December 3, 1904. 
The Gardening World 
MOTTO FOR THE WEEK: 
“ Chill airs and wintry winds ! my ear has grown familiar with yonr song.”— Longfellow. 
Weekly Prize 
FOR 
Short Articles. 
\ The Proprietors of The Gardening World ' 
’ will give a cash prize of Ten Shillings for < 
| THE BEST PARAGRAPH, Or SHORT ARTICLE, Sent \ 
! by readers during the week. The Editor’s J, 
; judgment must be considered final, and he will ( 
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| rather than the length, of the article wiil be < 
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i deners or growers of plants, fruits, or flowers ; £ 
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j The following Coloured ! 
I Plates have appeared in 
recent numbers :— 
July 4.—APHELANDRA AURANTIACA s 
ROEZLII 
August 1.—BORONIA HETEROPHYLLA. \ 
September 12.—SIX NEW DAFFODILS. < 
October 3 — LILIUM AURATUM PLA- \ 
TYPHYLLUM SHIRLEY VAR. 
Novembei 14.—ROSE MME. N. LEVA- 1 
s VASSEUR. \ 
January 2.—HYBRID TEA-SCENTED 1 
ROSE IRENE. ; 
January 30. — TUBEROUS BEGONIA - 
COUNTESS OF WARWICK. 
February 27.-A FINE STRAIN OF ; 
<1 GLOXINIAS. < 
April 2. — WISTARIA MULTIJUGA 
iRUSSELLIANA. 
May 7 —CACTUS DAHLIA DAINTY. 
June 4 —CACTUS DAHLIA SPITFIRE. 
July 16.—ROSE LADY BATTERSEA. 
October 1. — GEUM HELDREICHI 
;SUPERBUM. 
October 15.—ROSE HUGH DICKSON. 
( Back numbers may be obtained from the 
publishers, price 2£d. post free. 
| This week we present a Half-tone \ 
Plate oi 
CHRYSANTHEMUM MRS. ERIC 
CROSSLEY. 
) Next week we shall give a Half-tone s 
^ Plate of 
CHRYSANTHEMUM W. GOODING. \ 
| The prize last week in the Readers’ t 
s Competition was awarded to “Elruge,” s 
; for his article on “ The Planting of 
| Fruit Trees,” p. 956. 
Views and Reviews. 
Bible Flowers. 
The most recent book oni Bible flowers 
runs tbo 279 .page®, and has been -written by 
a lady who gives her early experiences in 
collecting flowers which are recorded in the 
Bible as growing in the Holy Land. Asi she 
was then only ai girl, needless to say she 
made numerous mistakes with regard to the 
actual kinds of plants which grow in Pales¬ 
tine, being misled, as many are, merely bv 
the English names employed. The facts of 
her disillusion are recorded in a chapter, en¬ 
titled “ My First Garden.” The second lluap- 
ter, entitled “ My Second Garden,’ would 
seem, to indicate that she ha d. changed her 
place of abode front this country to the banks 
of thiei Jordan. 
In thei third chapter she dives into the 
plants of the Bible, under the title of “ List 
of All the Plants ini the Garden.” Ini making 
out the lists of plants, so far as they are 
known, or supposed to he indicated, she has 
recourse to-a. book of legends, from which she 
occasionally quotes, to as to help in the 
argument of wha,t the various tree® and 
flowers mentioned might, actually have been, 
and is also assisted by present-day evidence 
in Palestine. 
She quotes- Dante, who laid much stress 
upon mystic numbers, such as nine and seven, 
and goes on to show that an alphabetical 
list of the: trees mentioned in thei Bible runs 
to five time® seven, thei various 'specie® being 
given the name® by which they are known in 
our version of thei Bible. The flowersi men¬ 
tioned in, the Old Testament also number 
seven, and further researches show that 
seven of the plants mentioned were spices, 
seven of them fruits, seven vegetables, seven 
steeds: employed aisi condiment® or medicine, 
and lastly seven wild or uncultivated plants 
indicating- desolation -and neglect. 
In enumerating the flowers of the Bible no 
botanical rules are observed, but only the 
parts for which the plants were mentioned. 
For imsitamce, the number given as flowers in¬ 
cluded Rosei, (dacuiphire, Lily, Pomegranate, 
Myrtle 1 , Mandrake and Almond blossom. We 
thus see that five of them according to this 
calculation were shrubs or trees, and two of 
them herbaceous plants. 
* " Bible Flowers," by Rosemary A. Cotes; author of 
'■ Daute s Garden.” With frontispiece and a plan. Methuen 
and Co., 36, Essex Street, Strand, London, 1901. Price 
2s. 6d. nett. 
At the beginning of each chapter dealing 
with certain plants the quotations from the 
Bible relating to them are given, so that 
reapers in studying this book might refer to 
the original for the story, and the circum¬ 
stance® under which the said plants are men¬ 
tioned. Many of the plants mentioned are 
in the writings of those Bible writers who 
wrote, poetry, so that in many cases, like the 
poets of the present- day, they could not have- 
been particular a,s: to the botan'cal identity 
of the plants mentioned. In many oases the 
plants or flowers were merely used for the 
purpose of illustration, and many a, one 
would answer thi® purpose just a® well a® 
another. The Row, Thistle, and ebamrock, 
the national flowers of these islands, might 
be given as- instances in winch it is difficult 
or impossible-to establish the identity of the 
plants- originally intended. 
A® an instance of what we mean, 
we may take the Rose, -which is dis- 
t-ussed in this hook. The Rose of 
Shairon is 'supposed to have been one 
of at least two different plants, namely, Cisi- 
tusi ladauifetrusi, -or Narcissus T'azetta., both 
of which are plentiful and native to Pales¬ 
tine ; and being common flowers, the writers 
may havei alluded' to them simply by way of 
illustration. In many cases the word given 
may havei simply meant flower, in allusion 
to some common flower which the inhabi¬ 
tants of that land could see -about, them. In 
another quotation relating to' “ A Rose plant 
in Jericho,” the writer shows that it most 
probably .was the Oleander or Rhododendron 
of the Greeks-, which flourished in that, 
locality by the side of pools; and stream®, and 
particularly at Jericho 1 . 
In two quotations referring to the Rose 
of Sharon, -mention is made of the fragrant 
gum which would take the reader of course 
to the specie® of Rock Cistus above men¬ 
tioned. Whatever the writers- may have in¬ 
tended, it would be seen that in some in¬ 
stances! at least they referred to Narcissus 
Tazet-ta in such <a> quotation, as “ The desert 
shall rejoice and blossom as- the Rose.” 
Modern travel and discovery would seem to 
indicate that in this, instance at least the 
name Roye was applied to the above Nar¬ 
cissus. A word is also' given in the Bible 
that comas! from. a. root, meaning bulb, and 
this would also' substantiate the opinion that 
the Narcissus in question was intended. A 
quotation here says that no true Roses are 
found except on the Lebanons. We must 
not forget also, the suggestion that the' beau¬ 
tiful Anemones of Palestine might have been 
