October 3, 1896. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
77 
Boston Unrivalled (Johnson).—A heavy bearer, 
with the pods in pairs, and haulm, pods, and peas 
pale green. The pods are large and contain about 
seven peas each, of first-class flavour. Height, 4 ft,; 
seeds wrinkled ; ready for use June 25th. 
The Gladstone (Holmes).—An excellentcropper; 
pods in pairs; haulm, pods, and peas dark green. 
The pods are of extra length, and often contain 
eleven large wrinkled peas. Height, 3 ft. 6in ; ready 
for use June 25th. XXX. 
Lord Mayor (Nutting).—Great bearer, pods in 
pairs; haulm, pods, and peas a bright grass green ; 
pods of good size, averaging six large peas in each ; 
good flavour; seed wrinkled. Height, 6ft.; ready 
for use June 23rd. XXX. 
Stokes' Hero of Trowbridge (Stokes).—Profuse 
cropper; pods in pairs; haulm, pods, and peas a 
bright grass green ; pods of good size, with an average 
of seven fine peas in each; flavour excellent; seed 
wrinkled. Height, 4 ft. 6 in.; ready for use June 
23rd. XXX. 
Lord Granby (Harrison).—Profuse cropper ; pods 
in pairs, of good size, and containing six large peas 
on the average ; haulm, pods, and peas light green ; 
flavour first class ; seed wrinkled. Height, 4 ft. ; 
ready for use June 26th. XXX. 
Sutton's Seedling Marrowfat (Sutton & Sons). 
—An excellent cropper, the best of the dwarf 
section haulm pods, and peas pale green, averaging 
eight large peas in a pod, very sweet in flavour ; seed 
wrinkled. Height, 9 in.; ready for use June 15th. 
XX. 
(To be continued.) 
PLANTS RECENTLY CERTIFICATED, 
The undermentioned Chrysanthemum received a 
First-class Certificate at the meeting of the Floral 
Committee of the National Chrysanthemum Society 
held at the Royal Aquarium, on Wednesday, 
September 23rd. 
Barbara Forbes. —This is a new early exhibition 
variety. It is nearly a pure white, although there is 
a suspicion of creamy-yellow in it. The florets are 
long, pointed and incurving. The blooms shown 
measured fully 9 in. in diameter. Mr. W. J. God¬ 
frey, Exmouth, Devon. 
-- 
THE PERILS OF GARDENING. 
The gardener’s lot is usually regarded by outsiders 
as being a peculiarly happy one, and is generally 
considered as one of the most healthful professions 
that a man can possibly adopt. It is very true that 
the physical advantages offered by horticulture to its 
students are many and great, but the fact must not 
be lost sight of that there is another side to all this, 
that the apparently clear sky has a few clouds, and 
that perils as well as pleasures have to be reckoned 
with. Before a man can aspire to the position of a 
head gardener, or even of a foreman in any particular 
branch of his calling, he has to pass through a long 
and oftentimes tedious apprenticeship, wherein he 
has to exert a great deal of physical effort. The 
wondrous machine known as the human body is 
subjected to severe strain, which, should there be 
any inherent weakness, is but far too often followed 
by painful results that take, as it were, the honey 
from life, and heavily discount the pleasure 
engendered by the reaping of the fruits of honest 
labour. 
Amongst the ailments which come to burden and 
perplex the lives of suffering humanity the gaunt 
spectre known as “ hernia " has assumed terribly 
threatening proportions, and nowhere does the 
shadow of its fell presence fall more heavily than 
upon the gardener's profession. The labour of 
lifting heavy plants from place to place, under con¬ 
ditions when the human body is least able to bear 
the strain, is a fruitful cause of the ailment in 
question. Often enough, young lads of comparatively 
low muscular development are put to worK with older 
men at the task of moving plants by means of the 
hand barrow. A sense of mistaken pride prevents 
these young fellows from calling out against the 
loading of the barrow to an extent that is utterly 
beyond their power to bear, without having to pay 
the penalty demanded by outraged nature. The 
older men are thus unthinkingly the instruments of 
torturing their younger and weaker brethren to a 
degree that only the sufferers themselves can sub¬ 
sequently appreciate, and thus the evil goes on. 
