952 
THE 0 AUDEN WO WORLD . 
November 14, 1903. 
amongst them, with an, edging of Saxifraga caespitosa., are 
quite worthy of notice. 
A fine early-flowering Chrysanthemum is Mignon, white. A 
bold bed of a yellow Chrysanthemum was very effective in the 
mass. 
Mr. Webster, the capable superintendent, may be heartily 
congratulated on his efforts to keep up the high floral fame 
that Regent’s Park has always enjoyed, and which it is 
evidently his earnest endeavour to' maintain unimpaired. 
Chiswick. J- 
The Best Cactus Dahlias. 
Probably few can remember a Dahlia season like the one we 
have just passed through, with its winds and rains. We have 
had wet years and dry yearsi and storm's without number in 
the past, but a succession of storms without a. break month 
after month must surely be a record. Such being, however, 
the case, it is more than possible that some varieties of 
Dahlias have not shown to the best advantage, whilst others 
which are more inclined to. succeed with plenty of moisture 
have been at their best, although I do not think that any 
variety has really been at its best this autumn. Still, some 
have shown up very creditably, and I notice, even at so' late a, 
date as the October show of the N.C.S., that the Dahlias were 
in force, eclipsing the Chrysanthemums with their more bril¬ 
liant colours. I fear that many growers will be rather dis¬ 
heartened with the poor return they have had from their plants 
this season, especially those who. are by no means old growers, 
and during the culminating storm on September 12th thousands 
of plants were completely 'smashed up, many being broken off 
close to' the ground. In my case the debris was carried away 
by the barrowload from plants tied as well as it was possible 
to tie them. Still, for all these evils, there will be Dahlias 
planted again another year, and the finest varieties will be in 
demand, which I most ardently hope will have a better chance 
of showing themselves to advantage than they have this year. 
As usual, the novelties listed for the first time last spring 
have been thinned out very •considerably, but still have left 
us some good additions to our standard list, if the Cactus 
Dahlia can be said a® yet bo have any standard. Perhaps it 
will be best to give- a, -list of the best of the 1903 sorts: first, and 
later a list of the dozen or eighteen best varieties!, commencing 
with those of this year’s introduction. The whites were, we 
must confess, not faultless, and -our -choice falls' on Eva and 
Iceberg. Eva is dwarf in habit and wiry in stem, of the purest 
white, but does not remain at. its -best for at all a long time. 
Iceberg, a flower very little known, deserves to be better 
so. Its habit is good, petal narrow, and flower deep, although 
only of medium size and of -star-like .shape. 
Ianthe, a mixed coloured variety, .after the first flowers, was 
good. It is. a very large flower of incurved form, salmon in 
colour, but suffused with yellow and tipped rose. The flower 
stem is very pendent. 
H. J. Jones, somewhat late to appear, was very fine when 
it came, and h-as continued a mass of g-oo-d bloom ever since. 
The colour is most pleasing, light yellow, shading to rosy-pink 
at tips of petals, flowers large, petals fine .and .straight. Ida, a 
pure yellow, is a strong grower and free to. flower; hardly up 
to exhibition standard for form. 
Raymond Parks, an easy, fre-e^flowering variety of deep crim¬ 
son colour, has done well. The blooms .are veiy large. 
H. F. Robertson, a, deep yellow, even in the face of so great 
a favourite as Mrs. Mawl-ey, has been well received. It. has 
very narrow petals, is of great depth, and the plants are strong 
and free flowering. Mabel Needs, of fine form, was good later ; 
flowers large, very pleasingly incurved, and distinct in colour. 
Mrs. W. CuthbertSou is a deep maroon, of medium size, dwarf 
in habit, and stiff in .stem, but hardly fine enough in the petal 
for -exhibition. 
Wm. F. Balding is beautiful in colour ; yellow shading to 
salmon, evenly incurved petals, and bold flowers. 
