A GREAT LONDON MARKET NURSERY, 



35 



The chambers are now nearly empty, but they 

 are stocked early in each year as the new ship- 

 ments come in, until the whole is filled with 

 a vast quantity of bulbs, roots, and shrubs, 

 which, so soon as they show any tendency to 

 growth, are subjected to frost and so held dor- 

 mant through the summer until forced supplies 

 are again in request. Most things are frozen 

 for half the season, many for nine months, and 

 some for as long as nearly a year. The list of 

 bulbs and tubers so retarded has gradually in- 

 creased, and now includes many of the fine 

 Japan Lilies, Lily of the Valley, Spireas, Rhu- 

 barb, Seakale, the hardy Ghent Azaleas, and 

 other things, and the quantities treated may 

 be gathered from the long ranges of glass given 

 up to their subsequent growth, and that the 

 one item of Lily of the Valley crowns runs up 

 to over £10,000 a year. Beside what they 

 grow and market, Messrs. Rochford supply 

 quantities of these frozen plants to private and 

 other gardens in which the demand for them 

 is greatly on the increase as the advantages of 

 the system become better known. Though 

 they hardly need forcing in the ordinary sense, 

 special care is needed in the details of water- 

 ing and temperature for plants coming through 

 so abnormal a winter, but with a gentle heat 

 better results are got than with ordinary forced 

 stuff. The contrast between crowns of Lily 

 of the Valley retarded and forced is a convinc- 

 ing proof of what is gained, the weakly leaf- 

 less stems of the forced plants showing badly 

 beside the abundant leafage and stout spikes 

 of the frozen crowns. In the height of the 

 winter season the nursery sends to market 

 some 8,000 bunches a day of these flowers, all 

 carefully sorted into nine grades according to 

 quality, by a large staff of men and boys, the 

 finest bunches being of spikes 18 inches to 

 2 feet in length. The fine Spireas and Lilies 

 placed on the market for Christmas are very 

 different under this gentle culture to the un- 

 healthy-looking product of strong heat and 

 semi-darkness. There are tricks in the trade, 

 as Mr. Rochford laughingly admitted, tricks 

 which have had to be found out by experi- 

 ment and failure, and which they do not make 

 public ; these are details as to the degrees or 

 cold found to produce the best effect in diffe- 

 rent plants, and the length of time each will 

 stand the ordeal without injury. Such matters 



have also to be in part decided by the condi- 

 tion of the plants themselves in different years, 

 and upon such little details much depends. 



The same excellence is shown in all the de- 

 partments of the nursery. The houses emptied 

 by the recent demand for Crotons were already 

 restocked with young plants in all the best 

 kinds, including the fine new variety turnfor- 

 d/'ensis, obtained here and recently shown with 

 distinction before the Royal Horticultural So- 

 ciety. Its colours are finely contrasted, the 

 broad, rich patches of golden yellow extend- 

 ing deeply into the leaves from their base, giv- 

 ingit a distinct andshowy character. A further 

 range of glass is given to fine-leaved plants and 

 Palms in all stages of growth, with many large 

 clumps of Raphis, and finely-grown Kentias 

 andCocos of many feet in height. Afewplants 

 of the Golden Kentia are grown, but when 

 their first freshness is past the leaves are so like 

 thoseof a scorched orstarvedplant that it can- 

 not be called ornamental. Another evidence 

 of high culture is the series of vineries, each 

 of great length, and given up entirely to the 

 growth of winter Grapes. The display of fruit, 

 even after the huge Christmas demand had 

 been met, was remarkable, the clusters of Black 

 Alicante and Gros Colmar hanging in profu- 

 sion and in fine condition. The supply is timed 

 to last into April of each year, or until the first 

 early Grapes appear. The day's allowance was 

 in process of cutting, eight to twelve bunches 

 being carefully packed in baskets, which are 

 carried to market by the carts of the firm. As 

 our tour extended, well-nigh every market 

 plant of importance was seen in succession, 

 grown either for cutting or for sale as pot plants. 

 A batch of the retarded hardy Azaleas were 

 nearly over though still brilliant, but for blaze 

 of colour nothing came near the pink winter- 

 flowering Begonias, a quantity of which, made 

 up in baskets for market, would tempt any- 

 one's money in these dull days, and were a spot 

 of dazzling brightness even when seen from 

 the railway. ThePandanus house was crowded 

 with good plants, including a stock of the new 

 Golden-leaved Pandanus just received from 

 America, the merits of which are still on trial 

 by English growers. A second part of the 

 nursery, separated by a few minutes' walk, is 

 given to the growth of Ferns of many sorts and 

 sizes — Aspidistras, the fine-leaved Asparagus, 



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