424 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTIOULTURF  AND  OOTTAgE  GAREENER. 
Noveinter  4,  ISD?. 
has  for  so  long  veiled  with  beauty  the  trellis  on  the  outhouse  gable. 
There  are  flowers  on  it  yet,  and  these  mingle  with  the  curious  seed 
vessels,  some  rough  and  green,  others  brown,  and  open  to  irnlade  their 
hosts  of  seeds.  Some  Gladioli  there  are  in  the  middle  of  October, 
and  with  Colchicums  and  Crocuses  these  keep  up  the  succession  of 
bulbous  plants. 
Not  many  of  the  Meadow  Saffrons  are  left  now,  and  the  best  of 
these  are  the  double  forms.  The  ivory  white  blooms  of  Colchicum 
autumnale  album  fl.-pl.  are  nearly  over,  and  are  tinged  "with  the  jrale 
shade  of  pink  with  which  they  are  suffused  as  they  begin  to  fade ; 
but  three  other  double  varieties  of  the  same  species  are  attractive,  and 
increase  more  rapidly  than  the  white  variety.  Very  pretty  are 
C.  a.  roseum  plenum  and  C.  a.  striatum  plenum.  The  former  is  of  a 
soft  rosy  purple,  and  the  latter  almost  the  same,  but  with  broadish 
white  stripes  down  the  segments.  These  double  forms  are  later  than 
the  single,  and  although  liable  to  fall  to  the  ground  more  readily,  are 
more  lasting  in  their  beauty.  Another  exceedingly  ^rretty  Meadow 
Saffron  is  C.  Parkinson!  or  Chionense.  If  C.  Sibthorpi  is  the  largest 
ol  the  chequered  varieties,  and  the  most  beautiful,  C.  Parkinsoni  has 
its  beauties  as  well.  It  has  sharp,  pointed  segments,  and  the 
chequering  very  marked ;  so  much  so,  indeed,  as  almost  to 
be  formal  in  its  character.  Its  great  defect  is  its  erratic  ways  as 
regards  time  of  blooming.  It  seldom  blooms  with  the  others, 
but  makes  an  effort  to  flower  with  the  Snowdrops  with  but  poor 
success,  the  blooms  being  comparatively  poor  and  colourless.  This 
season  it  was  unusually  obliging,  and  favoured  me  with  some  flowers 
in  the  end  of  September.  These  were  in  perfect  character,  and  made 
one  more  willing  than  before  to  put  up  with,  and  almost  overlook,  past 
disappointments. 
Very  delightful  now  are  the  Michaelmas  Daisies.  They  have 
been  later  than  usual  this  year,  and  it  is  unusual  for  us  to  have  the 
favourite  A.  novi  belgii  laevigatus  at  its  best  in  the  middle  of 
October.  The  old  name  of  longifolius  formosus  dies  hard,  and  this 
pretty  little  Aster  is  more  frequently  found  with  this  name  attached 
than  with  that  adopted  by  the  Aster  Committee.  Very  soon  we 
shall  be  so  overwhelmed  with  seedling  Slarworts  of  great  beauty  that 
the  need  of  names  will  be  less  than  before,  and  we  may  have  to  content 
ourselves  by  selecting  from  those  we  see  in  flower.  A  nice  bunch  of 
charming  flowers  from  Mr.  Wolle^-Dod  is  before  me  as  I  write. 
They  are  exceedingly  beautiful  in  their  varied  shades  from  white  to 
purple  and  blue,  and  comprise  sonie  varieties  of  the  highest  worth- 
It  may,  after  saying  the  foregoing,  seem  almost  contradictory  to  speak 
of  a  named  variety,  but  as  things  are  one  cannot  very  well  dispense 
with  doing  so. 
