650 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ December 21, H33. 
Esq., Hoyland Hall, Barnsley, at the meeting of the Royal Horti¬ 
cultural Society on Tuesday, December 14th. It is supposed to be 
a natural hybrid, and appears to be allied to L. anceps. As will 
be noticed in the engraving, the plant exhibited had one spike, on 
which were six flowers. The sepals and petals are white, with a 
deep violet-tinted blotch on the lip. The flowers are medium¬ 
sized, but of an attractive appearance, and the plant merited the 
first-class certificate which was awarded on the above-mentioned 
occasion. 
ORCHID LESSONS FOR YOUNG GARDENERS. 
ROOTS AND THEIR REQUIREMENTS. 
When Orchids were first brought into British gardens, and for 
a considerable period afterwards, they were regarded as mysterious 
plants, most difficult of cultivation and beyond the powers of any 
but trained specialists. Mysterious Orchids still undoubtedly are, 
but only in their structural peculiarities, for most of the unfounded 
notions respecting their culture have been removed, and there are 
few members of the family that can be said to still afford serious 
puzzles to the grower. The fact is that every well trained gardener 
can soon master the requisites of success in Orchid growing, and it 
is quite possible for a man with no special knowledge of gardening, 
if he be intelligent, observant, and attentive, to perform under 
good direction all the operations needed. In the early stages of 
my experience I was requested by my employer to visit a nurstry 
where Cattleyas had for some time been grown with much more 
than ordinary success, and the object was to pick up a few hints to 
guide me in my work. Like many young men in starting who are 
very anxious to give satisfaction I had invested Orchid growing 
with imaginary difficulties, and I was prepared to find that the 
grower in charge was a kind of horticultural genius, and to admire 
him accordingly. The manager took me into the spacious house 
where the grand Cattleyas were flourishing, and gave a brief out¬ 
line of their routine, which I found to be as simple and reasonable 
as nursery management usually is. “ But of course the man in 
charge has had considerable experience with Orchids,”! ventured to 
remark, and the reply rather surprised me. “ Certainly our grower 
has had good experience here,'’ he said ; “ but when I brought him 
into this house I do not believe he had ever seen an Orchid. I 
knew he was a careful and attentive workman. I gave him a 
week’s instruction and close supervision, found he was to be trusted, 
and I have never had any trouble since ; in fact, he knows more 
about the plants now than I do.” 
It must not be supposed that I wish to lessen the credit due to 
any successful grower by making too light of the work, but I desire 
to remove the idea that there is anything in Orchid culture which 
a careful gardener cannot overcome, and many could be pointed 
out who have gained no mean degree of fame as cultivators who 
were appointed to their charge solely because they had proved their 
skill and care in general gardening. The qualities needed to render 
a man successful in any department of horticulture are exactly 
those which applied to any other branch would give similar results. 
It is a long experience and a full conviction of the truth of this 
which has awakened in me a respect for specialists, as I have never 
known a man who had made a name with Chrysanthemums, 
Orchids, fruits, or vegetables, either as a private grower or as an 
exhibitor, who had not also proved himself the possessor of valuable 
qualities that would have rendered him a formidable opponent in 
whatever he undertook. The phrase “know something of every¬ 
thing and everything of something ” is a good one for gardeners to 
bear in mind. 
One quality which is of the greatest importance to a gardener is 
observation, and as it is of equal importance in the cultivation of 
Orchids it cannot be too strongly impressed upon young men that 
the best training, experience, and opportunities are lost unless 
they learn to use their eyes, note keenly, and remember carefully 
whatever bears upon their work and the welfare of the plants in 
their charge. Some of the most famed horticulturists of the 
present day freely admit how much they owe to the faculty of 
observation, which is essential alike to the beginner and the over¬ 
seer, and those who would distinguish themselves as cultivators of 
Orchids or other plants must strive also to cultivate this quality in 
themselves. It was my good fortune to have a long and careful 
training under a practical gardener of the old school who had had 
too much experience to depend upon “ rule of thumb” practice, or 
to think that a young man could be made a good gardener by learn¬ 
ing rules by rote. His lessons sunk deeply into my mind, and 
much of the satisfaction and pleasure I have derived from my 
calling since then is entirely due to the direction given to my 
thoughts. Most earnestly was it always impressed upon me that 
observation and attention, combined with a genuine interest in the 
work, were indispensable to anyone engaging in gardening, and as 
I have proved the advantage derivable from a development of those 
qualities it is given as portion of this preliminary lesson, not only 
for the benefit of beginners in Orchid culture but for young 
gardeners generally. 
