552 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ December 28, 1876. 



secrets by those entrusted with them. Bat the age of enlight- 

 enment began to dawn on such matters, and the appearance of 

 that great pioneer of gardening periodicals Loudon's " Gar- 

 deners' Magazine " led to the divulging of many of the so- 

 called secrets which were supposed to be necessary to ensure 

 the good cultivation of certain plants. But even this was very 

 tardily accomplished, and I well remember a successful grower 

 of Tulips offering through the pageB of the " Magazine " to 

 divulge to twenty subscribers that would pay him a guinea 

 each his mode of inducing the finer varieties of Tulips to 

 break out into offset bulbs with greater facility than they 

 were wont to do. This offer, as might be expected, led to many 

 conjectures, which appearing in print, no doubt some of them 

 giving the hint to the mode practised by the supposed suc- 

 cessful cultivators, added to which the known antipathy of the 

 talented conductor of the journal to everything that tended to 

 concealment of anything useful to mankind, aided by the greater 

 diffusion of knowledge that was then springing up, tended, as 

 is usual, to the other extreme — excess, and it became cus- 

 tomary to scoff at everything that was made known. But cer- 

 tainly the public at large were gainers by the matter, although 

 it took some years to effect the object. 



I well remember the time when it was customary for a visitor 

 to a nursery at grafting-time to find when he approached the 

 man performing the operation that the knives all wanted 

 sharpening, and that scissors were not at hand, but had to be 

 sent for, and did not arrive till the stranger had gone. Other 

 things were done in the same exclusive manner, and it was 

 only by degrees that a change could be accomplished, yet the 

 change did take place, and the cheapening of literature which 

 followed towards the close of the third decade of the present 

 century assisted materially to bring about a more liberal state 

 of things. 



But it must not for one moment be supposed that I here 

 disparage all that was done by the class of cultivators at that 

 early period, and I question much if the culture and manage- 

 ment of Auriculas, Pinks, Tulips, Ranunculuses, and some other 

 flowers are as well understood now as they were then, and the 

 number of varieties of each were as numerous then as now, 

 and I am not sure but that some of the kinds known then are 

 still held to be good now. I have sometimes been agreeably 

 surprised in this neighbourhood, where fruit is largely grown, 

 to find that some of the Lancashire Gooseberries that I was 

 frequently brought in contact with years before the passing of 

 the first Reform Bill, are the favourites here grown for market ; 

 notably one which a friend told me not many weeks ago, 

 called Lancashire Lad, is wanted at the present time — the 

 autumn of 1876 — by tens of thousands, while Crown Bob, 

 Ploughboy, Roaring Lion, and others have all had their day 

 and have been more or less admired. We must not be too 

 hasty at charging our predecessors with any lack of the know- 

 ledge necessary to good cultivation ; and as these Gooseberries 

 were grown during the reign of the latter Georges, we must 

 give those growers the credit that is their due. I well remem- 

 ber the time in which prizes obtained for large Gooseberries 

 were exhibited by their respective winners with great pride. 

 Many other things were also patronised at the same time, and 

 I am far from certain but that better Melons and Cucumbers 

 were grown then than now, although the accommodation for 

 that purpose has been widely increased since. 



It would not be fair to pass over the period above alluded to 

 without noticing the habits of the young men who followed the 

 calling of gardeners at that time. Well, then, I may say that 

 as a whole they paid more attention to botany than is generally 

 done by the same class now-a-days, and the immediate district 

 in which they lived was duly scoured for rare specimens of 

 British plants, besides now and then long journeys taken to 

 some locality more rich in what was considered valuable and 

 scarce. I well remember a place where that difficult plant to 

 propagate, Cypripedium Calceolus, was said to be found, while 

 other localities yielded the Butterwort, Pennywort, and other 

 favourites. Ferns were not so much studied then as since, but 

 botany a3 a science was pursued with more zest at that time 

 under the Linnsan system than it has been since that system 

 has been to a certain degree superseded by the natural system. 

 But the young gardener's attention was not monopolised 

 wholly by wild plants. New and promising species of plants 

 were added to the class of what we may call florist flowers. 

