January 27, 1900. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
84? 
THE GORSE DEBATE. 
Perhaps I ought not to enter the battlefield situated 
in such a favourable climate as I am, but as war just 
now i> on the brain of most of us, and all eager to 
take up arms against the enemy if called upon to do 
so, you must pardon me, “ Sigma,” if I have a sniping 
shot, though without malice. If tradition is any 
guide in this case, round about here the Furze or 
Gorse is in flower eight months out of the twelve, 
and that is each month that has an 11 r in it, thus 
May, June, July, and August are devoid of its golden 
flowers; but I think it might be safely said, in the 
genial county of Devon, at any rate, that we are 
never without its golden banks, especially on Wood¬ 
bury Common, one and a half miles from where I 
write, where miles of Gorse and Heather are to be 
seen, and no mean sight either, when both are in 
flower, the colours blending harmoniously. There 
is still another old saying in this county, and prob¬ 
ably many others, that 11 when Gorse is out of 
flower, Kissing is out of fashion.” In that case let 
one and all hope that the Furze may always have 
the name perpetual given it as regards its flowering 
propensities.— J. Mayne, Bicton. 
BUCCLEUCII NURSERIES, HAWICK. 
Happy is that place and those hardy flowers where 
it always rains when other districts are being dried 
up and wasted by a long-continued drought like those 
of the past two summers. That may be an opinion 
according io the standpoint of the flowers and gar¬ 
dens, but when the writer visited the collections of 
hardy and florists’ flowers of Mr. John Forbes, 
Buccleuch Nurseries, Hawick, N.B., last autumn, 
the heavy pelting showers compelled him to retreat 
on more than one occasion into the glasshouses. The 
time was by no means misspent, however, for there 
were several items of interest to be noted. 
Phloxes. 
There was a trial of the new and recent Phloxes in 
pots, and even in September a great many of them 
were distinctly fragrant. This is readily discernible 
by those who care to visit a bed of Phloxes soon 
after sundown, and the dew is just commencing to 
fall after the close of the heat of the day. The 
variety Coquelicot is the newest and brightest of 
scarlets. Etna is also bright, but the flowers are 
smaller. The salmon-rcse of Le Siecleis a very soft 
and pleasing colour, though it comes darker out of 
doors. Fernand Cortez is a rosy-carmine, with a 
paler centre. Adonis is rich orange-salmon. Iris is 
the best of the blues, being of a rich purple-blue. 
The deep lilac and the white eye of Eugene Danzan- 
villiers gives this a peculiar attraction. Massillon is 
a clear pink, with a carmine eye, the disposition of 
the colours thus differing from those of the previous 
one. The dwarf and pure white flowered Albatre 
makes this a valuable variety of no mean order. 
Sesostris, amaranth-carmine, with a crimson eye, is 
a model flower borne in branching panicles. Coeur 
de Lion is rosy-purple, with a carmine eye, each 
bloom being larger than a pennypiece. The flowers 
of Liberie are orange-salmon, and the plant makes 
a fine bush, makiDg the variety one of the best. 
Fantome is also the best of its class, the flowers 
being violet, with a white eye. The Mahdi is 
violet-blue and very popular, but is scarcely so fine 
as Iris. The blossom of Papillon is pure white. 
Seedling Phloxes are here raised in some numbers, 
the finest of last year’s seedlings being Mrs. Forbes, 
which is pure white when fully developed, without 
the usual trace of an eye. The plantations in the 
open air are, of course, extensive, but all had gone 
past their best. 
Pentstemons. 
Whether raised from seedlings or cuttings, Pentste¬ 
mons are essentially autumn flowers, and a brave 
display they always make in the rich soil of the 
lower part of the nursery, being, in fact, one of the 
leading features of the place. Large numbers of 
seedlings are raised annually, and the very best of 
them selected for trial the following year, after which 
those deserving it are honoured with a name. 
Twelve of the best were selected for trial during 
igoo. The best sorts of other raisers are also pro¬ 
cured. 
Amongst the newer, named varieties Paul Cambon 
was notable for its very large, rich purple flowers. 
