JANUARY 29, 189O.] 



Garden and Forest. 



53 



Fig. 14. — Kalanchoe carnea. — See page 52. 



It is the boast of Sir Trevor Lawrence that he is his own gar- 

 dener. He does not, however, deny to his men the credit due 

 to them for the successes achieved in his garden, and amongst 

 them to one who stood head and shoulders above all Orchid- 

 growers of his time, the late Mr. Spyers. Mr. Spyers was a 

 gardener by instinct, as much as by training, and we are in- 

 debted to his extraordinary skill in arriving at the treatment 

 best suited to many plants which had baffled others, or of 

 which cultivators were in ignorance, for many Orchids which 



are now grown with ease. Mr. Spyers died suddenly about 

 five years ago, when still a young man. A garden rich in 

 plants and perfectly managed, where some half dozen young 

 men are employed amongst the Orchids, must effect a consid- 

 erable amount of good in horticulture by training men in the 

 best methods of cultivation. . In this way a few good, well 

 managed gardens are of immense benefit to horticulture gen- 

 erally. 



The garden at Burford Lodge is what would be called small. 

 It occupies about twenty acres, a large proportion of which is 

 covered with grass and plantations. These latter are filled 

 with Ferns, Daffodils, Primroses, Bluebells, etc., through 

 which moss-grown paths meander naturally, and are roughly 

 defined by patches of Ground Ivy. The houses number 

 twelve, none of them being large. In construction they are 

 as light as possible, the wood-work painted white inside and 

 out, being only strong enough to carry the broad panes of 

 glass. In winter it almost seems as if there were more light 

 in these houses than there is outside. The stages are covered 

 with spar, and beneath them is planted Selaginella, Trades- 

 cantia, etc. There is absolutely no attempt at ornamentation. 

 The houses are built solely for the plants, and are designed by 

 Sir Trevor himself. 



The collection of Orchids comprises almost every 



species and variety of any horticultural interest, and a 



great many which are termed " botanical Orchids." If 



there is a good and rare plant in the market it is almost 



certain to be secured for Burford Lodge unless it be 



already there. Sir Trevor is a liberal buyer. Any plant 



on which he has set his mind he gets, no matter what it costs. 



It used to be said that of every importation of Orchids into 



this country the best plants went to Sir Trevor's garden. At 



the public auction rooms, at the nurseries, wherever there are 



Orchids worth having, there Sir Trevor is a frequent visitor. 



In his address at the Orchid Conference in 1885 Sir Trevor 

 expressed the opinion that of the 5,000 species of Orchids 

 known close upon 2,000 were in cultivation. *' I can say," he 

 said, "with regard to one particular genus, Dendrobium, that 

 I have had in my own collection upward of 100 species under 

 cultivation at the same time. There is another curious cir- 

 cumstance to be noted in connection with Orchids, and that is, 

 that I do not see, in the case of most of them, that there is the 

 least reason why they should ever die . . . unless they are 

 killed by errors of cultivation." Many growers find that, in 

 spite of the most careful treatment, a great many Orchids are 

 difficult to keep in cultivation. Yet Sir Trevor's remarks on 

 this point are to some extent confirmed by the contents of his 

 collection, many of which have been in his possession almost 

 a generation. Cattleya, Dendrobium, Cypripedium, Ccelogyne, 

 Vanda, Odontoglossum, Oncidium and Masdevallia are each 

 represented by scores, in some cases hundreds of kinds, 

 whilst such genera as Epidendrum, Catasetum, Brassia, and 

 even Pleurothallis, are not omitted. Hybrids have been raised 

 amongst Dendrobiums, Cypripediums and several other 

 genera at Burford Lodge, the fine race of Calanthe produced 

 here being a special feature of this garden at this time of year. 

 Rare plants, such as Grammatophyllum speciostitn, G. Ellisii, 

 Spathoglottis aurea (Kimballiana), Renanthera Storeyi, Lisso- 

 chilns giganteus, and others scarcely known elsewhere, are 

 represented here by large, healthy specimens. 



Although famous chiefly for orchidaceous plants, yet the 

 other departments of Sir Trevor's garden are well managed, 

 and contain many choice and rare plants in well grown exam- 

 ples. Probably there is no other garden of the same size in 

 England where so many beautiful, rare and interesting plants 

 are collected together and grown so successfully. 



London. W. IVatsOH. 



Cultural Department. 



Notes on Grafting. 



THE influence of stocks upon the scions or buds grafted 

 and budded upon them is a subject which is often dis- 

 cussed and which is as yet very imperfectly understood. 

 General experience maintains the theory that the leaves, Mow- 

 ers and fruit, as well as the woody parts, of a grafted or bud- 

 ded plant are essentially the same as those on the plant from 

 which the scions or buds were originally taken, and that the 

 plant food taken up by the roots of the stock imparts little or 

 no influence of its own quality or character when transmitted 

 to the cells, and through them, to the growing parts of the 

 introduced graft or bud. On the other hand, the variations 

 recorded by Darwin and others show that a mixture of qual- 

 ities may take place, and the so-called " graft hybrids " arc 



