304 



The Weekly Florists^ Review. 



Janiaky 13, 1898. 



by Sir Frederick Fitzwigram, for whom 

 that earlv white chrysaiithennini bears the 

 name of his wife, "Laily Fitzwigrani." 

 But it is not of tlie modern place I wish 

 to write or think of; for when I saw it last 

 it looked to me as if torn to pieces by van- 

 dals. Old-fashioned as this modest man- 

 sion was, it has given hospitality to many 

 illustrious lights of the nineteenth cent- 

 urv. I remember one evening looking 

 from the darkness of the exterior into the 

 brilliant light of the dining room and 

 there seeing the well pleased host, sur- 

 rounded with seven of I^ngland's episco- 

 pal bishops. How rich would be a phono- 

 graphic reproduction of all that was said 

 that night over a dinner that took three 

 hours to discuss. I will wager that the- 

 ology was not-the only subject introduced 

 that evening 



Stepping out of the south door you were 

 on the colonnade, at the west end of 

 which were broad stone steps leading 

 down to more pleasant walks and grounds 

 near which stood two trees which all old 

 countrymen know, but which are 

 strangers to many readers of the Review. 

 They were a grand specimen of Cedrus 

 Deodara and the Cedar of Lebanon, 

 neither hardy in our latitude. Looking 

 south yon saw the park extending perhaps 

 three-quarters of a mile, but liefore the 

 park was reached, a beautiful lawn, 

 studded here and there with clumps of 

 evergreens and masses of rhododendrons, 

 but never hiding the view of the park, the 

 distant copse and beyond all the English 

 channel. 



In the lower left hand corner of this 

 part of the garden was what was called 

 the American garden, but looking back 

 I cannot remember nnich that was Amer- 

 ican excepting a lot of the heather-like 

 cranberry, which sometimes bore a crop 

 of berries and then again as often they 

 did not. Speaking of cranberries, we 

 knew they made nice tarts; we also 

 knew from early infancy that a Nor- 

 folk turkey was superior to any other 

 gobbler from any other region in Havor 

 and general makeup; but we had not 

 then learned that a mixture of the two is 

 a delicious epicurean taste, Our educa- 

 tion was sadly lacking in things of that 

 kind, but the accjuired knowledge has 

 not become such a fixed habit that we re- 

 fuse turkey where forethought has neg- 

 lected to provide cranberry .sauce. 



We will retrace our steps, not 

 that we have to, for 1 could lead vou by 

 many interesting ])aths, but this is the 

 most direct to the other gla.ss structures. 

 A few steps north of the ancient conserv- 

 atory we enter a walled garden. No such 

 gardens will ever be built in this country. 

 They were most likely constructed there 

 for two reasons. First, on account of the 

 excellent place the brick walls offer for 

 the training of the peach, nectarine, 

 apricot, cherry, and other fruits. (The 

 first of these three delicious fruits will 

 not ripen without the shelter and warmth 

 given by the wall.) And perhaps second- 

 ly to entirely exclude what was once 

 called ground game, now called vermin, 

 hares and rabbits, which are a terrible 

 scourge to the gardener, where fruits and 

 vegetables are grown. These fruit trees 

 are trained again.st these nine or ten foot 

 walls with the greatest of skill. Many a 



florist, now in business here, will remem- 

 ber how many a frosty morning he had 

 to leave his bothy and march off with his 

 bag of nails and strips of cloth to train a 

 peach tree and he had to know how to do 

 it. As well set Harry Bunyard to play a 

 match of billiards with a Sexton as set a 

 greenhorn pruning and nailing an apricot. 



