JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
August 17,1882. ] 
153 
commerce will be offered for years to come, as I saw none to equal 
several of Culverwell’s varieties. Culverwell’s Giant Marrow as seen 
at Chiswick is poor, and bears little resemblance to the grand original. 
Visiting Hampton Court, Kew, and Chiswick is a comfortable and 
instructive day’s work. Another may be most profitably spent among 
the nurseries of Messrs. Veitch, Bull, and Williams. The name of 
“ Veitch’s ” is as well known to all gardeners as the word ,l London,” 
and it will hardly be necessary to advise any to visit this excellently 
managed establishment. The Chelsea nurseries are some 5 acres in 
extent, and 4 of these are covered with glass houses. The inmates 
of these include every kind of plant worth growing, from the choicest 
Orchid to the most common bedding plant. Seventeen houses are 
devoted to Orchids, and the collection is not more wonderful in ex¬ 
tent than health. In fact this expression may be applied to all 
plants in this nursery. The Pitcher-plants are astonishing in variety, 
size, and numbers. 
At the time of my visit the collection of Orchids in bloom in Mr. 
Bull’s nursery was very grand, and as Liliums of the auratum section 
were arranged with them the odour was most pleasing. In other 
houses were thousands of small Orchids, and the demand for these 
plants must be greatly on the increase. 
At a greater distance from London the nurseries of Mr. Charles 
Turner of Slough, and Messrs. Cannell of Swanley, Kent, should be 
included in the week’s work. The former has high fame for Carna¬ 
tions, and all kinds of choice hardy and florists’ flowers, while the 
establishment of Messrs. Cannell is unique. It has been named “ The 
Home for Flowers,” and it really is so. Covent Garden Market must 
not be left out of the programme, but a few hours from 5 A.M. will 
suffice. As a rule country gardeners are led to believe that market 
growers are far in advance in the production of vegetables, and that 
we have only to visit Covent Garden to get our eyes opened, and they 
will be opened too, but not in the admiration of the quality. The 
quantity is certainly astonishing, and this is all that can be said about 
it. I know many gardeners who would blush to send such Peas, 
Potatoes, Cauliflowers, Beans, Vegetable Marrows, Ac., to the kitchen 
as those which formed the bulk of the produce in Covent Garden on 
two market mornings in July last. Plants in pots are well grown, 
and fruit, especially Grapes, very good. 
The large seed shops are also worth visiting, also the market 
gardens. The manner in which cropping is carried on in those places 
is very suggestive. Vacant spaces are not tolerated, crop follows 
crop in rapid succession, and manure is applied unstintingly. This is 
one of the secrets of successful cultivation in market and private 
gardens alike. 
Apart from purely horticultural subjects there is always something 
occurring in the neighbourhood of London to interest strangers. In 
the second week of July the Royal Agricultural Show was held at 
Reading. Interesting as this show always is, it was doubly so this 
time, as the celebrated grounds of Messrs. Sutton & Sons are close to 
Reading, and they offered attractions which few shows excel. Tube¬ 
rous Begonias and Gloxinias were their principal flowers during the 
royal show week, and those were to be seen in great numbers and of 
excellent quality. The Gloxinias especially were far in advance of 
any I have yet seen. Following close upon this came the 'Wimbledon 
meeting; and although at first sight this may appear to have no con¬ 
nection with gardening it really has, as no one can visit “ the camp ” 
without being brought close to many celebrated gardens about the 
Common, and the way choice plants and showy flowers are used to 
decorate the open spaces in front and around many of the tents gives 
one an excellent idea of temporary flower gardening. This season 
the part set apart for the Canadians was the most effective. Most of 
the plants were arranged in different-shaped beds, and the pots were 
all concealed under a covering of cocoa-nut fibre. In private gardens 
beds might be formed and material of the kind might be used with 
advantage in many parts on any special occasion. 
I must conclude, as these notes will occupy much of your valuable 
space, but a hint may yet be given to intending visitors. Do not be 
afraid to ask questions. At Veitch’s, for instance, it may be remarked 
“ What little pots those fine Orchid plants are in ! ” and the answer 
is “ Yes, those allow us to give them great quantities of water with¬ 
out any danger of stagnation at the root,” and it is from being in too 
large pots that so many Orchids fail to succeed. The compost is im¬ 
portant in the cultivation of all plants, and an instance of good 
plant-growing should never be allowed to pas3 without asking par¬ 
ticularly about this and other favourable conditions. In this way a 
week in London may not only give pleasant impressions at the time, 
but much information may be secured which may be useful in years 
to come.— J. Muir, Margam . 
variety, and while both are undoubtedly good, Pride of the Market 
bears the palm. Others may have formed a different estimate, 
but still I am sanguine of not being alone in arriving at the 
verdict now recorded.—W. P. L. 
GARDEN FAVOURITES. 
