April 5, 1893. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
501 
As the first President of the " Society of American 
Florists,” Mr. Thorpe is at once widely known and 
extremely popular, but his energy has been widely 
felt and appreciated in other quarters as well, and he 
now fills the important and onerous position of 
chief of the Floricultural department of the great 
‘‘World’s Fair" at Chicago during the present year, 
and this, as we are informed by American friends, 
will afford “ Uncle John,” as they affectionately call 
him, an opportunity of making such a floral para¬ 
dise as has never been seen before either in Europe 
or America. European exhibitions of all kinds have 
been mostly copies or imitations of each other. For 
example, our great International Flower Show of 
1866 was after the French model in its arrangement, 
and some of the French shows were after the style 
adopted at Vienna, but the Floral Exhibition, under 
Mr. Thorpe's guidance at the “ World’s Fair," is to 
be original in plan and execution. The flora of all 
the world is to be there, but especial interest is to be 
taken so as to afford a clear and distinct idea of the 
flora of the great American continent. 
This is as it should be, for if a 
nation cannot make the best of its own 
productions, it can scarcely be ex¬ 
pected to do so with foreign products, 
and we hail this resolve to show 
American plants at their best with 
becoming enthusiasm. The lesson 
thus to be given in America might, 
perhaps, be accepted and adopted 
nearer home, for our own Flower 
Shows in London, Manchester, and 
elsewhere.good as they are, might be 
extended and humanised with advan¬ 
tage. 
When we think for a moment only 
of the magnificent American vegeta¬ 
tion, we may get a glimpse of what 
Mr.Thorpe thinks possible atChicago 
next May. Fancy,the enormousPines 
and Silver Firs, and the great trees 
of the Yosemite valley, all the green¬ 
ery of hardy Ferns, the gorgeous col¬ 
our of its Rhododendrons, and the 
pink and white purity of its moun¬ 
tain Laurels, or Kalmias. 
Then there are the lovely Water 
Lilies and Nelumbia, and other 
aquatics of the lakes and rivers, the 
swamp Cypress, and the Magnolias, 
the Maples and the Azaleas, the 
Sunflowers and Golden Rods, and 
starry Asters, and last but by no 
means least its flowers of the woods 
and the bogs, the Fly traps and 
Sarracenias, and the Orchids, and 
the Trilliums, all obtainable in quan¬ 
tity and all available in their season 
from spring to fall. 
Let us hope that our genial chief 
of the floricultural bureau will be 
well sustained in his best efforts, 
and that the dream of Paradise 
on earth once again at least may 
come true. And that it will in 
part come true, one may 
gather from the fact that the 
floral part of the exhibition is to be an ever-shifting 
kaleidoscope of beauty. In May is to be a great 
Orchid show, then Roses, Pansies, and Asters, in 
masses by the tens of thousands, while the Rhodo¬ 
dendrons, and Azaleas, and Kalmias ought to be 
worth an Atlantic voyage to see. 
The flower show is to occupy a wooded island in 
the lake, and here acres upon acres of flowers are to 
be arranged, 100,000 Roses, 500,000 Pansies, 
1,000,000 Asters and so forth, quantities that dwarf 
all our European attempts at flower shows, and yet 
these items are but a few of the grand total. 
Let us hope that Mr. Thorpe will afford visitors 
from Europe a chance of seeing an ideal, or better 
still, a real garden as attached to an American house. 
This would to many be a real treat, this peep at an 
American house with its well kept grounds and gar¬ 
dens, its shade trees, its creeper-laden veran¬ 
dahs, its fruits and vegetables, and its flowers. 
Here is a point our own pioneers of horticul¬ 
tural exhibitions have so far failed to' grasp 
to the full extent of which it is capable. For exam¬ 
ple if there is one thing more lovely, more beautiful 
and homely, and delightful to the eyes of the fo¬ 
reigner, or even to our own denizens of the town, it 
is an English cottage garden, and a more attractive 
feature could not be seen either at Earl’s Court or at 
Chicago, than such an erection as surrounded by its 
homely and delightful country belongings. No 
scenic picture on earth could be more truthfully and 
readily reproduced, and none we Know would afford 
greater or more general pleasure and approval. 
But we must return to " Chief” Thorpe and his 
work. We may gather from the programme and the 
newspapers that the floricultural department will be 
well done. Palm and Tree Fern, Banana and 
Bamboo, Orchid and Lily, Pansy and Paeony, trees, 
shrubs, and flowers by the million are to be there, 
and there is just a spice of pleasure in our hearts as 
we write remembering as we do that it is one of our 
own English gardeners who is gathering together all 
this beauty for the world to see. 
