 
necessary is to fork the ground over, making the 
surface fairly fine ; then to draw a seed drill with 
a hoe, about 3 in. deep, and sow the seeds very 
thinly in it. The Sweet Peas appear to be more 
branching in character than the culinary varieties ; 
and as a general rule these fragrant Peas are sown 
so thickly that they actually starve each other, and 
thus the period of bloom is lessened. But where 
the plants can stand singly in well-manured ground, 
they grow strongly, produce very fine flowers, and 
bloom continuously. Mr. Eckford recommends 
that when the seeds are sown they be covered with 
2 in. of soil, and when the young plants begin to 
appear, to go along the row with one foot on each 
side of it, treading down the soil and making it 
thoroughly firm for a distance of 18 in. on each side 
of the row. A sowing can be made in the open as 
early as February, with successional sowings in 
April and May. When the plants are large enough 
they should have Pea-sticks placed on either side to 
give the plants necessary support. 
Sweet Peas can be sown in an open border early 
in September, provided it is in a sheltered position, 
as against a wall or fence. If the plants can be 
brought in safely through the winter they grow 
strongly, bloom freely and earlier, and are invariably 
finer in quality than when sown in spring. To sow 
Sweet Peas at any time in poor ground is courting 
failure. It is worth a journey to Wem to see the 
individual plants of Sweet Peas Mr. Eckford grows. 
The possibilities of branching in a Sweet Pea are by 
no means understood, and they are usually sown so 
thickly that the plants cannot branch, which is their 
natural bent, as they would if more room were given 
them.— R. D. 
-- 
Gardening Miscellany. 
HOW TO CURE TOBACCO. 
First : Pull the leaves off the main stem where quite 
free from moisture ; lay them on each other until a 
pile about 1 ft. or 15 in. high is made ; several piles 
will be required for a moderate supply. Second : 
Take them to a dry loft or room, and place them side 
by side, closely, so that a piece of board can be laid 
flat on the top, and on this a few stones or weights, 
the object being to press the leaves firmly enough to 
bring about slight fermentation. This serves to turn 
the leaves yellow, and care must be taken that the 
fermentation is only slight. Third : Spread all out 
singly on a dry floor or shelf for several days (away 
from sun heat) : about ten days will suffice. Fourth : 
Sprinkle very lightly (or steam the leaves) ; this 
done, pack them together as before and press for a 
few days ; slight fermentation will again take place, 
but be very careful to see that the leaves do not rot, 
which will be the case if they were wetted much in 
sprinkling. Fifth : Spread the leaves out again until 
dry and brown, when, if the work has been properly 
done they may be packed closely in a box and 
pressed by placing a slate with a few bricks on the top 
to keep all firm. The leaves which I cured in this 
way were excellent for fumigating plants, and as an 
old smoker who tried some in his clay dhudee said, 
“ Tis werry good.”— A. J. D., Mount B.illan. 
CAMPANULA OR PLATYCODON. 
Gardeners always deprecate the changing of old- 
established names, even in cases where the name is 
erroneous, but when a good, or correct and old-estab¬ 
lished name is altered surely they have cause to 
grumble. A case in point occurred at the meeting of 
the Royal Horticultural Society on the 25th ult., 
when Platycodon grandiflorum Mariesiiwas exhibited 
under the name of Campanula. Now if Platycodon 
is to be placed under Campanula, then there are 
numerous other genera of plants belonging to the 
Bellflower family which ought to suffer the same fate. 
But this should neither be encouraged nor permitted. 
For instance there are species of Wahlenbergia, 
Microcodon, Leptocodon and Codonopsis, as well as 
Platycodon which all agree with one another in having 
fruit which bursts at the top between the calyx lobes, 
whereas the fruit of Campanula opens by pores below 
the calyx, in fact near the base. There are several 
genera of plants more nearly related to Campanula, 
and all scattering their fruits in the same way. 
Many of them have flowers closely resembling those 
of a Campanula, yet there is no desire nor necessity 
for altering the names to Campanula, for this would 
only make confusion worse confounded. The change- 
ing of Platycodon would lead some to suppose it to 
be a new plant, which they probably have already got. 
This sort of thing should be discouraged.— A. Gardener. 
MEDALS AS PRIZES. 
