516 
JOURN'AL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
June 13,1895. 
packers, with stacks of small boxes handy, for it is a huge postal 
business, and the cost of registered packages must be a very large item 
indeed. A square tower, thick and strong, proof against fire and 
burglars, is separately built within, and through the building from 
foundation to roof. Out of this the strong rooms open on every floor 
and into every room ; but after all such provision for security the rooms 
are never left, while the chief caretaker it expected to be a man who 
knows no fear and can shoot. This “ touch ’* of Birmingham life may 
not be wholly uninteresting ; it is at least a change from the garden 
''life with which the thousands who read these lines are familiar, and it 
oan only be wished that it were a pleasurable or profitable life to them 
all, though it may not be beset with diamonds. Yet all the same, 
gardening adds a charm to life, and makes it better worth living. 
The Genesis and Growth of a Trade. 
The Sydenhams. amidst all their costly mineral gems, could not live 
happily without their gardens ; and it was in making purchases for 
them which led their friends and neighbours to desire to “join in,” and 
in this way avail themselves of the judgment of the then amateur 
-experts. The circle widened yearly in increasing proportion till the 
commissions became formidable. Thus were the caterers forced into 
business—not very reluctantly, perhaps, but forced all the same ; and 
when a Birmingham man reckons to do “ business” he does not do it in 
a sleepy way. With untiring perseverance one brother set himself to 
master one branch, another a different one, thus adding to capital, 
knowledge, the third all the time keeping his diamond eye. No one could 
see the great warehouse provision and adaptability to the purpose of 
bulbs and seeds, with the completeness of all working details, without 
being surprised that so much could have been accomplished in such 
comparatively little time. A wonderful trade has, so to say, “ sprung up,” 
and surprised even its originators. Nor does it follow at all that they 
have “taken the trade’’from others. They have made hundreds and 
thousands of persons ardent flower lovers and growers who but for them 
would never have become fascinated with the pursuit. Their trade 
organisation enabled them to reach a constituency practically otherwise 
unreachable. The few bulbs set a rolling and seeds scattered created a 
demand for more. The love of flowers and gardens extending, brisk 
legitimate business methods were adopted to foster still farther exten¬ 
sion, trade expanding as a consequence, and that may be said to be the 
long and the short of it. So now we pass on. 
Mr. Egbert Sydenham’s Garden. 
In order to reach this, and it was worth reaching, we had to drive 
• across the city—from the “jewellery quarter,” where money is made 
and diamonds sorted, to the suburbs, where the results are enjoyed. The 
Bristol Road is a long, straight, avenue-like thoroughfare, as far as the 
eye can reach, with attractive villas and mansions all the way, having 
treey frontages, and gardens in the rear. A pleasant part to live in 
surely, with nothing suggestive of the proximity of a smoky town. The 
mere size of a garden is no measure of its capacity for affording interest 
and pleasure to its owner and friends. Mr. Sydenham’s domain is 
perhaps not more than an acre all told, and a third of this tennis lawn. 
He employs three men and a boy to keep it in order. There are no 
fruit houses, nor any vegetables grown beyond salads. “ Then it ought 
to be in order,” many a too hardly worked gardener will be ready to 
exclaim. It is indeed in such order as is seldom seen—a very paradise 
of a suburban garden. 
There is the little undulating lawn with its rockery and alpine plants, 
with curving side borders of shrubs and hardy flowers, with its front 
line of Violas backed by bright bedding plants, then a hedge and another 
section, a good part devoted to a trial of the choicest Sweet Peas 
planted from pots, each group of four or five plants to be grown as a 
“specimen.” Square blue Staffordshire tiles are laid in exact line, and 
at exact distances for stepping on and passing among the Peas to avoid 
trampling on the soil, and bringing some of it on the smooth, clean, 
gravelled paths. Another “ quarter” is mainly devoted to narrow span- 
roofed houses now occupied with the best varieties of florists’ Carnations 
in pots. The collection is extensive, and the plants, of which three or 
four are grown in a 10-inch pot, are in admirable condition. The side 
and roof lights are removed, but placed in position later, the houses 
being thus admirably adapted for Cyclamens and other plants, as 
adequate provision is made for heating. A span-roofed greenhouse and 
stove contain a well chosen assortment of plants in the best cultural 
condition, including all Mr. Davis’s (of Yeovil) best double Begonias, 
the blooms of which attract so much attention at provincial exhibitions. 
The side borders of the little enclosure are made interestingly gay by 
plants raised from the best procurable slocks of tender annuals, while 
those on two sides of the tennis lawn are occupied with shrubs and 
hardy flowers arranged by the late Mr. William Dean, the opposite side 
being devoted mainly to an extensive collection of Dahlias with a 
marginal line of Mr. Herbert’s new Margaret Carnations—not Pinks in 
this case, but a strain between them and true Carnations, the flowers having 
smooth, not serrated petals. On one side of his charming enclosure Mr. 
Sydenham has a pretty summer-house in which the Scottish contingent 
of Pansy growers w’ere having tea, or something else, and exclaiming 
in much more than Chamberlainian excitement on the perfection of all 
they saw around them, not forgetting the leafy cave of the “Forty 
Thieves” behind the greenhouse opposite. This is the commissariat 
department, where various kinds of soils, manures, and other requisites 
are stored in a row of barrels ; not second-handed, dingy-looking affairs, 
but properly painted and varnished, in order that they may “ adorn ” 
the oosition they occupy in a garden without a weed, borders without a 
footmark, lawns without a daisy, paths and edges without a fault, and 
in which nothing can be seen that “ wants doing,” yet all the men 
seeming busy, as if they had enough to do, as no doubt they have, to 
keep everything in such superb condition. There is no wonder that 
visitors to such a garden should be tempted to add beauty to their 
homes in a similar way, as many have done; and it is certain that the 
“ Sydenhams ” have, in one way and another, enlisted an army of 
recruits in the service of floriculture. 
