February 19, 1898. 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



117 



durine the early months of the year. More seed should now be sown for suc- 

 ces ional crops ; it is better to sow frequently and to utilise only the thrifty plants 

 thS to depend on less frequent sowings, and starve them by confinement to small 

 ,ot" too long. An eye should be kept on the occupants of all fruit-forcing houses, 

 whh the object of detecting the first signs of insect attacks, as it will not do to 

 Sve these any grace. Cherry and peach trees are especially liable to attacks from 

 f nhides • but gardeners of the present day have much to be thankful for m the 

 excellent insecticides which may be always at hand for the destruction of these 

 nests without doing any injury to their hosts. Fumigation, which is now such a 

 pleasant function that there is no excuse for putting it oflf after an attack of insects 

 is noticed, used to be a horror and a danger rolled into one. I find, too, that 

 fumigation, or rather vaporisation, under the new methods can be safely and suc- 

 cessfully carried out in houses that could not be made to hold tobacco smnke long 

 enough to kill one-third the insects they contained.— J. C. Tallack, Livemure 

 Park Gardens. 



R.H.S. Awards. 



In my search through the 1897 awards I overlooked the F.C.C. to Cymbidium 

 eburneum. I was not present at that meeting, but the plant received the award 

 after our custom of granting it to old plants when they are worthy of it. Our 

 records do not contain any evidence of the granting of the award to C eburneum 

 previously. In like manner the others you mention (January 25, 1898) received 

 their awards. Were -Cymbidium eburneum to appear now as a new orchid it 

 would at once receive an F.C.C. Therefore, why not place it in the list, though 

 an old plant, in its proper place, for the benefit of those to come who consult the 

 R.H.S. records for comparative merit ? As a matter of fact the whole question of 

 certificates wants remodelling and widening, for orchids have enlarged their 

 domain to such an extent that they have almost outgrown their relation to the pair 

 of certificates we have to grant. The work of the committee is no sinecure, and 

 as it is voluntary and heterogeneous, some error is sure to creep in. I should like 

 toiask if the council does review the awards we recommend. 



Rosejield> Sevenoaks. De B. Crawshay. 



[As we understand the matter, the object of the Royal Horticultural Society in 

 instituting awards for meritorious plants, flowers, fruits, and vegetables was to 

 confer such distinction on meritorious introductions as would indicate to their 

 Fellows and others interested that they were by reason of their distinctness and 

 high quality deserving of general cultivation. Assuming this to be the object, we 

 fail to see that any usefu 1 purpose is served by granting certificates or awards of 

 merit to subjects with which the general body of cultivators are fully acquainted. 

 As no cultivator requires a certificate to be conferred upon the Black Hamburgh 

 or Muscat of Alexandria grape for the purpose of showing him that the variety is 

 sufficiently meritorious to be planted, so we may assume no orchidist requires a 

 certificate to be granted for Anguloa Clowesi or Cymbidium eburneum to assist 

 him in determining whether or not he will add the species to his collection. We 

 readily admit that either of these orchids would be certificated were they to be 

 introduced at the present time, and the distinction would be well deserved. But 

 as they would in that case be unknown to the general body of cultivators, the 

 award would stamp it as possessing merit of a high order, and thus serve as a guide 

 to intending purchasers. To those who fail to appreciate the principle involved 

 in the question at issue, it may appear an anomaly that meritorious subjects which 

 have long been under cultivation should not have distinction, while recent intro- 

 ductions, that in their way are not more valuable, have awards made in their 

 favour ; but when the object of the award is properly understood it at once becomes 

 apparent that the certificating of pknts that have long been in cultivation, and are 

 generally known, is unnecessary and undesirable. The Floral Committee at one 

 time gave certificates to generally known plants, in some instances to hardy peren- 

 nials obtained for a few pence, but some years since they abandoned the practice, 

 and in the interest of the Orchid Committee, we trust that body will limit the grant- 

 ing of certificates and awards of merit to plants that are new or not generally 

 known. — En.] 



The Fruit Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society have awarded already 

 this year three first-class certificates to fruits. But such awards would hardly have 

 been so numerously made had the varieties been of indifferent merit, and ripening 

 in November rather than into the new year. Every variety, whether of apple or 

 pear, that shows fine keeping qualities and excellent quality in January, February, 

 or later, is highly prized, because at such periods of the year really good ones are 

 -carce. The new pear, President Barabe, was in fine condition in January, and the 

 old Passe Crasanne, shown on February 8 in such splendid condition, by Mr. 

