August 7, 1897. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
771 
EARLY WHITE ROMAN HYACINTHS. 
Early Snowflake and Paper-white Narcissus. 
JAMES VEITGH ft SONS, LTD., 
Beg to announce the arrival of, in exceptionally fine condition, 
THE ABOVE VALUABLE BULBS FOR EARLY FORCING, 
And will he pleased to receive Orders for immediate delivery. 
Royal Exotic Nursery, KING'S ROAD, CHELSEA, S.W. 
WEBBS’ 
EMPEROR CABBAGE. 
The Earliest and Best 
6 d and Is. per packet; Is. 6d. per oz. 
From Mr. G. H. BALL, Comer Gardens. 
“ I herewith forward you a photograph of your valuable 
Cabbage—the Empeior. I find it is the earliest, lar 6 est, 
and most compact variety I ever grew.’ 1 
WEBBS’, WORDSLEY, STOURBRIDGE. 
LILIES OF THE VALLEY 
For Everybody and at any Time! 
Retarded crowns, i.e., crowns kept dormant by 
means of refrigeration, can be supplied twice a 
month. These crowns will bloom within 14-20 days ; 
send for a list at once to 
T. JANNOCH, 
Lily Nursery, Dersingham, King's Lynn, Norfolk. 
£25 in PRIZES. 
DANIELS’ GOLDEN ROCCA ONION. 
Splendid variety of fine globular form, pale golden 
yellow skin, and mild delicate flavour. When well 
grown will produce bulbs 2 lbs to 3 lbs. in weight. 
A superb exhibition variety, and the best for Autumn 
sowing. We offer ^25 in prizes in 1898 for bulbs 
grown from seed sown this season. All purchasers 
of not less than one ounce of seed will be eligible to 
compete. Seed, with full cultural directions, peroz., 
is. 6d. ; per packet, 6d. Post free. 
DANIELS BROS., Seed Growers, NORWICH. 
THE FINEST CABBAGE IN THE WORLD. 
DANIELS’ DEFIANCE. 
A very fine, short-legged, compact, and early 
variety; growing quickly to the weight of 8 lb. or 
10 lb. each; exceedingly tender and of the most 
delicate marrow flavour. A grand Cabbage alike for 
the market or private grower. Our own splendid 
stock, specially selected, per oz., is. 6d.; per packet, 
6d. Post free. 
DANIELS BROS., Seed Growers, NORWICH. 
H, CANNELL & SONS’ 
Cannas, Begonias, Pelargoniums, 
Carnations, Gloxinias, &c., &c. 
FINEST DISPLAY & COLLECTIONS IN THE WORLD. 
Our Nurseries will be found now and all the 
season the most interesting and edifying probably 
of any similar establishment in England. All ad¬ 
mirers of good gardening will save and derive con¬ 
siderable benefit by sending for Catalogues and 
making themselves thoroughly acquainted with 
our firm. All kinds of Bedding Plants are ready 
and sent off at an hour's notice. 
SWANLEY, KENT. 
O RCHIDS of the highest quality, every 
plant guaranteed true to name, from 2/6 each. Please 
send for free Hst.-P. McARTHUR, The London Nurseries, 
4, Malda Vale, London W. 
“ Gardening Is the purest of human pleasures, and the greatest 
retreshment to the spirit of man.”— Bacon. 
((4 ijlqlil, 
Edited by J. FRASER, F.L.S. 
SATURDAY , AUGUST yth, 1897. 
NEXT WEEK’S ENGAGEMENTS. 
Tuesday, August ioth.—R.H.S. at Drill Hall, 
Weston-Super-Mare and East Somerset Show, 
Wednesday, August 1 ith.—Bishop’s Stortford Show. 
Cardiff Show (twodays). 
Thursday, August 12th.—Taunton Show, 
Leighton Buzzard Show. 
Friday, August 13th. — Sale of imported Orchids by Messrs. 
Protheroe & Morris. 
