July 29, 1899. 
757 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
Potato Disease.—Bordeaux Mixture is most com¬ 
monly used for spraying infested Potatos or as a 
preventive of the disease (Phytophthora infestans). 
This mixture consists of copper sulphate, lime and 
water. 
Burgundy Mixture, consisting of copper sulphate, 
soda, and water, has lately found much favour in the 
country for spraying Potatos against disease. 
and with shell like, beautifully flowing petals. It 
received an Award of Merit from the R.H.S. some 
time ago. In Oliver we have a pretty bloom, having 
a yellow-buff ground heavily edged and spotted with 
crimson. A strikingly delicate variety is given in 
Pelagia, whose large blooms bear up a fine union of 
deep pink, regularly flecked with lavender. This is 
another fancy variety which received an Award of 
Merit from the R.H.S Queen of Sheba and Queen 
of Scots are notably fine. The former is a large buff- 
yellow self ; the latter is a grand rosy-pink variety. 
Saul is one of the best clear yellows; and the The 
Briton, another self, but white this time, is a bloomer 
of first quality. 
The Cadi yields us one of the showiest varieties 
anyone can name. The scarlet has a richness and 
depth which attracts the regard of anyone. Zingari 
is one of the richest Carnations sent out by the 
Messrs. Veitch. The yellow ground is heavily flaked 
and barred with maroon. Boadicea is one of the 
more recently introduced border varieties. The 
large blooms are rosy-scarlet and firey. King Arthur 
is a very distinct crimson-scarlet Carnation, beauti¬ 
ful for grouping in beds. Pandelli Ralli makes a 
reliable plant and lends another to the list of good 
yellows. Taking another choice from those warm 
crimson hued varieties we fall upon Sir John Falstaff, 
whose size approaches that of a decent Malmaison, 
and somewhat in the same category is Sweet Brier. 
Mephisto is one of the finest border Carnations that 
has ever been brought before the public. It is a 
crimson self with grand lasting qualities, and well 
spoken of at Chelsea. 
Yellow Ground Picotees.— These are always 
very sweet, and, as a rule, they are generally rich in 
their colouring. In this respect Effie Deans is a 
desirable acquisition, being edged and barred with 
rose-pink. His Excellency is large, well built, and 
of perfect form, yielding with its narrow red edge, a 
splendid type of Picotee. Mr. Tremayne also comes 
as a distinct variety, the heavy scarlet edging on the 
yellow ground being surpassingly rich and lovely. 
Miss Violet is one of the best varieties of recent 
times, having received an Award of Merit in 1898. 
It is very bright, and edged broadly with deep rose. 
Mohican also follows the rosy-edge type. 
Malmaisons. —Though the show of these fine 
forms was just past, a comment on the general 
stock, which the Messrs. Veitch, as with all other 
kinds, will be ready in October to supply, maybe 
of guidance. There is a liberal supply to choose 
from. Besides the blush and rose, and pink, 
Souvenir de la Malmaisons, The Churchwarden, 
Trumpeter, Sir Evelyn Wood, Lady Grimston, and 
Nell Gwyne, which are now more or less known, 
there are some others, as Lord Rosebery, Princess 
May, and Sir Charles Freemantle to choose from. 
They represent different habits, constitutions, and 
colours, yet are all individually worthy. 
Perpetual Carnations. —We must have per¬ 
petual Carnations as well as perpetual Roses or other 
flowering plants. These are the kinds generally 
grown throughout the year in pots, and by this 
method successional batches, and more special and 
exact treatment can be given to them. Duke of 
York, Duke of Fife, Uriah Pike, Henry Gibbons, 
Lucifer, Miss Joliffe Improved, Zenobia, Winter 
Cheer, and others of tree, clove, and various distinct 
sections are included in the list. Sir Visto is well 
spoken of. Leonidas is another good thing, having 
crimson-scarlet flowers, and a vigorous habit. 
Mrs. Leopold de Rothschild is a variety of which 
Mr. Weeks, the foreman in charge of the Carnations 
and soft-wooded plants generally, speaks well. Its 
soft rose-pink and tonings of light oraDge and white 
taken with its blooming qualities and the size 
of flowers individually, make it one of the most 
desirable Carnations for pot culture that a grower 
could speculate in. The number of Carnations 
grown and blooming at this time reached to about 
2,000 in the beds outside, and 400 in pots under 
glass. From the fine grass and base shoots that 
most of the varieties were seen to have, intending 
purchasers may rely on getting strong plants in the 
autumn. 
