6 io 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
September 26, 1908. 
The 
Gountrg Garden. 
The Beauty of 01d=fas>hioned 
Cottage Gardens. 
How beautiful, in the careless sim¬ 
plicity of their culture and in the mag¬ 
nificent picture of bloom, are the cot¬ 
tage gardens in the country, and those 
who walk or cycle out of London on a 
Sunday or for the week-end will, 1 am 
sure, agree with me. One need not go 
far out to see these simple, carelessly 
laid out, brimful of bloom cottage gar¬ 
dens. There is the beauty of the well- 
kept garden, with its gravel paths, its 
closely-cut lawn, its well-arranged beds 
of flowers, its splendid groups of Roses, 
with its magnificent Frau Karl Drus- 
chki, its stately Cleopatra and its bril¬ 
liant Hugh Dickson, and yet there is 
the beauty of the rough and ready cot¬ 
tage garden, unkempt in its appear¬ 
ance, and -yet beautiful in its natural 
beauty. 
It is now the middle of August as I 
write, and a few of my observations may 
be of interest to some readers. Take 
this garden in front of a cottage not 
many miles removed from Mitcham in 
Surrey. There is no Frau Karl Drus- 
cliki, but climbing over the p>orch and 
up the front of the house is the old 
Gloire de Dijon in all its beauty and 
fragrance, and away round the window 
of the front room grows the lovely, 
purple Clematis, seemingly clinging 
tflere covered in a mass of blooms. 
From the door of the cottage' to the 
gate is a path, on either side is the 
flower bed with a row of Rose bushes 
down the centre, not the most modern 
varieties, but one can recognise Mar¬ 
garet Dickson, Gen. Jacqueminot and 
several of the real old-fashioned sweet- 
scented Roses amongst them, and close 
to the road, partly supported by an old 
tree stump, is a magnificent Aimee 
Vibert, one mass of pure white blooms. 
Behind the Roses there are Dahlias with 
sticks for support and the far from ar¬ 
tistic flower pot on top, and again here 
and there a gigantic Sunflower rears its 
head, a great favourite in the cottage 
garden. There are Pansies, Asters, 
Geraniums, a clump or two of Chrysan¬ 
themums, and a bush of sweet Laven¬ 
der. 
Again, one sees the very small front 
garden of the cottage, its four sides with 
narrow borders filled with flowers, and 
in the centre a round bed encircled with 
box edging. Here I noted more of the 
eld-fashioned, yet beautiful flowers — the 
old Sweet William in various colours, 
the Snapdragon in red and yellow, one 
or two of the red Phlox, a few of the old 
Lupines, some Geraniums, and to add 
a little gold to the picture, a few of the 
old-fashioned favourites the Calceol¬ 
arias. By the window, there is always 
a climber of some kind on the front of 
the house, such as the sweetly scented 
Jessamine. 
Anyone, having a fondness for garden¬ 
ing, for trees, plants and flowers,, can 
observes how beautifully Nature deals 
with the old flower favourites in these 
cottage gardens. It is a treat to see the 
purple Clematis smothered with bloom 
as I saw it ; the old Gloire de Dijon 
growing rampantly, and all the other 
Roses, some not knowing what it is to 
Ire pruned, giving beautiful blooms 
year after year. There is great beauty 
in the old-world, old-fashioned country 
cottage garden. 
Odontoglossum wiganianum superbum. 
The bright yellow of the flowers of this 
hybrid recalls that of the natural hybrid 
O. excellens. The sepals are bright yel¬ 
low with a few large crimson blotches on 
the middle with numerous crimson spots 
on the lower half. The petals are broad, 
toothed at the edges, bright yellow and 
marked with crimson over three-fourths of 
the lower half. The lip is of large size, 
expanded and of the same shape as other 
hybrids raised from O. harryanum. The 
colour is white with a crimson band round 
the crest. First-class Certificate by the 
R.H.S. on the iSth August, when shown 
by Sir Trevor Lawrence, Bart., C.V.O. 
(grower Mr. W. H. White), Burford, 
Dorking. 
- Q. W. —- 
Prize Competitions. 
GENERAL CONDITIONS. —Competitors most 
write on one side of the paper only. Regular 
paid contributors to THE GARDENING 
WORLD or other gardening journals are de¬ 
barred from entering, but occasional con¬ 
tributors may compete. The name and ad¬ 
dress of the competitor must appear on each 
article sent for competition. The Editor’s 
decision is final, and he reserves the right 
to reproduce, in any way,t any article or photo¬ 
graph sent for competition. The conditions 
applying to each competition should be oare- 
fully read. 