We have much pleasure in presenting Mr. Thorpe's 
portrait to our readers as one of the representative 
gardeners of America, and while we heartily con¬ 
gratulate him on his past labours and exertions on 
behalf of our profession, we wish him a long and 
healthy life and all success in the future, and we 
have the satisfaction of knowing that our good 
wishes are re-echoed by thousands of gardeners, not 
only in England, but throughout the American 
continent as well. 
-- 
FLOWERS IN WINTER 
AT CALCUTTA. 
It may interest some of our readers to note the 
different procedure adopted in the warm climate of 
Calcutta, in the cultivation of the old-fashioned 
flowers with which we are familiar in the mother 
country. Here they flower in spring and summer, 
but at Calcutta they flower in winter or the cool 
season which corresponds with winter there. Mr. 
Robert Proudlock, the curator of the Royal Botanic 
Gardens, Seebpore, Calcutta, in a communication 
just to hand tells us that they have had excellent, 
and long, cold weather there this season, which at 
the time of writing (March 15th) was almost at a 
close. It may be said to have lasted from the be¬ 
ginning of November up to the middle of March, so 
that what was termed really splendid weather lasted 
for four and a half months. During the months of 
December, January, and the early part of February 
the mornings and evenings felt very chilly, although 
the temperature seldom fell below 48° Fahr The 
season has been a very exceptional one. Even the 
oldest inhabitants of Calcutta say that they have 
never known such a long, cold season there as that 
of 1892 and 1893, and which although not quite over 
at the date of writing, would soon be so. 
Owing to the prolonged cold season the annuals 
have flowered better than usual, and are considered 
quite a success. They were grown in pots and also 
in beds in the flower garden. In order to give an 
idea of the class of plants that can be grown at Cal¬ 
cutta during the cold season and find much favour, 
the following are mentioned, namely, Antirrhinums, 
China Asters, Balsams, Browallia elata, Candytufts, 
Cornflowers in variety, Coreopsis coronaria, Col- 
linsias, Dianthus sinensis Heddewigii, Eschscholtzia 
californica, Daisies, Delphiniums 
(the annual Larkspurs we presume), 
Gaillardias, Scabious, Schizan- 
thus, Gypsophila, Mignonette, 
Nasturtiums (Tropaeolum), Nemo- 
philas, Nicotiana affinis (the Night- 
scented Tobacco), and other species 
of that genus, Phloxes (varieties of 
Phlox Drummondi probabl)), 
Pansies, Petunias, Portulacas, 
Poppies,includingPapavernudicaule 
in its white and yellow varieties, 
Sunflowers, Hollyhocks, Verbenas, 
Whitlavia grandiflora, and Zinnias, 
besides many other things which 
thrive only moderately. 
Mr. Proudlock says that Stocks, 
Wallflowers, and Sweet Peas as a 
rule do very badly at Calcutta, but 
the Stocks and Sweet Peas have 
flowered better than he has ever 
seen them do before. Of course in 
such a heterogenous mixture of 
plants from all parts of the world, it 
might be expected that some of 
them would dislike the climate, par¬ 
ticularly in the case of those coming 
from mild and cool climates. Of 
course, advantage is taken of the cool 
season of the year, and upon that 
no doubt rests the measure of suc¬ 
cess. We are not surprised that 
Stocks and Wallflowers should dis¬ 
like the warm weather, for most of 
the members of the family flower in 
the early months of the year even in 
the cool climates of their native 
countries. Sweet Peas feel the effect 
of a dry warm summer in Britain. 
We are surprised, however, that any 
measure of success would attend 
the culture cf Iceland Poppies 
(Papaver nudicaule) in such a warm 
part of the globe ; its half-annual 
nature and the method of culture 
adopted no doubt accounts largely 
for the satisfaction it gives. Daisies 
and Pansies are peculiarly European plants, and 
although both, but particularly the latter, like sun¬ 
shine, yet they must be kept moderately cool and 
have plenty of moisture at the roots. Even in the 
neighbourhood of London, Daisies have often a 
trying time in dry and hot weather. Even Pansies 
here require a deal of care in their cultivation com¬ 
pared with what they do in the north of England 
and in Scotland, with less satisfactory results. 
-•*-- 
Draba bruni.efolia.— There is no more typical rock 
plant than this Draba, which covers the ground all 
the year round with a green carpet. The leaves are 
linear, ciliate, and very small, but arranged in small 
rosettes which are crowded together, forming a warm 
green carpet. The flowers are clear yellow, and pro¬ 
duced in corymbs that later on lengthen into racemes, 
studded all over the carpet ol foliage. The 
plant is not only suitable for rockwork, but 
would seem adapted for carpet bedding or 
the less formal object of forming a groundwork for 
taller growing plants where that style of culture is 
received with favour. The ease with which the 
patches may be parted and take root again suggests 
that it might with advantage be used as a carpet 
bedding plant. 
Mr. John Thorpe. 