The Cannas too are now in their hey-day, and if 
there was any point notable in them, it was in the 
size of bloom, and depth of hue. The show house, 
in which a miscellaneous stock of flowering plants is 
to be seen, is gay with such as Hydrangea panicu- 
lata grandiflora, H. hortensis, Saxifraga pyramidalis, 
Heliotropiums.Crassulas, Erica ventricosa magnifica, 
Ammonia and Wood-ashes- —The conjunction of 
wood-ashes and any fertiliser which contains am¬ 
monia will set that ammonia free, so that when wood- 
ashes and bone meal, or horn-parings, soot, and the 
like are mixed, the compost should at once be placed 
on the soil and stirred in. 
A bacteriologist in the U.S.A. is said to have dis¬ 
covered a bacterium in large quantities on refuse 
straw and other vegetable waste scattered over the 
surface of the land. Its work is not beneficial. It 
sets free the nitrogen of nitrates, which, of course- 
in a great measure sterilises the soil. 
The Inflorescence of Dracaena Australis is very 
handsome. It is composed of a loose panicle of 
racemes, flowering indefinitely. The individual 
flowers are £ in. long, lilac coloured, having 
short pedicels, the petals and sepals alike, and 
arranged alternately, one series above the other. 
The yellow anthers are pushed well up. Altogether 
it is a beautiful inflorescence produced, too, from a 
beautiful plant. 
" Finger and Toe ” Disease.—All the experiments 
with superp hospbate, kainit, bone-meal, bone-flour 
sulphate of ammonia, &c., carried out by Mr. J. R. 
Campbell for the Lancashire C.C., were practically 
of no good in the curing of this disease ; but very 
satisfactory results followed the application of 
twenty-four loads of lime-compost to the acre of 
land, putting it on in December. Lime compost, and 
the time of applying it seem to be points of much 
importance. 
Japanese Dwarf Trees. —Anything unnatural seems 
in a large measure Chinese and J apanese tastes. The 
dwarfing of Maples, Cherries, and other ornamental 
trees has long been practised. And to see plants 
only 2 ft. high, nearly as broad, and to be told it is 
85 or 100 years old makes us wonder how the in¬ 
congruity is produced. The thing is said to be a 
secret, but the root-bound conditions seem to be the 
explanation. The demand for trees like this is, we 
are told by a lady through the Morning Leader, and 
who is disposing of a collection, is increasing, 
because of their interest combined with beauty in 
table decoration. 
National Dahlia Society.—The committee of this • 
society held a special meeting in the Hotel Windsor, 
on Tuesday evening. July 25th. Mr. E. Mawley, hon. 
treasurer of this society occupied the chair, and 
among others of the committee present were Dr. 
Masters, Messrs. Mortimer, J. Cheal, Fyost, Barrel], 
R. Dean, Fife, Neads, J. T. West. Mist, Wilkins and 
Canbody. The meeting opened with a touching ref¬ 
erence by the chairman to the death of Mr. Girdle- 
stone, the late president. He had known him, he 
said, for twenty years past, and all along he had 
found him the best of friends, ever willing to assist 
and to do whatever fell to him. He moved that a 
letter of condolence be sent to Mr. Girdlestone’s 
aged mother and his sisters from the society, express¬ 
ing the loss the members feel they have sustained, 
and conveying their deepest sympathy with the 
bereaved family at this time. The motion was 
seconded by Mr. Cheal, who also spoke feelingly and 
in praise of the late president; and it was carried 
unanimously. The hope was expressed that the hint 
thrown out of establishing a medal or cup in memory 
of the late Mr. Girdlestone would not be lost. It 
was left, on the proposal of Mr. R. Dean, in the 
hands of Mr. Mawley to convey the feelings of the 
society to the family just mentioned. Then the 
secretary announced that the money asked {£22 10s.) 
to provide for the intermediate show proposed to be 
held at the Royal Aquarium, on September 19th, 
had been received. By the addition of 10s. 6d. from 
Mr. Seal, volunteered at the meeting, the sum now 
stood at ^23 15s. It was agreed also, to ask the 
Aquarium authorities to allow all the members 
(about 150) of the Dahlia Society free passes for this 
show. One item in the drafted schedule was altered, 
and the amended schedule was passed to be then 
reprinted and distributed to the members. Various 
other minor items of business terminated the meet¬ 
ing. 
rARDENING MISCELLANY. 