This ques- 
the Floral 
£he Form of Sweet Peas.- 
^ tion was brought before 
Committee of the Royal Horticultura 
Society on the 13th ult., when, after ; 
little discussion, it was finally resolved no 
to class them amongst florists’ flowers tha 
must conform to certain rules or canon 
from which no flower appealing for favou 
or distinction must deviate. This we con 
sider a wise arrangement, for wheneve 
such a thing is attempted, a flower invari 
ably loses in popularity sooner or later 
very often the former. The causes of un 
popularity are not far to seek. Wheneve 
any particular form is agreed upon as thi 
standard, we restrict the number o 
admirers, the number of varieties, am 
cause raisers to breed from the few sort: 
which conform to the limitations laid down 
A sure result of this is that judicious cross 
breeding is restricted, in-breeding i: 
resorted to in order to get new sorts con 
forming to the standard, and the constitu 
tion of the progeny gets utterly ruined in < 
short time. It is well known that the fine: 
varieties of Auriculas, Carnations, anc 
Picotees, and others of the old florists’ type 
are extremely difficult to keep alive, anc 
the life of the miserable, dwindling plant; 
can only be prolonged by a few specialist; 
who bring their long and dearly bough: 
experience to bear upon them. Is the 
game worth the candle to ruin the moderr 
and exquisitely-beautiful race of Sweel 
Peas by laying restrictions upon form sc 
long as those are in themselves intrinsically 
beautiful? We say no, and hope it will 
never be seriously attempted. 
Some one may reply by asking whether 
we are to allow our gardens to be overrun 
by misshapen forms of Sweet Peas. Well, 
we are not at all afraid of that, because we 
have a strong belief that those matters in 
the hands of a discerning public are able to 
take care of themselves, and ultimately to 
right what the enthusiasts in their 
endeavour to furnish novelty may press 
upon Sweet Pea admirers and lovers. There 
are faddists who lose their heads over such 
monstrosities as Red Riding hood and 
Oddity, which may tickle the fancy for a 
year or two but can never gain many per¬ 
manent admirers. 
The question brought before the Royal 
Horticultural Society was whether they 
were to encourage the production of those 
varieties having a hooded standard or flat 
ones only. The prevailing demand by 
growers and admirers is for large flowers of 
beautiful colours. The specialists also 
consider that those varieties from which 
the apical notch of the standard has 
been obliterated, are the most highly 
evolved, and the finest test of a choice 
variety. This matter we consider of minor 
importance, all other things being equal. 
Nature no doubt had a purpose in the 
notch, for where it exists it facilitates 
folding in the bud, and allows the standard 
to become more or less perfectly flat when 
fully developed. We have evidence of this 
in Emily Henderson which has large flowers 
and a flat standard when expanded. Cupid, 
Pink Cupid, and many, perhaps most, of 
the old varieties have notched and flat 
standards ; but then their flowers are small. 
All Sweet Peas, even the small flowered 
ones, are beautiful when seen by themselves ; 
but they have little chance of favour along¬ 
side of the giant modern flowers. On the 
contrary the large-flowered Blanch Burpee 
and many others have the notch obliterated, 
and as a consequence the standard is hooded 
but nevertheless exquisitely beautiful. We 
should prefer its being so rather than 
folded backwards. There is another 
danger that must be guarded against. The 
standard becomes rounded at the apex 
owing to the prolongation of the midrib. 
Raisers must be on their guard against a 
further development of this, otherwise we 
shall get varieties with pointed standards, 
which would not be an improvement. 
<Turprises in Plant-breeding. — Some 
^ years ago in speaking of the cross¬ 
breeding and hybridisation of plants, gar¬ 
deners were wont to consider and even to 
say that the seedlings assumed the habit 
and general aspect of the seed-bearing 
plant, and that the colours were chiefly 
determined by the pollen-bearer. In some 
cases this might have been so, but not 
always ; and however much this might have 
been credited as a theory, close observers 
have noted that it does not always hold 
good in practice, in fact, frequently far 
otherwise. 
A case in point occurs in Epiphronitis 
Veitchi, which is recorded as a hybrid 
between Epidendrum radicans and Sophro- 
nitis grandiflora. The Orchid Review for 
January, 1893, states that the Sophronitis 
was the seed bearer, and yet the same 
authority in October of the same year says 
that there is almost no trace of Sophronitis 
in the hybrid This then would be a case 
in which the seed bearer had almost been 
obliterated in the progeny. Truly at this 
rate like produces unlike. We had another 
instance at the Drill Hall on the 27th ult., 
when Messrs. Veitch, of Chelsea, exhibited 
Epilaelia radico purpurata, which they 
raised from Laelia purpurata crossed with 
the pollen of Epidendrum radicans. In 
outward form of the stems, leaves, and 
flowers as well as the colour of the latter, 
