JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
G4 
[ JaBuary 27, 1881. 
supply would cause and create a demand ; also that the poor 
who go from villages straight to towns would gladly buy vege¬ 
tables, from long use of them from their gardens in the country. 
London is an exception, and wholly out of court on the subject, 
so far as the lowest class is concerned. In another generation 
when board schools have done their work it may be different. 
Progress is slow, improvement slower, so long as we have a 
thriftless ignorant residuum, usually too idle to attempt to cook 
food well. Vegetables will not be bought by this residuum ; but 
there are classes above this, which even “ W. P. B.” allows, do buy 
such viands, and I aver that these in most towns have not a suffi¬ 
cient supply. The shops are few and poor. (Oh ! contrast their 
fewness with the many public-houses !) Then, again, it is not by 
shops only, but by carts and barrows calling regularly in the 
smaller streets at fixed and suitable hours, that a demand will be 
created and supplied. Look at the faces of the poor, and espe¬ 
cially of their children ; do not these crave, aye, plead mutely by 
their pallor and pinched look, for a more wholesome diet 1 Surely 
they do, but it is gradually that we can reach and do such good : 
now a few just above them, then a few of them, and then more. 
A hundred years ago, and even less, there were no baths in even 
upper-class houses except foot baths, now every educated English¬ 
man takes his tub of a morning. Improvement, I have said, is 
slow; as someone wittily wrote, “It is the largest room in the 
world,” but still it does go on and will. Health and comfort, 
physical power and mental energy, and even morality, depend a 
great deal upon good nutritious diet, a diet in which vegetables 
ought to have a larger proportion.— Wiltshire Hector. 
I have long been an admirer of “Wiltshire Rector,” as he 
generally contrives to make his communications both readable 
and instructive. I read and re-read his “seventeenth annual 
address ” (page 1) with the intention sooner or later of making an 
amendment to that part of the address relating more particularly 
to the vegetable supply of the future. I have the less hesitation 
in doing this, since I am of opinion if gardeners can make any 
admissible suggestions to benefit the farmers they should do so, 
simply because the prosperity of the country is at stake, and no 
class more than gardeners more keenly feel the effects of short 
rents. The latter motive may appear selfish, which word must 
not by any means be applied to the “ Wiltshire Rector’s ” re¬ 
marks on the vegetable supply, unsound as they appear to me to be. 
The unfortunately too true facts briefly adduced by “ W. P. B.” 
(page 44) no doubt surprised many readers, and I trust our reve¬ 
rend friend will submit those notes to the perusal of Sir Gabriel 
Goldney, as there is not the slightest doubt that many well- 
meaning M.P.’s and others are offering advice upon a subject 
they know but little of. Market gardening at one time was most 
profitable ; now, in the vicinity of London at all events, it is gene¬ 
rally understood to be “ all a lottery,” with more blanks than 
prizes. There are too many engaged in it, and the foreign com¬ 
petitors with their superior advantages have finished the work. 
Nor does it appear that the consumers are much benefited by the 
over-abundance of garden produce. 
The culture of vegetables to be profitable is very different and 
much more expensive than the ordinary farm crops, and many 
farmers who have turned their attention to them have regretted 
having done so. They commenced under the impression that they 
had found a “ new and probably prosperous path,” concentrated 
much of their capital (probably already too little for the extent 
of their farms) on a few fields, the remainder of the land being 
only half cultivated, and as a matter of course yielded poor crops. 
The success attending the vegetable culture may have equalled 
their expectations, and still more vegetables are then grown 
another year. Then comes a bad season ; “ no returns ” from the 
salesmen, and our friend with all his eggs in one basket may be 
missing at the next rent audit. 
Sir G. Goldney’s friend doubtless will double his acreage of 
Onions this season, and others hearing of his success will imitate 
him. The original two acres probably about met the local demand, 
and every additional acre grown will most certainly injuriously 
affect the sale. The cost per acre (£20) is fairly computed. 
What if this expensively grown crop decay in clamps by hun¬ 
dreds of bushels ? There is no certainty of a good sale for Onion3, 
or more would be grown. If there is a demand for them in the 
provinces they would certainly be sent from the metropolis. The 
Pea trade only really pays when large quantities are bought up in 
London for the manufacturing districts. The same with Runner 
Beans, as there are by far too many grown to meet the metro¬ 
politan demand. To grow, pick, and send these by rail or other¬ 
wise at the rate of G d. per bushel is simply ruinous, yet there 
were times last season when less had to be taken, and tons were 
never sold. 
