August 24, 1901. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
835 
it is bold and striking, and it is to be hoped will 
prove as hardy as S. purpurea. (First-class 
Certificate.) Messrs. R. Veitch & Son, Exeter. 
Gladiolus Due d’Abruzzi. —Here we have one 
of the race of Lemoinei hybrids. The two lateral 
segments of the inner series are blue, with a central 
white blotch surrounded by a crimson band. The 
rest of the flower is streaked and shaded purple on a 
white ground. For this race the flower is of large 
size and handsome. (Award of Merit.) Mr. 
Maurice Pritchard, Christchurch, Hants. 
Gladiolus Lumineux. — The flowers of this 
variety are both strikingly distinct and handsome, 
being large and primrose-yellow, with a large 
crimson-red blotch on the centre of each of the 
three lower segments. (Award of Merit.) Mr. M. 
Prichard. 
Fruit and Vegetable Committee. 
Blackberry Wilson, Junior. —The fruits of this 
Bramble are of great size, varying from globose to 
oblong, glossy, black, and handsome in appearance. 
They are very juicy, but mild in flavour compared 
with British Brambles. Some stems cut from the 
open and laden with fruit were about 6 ft. long. 
(Award of Merit.) Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons, Ltd. 
Plum Early Yellow. —The fruits of this Plum 
are oval in outline, moderate in size, bright yellow 
and part freely from the stone. They possess but little 
flavour, but are notable as being amongst the 
earliest of the Plums to ripen, being ready to gather 
this year at Chiswick on July 17th. It will be 
serviceable for cooking purposes. (First-class 
Certificate.) Mr. J. Fraser, The Nurseries, South 
Woodford, Essex. 
Gooseberry Howard's Lancer. —This is a large, 
Oval, and finely downy, yellow berry, more or less 
netted with strong veins. To the casual observer 
they appear to be smooth, and the long bristly 
hairs are really absent. The flavour is very good, 
but the skin is rather tough, and on that account 
they should carry well to market. (Award of 
Merit.) Roger Leigh, Esq. (gardener, Mr. W. G. 
Woodward), Barham Court, Maidstone. 
Dwarf Bean Surrey Prolific. —The pods of this 
Bean are 6 in. to 7 in. long, if left to develop, and 
borne in clusters of two to six on a stalk. This and 
the other vegetables mentioned below were brought 
up from Chiswick, where they had been on trial, and 
had received x x x from the committee when 
examining them there, this award being confirmed 
by the granting of an Award of Merit at the Drill 
Hall. Mr. Alex. Dean, 62, Richmond Road, 
Kingston-on-Thames. 
Dwarf Bean Smythe’s Fawn. —The pods of this 
variety are inclined to be curved, otherwise they are 
similar to the previous one. (Award of Merit.) Mr. 
Alexander Dean. 
Cabbage Best of All and Little Queen. —The 
first named is conical, and of fairly large size, the 
heart being surrounded by large, glaucous leaves. 
Little Queen is a small and nearly globular, good 
table Cabbage. (Award of Merit to each.) Messrs. 
Barr & Sons, 12 and 13, King Street, Covent 
Garden. 
Cabbage Prince’s Improved Nonpareil. —The 
heads of this variety are very hard, of small size, 
and shortly conical. (Award of Merit.) Messrs. 
Nutting & Sons, 106, Southwark Street, London. 
Potato Early Jubilee. —Tuber pebble-shaped, 
white, slightly rough on the skin, early, and 3 in. to 
4 in. long. (Award of Merit.) Messrs. Dickson & 
Robinson, Manchester. 
Potato Express. —Tuber pebble-shaped, widest at 
the head, white, smooth or slightly roughened on 
the skin, 2 in. to 3 in. long and ripening early. 
Award of Merit) Messrs. Sharpe & Co., Sleaford. 
Potato Glory of Denbigh. —Tfie tuber is 2 in. 
to 2J in. long, pebble-shaped, white, and rather 
rough on the skin. (Award of Merit.) Mr. R. D. 
Hughes, 35, Middle Lane, Denbigh. 
A Sweet Pea Screen.—A writer in the Canadian 
Hotticulturist has a novel idea of window decoration. 
