820 
August 26, 1898. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
FliOf^IGUliTU^E. 
The Florists' Laced Pink. 
Mr. Thurstan does well to keep his favourite 
flower—the fragrant laced florists’ Pink—before the 
public, and claim for it the high qualities he does. 
It is one of those flowers which gives comparatively 
little trouble to cultivate and yet makes such a large 
return. It does not require to be grown in pots, 
like the Carnations, in order to get exhibition blooms, 
it will grow on any fairly dry spot in the open. 
If any one will take the trouble to raise the bed .for 
Pinks a little above the ground level so as to throw 
off some of the superabundant moisture which comes 
with the autumn and winter rains he will be rewarded 
for his pains. The Pink is apparently of a hardier 
character than the Carnation, because it can be 
planted in the open in the autumn to stand through 
the winter—and it does stand through the winter 
with safety. 
The Pink does not appear to be so much af¬ 
fected with spot as the Carnation, and therefore 
gives less trouble and causes less anxiety during the 
winter than does the Carnation. My friend Mr. 
Thurstan holds the Pink to be the progenitor of the 
Carnation, and he has shown me in times past his 
bed of seedling Pinks and called my attention to the 
robust Carnation-like growth of the seedlings, which 
looked like the "Jacks” the costermonger hawks 
about the streets on his barrow and sells as double 
Carnations, while he slyly winks the other eye. I 
cannot venture to set up as an authority as to 
whether the Pink begat the Carnation or the Carna¬ 
tion the Pink — perhaps they are cousins, or more 
distantly related—but I am heartily with Mr. 
Thurstan in advocating the claims of this charming 
flower. I this season grew a good batch of that 
fine laced Pink John Ball; the plant came through 
the trying winter with scarcely the loss of a single 
one, and they bloomed freely and finely, the season 
considered. We saw at Chiswick plants of some 
of the leading varieties in good bloom, and that 
early variety Modesty must be written down as one 
of the best border Pinks in cultivation. 
When at Cardiff a few days ago I had the pleasure 
of looking through Mr. Thurstan's small garden. 
It is a pity he has not more leisure so that he could 
have a larger garden and give more of his time to 
his favourite flowers. He had a capital bed of fine 
strong plants of named laced Pinks raised from 
pipings taken in the spring. Under a cool west wall 
a few pipings are put into some light sandy soil, and 
a glass jamjar, cut off just below the shoulders, is 
inverted over them. Scarcely a piping is lost, the 
little plants rooting quickly soon grow into size and 
now the early struck cuttings are splendid stuff—to 
plant out in October ; for if anyone would have fine 
laced Pinks not only should the bed be well prepared 
and adequately manured, but the plants should be 
well established by the winter. I have known 
persons to order plants of Pinks in April, when they 
had begun to develop their blooming shoots, and 
then express disappointment because the flowers 
did not come nicely laced. 
Among the rooted plants was Duke of York, a 
very fine dark laced Pink, raised, I think, by Mr. 
Charles F. Thurstan, of Wolverhampton, the secre¬ 
tary of the Midland Pink Society, and shown by 
him in 1892 in fine condition, when it was awarded 
a First-class Certificate of Merit. It is a rare 
grower; one may as well term a twenty stone man 
delicate as to regard this fine new variety as in any 
degree “ miffy,” for it has all the vigour of a Carna¬ 
tion. I predict a rare future for it, but whether it 
is to be put into commerce and by whom I cannot 
say. 
Whether, as my old friend imagines, the Pink will 
supersede the Carnation remains to be seen. It has 
an advantage over it in its hardihood, its capability of 
being grown in the open, its freedom of bloom and 
its exquisite fragrance. It may be said that it admits 
of but little variety, though to the Pink grower there 
are many gradations of marking and shading. But 
some persons say bizarre and flake Carnations are 
alike, which they certainly are not, and then there is 
growing in our midst a large section of self and 
bicoloured and tricoloured fancy Pinks that are in¬ 
valuable in the border, and are being much sought 
after for border cultivation. It is because we have 
little opportunity for bringing these together that I 
regret the temporary eclipse of the Southern Pink 
Society. I will not say collapse because the organ¬ 
isation exists and can be called into action at any 
time. I hope something will be done in the 
approaching autumn to prepare a schedule of prizes 
and programme for 1894. We began so well a few 
years ago, and with so much promise of the future 
that a resurrection of past efforts is absolutely 
required.— R. Dean. 
