486 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ December 1, 1892. 
■quickly without a check, and become tender, juicy, and full 
flavoured. . „ , . , , . 
When we consider the large amount of nutriment drawn from 
the soil in a single season by fruit trees carrying good crops, it is a 
matter for some surprise that inferiority in produce and early 
decay of the trees do not begin even sooner. This, doubtless, 
would be the case were it not for the fact that Nature sometimes 
recuperates herself by the trees failing to bear for a season or two. 
Some of the most productive among old orchards in Kent that 
have come under my notice are those which are continually grazed 
with stock. It is, I maintain, within the reach of a” uo increase 1 
the fertility of their orchards by applying natural or artificial 
manures. or tarmy&rd manure is without doubt valuable to 
ise as a dressing for orchards as well as garden crops, possessing as 
it does a well blended combination of nitrates and phosphates. 
Beina, however, not very rich in pota,sh, a dressing of wood ashes 
or burnt refuse given in conjunction with it is of material assistance 
in supplying the necessary food. 
In one respect we are placed in circumstances far more favour¬ 
able than many gardeners, having abundance of stable manure at 
our command, as well as a plentiful supply of liquid manure obtained 
from the drainings of the stables, and collected in a large tank, 
while a heterogeneous mass of garden rubbish is being continually 
converted into burnt refuse. These materials we are now engaged 
in carting to an old orchard. The surface of the grass is first 
sprinkled with the burnt refuse, then a good dressing of stable 
manure is given at the rate of 25 tons per acre. By attending to 
this kind of work during the autumn months the heavy rains wash 
the enriching properties of the manure down to the roots of the 
trees and impregnate the soil with them, which practically means 
that so much stored up food is available for the trees by the time 
the roots are in the right condition to take it up, and the leaves to 
assimilate it. Other fruit trees will receive plentiful supplies of 
liquid manure from the tank previously spoken of ; in fact, when¬ 
ever similar tanks require emptying, whether it be during winter 
or summer, the rich fertilising liquid so easily obtained will be 
poured around fruit trees of all descriptions. If such treatment 
had a few years ago been given to many old orchards, in con¬ 
junction with a thinning of the branches, the trees would not now 
present the sorry plight they do. Let not readers suppose that I 
am advocating the renovation of old orchards where it would be 
wiser policy to plant young ones ; I have treated rather of trees 
which bear only crops of small uninviting looking fruit, although 
the varieties are good and the trees themselves are neither too old 
nor too unhealthy to be profitable. In such instances a vast 
improvement may be wrought by working on the lines indicated. 
Trees so treated will then afford useful fruit while newly planted 
ones are becoming established, and it seems unlikely that the 
present generation, or future ones, will again allow the fruit 
orchards of Britain to lapse into a state of poverty and decay, 
either through want of knowledge or lack of energy.— Labor 
Omnia Vincit._ 
PAST AND PRESENT IN THE NURSERIES. 
A Call at Low’s. 
Probably there are at least some members of the younger school of 
horticulturists who share my respect for old institutions. Dr. Brown 
S6quard notwithstanding, we have no other vessel from which to quaff 
the waters of the fountain of youth than wholesome and healthy lives. 
Decay is a law as immutable as the counter law of development, and 
the tendency to decline affects business houses as well as men. They 
have their growth, apogee, and fall. But there are some which gain 
strength with age, sending out fresh shoots and fibres because grounded 
on a strong foundation, managed with skill, and nourished by just 
methods. There is dignity about them, for the confidence they enjoy 
hus been earned by the good work of more than one lifetime, and it 
should not be forgotten that in the changes necessary to adapt material 
and methods to ever-changing fashions there is a task more difficult of 
adjustment than the starting of a new venture to fit the special moment 
that sees its birth. If these changes be not conducted in the right way 
and at the right moment decline commences ; if they be effected with 
comprehensiveness and promptitude the old house keeps abreast 
and even ahead of its rivals. No better example of this could be 
pointed to in the world of gardening than the North London firm of 
Hugh Low & Sons. Here we have a great trade institution founded 
three generations ago which has gone on growing years after its early 
riva's have decayed, and which, instead of mouldering in senile decrepi¬ 
tude, is full of the vigour of youth, with conveniences that extend and 
a business that grows season after season. It will give an idea of with 
what consummate skill the sails of this great trade ship have been 
spread to suit the varying breezes to point out that as it was a great 
house years ago when Cape and New Holland plants were popular, so 
it is a great house now that Orchids rule the destinies of horticulture. 
At the old Clapton Nursery nearly a hundred large houses shelter the 
large and choice collection of plants, including Orchids, there grown, 
and they are supplemented by vast ranges of pits, while at Bush Hill 
Park there must be sixty or seventy more houses, and also about fifty 
acres of fruit trees and Rose3. The latter nursery was founded a few 
years ago, when more space was imperatively demanded by the spreading 
of the old tree’s branches. To the few remaining veterans who knew 
Low’s in its early days a visit now would do more than revive old 
memories ; it would show the wisdom of adaptability to the needs of 
the passing hour. 
Orchids. 
