July 31, 1897. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
cut out to make room for the new; that is all. The 
flowers of next year will be borne on the wood made 
during this season. 
Grapes Shanking— A. Wilson : As a rule the 
cause of shanking in Grapes is defective root action. 
The roots of the Vines, probably, have got into some 
unfavourable substratum in which they can find no 
food. You cannot remedy the matter now, but must 
leave it until winter when the state of the roots may 
be carefully examined. 
-- 
FLORISTS’ FLOWERS AT SWANLEY. 
The other week we paid a visit to the well-known 
nursery of Messrs. H. Cannell & Sons, Swanley, 
Kent. Here we found that there had been no rain 
at all on the occasion when other counties were being 
various sizes are used according to the size and 
vigour of the corms to be put in them. Very large 
plants are grown in 6 in. pots, which are greatly- 
hidden by the large, fleshy leaves. 
As in other collections of Gloxinias, so here a con¬ 
siderable amount of favour is accorded the self 
varieties. This is due to the prevailing taste 
amongst the public at present. Prince of Wales 
has large flowers of a glowing crimson-lake, fading 
to rose at the margin. Her Majesty is pure white, 
with large massive flowers and of splendid habit. 
Princess of Wales is glowing scarlet-lake with a 
narrow white edge and very pretty, owing to the well 
defined character of the margin. Another very 
bright sort is Beacon, of which we noticed numerous 
plants, the bright colour showing up well. 
Edged varieties are further represented by Wm. 
Marshall,a deep claret purple flower having abroad 
vanced stage of their growth, and the finer named 
sorts are being fertilised for the production of seed, 
or are carrying a crop of pods that have been pro¬ 
duced by careful cross-breeding. A fine batch of 
seedlings sown this year is now in prime condition. 
Many of them have refined flowers of various 
colours. Amongst the double sorts some are prim¬ 
rose, yellow, bronzy-orange, glowing crimson-scarlet, 
white, cream, pink, rose, silvery-pink and scarlet. 
Most of these have broad, flat, or wavy, crisped 
petals arranged round a single centre. Hundreds of 
them have not yet received names. 
Single varieties are grown in 24-size pots in other 
houses. They run through the same range of colour 
as the double varieties. Very striking are some of 
the bronzy-orange sorts ; the cream flowers with a 
rosy-salmon edge ; pink edged with salmon ; white 
edged pink, and other delicate shadings. One very 
deluged with rain and havoc in certain parts caused by 
devastating hailstorms. Whether indoors or out¬ 
side, the pot plants at Swanley showed no effect of 
drought nor otherwise. There is always something 
in bloom, but the zonal Pelargoniums bloom 
perennially, and are always worthy of inspection. 
They are, in fact, a leading feature of this place, but 
other subjects call for remark here. 
Gloxinias. 
A grand strain of this popular class of plants is 
grown from seed. One house 100 ft. in length is en¬ 
tirely occupied with plants bearing a heavy crop of 
seed-pods which will ripen in due course. Even 
here, however, many of the later plants are still in 
bloom, and another house is occupied with younger 
plants, including this year’s seedlings. The accom¬ 
panying illustration, put at our disposal by Messrs. 
Cannell & Sons, shows the principal Gloxinia house 
when the plants are in the flowering stage. Pots of 
blue margin, well defined. It is a most attractive 
variety. Others are banded with different colours 
in a very attractive way, the band usually forming a 
zone, equidistant between the margin and the throat 
of the flower. Amiable is while, with a broad, pink 
zone. Sherlock Holmes has a broad violet band 
fading to sky-blue. The flowers have six segments, 
and attain a great size. Spotted and marbled 
varieties in many colours, and of most intricate 
pattern may be seen, so that people of all tastes may 
find something for their delectation. The markings 
may be rose, pink, lilac, blue, purple or violet, and 
arranged on a paler shade of those colours or white. 
The cultivation of Gloxinias is well understood here. 
Tuberous Begonias. 
Eight or nine houses are devoted to the cultivation 
of this popular race, independently of the plants 
grown out-of-doors Those plants which made their 
appearance at the Temple Show are now in an ad- 
striking flower is orange internally and red exter¬ 
nally. 
Cannas. 
The new Orchid-flowering varieties such as Italia 
and Austria are grown here, but are not at present in 
season. The other race with large flowers of the 
Madame Crozy strain, and known as Gladiolus- 
flowered are grown in great numbers. They are 
practically hardly ever out of season, but at present 
one house is worth a journey to see. The plants are 
grown in pots, and all are remarkably dwarf con¬ 
sidering the great size of the flowers they produce. 
The foliage is healthy, the spikes large, and the 
flowers of all shades prevailing in this class of plants, 
from creamy white to glowing crimson. The self, 
variegated and edged flowers are all very handsome, 
The orange-red flowers of Konigin Charlotte, with 
a broad margin of gold, are particularly handsome. 
Alsace is a creamy-white variety that flowers freely. 
House of Gloxinias at Swanley. 
