THE 



GARDENERS 



9 



MAGAZINE. 



SATURDAY, APRIL 16, 1898. 



FETE, 



SHREWSBURY GREAT FLORAL 



*•> August 17 and 18, 1898. 



The Prizes in the Schedule amount to fym, with Gold and Silver Medals, &c. 

 Schedules post free on application^ Hon. Sees., ^ The shrewsbury . 



HORTICULTURAL SHOW ADVERTISEMENTS are inserted in uui 

 column at One Shilling per line, the minimum charge being Five Shillings. Advertise 

 nent Office, 148 and 149, Aldersgate Street, London, E.C. 



NOTICE TO ADVERTISERS. 



Owing to the continued increase in circulation, the 44 Gardeners' g reen drives 



the metropolis, and Mr. Hudson states that in them he has counted forty 

 three species of birds that breed annually. These include the pheasant, 

 partridge, carrion crow, jay, green woodpecker, wry neck, nuthatch, 

 nightingale, and other shy birds that have become rare in the neighbour- 

 hood of London. Whilst he has counted forty-three species, he believes 

 that a full list would number forty-seven species, and it is due to this 

 sanctuary, where the birds breed unmolested, that so many species are 

 to be seen and heard at Kew. Mr. Hudson believes that a grave mistake 

 will be made if the visitors are to have unrestricted liberty in the use of 

 the grounds, and suggests that they should be confined to the walks and 



MA 



Magazine " will in future go to press earlier. No advertisement can be 



It is no small boon, he says, and properly so, to the 

 visitors from London— the tired workers with brain or hand in search 



guaranteed insertion, or altered, unless received before Four p.m. on of refreshment to body or mind-to see its masses of verdure and 



Wednesdays. 



grown 



Notes of the Week. 



SPRINGTIME. 



Now that blustering March is well in the rear and the smiles and this 



trees, unkept bramble, furze, and holly bushes, 

 and to hear the enlivening sounds of wild bird and animal life. 

 There has been no obstruction to sight of any description 

 between the gardens to which the visitors have access and 

 the grounds, which were private only in a restricted sense, and the public 

 so far as seeing and hearing go, have .always been in the enjoyment of 



open space. Mr. Hudson submits that he does not urge the 



tears of April checker the face of the heavens with sunlit clouds, big importance of maintaining this spot as a sanctuary for wild life, so much 

 dashes of clear blue, and here and there a vapoury veil of near or distant j n the interest of the ornithologist, the artist, and the lover of the 



showers, the lover of his garden feels once again that life is indeed worth 

 living, and the world a mine of marvels and beauties combined. No 

 longer has he to be satisfied with the mere hints of coming things 

 embodied in swelling buds and shoots which have to be sought for in 



picturesque, as in that of the myriads of workers, who, being bound to 

 London, have but few opportunities for obtaining a glimpse of un- 

 adulterated Nature. 



Q 



down 



precocious nooks and corners ; the ground now is rampant with exuberant it has been received, and this, he contends, can only be done by 

 growth the gaudy crocus blooms, first in the field, are now bedded in a imposing some restrictions upon visitors. Anticipating the contention that 



spiky chevaux de frise of subsequent leafage ; the broad glaucous green 



the dwellers in the metropolis are in want of more open spaces, therefore 



tohage of the tulips spreading wide, displays the coming blooms in many of this one> and that t0 deprive them of the opportunity to roam at will 

 stages the early Dues already flaunting their brilliant chalices of scarlet among the trees , C r to sit on the grass, would be to take away the value of 

 and gold in the face of the sun, while the buds of their later and statelier the gift it is pointed out that these grounds form an infinitesimal portion 



relatives are still nestling in the hearts of the leaves in preparation to 

 follow. Here is a clump of Crown Imperial pushing up so strongly and 

 rapidly that one would expect at least a six-foot growth to result, though 



of the six thousand acres to which the public have free access south- 

 west of the metropolis. There is much in the views expressed by 

 this distinguished ornithologist that deserves attention, for it is in 



all that remains of 



soon the circlets of malodorous blooms will cut the soaring short. The the highest degree desirable that where possible hu u»« re uuu» s u, 

 droooLl ? T ^ ° k Httle bitS ° f heaven ' S blue unadulterated Nature near London should be preserved. We, however, 



areTushi^ th ? leaVCS . donot ^are in his apprehensions as to the effect the admission of the 



public will have upon the birds and animals that have hitherto found 



•■ire pushing vigorously to greet the sun as well. The crimson shoots of 

 he pivon.es glow m the sunbeams and sparkle ruddily with the rubies 

 1 by the latest shower - Among the alpine plants, one and all, saxifrage 



a safe retreat within their boundaries, for the Q 



is 



and sedum and Tu Z , g a J Pine T an ' ° neand a "' saxifra S e situate in the most remote corner of the gardens, which comparatively 



. 5TOU ni and all their kin are spreading the r rosettes ihrnaH • v»h\U r ■ , , • 1 ■ „ T~ 



primulas of ill u;„^o • 1 C «*Y rosettes aDroad , while f ew visitors explore during the early spring months. 



v , r , nds ' aunculas especally, seem literally bursting with 



Ko ous hfe and energy after their long spell of winter rest. Shrubs 



tree ^ CnptI0ns are ra P ldl y donning their leafy suits, and although the 



show thafth ^ ^ u Cr WUh thC,r t0iletS ' a ver y sli S ht examination will 



t Sa P ,s , bu r s y at work and that the swelling buds will soon be 

 faking out their leafy plumes in 



fhowers, like all the rest. 



