May 25, 1892.] 



Garden and Forest. 



245 



Foreign Correspondence. 



Forest Hill Nurseries. 



THE nurseries of the well-known firm of Messrs. J. 

 Laing & Sons are about eight miles from St. Paul's 

 Cathedral, and two from the Crystal Palace at Sydenham. 

 They were founded by the veteran John Laing about forty 

 years ago, and they are now famed for tuberous Begonias, 

 Glo.xinias and Caladiums, which have been a specialty with 



long by fourteen feet in width, low, span-roofed, with a low 

 fibre-bed on one side and a cinder-bed on the other side of 

 the path. The sun shone full in upon the plants, and the 

 temperature was that of a moist stove. Laing's Begonias 

 are always first-rate, but those I saw the other day were 

 certainly far finer than any I have ever seen. One house 

 contained single-flowered varieties. They were in nine- 

 inch pots, planted in yellovi' loam, manure and plenty of 

 sand, and they had been started in January. Many of the 

 plants were a yard across, with leaves often a foot long and 



Fig. 47. — Viburnum cotinifolium. — See page 243. 



Messrs. Laing for many years. The tuberous-rooted Be- 

 gonias are grown there better and in larger quantities than 

 anywhere in England. Mr. John Laing, indeed, may be 

 called the originator of the Begonia cult, as he was one of 

 the first to set to work in earnest to breed improvement 

 into these plants, and he has done far more to make the 

 Tuberous Begonia what it now is than any other breeder, 

 professional or amateur I was invited last week by Mr. 

 Laing to inspect his first batch of Begonias in flower. 

 These were in two large houses, each one hundred feet 



half as broad, very thick and succulent, pictures even with- 

 out the flowers, and the flowers were simply marvelous, 

 both in regard to size and colors. Flowers four inches 

 across were numerous ; there were also many kinds which, 

 while having only medium-sized blooms, were elegant in 

 form. The florists' ideal flower, round and flat as a saucer, 

 was represented, too, and was pointed out with pride by 

 Mr Laing, who remarked that, although they were not 

 every one's choice, yet the florist had to be considered, and 

 that it was only when aiming for his ideal that good things 



