THE GARDENING WORLD. 
603 
April 6 , 
1901. 
ABBEY PARK , LEICESTER . 
ANNUAL FLOWER SHOW & GALA, 
August 6th & 7th, 1901. 
For Schedules and Particulars apply — 
Jno. Burn, Hon. Secretary, Abbey Park. 
12 ACRES OF ROSES 
THE BEST AND CHEAPEST IN THE WORLD. 
All Goods CARRIAGE PAID. 
Catalogues Free. 
Choice Standards and Half-Standards for 21/-; 50 
choice Dwarf Perpetuals, 21/-; 50 unnamed Dwarfs, 
15/-- 6 new Rambler Roses, 4/-; r2 Teas and Noisettes, 9/-; 
12 choice Climbing, 6/-; r2 best Hybrid Perpetual Roses, 6/-; 
6 Glolre de Dijon, 4/6 ; 6 Fairy Roses 4 /- ; 6 Moss Roses, 3/-; 
6 Pink Monthly Roses, 2/6; 12 Sweet Briars, 3/-. Roses, How 
to Grow Them, 4d. 
All for Cash with Order. Thousands of Testimonials. 
JAMES WALTERS, c^Ir, EXETER. 
CH EALSfetfS 
; .V (in c.t-t 
W&RLD-WIOE F\ER0WN-STRIKING flOVELTIES 
CATALOGUE POST FREE3^ 
J. CJuabrgcrru, 
SPECIAL LINES. 
Our supplementary 33 pp. Plant List will he sent to any 
applicant post free. 
Illustrative Lines of our charges. 
A Good Collection of Giant Sweet Peas.— 
Ten disiinot varieties, 50 seeds of each, post free for 1/2. All 
new sorts and all plump seeds (500 seeds in a'l): Navy Blue, 
deep violet-blue ; Blanche Burpee, the finest white; Captiva¬ 
tion, bright rosy-rlaret; Lady Marie Currie, large orange- 
pink; Lady Nina Balfour, delicate mauve, shaded dove-grey ; 
Lovely, large flowered, delicate rose and flesh ; Mars, extra 
large scarlet; Senator, a showy striped chocolate ; Triumph, 
orange-pink and white; Salopian, true scarlet. The 500 seeds 
for 1/2. 
Potatos. —One pound each of the following seven ex¬ 
hibition varieties of Potatos, ca rlage free to nearest railway 
station, for 2/3. Sharpe’s Early Victor (earliest kidney), Duke 
of York (Early), Green's Favourite (New), The Sirdar (New), 
General Roberts (New). Up-toDate (New), Abundance (New). 
Seven pounds each ot the seven sorts carriage free to nearest 
railway station for 9/6; fourteen pounds of each of the above 
named seven varieties, carriage free for 17/6. 
Established hardy trees, not scraggy cuttings. 
Tea Roses.— The following twelve varieties, carriage 
free tor 5/-; Homer, Devoniensis, Maruan Cochet, Franoisca 
Kruger, Belle Lyonnais?, Catherine Mermet, Papa Gontier, 
Ernest Metz, Mdme. Falcot, G. NabonaDd, Marie Van 
Houtte, Hon. Edith Gifford. 
See our Special Offer in this week's 
"HOBBIES.” Obtain a specimen copy from 
your newsagent, and participate in our offer. 
HOBBIES, LIMITED, 
With which is incorporated JOHN GREEN, F.R.H.S., 
Norfolk Nurseries, DEREHAM. 
THE "LOUGHBOROUGH ” 
PATENT GREENHOUSE BOILER. 
The most economical, cheapest, and easiest to manage 
No. 1, £3 2s. 6d.; No. 2, £4 10s.; No. 3, £6. 
Also made In larger sizes. 
Complete Apparatus from £5 5s. 6d. 
MESSENGER & GO., LTD., 
Horticultural Builders and Heating Engineers, 
LOUGHBOROUGH. LEICESTERSHIRE. 
London Offices 
122, VICTORIA STREET, WESTMINSTER, S.W. 
11 Gardening is the purest of human pleasures, and the greatest 
refreshment to the spirit of man "—Bacon. 
Edited by J. FRASER, F.L.S., F.R.H.S, 
SATURDAY, APRIL 6th, iqot. 
The Editorial and Publishing Offices are 
now removed to 4, Dorset Buildings, 
Salisbury Square, Fleet St., London. 
Editorial matters are to be addressed to 
the Editor. 
All other communications and Remit¬ 
tances must be addressed direct to the 
Proprietors— 
HICKS, WILKINSON & SEARS. 
NEXT WEEK'S ENGAGEMENTS, 
Tuesday, Aprl’. 9th.—Royal Horticu'tnra' Society's Com¬ 
mittees; Durham, Northumberland, and Newcastle 
Botanical and Horticultural Society’s Spring t how (2 
days). 
