658 
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THE GARDENING WORLD. June s, mi. 
standing frames upon the same and covering the 
manure with soil. The seeds are simply sown in 
lines upon the latter, and the seedlings come up by 
the thousand. 
On a north aspect wall a handsome sight was pre¬ 
sented by the Morello Cherries in full bloom. The 
garden walls are built of bricks, but the trees are 
trained to wires which have been fixed up a few 
inches away from the wall. The great promise of 
fruit attracted general attention. Peaches and Nec¬ 
tarines were well set in most cases on the south 
aspect of the same wall, including such varieties as 
Crimson Galande, Dymond and Violette Hative. 
There are three vineries, and in the earliest one the 
berries of Black Hamburgh, and Foster’s Seedling 
were half grown. They were being thinned in the 
next earliest house. Madresfield Court carried some 
splendid bunches both as to size and shape. In this 
house Streptosolen Jamesoni, grown in pots, was 
very floriferous. In the third vinery the Vines were 
just in bloom. 
In the Melon house, the Melons were in bloom, 
while on the opposite side of the house Cucumbers 
planted about the same period, had been fruiting for 
some time. Fine varieties of Gloxinias and Cala- 
diums were being grown on the stages beneath the 
Melons and Cucumbers. The stove contained the 
usual compliment of Crotons, Pandanus, Dracaenas, 
Aralias and other fine foliage plants, with Abutilons 
and a few other flowering plants. 
In another house Tomatos were well cropped, a 
commencement in gathering the earliest having been 
made. Younger plants in pots were coming along. 
Tuberous Begonias and Gloxinias occupied the 
benches. Zonal Pelargoniums were in full bloom in 
the greenhouse. A very fine double Petunia with 
frilled petals was conspicuous for the curious ar¬ 
rangement of rose petals amongst the white ones. 
Lecture on Wallflowers. 
By special request, Mr. Alex. Wright, the gardener, 
delivered an address on " Wallflowers ” before 
leaving the Dell Garden. Taking up his position by 
the side of the summer house on the peninsula of the 
upper pond, the Reading and District Gardeners 
gathered round him on all sides. 
Mr. Wright said that Wallflowers constituted a 
speciality at Bucklebury Place. In gardens gener¬ 
ally it was supposed that two colours of Wallflowers 
were sufficient ; but that was not good enough there. 
The style adopted of raising them there was to sow 
seeds in the open about the middle of May. The 
seed beds should never be allowed to get dry, because 
the germinating power of the seeds was easily 
destroyed, and few seedlings came up. From the 
time the seeds were sown till they were well up, the 
seedlings were kept moist ; and from that time till 
they were planted out they were given plenty of 
room. 
Later on they were planted out in the second week 
of August in soil from which early Peas had been 
gathered, and Cauliflowers cut. Some plants had a 
habit of developing a single stem only, but they 
aimed at having bushy plants. Finally they were 
put into their permanent positions about the end of 
October or the beginning of November, as soon as 
the summer bedding occupants of the ground were 
lifted. The Wallflowers then had a chance to get 
established before severe weather set in, which was 
all in favour of this popular flower. 
No one could be more delighted than him to go 
round a garden where Wallflowers were plentifully 
planted and good. Hot, dry weather, as on that 
occasion, made the petals droop, but moist and cool 
weather was much more favourable to their develop¬ 
ment and longevity. His employer was fond of 
Wallflowers, hence the reason that he had put out 
6.000 plants into their flowering positions. Next 
autumn he intended increasing the number to 7,000. 
His me hod of procedure was to plant the varieties 
in lines 9 in. asunder, and from 7 in. to 8 in. from 
plant to plant in the rows. 
Faerie Queene, with lemon flowers, was one of the 
most distinct, because of good habit, and the colour 
was telling and effective from a great distance. 
