60 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
July  28,  1898. 
exports  of  flowers  reached  448  tons  in  1893,  but  that  the  climax  was 
reached  in  1896,  when  514  tons  were  imported ;  and  he  goes  on  to 
say:— 
‘  It  is  worth  while  to  pause  for  a  moment  to  consider  what 
514  tons  of  flowers  represent.  The  steamship  owners  roughly  allow 
eight  boxes  to  the  cwt.,  or  160  to  the  ton,  the  weight  of  the  boxes 
being  included.  According  to  this  calculation,  82,240  boxes  of 
flowers,  which  in  the  case  of  Narcissi  contained  twenty-one  to  fifty- 
one  bunches  (of  twelve  flowers)  per  box,  and  in  that  of  Anemones 
seventy-two  bunches,  were  sent  out  of  the  Scilly  Isles  in  1896.  One 
grower,  who  appears  to  have  larger  boxes  than  those  referred  to 
above,  says  that  he  packs  thirty-six  to  100  bunches  in  a  box  ;  but  the 
precise  accounts  kept  at  Tresco  have  enabled  Mr.  T.  G.  Brown,  farm 
manager  to  Mr.  Dorrien-Smith,  to  favour  me  with  the  statement  that 
the  number  of  bunches  of  flowers  of  all  kinds  averages  about  7000 
to  the  ton  of  flowers  and  boxes,  and  514  tons  would  therefore  be 
equivalent  to  about  3,598,000  bunches. 
“The  flower  crop  in  1897,  although  a  good  one,  was  not  so  heavy 
as  that  of  1896,  and  the  exports  fell  off  to  476  tons.  For  the  present 
year  they  will  be  much  smaller  in  quantity,  the  crop  having  proved 
the  worst  ever  grown,  taking  yield  of  flowers  per  acre.  Various 
reasons  for  this  comparative  failure  are  given,  chiefly  in  relation  to 
climatic  vicissitudes  in  the  two  preceding  years.  Certain  captious 
critics  attribute  it  to  bad  cultivation;  but  a  very  smali  amount  of 
consideration  should  have  been  necessary  to  convince  them  that  a 
sudden  deficiency  after  years  of  abundance  cannot  be  mainly  the 
result  of  faults  on  the  part  of  the  growers.  That  there  are  bad  as 
well  as  good  cultivators  of  bulbous  flowers  in  the  islands  is  admitted 
by  Scilly  authorities ;  but,  as  even  the  best  growers  had  a  poor  crop 
this  season,  there  must  have  been  some  cause  apart  from  cultivation 
to  account  for  the  deficiency.” 
From  bulbs  we  are  introduced  to  tubers  in  the  form  of  early 
Potatoes,  and  find  how  great  are  the  advantages  of  the  salubrious 
island  for  their  production,  though  not  of  course  for  supplying  “  cut 
flowers,”  though  the  digression  is  more  than  pardonable — acceptable, 
and  this  is  what  we  read  : — 
“  Mr.  Durrien-Smith’s  home  farm,  apart  from  his  extensive  grazing 
ground  and  the  private  gardens  and  shrubberies,  is  about  100  acres  in 
extent  and,  with  the  hothouses  for  market  produce,  is  under  the 
management  of  Mr.  T.  G.  Brown,  to  whom  I  am  indebted  for  a 
great  deal  of  information.  About  40  acres  are  under  flowers,  and 
30  acres  under  Potatoes.  There  are  only  three  tenants  in  Tresco  1 
they  grow  3  acres  of  flowers  and  5  acres  of  Potatoes.  As  evidence 
of  early  vegetation,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  on  March  15th  the 
most  advanced  Potatoes  on  Mr.  Dorrien-Smith’s  land  were  so  nearly 
mature  that  Mr.  Brown  expected  to  begin  raising  them  at  the  end 
of  the  month.  rnfnrtunateljr,  the  blizzard  which  occurred  a  few  days 
later  cut  the  tops  badly  in  exposed  situations.  Still,  I  have  since 
been  informed  that  some  tubers  were  dug  at  the  end  of  March  and 
sold  at  4d.  per  lb. — no  doubt  the  earliest  open-air  Potatoes  raised  in 
England  or  the  Channel  Islands  this  season.  The  first  week  in  April 
is  not  an  unusual  time  for  beginning  to  raise  new  Potatoes  iii  Tresco, 
which  is  a  fortnight  earlier  than  any  of  the  other  islands  in  its 
production.” 