The extraordinary high prices realised last winter for greens of 
the commonest description has been the cause of greatly increased 
quantities of Savoys, Purple Sprouting Broccoli, and Brussels 
Sprouts being grown, with the result already given by “W. P. B.” 
Sprouts, unless of the very best description, picked on January 
14th (a bitter cold foggy day) the next day only fetched Gd. per 
bushel, and many were unsold. All the senders evidently antici¬ 
pated a short supply, and pressed the poor women to pick them. 
I know of no colder work, but market growers, as times are, cannot 
afford to be sentimental ; all the gin given by way of furthering 
the work was a dead loss, and much more besides on the date 
mentioned. 
One of the favourite crops with farmers are Potatoes, and of 
these again there appear, to be too many this season. They cost 
much to grow them well, and £4 lOs. per ton is not generally 
a very profitable price for the best samples. Some of the sales¬ 
men have great quantities accumulated in their warehouses, as a 
difficulty is experienced in getting rid of inferior samples. 
It may be urged that I take a pessimist’s view of the case, and 
that the trade generally may yet regain its old elasticity. I trust 
it will, but it will not result from an addition of growers—quite 
the reverse. An improvement may eventually be effected in the 
tastes of the poorer classes, but the revolution promises to be 
ruinously slow. Let farmers be content with smaller farms and 
till these more, as their forefathers did. Cattle, pigs, and poultry 
are conspicuous by their absence on many farms, and even in this 
purely agricultural district milk and butter are bought with diffi¬ 
culty. Market vegetable farms to be profitable should in extent 
be in accordance to the capital and ability of the holder ; they 
should be near to large towns to admit of the cartage in of the 
produce and the loading out with cheaply bought manure, which 
must be freely used. To sura up, instead of a large farm con¬ 
centrate capital and faculties upon a few acres, cropping these 
heavily, and thereby save a considerable sum otherwise to be 
paid in the shape of rent, tithes, and taxes.— W. IGGULDEN, 
Orsett, Essex. 
NOTEWORTHY PLANTS. 
Among the numerous readers of this Journal there are many who 
possess or have charge of large collections of plants, and who are 
not merely interested in the preservation of those they already have, 
but wish to add to their numbers such novelties as are most deserv 
ing of cultivation, to obtain some of the old neglected favourites 
which are now rarely seen, or to gain particulars concerning the 
relative merits of the best and most distinct decorative plants. To 
afford a little assistance to such plant-lovers, and as I am favoured 
with opportunities of seeing a very large number of plants (including 
the latest introductions) under a great variety of conditions, I will 
occasionally give a few descriptive notes upon the most remarkable 
that come under my observation. 
Statu ini yllum Patini. —A beautiful Aroid of comparatively 
recent introduction, but which deserves to he widely known, as in 
some respects it is unsurpassed in its family. An admirable coloured 
figure of it was published a short time since in “ L’Illustration 
Horticole,” which represents a specimen in M. Linden’s collection, 
and very fairly indicates the general character of the plant. It is 
of elegant habit, moderately dwarf, with stalked narrow lance¬ 
shaped deep green leaves, and scapes about twice the height of the 
leaves, bearing a cylindrical green spadix about 2 inches long, and 
a pure white tapering spathe of similar length, and an inch in width 
at the base. A specimen of moderate size may have from four to 
nine scapes, and as the spathes remain in good condition for a long 
period the plant is of no mean decorative value for the stove. It is 
found in some English collections under the name of Anthurium 
candidum, and was described in the “ Gardener’s Year Book ” for 
1875 as A. Patini, hut it has been now definitely referred to the 
genus Spathiphyllum. It is a native of New Granada, and was sent 
to Europe by M. Patin about the year 1874. 
Primula sinensis delicata. —One of Mr. H. Cannell’s varieties 
of the Chinese Primrose, for which a first-class certificate was 
awarded at the last meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society. 
It is of good habit, with the long elegantly-cut leaves which 
characterise the “ Fern-leaved” forms. The flowers are 1^-inch in 
diameter, neatly fringed, of a soft pink hue, and with a yellow eye, 
and are borne in compact trusses well above the foliage. The tint 
of the flowers is very distinct and pleasing, the term “ delicata ” 
being an appropriate designation. 
Carnation Andalusia. —Another of the plants recently certi¬ 
ficated at Kensington, which deserves a few additional remarks. 
It was exhibited by Mr. Hill, gardener at Tiing Park, Herts, who 
informs me that his employer, Sir N. De Rothschild, obtained it 
last year from a friend in Barcelona, where it is frequently seen in 