 Woodward, hitherto never certificated, was even 'finer and more luscious. Even 

 » it be a somewhat indifferent cropper, at least it is, when well grown, a splendid 

 pear. The new apple, Lord Hindlip, at least new in name, though old at Hindlip 

 Hall, is also an undoubted excellent desert variety, and should soon be widely 

 cultivated.— A. D. 



T 



B 



H 



Park N 



Somewhere about the year 1840 Mr. Hugh Low commenced business as a 

 nurseryman, and under the title of Messrs. Hugh Low and Co. the business 

 created by him has for a very long period been among the foremost of its kind in 

 the United Kingdom. The nursery was established at Clapton, and grew so 

 rapidly that Mr. Hugh Low found it too much for one person to properly control, 

 consequently he endeavoured to persuade his son, now Sir Hugh Low, to take 

 part ; but a taste of life in the East was not so easily broken with, and the son 

 stayed to make a great name for himself in connection with Borneo and the Straits 

 Settlements. Another son, however, was persuaded to leave the East India 

 merchant service, in which he was then engaged, and come home to assist in a 

 gentler art than that of roving in the East. This son, Mr. Stuart Low, eventually 

 became head of the Clapton firm, and he in turn has been succeeded by his three 

 sons, Mr. Hugh, Mr. Stuart H., and Mr. Ed ward V., and of these only the two latter 

 remain, but having been brought up in the trade they conduct the affairs of this 

 very large concern in a most efficient manner. As London grew and spread its 

 grimy self, octopus- like, in all directions, it gradually enclosed the once open 

 suburb of Clapton, and it became evident that to successfully compete with other 

 firms the establishment of Messrs. Low and Co. must be carried farther afield. 

 After a careful consideration of sites an outlying part of Enfield was selected, and 

 the admirable manner in which everything has thriven there proves conclusively 

 that the selection was a first-rate one. Another reason for opening a branch 

 nursery was that there appeared little chance of renewing the lease at Clapton, as 

 such a slice of land would at the conclusion of the lease be a most valuable 

 building estate. So year by year, without any undue haste, various departments 

 have been drafted from Clapton to Bush Hill Park, until, a fortnight hence, the 

 head-quarters of the firm will also have been removed thither. 



The lease at Clapton does not run out for a few years yet, and the nursery 

 there will be utilised for holding the immense stocks of palms, aspidistras, aralias, 

 and other subjects, known technically as 11 furnishing stuff," which this firm raises 

 and cultivates so successfully. But for choice stove plants, climbers, cyclamen, 

 New Holland plants, soft-wooded plants, heaths, roses, fruit trees, and last but 

 not least, the orchids, we shall in future turn our faces to the north-east; forgetting 

 that Low and Clapton were formerly inseparable names to horticulturists, but 

 remembering that haif an hour's run from Liverpool Street will bring us to Bush 

 Hill Park Station, and three or four minutes' walk will then bring us to the 

 nurseries and headquarters of Messrs, Hugh Low and Co. Here one will find a 

 town of glasshouses covering an area of over four acres ; not a house is less than 

 one hundred and twenty feet long, and some must be fully thirty feet wide, and 

 thirty feet longer. All are built in modern style with large panes of glass, so that 

 the largest possible amount of light is received by the occupants. There are about 

 ninety houses ; it is not well to give a definite number, for " about *' will allow of 

 expansion, and the eighty-seven houses the writer counted may have increased to 

 ninety -three or ninety- five a few weeks hence, and some critical reader and visitor 

 may question the correctness of the figures. The houses at Bush Hill Park grow 

 by sixes or eights, and there is no dawdling when a block is commenced. 



When commenting upon such an extensive establishment it is not easy to know 

 where to begin, but let us commence with the cyclamen, for who has not heard of 

 Bush Hill Pioneer, the new crested form that created so much surprise a couple of 

 years ago ? Here is a large batch of fine plants and all picked varieties for seeding ; 

 they show the cresting along the centre of the segments in a remarkably distinct 

 manner, and prove that in the creation of stock the firm has not been led away by 

 inferior forms Jor the sake of meeting the demand. Naturally, a large number of 

 crosses have been made between the very best of the Pioneers and cyclamen of 

 other colours, and so far the results are most promising. Bush Hill Pioneer was the 

 result of at least six years' careful selection. The Messrs. Low do not as a rule 

 name their cyclamen, but they have handsome strains of white, one, known as 

 Majestic, being especially good by reason of its purity and the exceptionally broad 

 segments to its large flowers. Then there are batches of deep crimson, very dis- 

 tinct and vivid scarlet, bright rose, deep and rich plum colour, salmon, and other 

 varieties, not forgetting a marked progress in the direction of large and sweetly- 

 scented flowers. Passing on one peeps into long low houses of seedling cyclamen 

 and hears a matter-of-fact statement from the guide that this contains eleven 

 thousand, that thirteen thousand, and so on. When you have heard thousands 

 and tens of thousands tossed merrily about by the various departmental foremen 

 you conclude that figures are a bit of a nuisance, and that the sense of sight gives 

 you a better idea of quantity than do statistics. Carnations of the various winter- 

 flowering types are next passed in review, there are battalions of J. P. Rugus, 

 Daybreak, E. G. Hill, Franco, Miss Jolifie, and a whole regiment of the glowin" 