--t—- 
TOMATOS AT CHISWICK. 
Those who were fortunate in securing a good set of 
Tomatos in the open air before the middle of the 
present month will be able to secure a good supply 
of ripe fruit from the open ground during the 
remaining portion of this and all the next month. 
The great heat that set in about the 12th has brought 
on the fruit very rapidly, and it will no doubt be 
excellent in quality. The market prices will un¬ 
doubtedly rule low, for good samples have been 
selling for some time past at 3d. a pound (retail 
price), and it is unlikely that they will be dearer for 
some time to come. Since the 12th the atmosphere 
has been too arid for the setting of the blooms, and 
in shallow soils watering has been necessary to keep 
the plants from succumbing altogether. The leaves 
have dried up and dropped to an unprecedented ex¬ 
tent perhaps in the case of this sun-loving plant. 
The fruits already upon the plants will, however, 
probably all ripen, provided the warmth during next 
month is only moderate. 
The earlier varieties in the collection of Tomatos 
in the gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society at 
Chiswick, commenced to ripen during the third week 
of July. Amongst the more improved and smooth 
fruited kinds of appreciable size, Conference still 
maintains its position as a free bearing and early 
variety. Indeed it is the opinion of some cultivators 
that it is one of the best all-round Tomatos in culti¬ 
vation. Ham Green and Chemin are very little 
behind in point of earliness, and produce a size 
larger fruits. The last named is a beautifully 
shaped Tomato, somewhat deeper than wide as a 
rule, but otherwise nearly globular. In wet seasons 
Ham Green is rather liable to split during the 
ripening process. Market Favourite is a slightly 
ribbed fruit, but like Ham Green, is liable to split. 
A free-setting kind is Tennis Ball with a roundly- 
oblong fruit, but inferior in flavour to the above. 
We noted a peculiarity here in the case of a plant 
having the fruits of a second bunch quite red and 
almost ripe, while those of the first bunch next the 
ground were still green. Prince of Orange is a 
yellow variety with fruits about the size of those of 
Conference, and not much behind in point of 
ripening. Here also may be placed Queen of the 
Earlies, a slightly ribbed, red fruit, akin to Market 
Favourite and Sutton's Earliest of All. Cherry 
Shaped and Pear Shaped are both small, red kinds 
of the shape indicated by their names, and are to 
be regarded as fancy kinds on account of their 
small size They bear freely, however, and are 
amongst the first to ripen. A size or two larger is 
Sutton’s Dessert, a round, red fruit which bears 
freely and ought to be pretty well flavoured this 
season. On a par with this as to size is Sutton’s 
Golden Nugget, of neat, oval shape, and bright 
yellow. 
As regards earliness, a second and a third group 
may be made. The second group would include 
Advance, a slightly flattened, red fruit. Another 
red variety advancing to maturity about the 29th of 
July was Sutton’s Wonder. Curiously enough, 
Horsford’s Prelude came in about the same time, 
whereas, being a small round fruit and a free setter, 
one would expect it to ripen amongst the first. 
Independently of this fact, it is inferior to Conference 
on account of its diminutive size. As far as quality 
is concerned, however, there is not much to complain 
of, and it might find favour in private establishments 
on account of the length of time during which it 
continues to set fruit in autumn, particularly if a 
little fire heat is applied when the nights are becom¬ 
ing cold. The yellow fruits of Greengage are some¬ 
what larger. In some cases Tennis Ball comes late 
enough to be classed as a second early. Although a 
large fruiting kind, Champion ripened sufficiently 
early to be placed amongst the second earlies. The 
fruits are smooth, flattened, of fine flavour, and the 
plants are relatively dwarf and short-jointed. It 
does not, as a rule, however, bear a great number 01 
fruits in a bunch. 