Besides the bearing of heavy loads, the twisting and 
straining of reaohing from ladders and steps in the 
thousand and one avocations of the gardener, as for 
instance the gathering of fruit, or the pruning and 
tying of fruit trees, have seriously to be reckoned 
with. 
From the very nature of the complaint a sense, as 
of shame, leads the sufferer to conceal his sufferings 
from human eyes, and thus not only is the evil 
aggravated by slight cases becoming gradually 
worse, but gardeners generally are prevented from 
discovering how prevalent it is among their ranks. 
Observation, however, will soon convince any 
impartial person of this fact, and the importance of 
the recent discovery of surgical science whereby a 
cure is promised will be then appraised at its full 
value. 
We recently paid a visit to the establishment 
which has such a claim to the attention of the 
civilized world, viz. The Hernia Institute, 489, 
Oxford Street, W. So much of quackery, deceit, and 
humbug in connection with the treatment of hernia 
has been laid bare of late that we were all the more 
pleased when we failed to discover anything but 
candour, honesty, and the fairest of fair dealing in 
connection with the Hernia Institute. In addition 
to this the arrangements for the accommodation of 
patients are as perfect as a lavish expenditure of 
money, combined with a thorough knowledge of 
human nature can make them. No merciless arrays 
of surgical instruments are here cruelly ominous of 
the pain they can inflict, but instead everything that 
can minister to the mental and physical ease of 
patients, who, if they desire, can be accommodated 
with sleeping apartments in the Institute, under the 
personal charge of the surgeons until a cure is 
effected. It has been demonstrated over and over 
again that it is impossible to cure hernia by means 
of a truss only, no matter how skilfully designed or 
applied except in the cases of young children. 
Something more is needed, and this something The 
Hernia Institute claims to supply, and it is ready to 
back its opinion to the extent of a legal guarantee 
that a cure is effected, under which all moneys are 
returned should failure result. The treatment, more¬ 
over, is declared to be nearly or quite painless. The 
time taken to effect a cure is said to be from two to 
eight weeks, surely a brief period of probation when 
the nature of the complaint is taken into account. 
Although the Institute is not, strictly speaking, a 
vendor of trusses, we were shown several which are 
considered to be the best for patients to wear and for 
a short period during, and after the cure, for the sake 
of protection. They are made of celluloid, and 
nickel steel and are but little more than 8 oz. in 
weight, among the best of their kind in fact. 
We were shown numerous testimonials coming 
from various parts of the country, and all testifying 
to the unqualified efficacy of the treatment. They 
included letters from patients who said they had been 
cured within the time specified by the Institute after 
having been afflicted for periods varying from a few 
months to twenty-five years, all other treatment 
having proved futile. One of the erstwhile sufferers 
was over sixty-two years of age when the cure was 
worked, so that the age limit would seem to be a most 
indefinite one. Other notable cases were those of a 
gardener hailing from Buckinghamshire, and a fore¬ 
man stonemason from Scotland, neither of them 
suffering any detention from their occupations. 
Branches of the Institute are established in Bristol, 
Bath, Cardiff, and Newport, and we were assured 
that everywhere the list of unbroken successes has 
been maintained. Truly surgical science is but just 
awakening to the sense of its stupendous possibilities. 
-- 
BEDDING LOBELIAS. 
Many rely upon getting their supply of these from 
seed, as being less troublesome than the raising a 
stock every year from cuttings ; and we hope they 
are satisfied with the results. We must confess that 
we never were satisfied, for, however good the 
sample of seed is, there will always be a great 
variety in habit among a batch of plants so raised. 
