522 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 245. 



gigantic Orchid business at St. Albans, built up by Mr. F. 

 Sander, deserves a much larger space than you can spare to 

 do it anything likejustice ; its enormous well-stocked houses, 

 its labor-saving appliances, the comprehensiveness and 

 health of the collections, the excellence of the cultivation, 

 and the general interest of the whole establishment, I must 

 not attempt to deal with at present. I had occasion to 

 visit the St. Albans nurseries this week, and I propose to 

 set down a few of the impressions made as I walked, during 

 the whole of an afternoon, through the many houses in 

 company with Mr. Sander and his clever lieutenant, Mr. 

 Godseff. 



Order, neatness, close attention to cultural detail ; these 

 are conspicuous features of this nursery. Large houses, 

 but the plants arranged close to the roof-glass, plenty of 

 hot-water pipes, light, a growing atmosphere, fed with 

 plenty of moisture and the exhalations of lime, tan and 

 leaf-mould, these are some of Mr. Sander's secrets. That 

 they answer is evident in the health of the thousands of 

 Cattleyas, the deep green, well-leaved ^^rides and Vandas, 

 Coelogyne Dayana in thousands, with fine pseudo-bulbs 

 and broad leathery leaves, all healthy, and growing with a 

 vigor that suggested leeks. Of course, the grand Dendro- 

 bium Phalaenopsis is there, flowering, too (it is never out 

 of flower, Mr. Sander says), one spike bearing twenty-two 

 large richly colored flowers, all open and fresh. Cattleya 

 labiata, with hundreds of flowers and thousands showing ; 

 C Bowringiana a broad cascade of flowers. Dendrobiums 

 are not every gardener's successes, but at St. Albans they 

 are perfect. There appears to be enough of Odontoglossum 

 crispum to plant a ten-acre field, and the plants look as healthy 

 as the healthiest Turnips. What an amount of real pleasure 

 one gets out of looking at plants that are healthy and happy. 



Sobralias are very numerous, some new in appearance, 

 with distinctly marked leaves, beside S. xantholeuca, S. 

 leucoxantha, S. macrantha and its variety Alba. Lselia 

 Perrini filled one end of a house and was in full bloom ; a 

 beautiful Orchid, easily grown, for five years at any rate. 

 Cypripedium Schlimii, growing in a moist cool corner, was 

 healthier than I had ever seen it before, and flowering 

 freely, too^I don't mean one plant, but perhaps two hun- 

 dred fine specimens in eight inch pots. Cattleya Alex- 

 andra fills, or nearly fills, the whole side of a broad house 

 hundreds of feet long, and C. Victoria Reginas is equally 

 abundant. Barkerias, Catasetums, Miltonias, Calanthes 

 and Thunias are grovs'n in great quantity, grown well and 

 are flowering well, or promise to do so shortly. Lselia an- 

 ceps is here in all its varieties, every variety in great num- 

 bers and apparently every plant showing flower. And thus 

 it is in house after house, tropical Orchids of all kinds, 

 intermediate and cool, everything good one might reason- 

 ably say, and enough of everything to supply everybody. 

 The breeding-houses are stocked with seedlings in great num- 

 bers from Cattleyas to — well, I mustn't say what, but there 

 are some promising miracles in those half-dozen houses 

 which Mr. Maynard, who is a second Seden, has under his 

 special charge. I must not omit to mention the many 

 plants in flower of Cypripedium Chamberlainianum and 

 Renanthera matutina, a most elegant orange-flowered 

 tropical Orchid. 



St. x\lbans is a great Orchid emporium. It is also great 

 in other plants, or soon will be, Mr. Sander now devoting 

 several houses to "new and rare" plants, other than 

 Orchids. I was allowed to inspect the hidden treasures, 

 and I saw there a considerable number of beautiful plants 

 which are certain to find general favor when they are sent 

 out. 



We are often told that the nurseryman is only interested 

 in plants as a means of making money, but what an enor- 

 mous amount of valuable work he does for horticulture while 

 filling his purse with guineas will be evident to any one 

 who cares to study the history of garden-plants and gar- 

 dening. The nurserymen introduce all the good things 

 nowadays. Here, for example, is a quartette now abun- 

 dantly represented and flowering beautifully, which we owe 



to such business enterprise, Vanda Sanderiana, Dendro- 



bium Phalaenopsis, Cattleya labiata, Cypripedium Cham- 

 berlainianum. „, „. 

