330 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ October 25, 1S77. 



he would scarcely have added that the firm had a good collec- 

 tion of " hybreds." I have been unable to ascertain when the 

 nursery was closed, but on some part of the land houses had 

 begun to be built twenty years ago or more, and probably like 

 some other nurseries its extent grew " small by degrees " 

 through portions being taken off for scattered houses, till the 

 remainder at last made way for streets. At Biadmore also, 

 when Faulkner wrote, Mr. James Lee, jun., had about eight 

 acres of nursery and garden ground, excelling in his Dahlias, 

 Pansies, and Pelargoniums. The nursery of Mr. Wells at 

 Brook Green, which is yet extant, was another of some repute ; 

 in 1838 there were attached to it seventeen acres. But the 

 market gardeners were more numerous than the nurserymen, 

 and amongst the principal of these forty years ago I find the 

 following specified: — Mr. Clarke, holder of fifteen acres, Brad- 

 more ; Mr. Brookes, eight acres, Angel Lane; Mr. Deadman, 

 fifteen acres, Red Cow Lane; Mr. Masters, ten acres, Ham- 

 mersmith Road ; Mr. Yeldham, ten acres, Fulham Road ; Mr. 

 Dobson, eighteen acres, Pallingswick Green. Between Starch 

 and Brook Greens were Messrs. Browne, Hodges, and Martin, 

 with ten, twenty, and thirty-six acres respectively. 



Then there were amateur gardeners at Hammersmith deserv- 

 ing of a passing notice ; but there were never here, as in some 

 London suburbs, gardens belonging to the nobility, which 

 served to help on the progress of horticulture. Occasionally, 

 no doubt, Hammersmith nurserymen gained admission to the 

 grounds of the adjacent Palace at Fulham, more famous for its 

 flowers and shrubs in Georgian days than it is at present. The 

 name of Louis Weltgee is mentioned by writers on horticulture, 

 he being a successful raiser of seedlings, which he distributed 

 to a great extent gratuitously ; he also devoted special atten- 

 tion to the Auricula and Pelargonium. Mr. Salter, in the 

 reign of William IV., was presumed to have one of ihe finest 

 collections of Iris in these islands at his garden near Shepherd's 

 Bush. At this place was formerly the nursery belonging^ to 

 Mr. Plimly, who was also a market gardener. In his forcing 

 houses were to be seen, forty years ago, splendid specimens of 

 the Queen and other good varieties of the Pine. From Lord 

 Holland's establishment he received early examples of the 

 famous Dahlia purpurea, which was raised in 1803 by his 

 lordship's gardener from seed which that nobleman had brought 

 with him from Spain. And there formerly lived at Hammer- 

 smith an eccentric old gentleman of the name of Eeene, whose 

 boast was of his garden in Vale Place and the Apricots and 

 Peaches he gathered there. With a love of gardening he com- 

 bined (oddly enough) a fancy for collecting black-letter books. 

 Early in this century he was to be seen daily promenading the 

 main road in a " brown suit of clothes surmounted by a brown, 

 unpowdered, and highly polished wig, topped by a shovel hat," 

 and flourishing in his hand a" hooked crabbed stick of stately 

 dimensions." At Brook Green resided the celebrated Tulip 

 grower Mr. Strong. — C. 



NEW BOOK. 



British Industries — Horticulture. By F. W. Buebidge. Lon- 

 don : Edward Stanford, 55, Charing Cross. 



TJndee the editorship of Mr. G. Phillips Bevan, F.G.S., a 

 series of volumes on the industries of Britain have been pre- 

 pared and published ; and as horticulture was recognised as of 

 sufficient importance to be represented in the series, Mr. Bur- 

 bidge was commissioned to prepare the present volume. It is 

 necessarily in a great measure a compilation, and the garden- 

 ing press of this and other countries has been laid under con- 

 tribution, and official records have been utilised and books of 

 some private firms have been placed at the author's disposal, 

 and the result is that horticulture for commercial purposes has 

 been shown in a plainer manner than it was ever shown before. 

 But the volume also contains much original matter — much that 

 is both entertaining, instructive, and useful. There are chap- 

 ters on fruit culture, vegetable culture, herbs, decorative plant 

 culture, hybridising, and plant propagation, Covent Garden 

 Market, fruit and vegetable preserving, gardening industry 

 abroad, with allusions to some collateral industries, and last 

 but not least in usefulness, a capital index. Such is the scope 

 of the work, its nature will be best appreciated by a few extracts. 



