THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[July 7, 1888. 



largest in England, and also a large Ilex, are 

 traditionally said to have been planted by his 

 hand. Bishop Blomfield planted a Cedar of 

 Lebanon, which is now a fine tree, although 

 much damaged by the great snowstorms of the 

 winter of 1886-87. 



One fact notably strikes the visitor : the thickness 

 with which the trees are planted here. One Bishop 

 having thinned them considerably, Lord Bacon 

 wittily told him that, "Having cut down such 

 a cloud of trees, he must be a good man to throw 

 light on dark places !" 



It may prove somewhat of interest, perhaps, to 

 put on record here that Sir William Watson, who 

 made a botanical survey of the ground about a 

 hundred years ago, speaks of this garden in the fol- 

 lowing terms, in a report to the Royal Society : — 

 " The famous botanical garden at Fulham, wherein 

 Dr. Henry Compton, heretofore Bishop of London, 

 planted a greater variety of curious exotic plants 

 than had at any time been collected in any garden 

 in England." 



It is not at all surprising to find that Evelyn, with 

 his intense love of gardening, was a visitor here. 

 In his Diary, under date of October 11, 1681, he 

 writes, " I went to Fulham, to visit the Bishop 

 of London, in whose garden I saw the Sedum 

 arborescens in flower, which was exceedingly 

 beautiful." 



Since the present Bishop, Dr. Temple, came into 

 residence, great alterations and improvements in the 

 grounds have been made by him, under the direction 

 of his gardener and bailiff, Mr. A. J. Ballhatchet. 

 To refer to only one portion of the grounds : On the 

 north side of the Palace a great and much needed 

 " clearance " has been made. A plantation of old 

 Acacias has been dug up, and the ground sown with 

 grass, which now forms part of the fine lawn, thus 

 throwing into bolder relief this side of the Palace. 

 A moat, exactly one mile in length, surrounds the 

 grounds. This is filled from the River Thames when- 

 ever the tides permit, through a very old-fashioned 

 sluice and gates. Last winter the moat was cleaned 

 out — a gigantic task — and some 5000 loads of mud 

 removed therefrom. This was spread, in order 

 to get rid of it, in " the best way, on the park 

 field ; its good effect will, doubtless, be seen there 

 in due time. 



A few brief notes on some of the most notable 

 trees observed on a recent visit may fitly be added to 

 this necessarily hurried description of a place so rich 

 in arboricultural interest. A very fine Gleditschia— 

 a representative of a race of ornamental hardy de- 

 ciduous trees — was noted. Before a large limb came 

 off some years ago it was considered to be the finest 

 of its kind in the kingdom. Platanus acerifolia is 

 represented by a magnificent, symmetrical specimen, 

 some 80 feet in height ; the girth of its trunk at base 

 measuring 18 feet, and the spread of its branches 

 forming a perfect circle, being 66 feet. English Elms 

 abound, and are represented by some stately examples, 

 one we measured being 23 feet 6 inches in girth 

 at the base of the trunk, and from 60 to 70 feet in 

 height. A Black Walnut (Juglans nigra), a noble 

 specimen, but damaged by storms, some 24 feet in girtli 

 at the base of the trunk ; and an idea of the timber 

 contained in it may be estimated from the fact that 

 £30 has been offered for it, and refused. Ailantus 

 glandulosa is a fine example, though somewhat 

 damaged by the storms of last winter. Flowering 

 Ashes were noted as being very conspicuous. The 

 old Oaks are, as might be imagined in such a place, 

 worthily represented. The columnar Oak, Quercus 

 fastigiata, is well worthy of particular mention ; but 

 the Oaks, as a rule, have suffered by the storms. 

 The Horse Chestnuts, of which there are many, are 

 venerable trees. Thuia gigantea was noted as doing 

 well here, and was represented by fine symmetrical 

 examples. Araucaria imbricata and Wellingtonia 

 do not grow well, the light sandy soil not suiting 

 their requirements ; and smoke and fogs have some- 

 thing to do with their unhealthiness. 

 The Mock Oranges, those useful andj effective 



flowering subjects, are much esteemed here, about a 

 hundred fine bushes being distributed over the place. 

