590 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. [ December so, mo. 
with you, for I am just preparing to send off to market, and this 
is the second time to-day,” was the remark of the gardener of 
one of our wealthiest noblemen. “ I am ashamed to go round the 
garden with you. You recollect what it was ; now I have not 
half the labour allowed me that I used to have, and in consequence 
the garden is no pleasure to me. Weeds and untidiness charac¬ 
terise it, but the squire says he cannot afford it,” was addressed 
to myself in visiting one of the most famous gardens in the king¬ 
dom for its fruit and vegetable produce ; while I think, on the 
other hand, many more persons of smaller ambition are engaging 
in it. Let me here quote a letter I have just received from one 
I have never seen. “ The letters of yourself and others in the 
Journal of Horticulture are eagerly watched for and read by us 
in the north, and I can assure you that to these letters is due in 
no small degree the increasing demand for Roses in my own 
particular district. In fact it is no uncommon thing to find cot¬ 
tagers with a hundred plants and longing for more, tending them 
with every attention that our smoky climate requires. 1 know 
men, who beforetime were drunken and bad characters, spend 
their time in the garden instead of the public house ; these men 
have become decent members of society instead of so many pigs.” 
I, who have an opportunity of being at the Manchester and London 
shows, am constantly asked my opinion on such and such Roses, 
and on my saying they are good but costly am met by the reply, 
“I don’t care for the cost if only they are first-rate.” This is 
encouraging, I think, to us, and ought to make us very careful as 
to what we recommend. Before I leave this branch of my subject 
I may, I hope, with pardonable egotism, refer to the continued 
success of the Horticultural Club. More than double the number 
of members have been elected in 1880 as compared with 1879 ; 
and although changes are continually taking place, yet the total 
number of members continues steady. As we have often been 
met with the assertion that a year or two would see its exit, 
it is gratifying to find that after six years of existence it is still 
flourishing, and affords a pleasant meeting place for many who 
are interested in horticulture. 
Ido not think that the past year has been distinguished for any 
startling novelties, either as introductions from abroad or the 
results of hybridisation at home. I have before me the list of all 
those plants and flowers which have been certificated by the Floral 
Committee, and while many are interesting there is nothing very 
remarkable to note. Some good Lilies have been shown from 
Japan and elsewhere; new florists’ flowers have not been very 
numerous, but amongst them have been some valuable additions, 
but they are but just a little in advance of those we already 
possess. We have not yet a blue Dahlia or a pure white or deep 
yellow Hybrid Perpetual Rose. As usual too many characters 
have been damaged (I mean of flowers, not of men), and things 
once highly thought of have been consigned to the rubbish heap. 
Such is a brief bird’s-eye view from my own standpoint of 
horticulture in 1880. Our season, though not a favourable one, 
was better than last year. The winter as yet has not set iD with 
severity, and we can only hope that we may look forward with 
brighter prospects to 1881.—D., Deal. 
AN HOUR AT CHELSEA. 
Having had a rapid “run round” Messrs. Veitch's establish¬ 
ment during Christmas week, the following notes may not be 
without interest to many of your readers :—In the nursery some 
improvements have recently been made. The long entrance 
corridor has been thoroughly renovated, the old Lapagerias having 
been removed and youDg plants inserted. Tree Ferns, Palms, 
Euryas, and various other plants ornamental by their foliage or 
berries are tastefully arranged, and the corridor has seldom if ever 
looked better than it does now. 
