March 4, 1899. 
421 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
NOVELTIES 
RAISED AT 
WINDSOR AND OSBORNE. 
It is Messrs. CARTERS’ privilege to 
offer the following new and ehoiee 
productions to the notice of gardeners 
and private cultivators. 
BRITISH QUEEN MELON. 
Raised and named by Mr. Owen Thomas, Supt. of 
the Royal Gardens, Windsor. Awarded the First- 
Class Certificate R.H.S. Pronounced by the Com¬ 
mittee to be not only the very best white-flesh 
melon ever submitted, but the richest flavoured of 
any colour. Awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal 
Caledonian Society in association with other fruit 
exhibited by H.M. The Queen. 
In sealed packets, price 2 6 and 3 6 each, post free. 
ROYAL OSBORNE CUCUMBER. 
A valuable cross between the Rochford and an im¬ 
proved type of Telegraph, raised and named by Mr. 
George Nobbs, Head Gardener to H.M. the Queen 
at Osborne. In our opinion it is one of the best all 
the year round varieties introduced in recent years. 
In sealed packets, price 2/6 & 3 6 each, post free. 
ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUES, POST FREE. 
CARTERS, 
Uhe Queen's SceSsmen. 
Only Address — 
237, 238 & 97, HICI{ HOLBORN, LONDON. 
FLORAL GEMS 
FOR THE 
Gardens of Ladies and Amateurs 
Contain Collections thai are highly d sirable 
to every admirer of an abnndant succession 
of exquisite bloom, as they consist of the 
choicest and most universal favourites of 
the garden, liberally arranged for the 
various prices. 
WEBBS’ 10/6 BOX 
CONTAINS : 
12 vars. Half-hardy and 
Tender Annuals. 
6 „ Popular Hardy 
Perennials. 
8 „ Paeony-flowered 
Aater. 
12 „ Sbowy Hardy 
Annuals. 
i pkt. Petunia, mixed. 
6 vars. German Ten-week 
Stock. 
i pkt. Double Zinnia 
elegans. 
1 oz. Large-flowering Mig¬ 
nonette. 
2 ozs. Sweet Pea, mixed. 
3 vars. Ornamental Grasses 
for wurer bouquets. 
3 „ Everlasting Fioweis 
for winter bouquets, 
i pkt. Balsam, choice 
mixed. 
Other Boxes at 2 6, 5/-, 7/6, 15/-, 
21/-, 31/6, 42/-, and 63/-, each. 
B0XE8 AND CARRIAGE FREE. 
WEBBS' SPRING CATALOGUE, post free, 1/-. 
WEBBS’, fordsley, Stourbridge. 
YEITCH’S 
SUPERB 
ONIONS. 
YEITCHS’ MAIN CROP, 
This is a most desirable and perfect strain for exhibition 
or general use It is very quick in growth, and when fully 
developed attains a large size and heavy weight. 
Per Ounce, Is. 6d. , 
YEITCHS’ SELECTED GLOBE, 
A very handsome globe-shaped variety, selected and 
grown for several years at our Seed Farm, and now quite 
nxed in character. It is an excellent keeper, and forms an 
excellent companion to our Main Crop. 
Per Ounce, Is. 6d. 
YEITCHS’ SELECTED QUEEN 
A distinct and very pretty silver-skinned little Onion ot 
symmetrical form: remarkable for the rapidity of its 
growth, ripening off before any other sort. 
Per Ounce, Is. 6d. 
W For full descriptions of the above, and other Choice 
NOVELTIES, see SEED CATALOGUE for 1899, 
forwarded post free on application. 
Gardening is the purest of human pleasures, and the greatest 
refreshment to the spirit of man.”—B acon. 
Edited by J. FRASER. F.L.S. 
SATURDAY\ MAR. 4 th, 1899 . 
NEXT WEEK’8 ENGAGEMENT. 
Saturday, March nth.—Meeting of the Royal Botanic 
Society, at Regent’s Park. 