I was amused by your remarks last week as to the 
practice of giving medals as prizes, a practice which 
is most objectionable when they are offered without 
any money accompaniment. When, however, a 
medal is added to a money prize which is worth 
competing for, it does become of some value as a 
record of the successful competitor having won a 
certain prize. Of course, the offering of medals by 
trade firms is simply one method of gaining a cheap 
advertisement, and I think compilers of schedules 
are much to blame for allowing it to be done. When 
applications are made by people who wish to offer 
medals, I always advocate giving them a chance of 
offering money to the value which the medals are 
said to be worth, and if that is not agreeable, refuse 
to accept the medals altogether. I have often 
noticed that one firm not only offers nothing but 
medals, but surround them with such a lot of special 
conditions as to quite bar any ordinary gardener 
from competing. I think there are very few people, 
except specialists, who have the time when they 
ascertain the name of any particular plant or flower 
to further inquire where it was raised and who raised 
it.— G. H. S. 
ORCHID NOTES AND GLEANINGS, 
Aerides Leonis expansum. 
Some of the species of Aerides are notable for their 
agreeable fragrance, no less than the beauty of their 
flowers, and as they last some time in bloom their 
presence in the Orchid houses is very acceptable at 
this season of the year. That under notice flowered 
finely for some time past in the nursery of Messrs. J. 
Veitch & Sons, Chelsea, and has both a delicious 
fragrance and beautiful flowers to recommend it. 
The latter are produced in arching or drooping 
racemes, and have white sepals and petals faintly 
shaded with rosy-purple at the margin, and slightly 
spotted at the base. The three-lobed lip has the 
lateral lobes spreading falcate, and white spotted with 
purple ; the terminal lobe is reflexed at the sides, 
serrate round the apex, and deep purple fading 
almost to white near the base. The varietal name 
would apply to this spreading character of the lobes 
of the lip, and which in many species of Orchid are 
closely infolded over the face of the column, as in O. 
odoratum and others. Some of the winter flowering 
species are notable for their fragrance in winter as 
this is in summer. 
-- 
SOCIETIES. 
' Royal Horticultural, August 8 th . — The exhibits were 
both numerous and extensive on Tuesday last. 
Orchids were not so plentiful as at former meetings, 
as they are now mostly out of season, but stove and 
greenhouse plants, Begonias, Gladiolia, Hollyhocks, 
Campanulas, Phloxes, and other hardy herbaceous 
plants were shown in abundance. Roses, Sweet 
Peas, and Carnations were also conspicuous, and as 
fresh as they were in the earlier part of the summer. 
Fruit was also shown in some quantity. A Silver 
Banksian Medal was awarded to Messrs. F. Sander 
& Co., St. Albans, for a group of Orchids, including 
fine pieces of Aerides Sanderiana, Calanthe Sanderi- 
ana, Vanda Sanderiana, Cypripedium Thayerianum, 
and the curious Grobya Amherstiana, with flowers 
of singular form. A similar award was accorded to 
Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart, (gardener, Mr. W. H 
White), Burford Lodge, Dorking, for a smaller group 
of Orchids, including showy kinds like Aerides 
Lawrenciana Sanderiana, Miltonia spectabilis, Laelia 
elegans Turneri Purple Prince, Cattleya blessensis, 
Cypripedium Ano-superbiens, and the curious and 
beautiful Schomburgkia Lyonsii, having the sepals 
and petals variously combined, and the latter often 
appearing absent. He had also a showy collection 
of a strain of Gladiolus named G. Childsi, with 
large and expanded flowers, in several cases 
showing distinct traces of G. Sanderianus, which 
had no doubt been used in the parentage. The 
flowers were notable for their large size and rich 
colours. Forming part of the same group was a 
collection of Cannas, also notable for the size and 
rich colour of the flowers. All were cut from the 
open ground. Masdevallia Lowii, a very distinct 
type, was shown by R. J. Measures (gardener, Mr. 
H. Chapman), Cambridge Lodge, Camberwell, v’ho 
also had Cypripedium Youngianum, richer in colour 
than in other cases of the same plant ; and C. Numa 
superbum, Laelia elegans Schilleriana Johnsonii, and 
other varieties of this type, were shown by Thomas 
Statter, Esq. (gardener, Mr. R. Johnson), Stand Hall, 
Manchester. A new hybrid Laelia named Novelty 
was exhibited by Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons, Chelsea. 
The small flowered and sweet scented Earina suaveo- 
lens was sent over from the Royal Botanic Gardens, 
Glasnevin. Flowers of the beautiful Oncidium 
spilopterum were shown by W. J. Thompson, Esq. 
(gardener, Mr. W. Stevens), Walton Grange, Stone, 
Staffs. Cattleya granulosa Schoffieldiana and a 
Miltonia were exhibited by Major Joicey (gardener, 
Mr. F. J. Thorne), Sunningdale Park. He also had 
a well-flowered piece of Vanda Sanderiana, bearing 
eleven open flowers on a spike. A plant of Saccola- 
