514 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ June 25, 1891. 
Two large structures and several smaller are occupied with them, for 
the collection is large, and the several plants in as good health and 
condition as anyone could wish to see. Promhient among those in 
beauty was a fine plant of Cymbidium Lowianum with seven spikes 
and 180 flowers, Cattleyas and Lfelias, upwards of a dozen species and 
varieties of the former, including Acklandim andWarneri, with Mendelli 
and Mossias in several fine forms contributed effectively to the display, 
while among the latter L. purpurata was bearing seven flowers on a 
spike, with several varieties, such as alba, Brysiana, Eusselliana, 
Williamsi, and Yate’s variety to boar it company. Cypripediums were 
in great force, and too many of them flowering even to be enumerated, 
probably about thirty, and amongst them some of the finest in culti¬ 
vation. Similar remarks apply to Odontoglossums, one or two of the 
vexillariums being unusually rich in colour, and many of the plants 
bearing from four to sis spikes each. Oncidiums were also numerous, 
and Dendrobiums and Vandas, a very fine lot, well represented. Besides 
them were Aerides and Anguloas, Epidendrums and Coelogynes, Mas- 
devallias, Tricopilias, Uropediums, Scuticarias, and Zygopetalums, with 
others that cannot be remembered, the whole making a floral feast 
worthy of the establishment. The Orchids must be left, however, or 
there will be no space for an allusion to anything else in other 
departments. 
Of stove plants, old and new, there is apparently a complete assort¬ 
ment, and the demand for them is increasing. One long house appeared 
to be almost filled with climbers of various kinds, and the number of 
Dipladenias was astonishing. Greenhouse plants are also grown in 
great variety and propagated in large numbers. In this department is a 
fine collection of Rhododendrons, the plants as compact as Azaleas, the 
result of free pruning and systematic pinching. Then we came to 
Azaleas and Camellias, large and small, among the latter being a number 
of Japanese introductions. 
From these we pass into stoves again—housefuls of Crotons, Dra- 
Cfenas, Ixoras, Caladiums, &:c.—and find ourselves under a canopy of 
Nepenthes, and beneath them Marantas growing as freely as Cabbages, 
with Aroids of various kinds, and several more plants that cannot be 
particularised, remarkable for the beauty of their foliage or flowers. We 
were glad to get out of the tropics and rest a few moments under the 
tall Tree Ferns and Palms in the conservatory which visitors to 
Holloway know so well. The “ look round ” was a pleasant one, and 
Mr. Williams most courteous and kind. He evidently intends upholding 
the reputation of the nurseries, and if possible adding lustre to the name 
he bears ; at least, that was the impression of—A British Gardener, 
CEOYDON GARDENERS’ AND AMATEURS’ MUTUAL 
IMPROVEMENT SOCIETY. 
There was a large gathering of the members of the Croydon 
Gardeners’ and Amateurs’ Mutual Improvement Society at the County 
Hotel, West Croydon, on June IGth, to hear a lecture by the Rev. 
W. Wilks of Shirley, whose interest in horticultural matters is so well and 
widely known, upon “ Hardy Herbaceous Borders.” Mr, Jones, who 
warmly supports the Society, was voted to the chair, and Mr. Stanley 
B, Baxter, the Hon. Sec., had the business of the meeting well in hand, 
the proceedings affording a pleasing instance as to the method in which 
mutual improvement is sought to be brought about, and the encourage¬ 
ment, by way of exhibits and honours, originated to obtain that end. 
The rule is that exhibits are judged, not one against the other, but 
according to their individual merits, a maximum of points being agreed 
upon, consequently the first duty was to appoint Judges, and Mr. Box, 
Mr. Carr, and Mr. Bishop were elected to perform the duty. The 
exhibits were not numerous, but they were supplemented by others, 
notably a fine specimen of the Orchid Cattleya gigas Sanderiana with 
two spikes, with seven and five gigantic blooms respectively of this 
grand variety, shown by Mr. Carr (from Mrs. Stephenson-Clarke’s 
collection at Croydon Lodge). Then there was a remarkably well- 
flowered Gloxinia shown by Mr. Ritchings ; some fine Cucumbers by 
Mr. Roffey ; bouquet of hardy flowers, Dracfena gracilis, &c., making 
altogether a striking little collection. This interesting part of the 
business being over, 
The Chairman remarked that it was utterly unnecessary to introduce 
Mr. Wilks to anybody who knew anything about gardening at all, for he 
was known all over the world, and he thought therefore he could not do 
better than, without further preface, ask him kindly to give them the 
lecture he had been good enough to attend to deliver. 
The Rev. W. Wilks then proceeded to give in a chatty way what 
proved to be a most interesting and valuable lecture in respect of infor¬ 
mation accorded. He remarked that there was nothing more disap¬ 
pointing than to have formed great expectations and to have them 
dashed to the ground. He was told that many people were disap¬ 
pointed on a first visit to Rome. They had heard so much, and had 
formed such expectations of the sights they were to see, that they 
anticipated more than they found. He knew not a few were disap¬ 
pointed on a first visit to Switzerland and seeing the mountains. They 
expected to see every mountain run up to a peak and covered with 
snow. He was afraid that would be his position to-night, for Mr. 
