20 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ Jimuary 14, 1332. 
with water. I do this as soon as the spike begins to show and 
continue until the fir&t flower opens, when the manure is discon¬ 
tinued. While my garden is an early one in spring it is somewhat 
late in autumn, and, as our local show is held early in August. I 
find it necessiry to start my Gladioli in boxes in the greenhouse. 
They are not planted in earth, but are placed in a light, fibrous 
material composed of some species of seaweeds and decayed leaves, 
washed up by the Solway, In this the tender, brittle roots have a 
free run, and the corm can be lifted with the fibrous material 
adhering to the roots, and can be planted without injurinor the 
latter. My first spikes were cut about the 5th of August. For a 
considerable number of years I have practised the system of cutting 
the corms which “ D., Deal,” recommends, and my experience 
agrees with his that the spikes produced by cut corms are at least 
equal to those from the uncut ones. 
The article on “ Hardy Gladioli,” on page 53G, opens a wide 
field for discussion and comparison of experience. Like your 
correspondent, I have grown several varieties of the Lemoinei 
section, and feel disposed to agree with his estimate of their com¬ 
parative value. Some of the older varieties are, from the hooded 
form of the flowers, very pleasing in the borders, but what seems 
to be the result of the larger infusion of the gandavensis type has 
been the loss of the distinct form, and so close an approach to the 
gandavensis section that it is difficult to detect some of the better 
forms of the Lemoinei section from some inferior and poorly 
coloured varieties of the other. 
I have not yet grown any of the nanceianus section, and can 
only say that I do not at present feel inclined to devote any of 
the limited space I can spare for Gladioli to their culture. At 
the end of August I had the opportunity of seeing a large 
number of the new varieties of G. Lemoinei and G. nanceianus, 
and my opinion of their merits seems largely to coincide with 
that of your cantributor. There was none in either section 
worthy to be compared with the grand spikes and exquisite 
shapely flowers of the best varieties of the gandavensis section. 
The collectioa was a choice one, and my general opinion is that 
the flowers of the nanceianus are eoarse, ill formed, and wanting 
in substance, and in some respects in^’erior to the Lemoinei 
varieties, which are as much inferior to the gandavensis section. 
I do not wish to depreciate in the slightest degree the results 
achieved by the raisers. I have little doubt that in a short time 
their labours will give us new colours and markings, which will 
add to the popularity of the Gladiolus, but I think we should guard 
against the enthusiasm for “ new things ” which would substitute 
inferior flowers for those triumphs of the florist’s art which are to 
be found in the hybrids of gandavensis. 
As your able contributor sajs, the question of their hardiness is 
a relative one. Here I can with perfect safety leave my ganda¬ 
vensis varieties in the ground all the winter if planted at a 
moderate depth, but my expeiience has been that the disease is 
more virulent among those thus left, either by accident or design, 
than among those lifted and kept dry, I have as yet had no 
disease among the Lemoinei varieties, but there is so little to be 
gained by leaving them all winter that I do not feel disposed to 
run the risk of their loss from disease. The original purpureo- 
auratus I have not had sufficiently long to speak of with confidence, 
but G. communis is, of course, thoroughly hardy here, as is also 
G. segetus. home improvement has been effected in the latter of 
late years, and I think the hybridisers might do a good work by 
devoting some of their attention to this species, which from its 
earliness and hardy habit would be of great value if improved.— 
S. Arnott. 
SIXTY YEARS OF HORTICULTURAL PROGRESS. 
(1760—1820). 
(^Continued from jpa^c 492, last vol,') 
Those persons who were acquainted with the London district 
at the time of the accession of George III., if they had oppor¬ 
tunities of surveying it towards the end of last century, could not 
but be impressed with the increase of nursery and market gardens, 
especially in West Middlesex and along the Surrey hills near the 
Thames. The fact testified not only to the growth of the 
metropolis, it also indicated how steady was the advance made in 
horticulture, despite the adverse effects ©f long and expensive wars. 
Possibly it might be argued that the interruption of communi¬ 
cations between the Continent and Britain had at least one good 
result as a set-off against its evils, our countrymen of that period 
were led to rely more upon themselves. Far too much importance 
had been attached to some of the plans and methods which had 
been copied from French or Dutch gardeners, and now English 
folks had a crpital opportunity for practically testing, and then 
improving the?e. 
