November 8, 1877. ] 



JODBNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



369 



and cow dnng (old), and the result is a great profusion of 

 flower buds and healthy foliage. Some of the corms are 4 to 

 5 inches in diameter, and promise to flower better than they 

 have done in previous seasons. They will be kept in a tempe- 

 rature of 40° to 45° fire heat and be placed near the glass on a 

 cool moist bottom, for I am convinced that the flower and leaf 

 stems damp at their base from the frequency of the watering 

 necessitated by keeping the plants in a dry place. 



The double lilac Primrose (P. altaica) is flowering very freely 

 in a border among or rather facing some Bhrubs, the flowers 

 being larger and much deeper in colour than I have observed 

 them in early spring. 



Of all the plants used for clothing a wall I have seen none 

 that are at this season more beautiful than the small-leaved 

 Cotoneaster microphylla, its deep shining green mantle being 

 so densely and regularly decked with orange-red bead-like 

 berries. C. buxifolia is also fine in foliage and berry. Some, 

 however, prefer the bolder foliage of Escallonia macrantha, 

 which is very glossy, and the bright rosy flowers are both 

 beautiful and fragrant. The Escallonia requires a wall with 

 a south, south-east, or south-weBt aspect in northerly and 

 elevated situations, but on warm sunny slopes is one of the 

 finest of spreading shrubs. The bright crimson leaves of the 

 Virginian Creepers upon a north wall in contrast with Ivy 

 are very striking. These, with the Traveller's Joy (Clematis 

 vitalba) are intermingled. All that is wanted is to cut away 

 the shoots of the Clematis close to the Ivy when its leaves 

 commence falling, to expose the green surface during the 

 winter months. 



I have been often struck with the great beauty of some 

 plants as we see them in nature. One example will Buffice— 

 a Holly standing on a knoll. It may at some time have 

 formed part of a fence. At its base is the common Whin, a 

 mass of gold in spring. Through the head of the Holly peer 

 here and there depending branches of wild Rose, covered in the 

 dog days with blushing buds and pink salvers. The Holly 

 itself, when loaded with its bright acarlet berries (as it is this 

 year), is the finest of all winter ornaments, and always beauti- 

 ful from its evergreen charaoter. — A Yorkshire Gakdeneb. 



MR. RICHARD SMITH'S NURSERY AT 

 ST. JOHN'S, WORCESTER. 

 Pabt I.— introduction axd rose DEPARTMENT. 

 I had long wished to see this great nursery. " It is a mar- 

 vellous place," said a good judge to me. " Yon should Bee it," 

 he added , " you really should ; now this September go." Some- 

 how or other I fancied I should never manage to get there ; for 

 three autumns I had been invited, but not once had I been 

 able to leave home at the wished-for time. A man with a 

 profession and who sticks to it is not only tied by the leg, bnt 

 whenever he especially wants to run away it seems to me his 

 leg is sure to be tied the tighter. Then I never wish to be 

 " a peripatetic parson." St. John's Nursery, said I to myself ; 

 well, I don't think I shall ever Bee it. I read the labels on 

 my own trees, "Richard Smith, Worcester." I went to see 

 other people's pyramid Apples and Pears, they had the same 

 labels on. I went to take a baptism for a friend, I saw some 

 new trees being planted in a garden adjoining, trees of orna- 

 mental foliage. I saw some little flag-like labels on them, and, 

 while waiting for the little innocent, thought I would see 

 where they came from. There on them the same label, 

 "Richard Smith, St. John's Nurseries, Worcester." I took 

 down by sheer accident (I am not romancing), a copy of the 

 "Florist and Pomologist," it was that for July, 1876, from a 

 friend's Bhelves, and I opened it at a picture, a coloured one, 

 of the Worcester Pearmain, brought out by Richard Smith, 

 Worcester. Next time I saw a certain Doctor (we all know 

 who that Doctor is) I Baid, " That picture of the Worcester 

 Pearmain in the ' Florist and Pomologist ' of July is an 

 exaggeration as to colour surely ?" " Not a bit of it," was the 

 answer, " go to Worcester and see them on the trees." 

 " There," said the Doctor, " there is another picture of the 

 Apple," opening his deek in that old oflioe not far from old 

 Temple Bar, and thrusting a highly-coloured picture in my 

 hand ; " there, there it is, correct as possible." Well, seeing 

 is believing, thought I ; I will go and see. I will go and Bee 

 the countless fruit trees, the vaBt spread of foliage trees, and 

 all the wonders of St. John's. Good reader, I have been to Bee, 

 and I will take you into my confidence and tell you all I saw. 

 I went one fine day in September, the best time of all the year I 



perhaps to stroll through a nursery. May is too chilly, July is 

 too hot. 



