January  19,  1899. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
41 
FINEST  SELECTED  STRAINS 
eftOF  TESTED  GR0WTH<=i3 
BARR’S  SEED  GUIDE  FOR  1899 
IS  NO'W  READY, 
And  will  he  Forwarded  Free  on  Application. 
BARR’S  SEED  GUIDE  contains  a  Select  L’st  of  the 
besD  Vegetable  Seeds  and  most  beautiful  Flower  Seeds.  It 
is  full  of  Practical  Hints,  and  will  be  found  invaluable 
to  Gardeners,  Amateurs,  and  Exhibitors.  Sent  free  0.\ 
APPLICATION. 
BARR’S  21/-  COLLECTION  OF  VEGETABLE 
SEEDS  coni/ains  a  liberal  assortment  of  the  following- 
useful  vegetables  :  Beans  (Broad  and  French  Be.ins),  Beet, 
Borecole,  Broccoli,  Brussels  Sprouts,  Cabbage.  Capsicum, 
Carrot,  Cauliflower,  Celery,  Colewort,  Corn  Salad, 
Cucumber,  Cress,  Endive,  Herbs,  Leek,  Lettuce,  Melon, 
Mustard,  Onions,  Parsley,  Parsnips,  Peas,  Radish,  Salsify, 
Savoy  Cabbage,  Scorzonera,  Spinach,  Tomato,  Turnip,  and 
Vegetable  Marrow. 
Other  Collections  of  Barr’s  Vegefable  Seeds,  5  6,  7  6, 
12  6,  42/-,  63/- and  105/-;  These  Vdlleclions  sent  carriage  paid 
on  receipt  of  remittance.  Full  particulars  on  application. 
BARR’S  CHOICE  FLOWER  SEEDS. — Our  Catalogue 
contains  a  Select  List  of  all  the  most  beautiful  Annuals  and 
Perennials.  Special  Collections  for  all  purposes,  and  many 
Sterling  Novelties. 
All  Seeds  sent  Carriage  Paid  on  receipt  of  remittance. 
BARR  Si,  SONS, 
12  &  13  King  Street.  Covent  Garden,  London 
Nurseries  :  LONG  DITTON,  SURREY 
(Surbiton  Station,  S.tV.  Railway). 
NOVELTIES 
RAISED  AT 
WINDSOR  AND  OSBORNE. 
It  is  Messrs.  CARTERS’  privilege  to 
offer  the  following  new  and  ehoiee 
produetions  tothe  notice  of  gardeners 
and  private  cultivators. 
BRITISH  QUEEN  MELON. 
Raised  and  name  1  by  Mr.  Owen  Thomas,  Supt.  of 
the  Royal  Gardens,  Windsor.  Awarded  the  First- 
Class  Certificate  R.H.S.  Pronounced  by  the  Com¬ 
mittee  to  be  not  only  the  very  best  white-flesh 
melon  ever  submitted,  but  the  lichest  flavoured  of 
any  colour.  Awarded  the  Gold  Medal  of  the  Royal 
Caledonian  Society  in  association  with  other  fruit 
exhibited  by  H.M.  The  Queen. 
In  sealed  packets,  price  2  6  and  3  0  each,  post  free. 
ROYAL  OSBORNE  CUCUMBER. 
A  valuable  cross  between  tlic  Roebford  and  an  im- 
in-ovCd  type  of  Telegraph,  raised  and  named  by  Mr. 
George  INobbs,  Head  Gardener  to  H.M.  the  Queen 
at  Osborne.  In  our  opinion  it  is  one  of  the  best  all 
the  year  round  varieties  introduced  in  recent  years. 
In  sealed  packets,  price  2  6  &  3  6  each,  post  free. 
ILLUSTRATED  CATALOGUES,  POST  FP.EE. 
CARTERS, 
Ubc  Queen's  Sec&smen. 
Only  Address — 
237,  238  &  97,  HIGH  HOLBORN,  LOfIDON. 
