February 5, 1898. 
365 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
beauty with a splendid collection of the popular 
Chinese Primulas. No fewer than seven arge and 
roomy bouses are filled with them, and the plants 
make a grand total of upwards of 7.000, so the extent 
and variety of the display may be imagined. 
MESSRS. JAS. CARTER & CO’S, 
PRIMULAS. 
The glass department of the Forest Hill Nurseries of 
Messrs. Jas. Carter & Co. is just now a blaze of 
brilliancy of colouring characterising the flowers. 
The arrangement, too, has been carried out in such a 
way that the best characteristics of each form can be 
seen at a glance, as each of the five varieties is 
staged in batches of hundreds. Thus, on entering 
Flowers are so closely, and [even inseparably, 
associated with the various phases of human life 
that it is not wonderful that the artist, lady or other¬ 
wise, should employ them to a considerable extent. 
“A Path of Roses,’’ by Ethel Wright, depicts a girl 
partly clothed in some diaphanous material holding 
a bunch of Roses in her right hand and strewing 
Rose petals with the left. This is prettily designed 
and well executed. An even finer picture called 
" The Rose," by Mrs. Waller, has for its subject a 
young girl holding a Rose-bud. The girl’s hair is of 
that rich auburn shade that the gods are said to 
love, and the whole picture is instinct with life and 
beauty.. “To-day and Yesterday," by E. E. 
Greatorex, is somewhat gruesome in design, but the 
subject has been well-handled. It shows a human 
skull lying on a table side by side with a freshly- 
plucked Rose. 
Tit-bits of scenery seem to have been favourite 
themes with the ladies, and we noticed some exceed¬ 
ingly pretty pieces of work. " At the Head of Glen 
Falloch," by Freeman Kempson, shows a mountain 
glen, with the overhanging peaks and ridges partially 
shrouded in mist. “Above Loch Lomond” is by 
the same artist. “ In the New Forest," by Edith M. 
Kemp-Welsh, is a pretty panel picture showing a 
nook of that historic forest with two patient 
“ neddies’’ grazing in the foreground. "Sunny 
September," from the brush of E . Stewart Wood, 
shows a farm scene in which are all the gorgeous 
colouring and repose of the first month of autumn. 
“ The end of the Hop Harvest ” is from the same 
artist. “ A Peat Marsh, Dartmoor,” has been well 
executed by Annette Elias. 
Of the various flowers which the lady artists have 
portrayed the most successful attempts are “ Iris,” 
by Mrs. Minnie S. Beavis; " Japanese Anemones," 
by Laelia Loddiges ; “ Chrysanthemums and Autumn 
Leaves," by Mary T. Fuller ; “ Orchids," by Helen 
Thorneycroft; “Azaleas," by Emma Walter; and 
“ Old Man's Beard," by A. Madeline Lewis. 
" Poppies,” by M. C. Bedford represents fairly 
well the gaudy scarlet of our common field Poppy. 
“Autumn Fruit,” by Emma Walter, is a fair 
representation of the drawing master or mistress 
Carters’ Prince of Wales Primula. 
sort of picture. It shows a group of Grapes, The visitor scarcely knows which to admire the 
Apples, and Plums, with coloured Vine leaves in most—the strength and vigour of the plants, their 
the background. great floriferousness, or the size, beauty, and 
the houses, on either hand one sees long glowing 
vistas of colour until they melt into indistinctness in 
the distance, for the houses are of great length. The 
generous reds, the pure whites, and the beautiful blue 
stand out most prominently from the various inter¬ 
mediate and more subtle shades, which require closer 
inspection before they can be fully appreciated. 
First a word as to the condition of the plants 
themselves. We found them in the pink of condition, 
with not a weakly or sickly one amongst them. They 
were obtained, our guide informed us, from seed 
sown at the end of July last, and they were not putin 
their flowering pots (48’s), until the first week in 
December. We found them, therefore, in the first 
flush of their maiden beauty, the sturdy flower 
scapes, lifting their grateful burden of bright blooms 
well above the rich green foliage. The work of pol¬ 
lination, already begun, will be actively carried 
on for the next few weeks in order that the huge seed 
warehouses of the firm in Holborn may be kept sup¬ 
plied with seed. The display of bloom will thus be 
heavily handicapped, for fertilisation shortens con¬ 
siderably the life of the flower, but despite this there 
will be plenty of colour for some time yet. 
Of the numbers of fine single-flowered varieties in¬ 
cluded in the collection, Princess May is second to 
none in vigour, floriferousness, and general excell¬ 
ence. The flower trusses are of immense size, and 
lifted well above the foliage, whilst the delicate blush- 
pink flowers are of good substance, and perfect form. 
The accompanying illustration gives a good idea of it. 
Elaine is a grand fern-leaved white of surpassing 
merit, and Holborn Queen, the flowers of which are 
slightly tinged with pink is equally as good. Holborn 
Blue represents the latest advance in its colour, 
which as seen at Forest Hill is rich and vivid. No 
weakling, either, is it in habit or constitution. Rose, 
another fern-leaved form has light lilac flowers when 
they first open, but the hue presently changes to a 
rose-lilac that is at once rich and delicate. Ruby is 
much after the same style, but the flowers are a 
shade or two darker. Vermillion is a handsome 
crimson-cerise flower that up till the present has 
been the best of its kind, but a seedling raised from 
it, of which we saw a few plants, bids fair to surpass 
it, for the flowers are larger, more open, and several 
shades darker—a capital thing all round. Holborn 
Salmon represents a distinct shade of salmon-scarlet, 
whilst Holborn Scarlet is the nearest approach to 
true scarlet in the Chinese Primula that we have yet 
seen. The brilliant effect produced by a batch of 
plants is easier to imagine than describe. 
Primula Carters’ Princess May. 
