738 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
August 29, 1903, 
their being drawn. During bright weather keep the house 
fairly moist by frequently damping down and using the syringe. 
Care will be needed not to over water until the soil is filled 
with roots, when a. little warm manure water or other approved 
fertiliser will be beneficial, discontinuing it as the flowers s iow 
colour, when less atmospheric moisture will be required. V en- 
tilate freely during fine weather. In all stages of growth shade 
from direct sunlight, and aim at a temperature of not less 
than 65 deg. ; on bright days 85 deg. will not be too high. 
Moor Hall Gardens, Stourport, W. Henry Wilson. 
Hampton Court Gardens. 
Mr. Gardiner, the aptly named and able superintendent of 
the Royal Gardens at Hampton Court Palace, should be a prou 
man. Never at any time have these gardens been more fiorally 
beautiful than they are now, and never probably have hue days 
seen more visitors—who have come from all paits o see 
them. Possibly Mr. Clifton Robinson, the clever manager of 
the new tramway lines, may claim some credit for the'crowds 
which now flock to Hampton Court, and he is fully entitled to 
it But the crowds all the same go chiefly to see the gardens, 
and because Mr. Gardiner .has made them so charming, so 
fiorally beautiful, it is that the people come. 
We have never seen the lawns at the Palace greener, 
smoother, or in more perfect condition than they now are. No 
doubt the abundant rains, which have been too liberally fur¬ 
nished for the farmers’ gratification, have helped the gardener 
on such porous soil as is that at Hampton Court. But, all the 
same, the roller and the lawn mower, also the edging shears, 
have not been spared, and the turf now creates envy in the 
minds of the golfer, the cricketer, or the lover of a game at. 
bowls. How much, too, does this good quality in the emerald 
green verdure assist to form a fitting framework for the-many 
beautiful floral masses with noble trees for a background. 
In the fountain basin we note with great satisfaction some¬ 
thing more attractive than gold-fish or the water sprays of a 
fountain. Last year Mr. Gardiner introduced a few of the 
newer-—and now so* widely grown-—Water Lilies, really not 
Lilies at all, but so‘called. These are all of the Nymphaea 
family, of which our common white form, Nymphaea alba of 
our lakes and streams, is the only British member. This year 
sees in the water basin some sixty of these Nymphaea,s, includ¬ 
ing many of the, new French varieties, so rich in colour and 
fine in flower, which have been added. In time these 
Nymphaeas will furnish the basin. Even then a score of 
Ferns, Palms, or similar bedding plants are needed to relieve 
the broad bald stone margin of the basin of its present 
nakedness. 
The long border, all too narrow, which includes nearly all 
the long distance from the high road to the river front, is just 
now remarkably effective and beautiful. It is planted through¬ 
out with a wonderful variety of flowering plants, tender and 
hardy, including beautiful white Lilies, rich coloured Phloxes, 
feathery Celosias, purple and rosy flowered Sages, giant Daisies, 
Snapdragons, white Bo-uvardials, Hollyhocks, and, indeed, 
myriads of divers things that at once show how varied flowers 
are, and how many there are gathered from all parts of the 
world that add beauty to our English gardens. 
The large beds that margin the broad walk fronting the 
Palace now exhibit refined taste in arrangement, and are all 
so admirably furnished. No doubt those planted chiefly with 
tuberous Begonias give most, colour and attract chief attention. 
Without doubt, the most, beautiful is the one nearest the river 
front, in which is found a real fea.st of colour in the glorious 
crimson-scarlet variety, Lafayette. This, thinly planted rather 
than massed as is the method, intermixed with silvery foliage, 
as a flower bed, cannot well be excelled anywhere. A bed of 
golden and yellow shaded Begonias is also glorious. But these 
all should be .seen. So, too, should the mass bed of Ellen 
Wilmott Verbena; the wonderful floriferousness of the bed of 
Fuchsias, Madame Cornellisson, with white corollas, and the 
intense red-flowered one of Fuchsia Marinka. Also the masses 
of Ivy-leaved Pelargoniums, intermixed, the sweet-perfumed 
Heliotropes or Bouvardia Humboldti, the splendid foliage and 
sub-tropical beds, and myriads of others. All should be seen 
soon, for just now they are in luxuriant beauty. D. 
Wheat Twenty-eight Years Old. 
An interesting and instructive item in respect to an analysis 
of some very old Wheat comes to hand. It seems that the 
corn was originally grown at Stradbrooke, in Sussex, in 1874, 
and the owner, for some reason which does not appear, made 
a vow that it should not be threshed till it would fetch 80s. per 
quarter or until his death. The sequel is obvious. The owner 
of the Wheat died without that price being reached, and in 
March last the corn, if it can be so called, was threshed out, 
Oncidium kramerianum, the Bulldog Orchid. (See p. 731). 
and only 10 quarters of grain—the produce of 5 acres.—were 
forthcoming. Compared with Wheat grown on the same farm 
last season, Mr. Hughes, of Mark Lane, states that the veiy old 
grain conta.in.ed greater proportions of moisture, starch, a^id 
soluble nitrogen compounds, but less sugar, other constituents 
being much the same in the two. samples. Many attempts 
have- been made by different persons to cause this Wheat to 
germinate, but without success-—a. fact that should be noticed 
by credulous, persons who believe that the grain found in some 
mummy cases, and still full of vitality, was placed there thou¬ 
sands of years ago. Similar instances of the kind have occurred 
fortunately at rare intervals, only instead of any grain being 
obtained as the produce of the threshing, it has been found 
to have been thoroughly eaten out by vermin, and the straw 
so rotten that the men engaged in taking the ricks to pieces 
have sunk in up to their waists. 