ROSE W. A. RICHARDSON. 
Seen as it is to be seen at Kew on the north front of 
the museum, where a large part of the wall is 
literally a mass of pale yellow-edged or salmon- 
centred, Rose blooms, it makes an additional im¬ 
pression on its admirers. Though somewhat 
stunted, the specimen at Kew could not be prettier, 
and it is very fragrant. Mr. Phillips, of Granton 
Road Nursery, Edinburgh, says that this Rose 
always does best out-of-doors with him, and where it 
does do out-doors the advantage should be grasped. 
GERBERA JAMESONI. 
A most useful plant for the greenhouse, though I am 
assured it will succeed in warm and sheltered places 
in the South, is Gerbera Jamesoni, the Scarlet 
Daisy of the Transvaal. This forms large tufts, and 
will throw up long stems, on which a single bloom 
appears. This is often 4 in. across, and ot a dazzling 
orange-scarlet. Grown in frames, and brought into 
the greenhouse or conservatory when in flower, it 
will always be observed, since its beautiful stellate 
flowers are at once novel and distinct.—S. 
VEGETABLE MARROW PEN-Y-BYD. 
For a free fruiting and quick yielding variety, and 
for a large return of solid, smooth, and Melon¬ 
shaped fruits, the Pen-y-byd. shows itself a recom- 
mendable variety. The soil it likes is a rich, moist, 
deep loam, in a free and open position. It is in fine 
state for use when it reaches, as I say, the size of a 
small Melon Unless the plants really require some 
stimulus it is better not to feed, else the flavour of 
the Marrows is very raw, and of a sour, sappy 
nature.— D. 
CLEMATIS LORD NEVILLE. 
Of the Jackmanni type, and neither better nor 
poorer th an the old C. Jackmanni, is this C. Lord 
Neville. The flowers are of a brilliant, crystalline, 
light violet-blue, a colour one could gaze on for hours 
and still feel unsatisfied with the feast. It is all the 
better if on dry soils to give the border in which it 
grows a mulch early in the summer. It yields 
splendid blooms when planted on the shady side of a 
dwelling house. 
CARNATIONS AT CHELSEA. 
Southern provincial growers of the Carnation know 
only too well how hard the task has been to keep or 
raise specimen Carnation blooms this year. The 
heat has been all against them. And if those who 
are not circumvented by heat generating environ¬ 
ments can reasonably complain of hurt from the 
intensity of the temperature, what shall we say for 
those who have to cultivate in a part where as a 
rule the average temperature reaches many degrees 
higher than in most other places. But without say¬ 
ing more about such conditions the opinion may be 
expressed that failing perhaps depth of colour this 
year, or of lasting qualities, the blooms and plants 
at Messrs. James Veitch & Sons’, Ltd., Nursery at 
Kings Road, Chelsea, S.W., are well up to the 
standard. 
Border Selfs and Fancies.— In such varieties 
as George Maquay heat seems to have no effect in 
lessening the supply of blooms although perhaps size 
may be reduced. This latter is a very pure white 
variety with altogether a good habit. Czarina also 
takes rank as one of the best, having all 
the qualities of a first-rate Carnation bloom. 
The colour combination of scarlet above a yellow 
ground is very pleasing. In Diana we have a plant, 
yielding large, well formed, lemon-yellow blooms 
which are strongly thrown up. Elfin is a vigorous 
white self, thought much of because of its substance 
and good staying qualities. Francis Wellesley as all 
Carnation lovers know, is a vigorous grower and the 
rich deep carmine-rose blooms are borne upon stout 
stalks. Though there are plenty of whites it is not 
everyone's taste to like the same kind of white Car¬ 
nation. In Helmsman, we have a bloom of purity 