Onward from Wilts to Worcester, on by Great Western, 

 sharp turn up Gloucester way, through the picturesque valley 

 where buBy Stroud lies, on further in sight of the Malvern 

 Hills, past innumerable orchards, and Worcester station at 

 laBt, and there was Mr. Smith, and so we met. 'Tie after- 

 noon and too late to go to work, so my host drives me about 

 the clean bright city, certainly one of the oleanest placeB I 

 ever saw, and this was a second visit as to Worcester itself. 

 Worcester looks as if it could not have any dirtier merchandise 

 in it than Hops, and china and gloves. The people look olean ; 

 the children, those sure tell-tales as to the nature of their 

 parents' employment, look olean. The houses are as a rule- 

 red briok with stone facings, and while in some streets half 

 timber houses of the earlier Stuart times are yet to be seen, 

 notably in a street oalled by contrast or perversity New Street. 

 There is the ancient commandery of the knights, near there 

 the house through which King Charles is supposed to have 

 escaped. Old, very old, this plaoe and others in New Street, 

 but the city has yet on the whole a queen-amidst look, save 

 near the fine Cathedral, when one's imagination goes back for 

 hundreds of years. I am shown the Cathedral, and most beauti- 

 ful it is ; yet it is strange to see, as it were, a new cathedral all 

 bright and new-like inside and out, for the old worn stone is 

 gone and replaced by new. New the reredos, new the gorgeous 

 pulpit, new the fine brass communion rails, new-looking even 

 King John recumbent on his monument, for he is gilt. 

 Beautifnl instance and evidence of the generosity of English- 

 men of the present era in restoring one of their churches is 

 this Cathedral restored at a vast cost. Very beautiful also for 

 Eitnation is the Worcester Cathedral, Btanding high and clear, 

 overlooking the broad bright Severn. But the windows are 

 growing dim, and dimmer the light within, for daylight is 

 dying fast, and sight-seeing must be given up perforce. 



The next morning to my especial business. Crossing the 

 Severn I am in that transpontine part of Worcester called 

 St. John's, a district chiefly of houses inhabited by those who 

 live by hand labour, not a close quarter happily, but roomy 

 and rural. A mile beyond the river or about, I come to tha 

 nursery. This has a history. In the year 1804 Mr. Smith's 

 father began with only a four-acre patch, presently ten more 

 acres were added, and now 167 acres are under cultivation. 

 The great broad drive which we enter is a mile in length, 

 there before you it stretches and runs out like a very high 

 road. The cross drive is seven-eighths of a mile, and al- 

 together there are thirty-two miles of walks. We reaoh the 

 office, in former days Mr. Smith's residence, but now needed 

 for business — a pretty plaoe, and most unlike the generality 

 of offices where clerks do scribble and accountants tot-up the 

 figures, for it is a creeper-clad villa with fine specimens of 

 ornamental shrubs around. 



Mr. Smith, myself, and Cox, the very capable manager of 

 the frnit and Rose departments, proceed on our way. The 

 first things that strike me are the good situation and good 

 climate, the next on inspection the excellent soil so well suited 

 to fruit trees. 



As such prominence is given to Roses in our Journal, and 

 out of love for the queen of flowers, I will speak of the Rose 

 quarter first. It consists of 12 acres thickly planted with 

 healthy trees, soon, for the selling time is near, to be scattered 

 all over England. I will dwell upon a few which looked speci- 

 ally well as I stood among them late in September. First there 

 is Dupuy-Jamain, light cherry-red, globular and vigorous, good 

 to bloom, and late. It is a Rose I would greatly recommend 

 for foliage, growth, and flower. This caught my eye very 

 readily. Then second there was Capitaine Christy — a delicate, 

 a very delicate hued Rose, light and fair with deeper centre ; 

 a Rose blooming well in autumn. Third there was La France, 

 grand and durable, a friend in need, and it was a Rose a patch 

 of which was always to be seen ; not like some Roses, where a 

 patch dies off in the distance from want of Bize and number of 

 flowers. Fourth the Countess of Oxford, a bright carmine of 

 fine form. Fifth Edward Morren, an English Rose, a crimson 

 bedder. Sixth Comtesse de Serenye, a delicate shaded Rose, 

 which opens well in spite of damp. Seventh Boule de Neige, 

 white and pure, and so truly Camellia-like. Eighth Bessie 

 Johnson, a Rose to which is now attached a tender memory, 

 for the invalid after whom it was named is no longer with us. 

 This Rose was in full glory. It is a very good Rose, and a 

 good late bloomer. As a ninth that caught my eye I would 

 name Mdlle. Eugenie Verdier, a beautiful light-coloured Rose, 



