AptU 1, 1376. 1 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



255 



and will bear a considerable amount of hardship. Generally 

 speaking they are a moisture-loving race, but should on no 

 account be exposed to stagnant water. They are very usefal 

 where cut flowers are in request, their lovely flowers and 

 beautiful foliage commending them for all purposes that flowers 

 can be put to. I find that good drainage, a moderately moist 

 exposed situation on rookery or border, a compost of good 

 loam, sandy peat in equal proportions, a little leaf mould, with 

 a little coarse sand and grit is essential to their well-domg. 

 They require a depth of 18 or 20 inches of soil to develope 

 thGir cli&.r9iCf)Gr 



If required for pot culture they can be kept plunged in any 

 eut-of-the-way corner when they have matured their growth ; 

 but thoy should be attended to with water when they require 

 it. Epimedium rnbrum is to my mind one of the foremost of 

 the train, it is of free growth when well established, and in 

 bloom it has a grand appearance; E. sulphurea is a very 

 desirable plant, especially on the rockery ; E. pinnatum elegans 

 affords a fine contrast, and is one of the best of the family; 

 E. maoranthum is a very desirable plant, and when well 

 established presents a pleasing feature on the rockery or in 

 the border; E. grandiflora should be in all herbaceous borders. 

 This variety affords a grand contrast in colour among the 

 red and yellow kinds ; being white makes it still more desir- 

 able. E. alpinum should have a moist situation at the foot 

 of the rockery. It will also do well in a moist peat bed. 



Fig. 60.— Epimedium alpinum. 



The Epimediums are a widely distributed but interesting 

 famOy, increased chiefly by division after they have made 

 their growth. I have not been able to secure seed from any 

 of the kinds. The early blooming varieties are well adapted 

 for the spring garden, grown in pots and plunged where they 

 are required, to be removed when the bloom is passed. Some- 

 times they suffer from frost in the spring. I find that a good- 

 sized pot inverted over them is asuffioieut protection. — Veritas. 



THE VICTORIA AND PAEADISE NURSERY, 

 UPPER HOLLOWAY. 



Mk. B. S. WiLLUiis' establishment is known as amongst the 

 first of its kind in this country. Its prominent standing has 

 been secured by the thorough knowledge of its proprietor in 

 practical plant-culture, and the enterprise he has brought to 

 bear in commercial horticulture. His policy has not been to 

 bury himself in his nursery and, hermit like, to shut himself 

 out from the world, but he has by every legitimate means 

 sought not only to make the charms of plants known, but has 

 taught how they may be successfully grown. Ho has by this 

 means achieved honourable fame, and has established a name 

 which is familiar in home and continental garden literature. 



There are establishments where the glass structures are 

 more numerous than are to be found in this nursery, but very 

 few where they are larger and better adapted for their purpose, 

 and fewer stiU which contain better examples of skill in plant- 

 growing and superior choice specimens. 



In Palms and tree Ferns the nursery is especially rich, such, 

 indeed, as we have not seen in any corresponding establish- 

 ment in Britain, and only in one or two of the great con- 

 tinental plant emporiums. 



In the hardwooded department the Azaleas are superior 

 specimens of health combined with size. When in bloom, or 

 out of bloom, these splendid plants are worth going a long 



journey to see, so remarkable are they for their general ex- 

 cellence. 



The Camellias are also in exceedingly good order ; indeed, 

 no collection could be more thoroughly healthy and clean. 

 Their first blush of beauty is over, yet fine blooms of the 

 following good varieties are still more or less plentifully dis- 

 tributed over the plants :—Etoile Polaris, small red; Lemi- 

 ohezi, fine rich pink; Comtesse Eostans, pink and white 

 mottled, good ; Henri Favre, fine rosy salmon ; II Cygno, 

 white; Jubilee, white marbled, very fine plant; Montironi 

 Rosea, fine; Madonna, blush ; Resplendens, Imbricata, Arch- 

 duchesse Marie, Due de Bretagne,'W'ilderi, Ac. 