We neither take cuttings nor sow seed, and get a 
stock of plants by a method entailing less trouble 
than either of these methods. Although not new it 
may be of interest to many, and of service to some, 
to briefly describe our modus operandi. In the early 
part of September we lift a few plants from the 
ground and pull them into small pieces. If this is 
done during moist weather, almost every bit will 
have young fibres attached to it. These pieces we 
plant sparingly into shallow boxes, the width of our 
greenhouse shelves. We place them in a partially 
shaded position for a short time in the open air, 
where they remain till the advent of frost, when they 
are placed on shelves near the glass. During the 
winter, if growing too freely, we cut them over. 
They soon grow again and become a dense mass ; 
and about April we knock them out of the boxes, 
and again split them up. They can then be planted 
out in pits, potted off, or boxed up again to suit the 
requirements and convenience at hand. By this 
plan a large stock can be worked up with, we 
submit, a minimum of trouble.— W. B. G. 
-- 
Gardening §£iscellany. 
CAN MAIZE BE GROWN IN THIS COUNTRY ? 
Such questions might well be answered from 
Chiswick. The young cobs make an esteemed 
vegetable when properly cooked, for those who once 
get initiated into their good qualities. For this 
reason the Royal Horticultural Society might well 
institute a trial of varieties of Maize at Chiswick, in 
order to determine which varieties are most suitable 
for our climate in the more favoured parts of Britain, 
at least. Last year we are aware that Maize was 
advocated as an agricultural crop in Essex. Red 
and yellow varieties of Maize have not merely been 
brought to a state fit for cooking in Kew Gardens, 
but the cobs have been matured. An early variety 
named Hungarian Maize, has this year been 
ripened in a back yard in Kew, where no particular 
attention was given the plants beyond a watering 
now and again, and the admiring curiosity of those 
who had, for the first time, seen the Maize in a 
living, flowering, and fruitful condition. Under 
more favourable conditions as to raising, exposure to 
light and air in the open, and a fair or moderate 
amount of manuring, good results should be 
obtainable by the cultivation of such early varieties. 
The cobs in question varied from 3 in. to 6 in. in 
length and ripened to a golden amber during the 
first fortnight of September. 
PRIMULA FORBESI. 
A patch of this small flowered but graceful Primula 
may be seen on the rockery at Kew ; so that during 
the summer season at least, it may be successfully 
grown and flowered in the open air. The stems are 
only 6 in. to 8 in. high, instead of 12 in. to 15 in., 
which usually prevails in the case of plants grown 
under glass. Each scape bears two to four whorls 
of purple flowers with a yellow eye recalling that of 
the Bird’s Eye Primrose of this country. The 
question now to be determined is whether this 
species may prove longer-lived in the open air than 
under glass, and likewise its relative hardiness. 
PHYSALIS FRANCHETTI. 
The quantity of seed which this fine species annually 
produces, has enabled it to be quickly and very 
extensively propagated. Two circular beds of it 
may now be seen in splendid condition in the 
herbaceous ground at Kew. The inflated and rich 
oraDge calyx to which the ornamental character of 
this genus is due, is very much larger than that of 
the better known P. Alkekengi. The fruits of the 
latter are, if anything more freely produced than in 
the case of its Japanese congener, so that the 
cultivator has a choice between large fruits or a 
greater number of smaller ones. There seems room 
for both of the species in all gardens of any extent. 
A large patch of P. Alkekengi may be seen in the 
rockery, literally aglow with its rich orange calyx 
covering an orange berry. If the stems are cut and 
dried before being spoiled by rain, the orange fruits 
would last a long time for decorative purposes in the 
same way as everlastings. 
A DELICIOUS PEAR. 
I have lately been eating a Pear of the finest 
quality, bought at the shop of Mr. Clarke, No. 302, 
Strand. He tells me that its name is Beurre Hardy, 
and that it was grown in California. A well-known 
authority, who for many years has had opportunities 
of tasting the best Pears in Herefordshire, remarked 
of it, “ I have never eaten so good a Pear before, and 
looking to my age I can never hope to eat a finer one 
or even as good a one again,” Can you give me any 
information about this Pear l—J. C. Stogdon, 
