January J4, 1B93. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
309 
SWANLEY IN WINTER. 
Swanley in winter, and especially on such a charac¬ 
teristically winter's day as was Monday last, is a 
dreary place enough until you turn off the road in 
the dip below the station, into the two great blocks 
of houses which constitute the glass department of 
the Messrs. Canned & Sons’ " home of flowers.” 
What a contrast is there here between the gay floral 
life and genial warmth within, and the dense mist, 
cold rain and biting winds without! The journey 
down on such a day as Monday, and by the dear, 
dirty and slow line of railway which serves that part 
of Kent, is of itself enough to give one a fit of the 
and the inexorable demands for stock prevents some 
of the gems of the future from being seen at their 
best. We noted a few, however, that will be worth 
looking after, and these were Masagni, a very distinct 
novelty among the singles, blush-white, with a beau¬ 
tiful rich reddish centre, a fine bold trusser, and a 
perfectly formed pip. W. P. Wright as a single 
scarlet is the pick of the basket, being large, most 
perfect in shape, and a glowing scarlet in colour. 
Dr. Tucker is wonderfully rich in its dress of rosy- 
red wine colour ; and of a deeper hue still is the 
Marquis of Dufferin and Ava, a deep port wine 
colour with a dash of magenta, the darkest single 
that we have yet seen. F. V. Raspail Improved is a 
ers. In one of the houses we noted a special favourite 
of Mr. Cannell’s, a weedy looking single white, with 
the windmill segments so much abhorred by the old 
florists, and long drawn dark coloured leaf and 
flower stems. But it has characteristics that please 
" the master,” and these are remarkable floriferous- 
ness and lasting properties when cut that render it 
valuable when choice white flowers in mid-winter 
are none too plentiful. 
In other departments preparations are in progress 
for the commencement of propagating, and a good 
start has already been made with the immense stock 
of Chrysanthemums which the firm catalogues. 
Among their novelties to be sent out this season the 
il/0 1 ' 
Chrysanthemum Golden Wedding. 
blues ; but once under cover, the wondrous wealth of 
colour there to be seen, with a spice of the senior 
partner’s enthusiasm, soon renders one oblivious of 
discomfort. 
If there was nothing else to see, the houses of 
Zonal Pelargoniums all aglow with blossoms of the 
richest hue are alone worth the journey to see, and 
nowhere else that we know of can such a sight be 
seen just now. All the old and well-tried sorts are 
here in perfection, throwing up monster trusses of 
pips of a richness and charm of colour that one looks 
for in vain in the summer season, and which 
betokens rare skill in their cultivation. The older 
sorts are legion, and it were needless to name them, 
but new ones showing any great march of improve¬ 
ment are not so numerous as we have seen in years 
gone by. The older raisers, Mr. Cannell tells us, 
are dropping out of the ranks, and it would seem 
that but few younger growers are taking their places. 
Sterling novelties therefore are none too plentiful, 
grand double scarlet, with a good sturdy habit and 
very free. There is no mistaking the 11 improve¬ 
ment ” in this variety, and it is certain to be grown 
largely in the near future. 
The Cyclamen houses have been an attractive 
feature for some time, and the side stages are still a 
perfect blaze of blooms and will be for some time 
yet. At few places out of West Middlesex are 
Cyclamens done better than at Swanley, and care¬ 
ful selection has given the firm some grand strains 
of the true persicum type, the whites, purples, and 
roses being all that one could desire. The next 
great feature at Swanley will be the Chinese 
Primulas, and we have never seen them in better 
condition. There is a good head of bloom now, but 
nothing like what will be seen later on. They are 
arranged in blocks of colours, and each being true 
to the type, they represent the highest art of 
Primula culture in 48’s. A house full of fern-leaved 
varieties specially commands the admiration of grow- 
Messrs. Cannell have the distribution in Europe of 
perhaps the greatest acquisition among the new sorts 
that was seen at the American exhibitions last Nov¬ 
ember. This is Messrs. Peter Henderson & Sons’ 
Golden Wedding, which has not yet been seen in this 
country, but which our correspondents in New York 
describe as a grand yellow Jap. It is said to be a 
really good yellow, and the photographs show it to be 
a beauty in size and form. We give an illustration, for 
which we are indebted to the Messrs. Cannell. 
-- 
Severe Weather in Scotland.—A snowstorm with 
intense frost prevailed over Scotland during last 
week. A summary of the frost registered on Friday 
morning at different places is interesting. Hay 
Lodge, 27 0 ; Pitlochry, Perthshire, 29 0 ; Castleton 
Observatory, Aberdeenshire, on the grass, 41 0 ; 
Haddington, 32 0 ; and Tweed Vineyards at 1.30 a.m., 
31 °. Freshening winds with sleet and rain set in on 
Saturday, and on Monday most of the snow was 
melted around Edinburgh. 