Violet Devoniensis. —This proves a great acquisition, coming 
into bloom early in July, and becoming more and more floriferous 
as autumn approaches. Its deep purple and very fragrant flowers 
have long stalks, which admit of their being made up into large 
bunches, a few of which mixed with Marechal Niel Roses make a 
stand of cut flowers for a sitting-room table that finds favour with 
everybody. I regard this Violet and the old Russian as quite 
indispensable for every garden. 
Salvia tricolor.— This makes a charming pot plant, not as a 
dwarf bush, but with two or three shoots left to grow un¬ 
shortened. It then attains a height of about 4 feet, with foliage 
of a lively green hue, remarkably handsome, and, including the 
leafstalk, fully 10 inches long. Each leaf curves gracefully 
downwards, and has a lateral shoot springing from its axil, im¬ 
parting to the plant an air of fulness without crowding, which 
is very pleasing, especially while it is in bloom. Each leading 
shoot is crowned by a flower spike about 9 inches in length, thickly 
set with its bright purplish pink flowers, not of a decided self 
colour, but delicately shading to a lighter tone upon the lower 
part of the flower, and with white lips. I have not yet tried it in 
an open border, but believe it assumes a dwarf bushy habit there, 
which in its way is equally attractive. 
Arundo conxpicva. —A large plant of this handsome New Zea¬ 
land Reed had its plumes fully developed early in July. They are 
fully 10 feet high, but are not so abundant as usual. I had this 
plant lrom Messrs. Veitch four years ago, a small healthy plant 
of the usual size that we receive such things from a nursery, and 
its drooping foliage now covers a circle 9 feet in diameter, which 
cannot be an extraordinary size, for it is in ordinary soil and has 
had no special treatment. A. leading place must be given it among 
our best hardy plants, not only for its intrinsic worth, but for the 
earliness of its flowering. In proof of its hardiness I may add 
that it sustained no harm in the cold winters of 1879-80, which 
proved fatal to a large plant of A. Donax growing near it. 
Cornus mascula variegata. —Is a perfect picture in miniature 
during summer, but its delicate foliage is liable to suffer from 
fluctuations of temperature, and a sudden burst of hot sunshine 
after dull weather destroys the broad yellow margin of the leaves, 
but does no harm to the green centres, which remain intact with 
brown shrivelled edges that are most unsightly. In favourable 
seasons when the foliage sustains no damage it is in its best from 
June till autumn, for when the midsummer growth appears clothed 
with its bright yellow and green foliage the yellow margins of the 
spring leaves have changed to a pink hue that blends charmingly 
with the brighter colours. Its slender dwarf growth renders it 
unfit for a crowded border or shrub bed, but it is precisely one of 
those pretty little knicknacks that find a suitable home in a cosey 
nook of a rock bed, and help to render it attractive. 
Berberidopsis corallina.— Glad am I to say that these have 
fully rec jvered from the baneful effects of the exceedingly cold 
weather of the two winters preceding the late mild one, both the 
large plants here being just now in full beauty of foliage and 
blossom. The flowers are unusually abundant, and although so 
quiet in tone are so striking as to at once attract attention, and 
one is repeatedly asked for the name of “ that lovely climber.” 
The growth is wonderfully robust, exceeding the bounds assigned 
it by many yards, and has encroached upon its neighbours, 
mingling with them in a half-wild manner that is by no means 
unpleasing. What is the correct colour of the flowers ? I have 
termed it a deep coral, but am told I am wrong, and that rose- 
pink is the true shade. 
Double Arrowhead (Sagittaria sagittifolia flore-pleno). —This 
lovely aquatic is now in great beauty. I counted fourteen 
expanded flowers upon one stem a day or two ago, each of them a 
pure white fleecy ball some 2 inches in diameter growing loosely 
in tiers upon stout stems rising about 20 inches above the surface 
of the water among the large green arrowhead foliage. Its culture 
is very simple. It is an annual, reproducing itself by a bulbous 
growth, which is found in autumn in the form of a small egg 
laying in the mud at the bottom of the pond. Half a dozen of 
the bulbs have only to be thrust into the mud a foot apart any 
time during winter in about a foot or two of water to produce at 
this season of the year a group that, for freshness, purity of colour, 
and much intrinsic beauty, has few equals. Once established it 
requires no subsequent care other than an annual thinning of the 
PRIDE OF THE MARKET PEA. 
We have from time to time seen and heard much in favour of 
Messrs. Carter’s fine dwarf Pea Stratagem, but little of its twin 
rival Pride of the Market. It is questionable if the latter is not 
the better Pea of the two. It is true the pods are not quite so 
large as those of Stratagem, but they are large enough and fill 
well, while the peas are of a deeper green and are sweeter than 
the other. The plants also bear with greater freedom—in fact 
Pride of the Market is, in my opinion, the most profitable of dwarf 
Peas. I had the two sown in one row, 10 yards in length, of each 
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