Fine also are the scarlet flowers of Earl of Annes- 
ley, with a crimson throat. Maurice Dunnett is 
rose, with a very wide, white throat. Peter Read- 
man is pink, with a white throat, and Alfred Raim- 
baud is carmine, with a wide, open, while throat. A 
dark and handsome variety is Antoine Mercier, being 
rich crimson-red. The crimson-red of President 
Carnot is also very fine, the wide open, funnel- 
shaped flower being white in the throat. One of the 
richest of the scarlets is Jean Mace. Froelich and 
James Robertson are also good things, the latter 
being white, and tinted with pink on the upper lobes 
of the flower. Very handsome is Paul Verlain, be¬ 
ing -rose, with a brilliant crimson blotch in the 
mouth. G. Bush is a seedling of 1898, and was just 
named in compliment to the superintendent of 
Brockwell Park, London. The huge scarlet flower 
is better than Jean Mace. Mrs. Oliver, to be sent 
out this year, is a rosy-scarlet, with a crimson throat. 
All the above are practically new, but older varieties 
are grown in quantity. 
Cactus Dahlias. 
The beauty and utility of these cannot be ignored 
for garden decoration, and are well represented here. 
The brilliant scarlet, incurved petals of Captain 
Broad are very handsome. Countess of Lonsdale 
is one of the prettiest orange-scarlet sorts, making a 
pleasing contrast to the blackish-maroon flowers of 
ebony. Ranji is even darker than the latter, but is 
not so well up in the centre. Whar a contrast is also 
to be seen between the glowing crimson-scarlet of 
F'irebrand and the soft fawn of Lady E. Talbot. The 
large blooms of Wallace are bright amber, tinted 
with soft red on the back of the petals. The soft 
brick-red of the Clown is pleasingly diversified by 
the white tips. The long, pointed, orange-scarlet 
florets of Radiance are almost needle-like in their 
graceful slenderness. Viscountess Sherbrooke is of 
dwarf habit, with rich orange petals. Older Cactus 
Dahlias include Keyne’s White, the best of that 
colour. Laverstock Beauty is orange, and Lenora is 
pink, shaded with rose, and white in the centre dur¬ 
ing its earlier stages. 
Other sections are represented by the best of the 
old and new varieties of show, fancy, pompon, and 
single Dahlias. But to what section Grand Duke 
Alexis belongs it would be difficult to say, unless it 
is a decorative sort of fanciful formation. The 
blooms are white, and each floret is rolled up at the 
edges or fluted. 
Sundry Florists’ Flowers. 
Tall, perennial Lobelias, chiefly hybrids, are 
grown in considerable quantity, there being some¬ 
thing like 6,000 to 10,000 in stock pots. Most of 
them are select named varieties. One of the most 
distinct and showiest is Carmine Gem, with purple 
foliage and rosy-carmine flowers. Distinction is 
pink, with purple foliage. Lord Ardilaun is brilliant 
scarlet, with green leaves. On the other hand the 
green foliage of Fulgens violacea is accompanied 
with violet flowers. The brilliant fiery-scarlet 
flowers and broDzy foliage of Firefly make this a 
very choice sort, very effective for bedding. Lobelia 
syphilitica, with blue, and L. s. alba, with white 
flowers, are quite of a different type from the 
above. 
Gaillardia seedlings are raised in considerable 
quantity. 
Of hybrid Pinks, Dianthus Napoleon III. succeeds 
in the cool climate of the North better than where 
a drier atmosphere prevails. It is also the best of 
its class, and flowered all the summer and autumn 
here. Delphinium Primrose is so named from its 
colour. D. Beauty of Langport is a creamy-white 
variety, and by no means common. Antirrhinum 
seedlings are grown in some quantity in self, striped 
and mottled colours, the flowers being selected for 
size, form, and colour. 
Tanacetum Herderi is a border plant, and quite 
notable amongst the Tansies in having twice or 
thrice divided, silvery-gray foliage, that might be 
turned to good account in bedding arrangements. 
The plant is quite dwarf. 
Pansies and Violas have for many years been ex¬ 
tensively cultivated here. Viola Sir Robert Pullar 
is a large, handsome, and rich blue sort, with slender 
rays. The leaves are large, and the habit of the 
plant vigorous, while flowers, at the time of my 
visit, were in great profusion. Blue Gown has much 
paler blue flowers, but very sparingly produced at 
that time. The best yellows grown here are Mary 
Gilbert, BuIHod, Lord Elcho, Pembroke, and A. J. 
Rowb'erry, each having its own recommendations. 
