July 27, 1901. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
7’69 
A FIVE-YEAR-OLD MALMAISON 
CARNATION. 
Many cultivators believe in vigorous young plants 
of Malmaison Carnations for the production of big 
blooms as well as for cut Sowers, but there are 
others who think differently, including Mr. p. 
Buchanan, gardener to the Earl of Stair, Bargany 
Gardens, Dailly, Ayrshire, who sent us the photo¬ 
graph from which the accompanying illustration 
was prepared. The plant was the blush Souvenir 
de la Malmaison Carnation, five years old, 9 ft. in 
circumference and 3 ft.' in height. Mr. Buchanan 
tells us that “ it carried eighty-five blooms (although 
partly disbudded), at least fifty of which were of 
large size. Some growers may say they would not 
keep plants that age. I may say we have 
them of all sizes here, up to five years of age, and 
find that plants of that size produce more flowers in 
proportion (for cutting) than young plants which 
give more trouble and require more space.” Those 
who pride themselves in growing large blooms upon 
plants produced from layers of the previous 
summer or autumn would have to grow fifty of 
them, using as many pots, and creating a consider¬ 
able amount of labour in potting and tending them, 
independently of the space they would occupy, in 
order to produce the fifty big blooms such as formed 
the .harvest of the plant above mentioned. Individu¬ 
ally, the blooms on the young plants might be the 
larger, but we think Malmaison Carnations may be 
overdone in that respect as well as various other 
plants often are. There cannot be much grace in 
blooms like fair sized Cauliflowers, but their beauty, 
we grant, may be a matter of opinion. We should 
be pleased to learn if any one has grown more than 
eighty-five Carnation blooms upon a single plant of 
any of the Malmaison race. We also congratulate 
Mr. Buchanan upon his success. 
LILIUM CORIDION. 
Botanists consider this as a variety of L. concolor 
while some regard it distinct. In general appear¬ 
ance there is a striking difference between the two 
and for garden purposes they are abundantly dis¬ 
tinct. The plant is very dwarf in habit, being 
generally less than a foot though well grown plants 
may reach the latter height. The typical L. Coridion 
has bright yellow flowers, slightly flaked with brown 
but the plants shown by Messrs. R. Wallace & Co., 
Kilnfield Gardens, Colchester,at the Lily Conference, 
Chiswick, on Tuesday and Wednesday of last week, 
were bright yellow, and thickly spotted or punctate 
with crimson-brown all over the lower half of the 
segments and might well have been honoured with 
some such varietal name as L. Coridion punctatum. 
It is the first time that this spotted variety has 
turned up in their grand collection. The slender 
stems are clothed with small,linear-lanceolate,bright 
green scattered leaves, while they terminate in one, 
two or three flowers according to their vigour. The 
flowers are held erect and are very pretty, the seg¬ 
ments spreading widely from a little above the base. 
It is a matter for regret that the smaller species of 
Lily are not more frequently grown for they are both 
charming and interesting plants. L. Coridion is 
certainly the handsomest of the group to which it 
belongs, and ought to find a place in every repre¬ 
sentative collection of plants. It has larger flowers 
than L. concolor, and received an Award of Merit. 
The accompanying illustration (see supplement) 
was prepared from a photograph taken from a plant 
in the Gold Medal group of Messrs. R Wallace & 
Co., Kilnfield Gardens, Colchester, at Chiswick, on 
the 16th and 17th inst. 
LILIUM BURBANKII. 
Liliophiles will be pleased with the advent of a 
new hybrid Lllium, which made its public appear¬ 
ance in no less than three collections exhibited at 
the Lily Conference held at Chiswick, by the Royal 
Horticultural Society on Tuesday and Wednes¬ 
day, the 16th and 17th inst. The most 
numerous specimens appeared in the grand 
group shown by Messrs. R. Wallace & Co., 
Kilnfield Gardens, Colchester. Sir Trevor Lawrence, 
Bart., (gardener, Mr. W. Bain), Burford, Dorking, 
and Mr. Amos Perry, Hardy Plant Farm, Winch- 
more Hill, London, also exhibited it. The parent¬ 
age is said to be L pardalinum x L. washingtoni- 
anum, belonging to different groups. The leaves 
seem whorled upon the stems in all cases as in the 
parents, but the hybrid parentage is indicated by 
the varying size and colour of the flowers. L. 
pardalinum seems to be the prepotent parent in 
many cases, the flo vers being orange-yellow in the 
lower half, spotted with crimson, while the upper 
half varies from brownish orange to crimson and 
blotched or spotted more or less along the middle. 