THE INDEBTEDNESS OF ARCHITECTURE TO THE GARDEN. 



It is said that the idea of the Corinthian column in architecture was 



about 



response to the coaxing sun and 



acanthus is an ancient plant, for it was known 



Greeks and Romans, who employed it for decorative purposes ; and on 

 one occasion the leaves of this plant having entwined themselves in a 



biding their' ume anT' ™* ^ ^ fortunatd y> are warily 



gapped up undJ'thenighrfrosfs ^Z^XZ^L^i "^"i S raceful way about some su PP ort Standin * h ? them ' SU ^ geSted t0 CaIH - 



^ apricot and peach are fool h enouih ^neter to u^f ^ ; f ° I the Corinthian capital. It was probably A. mollis which sug- 



heir na »;„~ 1 ' , . Iuol,sn enougn never to unlearn the lesson of .... , . . „„ u„.u a v 



bI oomn o ' V the nl 1 n d n and henC r e ' yCar aftCr y6ar ' S P read their delicate 

 °«* of the mo *?Z ng a ' rS ° f March in ever vain atte ^Pts at fruition. 

 Karden stroUs TjT** indeed which we ca « take up in our 



gested the design of the capital, as both Greeks and Romans made use 

 of this species, forming garlands of its leaves, with which they clothed 

 their buildings, their furniture, and even their clothing. Virgil narrates 

 that the acanthus formed the basis of a design embroidered on the mantle 



•fc. while those nf " iems W1U tem Pt them f orth until they are fairly 

 take everv onn„T re pr f OC,ous habits > lau S h * the frost and snow, 

 in 8 «P their ch PPOrtUmty between whi'es of makine erowth and V^n. 



aking growth and keep 



Q en strolls is that f H • P 



»fve plants know quletefwhTt tZlllZT^t "JTT ^ of Helen of Troy ; and tells us that the handles of Alcimedon^s cup were 

 ■ftution. nn \ what tney are about, and if of tender con- enwreathed ^ what he elsewhere terms the « Smiling acanthus." 



Whether the tradition connected with this plant be true or not, it is 

 scarcely necessary to inquire ; certain it is that architecture owes much 

 of its beauty, much of its perfection, to flowers, foliage, and trees. Nature 

 in the garden, in the park, and in the wide expanse of country scenery 

 a hlfnrl nf ki • j ' ' affords one of the best assistant schools of pure taste ; not only to the 



T.LVu;' 1*L SU * an , Warm rain ' COn " architect in his outline, and in his enrichment, but to artists connected 



with almost every branch of manufacture in which embellishment is de- 



tt „u earner snrina fill* ft, 1, , - ° manded. The history of the origin of the Corinthian order, which might 



Z Wlth an ineffable iov Jh\rh\l trUC garden possibly be contrived to give an interest to the invention, though so often 



■■Wfra, through satiety, to evoke m ° re gener ° US fl ° ral glfts of repeated, and so well known, may, nevertheless, be here told once more 



' as a pleasing anecdote of ancient manners. A young maiden of Corinth 



having died her mother or nurse collected in a basket the toys which she 

 was fond of while alive, and carried them to her grave, where she left 

 the basket covered with a tile, to preserve it contents from the 

 Hudson, likely to weather. The basket, it is said, happened to be set upon a plant of 

 s position as an ornithologist entitles the acanthus. The plant thus being depressed in the middle, its leaves and 



me tnr ession to careful consideration. These stalks spread outwards, and grew up around the sides of the basket till 



rs °' refuge of a^T ^m^ 7 perfeCt fra & me nts of unspoilt Nature they were bent down by the tile which lay projecting over its top. At 



wild creatures which exist on the borders of that time Callimachus, the sculptor, chanced to pass by the grave, and 



" °e*«y which ° f fir l tlingS ° f the Spring " A P ril inde ed has phases 



^eristic Zyt^ * — ° f the year ' itS 



* ll utes the very id^l r>f ~ . • , ° ***** con- 



bk **>ni ; and y as aeal °[ g rowi ng weather, good alike for roots, leaf, and 



months of r»Jl a c ? ntrast to the bleak and blustering keen a nH Z*i-« 

 lot 



. Thf addition f k W ' LD UFE AT KEW - 

 „ „ yil ^'rdens is „„' '£2* ds of . the Q«"'» Cottage at Kew to the 



9TMl harboB 



