THE GARDENING WORLD 
November 23, 1907. 
Reading and District Gardeners’ 
Mutual Improvement Association, 
There was an exceedingly large at¬ 
tendance of members at the last fort¬ 
nightly meeting of the above association, 
held in the Abbey Hall. The subject for 
the evening was “Sweet Peas,” and was 
ably introduced by Mr. I. C. House, of 
Coombe, Bristol, a well known and suc¬ 
cessful grower and exhibitor. The lec¬ 
turer referred to the great popularity of 
the Sweet Pea as evidenced by the mag¬ 
nificent shows now held by the National 
Sweet Pea and other societies, and then 
went on to enumerate the many reasons 
why the flowers have fascinated all in¬ 
terested in gardening. The principal 
were the wide range of colour, softness 
and delicacy of flower, adaptability to 
artificial light, habit of growth, lasting 
propensities in water, natural graceful 
pose of the blooms, this easy to arrange; 
and the seed is within the reach of every¬ 
one, and will grow anywhere. Then fol¬ 
lowed details as to culture such as the 
preparation of the soil and position, 
chemical manures, mulching, watering, 
time of sowing, sowing in pots, thinning, 
staking, etc., finishing with giving a list 
of the best varieties in their respective 
colours, dividing them in two sections, 
old fashioned type (closed keel), new style 
(Spencer family type, open keel). 
Mr. House occupied about an hour and 
a quarter in delivering his lecture, yet a 
forty-five minutes sharp and animated dis¬ 
cussion followed, sustained by Messrs. 
Turn'ham, Hinton, Exler, Powell, Alex¬ 
ander, Durward, Fry, Foster, and Harris. 
Many points were debated, one of the 
chief and most important being the extra¬ 
ordinary bud drooping that took place 
early in the season. 
-- 
Chrysanthemum Felton’s Favourite. 
This is a creamy white, decorative va¬ 
riety suitable for market purposes and 
shown by Mr. Philip Ladds, Swanley, 
at the Crystal. Palace. First-class Certi¬ 
ficate by the N.C.S. on the 6th inst. 
Single Chrysanthemum A. Howard. 
This variety is deep rose withrn narrow 
white zone round the yellow disc and in¬ 
clined to be incurved at the tips. It was 
commended by the N.C.S. at the Crystal 
Palace when shown by Messrs. John Peed 
and Son, West Norwood. 
Dust in the Garden City. 
One would have thought that dust in 
the Garden City would have been the last 
thing to look for in what should be a 
model to all other cities in the matter of 
cleanliness. The first Garden City would 
appear, however, to be no more immune 
from the demon of dust than London it¬ 
self. The fact is its atmosphere is being 
polluted by the action of the motor car, 
which is causing every small wayside vil¬ 
lage in the country to suffer from the 
plague of dust. A writer in The Garden 
City, the official organ of the Garden City 
Association, says that a partial solution of 
the difficulty in regard to gardens and 
their contents would be to discover plants 
that would not only survive under a cover¬ 
ing of dust but derive benefit from 
being constantly sprinkled with it. He 
admits that sand and dust are not quite 
the same thing, but that there is a general 
resemblance between the plants that grow 
in sand hills and those that would answer 
the purpose in gardens. In our experi¬ 
ence, however, the plants of sand hills 
and sand dunes by the sea shore are never 
dusty but perfectly clean, as the sand does 
not lie upon the foliage except where the 
latter is buried by the drifting sand and in 
that case the buried leaves soon die as 
would those of their garden relatives. 
The plants on the sand dunes by the sea 
are of a sea green hue, but that is owing 
to the fine waxy covering with which the 
leaves are coated to enable them to with¬ 
stand the aridity of the situation. Such 
wiry plants retain their peculiarities to 
a great extent even when introduced to 
the garden. The succulent Cabbage is 
an introduction from the sea shore, but 
the gardener looks askance upon it when 
its leaves assume an unusually blue tint 
in the garden. After all he falls back 
upon the necessity of having the roads 
swept clean. Even that would not suffice, 
however, as motors will continue to make 
their own dust as well as to raise it in the 
air to fall on gardens and everything else. 
We might take a lesson from Paris and 
have stand pipes fixed along all busy 
thoroughfares so that they could be 
washed down in the early morning and 
the city have its toilet completed in the 
early morning before the inhabitants 
come out to their daily duty. 
Single Chrysanthemum Robjaut. 
The blooms of this variety are soft 
chestnut-red with a yellow centre. First- 
class Certificate by the N.C.S. at the 
Crystal Palace when shown by Mr. H. 