 The Dahlia, which had made its appearance a few years 

 before, was fast merging from the single to the double con- 

 dition, and new names had to be coined for the new varieties 

 resembling in many respects those in existence for Auriculas, 



Polyanthuses, and the like. The Pansy too followed suit, 

 while the greenhouse and plant Btove consisted more of bo- 

 tanical collections than the same structures do now. But a 

 change was coming, and the large and fine collection of Cape 

 Heaths which had taken years to collect were giving way to 

 garden varieties of the popular Pelargoniums; and the old 

 Scarlet, which was often met with growing against the back 

 wall of some glass structure, was also on the point of being im- 

 proved upon. And I well remember the noise that was made 

 when a " White Scarlet" made its appearance, while amongst 

 the earliest improvements on the old HorseBhoe was Brighton 

 Hero, Sol, and a strong-growing one the name of which I cannot 

 now call to memory. 



Amongst the fruits which received especial attention at this 

 time the Peach may be mentioned, and if we could see placed 

 on the exhibition table at the present day a dish of the fruit 

 produced at that time it would compare very favourably with 

 modern productions ; while the trees which produced the 

 fruit, their appearance and the mode in which they were 

 managed, would be equally favourable to the certificate for good 

 culture being awarded to the earlier cultivators. Other fruits 

 were not neglected. The varieties of Strawberries were far 

 from numerous then ; but one kind at least made its appearance 

 then or soon after, which still holds a good position at the 

 present day, and it is questionable even now whether any other 

 variety is cultivated to as great an extent in 1876 as Keens' 

 Seedling, which first made its debut some fifty years ago. I 

 fear I cannot say so much in favour of one that succeeded it 

 with a high-sounding name, and coming at the same time from 

 one of the most successful growers of this fruit at the time 

 speedily fell into disrepute. Wilmot's Superb shared the fate of 

 many a one since, and it is now, I expect, numbered with the 

 past. But the great favourite was the Gooseberry, for which 

 there were village shows at most places where as many as 

 twenty dwellings were congregated together, size and weight 

 being the objeot aimed at. An application of the same principle 

 found expression in another form, and the Giant Rhubarb owes 

 its origin to that period, whilst very large Celery was also pro- 

 duced. I think among other useful vegetables the Brussels 

 Sprouts was not much known until this time, when its useful- 

 ness was duly acknowledged, but I do not think it was until 

 some years afterwards that any especial improvement took 

 place in Peas. 



For some years after the period above alluded to nothing 

 particular occurred in the usual routine of the gardening world 

 but that slow but steady increase of knowledge consequent on 

 the cheapening of literature which took place then, and the 

 commencement of new and popular works of instruction and 

 entertaining reading, one of the foremost being the " Penny 

 Magazine," which after attaining an unprecedented circulation 

 seemed to raise up rivals, which in course of time vanished ; 

 but " Chambers' Journal," which started coeval with the 

 " Penny Magazine," survives yet, and is regarded now amongst 

 one of the best of the cheap serials. But gardening works 

 were not neglected even then, and a rival to " Loudon's Gar- 

 deners' Magazine" sprang up under the editorship of two of 

 the most eminent gardeners of the day ; but this after a brief 

 period of usefulness seemed to merge into one devoted wholly 

 to floriculture, thus paving the way for a weekly newspaper 

 which appeared some time about the middle of the fourth 

 decade of the century. 



The extraordinary hard winter of 1S38 following, scope was 

 afforded for comparing notes of its effects. That winter was 

 one of the hardest we have ever had. Even the hardiest class 

 of German Greens suffered more or less, and on the moors and 

 waste places in the country our native Gorse was very muoh 

 cut. Hard winters also occurred in 1S44-45 and 1846—17. A 

 great impulse was given to gardening about this time by the 

 cheapening of glass, for which the world has not been suffi- 

 ciently grateful to the late Sir Robert Peel. 



Other changes were taking place at the same time. Flower 

 gardening on what has been called the massing system was 

 introduced, and varieties of Geraniums, Verbenas, Petunias, ' 

 Fuchsias, and other plants were raised in great numbers, 

 while the old class of florists' flowers declined in public esti- 

 mation. Horticultural societies then started up in many pro- 

 vincial towns ; and the one at London seemed to be at the 

 height of its glory, and was often referred to as giving laws to 

 the others, as well as dictating matters relating to the quality 

 of fruits and vegetables. About this time, too, the rapidly 

 increasing use of the railway was found out, and London, 

 which had formerly depended for its supply of vegetables and 



