186 



J0TJBNAL OF .HOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



[ September 5, 1872. 



the sixth, a most interesting assortment of Gesneras, Aehi- 

 menes, and Tydteas. 



Having now come back to the house I turn to the right, and 

 soon find myself at the side which looks straight up the high 

 road towards Erfurt. Here, in a corresponding position with 

 the dressed grounds on the other side, were arranged more 

 Palms under a large cage-like erection, composed of young 

 Eirs, and amongst them Phoenix reelinata was conspicuous. In 

 the same line with these, parallel with the afore-mentioned 

 path, and separated from it by the row of glass houses, were 

 enormous stands filled with different varieties of Stocks, which, 

 though now fully run to seed, are allowed to remain in the pots 

 until the winter, when, during some slack time, they will be 

 taken by the workpeople and shelled. The number of pots, 

 I believe, amounted to between seventy and eighty thousand, 

 each pot contai nin g on an average two plants, and the varieties 

 to between four and five hundred. In addition to these, Messrs. 

 Haage & Schmidt receive annually a few tens of thousands of 

 pots from smaller growers in the town. With regard to obtain- 

 ing double flowers of this plant, about which so much has been 

 written, Mr. Haage told me the secret, so far as his experience 

 went, lay in selecting the seed from those pods which were but 

 slightly or not at all divided at the top. Eunning along by the 

 side of these stands down towards the road were a number of 

 glass-covered beds containing Portulaeas, Petunias, Phloxes, 

 African Marigolds, and Cockscombs. At the upper end in one of 

 these beds were some fifty plants of Lisianthus Eussellianus, 

 ■which to all appearance had been splendidly grown, for the 

 flowers were large and well coloured, but unfortunately now in a 

 dying condition in consequence of having been carelessly trans- 

 planted by some noodle-headed workman. It has lately been 

 stated in the Journal that persons in general find this a cliffi ■ 

 cult plant to grow. Mr. Haage is not of this opinion, and 

 says it only arises from inattention to preserving the conditions 

 under which the plant exists when in an uncultivated state. 

 The requisites are bottom heat, moisture, and shelter from 

 the hot sun. The way of growing the plant here is as follows : 

 The seed is sown in pans during March in sandy loam ; when 

 large enough the plants are transplanted into cutting pots ; 

 they should receive bottom heat as the summer advances, 

 and at the end of the first season be in 2-ineh pots. Their 

 winter position should be near the glass, and their condition 

 very dry — in fact, being only watered enough to keep life in 

 them. At the end of January or beginning of February of the 

 next season they ought to be started into growth in the old 

 pots, and when showing signs of rife transplanted. From this 

 time they should receive a new shift every time the roots grow 

 through the bottom of the pot, but in doing this great care 

 must be taken not to break off the spongioles, or else the 

 mishap which has just befallen Messrs. Haage & Schmidt will 

 ensue. The tops should be pinched two or three times, and 

 by July or August of the second year the plants in 8-inch 

 pots will be in their full beauty. Just beyond the spot where 

 the unfortunate Lisianthuses were, and across the path de- 

 scribed directly after this, is another large cage-like shelter, 

 under which were ranged in rows more than three hundred 

 plants of the charming little-flowered Tropseolum canariense. 



From this point there runs, in a straight line, a path of 

 about 250 yards long cutting the enclosed grounds through 

 the centre ; whilst from the road runs parallel with the build- 

 ings one of similar width and straightness, which intersects 

 the first at right angles almost in the middle. Thus the in- 

 terior is divided into four quarters, the borders of which were 

 planted with, first a row of Verbenas in great and charming 

 variety, then another of Dahlias, and within these two a third 

 of Vines. Inside were chiefly rows of fruit and ornamental 

 trees, among which Gleditsehias, variegated Maples, Berberis 

 Knightii, and numerous Hawthorns showed prominently forth. 

 At the end of the first-mentioned path was a strip of ground 

 without the part so thickly covered with trees, and in it were 

 a large number of Gladioli and Salpiglossis of buff, brown, 

 yellow, purple, and intermediate varieties. 



Going outwards now and crossing a strip planted with 

 Balsams, Lobelias, and Colchicum autumnale, I gain the high 

 road, on the other side of which are a great many of the open 

 fields of Messrs. Haage & Schmidt. Here between intervening 

 strips of corn were many variously arranged beds of Phloxes, 

 Scabiouses, Verbenas, some extensive ones of Calliopsis bicolor 

 and Heliehrysums. Leaving these and going straight out 

 until I was more than a quarter of a mile distant from the 

 front of Messrs. Haage & Schmidt's establishment, I arrived at 

 the greater part of their stock of Asters. Of these there were 



about ten acres, the varieties being large and full-flowered 

 ones of red, purple, and white. In the last rays of the sun, 

 which was just sinking behind the hills bounding the basin in 

 which Erfurt lies, the different shades of colour came out 

 forcibly, and yet without any of the objectionable glare which 

 so often results from an exposure to too intense a body of 

 light. 