The collection of Heaths is extensive, and the plants are in 

 thorough good trim. It is not often that such plants of the 

 good old Erica. Cavendiahi are to be found now- a-days with 

 health and size going so well together. There is an enorrnons 

 plant of E. depressa — not, however, to be there much longer — 

 said to be nearly a hundred years old, yet as healthy and 

 vigorous as a young plant. It is not necessary, however, to 

 enumerate, as all the best varieties are here in all sizes that 

 can be wished for and vigorous. 



The Orchids here are represented by a collection of plants 

 which, as might be expected, are unsurpassable in quality, 

 and embraces the choicest varieties, as well as the more 

 popular kinds which are commonly grown in quantity. Ada 

 aurantiaca is in bloom, and the high-coloured flowers are 

 very telling. AKrides Sohroe.deri is noticeable, and a splendid 

 plant of A. Fieldingi throwing-up several spikes is prospec- 

 tively grand. A. Veitchiamim is also attractive. Cymbidiuni 

 eburneum displays its wax-like flowers; and Lffilia Turneri 

 is exceedingly rich. The Cypripediums contain beautiful 

 plants of which C. Lowii, C. vUlosum, C. barbatum, and 



C. Eoezli are flowering. Dendrobiums in bloom are repre- 

 sented by D. infundibulum, D. macrophyllnm, the lovely 



D. lituiflorum, and D. Wardianum. Masdevallia Lindeni is 

 strikingly efiective, its rich and distinct colour rendering it 

 very conspicuous. Amongst the Odontoglossums in bloom are 

 0. cordatum, 0. luteo-purpureum, 0. Uro-Skinneri (fine spike). 

 Amongst Oncidiums are the almost ever-blooming 0. cucul- 

 latum, and the pretty Uttle 0. anomalum. Phala?nopsi3 

 SchUleriana is charming as usual, and Zygopetalum crinitum 

 and Sacoolabium prsemorsum giganteum arrest attention. 

 Galanthe Turneri has nice spikes of flowers, and ought to be 

 more generally cultivated, as it is ahke beautiful for cutting 

 and for mixing with Ferns and fine-foUaged plants. The 

 stock of Calanthes is very extensive, especially C. Veitchii ; 

 this and C. vestita luteo-oculata are two of the best varieties. 

 They are now just showing signs of growth, and are being 

 potted for next winter's blooming. These plants should be 

 grown by all who have the means to grow them. 



Palms and Cycads are a great feature in the estabUshment. 

 A fine stock of that most elegant of all Palms Cocos Weddelliana 

 is kept in a small state for table decorative purposes, and a 

 number of plants of Geonoma gracilis are but little less 

 elegant. Kentias, Verschaffeltias, and Martinezias are well 

 represented in various stages of growth. Fine plants of Dioon 

 ednle and Phcenicophorium sechellarum are prominent, and 

 there are striking examples of Cycas circinalis, Encephalartos 

 Lehmauni and E. villosa. 



Ferns are also grown largely in this nursery. The Filmy 

 Ferns are in beautiful order. The Todeas, especially T. superba, 

 are very fine, and Trichomanes, Hymenophyllums, &o., are 

 growing luxiiriautly. We noticed some very fine plants of 

 Gleichenias, especially G. Mendeli and G. semivestita. A new 

 greenhouse Fern Polystiehum Lepidocalon is being raised in 

 quantity in anticipation of a brisk demand. 



Amongst the Tree Ferns are some extraordinary specimens 

 high enough almost for a chief to ride under on his elephant, 

 and sufficiently spreading to afford shelter on a grand palaver 

 day to a retinue of dusky followers. The most striking are 

 Alsophila Leichardtiana and the handsome Cyatheas — C. Burkei 

 and C. Dregei. We noticed amongst these the very distinct 

 Lomaria cycadoides. 



We expected to find here a tine stock of the new Maidenhair 

 Adiantum graoilUmum, and we found it. This might weU be 

 styled the Gauze Fern, so exceedingly delicate is its structure, 

 and so clearly can a bouquet of flowers be seen through its net- 

 work of fronds. The popular A. Farleyense was " becoming 

 scarce " in the Nursery, so said the guide ; but he did not 

 define what he means by plenty; his "scarce," however, ia 

 half a houseful of plants in all sizes. 



In passing through the stoves we found a grand plant 



