December 16, 1899. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
245 
The Chrysanthemum Pest and Ladybirds —Lady 
birds are accepted friends of plantsmen, particularly 
Chrysanthemists. They live upon the green flies, 
and this alone is why they ought to be fostered. In 
Indian Gardening a correspondent, writing under the 
above heading, remarks upon a species of ladybird 
which seems more voracious in its green fly devour¬ 
ing capacities than those of other species which he 
has. The black ants, on the other hand, he has 
observed, are most considerate and active in the in¬ 
terests of the aphides, going so far even as to pick 
them up and carry them from the ground to which 
they had fallen back to their feeding ground. 
Scottish Horticultural Association —As mentioned 
on page 229 of last week’s Gardening World at 
the monthly meeting held on the 5th inst., Mr. Geo. 
Beech, The Grange, Bishops Stortford, Herts, read 
a paper entitled “A Visit to the London Parks." 
Mr. Beech described the beddiDg of the various 
seasons, to be seen in the larger of the London parks. 
The paper was cordially received, and some discus¬ 
sion followed the reading of it. The prevalent opin¬ 
ion was that something more might be attempted by 
the Parks’ Committee of Edinburgh. The city and 
its environs were beautiful naturally, but these could 
be greatly aided by a dash of spring bedding, so 
sadly lacking at the present time. Glasgow being a 
richer city, and of course not so beautiful in its con 
fines, was more elaborately ornamented than was the 
capital. 
A Panther at large.— A panther of a vicious turn of 
mind, escaped from a ship in the Royal Albert 
Docks the other week, and spent the night near the 
Thames, worrying and killing all the cats it oould 
find. The cow keepers in the North Woolwich 
Marshes were warned that it would kill sheep or 
cattle when hungry, so that all were prepared with 
guns for the defence of their cow houses. After the 
animal had been twenty-four hours at large, a 
gardener in the North Woolwich Gardens, and in 
the employment of the London County Council, saw 
the panther in a building, and rushing off, summon¬ 
ed a policeman. The latter shut the panther in, and 
the ship's crew brought its cage. Nothing could in¬ 
duce the brute to re-enter its cage, however, till light- 
ted newspapers made it too hot for the animal, which 
at last rushed into the cage. Some in our neighbour¬ 
hood would like the panther to visit the cats, but 
would like timely notice of the visit of his majesty 
the p3rd.— Leo. 
The Chrysanthemum — In The Florist Exchange [ox 
November 4th, there appear two poems which were 
read by Mr. Edmund M. Wood, in a paper he gave 
before members of the Massachusetts Horticultural 
Society on the Chrysanthemum. We give them 
both below. The first is a translation from 
the Japanese of Satoni Sensei, and the second is by 
the Irish poet, William AlliDgham :— 
“ O bloom of Chrysanthemum, 
Fabled of old, 
A fountain of rapture 
And sweetness untold— 
The dewy wine sparkled 
With life in its flame, 
And mortals partaking, 
Immortals became. 
But lo ! There hath opened 
A wondrous flower, 
For God’s love hath blossomed— 
Soul life in its dower, 
And its petals shall shine 
More endearing than thine, 
With their fabulous treasures of life-giving wine— 
Far fairyland’s store, 
And its dewdrops shall glow, 
And its fragrance shall grow 
From more unto more 
While the years come and go." 
* * * 
" The rustic family of ox-eyes claim 
A royal cousin clad in purple and gold, 
Pearl, ruby, fleecy colours, such as fold 
The crouching sun, and with a lofty name 
Chrysanthemum—appearing bright and bold 
To startle poor November with a flame 
Of sumptuous flowerage, making summer tame, 
And flush with Eastern pomp the dark and 
cold. 