 Winter Scarlet, a variety that is practically perpetual, for new shoots take the lea 

 as others finish flowering. The hydrangeas are very effective though only the buds 

 are as yet to be seen nestling amid the ample and rich green foliage ; there is a 

 good batch of the form with variegated foliage and also of the black-stemmed 

 variety known as H. cyanoclada. Marguerites are a grand stock, and one can 



THE qupownnn QllV/rp PUP Cr\n Ammiiai C *** understand that they will soon be disposed of. Decorative pelargoniums 



I nt OHtKWOOD OlLVER UUP FOR ANNUALS occup y several houses, they are grown very cool and on an ash floor, and not fed 



and Biennials. 



1 



/ J 



answers, the President and Council would be greatly obliged by your kindness in 

 publishing for the information of others :— 



(?. The contents of each tube must consist of one variety only ; am I to 



f r^ and tha T* Coreopsis grandiflora and C. Drummondi, or Nasturtium Cloth 

 ot tjold and N. Crimson King, and so on, may not be exhibited in the same tube ? 

 * They may not 



/ tl Are the tubes <<not to exceed three inches diameter at the top side"? 

 I hey must not exceed. 



i & • ^ e vases must be provided by exhibitors, and must not exceed six 

 mcries in diameter inside"; does this apply to the "plain glass vases "only? 

 ' v jL the tubes mu; > 1 not exceed three inches, nor the vases six inches. 



>>ho provides the tubes? A. The exhibitor, unless he is content with the 



OT n W \v-^ arS the societ y P^vides at all times. 

 v_- Will Regulation XL be enforced : All specimens must be the bond Jide 



°o rt \f° d grown by exhibitor? A - Yes - 



V.. Must exhibitor stage — i.e., arrange his own exhibit, or may he call in 

 oessional help? A. A special person may not be procured for this special 

 pose ; exhibitor or his gardener, or some member of the family of either, must 

 range the exhibit. 



O \v^i th t Cxhibit be re P»ted ? A. Yes. 



y- *>iH other foliage be allowed ? A. Only the foliage of the variety itself. 

 V- May grasses be mingled with flowers ? A. No. 



W. Wilks, Secretary R.H.S. 



until the buds set, so that fine stocky specimens are produceel ; Digby (Jrand, W. 

 H. Smith, Mrs. Gladstone, Masterpiece, Mabel, and Miss Wetherell are among 

 1 he favourites, judging by the stocks of them. 



Ferns are present in sufficient quantity to stock a moderate- sized nursery, and 

 in addition to large batches of popular kinds such as Pteris cretica majus^ P. 

 lata cristate, P. tremula in variety, P. Torrance,, P. internata, P. W.msetti, 



specially well represented, and among the latter D. Mariesi grown in round 

 niasses and like balls of delicate frondage were very attractive suspended from the 



ioof. The popular Aralia Sieboldi and Aspidistra lurida, both of them in green 

 and variegated forms, are models of good culture. The best draca-na^are grown 

 by the thousand, and there are whole forests of Ficus elastica that will be turned to 

 better account than even that of the production of india rubber. Many a gardener 

 would be the envy of his neighbours did his houses contain such examples of the 

 handsomely variegated Dracaena Doncetti as here ate seen. In tropical heat you 

 wander through groves of 

 crotons re: 

 tion or the 



scent of Jasminum gracillimum. 



notis, and others are represented by first-rate specimens that would cover a lot of 



space or make handsome balloon specimens ^- J ~ ' ' 



iacarandas Ficus Parcelli, Heliconia illustre, Aralia filicifolia, A. \ eitchi, A. 

 uracil lima,' A. leptophylla, marantas, caladiums, asparagus in variety, nepenthes 

 and a whole host of stove subjects comprising one of the most varied collections 

 setn of late are here represented by thrifty plants such as a gardener loveth. 



irough groves ot ranaanua * cucm 111 an mzc&» uicic ait mwuh ^« 

 splendent in green and gold or smaller plants suitable for table decora- 

 • foundation of exhibition specimens, and the air is fragrant with <he 



Bougainvilleas, allamandes, dipiadenis, stepha- 



mens that would cover a lot of 

 Gardenias, large and small, 