In the matter of fruit growing, probably also in some other 
things, the nurserymen of Middlesex and Surrey acted differently 
Very large orchards existed about Fulham and Kensington, and in 
these it was a general practice to plant bushes amongst the rows of 
fruit trees, though there were some objections made to this, just 
as there are now ; a principal one was that the Gooseberries and 
Currants did not have sufficient air and light. Across the river it 
was more usual to have vegetables sown at intervals in the orchards, 
and the Surrey men used to say that in Middlesex the practice of 
applying large quantities of manure to the trees did not benefit 
them, while it produced a rapid growth of certain weeds. Looking 
at the Vauxhall and Stockwell of 1892 it is difficult to picture this 
district as one abundant in fruit crops about a century ago. A 
little distance along the Wandsworth Road was the nursery of 
Mr. Phillips, who received on two occasions gold medals from the 
Society of Arts for choice varieties he had produced. Kennington 
Oval was a piece of waste land like the adjacent common, but it 
was reclaimed by Michelson, who made a great display year after 
year of choice exotics, and lived to be a centenarian. His garden 
was converted into a cricket ground about 1830. One thing that 
especially stimulated the culture of fruit near London was the 
importation of forced or early fruit from Belgium and Holland. 
A Mr. Braddick obtained several good varieties of the Pear 
through a Flemish friend, who had been an extensive rearer of 
Pears from seed himself. He reckoned that he had grown some¬ 
thing like 80,000 young plants, but said that few of these 
seedlings were of any value. The Beurre Rouge and the Golden 
Beurr4 were, it seems, new arrivals from Holland. From France 
they obtained several varieties of Bergamot, Blanquette and Jar¬ 
gonelle, with others ; and a winter Pear called Pear d’Aucb, 
considered superior to any grown before in Britain, was obtained 
by the Duke of Northumberland in 1780, the locality is uncertain. 
It is about this date that we find the first appearance of new 
Apples obtained from across the Atlantic, such as the Newtown, 
the Baltimore, the Fameuse, and the Pomme Grise. Of the seed¬ 
lings raised in Biitain several of the best came from Scotland, 
which, as we have already shown, has been, though small in 
dimensions, a country exerting no mean influence on horticulture. 
I have now to mention a native of Scotland, who, though no 
author, occupies a notable position amongst the Georgian 
gardeners, but, unfortunately for himself, he failed in some enter¬ 
prises which ought to have given him personal benefit, while they 
helped to increase our exotics and enlarge our knowledge of the 
habits of plants. John Fraser began life as a hosier, but, living in 
Paradise Bow, Chelsea, he became friendly with the gardeners of 
the neighbourhood, and resolved to visit the United States in 
search of rare plants. Leaving England in 1783, he sent home 
consignments of plants to a friend at Brompton. On his return, 
however, he found that these had been lost or neglected. Soon 
after he started again, and brought from the Carolinas various 
Conifers, Magnolias, Azaleas, and Bhododendrons, also other new 
species. This was in 1788, and he repeated the visit in 1790 and 
1791, taking afterwards a plot of ground in the King’s Road for 
the exhibition and sale of American plants. He was so successful 
in propagating these, that he was able to take in person for pur¬ 
chase by the Empress Catherine a choice assortment of these, 
going to St. Petersburg in 1795. Four years after, Fraser and his 
son started again for America and the West Indies, were ship¬ 
wrecked, and, having escaped other dangers, they returned to 
England in 1791 with additional rarities. Other excursions and 
journeys followed ; but the American nursery was neglected 
during his absence, vexation and fatigue shortened his life, and he 
died at the comparatively early age of sixty-one. 
Rather better known than Fraser’s establishment, owing to 
its longer history and more extensive collections of plants, was 
the nursery founded by Mr. Colvill, and situate also in the King’s 
Road, near Blackland’s Lane. It dated from about 1790, and in 
a few years it became famous for its collections of rare and 
curious exotics, of which reports reached other countries, so that 
foreigners interested in plants made a point of visiting Colvill’s 
nursery. He constructed one large house, in which a variety of 
tropical plants were placed along beds of earth, so disposed as to 
appear as if they were growing naturally. Another house he 
erected which created much astonishment. He had placed in it 
some trunks and branches of trees, to which were nai'ed here and 
there shells cf Cocoa-nuts and small wooden bowls. In these he 
inserted Orchids and various creeping or parasitic species. Then 
he had a house fronting the road that was entirely devoted to 
Geianiums or Pelargoniums, of which he was supposed to have 
between 400 and 500 kinds. A book was published upon the 
Geraniacese by Robert Sweet, F.L.S. It came out in parts during 
1815 and 1816, the figures being neady all taken from specimens 
produced at this nursery. Amongst the plants he specially studied 
the Camellia was cne. He reckoned that he possessed quite 