Voyager from Japan and broad Cathay, 
The slant-eyed yellow people love thee much : 
(All humans love a flower) and know the way 
To fix their garden favourite with fine touch 
In shapes of art. How joyful we to clutch 
Their gifts !—but shall we clasp their hands one 
day ? " 
Senecio macroglossus.—Than this no cool house 
climber is more distinct, more strikingly ornamental 
or sweet, because though the blooms are not in 
great abundance their simplicity (like a large star, 
and bright yellow in colour) gives them a quaint 
charm. A fine plant of this Senecio is to be seen 
flowering in the succulent house at Kew. 
TOWN STABLE MANURE v. NATIVE 
GUANO. 
I am often perplexed where to go for my garden 
manure. When I kept ahorse I always had plenty ; 
since, I have not known where to go, though plenty 
of stables all round. But new ideas seem to have 
-taken hold of most horse keepers ; and now economy 
rules everywhere, and no less in the stable. And 
now in the place of straw the unfortunate horse has 
his bed made of anything, chiefly saw dust, chips 
and shavings, together with rubbish of any kind. A 
few have peat-moss; but it is only in the very best 
stables you can get clean straw manure. 
As I should not like my garden filled with the foul 
rubbish I see some of my neighbours buy for manure, 
I have to look elsewhere for a suitable nourishment, 
than the town stable. Last season I tried the Native 
Guano. It gave excellent results in all crops except 
Potatos, which were injured by the drought. It is 
not very expensive, and has not so offensive a smell 
as some of the similar manures. I should recom¬ 
mend other readers wanting a clean manure to use, 
themselves, to give it a trial, and I think they will 
be satisfied both in results and the small quantity 
required, compared with ordinary manure.— C. 
Mullins. 
--•*•—- - 
CHRYSANTHEMUMS AT CAMPHILL, 
GLASGOW. 
The Camphill conservatories you have described in 
your columns ; the contents of these houses are fully 
entitled to a few lines, now that the exhibitions are 
over for this season. What was confidently pre¬ 
dicted when Mr. Whitton took over the superin¬ 
tendence of the Glasgow Parks is now patent to 
every intelligent visitor. When these conservatories 
were built Mr. Whitton put in charge Mr. Wm, 
M’lvor, a gardener of undoubted ability, and quite 
recently the oversight of the Queen's Park has been 
added to his duties. Mr. M’lvor has an able staff 
under him,as is evidenced by the splendid manner in 
which every department is looked after. 
For over a month the large Chrysanthemum 
house has been a mass of grandly grown and very 
highly coloured blooms. Many of them compared 
very well with the best shown at Edinburgh and 
Dundee, and that is a sufficient testimony to their 
high quality. About 4,000 plants are grown, a 
portion of which, when in flower, is sent to make a 
display in the People’s Palace on the Glasgow 
Green. 
At Camphill the large show house is entirely filled 
with the Autumn Queen. The plants are in oval 
beds down the centre of the large conservatory, and 
set out along the sides in a very elegant and tasteful 
way ; while at the far end of the house is placed a 
magnificent bank of very handsome and highly- 
coloured specimens, a background of Palms finish¬ 
ing the whole, so that the eye is rested and gratified. 
Names of varieties have been so prominent lately 
that it is needless to recapitulate. 
A large span-roofed house is also ablaze with 
pompons and single flowered sorts, and the people 
seem to enjoy these kinds very much. Chrysanth¬ 
emums are not the only feature, for the display of 
the Cattleyas is such as has not been seen in Glas¬ 
gow. Particularly rich in colour was C. bowringiana, 
and many grand spikes of Oncidiums were peeping 
out from green nooks; while the Moth Dendrobe 
(Dendrobium Phalaenopsis) was in good form sus¬ 
pended overhead. Round the sides are the Cypripe- 
dium insigne family, some of the rarer forms, and 
many very fine specimens of the C. i. montanum 
type. 
The large collection of zonal Pelargoniums are just 
at their best. They could not be in better form, 
although it had been midsummer instead of bltak 
and foggy November. Indeed, a visit to Camphill is 
a treat at any time of the year, and one is always 
sure of a hearty welcome.— G. R. 
ROSE HILL HOUSE, HENLEY-ON- 
THAMES. 