The  one  now  chosen  is  Aster  Coombe-Fishacre,  not  a  particularly 
pleasing  name,  but  appropriate  as  indicating  that  it  originated  in  the 
garden  of  Mr.  T.  Archer-Hind,  a  well-known  lover  of  flowers.  The 
flowers  are  not  very  large,  and  are,  perhaps,  a  little  stiff-looking  in 
themselves.  The  colour  is  what  is  called,  with  the  latitude  allowable 
in  colour  nomenclature,  “  flesh,”  and  is,  if  not  highly  effective,  very 
pleasing.  The  height  of  the  plant  is  about  3  feet,  or  a  little  more  with 
u»  in  the  North.  The  habit  of  Aster  Coombe-Fishacre  is  one  of  its 
strong  points.  It  is  very  graceful  and  of  really  elegant  habit,  and 
covers  itself  profusely  with  flowers.  It  had  just  begun  to  flower  in 
the  beginning  of  October  in  a  partially  shaded  place,  and  gives  promise 
of  flowering  for  a  very  long  time. 
Another  good  Starwort,  of  an  entirely  different  character,  is 
A.  puniceus  pulcherrimus,  which  is,  perhaps,  rather  tall  iu  growth  for 
some,  being  about  5  feet  high  in  ordinary  soil.  It  has  very  pretty 
blush-white  flowers  of  large  size.  These  have  the  florets  prettily 
incurved.  As  a  garden  plant,  its  appearance  is  enhanced  by  the 
contrast  of  the  deep  crimson  stems  with  the  colour  of  the  flowers. 
There  are  also  some  exquisitely  coloured  varieties  of  the  novi-belgii 
class.  Among  these  may  be  named  Ella,  soft  mauve ;  Janus  and 
John  Wood,  white  ;  Nancy,  pale  blue  ;  and  Daphne,  deep  blue.  The 
number  of  beautiful  Starworts  is,  however,  almost  inexhaustible  and 
certain  to  increase  from  the  ease  with  which  they  are  raised  from  seed, 
liaising  seedlings  takes  a  large  space  unless  a  number  of  odd  corners 
are  at  hand,  and  by  far  the  larger  number  are  so  like  existing  sorts  as 
not  to  be  worth  naming.  It  is  safe  to  say,  however,  that  our  gardens 
can  be  still  further  enriched  in  this  way,  and  we  may  hope  to  see 
these  hardy  and  beautiful  flowers  do  more  than  in  the  past  to  give 
the  autumn  garden  additional  attractions  for  the  admirers  of  flowers. 
A  touch  of  frost  even  seems  to  brighten  some  of  the  Michaelmas 
Daisies.  Few  flowers  are  improved  by  such  unkindly  treatment,  and 
we  prize  them  all  the  more  when  they  are  left  to  us  when  others  of 
our  favourites  have  succumbed  ito  the  power  of  advancing  winter. — 
S.  Arnott. 
ESTIMATES  OF  GARDENINGS. 
The  comparatively  young  will  never  think  exactly  the  same  as 
the  relatively  old,  and  it  is  no  doubt  well  that  this  should  be  so. 
There  is  a  disposition  on  the  part  of  those  who  have  worked  long  and 
well  to  think  there  are  no  tim<-8  like  the  old  times.  They  reflect  with 
pleasure  on  the  triumphs  of  the  past,  and  not  without  good  reason* 
Had  they  not  ripje  Grapes  in  March  with  flue-heated  houses,  the  result 
of  often  giving  all-night  attendance  to  the  fires  ?  Did  they  not  also  cut 
Cucumbers  in  the  same  month,  and  ripe  Melons  in  May,  without  any 
fire  heat  at  all.  but  from  frames  solely  heated  by  fermenting  materials? 
And  did  they  not  with  admirable  devotion,  consummate  judgment,  and 
unwearied  attention,  not  for  one  year,  and  then  starting  again  with 
young  stock  (as  with  Chrysanthemums,  so  splendidly  pjroduced  now), 
but  for  a  dozen  years  and  more,  succeed  in  building  up  those  mag¬ 
nificent  hardwooded  specimen  plants,  then  so  prized,  but  now  almost 
gone,  and  some  of  which  might  have  been  ruined  by  one  mistake  in 
watering  ? 
