March 7, 1908. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
-nes, both day and night, even when 
ere is no sunshine, give ventilation on 
e top, little or much according to 
bather conditions. This treatment, if 
operly attended to, will produce a light, 
myant atmosphere in the Vinery, which 
absolutely essential to success during 
e colouring period. 
Beckenham. L. S. Small. 
-- 
Cytisus’s 
-- (Brooms) 
Beautiful Hardy and 
Greenhouse Shrubs. 
Cytisus's, or Brooms, as they are com- 
onlv named, are a very pretty and valu- 
)le class of shrubs; free-flowering and 
isy of culture when once established, 
eir bright golden flowers making a 
■autiful contrast to the dark-green stems, 
rme of the dwarf varieties are quite at 
>me if grown in the rockeries, and C. 
iwensis, C. frivaldskiensis and C. Ar- 
iini should certainly have a place there. 
andreanus is the queen of Brooms, 
th its dark crimson and yellow floners 
ren in full bloom. The tall species are 
;tter adapted for the shrubbery, or they 
ake a pretty object on the edge of a lake 
pond, especially if they are kept pruned 
as to form a’ pretty compact bush, 
ime of the old varieties are -rather diffi- 
dt to transplant, but if carefully done 
^establishment can be accomplished, 
id a good plan is to allow the roots to 
and in water a few hours before being 
anted in their new positions. 
Their propagation is a very simple ope- 
tion, and can be effected from seed or 
ittings. A frame in which to sow the 
eds will suit admirably. The soil should 
: fairly good and rather sand} 7 . A hen 
e seedlings attain two inches in height 
ev should be lifted with a ball of soil 
tached to the roots and planted out in 
e nursery bed one foot apart, and by 
e end of two years they will make very 
etty and useful bushes. 
It should be borne in mind that seed- 
rgs from hybrids do not always come 
ue, and for this reason to reproduce 
e -true colour propagation should cer- 
inly be done with cuttings. A cutting 
ay be taken with a heel, or severed im- 
ediately below a joint, and inserted in 
1 cold frame shaded from the noonday 
n. A good method is to make a hole 
th a dibber and fill up with silver sand 
id then insert the cuttings and press 
oderately firm. When roots are formed 
ey can be treated in the same manner 
seedlings. 
A few beautiful varieties are C. prae- 
x, with its creamy primrose-coloured 
iwers, which in May and June is a beau- 
ul object, with its elegant, compact 
'.sh, literally covered with bloom; C. 
bus, a pretty snowy-white variety and 
ite hardy; and C. scoparius, a well- 
town species, which makes a brilliant 
ow in spring. 
All the Brooms are easily cultivated, 
id are worthy of a place in the shrub- 
ry, the rocker} 7 , or the greenhouse. 
Joseph Floyd. 
Westhoughton. 
I 55 
Scueet Peas at fllthorne Lodge. 
Mr. Henry Eckford’s New Farm. 
When readers begin to think of Sweet 
Peas and Mr. Henry Eckford, they will, 
in their mind's eye, betake them to Wem, 
Shropshire, where the business w r as origi¬ 
nally founded, and w r here the experiments 
and the raising of new varieties, as well 
as the offices of the firm are still situ¬ 
ated. Those w r ho wish to see fields of 
Sweet Peas and acres of delicious fra¬ 
grance should make a pilgrimage to Al- 
thorne Lodge, Burnham-on-Crouch, 
Essex, an old Essex farm of something 
like 200 acres, not all devoted to Sweet 
white, maroon, rose, pink, lavender, 
mauve, orange, primrose and a host of 
others shades which the mind can scarcely 
comprehend. Each of these bands of a 
colour represents a named variety, and 
as Sweet Peas are self-fertilising they can 
be grown, not only in contiguity, but even 
in close contact, without any fear of the 
flowers being cross-fertilised or mixed by 
any natural agency. Those who would 
like to see how Sweet Peas are grown 
for providing the seeds w r hich gardeners, 
professional and amateur, delight to grow 
Sweet Pea Henry Eckford. 
EL. Eckford. 
Peas, as many other crops have to be. 
raised and harvested, but, nevertheless, 
forty acres of Sweet Peas conjure up a 
vision of beauty which is difficult to con¬ 
ceive without seeing them and being in 
the midst of the delicious fragrance. This 
firm is close to that part of Essex where 
the land is low and flat, and the river 
toils its way slowly towards the sea 
through meadows that would be under 
water but for the restraining hand of 
man. Essex is essentially a seed-growing 
county, not merely near the seashore, 
but at intervals from the houses outside 
the range of London right away to the 
far side of the county. 
Sweet Peas, as Mr. Eckford and all 
other good cultivators grow them, con¬ 
sist of broad bands af crimson, scarlet, 
all over the country should make a point 
of seeing a field of Sweet Peas, as they 
are grown practically by the father and 
creator of the race. The different varie¬ 
ties, although ranging alongside of each 
other, will sometimes include a colour 
different from the race, which means that 
a rogue has somehow or other got mipced 
with the others. It may, indeed, be a 
good variety and a named one, only out 
of place,.where Sweet Peas are grown to 
colour separately, unless, indeed, it might 
happen to be a sport arising amongst a 
sowing of a recently raised variety. Those 
in charge of the field walk up and down 
the lines of Sweet Peas more or less ever} 7 
dav while they are in bloom and rogue 
out these stray comers. 
About a quarter of a century ago onlv 