A visit to Rose Hill, the residence of Lady Donald¬ 
son, is always attended with happy associations, 
whether it be looking round the gardens in company 
with Mr. James Strachan, the head gardener, or 
viewing the famous stretch of river, almost from 
Henley-on-Thames till far beyond Marlow, many 
miles further east. It is very rare that a residence 
is more beautifully situated, or commands a finer 
view of the Thames valley. 
The kitchen and fruit garden is well situated, 
although somewhat exposed, and rests on a thin, 
gravelly subsoil, and not the best to withstand the 
terrible drought of the past summer. But Mr. 
Strachan is not the man to trouble seriously about 
the elements over which we have no control, and in 
his own quiet way and unassuming manner provides 
against any such contingencies by the thorough cul¬ 
tivation of the soil. Long experience has taught 
him that on soil of this character nothing but deep 
trenching and well manuring, according to the re¬ 
quirements of each crop, have any chance of success 
in such a season. 
Strawberries do well in most seasons here, and it 
was a surprise to learn that although the most of the 
newer sorts were tried none succeeded better outside 
or as forced than the variety Noble, the flavour 
being distinctly good. This only goes to prove that 
what may be a complete failure and of poor quality 
in one garden will often prove the very opposite 
in another, even when the cultivation is the same. 
Vegetables generally were first-rate; especially 
good were Peas, Onions, and Celery at the time of 
my visit. The garden, being on high ground, is not 
so liable to spring frosts as some ; but the effect of the 
very severe frost, when the Peaches were in flower, 
was still visible on the growth of the trees. The 
crop was thin, but the fruits were very good. Some 
cordon Pears planted a few years ago were giving a 
splendid account of themselves on a wall facing 
east; especially fine was Brcckworth Park. Amongst 
others Red Currants on walls were carrying a finer 
crop than I have ever seen before. Bush fruits were 
generally good and in fine condition. 
A feature in the kitchen garden is the herbaceous 
border, which margins the entire paths. An edging 
of the old “ Sea Pink ” (Armeria), as grown here, is 
first-rate, the soft colouring blending well when in 
full blossom with the other plants then in flower. 
Here and there many of the old-fashioned alpine 
plants in masses lend themselves admirably to the sur¬ 
roundings, and are a source of much pleasure to the 
visitor. 
On entering the vinery, the early house bunches 
were mostly cut, but there still remained some grand 
bunches of Foster’s Seedling and Buckland 
Sweet Water, Black Hamburgh also being fine in 
bunch and berry. The Muscat house carried much 
heavier bunches than is usually seen considering the 
number on each t rod, but Mr. Strachan has no diffi¬ 
culty in finishing them well, having the border well 
in hand by making fresh additions occasionally, 
thereby never allowing the Vines to become ex¬ 
hausted. The back wall of this house contained, 
planted out, a large plant of the old double Pelar¬ 
gonium, "Wonderful," and I could but think how 
aptly this had been named, as the number of trusses 
this plant carried was truly what its name implied 
" wonderful.” 
The Peach house was next entered, the fruit being 
mostly gathered. The trees were in fine condition 
generally, one tree giving some trouble through 
gumming, which may eventually have to be replaced. 
The greenhouse contained a varied collection of 
useful plants, and such as are necessary for indoor 
decoration and were making a brilliant display 
Malmaison Carnations were in good condition as 
was the pretty fringed varieties of the Dewer Mar¬ 
guerite form. Orchids were not largely grown, but 
what plants there were one could easily see their 
cultivation wan thoroughly mastered. Cypripe- 
dium insigne, of which there were several fine 
pieces, was making strong and healthy growth and 
later on will no doubt give a capital display, their 
vigorous condition no doubt accounting for quite a 
quantity of twin flowers being produced, as Mr. 
Strachan explained. Several pieces of Coelogyne 
cristata were in C-in. pots and here their culture is of 
the simplest character. Some years ago a few small 
pieces were got and were potted entirely in pure 