 Very striking is the row of Poplars (common variety) 

 planted by the moat, towering above every other 

 form of tree growth — from 70 to 80 feet in height — 

 trunks unusually large for this kind of tree. Unfor- 

 tunately many of them are now decaying ; a number 

 of them are about of one age, aud seem to have been 

 planted by one particular Bishop. However, to 

 replace those whose end is approaching, Mr. 

 Ballhatchet has planted several young ones. The 

 storms of recent winters have something to answer 

 for, in that they uprooted a fine but aged example of 

 the Judas Tree, Cercis siliquastrum. 



A few words, by way of conclusion, on the indoor 

 departments. As may be imagined in such a place, 

 a great many subjects are grown for house decoration. 

 These are done well, both foliage and flowering, con- 

 sisting of the usual type of plants used for such 

 work, fifteen houses being devoted to their culture. 

 There are some old vineries ; the early one — at the 

 time of our visit — was in " cutting," and consisted 

 chiefly of Black Hamburgh, in capital condition. 

 A second early vinery was showing a splendid crop 

 of fruit, all thinned and swelling well; and a later 

 house looking well for an excellent crop. B. [Several 

 illustrations of the historic trees at Fulham Palace 

 were given in our volume for 1879, vol. xi.] 



New or Noteworthy Plants. 



CYPRIPEDIUM NITIDISSIMUM X , n. hyb., Angl. 

 (SELENIPEDIUM NITIDISSIMUM.) 



Are you a determined foe to hybrids ? Then try 

 to see the grand novelty just raised by Mr. Norman 

 C. Cookson, Oakwood, Wylam-on-Tyne. It is a 

 Cypripedium, whose parents are Cypripedium War- 

 scewiczii (Selenipedium Warscewiczii caudatum 

 roseum, not Cypripedium caudatum, Lindl., in Pax- 

 ton's Flower Garden, which is the genuine caudatum, 

 a variety of which is my Wallisii as it appears), and 

 C. conchiferum. 



It has been compared with Cypripedium grande — 

 the dimensions, indeed, are the same, but the leaf is 

 much narrower, and the flower is, mejudice, quite 

 distinct. Sepals broader, lightest whitish-ochre with 

 numerous yellowish ultimately brown (always ?) 

 nerves. Tails apparently longer, yellowish in the 

 centre downwards, still they get narrower when they 

 become brown. There are two marginal brown lines 

 at the superior part, and very short fine hairs on the 

 upper border. The lip is longish, and the lateral 

 extensions over the sac are remarkably smaller than 

 in Cypripedium grande. The growth itself is as if 

 varnished, brown with a central green stripe in the 

 middle, pallid underneath and with translucent spots 

 towards the base. The involved lobes of the lip are 

 sulphur coloured with fine cinnamon spots. This 

 is very effective. The two extensions are blunt, 

 low, brown, small, staminode triangular, brown, 

 with indian-purple hairs behind. Apiculus of stami- 

 node very strong, bent underneath. The stalked 

 ovaries are very much longer than the spathaceous 

 acute bracts. The inflorescence at hand has two 

 immense flowers and a bnd. What may not an older 

 plant show ! 



The leaf is U foot long by 1J- inch wide, strongly 

 keeled underneath on the mid-line. It is a great 

 novelty. H. G. Bchb.f. 



Cattleta labiata Mossi/E {Lhull.), var. Peetersii 

 (Analri) — Cattleya Peetersii, Andri, Sen. Horf, 

 1885, 271. 



This is a grand thing! It is quite distinct from 

 any of those striped Mossiass which have appeared 

 lately several times. The flower is of a very 

 warm dark lilac-purple colour. The anterior disc 

 of the lip has numerous confluent much darker 

 lines. Light purple oblique lines run over the 

 side lacinia. There is a small space of lightish 

 yellow on each side between the lines of the 

 anterior disc. It flowered first in 1883. It was 



exhibited in 1885 at Paris, when M. Andr<§ described 

 the plant. It arrived with C. Mossise. The leaves 

 are quite distinct, very showy, hard, light green, with 

 very dark green spots. The pseudobulbs even are 

 now reddish. It was kindly sent me, as the name 

 implies, by Mr. A. A. Peeters, 58, Chaussee de Forest, 

 58, St. Gilles, Bruxelles. H. G. Bchb.f. 