Wednesday, April 10th —Shropshite Horticultural Society’s 
Spring Show at Shrewsbury; East Anglian Daffodil 
Show, Corn Exchange, Ipswich. 
f PRiNG Flowers Awaking at Last.—- 
Away back in January, though the 
weather was only of average mildness, the 
lover of hardy flowers could fairly anticipate 
that the hardy alpines and other early spring 
flowers would be fairly plentiful in February 
and March as usual. The naked yellow- 
flowered Jasmine and the fragrant Chimon- 
anthus fragans and its large flowered variety 
enjoyed a fairly mild and congenial season 
for blooming ; and at that early period 
Polyanthuses, garden Primroses, Daisies, 
Snowdrops and early Crocuses gave promise 
of even better things to come ; but it is use¬ 
less to prophesy in the absence of a definite 
and well established weather chart. Febru¬ 
ary became positively cold and raw, the 
early days being ushered in with a snow¬ 
storm of greater severity than had 
occurred since the winter of 1895 . The 
bulk of the snow disappeared in a night, the 
rest much more tardily, and though the frost 
was never particularly severe during the 
remainder of the month, the temperature 
continued very low, with a considerable 
amount of a raw cold rainfall and sunless 
days. The cold greatly increased in March 
with a continuance of the sunless condition 
till clear and frosty nights gave place to 
sunshine by day, but whose influence was 
greatly negatived by the bitterly cold east 
winds. March went out with boisterous 
wind and rain, but the atmosphere was posi¬ 
tively milder, and plants are now waking up 
from their long winter rest. Those who are 
much concerned in the fruit prospects were 
pleased rather than otherwise that the fruit 
trees were being retarded till more settled 
and certain times; yet even in the case of 
Apricots, we hear of rather blighted pros¬ 
pects on account of the severely frosty nights 
and mornings. Other fruit trees are still 
greatly retarded. 
Lovers of hardy plants have had to be 
satisfied with a scanty harvest of flowers in 
the open, though those who make a speciality 
of alpine plants and spring flowers generally, 
having provided themselves with frames or 
even unheated houses in some cases, have 
been rewarded for their trouble. Those who 
have been attending the R.H.S. meetings 
during the past two months have feasted 
their eyes on a fair abundance of hardy 
flowers, considering how unpropitious the 
season has been. Many of these flowers 
have actually been forced, particularly 
Daffodils, Hyacinths and Tulips ; but inde¬ 
pendently of these, hardy flowers that 
readily respond to the shelter of a cold frame 
have been plentiful. Cyclamen Coum, but 
particularly its near ally C, ibericum and 
hybrids between the two have been in 
evidence for several weeks past. More 
recently Jrises have been abundant, includ¬ 
ing forced specimens of the German Flag. 
No one will deny the beauty of I. reticulata 
and its varieties, with I. persica, 1. Tauri 
and I. tubergeniana, the two last being 
recent introductions, and very pretty or 
interesting in their way. Even the last 
named has been in bloom for some time past 
in sheltered situations, facing the south. 
Crocuses according to their custom have 
been throwing up flowers from time to time 
whenever a day’s sunshine invited them 
forth, or a few mild days without the more 
potential influence. In beds and borders 
the driving rain has sadly sullied their clean 
and bright condition, while those on the 
grass have presented a much happier appear¬ 
ance. Indeed, we think that Crocuses 
never look better than when rising out of a 
close green carpet of grass ; so that lovers 
of hardy plants might well extend this 
aspect of gardening with advantage. 
Wherever a rising mound is available (and 
if already thinly occupied with large, de¬ 
ciduous trees so much the better) this might 
be planted with masses of Crocuses in few 
varieties, with decided colours. The flowers 
may not be so large as those flowered in 
pots or even in open beds and borders the 
first year after receiving them from the 
Dutch growers, yet the cheerful appear¬ 
ance of a mass of such in the early days of 
spring on a sloping grassy mound is more 
than sufficient recompense for the initial 
trouble and expense of planting them. The 
southern slopes being the first to receive 
the awakening influence of the sunshine, 
when there is' any, would be slightly in 
advance of the rest, but particularly if 
sheltered from the north and east. In the 
relative absence of sunshine, such as has 
prevailed during the past winter, the differ¬ 
ences are not so obvious, and the plants on 
various aspects come into bloom together. 
Glory of the Snow, but particularly 
Chionodoxa sardensis and C. Luciliae, have 
been struggling to keep their appointed 
time, on the edge of the disappearing snow, 
or in this country with the departure of the 
low temperature. Even in the native 
habitats of hardy plants their time of bloom¬ 
ing varies, being dependent upon the same 
influences that regulate their movements at 
lowland elevations. They (or at least 
C. Luciliae) are practically accompanied by 
Scilla bifolia, a slender though cheerful, 
early flower, and the Siberian Squill follows 
soon after. For a week or more it has been 
in full beauty in the southern counties, and 
though of a rich and handsome shade of 
blue it has the fault of not holding its head 
erect like the Chionodoxas. The Winter 
aconite has been in bloom for some time 
past, though it should have been in the 
height of its glory in February. We have 
seen it rise above the ground, even on a 
northern aspect as soon as the ground was 
sufficiently thawed to permit of its piercing 
the same. This year hardy plant lovers 
will be able to see it in fairly good condition 
in April, though most will agree that it 
might have come and gone earlier much to 
the satisfaction of its admirers. Anemone 
Hepatica and its numerous beautiful varie¬ 
ties bear on their face the struggle they have 
had to maintain their appointed season, and 
the battered and sullied flowers will hardly 
acquire their wonted brightness even if the 
weather should presently prove all that 
could be desired, because only the late 
flowers could assume a fresh and sprightly 
appearance. Leucojum vernum and its 
variety F. v. carpaticum (the Spring Snow¬ 
flakes) like the real snowflakes have had 
their day, and both may go together. Fore¬ 
most amongst the Daffodils comes the 
slender Narcissus cyclamineus, which has 
