402 
THE GARDENING WORLD. February 25, 1893. 
holes, or sprays, or dress a vase for a mere 
song. 
Whilst some of our friends have been 
engaged with a pertinacity that is at once 
amusing and interesting in trying to split 
hairs or to elucidate diversities of the 
most minute character in Narcissi, market 
growers have been converting the bulbs 
and flowers into hard cash. They found in 
the Daffodil il not a mine of wealth, at 
least a very profitable market commodity. 
The Narcissi forces most admirably, and 
at home flowers are so produced, even in 
the winter, in immense quantities. In the 
Scilly Islands and other warm localities 
far greater quantities are grown naturally, 
so that our markets literally overflow with 
the flowers in great variety. 
The Polyanthus section, pure white and 
orange-yellow, the beautiful pheasant-eye 
ornatus, the equally beautiful trumpet 
forms of which Horsefieldi is one of the 
very best, the good old double Daffodil, all 
these and many others may be purchased 
in the street at prices and in quantity that 
but a few years since would have been 
regarded as impossible. It is thus we 
advance—the popular demand for flowers 
grows as it is fed, and the Daffodil has 
helped immensely to excite as well as to 
gratify the popular appetite. We may be 
pleased to see the fine shows of flowers 
made at the Drill Hall, and elsewhere, but 
none have such charm as may be seen in 
any flower seller’s basket in the street full 
of Daffodils for the people. 
f APE Peaches.— If we are to regard the 
Peaches placed before the Fruit Com¬ 
mittee of the Royal Horticultural Society 
on the 14th as being representative of the 
best quality found in Cape grown fruit, 
then home growers have nothing to fear 
from competition in that quarter, even did 
these Cape Peaches come to us at a later 
period of the year. It is true that many 
wealthy people, who give dinner parties at 
this time of the year, like to see Peaches 
on their tables; they wear a sumptuous 
aspect and remind the guests of riches. 
Still, it would be a kind act did the host 
but label his Peaches as “ nice to look at 
and nasty to taste.” 
No doubt the sample sent to the Drill 
Hall last week was of the best. They 
were small even then, tight clingstone, 
flesh soft, pulpy, somewhat' acid, and 
entirely devoid of true Peach flavour. 
There is hardly a dessert Apple grown at 
home that would not give more acceptable 
fruit food. That these Peaches have to be 
gathered and packed whilst yet unripe, but 
merely coloured, there could be no doubt. 
So far flavour is out of the question. Even 
our finest fruits at home, when thus gathered 
and left to ripen in any place, never give 
that rich, luscious quality found in fruits 
gathered when fully ripe from the tree. 
Then these imported fruits have to be kept 
during the three weeks occupied in the 
voyage home in a very cool chamber, and 
such exposure alone, were the fruits ever 
so good at the first, is enough to take all 
flavour out of them. Thus by the time 
they are placed on the consumers’ tables, 
after being later exposed to a much warmer 
temperature, it is not at all difficult to 
understand what must be their condition. 
We venture to think that in spite of all 
that can be done through the aid of cool 
chambers on ships, that the transit of soft 
stone fruits over long distances, yet pre¬ 
serving their natural flavour and quality of 
flesh, still presents insurmountable diffi¬ 
culties. In the meantime, our home 
growers may be assured that both in Peach 
and Nectarine culture we have no superiors. 
^Tingle Chinese Primroses. —It was 
^ recently remarked that no particular 
display had been seen in public anywhere 
in the south this winter, of Chinese Prim¬ 
roses. It would be indeed an excellent 
feature if some London society could 
during mid-winter, for that is the true 
season for Primulas, be induced to offer 
sufficiently tempting money prizes to bring 
out trade collections not exceeding fifty 
plants, and for the best examples from 
private gardens not exceeding a dozen in 
number. It may be perhaps that because 
the single Chinese Primrose carries badly 
and will drop its flowers, that growers are 
shy of taking them to exhibitions; and it 
may be also for that reason that the press 
is invited to send representatives to see 
trade collections, or pulled flowers are sent 
for approval. 
That course, excellent as it may be, 
hardly satisfies those who would like to be 
enabled to compare strains and culture, 
and see for themselves what features now 
constitute a first-class strain. It is obvious 
from what has been seen here and there, 
both in public and in private during the 
past few years, that a high class strain now 
must be of exceptional merit. Primulas 
seed freely, they are easily cross-fertilised, 
and thus made to produce new forms or 
colours and improved shape and habit, and 
for these reasons it is evident that the pace 
is rapid and progressive. Thus we do 
want to see in public, at least once in every 
few years, all the best strains ; and were 
these brought together, a marvellously 
beautiful show would be made. 
It is not easy to understand why trade 
growers should not be as it were forced 
into exhibition competition with their 
stocks, as private gardeners are in ocher 
directions. We have in Chinese Primillas 
the lead of the world without doubt, and 
we shall keep it. Our cool winters suit the 
plant admirably, whilst it is one of the 
most effective and useful for winter decora¬ 
tion. A great Chinese Primula tourna¬ 
ment may be a possibility next winter. 
--j—- 
Gardeners’ Orphan Fund. —The supporters of this 
excellent charity will be pleased to hear that Her 
Majesty the Queen has been pleased to command 
that this fund be in future called the “ Gardeners' 
Royal Orphan Fund.'' 
Mr. John Cameron, for the last ten years gardener 
at Cargilfield, Edinburgh, has been engaged as 
gardener to James Cowan, Esq., Ross Hall, Paisley. 
The Earl’s Court Exhibition of Gardening and 
Forestry, a prospectus of which will be found in our 
advertising columns, will open on the 13th of May. 
Croydon Chrysanthemum Society. —The dates of 
this society’s annual exhibition have been altered to 
Tuesday and Wednesday, November 14th and 15th. 