 London. iV. Walson. 



Cultural Department. 



Hard}' Bulbs. 



'\ XT' HAT are generally considered hardy bulbs are, in reality, 



' ' only so in name, and in the sense that they will live 

 through the winter, even though frozen. In fact, but few bulbs 

 produce their flowers as well after being frozen. Hyacinths 

 are classed with the hardy bulbs, but in Holland, where they 

 are grown to supply the markets of the world, they are pro- 

 tected with the greatest care. The beds there are thatched 

 with reeds, which grow in abundance on the banks of the 

 canals, as carefully and as warmly as the roof under which the 

 family sleeps. 



Nearly all the Narcissus are as carefully protected, and for 

 the same reason. The Crocus belongs in the same list. Tulips 

 are more hardy, but are greatly benefited by a slight covering 

 of leaves, manure, or anything that will accomplish the pur- 

 pose. It is the general opinion of those authorized to speak 

 for the Lily that it is perfectly hardy. This opinion, supposed 

 correct, not having been disputed, finds its way into seeds- 

 men's catalogues, and is prominent in the "cultural instruc- 

 tions," where it does an immense amount of harm. It is 

 founded on the fact that the species denominated hardy are 

 natives of cold or temperate climates. While it is true" that 

 some of the species are found in the coldest parts of the hab- 

 itable globe growing most luxuriantly, it is equally true that 

 these same species are not hardy in our climate to a degree 

 which renders it safe to plant tliem in our borders without 

 protection. It is but proper to note that there is no climate 

 more severe than ours on all bulbs that are considered hardy 

 and left in the open border during winter. 1 his is particularly 

 applicable to the coast from Massachusetts to Virginia, where 

 the thermometer often indicates forty degrees of frost while 

 there is not a particle of snow on the ground to protect the 

 bulbs. Here the frost penetrates the earth to a great depth one 

 week, and is enfirely out the next. These constant changes 

 from freezing to thawing cause the earth to contract and ex- 

 pand to such a degree as to frequently tear the bulbs in pieces. 

 We have had thousands destroyed in this manner. 



But let us be more specific. Take the beautiful little Lillium 

 tenuitolium, a native of Siberia, where it is largely grown as 

 an article of food. In its native soil if is perfectly hardy, here 

 it is not. Why? Simply because in its Siberian home the 

 first indication of winter is a snow-storm that covers the 

 ground so deeply that frost rarely, if ever, penetrates it at all, 

 while here the earth is frozen to a depth entirely unknown 

 there, notwithstanding their climate is much the colder of the 

 two. The same is true of the Lilium Martagon, the bulbs of 

 which are eaten by the Cossacks ; in Russia it is perfectly 

 hardy ; with us, in the much milder climate, it will rarely sur- 

 vive more than a single season unless protected, and with that 

 precaution it grows "with more vigor here than in its native 

 home. 



In our eastern states, particularly in New Hampshire and 

 Vermont, where the ground is nearly always covered with 

 snow during the winter season, all kinds of Lilies grow to the 

 greatest perfection. We have seen finer bulbs of L. auratum, 

 L. Brownii, L. Chalcedonicum, L. Martagon, as well as other 

 species, grown in these states without the least artificial pro- 

 tection than we have ever known produced elsewhere. There 

 the bulbs named are always healthy and increase as rapidly 

 as any of our native species, merely because their winters are 

 always attended with sufficient snow to protect all vegetation 

 against injury from freezing. 



Nature is very considerate in this matter. Wherever the 

 climate is the coldest there will be found the greatest protec- 

 tion given the vegetation. In our own woods there are many 

 delicate little plants that are protected by their annual cover- 

 ing of leaves and snow, that we cannot grow in our borders 

 without the most careful protecfion, and many of our native 

 forest-trees struggle for an existence and finally succumb to 

 winter's wind and cold when planted in the open. 



The question may be asked, and it is a pertinent one, " Do 

 not our native Lilies have the same elements to contend 

 against as those not indigenous to our soil, and, having them, 

 escape uninjured?" Certainly, yes; but nature always pro- 

 tects her own, and in collecting our native species we see how 

 wisely and beautifully it is done. The Lilium superbum is 

 rarely found excepting in moist woods or marshy grounds, 



