412 



JOUENAL OF HOETICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ Ma7 27, 1876. 



positions its leaves are slightly browned in winter, but with 

 only moderate shelter it does well, and is very handsome. 



Lofty Bhotan Pine (P. excelsa) is rapid-growing and spread- 

 ing, having a spread at the base of the branches often more 

 than twice the height of the trees. To say that it is beautiful 

 is not adequately expressing its value, for its distinctness, and 

 blnifh green drooping leaves and bright green of its wood 

 render it peculiarly attractive. Its branches lying flat upon 

 the ground render it a favourite resort of ground game, and 

 pheasants make choice of it for roosting and nesting ; it stands 

 next to the Corsican Pine for escaping the ravages of hares 

 and rabbits, which, except when fresh planted, do not eat it. 

 Except in a very exposed position its leaves are not browned 

 in winter, and in a moderately sheltered site are not at all 

 injured. For rapidity of growth it is about equal with the 

 Corsican Pine. 



Weymouth Pine (P. Strobus) is cut by both the east and 

 west winds. In an exposed position it soon languishes and 

 dies. In a moderately sheltered situation it grows about half 

 as well as P. excelsa, which is twice as good. 



Pea-fruited Japan Cypress (Eetinospora pisifera) is not un- 

 like a plumose form of Lawson's Cypress, but with a brown or 

 pale chocolate tint. It stands wind tolerably well, and grows 

 moderately, and is very desirable for partially sheltered 

 positions. 



Maiden-hair Tree (Salisburia adiantifolia) grows moderately, 

 and neither the wood nor the young leaf-growths are injured 

 by cold. 



Californian Eedwood (Sequoia sempervirens) has all its 

 growths browned and killed by a severe winter, except a slight 

 portion of the ripe wood, from which it puts out fresh shoots 

 annually. It has been recommended as a screen or hedge 

 plant, and in sheltered positions it may be useful for that 

 purpose, bearing cutting very freely. 



Common Deciduous Cypress (Taxodium distichum) makes 

 its growth so late, and the wood consequently is so unripe, 

 that the frosts of a severe winter destroy all but the firm wood 

 at the base of the annual growths. 



• Common Yew (Taxus baccata) has the young growths of 

 vigorous plants injured by a severe winter, having a browned 

 appearance. With moderate shelter it does well. Its varieties 

 erecta (striota of some) is not at all injured, nor does the beau- 

 tiful elegantissima (argentea) suffer from a severe winter with 

 moderate shelter. 



Irish Yew (T. fastigiata, also hibernioa) exposed to the full east 

 and west winds grows slowly but uninjured ; with only moderate 

 shelter it does remarkably well, its deep green close growth 

 having a fine contrasting appearance with lighter surrounding 

 foliage. 



Taxus adpressa stricta, a cone with a broad base; does only 

 moderately, the growths in spring having, from the eflects of a 

 hard winter, a sickly appearance. 



Lobb's Arbor-VitiB (Thuja Lobbii Menziesii) is of quick 

 growth, and is very flexile ; just the habit to withstand wind, 

 which it does remarkably well. It is not injured by severe 

 weather ; but hares and rabbits are very fond of its spray. 



American Arbor- Vitro (T. occidentalis) is browned — brown 

 as it usually is ; but I cannot say it suffers any injury by a 

 cold exposure. The same remark applies to its variety com- 

 pacta, which is of much more bushy growth. 



Siberian Arbor-Vit.TD (T. Wareana) grows slowly, but is not 

 injured. T. orientalis is not positively damaged ; but it grows 

 very little. Its variety elegantissima is very beautiful, and not 

 injured. 



Nootka Sound Cypress (Thujopsisborealis) stands uninjured, 

 and is very free-growing and beautiful ; next to Lawson's 

 Cypress this is the finest introduction of late years. It is a 

 handsome shrub for a lawn. 



Mammoth Tree (Wellingtonia gigantea) in an unsheltered 

 position grows slowly, and stands the east better than western 

 winds ; these having greater force drive the tree eastward, or 

 inclining in that direction. In moderately sheltered positions 

 it grows quickly and straight as an arrow, forming a conical 

 rather pyramidal tree of dark green aspect, slightly browned 

 by a severe winter. Two years ago I moved several of from 

 6 to 12 feet high, and though all have done fairly the removal 

 caused them in most instances to produce cones; one, a plant 

 of about C feet high, has several cones, which have every appear- 

 ance of ripening perfectly. Another tree, which was not moved , 

 had also last year a mass of cones showing, its branches really 

 matted with them ; the tree has become very sickly, in fact is 

 only just alive. There is no disputing the fact that this tree 



(WelUngtonia) is very much behind many others in point of 

 growth and suitability in a high and exposed situation. — 

 (i. Abbey. 