The  veterans  are  entitled  to  dwell  on  those  achievements  with 
pride,  indeed  it  is  creditable  to  them  to  do  so.  Moreover,  they  find 
pleasure,  not  unmixed  with  regret,  in  pointing  to  periods  in  the  distant 
past  when  they  believe  that  national  enthusiasm  in  horticulture  in  its 
broadest  aspiect  was  greater  than  it  is  now,  and  the  achievements  of 
the  skilful  Avorkers  in  it  were  not  less  worthy  of  their  kind  than  those 
in  a  different  way  are  worthy  at  the  present  time. 
fl’hen  no  amount  of  argument  can  make  the  old  masters  feel  that 
wall  trees  as  a  whole  did  not  reflect  evidence  of  greater  care  and  skill 
in  the  olden  time  than  those,  as  a  rule,  display  noAv;  nor  can  they  be 
convinced  that  the  supply  of  fruit  grown  for  home  use  \A’as  not,  so  far 
as  varieties  and  means  })ermitted,  quite  as  good  as  is  the  case  in  these 
modern  days ;  indeed  they  do  not  hesitate  to  aver  that  the  Grapes 
and  Peaches  at  the  famous  ChisAvick  sIioavs  of  the  long  ago  Avere 
better  than  those  at  the  Crystal  Palace  in  the  beginning  of  last 
month. 
It  may  be  that  these  veterans  Avere  too  generous  in  their  estimates, 
formed  at  a  time  when  they  were  young,  and  Avith  minds  more  im¬ 
pressionable  than  now ;  and  if  that  is  so,  is  there  not  the  same 
p  issibility  of  the  not  yet  old  and  ardent  Avorkers  of  to-day  being 
similarly  impressed  with  tlie  products  of  the  times  which  they  worthily 
aid  in  paroducing  ? 
It  seems  natural  for  the  young  to  be  sanguine,  and  the  middle-aged 
to  be  satisfied  that  nothing  better  has  been  done  in  the  piast  in  gardening 
than  is  achieved  now.  This  ouuht  certainly  to  be  the  case,  and  it 
doubtless  is  in  some  things,  but  not  in  all.  The  requirements  of  the 
present  differ  from  those  of  the  past,  and  a  compiaiiscn  cannot  be 
draAvn  betAveen  the  efficiency  of  gardeners  as  a  body  in,  say,  the 
forties  and  the  nineties.  There  were  splendid  men  in  the  old  days  as 
there  have  been  down  to  the  present  time,  and  if  we  were  to  say 
there  are  more  thoroughly  competent  gardeners  noAv  than  could  be 
found  in  the  “  forties  ”  that  would  be  no  particular  compliment  to 
the  craft.  There  ought  to  be  more,  because  of  the  increase  of 
population,  of  wealth,  and  the  increased  apDpreciation  of  the  products 
of  the  garden. 
While  it  may  be  said,  with  regret,  that  many  fine  old  gardens 
have  fallen  from  their  high  estate,  infinitely  more  of  varied  extent  and 
character  have  come  into  existence,  Avith  the  result  that  the  industry 
of  horticulture  in  the  aggregate  is  greater  than  it  has  ever  been 
before.  This  means  that  the  number  of  gardeners  is  greater  than  at  any 
time  anterior  to  the  prresent  generation — or  men  empJoyed  as  such. 
Of  thorough  gardeners  there  is  no  lack — men  of  high  character,  bright 
intelligence,  and  conspicuous  compretency.  In  the  whole  Avide  Avorld 
the  superiors  of,  if  equals  to,  the  best  British  gardeners  cannot  be  foutid. 
But  Avhat  of  the  fringe  ?  Is  this  not  of  necessity,  under  the  circum¬ 
stances,  also  greater  than  at  any  time  in  the  Avhole  long  history  of 
gardening  ? 
The  next  thing  to  recognise  is  the  existence  of  .something  that  is 
not  infrequently  overlooked  in  estimating  the  real  merits  of  both  past  and 