Whe Path of Progress Amongst 
Flowers. —By looking over the 
records of past and previous years the 
memory is freshened as to what is most 
important or receiving the greatest amount 
of attention at the hands of the British 
flower-loving public, as well as those who 
simply cater for their wants. We do not 
imply that the latter are working wholly 
from a mercenary point of view ; lor we are 
fully aware that enthusiasts are as freely 
distributed amongst those whose daily 
business is to raise and grow something or 
other for the enjoyment of somebody else, 
as in any other walk of life. Indeed, the 
men who are heart and soul in the raising 
of new plants are as numerous in the com¬ 
mercial department of horticulture, as they 
are in a private capacity, whether employer 
or employed. A so-called novelty may be a 
new introduction, an old and lost one re¬ 
introduced after a lapse of time, and as fresh 
to the present generation as it was to our 
forefathers, a hybrid, a selection from a 
batch of seedlings, or a sport as understood 
by the fraternity. While some have within 
them the particular energy or innate will 
and active performance necessary for the 
production of flowers, together with the 
constant attention to details which the work 
involves, others require a stimulus to 
develop their latent energy in this particular 
line, or encouragement in the shape of 
means to enable them to follow out their 
natural bent. Proofs of this may be seen 
in the societies which exist for the 
encouragement of special classes of flowers. 
Some there are who have the means, but 
receive the incentive to work along particu¬ 
lar lines by the wholesome rivalry and 
emulation, born of the attention they 
inevitably draw upon themselves when they 
bring their acquisitions under the eye of an 
appreciative or admiring public. All these 
are legitimate means for the improvement 
of gardens and their occupants. 
A little reflection will show that the 
National Chrysanthemum, Rose, Dahlia, 
Carnation and Picotee, Primula and 
Auricula, and Pansy and Viola Societies, 
have each and all their supporters, 
adherents and followers, who severally and 
collectively encourage the culture and 
improvement of the respective flowers which 
they have taken under their aegis. With 
respect to the Chrysanthemum there are 
those who deny that any improvement is 
being effected in the production of new and 
huge-flowered varieties. What would be 
considered an improvement is very much a 
matter of taste or opinion ; but so long as 
all sections continue to be represented, 
every one for him or for herself can choose 
their own particular types, so that here we 
get improvement upon a broad basis, which 
is always the surest path to success. But, 
say the critics, the encouragement all goes 
for the big blooms. That is the fault of the 
smallness of the following which the critics 
have, and a sure sign that the big blooms 
have the greatest number of admirers, and 
supporters. Cactus and pompon Dahlias, 
for a number of years past, have furnished 
the greatest number of new varieties in this 
particular class of flowers, and the measure 
of appreciation they receive is a measure of 
their decorative utility and the pleasure th^y 
give to cultivators generally. The Cactus 
types are rapidly displacing the less refined 
and so called decorative sorts. All sections 
of Roses receive increment more or less to 
their numbers annually, Tea, hybrid Tea 
and garden Roses being the most numerous. 
Border and Malmaison Carnations, and 
yellow ground Picotees furnish a large num¬ 
ber of new varieties annually to an admiring 
public ; and while the old love is kept up by 
the specialists, those types just mentioned 
may be regarded as a break away or revolt 
from the canons of the florist, and the larger 
following of the British public thereby 
secured has raised the race to the first rank 
of popularity. The Primula and Auricula 
Society while keeping alive the old love, 
give encouragement to hardy Primulas of 
ali sorts. A hardy yet refined a e of border 
Auriculas that anyone can grow is still a 
desideratum. The alpine race would seem 
to hold out most hope for this desirable 
improvement, but a hardy race of the show 
type does not appear to be an impossibility. 
Violas on account of their intrinsic beauty, 
hardiness and profusion as well as continuity 
of flowering have almost displaced the 
cultivation of show and fancy Pansies in the 
south, where the dry summers are inimical 
to the welfare of the two latter types. 
Other classes of flowers receive a more or 
less general encouragement in proportion to 
their utility and the amount of flowers they 
produce. Amongst Orchids the greatest 
amount of novelty has been forthcoming in 
Cattleyas, Laelias, Laeliocattleyas, Cypri- 
pediums, and Dendrobes, the creations of 
the hybridist, now a numerous class. Fine 
