446 



JOURNAL OF HOKTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ June 13, 1805. 



Among tliem were a good specimen of Odontoglossiim 

 nrevium, several good Ai-rides and Saccolabiums, Phaltenopsis 

 grandiflora, in fine bloom, the South American Cypripedium 

 caudatum, with tliree blooms, and several of the tail-less 

 members of the same family, Cattleyas and Lfflias, the new 

 Phalsnopsis LUddemanniana, Trichopilia suavis in good 

 bloom, &c. 



Eoses were represented by plants in pots from Messrs. 

 Paul i Son, and cut blooms from the same, Mr. Turner, 

 Slough, A. Smce, Esq., and Mr. Howard, gardener to 

 J. Brand, Esq., Balham. 



Of Pelargoniums, both show and Fancy kinds, in ex- 

 cellent bloom, were exhibited by Mr. Fraser, Lea Bridge 

 Road ; and from Mr. Turner came a collection of the new 

 kinds sent out by him ; one of them, Mary Hoyle, an orange 

 rose with a white eye, and small dark maroon blotch sur- 

 rounded by orange, was very pretty ; John Hoyle, too, is 

 a lai-ge and striking iiower. Mr. Tiu-ner likewise showed 

 Lilium aiiratum, and pot plants of Sir Joseph Paxton Straw- 

 bei-ry. There were besides several exhibitions of Zonule and 

 vai-iegated Geraniums, from Mr. Hally, Blaokheath, Mi-. 

 Holland, Islewortb, and others. 



Of stove and greenhouse i^lants a good bank was made up 

 by the collections of Messrs. Peed, Rhodes, Baker, Howard, 

 and Wheeler, of Stamford Hill, and Regent's Pai-k. Among 

 them we noticed a plant of the new Clerodendron Thomsons 

 Balfoui'ii in fine bloom, several fine Heaths, good Azaleas, 

 Ixora coccinea, Aphelexes, Dioksonias and other Ferns, 

 Dracaenas and Marantas, Pleroma elegans, andDracophyllum 

 gracile in good bloom. 



Other objects consisted of numerous Pelargoniums, 

 Fuchsias, and Hydrangeas, from Mr. Hayes, Edmonton; 

 Ferns from Mr. Holland ; cut blooms of Orchids from Mr. 

 Bullcn ; Calceolarias from Mr. Crute and Mr. Forsyth ; 

 Pansies from ifr. Porter ; seedling Geraniums, a variegated 

 Achyranthes, and Anaectochils from Mr. Aldred; Japanese 

 Aucubas, and Hymenophyllum tunbridgense, from Mr. 

 Wilson; and plant cases, vases, &c., from Messrs. Barr and 

 Sugden, and Hooper & Co., the latter also showing Ixias 

 and Sparaxis. 



Fruit was represented by sound, well-kept Dumelow's 

 Seedling, Eymer, and other Apples, and a well-grown Melon 

 from Mr. E. P. Glendinning, of Chiswick. There were also 

 two or three Pines, and some Cherries. 



PEOPAGATING FROM BAEEEN STEAWBEERY 

 PLANTS. 



TOTJKG MEION.S TUKNING YELLOW. 



Two years ago I forced some British Queen Strawberries 

 in a vinery, and as several plants were blind, but grew 

 splendidly, I had a clayed bed made for them in my garden, 

 where they have remained till now. Not one flower has 

 ever appeared on them or their runners. 



Last year I had a number of runners, layei'cd into sunken 

 flower-pots, in a bed of Keens' Seedling, to form a new planta- 

 tion elsewhere, expecting, as they formed sti-ong plants 

 before winter, to have a good show of fruit on them this 

 anmmer. In the old bed were many barren plants, and as 

 my gardener knew nothing of the danger of propagating 

 from such, and as most plants in my young bed show only 

 leaves, I think it probable that he found runners most 

 plentiful about tho barren old plants, and that my new bed 

 is consequently to be mostly baiTCn also. He grudges 

 throwing away such very fine strong plants, and thinks they 

 will fruit next year. Do you think he is riglit or not? I 

 believe they would have all fruited this year had they not 

 been naturally barren. 



My Melon plants) in tubs, in a piped pit, are as strong and 

 healthy as ever man p^ew, but 1 am troubled by the young 

 irnit turning yellow before they even blossom, and falling 

 off. Very few set, though every bloom opening is carefully 

 fertilised. One Achapeenoiricher boa only one fruit of about 

 6 inches in diameter, and one of 2 inches; every other has 

 refused to blosBom. The plant grows amazingly. A Mal- 

 vern Hall has plenty of aljout 3 inches in diamctei-, but now 

 every female turns yellow before it is the size of a chick 

 pea; and so of other sorts. My tubs stand in cocoa fibre, on 

 four parallel four-inch hot-water pipes. I'ray tell mu how 



to mend matters. Some tubs stand on a stone shelf; all 

 turn yellow in them.— J. Mackenzie, M.D. 