The  Commissioner  is  next  found  at  Spalding,  in  Lincolnshire, 
discussing  with  Air.  White  the  cost  of  bulbs  and  planting  and  culti¬ 
vating  an  acre  of  ground  with  Narcissi.  This  spread  over  three 
years,  which  is  thought  to  be  fair,  is  shown,  on  the  data  supplied,  to 
be  about  £266  per  annum  ;  and  therefore  the  annual  returns  would 
need  to  he  large  to  cover  expenses  and  afford  a  profit.  Mr.  White 
we  are  informed,  commenced  growing  flowers  for  sale  about  twelve 
years  ago,  and  now  has  4,140,000  Narcissi  bulhs  on  24  acres  of 
land.  It  is  also  said  : — 
“  Mr.  White  usually  begins  to  pick  forced  flowers  in  the  first 
week  of  January,  and  finishes  at  about  the  end  of  February  or 
early  in  March,  when  the  open-air  flowers  are  ready.  To  show  the 
difference  of  time  between  the  flowering  in  Rcillv  and  in  Lincolnshire, 
it  may  be  pointed  out  that  whereas  Mr.  White  began  to  pick  Emperor 
and  Empress  only  on  April  7th  or  8th,  the  whole  of  the  former  and 
about  half  of  the  latter  had  been  marketed  from  Tresco  by  March  14th. 
Again,  the  old  double  Daffodil  was  ready  in  Scilly  at  least  two  months 
before  it  was  at  Spalding  this  year,  and  Ornatus  one  month  earlier. 
Moreover,  the  first  open-air  flowers  in  Scilly  were  picked  quite  as 
soon  as  the  first  forced  flowers  at  Spalding.” 
The  article  concludes  with  a  reference  to  the  farm  of  Messrs. 
Richard  Bath  &  Co.  of  Wisbech,  of  which  fifty  acres  are  devoted 
to  flowers,  but  the  foreman  at  the  time  of  the  visit  was  short  of 
20,000  bulbs  of  the  beautiful  Narcissus  Barri  conspicuus  for 
planting.  A  field  of  120,000  Roses  seems  to  have  attracted 
attention,  plus  52,000  Carnations,  40,000  Clematises,  80,000  Dahlias, 
and  15,000  Cannas.  Mr.  Bear  is  almost  equal  to  anything  in  the 
way  of  collecting  and  narrating  facts,  but  his  subject  appears  to 
have  about  overwhelmed  him,  and  he  has  to  defer  its  completion 
till  the  September  issue  of  the  Journal  he  has  served  so  well. 
Then  follows  Fruit,  and  we  wish  him  further  success,  as  we  are 
convinced  he  will  not  knowingly  mislead,  nor  allow  his  facile  pen  to 
descend  into  the  catchpenny  regions  of  sensationalism. 
IN  THE  TIME  OF  THE  ROSES. 
Think  not,  gentle  reader,  that  the  province  of  the  able  writers 
who  have  enrolled  themselves  under  the  banner  of  the  red  Rose  and 
the  white  is  to  be  invaded  by  an  outsider.  The  royal  flower  needs  all 
the  devotion  of  her  followers,  and  those  whom  she  favours  best  serve 
no  other  mistress.  Thus  the  writer,  who  owns  allegiance  to  many 
flowers,  is  but  one  of  the  host  of  admirers  looking  on  with  delight  as 
the  pageant  passes  before  our  rejoicing  eyes  in  the  heyday  of  the  year. 
And  what  a  pageant  it  is  ! 
The  very  hedgerows  are  aglow  with  red  or  white  or  creamy  Roses. 