"With these Asters the description of the most striking points 

 in Messrs. Haage & Schmidt's establishment ends, but the 

 effect produced by viewing them is not so easily set aside. 

 Although not distinguished by the excessive neatness so charac- 

 teristic of the grounds of Mr. Benary, there is nevertheless an 

 excuse for this in the visibly active manner in which every- 

 thing is gone about, and the large amount of business pro- 

 ceeding in and about the houses. In the quieter portions of 

 the gardens, however, even in this respect there is no reason 

 to find fault ; and when walking along the paths, made plea- 

 sant to the tread by moistened cocoa-nut fibre, and contem- 

 plating the beautiful lines of Verbenas, one forgets all feelings 

 of hypercriticism in the overwhelming ones of satisfaction 

 induced by the pleasing scene around. 



Next in importance to the two firms already described is 

 that of Messrs. Platz & Son. The head-quarters of these 

 gentlemen are in the Krampfer Strasse, down which it is neces- 

 sary to pass in order to get to Messrs. Haage & Schmidt's. At 

 the back of the dwelling-house, which is situated in a con- 

 tinuous row of other houses, are spacious grounds entirely 

 shut-in by buildings of different kinds. Here, separated by 

 intervening strips of turf planted with Araucarias, Hollies, 

 Coniferce, and other young ornamental trees, were parallelrows 

 of glass houses and stands, filled with, in one case, Gloxinias, 

 but chiefly Balsams and Stocks. The larger portion of the 

 grounds is without the gates, lying on both sides of the road 

 to Buttstedt, and also a little to the left of it. In an enclosed 

 part running round by the moat were a large number of white, 

 pale yellow, and red varieties of Zinnias ; but the space was 

 principaUy occupied with fruit and ornamental trees, and with 

 what seemed rather a rarity in the gardens here — a number 

 of Eoses. Outside this lay the most important part of the 

 grounds, but whether on account of the lightness of the soil 

 or some other defect, the plants did certainly not look so 

 thriving as those I had seen before. The greater portion of 

 them were Asters, but nearly aU the other kinds grown at Mr. 

 Benary's and Messrs. Haage & Schmidt's were also there. 



From the description of these the grounds of the three 

 largest firms the reader ought to be a ble to form a good idea 

 of what the growing of flowers around Erfurt really is. As 

 may be gathered from what has been said before, in the cul- 

 tivation of Stocks and Asters this town is unrivalled, and I 

 strongly suspect that there are few if any other places where 

 such Pinks and Picotees as those of Mr. Benary can be seen. 

 Anyone who does not already know, and is able to pay for 

 them, could not do better than obtain some of his varieties of 

 Dianthus Heddewigii and diadematus. 



Besides the firms already mentioned are those of Mr. Heine- 

 mann and Mr. Adolph Haage, jun. The former has a very 

 choice collection of Fuchsias, the latter an extraordinarily 

 large number of Cacti. The sum total of the establishments 

 engaged in the cultivation of fruits and flowers in Erfurt is 

 thirty-six, a very large number for so small a town, and which 

 one would scarcely credit until he understood the full amount 

 of seed produced by the smaller for the larger firms. Mr. 

 Benary has twelve persons commissioned to grow quantities 

 of particular plants for him, and Messrs. Haage & Schmidt 

 have nearly as many, or even more. Of course they do not 

 grow- exclusively for the larger ones, or else we should soon 

 have them mount up to more than a hundred. Of the civility 

 with which any foreigner wishing to inspect the various estab- 

 lishments here is received I cannot speak too highly. A 

 German remarked to me, almost mournfully, that the predi- 

 lection for strangers in his country was very great ; and I can 

 assure Englishmen that if such be the case in general, it is 

 not less so in the seed and flower trade. — Eobik. 



Labge Onions. — At the Banbury Horticultural Exhibition 

 held on Tuesday week, the entries in the different divisions 

 were quite equal to those of previous years in quantity and qua- 

 lity, but the most noticeable feature was the extraordinary 

 Onions displayed in a large tent. They were shown in a 

 sweepstakes open to all England. Mr. Taplin, of Banbury, 

 was again the successful competitor ; he took the first prize in 