In each of the hundred houses and pits there is something of 
merit, fresh healthy stocks of old and popular plants, or batches 
more or less large of others new and rare. Flowers, too, are plen¬ 
tiful. In one house Azalea narcissiflora and some others, Spar- 
mannias, Begonia insignis, Linum trigynum, and similarly useful 
plants for midwinter decoration are in quantity ; in another the 
display of Erica hyemalis shows in the most convincing manner 
how valuable, even indispensable, this Erica is for rendering cool 
structures attractive at this season. The plants are splendidly 
grown, many of them, though only in small 48-size pots, being more 
than a foot in diameter with twelve to eighteen principal growths 
or “horns” densely laden with delicate flowers, the subsidiary 
growths being equally well flowered quite down to the pots. These 
plants are masses of chaste beauty, and cannot fail to be admired 
by all who see them. In the same house some fine clumps of 
Christmas Roses (Helleborus niger maximus) are as effective as 
Eucharises, each plant producing upwards of fifty flowers and 
buds. Primulas, Tree Carnations, Cyclamens, Lily of the Valley, 
each have structures devoted to them ; while in the stoves the 
brilliant colours of the Crotons—the new forms Hawkeri and 
Cronstadti being very striking—the great display of Nepenthes, 
the dark red pitchers of N. bicalcarata being conspicuous, con¬ 
tribute to the varied character of the display. 
The extensive collections of Orchids comprise a very large 
number of species and varieties, and the general condition of the 
plants is excellent. This is by no means the best time of year for 
a display of Orchids, yet many were in flower, and a still greater 
number will soon be in full beauty. The handsome and peculiar 
Angrsecum sesquipedale is represented, several extremely fine 
specimens are bearing eight flowers of unusual size. Barkeria 
Lindleyana is especially noteworthy for its elegant racemes of 
rich rosy purple flowers, one variety being very distinct both 
in size and colour of the blooms. The lovely Laelia anceps is 
highly attractive ; the colour of the labellum on one specimen is 
remarkably rich, and indicates a variety of considerable value. 
Among the Odontoglossums it is only necessary to mention the 
names of such well-known forms as O. Alexandras, 0. Roezlii, and 
O. Andersonianum, all in fine condition, and to these may be 
added the charming new 0. blandum, a pretty dwarf species 
recently certificated at Kensington, and 0. anceps, very striking, 
also accorded a similar honour at the same time. Calanthes have 
produced a grand display, but are now past their best, though 
sufficient are still left to show what most gardeners now well 
know—namely, the surprising utility of the plants for decoration 
in winter. The beautiful hybrid Dendrobium endocharis, noted 
Fig. 105.—High Cross Hybrid. 
last week in the Journal, is flowering well; a compact specimen 
with several growths has a large number of its fragrant blooms. 
The brilliant Sophronitis grandiflora and its rare but pretty rela¬ 
tive S. violacea are attractive, while Saccolabium giganteum, 
S. violaceum, Lfelia Dayana, Oncidium Forbesii, 0. cheiropho- 
rum, Lycaste alba, Chysis Chelsoni, Comparettia falcata, and 
many others, are admirable. Among the prospective attractions are 
the PhaiEenopses, of which there will be, if the weather proves 
favourable, an extraordinarily grand display. In one house and 
on small plants there are about 450 spikes, forming, as my con¬ 
ductor not inaptly termed it, “ a network of stems.” A very 
large imported stock of Cypripedium Lowi is in superb health, 
the plants growing most vigorously. Altogether the Orchid 
houses well repay for a visit, as indeed they do at any period of 
the year where so many plants are so carefully grown. 
The seed department is an important feature of the nursery ; and 
the great structural additions that have been completed render it 
a matter of surprise, seeing the crowded state of men and goods, 
how the work of this department could have been previously con¬ 
ducted. The bulbs are nearly all cleared out (it has been an ex¬ 
cellent “ bulb season ”), and it is only by working far into the night 
as well as by day that the seed orders can be executed with that 
promptitude that is requisite for the smooth and satisfactory dis¬ 
patch of business. Those who only advocate the culture of “ good 
old things ” would be surprised at the great demand for seed of 
“novelties” of promise and “specialities” of proved worth. 
The new Melon High Cross Hybrid, now being distributed by the 
firm, may be referred to, as it is the only one of the three varieties 
that were certificated this year that has not been figured in your 
Journal. The reduced engraving, fig. 105, will show the handsome 
