INTRODUCTION 



Japan and the South Pacific, which have proved so prolific of 

 first-class novelties. The pages of the garden periodicals bear 

 witness to these facts in the number of first-class plants intro- 

 duced through his intervention, such as Wellingtonia gigantea, 

 Lapageria rosea and alba, LiKum auratum, Maranta Veitchii, 

 Vanda suavis, tricolor, coerulea and insignis ; Phalsenopsis 

 grandiflora, Cypripedium caudatum, Rhododendron jasmini- 

 floruin, Pleroma elegans, Nepenthes (numerous species), 

 Desfontainea spinosa. Thuya Lobbii, Abies bracteata, Begonia 

 Veitchii, Masdevallia Veitchiana, Tropaeolum azureum and 

 speciosum, Calanthe vestita, Medinilla magnifica, Dipladenia 

 splendens, Berberis Darwinii, cum multis aliis. 



" It is, however, not only as an introducer and a dispenser 

 of plants that Mr. Veitch's name must be boldly inscribed in 

 the annals of horticulture, for he occupied a no less worthy 

 position as a cultivator and exhibitor. Indeed Mr. Veitch was 

 a thorough cultivator, as those who have seen the fine specimens 

 sent from Exeter to Chiswick Shows will acknowledge when 

 we say that many of them Heaths and Orchids to wit were 

 the fruits of his own cultural manipulation, aided by his 

 devoted and faithful servant and friend Dominy. Thus, when 

 he desisted from the laborious task of potting his own plants, 

 few knew better how to direct the labours of others. Then, 

 as an exhibitor, Mr. Veitch has had a large share in making 

 our shows the glorious monuments of cultural skill which they 

 really are, despite all the grumbling concerning them. For 

 many years he has been in the constant habit of bringing 

 forward materials, the most excellent in quality, and these 

 have been so abundant in quantity, and arranged with so much 

 skill and taste, that it has been rare indeed to see the name of 

 Veitch either absent from or occupying a secondary place in 

 the award sheets. In all this, as well as in business transactions, 



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