Advancing one step farther, an early lesson given me by my 
old and respected instructor was founded on the horticultural text, 
“ Take care of the roots.” This seems so simple and obvious a 
precaution in plant growing, that it is always difficult for expe¬ 
rienced men to understand how it can ever be disregarded ; but the 
simple things are often neglected, and thus it is we too often find 
that only repeated instructions will induce young men to attach to 
it due importance. It is painful to see the roots of plants treated 
as barbarously as they frequently are, and just as surprising that 
anything like success can be expected to follow. Whether we are 
dealing with fruit trees. Vines, vegetables, or Orchids, with plants 
generally, it is not possible to be too careful in impressing the 
axiom, “ Take care of the roots.”— Orchidist. 
(To be continued.) 
LONDON CITY GARDENS: PAST AND PRESENT. 
{Concluded from page 526.') 
Notable amongst the open spaces of Old London were its 
numerous churchyards ; even in the limits of the City proper there 
was considerably over a hundred of these after the Great Fire led 
to the remodel.ing of the metropolis. Few of them presented a 
garden-like aspect to our ancestors ; some shrubs or trees grew in 
them, but could not be slid to flourish. If these were, to use a 
modern phrase, the “lungs of London,” they must have been 
unhealthy ones, for the way in which burials were ordinarily 
carried out made the graveyards far from sanitary. Many of these 
have now been built over, or lines of streets cross them, others 
have become yards used for business purposes, and some have been 
turned into private gardens, these being of small dimensions mostly, 
and difficult to find amongst the blocks of huge buildings which 
frequently surround them. Chiefly by the exertions of the Metro¬ 
politan Public Gardens Association, which has done so much for 
the preservation and increase of London’s open spaces, several of 
the long-closed churchyards in the City have been turned into 
pleasant and much appreciated resorts, and there are still a number 
of them, at present closed, which we may hope some day to see 
turned to account, and planted with shrubs or flowers. 
The City churchyards have still amongst them a fair sprinkling 
of trees, and some are conspicuous in other parts, though none of 
great age are to be seen. London trees have not only its atmosphere 
to contend with, but even there insect foes are active. In a 
contemporary in 1877, one of the contributors supplied a calcula¬ 
tion of the number of trees growing in central London, and he 
was able to count up about 1200, which was rather surprising, 
and if some have vanished, others have been planted since that will 
replace them. Though the soil of the City is less moist than it 
used to be, the Poplar may still thrive, and the Willow too, only 
the goat caterpillars will persistently molest them. But the principal 
tree is the Plane. This observer reckoned 620 of these, almost half 
the total of the City trees, and mostly of the western species, one 
of Tradescant’s introductions during the reign of Charles I. But 
the Oriental Plane had preceded that, as it was planted about 
London by the middle of the sixteenth century. In busy 
Cheapside, the large Plane at the corner of Wood Street yet 
continues to mark where once was the churchyard of St. Peter le 
Chepe. Not very many years ago it had six rooks’ nests ; the number 
diminished to a single pair, then none. It was in Gray’s Inn 
Gardens that the rooks tarried last, after they had quitted other 
rookeries near the heart of London. Visitors to the City have a 
good sample of its Planes in those to be seen along Queen Street, 
and indeed hardly another species can be .said to grow better in 
London air than the Plane does, as witness the noted specimen 
at Stationers’ Hall still existing ; but the Lime and Ash bear 
smoke fairly well ; the Elm also. Around Smithfield, for instance, 
were rows of Elms. The solitary tree of St. Paul’s Churchyard was, 
1 believe, an Elm. This is the one made memorable by Leigh Hunt, 
who tells a story of some City child that had never seen any tree 
but this. He would be glad, if living, to notice a number of young 
trees around the precincts of the cathedral, and the churchyard is 
one of the favourite res rts of those seeking a change of scene 
during the intervals of their daily work near. Its extent is nearly 
2 acres, and the space is turned to good account. There are well 
kept flower beds, and a fountain adds to the attractiveness. 
Others of these City gardens also exhibit fountains, and we 
may likewise see rockeries, sometimes well contrived, but I feel 
inclined to object to one or two, where fragments of old tomb¬ 
stones have been used partly in their construction. Pigeon-houses 
