THE GARDENING WORLD 
139 
(October 27. 1900. 
The women and children do most of the work, 
except on Sundajs or occasionally of evenings, when 
the men also participate. 
Not only enough for a family’s needs can be 
raised, but also quite a quantity for sale. It is 
gratifying to find that this plan is growing in favour 
ever since its inception by Mayor Pingree, of 
Detroit, who was the first in America to advocate 
free Potato patches fer the poor, and who has 
pushed it vigorously ever since. 
Here in Chicago, in consideration of the strag¬ 
gling outskirts of the city, where land values are 
small, and vacant lots predominate, conditions are 
particularaly favourable for the development of 
such a philanthropic enterprise. I do not fancy 
that in Britain it would be entirely feasible, unless 
in certain districts. Still, much might be done by 
individual property owners to give their poorer 
brethren elbow-room, and also thereby kelp to solve 
the problems both of the survival of the fittest and 
that very conflicting one of how to dispose of the 
surplus population. Create a love of agriculture in a 
man’s breast and there will be fewer congested 
labour centres, and fewer vacant farms all over the 
country. Here there are thousands of such.— C. 
Macquarie, Chicago. 
-ogo- 
LOWFIELD NURSERIES, CRAWLEY. 
About the beginning of the month we had a turn 
through the extensive Lowfield Nurseries, of Messrs. 
J. Cheal & Sons, Crawley, Sussex. Dahlias, herba¬ 
ceous plants, fruit trees, Roses and ornamental trees 
and shrubs maybe regarded as the principal features 
of the place. 
Dahlias. 
Single Dahlias were in particularly fine condition 
considering the late period of the year, and the fact 
that there had been several frosty mornings. The 
growth of the single varieties is naturally wiry, and 
as there is no necessity for disbudding them, there 
was very little young or immature wood upon them, 
and these facts account for their immunity from 
frost. Show and fancy varieties grown along side 
of them had much young wood upon them owiog to 
disbudding and thinning. As a consequence, they 
were much cut up by the frost. Amateurs and cul¬ 
tivators would do well to note this fact, as it tells 
upon the cut flower basket in autumn. The Messrs. 
Cheal have taken a leading place at shows with their 
single Dahlias for many years past. Those here 
given may be regarded as the cream of a large collec¬ 
tion. Columbine is coppery-orange ; Donna Cassilda, 
orange-magenta ; Tommy, orange, striped crimson ; 
Northern Star, crimson rays, edged yellow; Amos 
Perry, maroon, edged crimson; Lord Rosebery, 
orange, mottled and striped crimson ; Mrs. Phillip 
Hoare, deep maroon, tipped white and very striking ; 
Polly Eccles, orange-buff, with crimson zone, and 
very dwarf in habit; Beauty’s Eye, mauve, with 
bright crimson zone ; Shamrock, maroon, with 
purple tip ; Duchess of Marlborough, white, edged 
crimson; Eric, orange, with crimson zone, ^ ft. high 
and bushy ; and Formosa, a bright crimson, and 
still one of the finest and most striking of its class, 
although fourteen to fifteen years old. Miss Roberts 
is the best clear yellow. Puck is buff-orange, with 
crimson zone, and both darker and finer than Polly 
Eccles. The single Dahlias require very little or no 
attention beyond staking, and are better without 
feeding, except in very poor soils. 
Single Cactus Dahlias are not forgotten, there 
being a collection of all the best of them. Mar- 
guerfte, with long, twisted rays is the best white ; 
Marmion is crimson ; Sir Walter, rosy-pink, with 
orange base; Meg Merrilees, long, bright yellow 
rays; Pirate, maroon ; Lady Rowena, buff-yellow, 
tipped purple ; Ivanhoe, rosy-magenta, with crimson 
zone; Earl of Ravenswood, bronzy scarlet; and 
Alice Lee, a self, rosy-pink. For cut flowers in 
vases, the single Cactus varieties are even lighter, 
more graceful and far less formal than the ordinary, 
single sorts. 
Show and Fancy Dahlias are grown in some 
quantity in all the finer, and more popular forms. 
John Walker is still the best white. Chieftain is a 
purple of good shape; Diadem, maroon-crimson; 
Miss Cannell, light ground, edged crimson ; Mrs. 
Gladstone, delicate blush, and still unbeaten ; Pleas- 
aunce, bright scarlet; William Powell, one of the 
best yellows ; and T. W. Girdlestone, one ot the best 
rich purple varieties for decorative purposes. 
