8oo 



for to few is it given to enjoy such a long and honourable career, and few, very 

 few, have achieved so much as he, and single-handed. 



Charming as are sweet peas as we see them in our own gardens, in our homes, 

 and at exhibitions, it is only when seen by the acre, as at Wem and Give, that 

 they become thoroughly impressive. The grand clumps or bushes of a variety that 

 Mr. Molyneux annually produces at the pretty Swanmore Park Gardens are, in 

 their way, the finest I have seen, but these imposing displays are utterly eclipsed 

 during July at Wem and Give, when the sweet peas are in their greatest beauty. 

 You climb an elevated platform and overlook the acres of sweet peas in the home 

 nursery, all in long orderly rows, neatly staked, and with the flowers so closely 

 set that each row seems to be a dense swarm of some exquisite butterfly, and the 

 motion provided by the gentle summer zephyr accentuates this idea. Some of the 

 more intensely coloured varieties gleam like breadths of silk or velvet in the sun- 

 shine, and at each motion of the breeze or turn of one's head new shades of colour 

 appear in those forms that combine several hues. Such a sight is worth goiog a 

 long way to see ; indeed, several American enthusiasts — and Eckford's sweet peas 

 are as well known to Brother Jonathan as John Bull — have crossed the Atlantic 

 on purpose to see this beautiful sight. At the Give grounds both culinary and 

 sweet peas are grown without sticks, and here, just before the haulm begins to 

 bend over by reason of the weight of flowers and early-formed pods of seed, an 

 indescribably beautiful effect is produced. The long rows of sweet peas extend 

 for several hundreds of yards across the wide field, and with a number of rows side 

 by side — as shown in the accompanying view specially taken for the Gardeners' 

 Magazine — the effect is better imagined than described. 



Mr. Eckford is a broad-minded florist, and recognises that there are a variety 

 of tastes with regard to the form of even such a generally popular flower as the 

 sweet pea ; consequently we find that, in addition to those bold forms that have 

 big broad standards, there are others less militant, and yet others, known as 

 hooded, that, like a coy maiden, partly hide their charms by infolding their 

 segments, this very peculiarity forming, paradoxical as it may seem, one of their 

 greatest charms. Some eighty varieties are kept true at Wem, and constitute the 

 trade collection, but year by year finer forms and distinct shades are introduced, 

 or a great improvement is effected upon the depth of colour in existing and old 

 forms, so that the forward movement is as noticeable in this quiet village as in the 

 larger centres of industry. A glance at the R H.S. list of awards shows that up 

 to 1893 sixteen certificates and awards had been granted for sweet peas, and of 

 this number thirteen were made to Mr. Eckford. Since then Mr. Eckford has 

 fully maintained his position as a raiser, and during the past summer several beau- 

 tiful forms gained the highest honour the R.H.S. could confer upon them. Just 

 as in the case of roses, so with sweet peas, it is a very difficult matter to make a 

 selection of even a dozen varieties that will exactly meet the tastes of all persons ; 

 fortunately, Mr. Eckford exhibits largely in summer time, and so growers have an 

 opportunity of noting what be*t pleases them For my own part a suitable dozen, 

 excluding the new varieties that will be soon offered, would be Blanche Burpee, 

 white ; Queen Victoria, very pale yellow ; Shabzada, deep and rich marone ; 

 Salopian, brilliant red and orange ; Prince Edward of York, a real beauty, rose 

 and scarlet ; Lady Nina Balfour, greyish mauve ; Lady Grisel Hamilton, helio- 

 trope ; Prince of Wales, deep clear rose ; Colonist, lilac and soft rose ; Black 

 Knight, marone, with a metallic lustre ; Lady Mary Currie, a lovely shade of 

 pink; and Lady Beaconsfield, salmon-rose and yellow. Mrs. Sankey would form 

 a fine additional white. 



Some beautiful and entirely new forms that are to be distributed shortly are as 

 follows : Sadie Burpee, a splendid white flower, but a black-seeded variety. For 

 size, substance, freedom, and grace it cannot be surpassed ; it is a hooded flower, 

 badie Burpee quite captured the R.H.S. Floral Committee, and gained an award 

 ot merit during the present year. Lady Skelmersdale was seen at several exhi- 

 bitions curing the summer, and is a charming hooded variety in which white and 

 rosy-lilac are sweetly combined. Duke of Westminster is a magnificent form both 

 in size, shape, and colour, the latter being z rosy marone tinged in a unique way 

 with violet ; this and Sadie Burpee are, to my mind, the two finest novelties of 

 the set. Countess Cadogan has slightly hooded flowers of a bright violet-blue 



*a a* ? u S da,e bears finely-expanded blooms with rose and primrose 

 standards, and primrose wings that are splashed with very pale rose. Hon. F. 

