■ae 



JODSMAIt OF HOBTICULTUBB AMP OOTTAOE OABOEMZB. 



I Jong B, UM. 



mud passing and going on their way, as if each one had a special 

 mission to perform, something to do besides Hfo's sustenance 

 Jo provide, and all this with an apiiareut enjoyment. 



1 watched them for a few minutes, thou the syringe and cold 

 »oft water thinned their numbers — cut them down lite the 

 plagne or rinderpest. The few left appeared to become larger 

 «nd fatter, as if rejoicing in the rich pasturage ; they were not 

 left there long — no mercy was shown. In a week my Dendro- 

 '6mm was clean. The red spiders never came to it again ; if 

 they ever thought to do so, they were scared by some patriarch 

 Hermit telling the sad tale of the terrible destruction of their 

 " Qobile " city, and the almost total annihilation of the red tribe. 

 Yes, the flood and storm and tempest had indeed swept over 

 them, and the wonder where they had gone to could only be 

 answered by the greater wonder where they had come from. 



So for a short time the poor Orcliid was at peace. It was 

 BO favourite save with its owner, and one thing must be said 

 of it — it was like an ungainly child, attracting attention but 

 iiever admiration. "I do not know what the thing is grown 

 Jot," said the master, " a mere piece of stick — rubbish ! " " It 

 will never flower," said tlie gardener, " but be always just as 

 Bis now." "It is very crooked, let me straighten and tie it 

 up for you," said cousin Walter (just home from school, where 

 ic had taken the first prize for botany, and of coarse he was 

 ■»ery proud), " and allow me to rub olT those strange protru- 

 Berances." I screamed out •' Stop, will you !" but it was all in 

 Tain, for suiting the action to the word, away went clusters of 

 wouldbe buds. "Don't get into a passion, Maud. You will 

 sever make me believe the llowers come before the leaves, it 

 i> against Nature. Wiy, child, the leaves come to feed the 

 flowers !" " You are a dunce, cousin Walter, with all your 

 book learning. It never will have leaves on again ; I am not 

 »are it will ever flower after what you have done. I have cared 

 fcr it, watered it, and kept it clean, and loved it for nearly two 

 jears, all for your great rough hands to knock off." " Non- 

 sense, child, it never meant to flower there, or if it did, why 

 there are lots of buds left. But see, I will show you where the 

 flowers come from — out of the pseudo-bulb down here, and 

 t?ierc is not the least appearance of growth." And cousin 

 Walter pushed it close to a damp wall, and I tried hard to 

 lorget it, not even going to look at it for more than a week. 

 When 1 did go, to my great surpri-e I found it standing in a 

 warm, sunny place in a forcing-vinery. The flower-buds, un- 

 ■ystakeable, were swelling on the old stems, and the leaves on 

 the resting shoots were green, and thick, and leathery. Two 

 or three weeks more and then out it burst into marvellous 

 Veanty, seeming to do all its work one moonlight night. There 

 were five, seven — twelve blooms, all opening as if by magic to 

 the May sun. And then the household flocked out to see the 

 new flower, and the master said, " Who would have thought 

 it!" and the gardener, " I could not have believed it ; but then 

 Tnever had much to do with such things." And cousinWalter 

 Sited his hat to the fair lady flower, and said softly, " Oh ! 

 Ii&nd, I am so sorry I knocked off the buds." And I looked at 

 it, and loved it more, and said, " I will never part with it, for 

 it was a gift," and the giver had gone " far away." So the 

 tn>nt>les of the Dendrobium nobile were at an end. — Maud. 



LOM) LYON PELARGONIUM. 

 Is jonr report of the International Horticultural Exhibition 

 Tcbserve your reporter says : " WTay Lord Lyon f Pelargonium] 

 Aid not receive a first-class certificate we do not know." Per- 

 mit me, as a great admher and a grower in a small way of 

 Pelargoniums, to express my great surprise that this really 

 splendid flower was passed over by the gentlemen who awarded 

 certificates to Alfred and Favourite. To my mind neither of 

 these flowers was at all equal to Lord Lyon. It is possible, 

 foi I only saw the flowers ou the Friday, that Lord Lyon might 

 Dot have had a good bloom on it when the awards were made ; 

 if it had, I am unable to conceive any reason for passing it 

 over. — P. 



Messes. Watered & GnnFBEv's Snow of Americ.vs Plants 

 ja the Eoyal Horticultural Society's garden at South Kensing- 

 ton has just been opened, and will well repay a visit. Besides 

 plants in splendid bloom of the best of the older kinds of 

 Bhododendrons, and others rapidly coming on, there are 

 several seedlings shown for the first time. These, and the 

 «xliiIution B^erally, we hope to notice next week..;;,ii._; -^inr:- 1 



T015ACC0 CULTURE IN ENGLAND. 