[We do not think your Strawberry plants will ever do any 

 good; they are evidently some worthless sort that has 

 become mixed with your British Queens. The best thing 

 you can do will be to dig them up at once, trench the ground 

 2 feet 6 inches deep, if yoxa: soil is good, and then mai'k out 

 fresh beds. Put 3 or 4 inches of good manure in the bottom 

 of every trench, and as soon as you can obtain runners 

 from some sort that you are sure is true, plant them on the 

 beds, and if they are kept well watered untU they are esta- 

 blished in their new quarters they ought to produce a fine 

 crop next year. By putting the manm-e in the bottom 

 of the trenches the roots are encourai;ed to go down after 

 it; and afterwards, however dry the season, it will have 

 little or no effect on the plants. These should be well 

 mulched with partially decomposed leaves or manure in the 

 autumn, to protect the hearts of the plants from frost. 

 Your gardener's idea is evidently wrong. 



We think the soil is too rich for the Melons, and that the 

 temperature has not suited them. Subjecting them to a high 

 temperature one day, and to a low one the next, would have 

 just this effect on them; or if they have been allowed to 

 become dry at the roots it would cause them to turn yellow. 

 The atmosphere should be rather dry just at the time they 

 are coming into flower.] 



SIE JOSEPH PAXTON. 



With deep and sincere regi-et we have to communicate 

 to our readers the death of this very able and excellent 

 man. We can add little to what we recorded concerning 

 him more than ten years since, for we then commended 

 him, not merely because he was the most successful among 

 the men of genius devoting themselves to the practice of 

 gardening, but because he was the best example we could 

 uphold for imitation to tho rising generation of young 

 gai'deners. We are often asked by them, " What acquire- 

 ments should we strive for besides a knowledge of the cul- 

 ture of plants ? " and we know of no better reply that we 

 could give than— Attain the same acquirements as those 

 which were possessed by Sir Joseph Paxton. He was a good 

 botanist, a good draftsman, and an excellent engineer, but 

 he had two spirits mighty in promoting progress, presiding 

 over these — the spii'it of kindliness, and the spirit of per- 

 severance. Every one who associated with him at once felt 

 that genial courtesy and frankness which were to be ex- 

 pected from such an open brow ; and the late Duko of 

 Devonshire, who so long aided and benefited by his efforts, 

 may be accepted as the most competent of witnesses to his 

 perseverance, and boro' this testimony, — " I never knew >Jr. 

 Paxton resolveto undertakowhat he didnot fully accomplish." 



Sir Joseph Paxtou's entire career sustains that characteris- 

 tic opinion. He was the son of a small farmer, and born 

 in 1801, at Milton Bryant, near Woburn, in Bedfordshii-e. 

 We accept this date because it is that which he wrote when 

 engaged at the Chiswick Garden.* 



The brothel- under whom Sir Joseph received his rudi- 

 mentary instruction in horticulture, was Mr. John Paxton, 

 successively gardener, we believe, to Sir G. P. Turner and 

 Earl Hardwicke. This gentleman recommended the young 

 gardener to Abel Smith, Esq., and through the latter's in- 

 fluence he was placed in the gardens of tho Horticultural 

 Society at Chiswick. Owing to some misunderstanding 

 with some of the authorities of the Horticultural Society, 

 Sir Joseph was about leaving their service and proceeding 

 to America; but whilst this iutcntinn was just on the point 

 of being carried out, it is said that ho there first obtained 

 the notice of the Society's President, the Duke of Devon- 

 shire, whilst holding a glowing cinder for his Grace's cigar. 

 "When Mr. Paxton thus attracted tho notice of tho Duke of 

 Devonshire, he was foreman in tho Arboretum department at 

 Chiswick. This was in 182o, and the year following he became 

 the Duke's head gardener and forester at Chatsworth. Here 

 WHS an arena just .suited to his powers, and genius — not 

 only was tho space, as he said, " unlimited," but so were 



• He iB namrd in tbe Report of llic norllcuUurul Koclcty, as one, wUh 

 ninnv other*, who rnjl "an cxcellci.t ixit.w\,\':."—<.Iran.iaitiuri.i, NcwScnra, 

 11. lOS.) 