I said these walled gardens would 

 never be built here, the reason simply 

 being a geographical one. What that 

 northern climate in summer needs we 

 have in abundance. Sometimes a peach 

 tree nailed hard and fast to a brick wall 

 here would, in Jidy and August, blister 

 and burn; besides that it is not necessary 

 that fruits ripen as standards. Remem- 

 ber, young reader, you are in the land of 

 fruit. If you were in the tropics you 

 could not be more so. You might there 

 get some fruits that are scarce here, but 

 for a large variety, the most wholesome 

 kinds, and the cheapest cost you are in 

 Pomona Paradisia. When you don't 

 have the wholesome fruits of our north- 

 ern temperate zone, you have the pro- 

 ducts of our southern states, the fruits of 

 the Pacific slope and the exotic offerings 

 of the West Indies at your door. There 

 are millions and millions of little boys 

 and girls, and big ones, too. in the Briti.sh 

 Isles, who never in their lives ta.sted a 

 peach, a melon, or a grape, and to whom 

 even an apple, pear or plum would be a 

 luxury never to lie forgotten. Money 

 will produce and buy anvthing, and so in 

 these islands that 1 am writing about, the 

 favored few have at their command the 

 most exquisite and luscious pineapples, 

 grapes, peaches, plums, etc. , that the world 

 produces, for unstinteel wealth and sci- 

 ence are brought loTiear in their produc- 

 tion ; but to the million they are as much a 

 rarity as the eye tooth of an Kgyptian 

 mummy. The two fruits pre-eminently 

 good and largely distributed among the 

 cottage gardens of England, Scotland 

 and Ireland, are the strawberry and 

 gooseberry- (climate again cool and 

 moist). However, there are not enough 

 of these humble fruits or anvthing else 

 to go romid among the masses, so large 

 groups of the people are satisfied with 

 oatmeal boiled, and for a variation, and 

 sometimes to save time, not boiled; while 

 another large section feast for seven days 

 of the week on potatoes and salt, and for 

 a change potatoes without salt. And 

 thev are mostly a hardy, industrious peo- 

 ple, who never having tas'ed luxury, 

 don't miss it. Where any people can 

 bask in the sim and .sustain life on a 

 bunch of grapes or dress in a fig leaf and 

 live on a banana, a feeble race will be 

 found, but where the land must be 

 ploughed dea-p to produce a crop, mount- 

 ains must be climbed to the slerile hill 

 farm, a race of people will be the result 

 that when opportunity is given them, 

 they are leaders of men. 



But I must return to the garden. Be- 

 fore I leave these peach trees let me say 

 that besides the very wealthy, the small 

 boy who has the right to prowl round 

 these gardens comes in for his share. A 

 peach or nectarine that has fallen is 

 bruised and would not be fit to send ' 'to 

 table,'' so if the small boy should find a 

 few fallen he is not committing grand 

 larceny by stepping lightl}- on the border 



and off with his prey; and if none have 

 fallen through perfect ripeness, a gentle 

 jar on the stem of the tree w'll accentuate 

 the fall. That was wicked but such is 

 a boy's appetite for fruit. What beau- 

 ties these were! A "Royal George" or 

 "Grosse Mignonne," much larger than 

 a base ball, with ro.sy cheeks from which 

 was ready to burst forth a gla.ss of uijfer- 

 mented wine. It must have been at sight 

 of fruit like this that the lamented 

 Charles II, when handing one from the 

 walls of Hampton Court gave utterance 

 to that immortal classic "She's a peach " 



On entering the iron gate of this 

 walled garden before 3'ou was a gravel 

 walk perhaps 200 feet long, bordered 

 with little box edging, and back of that 

 on each side a Hower border of some 

 twelve feet, then an evergreen hedge and 

 behind that on right and left were garden 

 squares devoted to Dr. Johnson's favorite 

 flower, the cauliflower, the celery, 

 artichoke ai d other useful things, but 

 yon, the visitor, were not aware of these 

 plebeian plants and herbs. You were con- 

 ducted up this broad walk on each side 

 of which was the first attempt at what 

 we called the ribbon lorder. I am not 

 sure it was called anything for fearof be- 

 ing conventional, for nothing in name or 

 deed was liked of that kind. It is so 

 many years ago that I forget the different 

 combinations. There was the blue 

 lobelia and of course the Calceolaria 

 aurea lloribunda, a scarlet geranium. 

 Salvia patens, Cerastium tomentosum. 

 The echeveria and sempervivum were not 

 yet in use' and the gay little weeds, the 

 alternanlheras, ifknown were not in use. 

 But a very different plant was, and one 

 vou seldom see here, Crassula coccinea. 

 Back of these rows of plants came dahlias 

 (grown properly, as Granger Bros., of To- 

 ronto, do them) and then hollyhocks, in 

 the days before the disease was known. 



At the end of the walk you entered the 

 house built especially to accommodate 

 the Yictoria Regia. This house was an 

 octagon with a basin of water thirty feet 

 in diameter. It was built about 

 1S50, perhaps before. This giant nym- 

 pl'.LL-a of the equatorial waters of America 

 was discovered in 1S3S. All of you have 

 seen it growing, but only a few of you 

 have seen it well grown. From the first 

 attempt in this octagon it was an unqual- 

 ified succe.ss, leaves attaining in diameter 

 the width of more than .seven feet. Many 

 a little bo}' and girl have I seen standing 

 on one of the broad leaves, but always a 

 tea tray between their little feet and the 

 leaf. This plant was a much greater 

 novelty in those days than now. In the 

 pool at the side were specimens of the 

 Nelumbium speciosum. In this country 

 this majestic water plant grows or would 

 grow in almost any pond, and I am told 

 has spread out and taken possession of 

 manv acres on the margins of lakes in 

 Indiana. There was a clump of the 

 papyrus (Cyperus papyrus) which we 

 called the Egyptian buUrush, and which 

 we informed the visiting pork butcher 

 and his family were the rushes that Moses 

 was hidden in. If we had told them that 

 the ancient Egyptian and the modern St. 

 Louis bowlers used it as a writing mater- 

 ial to record their scores on, they would 

 also have believed it. 



