January fi, 1006 



HORT1 CULTURE 



An Old English Garden 



A few days ago while turning over the leaves of "Old 

 Time Gardens/' by Alice Morse Earle, I was much 

 interested in reading about the old gardens in New 

 England and in I he pictures that adorn its pages. There 

 are in England of course many "Id time gardens and I 

 was forcibly reminded of this fact only a week or two 

 ago when on my annual chrysanthemum rounds in the 

 neighborhood of our great metropolis. At Brockwell 

 Park, Heme Hill, once a suburban home of a private 

 resident, but now a public park for the use of the inhab- 

 itants of this rapidly increasing and populous locality in 

 the Southeast of London, enclosed within a high, 

 red brick wall, which bears obvious evidence upon it of 

 its great antiquity, is the old English garden belonging 

 to the former holder of the estate. 



Like most of the public parks under the control of 

 the London County Council a gratuitous display of 

 chrysanthemums is held here for some weeks at this sea- 

 son of the year. The plants, all in the full glory of 

 intensive culture, are staged in a conservatory adjoining 

 what was once the family mansion of the owner of the 

 Brockwell Park estate. Passing beyond this towards 

 the lake by way of a gravel path down a gentle declivity 

 the courteous superintendent leads the way to the door- 

 way, festooned in living greenery, and ushers us into the 

 old English garden. 



The visitor who a few moments before was conscious 

 of London's ever-growing capacity for devouring all the 

 green fields and country lanes within its immediate 

 vicinity is new sublimely charmed at the sudden 

 transition from bricks and mortar to the calm repose 

 and delightful solitude of an old time garden that 

 might be a hundred miles away from any town or 

 human habitation, so completely is it walled in from 

 outside appearances. 



In the middle is an eld fountain, fenced in with wire 

 ■ work, the water of which is leisurely splashing down 

 into a circular basin beneath. Around it are bamboos, 

 various tonus of Iris Germanica, ferns, Megasea cordi- 

 folia and the numerous other subjects forming a veri- 

 table wild garden. From the fountain radiate paths 

 that lead in all directions. At this season of the year 

 all the occupants bear evidence of the autumn time 

 and early frosts but enough are left to show the visitor 

 that a rich profusion of herbaceous plants have gaily 

 contributed to the enjoyment of the earlier visitors. 

 Some plants of Chrysanthemum coronarium, both white 

 and yellow, are still in flower, pansies are still strug- 

 gling to bloom. The bright colored Physalis Fran- 

 ehetti lends color to several otherwise dull corners 

 while at various intervals we notice chrysanthemums, 

 mainly of the early flowering type, still in bloom, clumps 

 of pinks that have long since done duty, dahlias, roses. 

 sunflowers, pentstemons, helichrysums and many other 

 flowers suitable for such an old world garden. 



The walls are creeper-clad in great variety and here 

 and there are numerous trees and shrubs, hollies, box, 



yews in variety, various well-known coniferi and others. 

 At unexpected corners are quiet nooks provided with 

 seats, arbors still decked with green, while along the 

 numerous path- are arches at intervals over which 

 tumble in rich profusion clematis and Cobaea scandens. 



In a few days more all will 1 ver for frost severe and 



certain will obliterate every bit of color that is siill 

 remaining. But the gardener ever looks forward and 

 while we are lamenting over the past he is providing bli- 

 the future. Busy hands are planting wall flowers for 

 the coming spring, primroses, bulbs of all kinds and 

 plants that will bloom again when the winter days are 

 o'er. Among the chrysanthemums we see that charm- 

 ing little floral gem. Mile. Elise Dordan, a perfect 

 little ball-like pompon of pale pink. Chromatella, Boi 

 des Precoces, a neat little crimson colored Japanese. 

 Gustave Wernig, Mme. E. Lefort, Mute. Marie Masse, 

 one of the best outdoor kinds: President. Cedo Milli, 

 Ruby King. Wm. Westlake, a very neat, pretty yellow 

 pompon; Lemon Queen, Mme. Pecoul, Julie Lagravere, 

 Anastasia, etc. 



We shake hands with our friend and offer him our 

 thanks and then turn again towards London's dark and 

 busy streets to do our common round, thankful that in 

 this great desert there is such an oasis where we can rest 

 for a few moments and take refreshment that must be 

 helpful to many others beside ourselves. 



Garden Hybrids 



Fifty years ago or so the plant breeder was looked 

 upon as an irreverent meddler with nature, and even 

 botanists complained that hybridizing experiments 

 would only lead to confusion by upsetting the natural 

 sequence of created things. Today all tin.- feeling has 

 changed, and botanists generally welcome the results 

 of hybridism or cross-breeding recognizing that man 

 is only carrying out Nature's own methods under cul- 

 tivation in the garden. Berber! and Darwin of the 

 past, and he Vries of today have shown us that hybrid- 

 ism, once the .-tone rejected of the builders, has now 

 become the head of the corner. The enormous influx 

 of hybrid orchids and id' other garden plants, that is 

 now taking place both in America and in the European 

 continent, has done much to awaken public interest in 

 garden hybrids of all kinds. For many years the rec- 

 ords of progress in hybridizing distinct species or in 

 cross-breeding of carefully selected varieties was con- 

 fined to the horticultural press; but now-a-days we read 

 in newspapers ami magazines of the wonderful doings of 

 Luther liurbank and others, and there seems some dan- 

 ger that popular information will get ahead of the real 

 results. The much talked of plumcot, for exampli — 

 the result of crossing a plum with an apricot — is a 

 fact, but as a new fruit we have still to learn whether 



