January 4, 1908. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
7 
Carnation 
White Perfection, 
Carnation White Perfection. 
Maclaren and Sons. 
must be given to them when growing it in 
an artificial compost in pots. This should 
consist chiefly of fibrous peat with a small 
quantity of fibrous loam and plenty of 
sand. It is of primary importance to keep 
this compost perfectly open, and that may 
be effected by using sphagnum chopped 
up fine, together with a fair quantity of 
charcoal in lumps, varying in size from 
that of a Pea to that of a Walnut. Plenty 
of drainage should be used, and in pot¬ 
ting the crown of the plant should be kept 
well above the rim of the pot. The com¬ 
post should also, of course, rise up in the 
same way, so that when finished the plant 
will appear to spring out of a small 
mound. 
-f+4- 
THE 
Scarlet False Mallow. 
Malvastrum coccineum is a lover of hot, 
sunny conditions, and is just the plant to 
grow with hardy succulents, etc., or in 
drv positions on rockwork, etc., where a 
great many plants fail. Besides this ac¬ 
commodating disposition, the plant has 
other features to recommend it. Of a 
somewhat loose, trailing habit, with hoary 
or bluish-grey foliage, this “False Mal¬ 
low” is well adapted for wall gardening. 
It is, however, in the almost unique 
colouring of the flowers that the greatest 
value of this Mexican plant lies. Every¬ 
one knows how very rare are the flowers 
of a redNColour which do not possess.'' 
tinge or shade of purple or crimson. The 
■plant in question has been described as 
brick-red, but this is, a base libel. If 
bricks were of the colour developed in 
these flowers we should be unable to con¬ 
template a house built of them. The blaz¬ 
ing scarlet-vermilion would blind one. In 
one or two Anemones we find a similar 
shade: A. syriaca and A. fulgens graeca. 
In the flowers of the Mallow-wort, how¬ 
ever, there is a .mixture of colours which 
are blended so as to produce a quite dis¬ 
tinct shade. The plant may be easily 
raised from seeds which are readily obtain¬ 
able. 'No special culture is necessary, ex¬ 
cept that, as stated, a rather dry sunny 
position is most suitable. 
Erica. 
-4-M- 
Flowers and Insects. 
Beauty in flowers has a very real im¬ 
portant purpose. It is intended to attract 
the insects necessary to bring about fer¬ 
tilisation. How it does this was the sub¬ 
ject of a paper read by Mr. F. Field to 
the Brighton Horticultural Society. Yel¬ 
low and white flow'ers may be said to be at- 
the bottom of the list, some - attract 
beetles, others small flies low down in the 
insects’ social scale. It is the blue and 
purple which are accepted as hosts by the 
upper ten, the bees and the butterflies. 
Night flowers, which are fertilised by the 
moths, have no bright colours, lines, or 
spots. Fritz Muller observed a flower in 
South America which changes colour as 
its flowering develops, advancing from 
yellow to orange and purple, and attract¬ 
ing different butterflies day by day. Abun¬ 
dance of perfume is no index" of a flower’s 
social progress. White flowers usually 
possess the advantage in this respect, and 
some of these pander to the vulgar tastes 
of wasps and bluebottles. 
The above is a new American variety 
which well accords with its name as White 
Perfection. The blooms are of beautiful 
outline, large and full, and they are freely 
produced on long stalks which make them 
highly suitable for decorative purposes in 
a variety of ways when cut. If the plant 
is grown strongly, and the flower stems 
disbudded, the blooms come of the largest 
size for the American race which are well 
known for the size, handsome appearance 
and decorative qualities which this race 
possesses. The calyx is strong, and there¬ 
fore not liable to burst during the ex¬ 
pansion of the flower. The petals are 
very shallowly toothed, and in that respect 
approach the standard required by the 
florist in this country. For decorative pur¬ 
poses the British public takes no account 
of fringes in a flower of handsome appear¬ 
ance, and many even like it for this 
particular character. 
Our illustration shows a bunch of 
flowers as exhibited by Messrs. Hugh Low 
and Co., Bush Hill Park, Middlesex, at 
the annual exhibition of the Winter 
-Flowering Carnation Society at Regent’s 
Park on December nth. No particular 
art was employed in the arrangement of 
this bunch, and consequently some of the 
flowers appear somewhat crowded, thereby 
confusing the outline of' each individual 
owing to the absolutely pure white colour 
of the flowers. Neither were they cut 
with very long stems, as every side shoot 
that can be retained is valued by the 
growers for the production of young 
plants, seeing that the variety is yet very 
scarce.' When it made its first appear¬ 
ance in America we felt sure it would 
sr-'vi reach our shores, and in that respe'ct 
we were not deceived. It will make a 
beautiful companion plant to the coloured 
varieties already in this country and will 
even supersede Lady Bountiful in several 
respects if properly treated. The flowers 
are highly fragrant. This variety may De 
stopped up to the middle of September. 
♦ ♦4 - 
MARGUERITES or Paris Daisies (Chry¬ 
santhemum frutescens) are still flowering 
in London suburban gardens and window 
boxes, thus indicating a mild winter. 
Cirrhopetalum makoyanum. 
The flowers of this curious and pretty 
species are produced in an umbel form¬ 
ing a complete circle. The lateral 
sepals are about 1^ in. long and yellow 
marbled with purple. The slender flower 
stems sway with every breath of air. Bo¬ 
tanical Certificate by the R.H.S. on 
November 26th, when shown by Sir 
Trevor Lawrence, Bart., K.C.V. O. 
(grower - Mr. W. H. White), Burford, 
Dorking. 
Chrysanthemum Mrs. J. May. 
The above is a white sport from Mrs. 
Olive Miller, and those who know that 
variety will understand how easy the white 
sport may be grown and also the size the 
bloom attains. The florets are of medium 
width and are closely reflexed. When 
grown for big blooms it varies from 3 ft. 
to 4 ft. in height, bearing foliage to the 
pot. It will make a good market Chry¬ 
santhemum because it is very free when 
grown in bush form. A fine exhibit of it 
was shown at a meeting of the R.H.S. on 
November 12th by F. L. Davis, Esq, (gar¬ 
dener, Mr. J. May), Northaw House, Pot¬ 
ters Bar, in whose garden it originated. 
