^10 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTURE AND COTTAGE GABDENER. 



( October 28, 1869. 



ab»U hope in the opriag to report progress. I imagine that we 

 •shall fiud these plant |>rotectors among the most useful inven- 

 tions of recent date in gardi'Ding. I saw them at Mr. Itivers's, 

 at fiiwbridgeworth, in August, and was then struck with their 

 usefulness for Urape-growiog, and since then have been led to 

 «N3 that they will be most useful for many purpoees, amongst 

 others that which I have indicated above.— !>., Deal. 



MR B. S. WILLIAMSS VICTORIA NURSERY. 

 If proofs were wanted of the increase of a taste for plants, 

 the proRrcBB of the Locdon nurseries within the last few years 

 would be one of the best ; for that progress has not been con- 

 ianed to one nursery, but has extended to nearly all, and al- 

 thongh a few old, well-known establishments have disappeared 

 to make way for the rapid developn^ent of London, the ma- 

 jority have only receded before the advance of buildings to 

 reappear, at a distoncb from their former sites, on a greatly 

 eularged scale, and wiili appliances more complete; while in 

 the case of others which have not been removeJ, subsidiary 

 tinrseries have been added at a distance from the principal one, 

 to which they serve a? tteders. Mr. Williams, however, has 

 ■uot been diiven from his old place of Iiusiness by bricks and 

 mortar, for he still keeps it on ; but probably foreseeing the 

 Ukelibood of its being built in if not built over, and finding, 

 too, that its area was too circnmfcribed, he formed, five or six 

 years ago, his Victoria Nursery opposite the Archway Tavern 

 at the foot of Highgate Ilill, making it his principal place of 

 bnsiness. Here no adaptation of existing means conld be 

 attempted ; everything had to be made new, and on a scale suit- 

 able to Mr. 'Williams's requirements, and everything from 

 beginning to end was carried out according to Lis ideas, and 

 under his own Bupervi.^ion. Of the conservatory and show 

 bouse, soon after its completion, an illustration was given in 

 the seventh volume cf this .Journal, and its general appearance 

 aow is not essentially different, thongh many of the specimens 

 are very much larger, it is better filled, and tlie arrangement 

 has been altered. The value of the plants in this house alone, 

 105 feet by 45 feet, is at a rough estimate £3000. It is essen- 

 tially a house of fine-foliaged plants, a home of grace and 

 beauty, but not of Cukur, for thongh flowering plants are not 

 •excluded, they play but a subsidiary part. Here we find noble 

 tree Ferns, black-trunked and aged, with graceful wide-spread- 

 ing fronds, stiff-formed Yuccas and Dracrrnas, and Tulms with 

 their fan-shaped leaves f pread out as it were to shield from the 

 burning rays of a tropical sun. And these are mingled with 

 dark glossy-leaved Camellias, with brighter-coloured Ferns, and 

 with a multitude of other plants, affording by their foliage a 

 diversity of form and hue. Most of the larger specimens are 

 arranged in pairs on the opposite sides cf the main walk lead- 

 ing past the fountuin, and the most reraarkable are Cbamairops 

 kutnilis and Fortuni, DracTna lineata 11 feet high, l)raca!na 

 indivisa, Dicksonia antarctica, Cyathea princeps, C. Smithii, 

 Cycas revoluta, and Xncca aloifolia vaiiegata, at le-ist "i feet 

 high. A pair of the Dicksonia is especially remarkable ; one 

 plant has a trunk measuring 1 foot 9 inches in diameter at the 

 base, and standing abuut 13 feet high from the ground, while 

 there is another specimen with not quite so thick a stem, but 

 of even greater height. Cordyline indivisa latifolia is another j 

 noble plant ; its leaves ore 6 inches broad, and have the orange 

 midrib very conspicuous, but whether these are permanent 

 characters or peculiar to the individual, remains to be seen ; 

 in the former case the plant cannot fail to be sought after. 



The collection of Yucc.if. Agaves, Ueaucarncas, and Dasy- 

 lirioDS along the side shelves is large, and many c f the speci- 

 meas are remarkable either from their size or rarity. Yucca 

 Stokesil having a broad band of yellow in the centre of each 

 leaf. Yucca albo-spica, I'.isjliricn acrotrichnm and plumosnm, 

 Beauearnea longifoli* with leaves 7 feet long, a very graceful 

 plant for a pedestal in front of mansion in summer, and Beau- 

 caroea plauca having a large woody rootstock, are a few of the 

 most noticeable, but there are many more remarkable in various 

 xrjBpects. There are, betides, on the shelves numerous speci- 

 men Azaleas and Heaths out cf flower, and near the entrance 

 a very large specimen of Eucharig amazonica, invaluable for 

 ita eontinaous flowering, and for cutting for bouquets, and near 

 tills, in the body of the house, are four fine specimens of Yucca 

 qnadricolor. Of Lapagetia rosea, two largo balloon-trained 

 specimens were producing a few flowers, and there were several 

 large Camellias equally grown and well set with buds, especi- 

 ally Bonomiuia and a pair of the old Double White. 