GUINEA  COLLECTION 
OF 
VEGETABLE  SEEDS 
CONTAINS— 
16  Pints  Peas  (including 
A1  Marrowfat  and 
Late  Queen) 
6  Pints  Broad  Beans 
2  Pints  Dwarf  French 
Beans 
1  Pint  Scarlet  Runner 
1  Packet  Asparagus 
2  Pkts.  Beet 
2  ,,  Borecole 
3  ,,  Broccoli 
2  ,,  Brussels  Sprouts 
3  ,,  Cabbage 
1  ,,  Capsicum 
4  ozs.  Carrot 
2  Pkts.  Cauliflower 
2  ,,  Celery 
1  ,,  Couve  Tronchuda 
4  ozs.  Cress 
3  Pkts.  Cucumber 
2  ,,  Egg  Plant 
2  Pkts.  Endive 
1  ,,  Gourds 
1  ,,  Kohl  Rabi 
2  ,,  Leek 
3  ,,  Cabbage  Lettuce 
2  ,,  Cos  Lettuce 
2  ,,  Melon 
6  ozs.  Mustard 
4  ,,  Onion 
2  Fkts.  Parsley 
2  ozs.  Parsnip 
4  ,,  Radish 
1  Packet  Salsafy 
2  Pkts.  Savoy  Cabbage 
2  ,,  Scorzonera 
6  ozs.  Spinach 
.6  Pkts.  Herbs 
2  ,,  Tomato 
4  ozs.  Turnip 
1  Packet  Vegetable  Mar¬ 
row 
For  other  Cjllectious  from  10/-  to  100/-  see  our  Seed  Lis’ 
Orders  for  1  eget.4BLf.  Seeds  of  20/-  and  upwards  se 
„  ,  ,  ,,,,  Carriage  Paid. 
Orders  for  Flower  Seeds  of  3/-  and  upwards  free  by  Poi 
LIST  will  be  sent  post  free  on  application  to  tbelr 
Offleesat  OVERVEEN,  nr.  H.4ARLEM,  HOLLAND, 
or  to  their  General  Agents, 
Messrs.  MERTENS  &  CO., 
3,  CROSS  laAME,  JtONHON,  E.C, 
No.  969.— VoL.  XXXVIII.^  Third  Series. 
The  32nd  Edition  is  Now  Read7. 
200  Pages.  150  Illustrations. 
PRICE  SIXPENCE,  POST  FREE. 
(By  Parcel  Post — it  is  so  large). 
EVERY  AMATEUR  SHOULD  POSSESS  A  COPY. 
CONTFNT^  — The  Best  Seeds  and  Potatoes  for  Garden 
^  and  Farm ;  also  Descriptive  Lists  of 
Carnations,  Chrysanthemums,  Dahlias,  Fuchsias,  Gladioli, 
Herbaceous  Plants,  Pansies,  Peiargonium.s,  Phloxes,  Pinks, 
Pyrethrums,  Roses,  and  Violas,  with  fall  Cultural  Directions 
for  each.  - - 
Blackford.— “The  postman  with  your  Spring  Catilogue 
and  Competitors’  Guide  was  my  ‘first  foot’  this  morning. 
It  is  without  doubt  the  best  and  most  useful  publication  of 
any  I  come  across,  and  should  be  in  the  hands  of  everyone 
possessed  of  a  bit  of  garden  ground.  Thanks!  Thanks! 
Thanks  !  ’’— J.  IMcG. 
Dundee.— “The  woodcuts  in  your  Catalogue  are  excel¬ 
lent,  aud  altogether  it  is  be.autifully  got  up.’’— A.  H. 
Leicester.' — “I  received  your  Catalogue  with  tiianks. 
It  is  a  very  useful  ivork  for  amateurs,  and  none  should  be 
witliout  it.’’ — H.  S. 
Wellington.— “  I  have  tp  thank  you  very  kindly  for 
your  beautiful  Catalogue  you  sent  me.  It  is  the  most 
compact  and  instructive  Catalogue  I  ever  read.’’— J.  P. 