Purple Queen, with dark purple flowers, made a 
good contrast, and the two were employed for 
making up long borders " Give me a shrubbery for 
a background," he said, " for showing up the beauty 
of Wallflowers to perfection. He had not much 
sympathy with the style of gardening usually 
adopted in this respect. Dwarf Brown Bedder 
made a good edging ; and Cloth of Gold was an 
excellent sort to plant along the back of it. The 
golden yellow colour, and the fine habit of this 
variety made it one of the best. The two made a 
good combination when planted together in this way. 
Eastern Queen, a salmon-apricot fading to cream, 
and Sutton's Giant made another pleasing combi¬ 
nation. The last named consisted of mixed colours 
as yet, and though the flowers were very large the 
plant was not so bushy as the others. 
Continuing, he said that Dwarf Yellow Bedder was 
the hardiest they had, as it came nearest the yellow 
flowered wild form which grew upon the rocks in 
certain parts of the country. For placing at the 
back of this Blood Red was highly suitable; and the 
very dark crimson colour made it an acquisition 
though the habit was not so good as some of them. 
The earliest of all the Wallflowers was Phoenix 
which commenced flowering about the end of 
September and continued to May, provided the 
winter was open. At the time of the visit it was 
nearly over. Several of the above varieties were 
also useful for greenhouse and conservatory work in 
pots. Another strain raised from seed was the 
double German Wallflowers, which produced fine 
spikes, but they did not stand the winter well. In 
the above they had all the best colours of Wall¬ 
flowers, and he hoped his brother gardeners would 
make good use of such excellent material for the 
decoration of their gardens. 
Mr. Leonard G. Sutton, as president of the society, 
proposed a vote of thanks on behalf of the Reading 
and District Gardeners for what they had seen and 
heard that day, and hoped he would be able in future 
to go to all of the other outings. This was seconded 
by the chairman, Mr. Neve, who said he had Wall¬ 
flowers In his garden at Sindlesham, but he intended 
introducing more variety amongst them. When 
merely planted in beds he could not cut flowers 
without spoiling the beds, but he wanted to be able 
to cut flowers, and he would provide material for 
doing so. 
The company now broke up and hurriedly made 
their way to the railway station in parties highly 
pleased with the afternoon’s outing. 
BRITISH PINE FORESTS OF THE 
PAST. 
There are, perhaps, few subjects which have given 
more occasion for speculation than the causes which 
have been operating in arresting the free and 
universal reproduction, in its own particular zone, 
of the British Pine. Reproduction is as active as 
ever in places favourable to the conditions it 
evidently requires. This we are assured of, for we 
have times and again seen the matter with our own 
eyes. But what is difficult to understand is how 
have these favourable conditions changed so much 
in the matter of altitude, as not only to cease to be 
a scene of reproduction, but also one wherein the 
very tree itself refuses to exist. Who that has not 
seen the remnants of a Pine forest disinterred from 
some peat deposits at altitudes where now no tree 
is to be seen for miles from the scene. That there 
existed a forest in that place at some former period 
in the world’s history no one doubts, and what 
causes not a little amusement to the thoughtful is 
the fact that there should also exist individuals 
whose hardihood is such that they consider its re¬ 
establishment a thing not impossible. 
We confess our inability to see how this can ever 
again be accomplished. One chief reason for this is, 
even though it were possible, that it could not resist 
the storms with which our country is periodically 
visited. The sooner we try to consider the age of 
those lignous deposits as belonging to a remote 
antiquity, the sounder will our judgment become on 
the question of general reafforestation. When one 
takes up a treatise upon the subject of reafforesta¬ 
tion, it is dealt with as if there existed no difficulty 
that could not be overcome provided sufficient 
capital were advanced for the work. One advocates 
this thing, another person a different thing, but 
none of them appears to have earnestly grappled 
with the major questions at all. Bsfore we begin to 
heal medically, it is essential to look beyond the 
thing demanding our attention, and find its cause. 
Now we have not yet observed that specialists have 
given enough notice to this important aspect of the 
question of reafforestation. Perhaps the reason is 
that if they did they would be less ready to advocate 
or support a matter which at least must only be 
speculative. 