The stove containa a splendid collection of Palms, several 

 of them being very large specimens, and new introductions are 

 amply represented ; Areca Baucri, Areca VerrchnlTulli, Dion 

 edule, Livistonia altissima, and some others being very large, 

 while younger plants are numerous. 



The next house contains tine-foliaged and flowering stove 

 plants, consisting of Allamandas, Ixtras, a fine pair of Tbeo- 

 phrasta imperialis, Crotons, a noble Cycas circiualis showing 

 for fruit, and with some of the old fruit remaining ; Mussisnda 

 frondosa, always producing its white calycine leaves ; Uonde- 

 letia spccicea just coming into flower, and which will probably 

 prodnce a snccessicn of bloom np to Christmas or later ; and 

 Anthurium Scherzeriannm, which, though exhibited at almost 

 every large show this year, is still in bloom. Here too, in 

 flower, is Posoqueiia longiflora, which is bnt rarely seen, bat 

 deserves to be more generally cnliivuted on account of its ex- 

 tremely fragrant white flowers, which are produced io long suc- 

 cession, the plant under notice having borne two sets of flowers 

 since May, and is now forming buds for a third bloom. Rogiera 

 gratissima, a recent introduction, appears to be valuable from 

 : its frequent flowering, and its flowers are pink and sweet- 

 ! scented. There are in this house excellent plants of Gold and 

 j Silver Ferns, some of which are grown en sections of the 

 trunks of tree Ferns, an idea of Mr. Williams's ; and elsewhere 

 I he has Ferns of other kinds grown in the same manner, so as 

 to allow of the fronds drooping more than they would naturally 

 do, and, according to taste, forming miniature tree Feins or 

 not. At the back are a number of specimen Rondeletias, 

 Francisceas, &a., at rest, and on shelves a large stock of young 

 plants, both flowering and fine-foliaged. 



Next comes the cool fernery, in which are remarkably fine 

 specimens of Cibotium princeps, C. regale, a new and hand- 

 some species, having the caudex covered with shining fawn- 

 coloured hairs ; Lomaria cycadxfolia, with a thick trunk 2 feet 

 high ; Gleichenia spelnncse, the rare Cyathea contaminans, 

 besides a large stock of young plants of various genera. 



A house filled with Heaths, Camellias in IB-pols, and New 

 Holland plants, with a large collection of the Amarjllis tribs 

 under the stnge.", is the next in order ; then fuUow the Orchid 

 houses, containing one of the richest collections to le feund in 

 the c 'Untry. Mr. Williams's success as an Orchid-grower and 

 exhibitor is so well known, that comment on that subject is 

 unnecessary, and, as will be readily supposed, his collection, 

 including not only the newest introductions and many un- 

 usually large masses of older ones, is in perfect health. Tbo 

 time of our visit was not the most favourable for seeing a large 

 number in flower, still in the cool house La>lia elegans and gigan- 

 tea, Lycaste Skinueri, Cattleya labiata and Lodigeeii, several 

 OJontoglossnms, as Alexandra*, bictonense, and grande ; Onci- 

 dinm oruithorhynchum, with small sweet-scented lilac and 

 orange flowers ; the fine new Dendrobium Bensonife ; and Maxil- 

 laria venusta with pure white and orange flowers, besides some 

 other species, were blooming, and some of them profusely. 

 Oncidiura obrjzatnm, which is very useful on account of its 

 free flowering ; Meoospinnlium sanguineum, with pretty little 

 red flowers ; and Miltonia Clowptii, conspicuous by its rich 

 violet lip, were the most noticeable of the remainder. 



Next is the East India Orchid house, containing a very large 

 collection of Vandas, Aorides, Saccolabiums, and Cypripedinms, 

 many of them unusually fine specimens, and all in excellent 

 conditior. Flowering in this house were Angi.-ccum eburnenm, 

 several Cypiipediums, and the pretty Dendrobium triadeninm, 

 which, thongh the spikes are small compared with those of 

 other species of the same family, has the merit of blooming 

 several times a-year. Phala^nopsis rosea, another Orchid valu- 

 able for its continuous flowering, was also in bloom. Of Pba- 

 l.-caop.Ms Schilleriana, though not in flower, yet ornamental by 

 its foliage, there was a remarkably fine specimen, and large 

 plants of Aorides, some, as A. Larpenlas and crispum, being 

 in flower. At the end of this house, as there is with most of 

 the others, a portion is cut off as a potting house, where plants 

 can be cleaned, repotted, and otherwise attended to in a suit- 

 able temperature without exposure in a thed <r unhealed 

 polling house. These little potting compartments are further 

 utilised for the culture of collections of plants nol numerous 

 enough to require one of the larger houses to themselves. 

 Thus, in the case of the East India Orchid house, the potting 

 compartment is occupied with a collection of those curiona 

 North American Pitcher Plants, the Sarraccnias, and shut oS 

 from these by a kind of tiffany screen, is a beautiful collection 

 of Filmy Ferns, among which Todea intermedia and snperba, 

 and the rare Trichcmaues reniforme, were conspicuous. 



