42B 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
March 3, 1900. 
to appreciate our artificial wild gardens (for all these 
after all are artificially planted) did we not have in 
our gardens proper features markedly diverse? It is 
idle to look for charm in any garden that does not 
evidence the garden art, although that art need not, 
or, indeed, should not, exhibit striking contrasts with 
Nature’s operations. But gardening is, and must be, 
human art; hence no garden is worth the designa¬ 
tion that does not exemplify intelligent culture and 
keep in the fullest degree.— A. D. 
--—- 
A MISSING GIRL. 
£100 Reward. 
A story of a peculiarly heartrending character 
comes from Northumberland. The portrait we print 
is that of a young woman of prepossessing appear¬ 
ance, who has been spirited away from her home 
under extremely painful circumstances. Her relatives 
are highly-respected inhabitants of the popular golf 
resort of Alnmouth, near Alnwick, Last August 
Ruth Brown left her home to pay a visit in Harro¬ 
gate, and, after being there but a short while, 
suddenly disappeared. Since then all reliable traces 
of her have been lost. The following description of 
her has been issued and widely circulated : 
Miss Ruth Swan Brown disappeared from Harro¬ 
gate on August 16, 1S99. She is tall (about 5ft. 9'tn.). 
She is 22 years of age. She had on black dress, 
trimmed with beading at the knee and bottom of 
dress ; fawn-coloured cloth jacket, white sailor straw 
hat, with dark band. She wore also large ribbed 
ring of native Indian make, with several raised 
points at top, red stone in centre, and one small 
stone at each side ; also a nail and heart brooch with 
red stone. Miss Brown had with her as well a lady ’s 
gold watch. Anyone giviDg information which will 
lead to finding the missing young lady will be paid 
the above reward. Apply to her father, Mr. William 
Brown, builder, Alnmouth, Northumberland; or to 
his solicitor, Mr. Charles Percy, Alnwick. It is 
stated that, in September last, a Newcastle lady, 
riding on the top of an omnibus, saw the missing 
girl, unaccompanied, walking along the Strand in 
London ; but inquiries based on this slight clue 
have not led to the desired result. 
-- 
EARLY FLOWERING SHRUBS. 
Winter blooming Honeysuckles. —The two (for 
there are but two flowering at this time) Loniceras 
which adorn our gardens during all open winters, 
through part of January and February, are some¬ 
what confounded. L. Standishii and L. fragrant- 
issima are alike in having white flowers, which are 
very small, yet are freely produced on short peduncles 
springing from the wood of the previous year. Both 
bloom before the foliage develops. The fact of 
their blooming on the young wood of the previous 
year warns us not to prune until after the flowering 
period. L. Standishii is the belter plant for walls, 
L. fragrantissima being of too bushy growth. The 
foliage of L. Standishii is somewhat hairy, which 
distinguishes it in the later stages from its glabrous 
neighbour. Advisedly a sheltered position is more 
to be preferred when planting either of them. They 
are not very conspicuous blooms, yet being fragrant 
and flowering in the open air at the time of the year 
they do, their boldness lends them charm. 
Jasminum nudiflorom. —On the plea that we 
cannot have too much of a good thing, I would refer 
in a sentence to the naked flowered yellow Jasmine. 
This year it began to flower with us in Kent some¬ 
time before Christmas, and has been in bloom since. 
In fact to all appearance it means to continue to do 
so for a double length of time. On cold and ex¬ 
posed gables, with cold draughts of wind running past 
for weeks on end, what plant could be finer for the 
purpose of ornament than this hardy and very grace¬ 
ful growing yellow flowered Jasmine ? Lying loosely 
over a dividing fence or rail, the flowering vigour 
of the plant is just the same. A poor and hard soil 
suits it admirably. It is readily increased from 
cuttings or by layering the long shoots.— H. D. 
Cornus mas. —We have some eighteen or twenty 
species and varieties of Cornus in our gardens, and 
of them all the C. mas flowers earliest, and is as 
showy as any. Just as the Witch Hazel goes out of 
bloom or loses its brightness this yellow-flowered 
species of Cornus steps in to continue the golden 
colour until a more advanced period. The shrub bears 
cutting in, though its habit is all that one need de¬ 
sire, being bushy, with stout and loDg clean growth. 
The flowers are really small clustered umbels of 
separate corollas, each of which springs individually 
from the one year and older wood. A well flowered 
bush, especially one of about 8 ft. in height and 5 ft. 
or 6 ft. in diameter, is a gayful object in the shrub¬ 
bery during February and March. No finer method 
of using the plant could be practised than by mass¬ 
ing nicely grown and well kept plants in beds, and 
planting Snowdrops and Glory of the Snow or 
Scillas beneath them. The plant is not fastidious as 
to soil, but seems to do exceeding well on one of a 
porous or gravelly condition. An open position also 
should be selected. This Cornus was introduced 
from Austria to England in Queen Elizabeth’s time. 
It bears the English name of Cornelian Cherry. It 
has a number of variegated varieties.* 
--—®«- 
WHY DROP THE MAIDENHEAD 
SHOW? 