Redden, Manor House Gardens, West 
Wickham. 
•vii. 
Single Chrysanthemum Elsie Matthews. 
The blooms-in this instance are bronzy- 
red with a broad yellow centre and re¬ 
curved at the tips" Disbudded flowers 
measure 4A in. across. First-class Certi¬ 
ficate by the N.C.S. at the Crystal Palace 
when shown by Mr. H. Redden. Messrs. 
J. Peed and Son, West Norwood, London, 
have the stock. 
Chrysanthemum Freda Bedford. 
The above is a new decorative Chry¬ 
santhemum of neat reflexed form and a 
lighter terracotta shade than Mrs. Wake¬ 
field, described on p. 729. First-class Cer¬ 
tificate by the National Chrysanthemum 
Society when shown by Messrs. W. Wells 
and Co., Merstham, Surrey, at the Crystal 
Palace on the 6th inst., and an Award of 
Merit by the R.H.S. on the 12th inst. 
RUSTIC ARCHES. 
No. 39. 
4 ft. across path, 15in. 
deep, 8ft. Sin. high. 
Price. 5/- unvarnished ; 
7/6 varnished. 
GREENHOUSES 
free delivery 12 miles 
of Charing Cross. Where 
pric. d,includes delivery 
and fixing within same 
radius. 
MODEL CONSERVATORIES. 
Framework 3in. by 2in, or 3in. by 3in. Ventilating sashes 
according to size of house. Ornamental ridge and bar«e 
boards, lin. tongued and grooved boards, fixed diagonal^ 
under sill. Painted two coats. Glazed 21oz. glass. Staging 
along side and at end. Lock and oak furniture, complete at 
the undernoted prices:— 
© 
-to bo 
^ 8 
No. 40. Span-roof. 
No. 41. Lean-to. 
s 43 
Delivered 
Delivered 
C 3 
fS 
Sfl 
Delivered 
fixed Delivered 
fixed 
>3 & 
ft. ft. 
S3 
ft. in. 
KS 
ft.in. 
only. 
and 
glazed 
only. 
and 
glued. 
7 5 
7 0 
4 3 
£400 
£4 10 0 
£3 10 8 
£4 8 6 
8 5 
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4 15 0 
5 17 0 
4 0 0 
4 16 6 
9 6 
7 3 
4 6 
6 0 0 
7 4 0 
5 0 0 
5 12 6 
10 7 
8 0 
5 6 
7 0 0 
8 15 0 
6 0 0 
7 » 1 
10 8 
8 6 
5 6 
8 0 0 
9 5 0 
6 10 0 
7 12 6 
12 8 
9 0 
5 6 
8 10 0 
10 7 6 
8 0 0 
9 t 0 
15 10 
9 6 
6 0 
10 10 0 
13 2 6 
9 10 0 
12 3 0 
18 10 
9 6 
6 0 
13 10 0 
16 10 0 
12 10 0 
13 5 6 
20 10 
9 6 
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15 0 0 
18 5 0 
13 10 0 
14 17 • 
25 10 
9 6 
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19 2 6 
23 5 0 
16 10 0 
18 14 0 
30 10 
9 6 
6 0 
24 10 0 
29 17 6 
20 0 0 
22 It 0 
ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUE POST FREE. 
GK W. RILEY, 
HERNE HILL, 8.E. 
OROSS’S V APORISER 
(Nicotine Fumigating Compound). 
Is equal to any preparation in the market, will be found absolutely satisfactory in its results, and 20 per cent, cheaper than current prices. 
_ No 1 Size— 1 Pint Bottle, containing sufficient Vaporising Liquid for 40,000 cubic feet, 16/-each, 
NOTE REDUCED PRICES— No . 2 size-J „ „ „ „ „ 20,000 „ 8/6 „ 
LUNT’S CHEMICAL MIXTURE. 
SOLUBLE IN WATER. 
FOR DEVELOPING CHRYSANTHEMUM FLOWERS. 
A Purely Soluble Compound of a very powerful nature, and should be applied in water as directed. It will develop the flowers six to eight days sooner than 
is otherwise possible without damping. Full Instructions Given with each Package. 
TO BE HAD FROM ALL SEEDSMEN. 
PRICES—In Tine, 1/-, 2/6 and 5/6 each. 
SOLE MANGFAGTITREKS— 
CATALOGUES FREE BY POST ON APPLICATION. 
ALEX. CROSS & SONS, LTD.. 
HORTICULTURAL SPECIALISTS 
& SEED MERCHANTS, 
GLASGOW. 
