246 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 222. 



of all kinds were obtained. All these magnificent plants, 

 robust in habit, large in flower and rich in shades of color, 

 had been selected from the fields of seedlings which in this 

 nursery are raised every year and planted outside in June. 

 The best of them are named, but, says Mr. Laing, " we get 

 on so fast and improve so every year that the choicest of 

 last year are only second-rate compared with those of this." 



In the other house all the plants were double-flowered, 

 and these were even more astonishing than the single- 

 flowered ones. "We are aiming now to get erect-tlowered 

 double varieties. Hitherto they have had the drawback of 

 being too weak in the stalk to bear the weight of the heavy 

 double flowers, so that they looked 'floppy.' But, see," 

 said Mr. Laing, " we are getting on.'' And sure enough 

 there were plants, large and full of flower, all holding 

 their big Carnation-shaped blooms perfectly upright with- 

 out the support of stake or tie of any kind. "We shall in 

 time, if we care to, get the stalks so short and stout that the 

 flowers will all hold up their heads like Cinerarias. " Be- 

 gonias have proved e.xceptionally plastic in the breeders' 

 hands. It is scarcely credible among outsiders that the 

 best of the seedlings we now possess are the progeny of 

 several Andean species of Begonia which were almost un- 

 known twenty years ago, and the flowers of which, com- 

 pared with the huge blooms of some of Mr. Laing's latest 

 seedlings, are as a Wellington apple is to a crab. 



The named kinds which I made special note of were 

 Princess May, a pure white, double, perfect in form, large 

 and full ; " the best white yet," Mr. Laing said. It has just 

 returned from an exhibition at Regent's Park, where it had 

 been awarded a first-class certificate. Lady Theodore 

 Guest, another big double-flowered seedling, was remarka- 

 ble for its wavy petals, colored buff, tinged with salmon. 

 Mrs. Regnart, with full chrome-yellow flowers as large as a 

 child's fist, had- also received a certificate. 



The best of the new erect-flowered double sorts was one 

 named Baron Schroeder. The blooms were fully three 

 inches in diameter, very double, perfectly erect and col- 

 ored a rich orange-scarlet. Perfection was another plant 

 with stem erect and a large double flower colored rosy 

 scarlet. Baroness Burdett Coutts had semi-erect flowers, 

 large, wavy, and colored a soft pale salmon. Another 

 pretty variety was named Mrs. Coomber ; it had Picotee- 

 like flowers, colored creamy white with a rosy edge. 



Mr. Laing says he has a great display of Begonias from 

 April till October, and that he could have it all the year 

 found with a little management. The two houses de- 

 scribed were the "show-rooms" merely; the "work- 

 shops " revealed how the thing was done. Long low 

 houses and frames were filled, or being filled, with boxes 

 of recently pricked off seedlings, a dozen or so young lads, 

 fresh from the board-schoolmaster, being seated round a 

 big bench pricking the little plants off. The boxes used 

 were fifteen inches by nine and two inches deep. Forty 

 plants were put into each box, of which ten thousand at 

 least would be filled this year. The frames were placed 

 upon hot-beds of manure, with a thick layer of spent hops 

 spread over the top of the manure. "Nothing like hops 

 to keep down the fly and make the seedlings shoot along," 

 said Mr. Laing. "What becomes of them all .^ " I asked. 

 "Why, bless you," said he, "they don't stay with us long ; 

 we can easily find customers for all we grow." 



The work of selection and crossing, which Mr. Laing does 

 himself, is conducted in the houses in which only specially 

 good varieties are grown, so that in the event of stray pol- 

 lination not much harm is done. ]\Ir. Laing informed me 

 that the very best kinds are obtained from seeds, and that, 

 except in very few cases, it is scarcely ivorth while to prop- 

 agate the plants from cuttings. 



The Caladiums are second only in interest to the 

 Begonias. Some of the varieties are gorgeous in color, 

 and the leaves as large almost as umbrellas. Messrs. 