The third or late group would include Perfection, 
Mikado, Golden Queen, and Blenheim Orange, all 
of which had a few fairly well coloured fruits by the 
29th of July. Other varieties we have not named 
were even later, although most of them might be 
classed with Perfection. They are likewise mostly 
large fruiting kinds. 
-- 
SHRUBBY VERONICAS. 
Exclusive of the garden hybrids and varieties, the 
bulk of the shrubby Veronicas come from New 
Zealand and the neighbouring islands. So neat in 
habit and varied are they, that the wonder is they 
are not more extensively cultivated for the ornamen¬ 
tation of the rockery, if for nothing else. Some of 
them are quite hardy while the rest are nearly so 
and only require the shelter of a cold frame to ensure 
their safety. They can readily be propagated and 
to any extent from cuttings during the summer 
months, so that a stock can alwaysbekept upinfram •' 
to supply any loss that may occur during the winter 
months, amongst those that are planted out. A 
very representative collection may be seen in the 
gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society at Chis¬ 
wick. 
Ail of the plants are comparatively small, but 
the larger ones are planted out in beds upon the 
grass, while an extensive lot of miniature specimens 
may be seen in small pots in a north aspect pit. 
Few of the larger leaved kinds such a ; V. speciosa, 
V. Andersoni, V. salicifolia and their varieties are 
represented, but the small and wonderfully neat 
leaved kinds are plentiful. The undermentioned 
kinds include the more interesting species, but are 
not exhaustive of those to be seen at Chiswick. 
As the name implies, Veronica lycopodioides 
resembles a Lycopod or Club Moss as much as any 
'other kind of vegetation. The leaves are oval¬ 
shaped and adpressed to the stems, but spreading on 
the branches ; some of the lower ones are five-lobed 
with narrow segments, indicating an ancestral con¬ 
dition of the plant. Even more singular is V. Hec- 
torii, having blunt, scale-like leaves closely adpressed 
to the branches in four rows, resembling for all the 
world Cassiope tetragona belonging to the Heath 
family. As the latter is grown in the same frame, 
the resemblance may be seen at a glance. A small 
tuft of acute, spreading leaves generally occupy the 
tips of the branches. Similar in habit but different 
in foliage is V. Armstrongii, with short, acute leaves, 
spreading at the tips, and giving the smaller shoots 
a four ranked appearance. The whole plant has a 
yellowish green hue. Another interesting and pretty 
plant is V. cupressoides with erect, branching stems, 
and whipcord-like branchlets of a light green, not 
inaptly compared to a Cypress. The minute, 
triangular, leaves are adpressed to the shoots and 
decurrent upon, and completely covering them. 
The better known V. pinquifolia may be taken as 
the type of another group. It has roundly obovate, 
concave leaves of an attractive sea-green hue with 
pink or whitish edges. An unnamed species with 
much larger leaves of leathery texture and the same 
glaucous hue, but yellow at the edges, is otherwise 
similar to the last. Some years ago V. pinquifolia 
and V. carnosula were frequently confused, but the 
latter has much larger, obovate, and nearly flat, 
glaucous leaves, tapering more decidedly to the base. 
They are also of a paler glaucous hue,, and the young 
stems are dark purple, V. amplexicaulis may be 
compared with V. carnosula, but the leaves are much 
longer and green, so that the general aspect is quite 
different. 
A species that seems destined to become popular 
is V. buxifolia, with spreading, spathulate-oblong 
leaves, very similar to those of the Box in size, shape 
and dense arrangement, but of a dark, shining green. 
Here may be placed V. epacroidea which has been 
compared with an Epacris, so neat and densely 
arranged are its dark green leaves with a yellow edge 
The younger ones are ovate and ascending upon the 
branches so as to cover them, but they become 
oblong and spreading when about two years old or 
more. The plant is of erect branching habit as is V. 
anomala. The latter has larger, oblong, deep green 
leaves with a yellow edge. To the same category 
belongs V. rakiensis, having lanceolate-oblong, bright 
green leaves about six to nine lines long. Another 
erect habited plant is V.laeviswith spathulate-oblong 