Reading Horticultural Society. —We are glad to an¬ 
nounce that Mr. Richard Benyon, of Englefield 
House, has given the handsome sum of £75 to the 
society, in order to clear off last year’s balance, and 
that Messrs. Sutton & Sons have given a large 
donation to the prize list. 
Mr. Thomas Wilson, gardener to the Duke of 
Grafton, Wakefield Lodge, Stoney Stratford, has 
been engaged to succeed Mr. Whitton as gardener to 
the Earl of Strathmore, at Glamis Castle Mr. 
Wilson was with Mr. Whitton for four years at Colt- 
ness, and subsequently for three and a half years at 
Glamis as foreman. 
M. Alphonss Alegatiere. —One of the most dis¬ 
tinguished of horticulturists of the south of France, 
M. Alphonse Alegatiere, has just died at Lyons, at 
the age of seventy-two. By his seedlings of Roses 
and tree Carnations, he has acquired a real renown 
everywhere in the horticultural world.— L'Illustration 
Horticole. 
Johnson's Dictionary of Gardening.—We hear that 
Messrs. George Bell & Sons will publish immedi¬ 
ately an entirely new edition of Johnson’s Gardeners' 
Dictionary. This useful book of reference has been 
thoroughly revised by Mr. C. H. Wright and Mr. 
D. Dewar. It is to be issued in eight parts, at the 
price of 1 /- each. The first part will be ready on 
March 1st. 
International Fruit Show. —A meeting of the 
provisional committee took place at Anderton s 
Hotel, Fleet Street, on the 20th inst. Present: 
Sir James Whitehead, Bt., M.P., Messrs. H. R. 
Williams, T. B. Haywood, P. Crowley, J. Wright, G. 
Gordon, and J. Laing. The matter of proceeding with 
the proposed Fruit Show was considered. Eventually 
a resolution was proposed by Mr. J. Wright, 
seconded by Mr. T. B. Haywood, and carried unani¬ 
mously, to the effect that having regard to the 
difficulties experienced in obtaining the site on the 
Thames Embankment, and the number of exhibi¬ 
tions announced for the present season, it is inadvis¬ 
able to proceed with the proposed International 
Fruit Show this year. 
The National Pink Society (Midland Section). —The 
schedule of prizes offered for competition at the next 
exhibition of this society on July n, 12, and 13, 
in connection with the great show of the Wolver¬ 
hampton Horticultural Society, will shortly be 
issued. We understand that ten classes will be 
devoted to Pinks, the first class being for twelve 
laced varieties, with increased prizes over last year ; 
there is a class also for six bunches of border varie¬ 
ties. Mr. A. R. Brown, of Handsworth, also offers 
special prizes for his fine new Pink “ Amy,” sent out 
in the autumn. Mr. Thurstan, of Cardiff, is the 
president, and his son, Mr. J. F. Thurstan, Penn- 
fields, Wolverhampton, is the hon. sec. Pink 
growers in various parts of the country will be wel¬ 
comed as exhibitors. 
Nicotiana colossea variegata.—The story of this 
giant species of Tobacco will still be fresh in the 
memory of our readers. Since its introduction it 
has been referred to N. tomentosa. A variegated 
form of it has now appeared, and which came up in 
a batch of seedlings raised by M. J. Sallier, at 
Neiully-sur-Seine, France, and was brought up to 
the May Exhibition of the National Horticultural 
Society of France, where it caused a sensation. 
As recorded by L'Illustration Horticole, the variegation 
consists of a large marginal band, showing admirably 
against the delicate or light green colour of the rest 
of the lamina or blade of the leaf. 
The Midland Counties Carnation Society.—The ex¬ 
hibition for this year has been fixed for August 5th, 
and to be held in Birmingham Botanical Society’s 
Gardens at Edgbaston. The schedule is a most 
liberal one and all classes of the Carnation and 
Picotee are provided for. Prizes are also offered for 
bouquets, sprays, and other means of showing what 
can be done with these lovely flowers, as well as for 
plants in pots. The Botanical Society has placed at 
the disposal of the Committee two handsomeSil ver and 
two Bronze Medals, to be awarded to exhibitors show¬ 
ing the greatest amount of excellence in their exhibits. 
Special prizes given by friends will also be awarded 
to bouquets and sprays of Sweet Peas, in order to 
show what charming decorative work can be accom¬ 
plished with those flowers. Mr. Robert Sydenham, 
Tenby Street, is the chairman of committee, from 
whom schedules can be obtained. 
The Wolverhampton Horticultural Society’s 
Schedule has just been issued, and the next exhibi¬ 
tion is fixed for July n, 12, and 13, in the public park 
at Wolverhampton. £20, £15, and £10 are offered 
for sixteen stove and greenhouse plants ; £15, £10, 
£5, and £3 for a group of plants ; £12 15s., with ex¬ 
cellent second, third, and fourth prizes, for seventy- 
two Roses, with large prizes for other classes, Roses 
being an important feature of the schedule. A first 
prize of £j 10s., with good prizes to follow, are offered 
for a collection of fruit, with good prizes for Grapes, 
&c., and liberal rewards for other things. Some of 
the leading seed firms are also offering good prizes 
for vegetables. Classes 16 and 17 in Roses will be in¬ 
teresting, being for twenty-four and twelve distinct 
varieties of garden decorative Roses in bunches, an 
experiment tried last year with success, many old- 
fashioned Roses being exhibited. 
The Legend of Hellebore Powder. —The insecticide 
to which we give the name of Hellebore powder is 
chiefly obtained from Pyrethrum roseum and some 
other allied plants. The above-mentioned species is 
also recorded under the name of Chrysanthemum 