In others the upper half is paler or darker brown; 
and in another instance we noted flowers that were 
of larger size and wholly orange yellow and spotted. 
This last type would seem to have been most 
influenced by L. washingtonianum. The hybrid L. 
dalhansoni shows a similar amount of variation, 
and this is what we should expect and look for when 
any considerable number of seedlings from a cross 
between two parents, that is, a hybrid, has been 
raised and flowered. Some of the seedlings are 
consequently more handsome than others. An 
Award of Merit was accorded the hybrid. The 
accompanying illustration (see supplement) was pre¬ 
pared from a photograph taken at the show. 
HOMEWOOD, CHISLEHURST. 
Never can that hidden indescribable sense which 
finds solace in pleasing colours know a greater 
satisfaction tnan when viewing a typical Kentish 
landscape. 
Some choose as an ideal of beauty the ocean in 
its stormy moods, others ficd delight in the beetling 
awe-inspiring crags of our mountain districts, but 
nothing is calculated to soothe the mind and impart 
a sensation of indescribable loveliness more than 
the wooded knolls and vernal beauty of Kent, the 
Garden of England. 
There is a peculiar softness in Kentish scenery, 
and the clustering fields of Hops, and miles of fruit 
laden orchards, leave an ineffaceable impression on 
one’s mind. Who can find a better exemplification 
of the ancient and the modern in mutual advan¬ 
tageous association than that which greets the eye 
when one has made the laborious climb up from the 
station to the wild common at the top which gives 
Chislehurst such a charm ? All round may be seen 
the woods and uncultivated land representing the 
former, while towering from amidst these wild sur¬ 
roundings, and appertaining to the latter, is a large, 
plain, stone cross in memory of that exiled, brave 
young man, Prince Napoleon, who died fight¬ 
ing for England against the Zulus. It was in a 
house hidden by giant Elms, &c., standing a short 
distance away that he made his home with his un¬ 
fortunate mother, Empress Eugenie, when not on 
active service with the army of the country that 
adopted him. 
Chislehurst and district contain many fine estates 
and gardens, and none is better known than the one 
which was the object of our visit. The owner of 
the estate is Richard Foster, Esq., and a more 
benevolent and typical Englishman could not be 
found. His large garden and glass houses supply 
much more fruit, &c., than is needed for household 
purposes, and every day large consignments are sent 
to the hospitals and homes of the needy. Not only 
are the gardeners kept busy packing flowers, fruit, 
and vegetables, but the kitchen staff also come in 
for a large share of work in their special line, to be 
sent off not only to the districts in the immediate 
vicinity of Homewood but into the heart of London’s 
slums. 
Mr. Last, the head gardener, kindly took us 
round the grounds and through the houses, and with 
his genial, free and easy manner gave us a pleasant 
hour or two’s ramble and chat on matters horticul¬ 
tural. 
A more tidy and clean garden we never went 
through. His motto seems to be “A place for 
everything, and everything in its place.” “ If we 
could only get rain, things would soon pick up a 
bit,” be said as we entered the high walled 
kitchen gardeD, but rain or no rain the sight which 
greeted our eyes was one not to be forgotten for 
luxuriance of growth. There was cnly ODe crop 
that seemed to suffer to any perceptible degree, and 
that was the Peas. Duke of Albany is the variety 
he has great faith in, and certainly they have stood 
the trying weather much better than the majority of 
crops we have seen this season. 
The walls are covered with a good collection of 
well trained fruit trees, and almost without excep¬ 
tion they are all carrying good crops. The 
Apricots promise to yield well, while the Peaches 
have set exceptionally well, and a more even crop 
could not be wished for. One tree, an old veteran, 
shows a curious feature at the roots when closely 
examined. It was originally grafted on the Plum 
stock, but the border having been raised, the union 
is buried, and the Peach wood has put out an 
abundance of roots, so that the tree is supplied by 
both Plum and Peach roots, and is evidently doing 
well, for the fruits which it is carrying are a good 
size and well coloured, and will be fit for table 
within a week. Waterloo is the variety, well known 
as the best of early Peaches. 
Wall Plums, especially the Green Gages, are 
carrying a heavy crop Raspberries, of which there 
A Malmaison Carnation with Eighty-five Flowers. 