Cactus Dahlias, being in the height of their 
popularity, are represented by a large number of the 
leading types. Mrs. Cosmo Bonsor is a dwarf 
habited plant, with long, slender, orange florets; 
Cheal’s white is a creamy white variety of good 
form. The tiny, pure white blooms of Venus, a 
pompon Cactus Dahlia, are exceedingly pretty and 
will be much in demand for cut flowers. It recently 
had a First-Class Certificate and an Award of Merit. 
Keynes’ White is good in some soils, but does not 
always behave alike. Mrs. J. J. Crowe is a hand¬ 
some bright yellow. Other good things are Britannia, 
pale salmon ; Uncle Tom, blackish-maroon ; Charles 
Woodbridge, crimson-scarlet ; Debonaire, rich 
orange ; and Countess of Lonsdale, rosy-salmon, and 
of tfce same habit as Britannia. Very pretty is Mrs. 
Holford, a rich, crimson-scarlet, pompon Cactus 
variety ; and Profusion (purple) belongs to the same 
miniature type. 
Pompon Dahlias. —For quantity of blossom and 
conspicuous appearance, none of the Dahlias will 
beat the single and pompon varieties. The pom¬ 
pons have been a mass of blossom till quite recently, 
at least. Rosebud is edged rose on a white ground; 
Mars, bright scarlet; Purity, white ; Nerissa, clear 
uniform rose ; Fabio, orange-scarlet; Emily Hopper, 
a fine yellow ; Douglas, dark maroon ; Dr. Jim, light 
ground, heavily edged rosy-crimson ; Tommy Keith, 
red, tipped white ; Bacchus, one of the best and 
prettiest scarlets ; Madeline, yellow, with a rosy-lake 
edge ; and Donovan, soft lavender. 
Fruit and Fruit Trees. 
The earlier fruits had been gathered and stored in 
the fruit room or otherwise disposed of; but a large 
proportion of the trees were still loaded with their 
ripening crops. Between the offices and the dwelling 
house are some trellises on which several kinds of 
fruit trees are grown. A trellis 12 ft. high was 
planted many years ago with single oblique cordon 
Pear trees, at 15 in. apart. Experience now shows 
that they should have been 18 in. to 24 in. apart. 
Many varieties can be grown in small space by this 
method. A number of the trees carried heavy crops. 
A similar trellis planted with single cordon Apples, 
trained obliquely, supported heavy crops of large 
fruits of Emperor Alexander, Peasgood's Nonsuch 
and others. Showy and interesting, as well as 
valuable, were the Apple and Pear trees trained over 
a long arch, covering a footpath, and showing what 
can be done in this way to economise space, and 
beautify the garden. They bore heavy crops, which 
were not subjected to the high gales of wind that 
were lashing the standard trees of Forge, Nanny and 
Cowan’s Victoria, which were profusely loaded with 
fruit. All three were put into commerce by the 
Messrs. Cheal. Nanny was raised in Sussex, but 
the other two are Surrey Apples. These large trees 
are quite exceptional in height, for all the rest of the 
trees we noted were grown in the form of bushes, 
cordons, pyramids or other dwarf form. 
The weather was too boisterous with heavy falls 
of rain to permit of an inspection of the whole of 
these extensive nurseries, but we saw sufficient ol the 
fruiting trees and the stock to be convinced of the 
fruitfulness of the former and the healthy character 
of the latter. Waltham Abbey Seedling is an 
immense cropper here. Lord Grosvenor is well 
suited for planting where the soil is heavy, with a 
clay subsoil, in place of Lord Suifield, which is so 
liable to canker, and other disease under those 
conditions. Colonel Vaughan is a small Apple, and 
Emperor Alexander a large one, but both agree in 
being beautifully coloured, and good croppers. Lane's 
Prince Albert and some trees of Schoolmaster never 
fail to fruit regularly as the seasons come round. 
Alfriston, The Queen, Prince Bismarck, Hoary 
Morning, and Ringer, were all heavily laden and 
quite interesting to behold. Warner’s Seedling is a 
little known variety with the brisk flavour of Graven- 
stein, but smooth in outline and totally distinct in 
form from that. Atalanta, a November Apple, and 
a good cropper, was one of the many raised by Mr. 
