512 



The Weekly Florists' Review* 



OCTOBER 19, 1S99. 



They may be summed up completely 

 in one very short sentence. "This 

 English country looks like one great 

 garden," as indeed it does, and is but 

 a natural consequence of long settle- 

 ment, close population, and intensive 

 cultivation of small areas. The desire 

 to grow something is inherent in the 

 people and the humblest cottager 

 avails himself of every square yard of 

 ground allowed him whilst the owner 

 or tiller of broad acres suffers none 

 to go unproductive. 



However, I was not asked to prate 

 about natural beauties that have re- 

 sulted from art working in harmony, 

 and sympathy, with nature, so cease 

 my dissertations along these lines. 



My first visit hortieulturally was to 

 the renowned fruit nurseries of 

 Thomas Rivers & Sons at Sawbridge- 

 worth in Hertfordshire, the object of 

 my quest trees of those two superb 

 early nectarines, namely. Cardinal, and 

 Early Rivers, in the raising of which 

 if the late Mr. Rivers had raised 

 naught else he had left us a valuable 

 living memorial of his work, two 

 grand varieties that prolong the sea- 

 son of this delicious fruit at the most 

 desirable end by ripening more than 

 two weeks in advance of any varieties 

 hitherto extant. 



I saw much that was intensely in- 

 teresting though for this country not 

 of sufficient importance to describe in 

 full detail, in the large orchard houses 

 filled with fruit trees in pots, evincing 

 the most magnificent culture of 

 peaches, nectarines, apricots, chjeriies. 

 plums, apples, pears, etc. In looking 

 round the outdoor fruit quarters too 

 it is worthy of mention that I saw and 

 ate some of the first of the season's 

 ripe plums from the original tree of 

 the variety Early Rivers, which was 

 raised here and is now grown by mil- 

 lions in orchards. The tree, as may 

 be imagined, is one of the cherished 

 denizens of the place and has not 

 lacked care for the label upon it bore 

 the date of its origination, 1834, and 

 still healthy and fruitful in its old 

 age. 



A few hours were spent at Waltham 

 Cross, the main object to secure if 

 possible some Tea roses on their own 

 roots of varieties that have been found 

 to do well here In beds outside during 

 summer and fall. 



There could be no better place than 

 the old long established nurseries of 

 William Paul & Son at the above men- 

 tioned town to refresh one's rose 

 knowledge and generally speaking 

 bring it up to date in rose matters. 

 It was delightful to once more roam 

 over this large nursery where roses in 

 hundreds of varieties are grown in 

 thousands of each, but again this 

 aspect of rose culture is essentially 

 European, and it was with feelings 

 somewhat envious that we surveyed 

 and admired the display, such open a'r 

 perfection of the Queen of Plowe - 

 being denied us by climatic limita- 

 tions on this side of the water. 



Our American rose culture under 

 glass has no parallel in any land, but 

 to see all the variety, and enjoy the 



exceeding fulness of rose beauty, you 

 must go to a rose nursery such as this 

 in the month of July. The picture 

 points a moral too for why with all 

 this existent variety is rose culture 

 here confined to so few kinds that 

 you can number them upon the fingi i> 

 of one hand? 



Mr. Paul still cherishes the now 

 more or less despised camellia and he 

 has a large stock of fine specimens 

 10 to 15 feet in height and in perfect 

 shape, growing in tubs. Some day 

 they will be wanted for so handsome 

 an evergreen flowering plant can 

 hardly be perpetually subjected to 

 disapprobation. As a matter of fact, 

 there is evidence of the camellia's re- 

 turn to popular favor, for large stocks 

 of young plants were seen in plai es 

 where a few years back you could not 

 find a plant. 



Contiguous to Waltham Cross i- 

 Broxbourne, where the Rochford 

 Brothers have covered more acre: 

 than they know of with range upon 

 range of commercial glass. The best 

 part of a day was spent in the Turn- 

 ford Hall establishment, where the 

 presiding genius is Mr. Thomas Roch- 

 ford. I do not use the term "presiding 

 genius" inadvisedly, for someone has 

 defined genius as "an infinite capacity 

 for taking pains," and with all his 

 army of assistants about him you find 

 nevertheless that Mr. Rochford is in 

 close touch with all that is going on in 

 his immense aggregation of glass that 

 covers 1,200,000 square feet, and not 

 only in touch, but as he pilots you 

 through the labyrinth of ranges you 

 cannot fail to note how lightly tie 

 burden of his immense interests rests 

 upon him. 