Mr. Chamberlain’s Garden. 
Highbury is not far from King’s Heath Station, but on the sultry 
day a drive of a couple of miles or so from the small garden to the great 
one was preferable to the railway. There is no intention to write a 
description of this garden and its contents. An Orchid specialist with 
a long day before him would be needed for that, instead of an evening 
call of an hour’s duration, when not half the houses were entered ; it was 
not an inspection, but a mere “ march past.” At the particular hour in 
question Mr, Burbery, the skilled Orchid grower, was absent, but the 
still new, very courteous, and admittedly able head gardener, Mr. Deacon, 
gave every attention to his visitor. So far as could be gathered there is 
a time for work mainly, and a time for enjoyment, more particularly, in 
the Highbury gardens. The London parliamentary session is the working 
or preparing time, and if Mr. Chamberlain return for a week, such as 
on the occasion of a Whitsuntide holiday, this is not supposed to inter¬ 
fere with the ordinary routine, but when the session is over and the 
family established at home, then the gardens are kept in the best 
dress and most attractive condition. 
As they would say on the Continent, Mr. Chamberlain is a “ great 
amateur.” He is no sportsman, neither indulging in hunting, shooting, 
racing, golfing, nor popular exercises of any such nature. The garden is 
his delight—his haven of rest after the turmoil of political combat. It 
can be safely said it has not made him effeminate, for if ever there was 
a fighting general we find him in the master of Highbury. A good 
master, too, to his men, all of whom are well recompensed for their 
la’oour, those who are responsible being afforded everything that is 
necessary for the satisfactory discharge of their duties. When ten tons 
of coke were consumed weekly during the severe weather early in the 
year there was not a murmur ; it was simply necessary provision under 
the circumstances, and as such passed without comment. It is pleasant 
for gardeners to work for proprietors who are not only appreciative but 
practical. 
Mr. Chamberlain may bs very correctly described as a practical 
amateur. Some persons possess gardens, but know little about what 
is in them, and next to nothintr of what is required in culture and 
maintenance. This is not so at Highbury. It must add greatly to the 
enjoyment of a garden by its owner to know all the trees and plants 
that are grown in it, as well as their needs, and greatly to the peace 
of mind of a gardener too, but he must be a good one or would soon be 
found out. Mr. Deacon has not been kindly treated by the weather, 
as a beginning, for he was closely followed by the ten weeks’ frost, and 
then had to clear away the wreckage from the shrubberies—or winter 
work thrown into spring and early summer; but he will soon bring up 
arrears and have things to his liking ; moreover, when extra work really 
presses there is no difficulty about extra men, so that a gardener has a 
fair chance to succeed at Highbury. 
The pleasure grounds are extensive, and much planting has been 
done from time to time. Hardy border flowers are grown in great 
colonies, not dotted here and there in the orthodox mixture, but rather 
fifty or a hundred or more in a group. Of Irises there seem to be 
thousands; indeed, whatever is most liked is grown in profusion. The 
grounds are beautifully undulated,, and the banks of Rhododendrons 
would have been grand but for the burning sun and prolonged drought. 
However, water is laid on, and Mr. Chamberlain was giving instructions 
for its use where most wanted, for, as he observed, everything cannot 
be watered over such an extent of ground. He knows all the trees and 
shrubs, and those which succeed best in the district, and was noting 
with satisfaction how well Retinosporas had passed the wintry ordeal. 
The Highbury gardens are, however, the most famed for the glass 
department, or the portion devoted to plants. Adjoining the mansion is 
a large and lofty conservatory containing magnificent Palms. At one 
end a large bed of Lilium Harris! was a prominent feature, and at the 
other a similar bed of Hedychium Gardnerianum not long since filled the 
house with fragrance. Then comes the fernery with its rugged rocks and 
wealth of “ cool greenery.” Here a plant of Authurium Chamberlain- 
ianum is bound to arrest attention by its gigantic proportions, its leaves 
being large enough to shelter a man from a tropical shower if circum¬ 
stances favoured. A spathe had been cut and sent to Sir Trevor 
Lawrence for the use of the pollen. Next comes the corridor, some 9 or 
10 feet wide, the wall on the left covered with plants appropriate for 
the purpose and extending over the roof ; on the right a series of span- 
roofed houses, perhaps twenty, parallel with each other ; at the end of 
the corridor Rose houses. On passing, the ends of the span-roofs the 
majority were seen to be filled to repletion with Orchids, Cattleyas 
making a gorgeous display. Surely thousands of blooms could have 
been cut of quite the first quality. A cursory examination showed how 
healthy and clean the plants were under the careful treatment of Mr. 
Burbery and the diligence of his assistants. Perhaps the most famous 
plant of the season was Dendrobium thyrsiflorum, and it must have been 
grand when its upwards of seventy handsome racemes of flowers were in 
beauty. 
On the left of the corridor, which runs east and west, is the 
Odontoglossum house; there is also a north house for Masdevallias, 
