142 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ February 19, 1891i 
their culture—Tom Travis, Market Favourite, Donald Morrison, 
Princess Beatrice, J. J. Ashton, Maggie A. Scott, and a few others 
are fine exhibition varieties, with a robust habit, and may with 
advantage be grown as decorative plants, owing to their bright 
and distinct colours. Lord Hamilton, the winner of so many 
first class certificates, is a magnificent variety when caught ; ” 
care must, however, be taken to give it the benefit of a “ sun¬ 
shade” if the flowers are to be seen to advantage. Wm. Ross is 
another of the same character, perhaps finer in quality but at times 
inclined to be rather narrow in the under petal. Tom Travis is a 
fine bold flower, the colours distinct and well contrasted. Market 
Favourite is perhaps the best yellow self in cultivation, a fine 
bold flower. Miss Hudson is a lovely white, and for a dark self 
J.J. Ashton is our ideal of perfection. Mrs. Atkinson is a gem, 
after the style of the old and popular favourite May Tate. Maggie 
A. Scott is a bold dashing flower of fine form. Kayii is named 
after Mr. Kay of Gargunnock, the raiser of so many fine varieties, 
and will no doubt make its mark on the exhibition table. Wm. 
Evits is an improvement on Neil M’Kay, one of the most popular 
flowers in cultivation. George Anderson is another fine variety 
raised by Mr. Bailey, who is now a specialist in Pansies. In Mrs. 
John McConnell we have all the characteristics of a model Fancy 
Pansy. The above may be looked upon as the best, though others 
in the list may be equally fine when well grown, but those named 
were most conspicuous in my collection last year. Some very fine 
varieties were exhibited last season for the first time, and as most 
of them are now offered to the public we may have something 
to say on their behaviour later on. It must not be thought that 
my list contains all the best varieties in cultivation, but as 
representing the best that have come under my notice, and 
although in 1890 we had perhaps the largest introduction of really 
fine sorts ever sent out in one year, there are several of them 
that will not be grown again here. It is highly amusing to look 
over some trade list where we find over BiiO varieties (at least 
names) of Fancy Pansies enumerated. It is needless to mention 
lhat over 200 of these have had their day. — Geo. Steel, 
JJeallicrslaio. 
TEACHES AND NECTARINES. 
Peaches and Nectarines, both early and late, now take high 
rank, if not the premier position, amongst the choicest dessert of 
the day. It is but a few years since a Queen Pine was considered 
the all-important dish in a dessert for the elite of society, but now 
the times or fashion has changed to the extent that a Pine is 
rarely inquired for. How may this state of things be accounted 
for ? Are the huge and often flavourless imported monsters to be 
blamed ? or is the high quality of Peaches better understood 
and appreciated now that they are better and more extensively 
cultivated ? However this may be, I am told by experienced 
travellers, 'whose opinions are worth recording, that the Peach 
is found to be the most nourishing and sustaining of all fruit, 
especially before they become “dead ripe.” Curiously enough 
this is the time that wasps and other insects seem to relish them 
most, just before they begin to soften. It may not be out of 
place also to mention here how well swine are said to feed on the 
fallen and surplus Peaches from the extensive orchards in the 
United States. 
Both Peaches and Nectarines were formerly much more grown 
outside than they now are, but they were mostly a precarious 
crop, and unless in the most favoured positions failures were more 
plentiful than successes, and the superiority of the fruit grown 
inside over that outside is so marked that it is not surprising to 
find so few attempt outside cultivation, yet there are instances 
where Peaches and Nectarines are successfully grown on outside 
walls. The most northern example I know of may be seen at 
Oiberton, where Mr. Woods has a grand wall covered with some 
fine trees a dozen or fifteen years old, some of these trees covering 
200 square feet of wall space. 