TiiK growth of Tobacco for fumigating, ornamental, or other 

 purposes is a subject of some importance to the readers of this 

 Journal, consequently I forward for insertion the following 

 correspondence, the replies to my letters coming from an 

 official source— viz.. Inland Revenue, Somerset House : — 



" Sir, — Can yon inform me how much Tobacco, to be used 

 simply and solely for fumigating-purposes in greenhouses, maj 

 be grown on English, Scotch, or Irish soil without infringing 

 the law ? May the quantity planted exceed one-half of one 

 pole? See sec. 1 of 1 & 2 William IV., c. 13 flS31.) la any 

 person who grows more than the above-mentioned quantity for 

 fumigating-purposes, or ' who sets, plants, or improves to grow ' 

 any Tobacco plants for ornamental purposes liable to a penaltj, 

 and if so, would that penalty be enforced ? — X." 



" Sir, — I am desired to acquaint yon, in reply to yonr in- 

 quiries of the 1st inst., that the growth of Tobacco is absolutely 

 prohibited in the United Kingdom, with thecxceptions of any 

 ]ihysic garden of cither University, or a private garden for 

 chirurgprv', and in this case the quantity planted is not to 

 exceed half a pole. The penalty for planting in any case, with 

 the above exceptions, is £12 for every rod or pole of ground, 

 and the Board would certainly feel it to be their duty to enforce 

 the law in this respect. — W. C" 



•• Sir, — I am much obliged to you for your letter of the 5tii 

 inst., and the information contained therein. The only point 

 I am now uncertain about is whether the word 'chirurgery' 

 includes Tobacco grown simply and solely to destroy insects, 

 itc, on plants in greenhouses or elsewhere in a private gar- 

 den.— X. 



" P.S. — As the subject is of great importance to gardeners 

 and others who do not wish to break the law, would you mind 

 my sending copies of my letters and of the replies for insertion 

 in a .Toumal where the subject is now under discussion, as 

 the law is at present imperfectly understood ? " 



" Sir, — H.aving laid before the Board your further letter of 

 the 7th inst., I am desired to acquaint you in reply, that the 

 exception to the absolute prohibition of the growth of Tobacco 

 in the United Kingdom in favour of a private garden for 

 chirurgery would certainly not extend to the growtli of that 

 article for the purpose of destroying insects on plants in green- 

 houses or elsewhere in a private garden. The Acts containing 

 the prohibition and exceptions are the 12 Charles II., c. 34, 

 15 Charles II., c. 7, and the 1 i: 2 William IV., c. 13. I am to 

 add, that the Board have no objection to the publication of this 

 correspondence if you desire it. — W. C." 



The Acts mentioned will be found referred to at page 287 o'f 

 yoiu: Journal. — X., Surrey. 



NEW BOOK. 



Gardm Architrctnre and Landscape Gardening. By JoHtt 

 AiiTHCR HroiTEs. London : Longman & Co. 

 This is a useful and clever book, but, which was not to be 

 expected, it is also an amusing book. It would be amusing if 

 it were only by the style in which it is written. Gratiano tells 

 us that " there are a sort of men" who so deport themselves 



as if they would say — 



" I am Sir Ornclo, 

 .\nd when I ope my Ups, let no dog bark ! " 



(iratiano, however, did not confess that he was one thus 

 seemingly "dress'd in an opinion of profound conceit ; " but 

 Mr. Hughes does not shrink from such confession, and so 

 enamoured is he of his own conceits, that he blazons both at 

 the commencement and conclusion of his volume, that he feels 

 that no apology is needed for its "apparent dogmatism." 

 Apparent ! Wliy it is dogmatism pure and simple from end to 

 end. We do not intimate that the dogmas are erroneous ; but, 

 then, if we are heretical enough not to believe in some, we are 

 made to feel at the time that if our author were Grand Inquisitor 

 of an architectural Inquisition, we should promptly be the prime 

 performers in an avio da re. 



For example, he begins by saying " Uxiti. that is to say, 

 hrcatith." Now we, not having the fear of the Inquisitor to 

 deter us, venture to say that " Unity is not breadth." There 

 must be unity to render breadth iileasing, but they are not 

 identical. Uiiity may be achieved even in a narrow space. 

 Unity and harm'onv are synonymous in our opinion. Again, 

 in iUufltrating " breadth," Mr. Hughes says that balustrades 

 at the end of a walk should be divided by two piers into three 