Mi’s. Seagrave, another little known flower, was good, with 
long incurved petals of purplish-rose colour and fine deep 
flowers. .Small secondary petals are usually present at the 
base of the main ones 1 , but not sufficient to mar the flower. 
Phineas; a huge crimson-scarlet, was a flower likely to please 
many. The jfl-ant is a veiy strong grower. 
Mabel Tulloch, a small flower of lovely colour, even form, 
and dwarf habit, ha-s been covered with blossom for weeks, and 
is greatly admired. 
Princess, a new colour, rosy magenta, and of incurved form, 
ha.s been flowering for a long time in good form, and is a fine 
garden as well as -exhibition variety. 
F. H. Chapman, a late bloomer, of magnificent form, large 
size, and finest of fine petals-, brings up the rear. 
If, however, we give the best eighteen varieties, the follow¬ 
ing would be my c-iio-ioe, taking them more especially from an 
exhibition point of view: White: Eva, Iceberg, or .Lord 
Roberts'—the latter well known and needing no- comment. 
I ellow: H. F. Robertson, Mrs. E. Mawley, or Mrs. J. J. 
Crowe, but- the latter seems to be -falling .away, and was little 
seen this year. 
Dark maroon : In this section a really good flower is wanted. 
Those we have are not up to the other colours for form. J. H. 
Jackson—huge flowers with broad flat petals, is most in favour 
just now, but. in exhibiting does harm—and Uncle Torn are the 
best. 
Scarlet: Mrs. Winstanley, a splendid dwarf free-flowering 
variety, is the? best. It .seems to d-O' equally well in all situa¬ 
tions. 
In crimson we lia.ve best Phineas, described above, and Ray¬ 
mond Parks. No new hi colors, are forthcoming, but. Richard 
Dean seems to have c-o-me to- the front., and is a large flower, 
red, -tipped white, and strong stems, and Columbia, a. constant 
and pretty variety, but. of pendent growth. 
H. J. Jones is one of the best, and might almost be classed 
with the yellows ; whilst orange and kindred -colours are best 
represented in F. H. Chapman, before mentioned; Clara G. 
-Stredwick; a flower which has been vastly better this year 
than last, when it was practically a. failure, but. which has 
been in some cases magnificent this season; and Ajax, well 
known. 
Other flowers of various colours are J. W. Wilkinson, a. flower 
of capricious habits, sometimes very good, sometimes very bad, 
and for a last flower, either Ianthe, Mabel Needs, or J. Weir 
Fife, the last named a comparatively old variety, which varies 
from deep maroon to purple in colour. 
One or -two other flowers we ought to name are W. F. Bald¬ 
ing, Mrs. Seagrave, probably a. friend who- will go up higher, 
a.nd P. W. Tulloch, which, though not seen so. often this year, 
is still -one of our best. 
I find that I have not- kept rigorously -to eighteen varieties; 
-but still, as all .are the pick, well and good. I had almost for¬ 
gotten a small gem in Coronation, which is the first really good 
Pompon Cactus., and a splendid little- flower it is—small, and 
of perfect- form, on stiff, upright stems., and produced freely on 
perfect little plants. “ Peace,” another form of Cactus, is fairly 
good, hut. not equal to Corouatiou. Possibly -owing to the very 
bad sunless year several new -ones-, although good in other re¬ 
spects, were very flat in the petal, only twisting when a dry day 
or so occurred, and mo-re than one variety came very weak 
m the centre; hut as. it. is bad policy to kick a poor flower* 
when it is down, we refrain from naming these, and trust- they 
will show to better advantage next time. P. p. 
Potato Apples.— A large Potato grower in the North of Eng¬ 
land recently stated that he had not seen a “ Potato Apple,” that 
is. berry, for many years. At one time they were plentiful, but 
it was rare to see them now, and he attributed it to the de¬ 
creased vigour and weakening of the plant. In our opinion, it 
is a question of variety. Thirty or more years ago there were 
varieties of Potatos that produced a very weak truss of flowers, 
but never a fruit, while others, equally old or older fruited 
on the same piece of ground. 