THE OLD MARKET GAEDENS and NUESEEIES 

 OF LONDON.— No. I. 



The man who takes London or London belongings as bis 

 theme ensures a measure of success at the outset, for what 

 has to do with the " million-peopled city " has a national in- 

 terest. In writing, therefore, upon London market gardens 

 and nurseries, I feel that it is not at all necessary to suppose 

 that I am addressing those only who are residents in or near 

 the capital. It is to be hoped that many non-gardeners as 

 well as gardeners are not uninterested in such a subject as this, 

 upon which a good deal might be said. As some limitation 

 is desirable, the reader will understand at the outset that my 

 present topic is the old market gardens and nurseries, such as 

 were existent about London fifty or a hundred years ago, or 

 even dating still further back. The majority of these have 

 now totally disappeared, leaving no trace except, perhaps, a 

 name attached to a locality, or here and there a tree, standing 

 now in smoky and melancholy guise in some back garden, the 

 history of which no one now hving is aware of, but which was 

 once a promising shrub in a nursery where gentlemen and 

 dames of the days of King George III. strolled up and down to 

 admire the latest importations from foreign countries. The 

 ceaseless demand for land at an easy distance from the great 

 centres of city bustle, rather than a cessation of the trade 

 carried on through these nurseries led to their disappearance, 

 and as old proprietors retired with a competence, new market 

 gardeners commenced business at a greater distance from 

 town; though these also in their turn, who, starting, perhaps, 

 twenty or thirty years ago in districts which then seemed safe 

 from the inroads of bricks and mortar, have had to yield to 

 the demand of the times, and migrate further off where ground 

 is cheaper and the influence of London smoke not so marked. 

 We find in the case of some market gardens that they struggle 

 on for existence despite their environment with masses of build- 

 ings, as long as the lease under which they are held permits 

 the occupier to remain, until its expiration concludes the life 

 of the sickly plants, that have somehow gone on from year to 

 year on short commons of light and air, and the case of the 

 " survival of the fittest" is fully demonstrated. It is only a 

 very few years ago, for example, since a kind of small nursery 

 garden disappeared which occupied the centre of Ebury Square, 

 Pimlico, the sole survivor of various nurseries formerly thriv- 

 ing in north and south Belgravia. Now and then a famous 

 nursery ground has been closed, and its proprietors removing 

 farther a- field, have carried with them the old name and its 

 traditional repute ; but instances of this kind are not numerous. 



Some readers may be tempted to remark, that considering 

 the rapid growth of London suburbs during the last score or 

 two score years, it does not seem as if the number of market 

 gardens and nurseries had increased in proportion. There is 

 now certainly a larger extent of land under cultivation for 

 market purposes within, we will say, a dozen miles of London, 

 than there ever was before, yet it is quite true the produce 

 only serves to supply a moiety of the population. Eailway 

 facilities for the quick conveyance townwards of vegetables 

 and fruit have revolutionised matters, and enormous quantities 

 of such produce reach London from distances impossible in 

 the days of our grandfathers. Yet we must not plume our- 

 selves that we have brought things to a state approaching per- 

 fection. Something needs still to be done in the way of mo- 

 derating the rather fancy prices which certain articles fetch, 

 and also in supplying vegetables to the table in a fresher con- 

 dition than appears possible under present arrangements. I 

 will give an instance of which any resident at the west end of 

 Loudon has ocular proof when he glances at the streets. Fre- 

 quently at early morning he wiU see heavily-freighted waggons 

 bound for Covent Garden Market, well heaped with vegetables 

 that have been pulled or cut in the market gardens of Fulham 

 or Hammersmith. Y'et it is not always the same day that 

 these same vegetables arrive in the shops of those who are to 

 supply the public, and when in the shops they are liable from 

 several causes to a further detention. Far be it from me to 

 argue tbat what I may call the "middle-men," should be 

 abolished ; but it does seem a pity that the grower and the 

 retailer cannot be brought a little closer together. Not to 

 dwell on the question of a loss of freshness, there is a need- 

 less outlay in carrying right into Loudon from districts like 