 Laing grow Caladiums better than any one in London, 

 their groups at the great exhibitions being far ahead of 

 every other exhibit of the same kind. I noted down the 



best, to my taste, of all the Caladiums I saw there among 

 the hundreds of named varieties grown. Mrs. Harry Veitch 

 has large broad leaves, blush-white, with the midrib and 

 larger veins colored rich crimson ; John Laing has equally 

 large leaves colored bright rose-red, with a creamy white 

 border ; Reine de Danemark is colored delicate rose with 

 carmine veins, and netted all over with green ; Maria 

 Mitjana is almost wholly rich rose ; Madame Marchand 

 has grand leaves, colored rosy carmine, margined with 

 dark green ; Aurore Boreale is deep red, lined with car- 

 mine and blotched with a peculiar metallic green ; Chactas 

 has large deep red leaves with green borders ; Raymond 

 Lemoinier has a creamy white centre, a rich red outer part, 

 very large leaves, and is a magnificent variety : P. S. Wil- 

 liams is deep rose, with carmine-red veins ; Candidum has 

 white leaves, with very conspicuous green ribs ; Bellone 

 is rosy colored in the centre, red-maroon toward the mar- 

 gin, and tinged with brown ; Leopold Robert has a beau- 

 tiful leaf, colored blush-white, with a rich green border and 

 carmine-red ribs ; Gaspard Crayer has a red centre, with a 

 broad border of deep green blotched with red ; Ornatum 

 has a grass-green ground, with carmine ribs and crimson 

 veins ; Charlemagne has large rosy red leaves, with dark 

 red veins ; Madame M. Scheffer has large white leaves, 

 with rosy ribs, veins and margin. These sixteen varieties 

 are remarkable for the large size of their leaves, their ex- 

 ceptionally brilliant colors and delicate tracery. They are 

 not all Mr. Laing's first favorites, but they are what I 

 would select for myself The cultivation of these plants is 

 not at all difficult, and yet there are very few growers who 

 can produce anything like the grand specimens which 

 come from Forest Hill. Here are the details §f culture for 

 them as recommended and practiced by Messrs. Laing ; 



Caladiums are easily managed. They require a good moist 

 heat to develop their beauties, and a fair amount of shading at 

 the commencement of the season, as in some instances the 

 texture of the leaf is tliin, and, unless carefully shaded from 

 the sun, the glass is apt to burn the foliage, and thus perma- 

 nently disfigure it ; but avoid too heavy shading and too much 

 heat, as this encourages flimsiness and thin foliage. The bulbs 

 should be potted when growth commences in spring, and a 

 compost of two parts peat, one part turfy loam, one part silver 

 sand, and plenty of drainage, and placed in a brisk bottom- 

 heat, with a moist temperature of seventy degrees, and, with 

 frequent potting, they will soon make large plants. Care 

 should be taken not to water very liberally until the pots get 

 well filled with roots, and then, if required, apply liquid ma- 

 nure regularly. Syringing is beneficial. 



For ordinary purposes, bottom-heat to start them is quite 

 unnecessary, but a light position near the glass is of more im- 

 portance, and is at all times essential. The plants in summer, 

 before being removed to cool houses, should be hardened for 

 a week in a less warm house than the stove, otherwise much 

 of their beauty will go before tliey get used to the change. 



When their beauty begins to fade, gradually dry them off by 

 giving them less water, but on no account should the soil be 

 dust-dry all the winter, or when starting-time arrives the bulbs 

 may be found to have disappeared from the " dry-rot " disease. 



The Forest Hill Nurseries are not devoted only to a few 

 things, for there is also a good collection of Orchids, stove 

 and greenhouse plants and fruit of all kinds. ^,. . 



London. VlSlior. 



Cultural Department. 



The Loss of Vigor in Varieties of Strawberries. 



THE marked decline of the Wilson Strawberry during recent 

 3'ears is well known to all who have been familiar with 

 this fruit as grown in this country during the last two decades. 

 Yet a- few growers, among whom may be named Mr. J. M. 

 Smith, of Green Bay, Wisconsin, continue to have excellent 

 success with this time-honored variety. Indeed, Mr. Smith 

 claims that no recent variety among many he has tested fully 

 equals the Wilson in yield. He has long ascribed his success 

 with the Wilson to the fact that he invariably takes his plants 

 for setting from beds set the preceding spring, and which 

 have not borne a crop of fruit. 

 Certain experiinents that I have been making lead me to 



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