In another part of the paper an announcement 
appears as to the probable disappearance of the 
Maidenhead Horticultural Society from off the 
face of the earth, owing to a split in the camp, as to 
whether a flower show should remain simply and 
entirely a horticultural display, or whether if such 
horticultural exhibit fails to draw the public other 
attractions in the way of poultry show, gymnkhanas, 
athletic sports, dancing, fireworks, concerts should 
be countenanced. Of course, to the real lover of 
flowers, fruit, and vegetables the entrance fee of is. or 
61 ., as it may be, to the show is so much money well 
spent; and the same individual may be seen most if 
not all the time in the tents, admiring, judging and 
criticising the various exhibits, making notes, crowd¬ 
ing his pockets with catalogues, the policeman eye¬ 
ing him as he leaves this or that tent, as though the 
receptacle in question was bulging with someone’s 
Peaches and Apples (but this is the wrong man to 
pitch upon for that unfortunate light fingering which 
so often brings discredit). But on the other hand, 
for one devoted horticulturist you get fifty to a 100 
visitors, some of whom would cot know a gourd 
from a marrow, a Gloxinia from a Streptocarpus. I 
am not finding fault with them for this, and for that 
very reason wish still to provide an educational 
object lesson for them. My personal feeling in the 
matter of shows is to encourage such visitors even at 
the expenses of providing other attractions. When 
such visitors, and they form the large majority, have 
once looked through the tents and find nothing else 
provided they depart, finding fault with the execu¬ 
tive that they have had to pay is to look at a few 
Cabbages, and that is the last time the exhibition 
will be honoured with their presence and money. 
Now the latter word, we are told, is the root of all 
evil. How would the exhibits staged develop with¬ 
out a root, and how can a committee of any horti¬ 
cultural society get on without this root ? I may be 
quite wrong in advocating such a departure from the 
old flower show days, but one must move with the 
times; and if an executive finds it cannot keep its 
head up above water, financially, it either has to 
drop the show altogether or introduce other attrac¬ 
tions. Half a loaf of bread is better than none. 
Surely a show with outside attractions is better than 
none at all. I admit if such exhibitions can be run 
without side shows so much the better, and should 
be glad to be put in the direction of getting a first- 
class recipe to be without them ; but as so many 
societies have found to their cost to be contracted 
spells ruin.— J. W. S. 
NATIVE FLOWERS OF SOUTH AFRICA. 
The flora and fauna of the Cape Colony, Natal, and 
the Transvaal are various and fascinating. Many of 
the birds sing, and many of the flowers have per¬ 
fumes peculiarly their own. The gigantic Cape 
Disa, and the glorious Table Mountain Heaths, of 
hundreds of varieties, have certainly no heavy per¬ 
fume, but, on the other hand, the thousands of 
quaint little peeping veldt flowers, from Pimpernel 
to Orchid, have subtle, suggestive odours which are 
exquisite and refreshing. 
In the Cape Colony, for many miles between the 
Paarl and Cape Town, the line is bordered with so- 
called 11 Pig-lilies.” These are none other than our 
carefully tended and garden-produced Richardias. 
But in South Africa they grow wild, and in luxuriant 
profusion. Near Ceres there are great fields full of 
these snowy white blooms with their orange-yellow 
spadixes ; and to see a couple of little negro children 
playing about in this amplitude of whiteness is a 
delightful study in black and white. 
Up in the Transvaal, if a farmer cultivates flowers 
at all—and all Boers are not as unappreciative of 
beauty as their detractors suggest—he almost always 
has on his stoop, or verandah, a couple of tubs con¬ 
taining plants of Keitje Perring. This is our 
Gardenia. It is smaller, certainly, but equally ex¬ 
quisite in scent, and, with a little care, it flowers in 
great profusion. The Tuberose also flourishes 
amazingly in the open air with but the smallest 
attention and cultivation. The bulbs shoot up their 
three or four-foot stems, each bearing very sweet 
smelling flowers, in an incredibly short space of 
time. 
In Pretoria, Roses are prolific—in fact, most of the 
streets are bounded by Rose hedges throughout their 
length, and they bloom with a frail, pink, monthly 
Rose blossom for three-quarters of the year. In 
public places, such as Burgher's Park, the profusion 
of Roses, Lilies, Carnations and Tuberoses is 
bewilderingly beautiful. The wild Orchids of 
Swaziland are famous. They are of at least twenty 
different kinds, and, although now no longer rare or 
valuable, they are exceedingly curious, and, with a 
little care and extra heat, they can be induced to de¬ 
velop into very wonderful plants. 
The blue Gum tree, or common Eucalyptus tree, 
flourishes amazingly, and, from a tiny seedling, 
grows to twenty feet high in three years. This 
seems surprising, but it is hard, solemn fact. A 
well known English tenor, who was travelling in the 
Transvaal, ODce remarked that he verily believed 
that if you planted walking sticks you could reap 
umbrellas in a fortnight. 
On nearly every veranda in Johannesburg grows 
the easily trained and useful Granadilla. This is a 
species of Passion Flower, with a pretty little 
feathery starred flower, and a very delicious egg- 
shaped, crinkled up, brownish-green fruit, contain¬ 
ing a yellow pulp, with many flat, black seeds. It 
has a cooling, slightly acid flavour, which must be 
tried to be appreciated. The Granadilla grows 
easily and quickly, and in flower, in fruit, and in 
foliage, it is very beautiful .—Gardening (American), 
Hardening Miscellany, 
PEA GRADUS. 
The remarks of Mr. Ca r michael upon this 
deservedly popular Pea took me very much by sur¬ 
prise, and I fully anticipated the flood of correspon¬ 
dence which has resulted from his adverse criticisms. 
I would not have ventured any remarks of my own, 
although havingbad ample opportunities of endorsing 
all that has been said in its favour, were it not that 
quite recently, conversing with a gardening friend 
in charge of one of the very driest kitchen gardens 
with which I am acquainted, who claims for it the 
distinction of being the best drought resisting Pea 
he knows. Last summer it remained in bearing 
two weeks after the popular kinds sown at the same 
time had succumbed to the drought.— W. B. G. 