It is a Sweet Pea screen made by planting seeds in 
a box and then running the Peas up strings. If the 
flowers are picked off as soon as they fade, this 
should make a graceful shade during the summer 
and one of continuous bloom. We must take excep¬ 
tion to one term used in the article describing this 
arrangement, and that is the reference to the ugly 
sunshine. It is taken from a ladies’ paper, and 
judging by the phraseology, evidently written by one 
of the fair sex; but we think that it is even going 
beyond the " mannishness ” so much coveted by 
many women to refer to the " ugly sunshine.” 
LEICESTER PARKS. 
During a recent visit to Leicester I naturally 
strolled round the famous Abbey Park, and was 
well rewarded by seeing some good results from the 
diligent and experienced work of Mr. Jno. Burn and 
his assistants. Under glass were to be seen grand 
specimens of the Agave americana, Palms in variety, 
Seaforthia elegans, Cobaea scandens variegata, 
Araucaria excelsa, Dracaena indivisa lineata, the 
very old Rhyncospermum jasminoides, Scarlet 
Trumpet Honeysuckle (now seldom seen), Plumbago 
capensis and P. c. alba, full of blooms, the old time 
Caladium esculentum, Passiflora caerulea, Lapa- 
geria rosea, and a quantity of Clematis. 
The broad sweeps of ground outside allow for 
grand beds to be formed, and Mr. Burn has done 
well in this direction. A glorious bed of Phloxes 
was quite a feature of the place; it comprised 
Neptune, Etoile de Lyon, the white Amazon, 
Paul Bert, Torpilleur, Brilliant, M. P. Carpentier, 
Moliere, Parthenon, Embarrassment, Cameron, and 
Huxley. 
A variety of beds of Roses were doing well, the 
most noticeable plants being Merveille de Lyon, 
General Jacqueminot, Gloire de DijOD, Mrs. John 
Laing, Comte Raimbaud, La France, Augusta, 
Rigotard, Charles Lefebvre, and Her Majesty. 
Pelargoniums galore looked very showy with an 
edging of Perilla nankinensis, whilst seedling 
Verbenas were edged with Cerastaum tomentosum. 
Beds of Helianthus were surrounded with Pent- 
stemons, whilst Abutilons and Eucalyptus lent 
themselves to similar treatment. 
The Abbey Park comprises about sixty-eight 
acres, and is only one of the several spaces under 
the charge of a particular committee of the corpora¬ 
tion, there being also the Western Park, of which 
about 100 acres are devoted to the public use, the 
Fosse Park, the Spinney Hill Park, thirty acres, in 
the east end of the towD, and the Victoria Park, 
seventy-eight acres in the south. In addition to 
these there are numerous recreation and football 
grounds and several miles of street planting. 
Mr. Burn, the curator, has therefore plenty of 
work and responsibility, is to be congratulated 
upon his success, and fully entitled to the apprecia¬ 
tion which the city authorities show him.— F. A. C. 
1 »- 
THE !?0C1( GARDEN. 
PLANTS IN FLOWER. 
Erodium Manescavii. 
Of the many species of Erodium or Heron’s-bill, 
none of them, perhaps, exceed this in the size of the 
flowers, which are of a deep rosy purple, with a 
large white blotch on each of the two upper petals, 
surrounded and more or less netted with black. 
They are produced over a long period of summer, 
especially if the plant is growing in a moist part of 
the rockery. In light soil the plant soon goes to 
seed, and proves short-lived. This is a small 
matter, however, as seeds are generally abundantly 
produced, provided the birds can be kept from them 
till they ripen. The plant is a native of the Pyrenees 
and well worthy of a place on the rockery on 
account of its bold and showy flowers, produced in 
umbels on long stalks. 
Parnassia palustris. 
Of all the species of the Grass of Parnassus that are 
introduced to cultivation none of them are prettier 
than our native British plant, which is far more 
abundant in the north on wet moors than it is in 
the southern part of the island. It likes and must 
have a moist position if the grower is to retain the 
leaves all the summer and keep the plants healthy. 
