126 



The Weekly Florists' Review, 



June 27, 1901. 



writes of the forcing-house, furnished 

 with "internal flues, ranged along the 

 front, or middle, for fircheal, and some- 

 times with a pit for a bark-bed, or dung 

 heat, extending along the middle space 

 within" as a perfect system of heating, 

 and the opponents of the new system 

 contended that brick-flues colored grapes 

 far better than they would color under 

 any other system of heating. Plant 

 culture was imperfectly understood; the 

 great bulk of the gardeners in those days 

 confined the culture of their choice plants 

 to small pots, as they appeared to have 

 but little idea of forming specimens. 

 They were grown on steep stages, rising 

 by successive narrow shelves to near the 

 roofs of the house, and I have heard the 

 late Mr. John Lee declare that he had 

 known cases of gardeners using the 

 shears for the purpose of keeping the 

 growing shoots within due bounds. 



EARLY INTRODUCTIONS. 



In the first twenty years of the century 

 but very few of the leading subjects cul- 

 tivated in our days had been introduced. 

 A few were to be found in gardens, such 



troduced dipladenias. cliTiKlinclnins, ino- 

 ras, allamandas, IkmilmiumII. m , -,\,i:il 

 ericas, epacris, stati.i, -i. |.li:i ti..i i-, .i. 

 which remain to thi> A.t} i li^- !■ .ulinj . \ 

 hibition subjects, witli cucluuis, aiillui- 

 rium, lapageria, etc. The camellia, once 

 the most popular of greenhouse plants, 

 has gone through a period of decline in 

 the public estimation, probably on ac- 

 count of the severe symmetry of its blos- 

 soms which do not commend themselves 

 to the present-day tastes. Still it is a 

 conservatory plant almost without a ri- 

 val. Its ample leafage is always hand- 

 some, and the habit of growth on the 

 whole desirable. It is occasionally said 

 there are signs of revival of the camellia 

 in the estimation of the gardening pub- 

 lic, which is a reasonable assumption. 



THE AZALEA. 



Azalea indiea was introduced in 1800. 

 A. amoena and A. sinensis are later in- 

 troductions. In 1823-1824 appeared A. 

 variegata, A. ledifolia and others, also 

 introductions from China; and by 1850, 

 some twenty or so named varieti&s had 

 been collected, the result of cross-breed- 



No. 3. Outdoor use of Foliage Plants. 



as Allamanda cathartica, Amaryllis re- 

 ticulata (A. vittata is not mentioned, 

 though it would appear Dean Herbert 

 was at work with this quite by 1820), 

 Ixoras alba and coecinea, Gloxinia ma- 

 culata, Plumbago rosea, Vinca rosea and 

 its white variety, and a few others. 



In the forties and fifties the brothers 

 May, Cole, Barnes, Green, Carson, Glen- 

 dining, the brothers Fraser, and others, 

 were exhibiting manj' hard-wooded 

 plants, such as adenandra, aphelandra, 

 chorizema, correa, crowea, cyrtoceras, 

 darwinia, dracophyllum, eriostemon, 

 franciscea, gompholobium, justicia, kalo- 

 santhes, medinilla, metrosideros, Meye- 

 nia erecta, monochoetum, pavetta, poly- 

 gala, sollya, swainsonia, tecoma, tetra- 

 theea, thyrsacanthus, tremandra, etc., 

 that are non- very rarely seen at a first- 

 class exhibition, and which there is rea- 

 son to fear are in danger of being lost 

 to cultivation. With the advent of 

 l%omas Baines and his compeers, came 

 almost a new group of specimen stove 

 plants, for there had been meanwhile in- 



ing. Such names as Ivory, Knight, King- 

 horn, Smith and Lee were among the 

 earliest improvers of the azalea in this 

 country, and it is not to be wondered 

 that it became a very popular conserva- 

 tory and exhibition subject. Of late 

 years the greater part of the new vari- 

 eties have come from abroad, including 

 double forms of great beauty, and a few 

 have originated by means of sports. 

 Mr. W. Carmichael and others have ob- 

 tained valuable hybrids by crossing A. 

 amoena with A. indiea. The azalea bids 

 fair to remain a popular plant for many 

 years to come. There were double-flow- 

 ered varieties as far back as 1850. 



THE CYCLAMEN. 



During the first quarter of the last 

 century, no attempt appears to have 

 been made to improve Cyclamen persi- 

 cum (latifolium), introduced nearly a 

 century before. It would be difficult to 

 state who were among the first to lead 

 the way in improving the type by means 

 of seeding from it. Kendall, of Stoke 



Niwington, was among the first to ree- 



riicTid taking the seed and raising 



Mima's — this he was doing nearly sixty 

 >Mi- ago, and after him came a num- 

 Ih r cjf others, all of whom in some degree 

 assisted the advance. Rich, deep colors 

 have been imparted to the flower ; a large 

 flowered section has been obtained; and 

 also what is known as the "Butterfly 

 Section," with thin plumed and fringed 

 petals; a singular and attractive break 

 which is destined to add additional value 

 to the cyclamen as a decorative agent. 



THE CANNA. 



In the early part of the century Can- 

 nas indiea and glauca were included 

 among scitamineous hothouse plants. It 

 was not until Mr. A. Roger, within the 

 last forty years, used the few cannas 

 then in cultivation in his illustrations of 

 sub-tropical gardening in Battersea 

 Park, that the plant baeame popular, 

 and since then, by the aid of M. Crozy 

 and others, improvements have gone on 

 by leaps and bounds. In the greenhouse 

 and conservatory, and also in the open 

 giound in summer, the canna is an in- 

 valuable decorative subject, with hand 

 some leafage and brilliant blossoms of 

 larger size. 



THE GARDENIA. 



Several specimens of gardenia were in 

 cultivation in the early part of the cen- 

 tury; among them G. florida, introduced 

 from China a half century previously, 

 and G. radicans, which came from Japan 

 in 1804. We have witnessed the gar- 

 denia ranking as the chief Jbutton-hole 

 flower of the rich; and we have seen it 

 hawked in the streets of London at one 

 penny per bloom. Its almost overpower- 

 ing fagrance has perhaps operated to 

 bring about something in the way of 

 neglect. 



THE RHODODENDRON. 



The introduction of Rhododendron 

 javanicum in 1847 gave the introducers, 

 Messrs. Veitch & Sons, an opportunity 

 to employ it for the purposes of hybri- 

 dization, and there has resulted a race 

 of greenhouse rhododendrons, double and 

 single-flowered, that bloom during the 

 autumn and winter as well as in spring 

 and summer, of brilliant and varied col- 

 ors, producing large, bold trusses of 

 bloom. They gleam forth amid the 

 murky days of midwinter with a bril- 

 liance peculiarly their own. 



THE OLIVIA. 



Clivia miniata and the many fine va- 

 rieties raised from it is a product of the 

 latter half of the past century. But 

 little variation has come in the way of 

 color, as the varieties are restricted to 

 yellow and orange shades; the plant has 

 yet a great decorative value, its imposing 

 trusses of bloom being very striking in 

 appearance. 



THE GLOXINIA. 



Few plants have moved on with such 

 enormous strides as the gloxinia. The 

 last sixty years has seen the pendent, 

 flat-mouthed corolla changed to one quite 

 erect and perfectly circular in outline 

 (regular peloria). The first erect form 

 was obtained in 1884, and was named 

 Fyfiana, after the raiser, Mr. John Fyfe. 

 The strains in the present day are so 

 fine, and withal so perfect, that improve- 

 ments appear to be almost at an end. 

 Our cultural methods have advanced 