After stating that the capital employed in the leading me- 

 tropolitan nurseries varies from £10,000 to £50,000, or even 

 more, fruit cultivation is thus alluded to — 



At the present time we are paying a sum of £6,000,000 annu- 

 ally for imported fruits alone, and yet news reaches us from the 

 Continent that fruit culture is being rapidly extended in many 



agricultural and pastoral districts, so satisfactory to the fruit 

 growers are the prices now realised in our markets. France, 

 Jersey, Holland, Spain, Portugal, and Turkey send us Grapes, 

 Melons, and Figs ; the great bulk of our imported AppleB comes 

 from France arid America; Pears from France and the Channel 

 Jslands (from Jersey we annually receive £7 worth of Potatoes 

 per acre for the entire acreage) ; and during the earlier part of 

 the season, when Strawberries, Cherries, and Plums fetch good 

 prices, our own growers have but a poor chance of competing 

 with the continental cultivator, who, in addition to a sunny 

 climate, cheap labour and transit charges, and in moBt cases 

 freehold land, brings a va8t amount of intelligent ability to bear 

 on fruit culture as a profitable industry. 



Now that the acreage of our Wheat and Potato crops is de- 

 creasing year by year, and the production of meat is yearly be- 

 coming more risky and less profitable, it is a matter of great 

 moment that the importance of gardening as a food-producing 

 industry should receive that attention which it so well deserves. 

 That we should import Apples and other hardy fruits to this 

 country at a yearly cost of nearly £2,000,000 is all the more re- 

 markable when we consider how many thousands of acres of 

 cultivated land are annually devoted to a far less remunerative 

 industry — viz., timber-growing ; when thousands of acres are left 

 waste which might be made most profitable for fruit culture. 



And now 



That we have an ever-growing population of 30,000,000 people 

 to feed , and according to the latest reports only about 40,000 acres 

 of land specially devoted to vegetable gardens, the produce of 

 which is regularly marketed, it need no longer surprise us that 

 our trade in imported fruits and vegetables should be expanding 

 year by year. 



The orchard, or hard-fruit growing, area of Great Britain is 

 given as beiDg only 154,584 acres, or less than half the return 

 for the American State of Illinois alone, where an area of 

 334,007 acres is occupied by orchards. Notwithstanding enor- 

 mous imports, however, current prices are maintained, or rise 

 rather than fall, so that it seems that the demand Btill exceeds 

 the supply ; nor is this demand altogether owing to increasing 

 population, but rather to a growing taBte for fruit and vegetables 

 as articles of food among the more intelligent of our labouring 

 population, who, it must be remembered, influence the sale of 

 food commodities far more than the wealthier clashes. 



The author further states — 



That fruit-growing may become a remunerative calling to any 

 person of intelligence having a capital of from £100 to £1000 

 has been proved by the direct experiments of the Rev. William 

 Lea, MA, whose work entitled " Small Farms: How they can 

 be made to answer by means of Fruit-growing " published at 

 the Journal of Horticulture Office, is one of the most concise 

 and valuable of any hitherto published on this branch of cultural 

 industry. 



The cost and value of growing different kinds of fruits are 

 alluded to, and there are chapters on the cultivation of vege- 

 tables, detailing the practice of the London market gardeners. 



Decorative plant culture is thus referred to — 



This branch of gardening industry has been wonderfully de- 

 veloped duriDg the last twenty years, and an immense amount 

 of labour and capital baB been devoted to the culture of orna- 

 mental plants in small pots suitable for sitting-room or window 

 decoration, and also to the production of choice cut flowers of 

 various kinds, from the choicest of tropical Orchids to the old- 

 faBhioned Narcissus and Snowdrops of our gardens. 



Some years ago immense profits were made by plant-growers 

 for markets, but competition in this branch of industry, as in 

 those of vegetables and fruits, haB done much to reduce these ; 

 at the present time, as a rule, but little more is made than a fair 

 return for the capital and labour expended, and further compe- 

 tition in this field is not likely to be successful unless some fresh 

 line of culture is adopted, or some striking novelty introduced 

 into the market. In this branch of gardening the capital expended 

 varies from £100 to as much as £2000 and even £5000 per acre. 



Nearly all plant-growers for market have somethirjg of which 

 they make a speciality. Mr. Beckwith of Tottenham sends to 

 market yearly from 80,000 to 90,000 show and fancy Pelar- 

 goniums. The plants of the show and fancy kind3 are struck in 

 the spring, as early as cuttings can be obtained, and potted-on 

 till they occupy 48-sized or 32-sized potB. They are subjected 

 to gentle warmth, and abundance of air night and day when the 

 weather will permit, and are copiously watered daily. The only 

 kind of stimulant used in this great plant factory— for such it 

 may be called — is Boot water, which is applied of different 

 strengths, according to the different BtageB in which the plants 

 may be. This has the effect of dispelling worms from the soil, 

 and imparting to the foliage a dark green healthy-looking colour. 



Bulbs also occupy a very important position in this establish- 

 ment, especially Hyacinths and Tulips. Of the former between 

 60,000 and 70,000 are forced yearly. Mr. Beckwith always con- 

 trives to send twenty dozen pots of Hyacinths to market the 