The bronzy colour and wallflower edge of Joseph 
make the variety both pretty and distinct. A break 
with an area of 100 ft. by 60 ft. was occupied with 
about 12,000 plants of Fancy Pansies. The seedlings 
are of a very good straiD, and though planted out 
at the end of May they were still flowering profusely. 
The old plants, in choice named varieties, were also 
flowering splendidly. 
East Lothian Stocks have been a speciality at 
Hawick since 1870. They were a mass of blossom 
at the time of my visit, the colours being crimson, 
scarlet, purple, white, rose, crimson, Wallflower¬ 
leaved, and white Wallflower-leaved. Amateurs do 
not like single varieties in their beds, but the diffi¬ 
culty here is to get enough of them for the produc¬ 
tion of seed. 
Fuchsia Dunrobin Bedder produces a profusion of 
scarlet and violet flowers, and the plant being only 
9 in. to 12 in. high, it is admirably adapted for 
bedding purposes. Pelargonium Black Vesuvius is 
notable for its dwarf habit, black-zoned leaves, and 
relatively large scarlet flowers. Lonicera pyrenaica, 
planted on a rockery, recently flowered here. A good 
collection of the Scotch Rose, in different varieties, 
is also kept in stock. An uncommon sight in its way 
was a very large bed of seedlings of the Purple 
Beech, only one season from the seed, and forming 
plants 9 in. to 12 in. high. Many richly coloured 
forms could be picked out of this bed of many 
thousands of seedlings. 
(To be continued,.) 
SWEET PEA BICENTENARY CELEBRA¬ 
TION. 
The first general committee meeting in connection 
with the Bicentenary Celebration of the Sweet Pea 
was held, by kind permission, in the Horticultural 
Club Room, Hotel Windsor, on Friday, January 19th, 
when Mr. George Gordon, V.M.H., presided over a 
very representative gathering. 
Business being the purpose of the meeting no time 
was lost in speechifying. The chairman briefly 
alluded to the desire expressed in 1899 by leading 
amateurs, nurserymen, seedsmen, and market 
growers, that a comprehensive exhibition of Sweet 
Peas should be held during 1900, together with a 
conference, one duty of which should be the classifi¬ 
cation and selection of varieties. This desire led to 
a meeting in Edinburgh in September last, when 
Mr. Gordon (chairman), Mr. H. J. Jones, and Mr. 
R. Dean (secretary) were elected as a preliminary 
committee to draw up a scheme for the celebration 
and submit it as early as possible to the general com¬ 
mittee. After this brief and formal statement, the 
chairman requested the secretary, Mr. R. Dean, 
V.M.H., to read the letters received from the Crystal 
Palace Company and the Royal Aquarium Company. 
The former offered to accommodate the exhibition, 
provide the necessary conveniences for a conference 
meeting, and subscribe £20 to the prize fund ; this 
being the best offer, it was agreed, on the proposal 
of Messrs. H. A. Needs and H. J. Wright, that the 
Bicentenary Celebration be held at the Crystal 
Palace, Sydenham, on July 13th and 14th, 1900, or 
as near those dates as could be conveniently arranged 
without clashing with other exhibitions. 
Having settled the place and date of celebration 
as far as possible, the next point for discussion was 
the schedule of prizes, of which a preliminary draft 
had previously been communicated to the vice-pre¬ 
sident and committee. Before the discussion of 
classes and prizes a list of subscriptions received and 
promised, up to date, was submitted by the secre¬ 
tary, amounting to nearly £90. As the whole of the 
subscriptions received were unsolicited, the com¬ 
mittee felt that the success of the undertaking was 
practically assured, believing that those interested in 
the most beautiful, useful, and fragrant of annual 
flowers, the Sweet Pea, would net fail to show their 
practical sympathy with the committee’s efforts as 
soon as affairs had received definite form. The 
schedule is a comprehensive one of twenty-eight 
classes, each with four, and some with five prizes, 
offered on a most liberal scale. Class by class the 
schedule was discussed, and numerous minor altera¬ 
tions made. Nineteen open classes are provided for 
cut blooms, all to be shown in vases, these including 
classes for forty-eight, thirty-six, and eighteen 
bunches, and thirteen classes for one bunch of a 
specified colour or colours. Four classes are limited 
to amateurs employing either one or no regular gar¬ 
dener ; and then there is a division, open to all, con- 