The flowers of the earlier plants are now in perfec¬ 
tion, and a succession will be kept up during the 
next month. The pale coloured veins appear like 
water lines running the long way of the petals ; and 
alternating with the latter are hand-like structures 
with twelve to fourteen fingers, each tipped with a 
gland. This curious and beautiful flower will bear 
looking into. A peat bed on the lower part of the 
rockery and so constructed as to be retentive of 
moisture will suit the requirements of the plant. 
Where a bog bed already exists the conditions for its 
welfare are ready to hand. 
Macrostomia echioides. 
Gardeners are more familiar with this plant under 
the name of Arnebia echioides, or Prophet Flower. 
The bright yellow flowers with their five black spots 
are always interesting. Although the plant flowers 
early in the season the accession of rain starts a 
second growth, and that is already flowering, and 
will continue more or less during the next month, at 
least in the north. Cuttings with a piece of the 
older stem getting firm at the base will root more 
readily now than if taken during the heat and 
drought. The plant may also be multiplied by 
division in spring as growth is commencing. The 
late summer and autumn growth is even more 
vigorous than the early summer one. 
Silene Schafta. 
This Catchfly is often planted in situations that 
are too dry; and this being the case flowers are 
only sparingly produced for the reason that growth 
is thereby restricted. At the same time, the shoots 
being scanty and hard in the tissue, the propagator 
is unable to get anything like satisfactory shoots that 
will emit roots. On the other hand the plant grows 
and flowers much more freely where the situation is 
cool and moisture relatively plentiful during 
summer. There are more barren, that is, leafy, 
young shoots which can be rooted in sandy soil in a 
cold frame, or under a handlight, or better still 
under both, the handlight being valuable for retain¬ 
ing a moist atmosphere about those cuttings recently 
inserted, while those that are rooted, or partly so, in 
pots, may be stood anywhere in the frame to harden 
the tissues previous to removal from the frame 
altogether. 
Polygonum capitatum. 
Many of the species of Polygonum are mere weeds, 
some of which may be described as pretty, notwith¬ 
standing. Many of the introduced exotics are of 
altogether too gross growth for the rockery ; but P. 
capitatum is quite exceptional in this respect. It is 
a slender plant creeping over and hugging the 
surface of the ground, the slender stems being 
rather thickly clothed with ovate leaves, ornamented 
with a purple band in the shape of a horse shoe. 
The flowers are small, pink, and arranged in com¬ 
pact, globular heads, and very pretty. The plant 
frequently proves short lived when planted out on 
the rockery, but this is unimportant seeing that it 
re-sows itself and comes up next spring if the soil is 
undisturbed. Seeds may be saved on purpose so as 
to perpetuate this interesting subject. 
Hypericum moserianum. 
The dwarf habit and large showy flowers of this 
garden hybrid entitle it to a place on the rockery, 
whatever other purpose it may be put to in the 
garden. As the flowers are slightly nodding they 
are seen to better advantage when growing on an 
elevated position a little above the level of the eye. 
They are in perfection when they first expand, 
just before the handsome red anthers burst. Owing 
to the creeping or spreading habit of the rootstock 
any required quantity of stock can be obtained by 
division of the clumps in spring. 
Dianthus superous. 
Recorded evidence shows that this Dianthus was 
cultivated as long ago as 1596, having been intro¬ 
duced from continental Europe. The florists of the 
olden time as well as the present day seem to avoid a 
fringed flower that cannot be turned from the error 
of its ways and become rounded off at the circum¬ 
ference as if outlined with a pair of compasses. 
Notwithstanding their predilections this is really a 
very handsome species, the five lilac petals being 
cut into slender fringes nearly or quite to the 
bottom of the blade. No doubt it would take many 
generations of the plant, by seed sowing and 
selection, to develop a smooth-edged petal like a 
laced Pink, and personally I rejoice at its stubborn 
inconvertibility into a circular disc, which would 
spoil its natural grace absolutely. The flower as it 
exists is twice or three times the size of the original 
D. plumarius, domesticated many years ago by the 
florist. Like other Pinks that under notice is easily 
increased by cuttings. 
Zauchneria californica. 
The scarlet flowers and protruding anthers of this 
Californian perennial are not unlike those of a 
Fuchsia, to which it is related. Some growers have 