C. Ross, of Welford Park. The fruits of Belle 
Pontoise are notable for their size. Jolly Miller is 
a red Apple about the size of Ribston Pippin, but 
remarkably clammy or viscid on the surface when 
ripe. 
All of the above were bushes of some years' stand¬ 
ing, but equally interesting were some quite young 
bushes, also bearing a crop. Bramley’s Seedling, 
a popular cooking and market Apple, was notable 
ior the short jointed and vigorous character of the 
wood. SandriDgham is also a good cropper. 
Jubilee is amongst the latest trees to bloom in spring, 
thus escaping late frosts, and is a tremendous 
cropper. The fruits are large and yellow with a red 
side, solid and heavy. The stiff, short-jointed wood 
of Newton Wonder is also noticeable. Quite a 
picture were the young trees of Bismarck, carrying 
six to ten fruits each ; they were two years old and 
only transplanted to their present position last spring. 
Cox’s Orange is reputed to do well only on sandy 
soil, but here it carried a good crop of clean skinned 
fruits in the retentive loam and clay subsoil of the 
Lowfield Nurseries. 
The fruit room shelves appeared to be filled to 
their utmost capacity even at this early date, and 
the only relief would naturally be the removal of the 
early ripening varieties to make room for the later 
ones. While the fruit room testifies to the harvest 
generally, it does not show the capabilities of the 
individual varieties. Nevertheless, the size of the 
fruits, their soundness, the clean skins of the same, 
and their rich and varied colouring, shows what can 
be done with hardy fruits in this part of the 
country. 
Apples were well represented by Peasgood’s 
Nonsuch, Emperor Alexander, Lane’s Prince Albert, 
Stone’s The Queen, Golden Noble, Bismarck, and 
Gascoigne's Scarlet Seedling, the latter being one of 
the most handsome varieties in cultivation when 
properly coloured. Chelmsford Wonder is also 
proving a good investment, judging from the applica¬ 
tions for it. Cowan’s Victoria takes after the bright 
colour of its parent, Forge, but is a larger fruit, and 
therefore useful for market purposes. Jubilee is a 
long conical Apple with a good bit of Mank's Codlin 
in it, but has a red cheek. Besides Atalanta, already 
mentioned, Mr, C. Ross raised other sorts, some of 
which we noted. Gospatrick is of brisk flavour, and 
was one of the first of his varieties put into commerce. 
Ross’s Nonpareil is a russet-coloured Apple, a good 
late variety for dessert purposes. Similar in colour, 
but strikingly different in form, is Armorel, flattened 
on the top, with the eye seated in a shallow basin. 
More attractive is the new sort named Paroquet, 
almost wholly of a dark crimson-red, and excellent 
in flavour. It received an Award of Merit from the 
R.H.S. last year. 
A great many of the best and most popular Pears 
were present in great abundance; and though it is 
unnecessary to mention all the Apples or Pears that 
came qnder our observation, yet we may note a 
number that were in particularly fine condition. 
Most of them were well known kinds, including Glou 
Morceau, Easter Beurre, Van Mons. Leon Leclerc, 
Beurre Sterckmans, General Todtleben, Pitmaston 
Duchess, Duchesse de Nemours, Doyenne du Comice 
(the best Pear in cultivation for flavour), Beurre 
Ranee, Beurre Hardy, Beurre Superfin (similar in 
growth to Doyenne du Comice), Josephine des 
Malines, Louis Goubalt (a turbinate, green Pear), 
and Marie Louise, and various other good standard 
varieties for any purpose. 
ARDENING MISCELLANY. 
BEGONIA PHOSPHORESCENS. 
This is without doubt one of the best bedders I have 
seen, either by itself or as an edging to beds of larger 
growing and flowering varieties. I have quite 
recently met with it used in this way, and owing to 
its dwarf bushy habit, freeness of flowering and 
bright colour, a dazzling scarlet, it would be difficult 
to find anything to surpass it.— IV. B. G. 
BEGONIA CARMINATA. 
Begonias as winter decorative plants are annually 
being more liberally grown, for their merits are so 
much more widely appreciated. The leaves of B. 
carminata are of medium size, sharply cut, green, and 
smooth. The flower trusses are pendent, being large 
and conspicuous, for besides being large they are a 
deep rosy-red in colour. The plant flowers freely 
when well treated, and the same culture that suits 
any of the other winter-flowering species is accept¬ 
able to this one. 
BEGONIA HAAGEANA. 
This fine, tall-growing, temperate house Begonia has 
