JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
March 17, 1881. ] 
207 
Next I may as well state what is evident, that the market 
gardeners fear the rivalry of the farmers ; their views are strictly 
commercial, like the tradesmen in the above tale. Theirs is not, 
considering what man’s nature is, a view to surprise us ; but 
that they will succeed in keeping other men from planting vege¬ 
tables and fruits on a much larger scale is not what I believe ; nay, 
the more strongly they say “ don’t ” the more readily will others 
say “ do.” The most energetic will win the race, whatever he be 
called, or whatever his trade has been. 
“ A. M. B.” speaks approvingly of a larger planting of fruit 
trees, saying, and rightly, “ In fields, pleasure grounds, and even 
parks Apple trees are as ornamental as Thorn trees ; Walnut trees 
are stately, while Plum and Cherry trees might line our roads, as 
they do so many of the highways in Germany and other con¬ 
tinental States.” “A. M. B.” also gives good advice as to vege¬ 
tables ; indeed his or her letter is marked by so much wisdom 
that I would ask readers to turn back to it and re-read it, they 
will find it on page 126. Again, “ F. K., West End,'" makes a 
point when he or she says, “If the quantity of vegetables grown 
is as great as your correspondents expect, how do they account 
for the almost prohibitory price?” Certainly I hear of vege¬ 
tables being dear at the same time that they are represented as 
unsaleable. Mr. Peter Ferguson says plainly, “ Most of the 
Rector’s critics have only looked at the matter from a mercantile 
point of view.” The trade view is one way, the housekeeping 
view is another, this especially as regards vegetables ; but as to 
fruit, all or nearly all agree that there is no superabundance, 
which implies that there is a living to be made by planting them 
on an extensive scale hitherto unknown. 
There is another point I would notice in the need of teaching 
the poor to cook. I have always, and have had regularly for 
years, one servant who is very young, and I train him for good 
service, with on the whole much success ; but the daintiness of 
such boys, and I believe girls too, is great, and owing to the few 
meats and drinks to which they have been accustomed. There 
should be schools of cookery in towns and larger villages, or in 
one of a group of villages. Popular short papers on good and 
useful cooking of vegetables, and dishes in which vegetables 
should bear a part, would be very good things. Cannot any or 
several lady readers do something for us in this way ? To benefit 
and do good to the poor is an hereditary part, and a blessed part, 
of an English lady’s life and work.— Wiltshire Rector. 
P.S.—To show how the subject of getting more out of land is 
moving in men’s minds. On taking up the January number of 
“ Chambers’s Journal,” I read in a paper entitled “ Experiments 
in Workhouse Management,” “ Probably in some instances farm¬ 
ing and gardening will be made to play a much greater part than 
they do now in workhouses, it being calculated that a quarter of 
an acre of land to every inmate of over ten years of age would 
make a workhouse absolutely self-supporting. The country work- 
houses have abundant opportunities of trying that experiment, 
though of course they will have to meet the usual objections to 
the utilisation of pauper labour.” Everywhere men are seeking 
to make the land yield more, and from this desire will, I believe, 
arise a great and grand future position for gardeners and gar¬ 
dening.—W. R. 
BRIEF NOTES FBOM CHISWICK. 
At all seasons the visitor to the Royal Horticultural Society’s 
Gardens, Chiswick, may, however brief his stay, find something 
worth remembering and recording. So in a recent call of very 
short duration I observed several plants in flower, respecting 
which the following notes may be of interest. Turning first to 
the rockery, though not the best time of year to visit it, there 
were several charming little plants in flower, especially notable 
being the 
Crocuses. —The utility and beauty of these plants for planting 
in the nooks of a rockery are well exemplified by a number dotted 
about in small clumps. They are now flowering freely, and render 
it quite bright in association with several other plants. The forms 
grown, were, I believe, received from Mr. Maw, the following 
being those represented—Crocus Imperati, bright purple, 6 inches 
high; C. lagenaeflorus var. sulphureus, rich sulphur yellow with 
brownish streaks ; C. aureus, fine golden yellow ; and C. reticulatus 
auritestus, very dwarf and neat, with bright yellow flowers. 
Snowdrops. —A collection of varieties of Galanthus nivalis in¬ 
cluded several forms with unusually large flowers, neat in outline 
and of great substance. The most remarkable was, however, 
G. nivalis var. Melvillei, which bears the name of the gentleman 
from whom the collection was received. It was rather taller than 
the majority of the others, with large nodding flowers, pure white, 
and with broad rounded petals. 
Jlcpaticas .—Clumps of the charming blue Hepatica triloba 
single and double were most attractive, and certainly at this time 
of year there is nothing to surpass them out of doors. The clear¬ 
ness and brilliancy of the tint affords a most agreeable contrast 
with the Crocuses already mentioned. Near them plants of 
Cyclamen ibericum and C. Coum, with the elegant pale blue 
Chionodoxa Luc ilia; also attracted attention. 
Eparrises. —In the houses Epacrises were in very good con¬ 
dition, many excellent varieties being grown ; but the two which 
especially pleased me were E. elegans and E. miniata splendens, 
two plants side by side showing their distinctive characters ad¬ 
mirably. The former is rarely seen, but it well deserves attention, 
for though the flowers are small individually they are freely pro¬ 
duced towards the points of the shoots, their neat campanulate 
form and pure white colour rendering the plant most useful for 
cutting. I do not know when or by whom the species was sent 
out, but it was included in Messrs. Rollisson’s collection several 
years ago. The other, E. miniata splendens, is a well-known and 
remarkably handsome variety, greatly surpassing the species in 
the size and colour of the flowers. The tube is a brilliant ver¬ 
milion or scarlet, the small lobes being pure white--a striking 
contrast. It is very floriferous, but of rather peculiar straggling 
growth, though with a little care it may be kept in satisfactory 
condition. The woodcut represents a flowering shoot of each of 
these Epacrises, and well shows the form and size of the flowers. 
Sarcochilvs Ilartmanii. —To conclude these jottings I may 
notice two rather singular Orchids which were flowering in one of 
the warmer houses. A specimen of Sarcochilus Hartmanii had 
about eight spikes each 6 inches high, bearing small flowers with 
oval white petals and sepals, the lip being diminutive and marked 
with reddish lines, something in the way of the peculiar Vanda 
Cathcartii. Though not a showy Orchid it is certainly pretty and 
is very rarely seen. It is quite distinct from any other form in 
the genus that is known to me. 
Dendrobium Kingianum.— Though not to be compared with 
many species of Dendrobium in point of beauty, this is yet pos¬ 
sessed of some attractions. The flowers are small, about half an 
inch in diameter, rosy purple, with obtuse ovate sepals, narrow 
petals, and a small light-coloured lip streaked with reddish purple. 
They are borne in short few-flowered racemes, which arise from 
the top of the growth, usually attended by two or four dark 