 ^ouverie is a variety that cannot fail to receive a cordial welcome, especially from 

 the ladies, by reason of its exquisite coral-pink colour; in size and freedom it is 

 rS? n De u the , best - Mr - Eckford has a fine rich crimson- purple form named 

 uthello, but whether the stock is sufficient to justify its distribution in 1899 has 

 not yet been decided. The new set give us new and pleasing shades of colour ; 

 tney are robust, free flowering, and as beautiful as only first rate sweet peas can 

 oe. lhe flowers are of wonderful substance, as ma^y have had opportunities of 

 noting at the Drill Hall, Crystal Palace, Hanley, Leicester, Cardiff, and elsewhere 

 during the past summer ; they also are carried on long, stout stems, and almost in 

 every instance three flowers on a stem. 



Pansies and Grasses. 



T 



B 



AS AN AVEN 



Tr 



We have few trees to equal the birch for fresW^ #v^_ 



beauty, and the chief fau,, urged £Sfrf* 



longer in good health or full beauty than a CdS%S5 °t mUCh 



rum the birch is picturesque, full of ,he sheen oKSg nfe Tbi'l" 



grace and beauty, so that while attaining its majority of sinki n rSto 

 venerable age through a century of years or more, in groups or single 

 trees avenues, or hedgerow, who shall say how many eyes it has 

 refreshed with its graceful Jranchlets, or lightened with the paper white- 

 ness of its silvern bark ? The stem as well as the head of the birch is 

 filled to overflowing with grace. A recent correspondent's hedgerow 

 tree, three feet in diameter at seven feet from the ground, and others with 

 wide spreading drooping heads, twenty yards in diameter, must indeed 

 be weeping giants worth a long journey to see. 



The average size of white birch seldom exceeds five feet in circum- 

 ference, nor its height sixty feet, and in fact the birch is never more 

 graceful than at much smaller sizes than these. For the white birch is 

 emphatically a tree to live with rather than to be overshadowed by ; 

 though looking up through the mobile, twinkling branchlets of birches 

 from thirty to seventy feet high is to find fragrance, light, and shadow in 

 a pleasing and refreshing blend, seldom furnished by any other tree. 

 In all hours of the day and seasons of the year the birch provides new 

 relays of freshness and beauty. At sunrise, sunset, and noon ; in 

 spring, summer, autumn, and winter the Lady of the Wood earns her 

 popular name by retaining much of her charming grace and versatility. 

 The birch is one of the earliest blooming of our hardy trees ; the 

 flowers are small, and appear in February or March, male and female 

 on the same tree. The male flowers are light brown and loosely pen- 

 dulous ; the female green, tipped with crimson stigmas, in the way of, 

 but smaller than, filberts or common hazel nuts. The seeds after 

 maturation assume the shape of minute winged nuts. The leaves ot 

 the birch are the personification of grace and beauty ; the early leaves 

 are distinguished by their freshness and grace, until the autumnal sun- 

 shine paints them with coats of many colours, and in various proportions 

 of red, gold, and scarlet. 



As the trees advance in bulk and age, the twigs or young shoots often 

 assume a more purple hue, and the trees produce larger and more curious 

 '* bird nests," a common name given to the curiously stunted or abortive 

 branches of birch trees— which, however, I have never known birds to 

 use for nests, so that it is as vain for the birch trees to grow their 

 imitation nests in sight of the birds as it is for the fowler to set his 

 snares in their sight. But these quaint imitations of birds' nests by birch 

 trees is one of those curiosities of tree life that add greatly to the interest 

 of avenue and wayside trees. Neither is the cause of it quite cleared up 

 by the orthodox botanical solution— suppressed development. It may be 

 so, but why just there and then, and for what possible purpose, if no bird 

 will use the curiously malformed birch branch for a nest ? Can these be 

 grown for seed baskets, to collect and store the winged seeds for dis- 

 persion later on by March winds, and so secure a wider and more general 



coa^ V\A/-1 fr\** 4-ViA J 1 1.1. ^-T *~*\\ r\ *-rv~t 1 in rr frPPQ ? 



two 



seed bed for the extended growth of these charming trees : 



Young birches grow rapidly under liberal conditions, making from 

 i feet to thirty inches growth a year. But they are most effective and 

 characteristic when grown much more slowly. Single trees, groups, and 

 woods of birches are also beautiful ; but avenues, or hedgerows clothed 

 with birch, accentuate and multiply their gracefulness. Birch in woods 

 and avenues, by moonlight, and in gardens, parks, and landscapes 

 simply bewitching. And as to the odour of birch, no one, so far as I am 

 aware, has succeeded in describing one half of its unique freshness or 

 inexhaustible fragrance. 



Birch timber and bark are largely used in our industries, and prove as 



D. T. r ISH. 



are 



profitable as that from other forest trees. 