Baxter had sent round such a puff that much might be expected, with 
the result of disappointment. But he would not attempt to give them 
a lecture, simply have a little chat with them on a most interesting 
subject CO him; and he had not chosen the subject of hardy flowers 
simply because it was one of his hobbies, nor simply because it was a 
subject upon which he had particular claim to be heard ; but he had 
done so for two reasons. First, being somewhat behind the scenes, he 
could tell more than some of them which way the wind of gardening 
blew ; and he was confident of this, that gardeners were in for a gale 
of hardy borders. It was coming in the very near future. People had 
become tired of carpet bedding and endless arrays of Pelargoniums and 
Calceolarias. That was his first reason—that it was coming into favour 
with owners of gardens, and very soon he was sure it would be the fashion. 
His second reason was that he thought he discerned a disinclination 
amongst some gardeners to fall in with, or to prepare themselves for, 
the coming fashion. They were too much wedded to glass houses and 
all that they meant; they doted on carpet bedding and geometrical 
borders, and straight lines, and even heads ; and they said that anyone 
could grow hardy things, and that they avere rubbish. In one sense 
they were right. There was rubbish that was fit only for the wild 
garden; but there they were in their place, and the day would come 
when gardeners would have to think about that. There was a lot of 
hardy plants that rvere rubbish, but was not that a reason why gardeners 
should begin to study hardy things, so that when the day came when 
the employer said he was tired of everlasting Geraniirms and Calceo¬ 
larias, and he would like to have a garden like—Mr. Wilks’s, at Shirley, 
for instance—(applause and laughter)—they might be prepared for it 1 
'Was it not well to study this, and not have to reply that they did not 
know anything about hardy flowers, with the inevitable result that my 
lady, having read in the paper that Messrs, Wheedle & Do’em— 
(laughter)—would supply 100 hardy plants for 10s. 6d., they then got 
some hardy rubbish? and no one would be more to blame than them¬ 
selves in not looking into the subject, and being able to make their 
own selection. 
These were the reasons that he took the subject of hardy borders, or 
mixed borders, as he preferred to call them, because he did not wish to 
go to extremes. He wanted to see some hardy, some tender, some, in 
fact, of all sorts and shapes and sizes and colours ; for from such 
combinations and unity alone could true beauty be obtained in their 
gardens. This was what he aimed at in his own garden, and any of 
them could come and look at it whenever they liked, and the ofiener 
they came the more the owner would be pleased. (Applause). There 
was only this about it—they could not expect to find the borders so 
brilliant in July and August as with the usual bedding plants, but still 
the hardy plants were bright and cheerful from the appearance of the 
Snowdrop till frost set in. He suggested the use of two-thirds of hardy 
stuff and one-third of tender plants, and the latter could include plenty 
of all kinds. These should not be planted in formal set lines, patterns, 
or order, but mixed up together, apparently higgledy-piggledy, aiming 
at art which consisted in concealing art. He then proceeded to give 
suggestions as to the mixed border, and first, with regard to the soil, he 
said he was sure of this, that no soil existed that might not be made to 
suit, with a little trouble and patience, a mixed border ; but every soil 
had its own particular plants which grew better in it than anything 
else, and it was the gardener’s business to study plants from that point 
of view and find out such as suited his own particular soil; while some 
plants might be induced by a little coaxing and attention to grow in any 
soil. They must not think that all a gardener had to do was to stick 
things in and dig things out; the man who loved his work would find 
out the why and the wherefore—why one thing flourished and another 
thing failed—and by constantly keeping his eyes open and recording he 
wmuld become a master of his profession. There were only two rules 
that he knew of—one was if the soil was wet it was necessary to have it- 
drained, and the other rule applied to the opposite state of things—if 
the soil was dry they must manure it at least once a year. There were 
some people who expected hardy plants to grow in any soil for any 
length of time, for ever and for aye, but they would not. No doubt in 
a rich soil they would do so for a long time, but in a poor soil they 
would not. But whatever the method of the manuring might be they 
must bear well in mind that one of the fundamental rules of a hardy 
border was that it never must be dug over. But as the rains washed 
the goodness out of such light soils as his own, and as April would be 
the time to manure it, when they would not like to see farmyard 
manure lying about, this pointed to the use of artificial manure, which 
they scattered about and then just forked it in. Then they changed the 
manure, one year using Clay’s, then Beeson’s, and another year a 
Norwegian fish manure. But every year they used bone dust with any 
manure, and every alternate year they gave a dressing of quarter-inch 
bones. 
Some authorities said that the hardy border ought to be dug every 
five years, but he did not agree with that. His own borders had not 
been dug for more than eleven years. No doubt some plants would at 
length wear themselves out, but his plan w’as this—when he saw that he 
dug that particular stock up in the autumn or spring, and had the patch 
of ground in which it stood thoroughly well dug and manured with cow- 
dung, and then he replanted there a little bit of the failing stock, or a 
cutting of the previous spring, or a seedling. Thus his borders never 
need to be dug over, but bits of them somewhere were always being 
treated. He thus avoided that bare appearance rvhich they must have 
if treated otherwise. The watering and time for planting was then 
treated upon, and then the method of planting. 
He advised them not to plant by rule—not to get a yard measure and 
stick everything in exactly the same distance apart, but exercise some 
discretion, and consider the habit of each plant. Delphiniums, for 
instance, would take up a lot of room, while Lilies would shoot up 
straight and take up little space. The propagation of plants from seed, 
from cuttings, and divisions of the roots was next dealt with, and he 