Phaljenopsis sumatrana var. Kimballiana, n. var. 



This is an unusually fine variety of Phalsenopsis 

 sumatrana. Sepals and petals rather broad, bright 

 yellow, with red transverse bands. Lip light ochre- 

 coloured; callus of the side lacinise (one on each 

 side) orange, keel at the base of the mid lacinia 

 well developed. Hairs on the anterior part of the 

 lip uncommonly few. P. fasciata is similar, but very 

 distinct in the details of the lip. A fresh importation 

 of Mr. F. Sander, at whose wish it is dedicated — and 

 with great pleasure on my part — to the really excel- 

 lent American orchidist, Mr. W. J. Kimball, Roches- 

 ter, New York. H. G. Bchb.f. 



Megaclinium scaberulum, Bolfe, n. sp. 



Megaclinium is a curious little genus, in which the 

 rhachis is enlarged and much flattened laterally, the 

 flowers being seated in a row on either side, the 

 whole having a very singular appearance. The 

 flowers are much like those of Bulbophyllum, in 

 which it is sometimes merged, the lip oscillating up 

 and down on a slender elastic base. Eleven species 

 have been described, all but one from tropical Africe, 

 the majority western, the single extra-tropical one 

 being M. Sandersoni, Hook, f., from Natal. A second 

 extra-tropical species has now appeared, having been 

 imported from Pondoland, and grown by Mr. Tillett 

 from whom the specimen was received. 



It is a small plant with creeping rhizomes, 

 tetragonal ovoid pseudobulbs, each with a pair of 

 elliptical-oblong leaves, 2 inches or more long, 

 and an erect inflorescence about twice this height. 

 The peduncle tears about four sheathing bracts, the 

 upper half being flattened, J inch broad, dull 

 whitish-green densely spotted and marbled with 

 dusky purple, and with seven or eight flowers on 

 either side, of a dull purple colour, the base of the 

 sepals being whitish-green with purple spots. The 

 sepals outside are minutely papillose, giving a roughish 

 surface — hence the name. The dorsal sepal is 

 narrowly lanceolate, linear, acute, fleshy, 4 — 4^ lin. 

 long, the lateral sepals shorter, falcate, with broadly 

 ovate base, and narrowly acuminate acute apex. 

 The petals are falcate, reflexed, very narrowly linear 

 acute, 2 lin. long. The shorter lip is sharply 

 reflexed, the basal half broadly suborbicular, then 

 rapidly narrowed into a broadly linear, obtuse apex. 

 This upper half is strongly grooved inside, while a 

 double keel outside extends to near the base. The 

 very short column has a pair of broad fleshy wings 

 which terminate as a pair of short obtuse teeth, besides 

 which is another pair of triangular acute teeth at the 

 apex of the column. Africa is not yet exhausted of 

 its novelties. B. A. Bolfe. 



Cypripedium x Atts, n. hyb. 



Among the collection of hybrids of the late Dr. 

 Harris, of Lamberhurst, Kent, a somewhat curious 

 Cypripedium has recently flowered, which may be 

 distinguished as above. The collection named has 

 been acquired by Messrs. James Veitch & Sons, of 

 Chelsea, but unfortunately the records of parentage, 

 have either been lost or not kept with the plants. 

 The flower presents but slight differences from C. 

 venustum, and even these are very difficult to define 

 — perhaps a little more colour towards the apex of 

 the petals, and a few other slight modifications. But 

 the leaves are altogether different from those of 

 typical venustum, and very closely resemble C. 

 Hookeras or C. Bullenianum. It has therefore been 

 considered as a probable hybrid between C. venus- 

 tum and C. Hookerae, which seems not unlikely. 

 Its hybrid character is scarcely open to question, and 

 the characters it presents agree more with those two 

 species than with any other, as far as I am able to 

 see. It is unfortunate that the parentage of so many 