In  cottage  gardens  the  old  summer  Roses  have  not  yet  put  off  their 
short-lived  beauty.  In  border  mingled  with  other  flowers,  in  Rose 
plot  by  themselves,  on  wall  or  tiellis,  clambering  up  trees  or  ov>-r 
houses  and  wreathing  them  with  the  glory  of  colour  and  grace,  in 
palace  gardens  down  to  those  of  the  lowliest  cot,  in  all  is  the  Rose. 
Purest  white,  most  delicate  blush,  deepest  icd,  pale  pink,  rich  ruby, 
palest  cream,  deepest  yellow  ;  who  can  describe  these  colours,  shades, 
and  tints  ?  Who  these  varied  forms  from  tiny  single  blooms  to 
flowers  of  voluptuous  doubleness  ?  At  this  time,  with  our  eyes  and 
our  thoughts  full  of  the  beauty  of  the  Rose,  it  will  not  be  strange  if 
our  words  of  other  flowers  be  more  constrained  and  less  jubilant.  Yet 
it  need  scarce  be  so  if  we  view  aright  the  dazzling  colour,  the  graceful 
form,  the  graces  of  flower  and  sweetnesses  of  perfume  yielded  b}’  the 
other  flowers  around.  Each  has  a  charm  of  its  own,  and  each  a 
power  to  give  a  delight  peculiar  to  itself. 
Were  it  not  a  time  of  Roses  it  might  well  be  called  a  time  of 
Bellflowers,  for,  in  many  forms,  the  Campanulas  rear  towering  spires 
of  bloom  or  carpet  the  ground  with  sheets  of  little  blossoms.  None 
is  more  delightful  than  the  Peach-leaved  Bellflower — Campanula 
persicifolia — which  in  its  many  varieties  is  ever  welcome  in  our 
gardens.  Yery  beautiful  are  some  of  the  large-blossomi  d  forms,  abd 
it  is  interesting  to  see  what  varieties  come  among  seedlings.  Even 
one  patch  of  such  self-sowm  from  two  named  respectively  C.  p.  lilaeina 
semi-duplex,  and  C.  p.  alba  semi-duplex,  both  having  semi-double 
floweis,  has  given  several  distinct  seedlings.  Among  these  seedlings 
there  is  one  with  very  long  and  large  bright  blue  flowers — longer  and 
larger  than  those  of  the  deservedly  praised  C.  p.  Backhousei  or  alba 
grandiflora.  Some,  like  the  parents,  are  semi-double,  but  the  greater 
number  are  single.  In  a  corner  where  plants  of  C.  p.  Backhousei 
were  allowed  to  seed  is  found  a  short-cupped,  broad-flowered  variety, 
but  blue  with  a  distinct  shade  of  red  in  its  colouring,  and  beside  it 
another  short-cupped  form,  but  of  pure  white.  These  varieties  may 
be  increased  almost  indefinitely  in  course  of  time.  What  I  should 
like  to  have  would  be  more  with  “  cup-and-saucer  ”  flowers,  like  the 
coronata  forms,  so  that  the  shades  of  colouring  might  be  more 
numerous.  Among  other  Bellflowers  none  is  more  pleasing  as  this 
is  written  than  C.  latifolia  macrantlia  alba,  with  its  tall  spikes,  or  the 
beautiful  dwarf,  C.  G.  F.  Wilson. 
In  the  little  water-pools  the  Nymphmas  are  delightful  as  they 
open  their  flowers  to  the  bright  sun  of  the  present  day.  Charming 
plants  they  are,  and  where  natural  water  is  not  at  command  a  little 
tank  constructed  of  cement  will  enable  one  in  almost  anv  sunny 
garden  to  grow  one  or  more  of  the  exquisite  new  Water  Lilies  we 
owe  to  the  genius  and  skill  of  M.  Latour-Marliac.  In  a  little  pool, 
which  is  fringed  with  Marsh  Marigolds,  Ladies’  Smocks,  Sikkim 
Primroses,  Irises,  and  other  plants,  so  that  it  looks  as  if  Nature-made, 
shows  in  beautiful  contrast  to  the  pure  white  flowers  of  the  little  Bog 