The New York Botanical Garden, now in course ^, A ^ 0 ^^ { 



„n,P« «« a i r e ady sta ted in these columns, about two hundred and fifty acres 01 



part of Bronx Park. After several years of agitation, 



the northern part of Bronx Park. After several years of agitation, > Dau K«" 

 and influenced by the Torrey Botanical Club, the sum of about £S<}°° * as 

 June, 1895, raised by public subscription, and the Board of t ' s " maf " 8 

 Appointments was authorised to issue bonds aggregating ^104,100 ioriu 



Cfmn^nn ~-~A I , • , . J_ _X 4-U ~ n^OtCOrV hllllGlH^S. - UULU 



in 



and 



an a wo^derfullv fine^ 6 - *<* ° f ^ V ^ improvement of pansies, has already been *££m$hed in gSSfg. planting borders, establishing a 



while the breaths of W?? P ° SSeSS ' " brOD / e . and ^ lloW forms 5 nurs ^, and accumulating herbarium, museum and library meteruO. By an 



OrnL-L V ns , ? e Pnnce are something to admire and remember. agreement with Columbia University the herbarium and botanical library ot me 



Ornamental grasses are largely crown, and th™. a r^ m irenHv useful for associa- TT„; TO ,c; ;n , V ? lve , y "r_ Qcr nf suitable extent and 



«ca aic largely grown, and these are eminently useful lor associa - 

 pea flowers in vases. Chinese primulas are carefully seeded and 

 the strain is of a high order of merit. Verbenas are good, and 



that rhf»r* 



Garde 



tion with sweet 



selected, so that the strain is of a high oraer ot menr. veroenas arc guuu, anu 

 tti s reminds me that there was a time when each year found floriculturists as eager 



fi° !r?u OVer what new verbeQ as Mr. Eckford had raised as to-day they are to 

 vX< tn *" ewest and biggest chrysanthemums. Dahlias are not wanting, for Mr. 



Z, u not hke t0 ent irely "off" with his old loves, though he is well 

 on with the new. • 



. f J h "! j fe fe * L gr * eater P leasures >° the life of a busy horticultural scribe than that 

 ot a quiet day with Mr. Eckford at his seed grounds. Fresh, clear, and bracing air, 

 peace and quiet, open country, beautiful flowers, and a companion whose wealth 

 tW rl ed g e 'g ame ^, b X experience, is only exceeded by his intense love of all 

 man wLT ? fl ° We JV what more couId one want ? The stately old Scots- 

 hSe £3 S I t T P£ Tr d hlS a,Iotted s P an of threescore years and ten, but he is 

 us less than h^f i' rm ° f ho ';™<[ kee P s his seventy-odd inches as erect as most of 

 needed U nSKSSST H ? nher pr0of of the V W of this 8™"* old florist is 

 ride 1 bievde ^ " if?* 1 iD the fact *at two years ago be learned to 

 n^^SS^t?"? and w <*k out, he may be s?en on most days 



Clive or Wem • hZ JmZJ?, o^ween his comfortable home and the grounds at ine locality. The chief work in the garden during tne pasi -~ d ^.ubs, 



SK£*»to*2 andean evIlT; *** ^ £« ™t exempt from the border, which is to enclose i nuking a thick P^^.f^ such 



the act " last summon.? ev,l hear,ed snapshottist caught Mr. H. Eckford « in sloping down from the outside and shutting out objectionable views ^ 

 of f brief oiourn ihH? 22 0,(5 ^ resu,t > which I shall keep as a souvenir exist. This border when SSetS will be about two miles long, and ^' u P d er 

 my brief sojourn where, even ft 1898, there were Peas in Plenty. some three hundred and fiftj3cies or varieties of trees and shrubs planted 



Servator. the direction of the suof.rJ„ t i^jT_. m, <?.muel Henshaw 



nursery, and accumulating herbarium, museum and library . maccr r.' of the 

 agreement with Columbia University the herbarium and l»^ nic . al ' lD ™7. nt an d 

 University will be deposited in the garden. Reservations of suitable ex ^, Q 

 location have been set apart for decorative grounds, forest areas, rr ' . 

 pmetum, deciduous arboretum, fiuiticetum, viticetum, herbaceoub & . ^ 

 rockery, economic garden, beg garden, and ponds. The range o{ 

 buildings to be erected comprise thirteen houses, covering about 4g,w 4 h 

 feet. A circular palm house, one hundred feet in diameter and r unety 

 height, is the central feature, and the houses are so arranged as to enclose ^ 

 court that will be utilised for aqua'ic planting and other ornamental feature.^ ^ 

 houses occupy a commanding position upon a broad terrace, v e 



ning (Chicago) that the f tract of land devoted to the garden s ar m« q{ 

 for its uses. Its surface is undulated, and it includes all degrees^ ot sn ^ . ut< 

 exposure to sunshine and moisture, and a soil that is remarkably gooa m J> t 

 The families of plants in the various departments will "? ^ its 



following the latest system of botanical classification. The B«»*' • he fcrns 

 overhanging banks and d im p glades, will furnish an appropriate horn e 1 ^ 

 and mo,sture-loving plants, which cannot be located m f<™?™*;™ rary give* 

 add beauty to the land.cape and features. Ow *»«^£S3foKi5 of 

 some charming illustrations of river views, and of the beauUful natural ^ ^ 

 the locality. The chief work in the garden during the past sn^ m « na f, shiub8f 