The general order and neatness that 

 prevailed everywhere, were features 

 here, showing that it pays to be tidy. 

 Even the roads between the different 

 blocks of houses were being sprinkle 1 

 to keep down dust that otherwise 

 would be blown into the houses, with 

 bad results to the immense crops of 

 grapes, a crop by the way, of some 

 importance here, for we gathered 

 from Mr. Rochford that his annual 

 output of these alone is 80 tons. To 

 attempt to give any detailed account 

 of the stock one would need spend 

 several days there taking notes as the 

 result of a cursory glance in the course 

 of a rapid run round leaves the mind 

 in a state of bewilderment. 



Palms and ferns form immense 

 stocks in all kinds and sizes, whilst 

 whole blocks of tomatoes are succeed- 

 ed by chrysanthemums grown in pots, 

 and these followed by bulbous stock 

 innumerable. Mr. Rochford was build- 

 ing himself a small cold storage place 

 80 feet by 60 feet at the time, and bis 

 need of the same was apparent when 

 one saw the huge stacks of cases cf 

 bulbs then arriving. His annual con- 

 sumption of lily of the valley alone 

 is 6,000,000, and this but one item 

 among the many; for the variety of 

 material that "goes" in the London 

 markets knows no limit but that of 

 adaptability. 



Quite recently Mr. Rochford has 



turned his attention to orchids as com- 

 mercial cut flowers, and as with every- 

 thing he takes in hand so with orchids, 

 in a very short period he has got to- 

 gether an immense stock which en- 

 tirely fills a block of about 18 houses, 

 each house nearly 150 feet long. 

 Odontoglossum crispum tops the list 

 to the number of 100,000 plants, whilst 

 a house of Dendrobium Phalaenopsis 

 Schroederianum containing 12.000 

 plants, all hanging from the roof as 

 thickly as it is possible to hang them, 

 was a remarkable example of good 

 culture. 



I asked Mr. Rochford how many 

 names he had on his payroll at that 

 time, which by the way was not the 

 busiest season of the year, and he re- 

 plied over 200. 



After Broxbourne with its acres of 

 glass we take a glance at Woking, and 

 in company with Mr. Anthony Waterer 

 discuss rhododendrons, azaleas and 

 hardy evergreens. Those beautiful 

 golden and silver hollies and many 

 other lovely evergreens which the 

 severity of our climate here denies us 

 seemed even more beautiful upon re- 

 newing acquaintance with them after 

 the lapse of a few years. Mr. Waterer 

 knows well the rhododendrons that 

 will withstand the rigors of an Amer- 

 ican winter, and is well equipped to 

 supply them for nowhere else can such 

 a magnificent and extensive stock be 

 found. 



Whilst going the rounds Mr. Water- 

 er points with pride to the original 

 plant of Rhododendron Catawbiense, 

 introduced from America, and a nobl? 

 specimen it is, 10 feet high, even more 

 in diameter, a perfect mass of luxuri- 

 ant leafage. It is from this species 

 that our hardiest varieties have been 

 obtained. 



A trip to St. Albans concluded the 

 itinerary of my English visits. It goes 

 without saying that a visit to F. San- 

 der & Co.'s establishment is always 

 time well spent, for the place is a 

 model of propriety and good keeping. 

 Orcihids predominate here but the 

 month of August is about the worst 

 in the whole year for finding much in 

 flower and on this occasion was no ex- 

 ception to the rule. The work of 

 raising seedlings, however, goes on 

 apace, and houses filled entirely with 

 seedling plants were full of promise 

 for the future. 



Among the new and rare plants were 

 many of interest and beauty, especi- 

 ally for private collections, but the 

 new all round commercial plant comes 

 rarely. Dracaena Godseffiana with its 

 handsome mottled leaves is quite 

 unique and should find many admirers 

 when its beauty and merit are better 

 known. Pandanus Sanderiana too we 

 may expect to become as popular as its 

 silvery counterpart, P. Veitchii, the 

 white stripe of the last named being 

 yellow in the new variety. 



Two classes of plants to which fine 

 additions have been made at St. Al- 

 bans are begonias and sonerillas. Mr. 

 Sander's aim in begonias was a race 

 that would combine the pretty'leafage 

 of the B. Rex type with more free 



