March 14, 1903. 
THE GARDENING WORLD , 
233 
Round the Nurseries. 
Hale Farm Nurseries. 
About twenty minutes’ walk from the railway station at 
Feltham, Middlesex, are situated the nurseries of Messrs. 
Thomas S. Ware, Ltd., and variously known as the Hale Farm 
Nurseries and Ware’s Nurseries. An area of sixty-three acres 
is here devoted to the cultivation of hardy plants in great 
variety. At present we are most interested in the hardy her¬ 
baceous and alpine plants, which have always been a leading 
feature of the Hale Farm Nurseries from their commencement. 
It is yet early for many plants out of doors, but, as in other 
hardy plant emporiums, provision is made for the storage 
of a large number of stock plants in cold frames and other 
structures. This is very convenient for the early flowering 
tvpes, which would often be at the mercy of the weather in our 
wild Auricula. Another splendid alpine was P. clusiana, bear¬ 
ing trusses of large purple flowers. It is a splendid rock 
garden plant. 
The collection of P. Sieboldi includes thirty of the Best 
garden varieties of this species in cultivation, only the earliest 
of which were in bloom on the occasion of our visit. P.S. 
Ware’s White is a pure white variety, but P.S. Venus, although 
white on the face, is of a distinct lavender shade on the back 
of the flower. In like manner P.S. Mrs. Geggie is deep rose 
on the back and white marbled with rose on the face. P.S. 
violacea laciniata has blue and purple flowers, fringed on the 
margins. P.S. Ruby is a deep red variety. As the name in¬ 
dicates, P.S. rosea striata is rose, striated with white on the 
face. P.S. lilaeina, marginata is lilac on the back and striated 
with lilac on a white ground on the face. 
Somewhat similar to the Bird’s Eye Primula is that named 
P. frondosa, but the leaves are much broader. A very fine 
Odontoglossum Adriane Cookson’s var. (See page 228.) 
fickle climate. Last week we paid a visit of inspection to the 
nursery, and here give a brief account of what we saw. 
PRIMULAS. 
The above being of a very varied character, we find them 
situated in various structures, some of them being in glass 
' houses, forming part of the general range of houses, which, 
being low, span-roofed structures with very wide panes of glass, 
are admirably adapted for admitting the maximum of light 
during the dull months of the year. A few of the houses 
meant for the accommodation of flowering plants have the 
temperature similar to that of a greenhouse or conservatory 
intended for a display during winter. In one of these was a 
large batch of Primula obconica, with pink, rose, and rosy- 
purple flowers, and though only in sixty-size pots the plants 
were very floriferous. Another batch of P. verticillata was 
equally floriferous, and attracted our attention by reason of 
their delicious fragrance. 
Particularly fine was a pan of P. denticulata alba, bearing 
more than two dozen heads of white flowers in various stages 
of development. Very interesting was P. Palinuri, with 
yellow, cup-shaped flowers, recalling in a measure those of the 
variety of Primula rosea is that named P.r. superba, which has 
larger and deeper rose flowers. 
NARCISSI. 
In a few of the houses a considerable quantity of Narcissi 
are located, in order to hasten the early flowering of several 
types. We hesitate to describe it as forcing, seeing that they 
are allowed to come along slowly in simply a genial tempera¬ 
ture. We can only briefly touch upon a few of the more 
interesting. C. W. Cowan is one of the white Daffodils of 
fairly recent introduction. That named N. Leedsii Miss White 
is supposed to be N. Leedsii x Tazetta, because the scapes are 
borne in clusters of three or four together, instead of singly, 
as in the ordinary Leedsii. Amongst the miniature types, N. 
cyclamineus and N. minimus were flowering freely. Several 
of the double forms of N. incomparablis were flowering finely, 
including N. sulphurea plena, with large sulphur-yellow flowers, 
and N. Butter and Eggs, with short orange segments in the 
centre, the rest being cream. Of the Trumpet Daffodils, very 
fine were James Walker, of the Empress type, but larger; N. 
Emperor; N. Henry Irving, with deeply-frilled trumpet; the 
Swan’s Neck or William Goldring, and others of that type. 
