May 22 , 1897 . THE GARDENING WORLD. 
601 
When they have filled these pots shift them on into 
48’s which will be quite large enough for them for 
the winter. They may produce a few flowers, but 
the winter will be well advanced by that time. 
Lilium auratum. —Could you tell me the cause of 
Lilium auratum buds shrivelling up. The plants are 
in 7-in. pots, and the bulbs appeared sound and 
healthy when potted. They throw up a stem about 
18 in. long (rather weak), the buds barely form, then 
after a time they shrivel and the stem dies down. 
They were started in frames, and then taken into the 
greenhouse to flower.— G. C. 
You do not give details of the cultivation. Have 
you top-dressed the plants and thus provided some¬ 
thing for the ring of roots at the base of the young 
stems to root in. This is of great importance. We 
are inclined to think, however, that the reason of the 
failure is that the bulbs were immature when they 
were packed. This, combined with the effects of the 
journey would account for the weakness of the stems 
and the dropping of the buds. Unfortunately unripe 
BERTONERILA MADAME TREYERAN- 
The generic name, Bertonerila, has been com¬ 
pounded of Bertolonia and Sonerila which represent 
a beautiful and interesting group of fine foliage stove 
plants. The accompanying illustration represents 
the hybrid under notice, showing the general disposi¬ 
tion of the variegation. It does not, however, show 
the reddish hairs which cover the surface of the 
leaves and give them a velvety appearance,but which 
are absent from others of the same cross. This 
pubescence greatly increases the decorative value of 
the leaves which are of a dark, greenish, brown-red. 
The midrib and base of the serondary nerves are 
strongly variegated with a silvery green, and contrast 
admirably with the other warm and lively tints of 
the leaves. The lower surface is rose, stained with a 
very dark wine colour, and shaded with clear green 
in the middle. The plant originated in abatch of seed¬ 
lings from which six of the best were selected. The 
hybrids were raised by Messrs. Linden, Parc 
Leopold, Brussels, who supplied the illustration. 
not expect it; but this is the way he would expect 
gardeners to be treated in the selling of their labour 
to their employers; there is nothing manly or inde¬ 
pendent in it. Depending on the generosity of our 
employers does not pay, and gardeners’ remunera¬ 
tion at the present time is evidence of the fact. 
Before gardeners’ wages can be improved they must 
have a union. Attempts have been made in that 
direction which ha/e always failed up to the present 
time. 
Another proposal that some are building hopes 
upon, is the granting of certificates of ability by 
some authoritative body, such as the R.H.S. These 
certificates would not improve the wages, because 
the certificated man would need to work for as little 
as the uucertificated, and would continue to do so, 
as long as the attitude of the public to horticulture 
is what it is. Meanwhile, we must be content with 
the old system of “ the survival of the fittest,” viz., 
the man that can live on the smallest wage.— W. K. 
Why some of the high class journals go out of their 
Bertonerila Madame Treyeran. 
bulbs arrive here apparently sound and good, and it 
is almost impossible to discover any signs of injury. 
We have had Liliums fail in much the same way and 
could assign no other reason than this. The only 
thing to do is to buy bulbs from a good reliable firm 
to which after-representations might be made with a 
view to their making good the loss. 
Narcissus Empress.— I should like to plant 
Narcissus Empress on a grassy bank facing the 
west. The bank is overhung to a large extent by 
Lime trees. Would this variety do ?— George J., 
Reading. 
Unless the bank in question is too much shaded, 
the bulbs will grow and flower well enough. 
Ridding Loam of Wireworm.— Ajax : Certainly 
you must not pot the Chrysanthemums in soil in¬ 
fested with wireworms. Lay the soil out thinly and 
turn it occasionally, catching and killing all the 
wireworms you can see. 
GARDENERS’ WAGES. 
I was very pLased with the leader in the Gardening 
World of the ist inst. It did not run away on the 
wages question (when criticising its contemporary) 
to the other extreme of too low wages, but hit the 
nail squarely on the head. 
I would like to make a few remarks, however, on 
Mr. Temple’s comments on the same subject (p. 565). 
He says gardeners " can give as good a record of 
themselves as any employees in this country.’’ They 
certainly do not show the same business capacity as 
other bodies of employees do, on the present subject 
—the wages question. There is scarcely a trade 
now but has its union to look after its interests 
and maintain its independence, but gardeners have 
not advanced as far as that yet. Mr. Temple, even 
in these days of keen competition, seems to cling to 
the old "milk of human kindness” idea instead of the 
market value of the labour the gardener has got to 
sell. When the baker's van goes to his door, he 
does not offer the baker 6d. for his four-pound loaf 
when the market value is qjd., and the baker does 
way to decry gardening and gardeners in particular 
is one of those things which we sometimes have a 
difficulty in understanding. Surely the writer of the 
article you alluded to has a very limited 
acquaintance with the subject. The £100 per 
annum places might justly be called the special 
prizes which are, unfortunately for the profession, 
only too special. When a young man enters the pro¬ 
fession fully determined to make his way, it would 
be well if he recognised this—that gardening 
resembles the clerical profession in this one thing, 
that there are a few prizes which he may possibly 
attain to, but a great many blanks with one of which 
he may possibly have to content himself. I am 
thinking just now of an old friend, who has passed 
away, with every quality which would have fitted 
him for any one of the few prizes, but who, we 
believe never had more than the 25s. weekly, which 
you only too truly fix as the more general average of 
gardeners’ wages. My own sire was a gardener, and 
in my boyhood’s days, a head gardener was con¬ 
sidered to receive as good wages as an ordinary 