Rarely is so splendidly grC" r II o collection of Orchids met with as 
that at Cl 2 ,pt un . No one’could fail to note the enormous number and 
nne condition of many popular kinds as well as rarer forms. Such 
favourite Dendrobes as crassinode, Wardianum, nobile, Parishi, thyrsi- 
florum, Devonianum, and Pierardi are abundantly represented, while 
the remnants of a large batch of formosum giganteum lend welcome 
brightness at a dull period of the year. A large house nearly full of 
Angrmcum sesquipedale in splendid condition constitutes one of the 
best collections of this beautiful Orchid in cultivation. Phalmnopsis, 
so troublesome to many growers, flourish in great numbers, and are in 
the rudest health. There is a large houseful of Veitchiana, Schilleriana, 
and Luddemanniana just coming on. They are pinched so as to throw 
the flowering over until January or February with the object of escaping 
the worst of the fogs, which otherwise would work terrible havoc. In 
another house is a healthy piece of the white Schilleiiana, a most 
valuable plant. Cypripediums have the attention that their importance 
merits, and many fine species and forms are observable. Volonteanum, 
Crossianum, Harrisianum, Elliottianum, Sanderianum. callosum, and 
Spicerianum are largely grown. So are Leeanum and its varieties, of 
which claptonense is one of the freest and best. Leeanum superbum and 
the lovely form Lowi are also beautiful. C. Chamberlainianum is 
in bloom'with many others; C. insigne Mooreana, with light brown 
sepals and petals ; C. Heynholdiana, which differs from Lowi in its 
spotted dorsal sepal ; C. Sedeni candidulum, C. cardinale, and 
C. calorum are all worth noting. But most remarkable of all is a 
splendid house 80 feet long of C. bellatulum, of which, notwithstanding 
that it is a spring bloomer, there are many floweis open. The plants 
are growing like Cabbages, and as full of handsome foliage as well- 
grown Cyclamens. A house of Cattleya Mossiae 15(3 feet long awakens 
impressions of what it must be like when the plants are in the full 
glory of summer bloom ; 1000 flower spikes open at one time form a 
display of marvellous beauty. Epidendrum ciliare, with green sepals and 
petals and fringed lip, grows like a weed. Oncidium ornithorbynchum 
and the violet-scented On. tigrinum are both noteworthy. One side of a 
house 1(30 feet long is solely occupied by a splendid importation of the 
Pacho type of Odontoglossum crispum. There is also a very fine 
collection of imported Od. Roezli. Vanda Amesiana, with its delicious 
Gardenia-like smell; and V. coerulea, of which there is a grand stock, 
are in bloom. Verv striking, too, is V. Kimballiana, although not in 
bloom. The collection of this lovely Orchid is a very large one, and 
the plants are in superb condition. Restrepias Leopoldi and striata, 
Cattleya superba splendens Rio Negro variety, the true Angrascum 
Ellisi, and a piece of Chantin’s original plant of Cypripedium insigne 
Chantini are of special interest. In short, there is abundance of 
material at Low’s to satisfy all types of Orchid growers, and even at this 
the dull season, when flowers are comparatively few, the enormous 
collection has much to arrest attention. The best culture is observable 
in every one of the many houses devoted to Orchids. 
Palms. 
More wonderful than the Orchids, in one sense, are the Palms. They 
are grown by hundreds of thousands, and the houses devoted to them 
would form a large nursery in themselves. There can be few 
places, one would imagine, in which Palms are grown on so colossal a 
scale as they are at Low’s, and the plants are in perfect condition. 
Latania borbonica, Kentia Belmoreana, K. Forsteriana, Geonoma gracilis, 
G. Schotti, Cocos Weddelliana, Areca lutescens, and different Phoenixes 
are amongst the most largely represented, and the long houses crammed 
with them are enough to make any visitor wonder where the plants all 
go to. They are not marketed, but are disposed of through the usual 
business channels. The demand must be altogether in excess of the 
highest estimate that the non-profe9sional or rather non-trading person 
would estimate, and this is a very gratifying sign. 
Other Foliage Plants. 
Crotons and Dracaenas hardly need mentioning, for it would naturally 
be expected that they would be largely represented. They are, and 
they are in splendid condition. Then there are large quantities of 
Pandanus utilis, also of Asparagus plumosus and ranus. Araucaria 
excelsa, too, is grown in thousands. The stock of Aralia Sieboldi appears 
large enough to supply the whole country, and the same might be said 
of Aspidistra lurida variegata. The latter is chiefly grown at the Bush 
Hill Park Nursery, where, too, there are several houses full of India- 
rubber plants and a magnificent stock of Ficus elastica variegata. The 
plants of the latter are models of health and beauty. In every case, and 
in that of numerous plants that are not mentioned, health and cleanli¬ 
ness are unexceptionable. Taken all in all the stock of foliage plants is 
one of the wonders of this extraordinary establishment, which has grown 
with time until it has attained gigantic dimensions. 
Hard-Wooded Plants. 
To the horticulturist of twenty-five years ago and more the collection 
1 of hard-wooded plants at Low’s would awaken recollections of the 