The soil at Osberton is open and gritty, avith a gravelly subsoil, 
and that Mr. Woods considers too light to grow Vines in. The 
Peach trees make moderate sized short-jointed wood that is 
thoroughly matured before winter, whereas in wet localities, where 
the soil is wet and retentive, the Peach usually make vigorous 
sappy growths that do not solidify, as the solar heat does not readily 
penetrate such soils to a sufficient depth in time to solidify the top 
growths and enable the tree to cast its leaves naturally, but they 
aie retained until a sharp frost separates them from the wood and 
injures the fruit buds ; the following spring leaf blister may safely 
be expected. This Peach blister is the most disastrous malady 
attending outside cultivation, and baffles the most determined 
growers ; it mostly follows a cold wet season. My old friend the 
late Mr. Tillyard and myself, only a short time before his death, 
had a long argument at Brockleby upon the primary cause of the 
Peach blister. I thought when such an old and able cultivator as- 
he was known to be hesitated between two opinions it was a 
difficult subject to decide ; but I may here state that in 1871 I had 
occasion to change the places of some Peach trees by putting some 
from a late house on to outside walls, and those from outside walls 
into the late house. Curiously enough those trees brought in from, 
the outside became almost as badly blistered as those left on the 
open walls, and those taken outside was the only trees on the walls- 
free from blister and to bear a fair crop of useful fruit ; but 
Mr. Tillyard pointed out a very fine old Peach planted at the side 
of his dwelling, and well sheltered and protected. This tree until 
recent years could always be relied on to produce a good crop, but 
had taken to blistering ; Mr. Tillyard thought the roots had gone- 
too deep. Not one of the many young trees he had tried would- 
keep healthy many years, and what had been a fine wall of trees is 
now a complete wreck as far as Peaches are concerned. 
This garden years ago was famed for its fine Peach wall, but oiT 
late years the trees became badly blistered. Every tree was lifted’ 
and good new borders made, the results still unsatisfactory, but 
now we have the wall covered with glass we can get 5000 superior 
fruit with less trouble than it was to get 500 fruits often of a very 
moderate description, and I am satisfied that it is more trouble to- 
keep trees healthy and secure a crop of Peaches outside than they 
are worth, unless in the most favoured and suitable localities, and 
in open porous soils. 
Now as we have a good assortment of varieties a description of 
their behaviour and quality may be serviceable to intending planters^ 
therefore it shall be forwarded by another post.—J. H. Goodacre^ 
A FRUIT AND FLOWER FACTORY. 
Commercial gardening has attained a wonderful development 
within the past twenty-five years, and now constitutes a business 
entirely distinct from the ordinary seed and nursery trade of this 
country, and equally as distinct from the horticulture of private 
establishments for which Britain has so long been famed. 
Supplying the rapidly increasing population of our large cities- 
with fruit, flowers, and vegetables has proved a profitable employ¬ 
ment for thousands of keen energetic men who possess an intimate- 
knowledge of the practical details in what may be termed 
economic horticulture ; for the inexperienced, the slow, or the 
careless there is no room. Hard work, with head and hands in a 
systematic manner, and directed by sound judgment, produce 
results that in some cases can only be described as marvellous- 
Dozens of market growing establishments round London alone 
could be named that afford extraordinary instances of rapid 
advance under good management to their present condition. Acres 
of land covered with glass houses, where Grapes, Tomatoes, and 
other fruits are produced by scores of tons, plants and flowers byr 
hundreds of thousands for the great markets. In all these,, 
however, the business method adopted is practically the same— 
namely, the produce is either consigned to salesmen in different 
districts, or the market man acts as his own salesman ; the trade,, 
therefore, being essentially wholesale. In a few cases, however,, 
chiefly with regard to small businesses, the retailer has found it 
convenient to be also the producer, and by the aid of a nursery or- 
market garden has kept his shop supplied direct, thus saving two 
profits. In the example about to be described this principle has- 
been adopted, but upon a much larger scale than before, and 
to a man possessing large capital it obviously affords, under¬ 
certain conditions, an opportunity for materially increasing his 
returns. 
Hillingdon is a quiet little Middlesex town about a mile and? 
a half from Uxbridge, and though hitherto of small moment in< 
the horticultural world, it is destined to become celebrated as the- 
site of a “Fruit and Flower Factory” of unusual dimensions- 
and surprising character. Mr. William Whiteley, “ the Universal- 
Provider,” of Westbourne Grove, has gained a world-wide reputa¬ 
tion for the rapid development of a colossal business, and though 
the history of his progress cannot be recorded in these pages, it 
is worthy of remaik that energy, system, and enterprise have- 
evidently constituted his guiding motto. In a calendar issued by 
the firm it is stated that the business was commenced on^ 
March 11th, 1803, and the fact that such a place as that here 
described is required to supply the demands of only ove depart¬ 
ment is a sufficient indication of what has been aecomplished in 
less than thirty years. 
About nine acres of land were taken at Hillingdon a short 
time since, and last year proceedings were commenced to convert 
this into a nursery for supplying the central retail business with 
fruit, flowers, and plants. An experienced practical man as super¬ 
intendent was the first requisite, and such a one Mr. Whiteley 
found in Mr. Godfrey, who at once entered into the spirit of the= 
