March 18, 1889. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOllTIGULTUBE AND COTIAGE GARDENER. 



18l> 



till the pile is about 2 fret high, and on the top I use small pots, 

 these I cut. I put HiainaRe nncl soil in encli, niiike a neat 

 pyramid, plant witli S. de.nticulata, in a very nboit time it will 

 be perfectly pictn. These pyrnmids have a most beautiful 

 appearance ; I have in my stove six or eight of thetn, which are 

 the admiration of all who see them. In cool houses this 

 Lycopod makes amost beautiful edging. S. denticulata variegata 

 does best in a cool house. I have not had this variety long ; 

 but where grown in a group the effect is charming ; it strikes 

 the eye directly you see it. It is a very free grower. 



S. WUhl' no] a, although old, is one of the most beautiful 

 of Lycopods when grown in a shady part of the house. ]*'or 

 decorating the dinner-table as well as the conservatory it has 

 no rival. 



,?. Lyidlii is also very beautiful. 



Many of the recently introduced species, such as S. Wallichii, 

 S. filicina, S. conferta, and S. Lobbii rival the choicest Ferns in 

 beauty, and the numbers of species now in cultivation embrace 

 a sufficient variety for all the requirements of the l''ern house 

 or stove. — F. V. L. 



MESSRS. VEITCHS FRUIT-TREE NURSERY 

 AT FULHAM. 



It is only a year or two since I saw and admired the grand 

 old orchards and market gardens of the late Mr. Fitch, of 

 Fulham, which had become world-famous. I had often read 

 with wonder of his great fields of Lettuces, Asparagus, &c., and 

 when I saw them I was not disappointed. Now, however, all 

 is changed ; all, or nearly all, that I wondered at is swept away, 

 and a new scene, a new vegetation is over the land. The fine 

 old Apple and Pear trees are all destroyed, and nothing remains 

 but some of their trunks, which have been utilised to form 

 part of a substantial fence which now encloses Messrs. Veitch's 

 fine new fruit-tree nursery — a nursery bidding fair to take as 

 great a precedence in that line as the famed establishment at 

 Chelsea has done in hothouse plants. 



It is out of the way somewhat — down a narrow lane, and 

 near Parson's Green, Fulham, a not particularly aristocratic 

 neighbourhood, about twenty minutes' walk from the Chelsea 

 head quarters, with no glittering signboard or coat of arms to 

 tell the passers-by that the great horticultural firm of Messrs. 

 Veitch & Sons has there established itself, and is carrying on 

 fruit-tree culture with a spirit and energy worthy of its time- 

 honoured and well-earned name. Fruit-tree nurseries are 

 almost proverbial for their roughness and untidiness ; mud 

 and weeds from them are almost inseparable ; yet here is one 

 tidy almost to a fault, everything is so neat and orderly. The 

 roadways and pathways are all gravelled and neatly edged with 

 Bos and other edgings, the trees all so beautifully and so 

 regularly planted each in compartments by themselves, or 

 nearly so, the ground so neatly dug. and scarcely a weed to 

 be seen, that altogether it is quite a pleasure to visit this fine 

 nursery. 



It is not, however, for its neatness alone that I have admired 

 this nursery ; that, although much to be recommended, is only 

 as the setting to the jewel, but, if it does not enhance its 

 intrinsic value, it makes it appear perhaps more valuable than 

 it really is. Nothing, however, is required to set off the valu- 

 able and excellent collections of fruit and other trees here ; 

 they answer for themselves, at least to those who may go to 

 see them, or who may become purchasers. For those who 

 have not the same opportunities I write. 



The stock, mostly young, of Peach, Apricot, Apple, Pear, 

 Plum, and Cherry trees, is in very fine condition. Whole 

 quarters are devoted to one particular sort and one form of 

 training. All of the trees are annually removed, so that the 

 roots are ever short and fibrous, and the plants when sent to 

 their final destination are but little checked ; they may be said 

 to get used to removal. Under this annual-removal system the 

 shoots, it may be, are not of so great a size as those produced 

 from plants that have not been removed, but they are 60 per 

 cent, better. There is a practice in some nurseries in training 

 young trees, severely to be condemned, although it may have 

 the merit of forming handsome-looking trees quickly — that is, 

 the cutting-down strong maiden plants, and training them 

 without transplanting ; such trees are little better than rubbish, 

 they never succeed well when finally planted out. In Peach 

 and Apricot trees this is especially the case. In selecting 

 young trees of these it is not strength or vigour that should be 

 looked for, but cleanness, firmness of wood, uniformity, and 

 the proper situation of the buds for the future formation of 



the tree. A quarter of one-year-trained Peach and Nectarine 



trees of Messrs. Veitch's, probably two thousand plants, is 

 decidedly the finest 1 havo seen for some time. All the trees 

 wore transplanted in the autumn ; they are so nice and sturdy, 

 so strong jet not gross, and so beautifully budded, that, to use 

 a common expression, one could do anything with them. 