WEEKLY 
PRIZES. 
A PRIZE OFTEN 8HILLINC8 will be given 
for the best paragraph or short article on any 
gardening subject, such as hints of practical 
interest to gardeners, notes on the propaga¬ 
tion or cultivation of flowers, fruits or vege¬ 
tables, eradication of pests, etc. The para¬ 
graph or article must not exceed a column, but 
value rather than length will be considered in 
making the award. Mark envelopes “ Com*- 
petition,” and post not later than the Monday 
following date of issue. Entries received later 
than Tuesday (first post) will be left over until 
the following week. 
Two prizes of 2s. 6d. will be awarded each 
week for the two best letters, not exceeding 
150 words, on any interesting gardening sub¬ 
ject. 
RESULTS OF 
LAST WEEK’S 
COMPETITIONS. 
Some of the best papers in this competition 
are too long, and we desire readers to keep 
within a column. 
A prize in the Readers’ Competition was 
awarded to “ D. G-. Mclver,” for the article 
on “ Specimen Ch r y-ianthemums,” page 596. 
In the Prize Letter Competition a prize 
was awarded to “Miss Miles,” for the article 
on “A Beautiful Combination” ; and another 
to “Jim” for the article on “Thrips and 
Begonia Gloire de Lorraine,” page 608. 
The Classification of— 
Daffodils 
And Some Good Varieties for Gardei 
Culture. 
Gardeners have classed Daffodils and 
Narcissi according to the size ot theii 
coronas (i.e. trumpets or cups) into three 
groups, namely: (i) The Magni-coronati. 
in which the corona is a trumpet equal lr 
length to the perianth (or petals); (2 
the Medio-coronati, in which the corona 
varies from three quarters to one quartet 
the length of the perianth- and (3) the 
Parvi-coronati, in which the very .small 
corona is almost flat against the periantl 
and shaped like a saucer. 
(1) . There are only two natural specie, 
among the Magni-coronati, namely Nar 
cissus Bulbocodium (the Hoop Petticoa 
Daffodil) and Narcissus pseudo-Narcissu 
(the trumpet Daffodil). Of the latte: 
there are many varieties, divided inti 
three classes according to colour, as fol 
lows:—(a) yellow, in which the corona i 
the same colour or lighter than th. 
perianth; (b) bicolor, in which the coron. 
is yellow and the perianth creamy white 
and (c) white, which are all silvery whit 1 
or very pale citron — as yet there are n< 
pure white Trumpet Daffodils. 
(2) . Medio-coronati contains two natura 
species* namely, Narcissus triandus anc 
Narcissus juncifolius, and many hybrid: 
between the other groups (1) and (3). Th 
three chief classes of these hybrids are :- 
(a) Incomparabiis, in which the corona 1 
between one-third and three-quarters th 
length of the perianth; (b) Barrii, r 
which the corona is from a quarter to one 
third the length of the perianth ; and (c 
Leedsii, which is distinguished by coloui 
the corona being white or very pal 
citron and the perianth white. In th 
other two classes the perianth may b 
yellow or white and the corona yellow o. 
orange. 
(3). The Parvi-coronati group consist 
of (a) Narcissus poeticus, and (b) a cia: 
between Narcissus poeticus.and the rnedi- 
coronati group called Burbidgei. The fol 
lowing are among the best in each clas 
all of them being fairly cheap and goc 
garden vr.: . .es : — 
(1) . I : gni-coronati.—(a) Empero: 
obvalla :■ v a very early Daffodil). (1 
Princep.,; Empress ; Horsfieldii. (c) A 
bicans; Pallidus Praecox (beautiful b 
capricious). 
(2) . Medio-coronati.—(a) Sir Watkii 
Stella Superba; Frank Miles, (b) Co 
spicuus. (c) Minnie Hume; Mrs, Larr 
try. 
(3) . Parvi-coronati.—(a) Pheasan 
Eye; Poeticus ornatus (a month earli 
than Pheasant's Eye), (b) Agnes Barr. 
Besides distinguishing the flowers, tb 
classification is of great assistance in gro,- 
ing Daffodils, for different varieties f 
better than others in certain position 
The Medio-coronati group are the e»siu 
to grow, while the Trumpet Daffodils pi- 
fer a lighter soil than the Parvi-coron 
group. Then, again, of the Trump- 
Daffodils some are much more difficult 
grow than others; the bicolor class a 
easiest, the yellow vary; while the whits 
are very capricious, doing best planted 1 
the grass in a half shady spot. Indef 