The denudation of our once mountain forests 
appears probable to ourselves to have been a thing 
which must have occurred ages before Greek or 
Roman ever visited our shores. At Caesar’s time, 
indeed, there is some reason to believe that our 
mountains were very much in the same treeless 
condition as they are now. Of course the Pine 
would, doubtless, occupy a considerable area of our 
highland glens and valleys that it does not now, but 
considered as a general feature, and as the acute eye 
of the Roman would have seen our island in his 
progress of circumnavigation, probably the scene 
was very much as we view it now. It is clear he 
did not see Pine trees far less Pine forests, for m 
Sec. exped. Britt. Bk. vi. cap. 12, he says, " Materia 
cuj usque generis ut in Gallia est prater fagum et 
abietem.” Every one knows that the great Roman 
general was mistaken in this matter, for in Britain 
both the Beech and Fir are indigenous, but the point 
comes in here, neither of these trees came before 
his notice, for neither are, properly speaking, 
maritimal in nature. Other trees such as were 
found on the Continent, such as Oaks, Elms, Ashes, 
&c., evidently met Caesar’s view in abundance. 
That there were obviously no woods on the " Insulae 
minores," at any rate no Pines, may be fairly deduced 
from the above. Still the remains of Pines are dug 
out of peat deposits in our islands. 
This, then, is a fairly strong inference that the 
general arboreal features of our island at that time 
was very much as we see it at the present day, with 
the qualifications we have already made. If we 
accept these almost unassailable premises, a good 
deal of the difficulty attached to the question of 
denudation disappears, and we can logically enough 
argue with a basis of reason in searching for rational 
causes. The question now may appear to some of 
us in two forms, whether the general denudation 
took place in that of a catastrophe or in the ordinary 
course of nature. Most persons will be in favour of 
the latter; for it is reasonable to suppose from 
various other outstanding facts in nature that the 
ages of catastrophe were already past ere the period 
in which the Pine and other forest trees became 
general. 
Then, if we look to the remaining cause, viz., a 
natural one, we find it extremely reasonable to 
suppose that the treeless mountain sides and tops 
once clothed with forests were at one time at an 
altitude which made the conditions for reproduction 
favourable. Allowing, then, for the sake of argu¬ 
ment, the modest increase in altitude of 1,000 ft., 
what influence would this have upon our Pine 
forests ? We think it would alter the British zone 
of reproduction very materially, and we think it 
need scarcely be pictured how the slow and steady 
hand of degradation age after age insensibly laboured 
to accomplish its work. This slow progress probably 
is still steadily going forward, and the best means 
for knowing that it is, is to turn our eyes on barren 
elevations where the Pine lingers yet as a most 
pitiable object for our sympathy.— Brittaniorum. 
SARRACENIAS. 
This is a beautiful genus of insectivorous plants 
named after Dr. Sarrazin, of Quebec, who first sent 
specimens from North America to Europe. It is 
often called the Side-saddle Flower, taking its name 
from the peculiar structure of the bloom, which 
resembles a side-saddle. The flowers do not last 
long, but are very beautiful when they are out. The 
leaves are beautifully marked and form curious 
hollow cylinders with a peculiar growth very much 
resembling, and called a lid. When these pitchers 
are young the lid and upper part of them is 
generally beautifully marked. When very young 
the lid fits tight down on to the top of the pitcher, 
but as the pitcher increases in size the lid gradually 
rises. Close under the lids are numerous glands 
which secrete an intoxicating substance which is 
much sought after by insects. When overcome 
they fall into the pitcher and are prevented from 
getting out by an arrangement of hairs which all 
point downwards. Like many other beings they 
find that the way to ruin is smooth, and to go down 
is much easier than to come up. There is soon a 
putrifying mass in the pitcher, which helps to 
attract other insects. These eventually cause the 
pitchers to rot and fall over 