The Apple, Pear, and Plum quarters are equally excellent, 

 and the trees on all sorts of stocks, in all forms, shapes, and 

 sizes. Around the edges of the walks, as a bordering for the 

 other trees, are great numbers of the at-present-fashionable 

 cordons, e(iually as good home-grown as any I have seen on 

 the Continent. Those, therefore, who may wish to procure 

 these trees in whatever form they desire — cordon oblique, hori- 

 zontal, vertical — one-armed or two-armed — may here do so to 

 their heart's consent. A novel form of cultivating the Morello 

 Cherry, which I have only once seen before, was pointed out to 

 me — that is, as dwarf Gooseberry bushes, a really admirable 

 plan. How enormous tho ([uantity of fruit that might be 

 grown in a small space in this way ! and we all know how well 

 suited the Morello is to this style of growth. 



Another speciality now receiving Messrs. Veitch's attention 

 is orchard-house trees, and a finer lot than those to be seen 

 here cannot well be desired. Numbers of them are established 

 in pots ; some plunged in the soil in a small orchard house — 

 fine examples they are, too — others plunged in the open quar- 

 ters. An excellent mode adopted by the Messrs. Veitch, or 

 what Mr. lleid, their able manager, calls " preparing the trees," 

 is the planting-out in the open ground the young maiden trees, 

 and there growing them to the size and form desired. They 

 in this way attain tho desired size sooner, and form much 

 stronger and finer trees than those that may be grown in pots. 

 Example — a maiden Peach tree is planted in light but rich 

 I soil in November, and pruned as required in February, the 

 I side shoots pinched it requisite during the summer; such trees, 

 if potted in the end of September, will fruit in the following 

 year. If larger plants are desired they must remain in the 

 ground another season or two. By this plan the pot cultivation 

 I of one season at least is entirely avoided, and Messrs. Veitch's 

 trees treated in this way are very good indeed — fruitful stocky 

 ; trees. 



I Here also Messrs. Veitch have their vegetable trial beds, 

 j deeply interesting in their season. At present, however, there 

 is little to be seen save a few Cabbages, and the early Peas just 

 forming a thin green line. Through this portion of the ground 

 are planted widely apart small pyramidal specimens of all their 

 J collection of Pears, etc., for fruiting. purposes. 

 j Lastly. Although it is rather out of character with the rest 

 ' of my notes, I must perforce notice the really magnificent col- 

 lection of variegated Hollies. Always handsome and pleasing 

 as these plants are, here they are something more ; they are 

 staked and trained with admirable care and skill, uniform in 

 form and size, bushy, healthy, and vigorous, each an example 

 in itself, more perfect by far than our specimen prize Azaleas, 

 What immense variety there is amongst these plants ! Here, 

 every sort being planted in lines or masses by itself, the dis- 

 tinctions are beautifully brought forth, varying in shade from 

 lightest silver to deepest gold. Of the principal I may mention 

 Veitch's Best Silver, Silver Queen, Veitch's Best Golden, and 

 Waterer's Golden. To look at them in the mass — two thou- 

 sand of them together, evenly ranged as to height from 2 to 4 

 and G feet, they are to me a prettier sight than the loveliest 

 ribbon border ever planted. — Abchambaud. 



NEW ZEALAND SPINACH. 



TuEKK have been several statements in your .Journal lately 

 about New Zealand Spinach, all agreeing that it requires heat 

 to raise the seed. I can assure you it will do well with less 

 trouble ; four years ago we raised some in heat and planted it 

 on a border, and ever since we have not sown any, as it comes 

 up in hundreds on the same border. All we do is to clear it 

 away when the frost kills it, and dig the ground when we are 

 digging the other ground round it. About the middle of May 

 the plants begin to appear in abundance, and keep np a good 

 supply for the table until the frost kills them. — T. Dickson, 

 Berkshire. 



SELECTION OF STRAWBERRIES. 



I HAVE proved the good qualities of the following: — Marguerite, 



Sir J. Paxtou, President, Sir C. Napier, Admiral Dundas, and 



Filbert Pine. These varieties are well worthy of notice by 



Strawberry growers. I have grown single fruits of Marguerite 