Apply  Early,  and  please  mention  this  paper. 
An  Abridged  Edition  of  our  Catalogue  can  be  had 
I'REE  ON  ABPLICATION. 
BOBBIE  CO., 
SEED  GROWERS  AND  1  hORISTS  TO  THE  QUEEN, 
ROTHESAY. 
Jaiti[inil  flf 
THURSD.4Y,  .JANUARY  19.  18).). 
THE  JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  can  he  obtained 
from  the  Office,  12,  Mitre  Court  Chambers,  Flee’  Si  , 
London,  post  free  for  a  Quarter,  3/9.  Editorial 
communications  must  bo  addressed  to  8,  Rose  ■ 
Hill  Rd.,  Wandsworth,  S.W, 
A  LOST  CHORD. 
FENN  AND  FUNDUS. 
Ij'',  on  patfc  490,  I  re.id  “An  Old  Provincial” 
ari.dbt,  between  bis  lines,  he  seems  to  miss  the 
lively  “  humour”  that  sbinel  and  sp.irkkd 
throug’i  our  clden  time  compositions  in  tl;c  Cottaeje 
Gardener.  I  should  find  it  difficnlt  to  liarp  on 
the  same  string  over  and  over  again,  wiili  fine 
phrases,  long  drawn  out  in  correct  caligrapbic 
flourish,  Avbicli  distinguish  for  tlic  most  part  the 
gardening  columns  of  Caa  Journal  of  Horticulture. 
No  “eminent  editor”  would  pat  me  on  the  back 
for  an  elegant  flow  of  rhythm  ;  nor,  lacking  the 
rest,  would  it  help  me  to  carry  out  experiments 
towards  keeping  a  “  pot  a-hoiling”  for  the  future. 
“  An  Old  Provincial  ”  has,  however,  resuscitated 
for  me  a  convers.ition  that  happened  in  Piccadilly 
with  my  good  old  friend  Donald  Beaton,  a  short 
time  before  his  death,  in  regard  to  “humour.” 
Beaton— Ave  thought  him  recovered,  or  nearly  so, 
from  a  sad  affliction — was  wen  ling  his  way  from 
Chiswick  Gardens  where  he  had  attended  a 
meeting  of  the  R.H.S.  Committee.  I  saw  ho 
appeared  agitated  and  perturbed,  and  inquired  of 
him  what  had  happe.ucd.  “  They  have  been 
telling  me  my  writing.!  arc  ail  ch  tf,”  “Oh,”  I 
answered,  “  is  that  all ;  come  and  have  some  refresh¬ 
ment  with  mo  (we  wore  just  opposite  the  then 
Wellington  dining-rooms,  Avhere  I  was  bound  for); 
it  is  only  their  way  of  talking,  a’ld,  after  all,  where 
can  you  fail  to  find  a  modicum  of  chaff  in  a  good 
sample  of  ivheat?”  He  smiled,  but  ray  gloss 
scarcely  satisfied  him.  He  did  not  enter  the 
restaurant,  for  lie  said  he  had  not  long  before 
partaken  of  (d;o  then)  R.H.S.  hospitality.  Poor 
Donald  !  I  never  saw  him  again,  for  he  was  not 
long  afterwards  interred  in  Kingston  Churchyard, 
to  rest,  to  sleep,  and  be  out  of  it  all. 
He  was  endowed  with  rare  “  humour,”  was 
Donald,  and  had  expressed  chagrin  to  me  before 
because  of  the  editors  striking  out  his  choice  bits 
— ^of  course  wrongfully.  Alas  !  too,  for  my  plieno- 
raenal  self!  However,  in  the  midst  of  fighting  he 
hanged  to  writing.  I  want-  to  describe  for  you 
now  a  tussle  I  h  ive  had  amongst  tlie  “  Mums.  ’ 
No.  2625.— VoL.  C.,  Old  Series. 
