Oct«b«r £7, 1887. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
355 
_ ^ 18 no ^ necessary for me to say that Mr. Iggulden is a hard hitter 
in a controversy, and like some others seems hurt if he gets a sharp 
return. He must not expect glory without scars, which, well won, are 
honourable, and if he fear them he will do well to be careful in his 
•attacks, l our correspondent is apparently getting entangled in his own 
musconceptions. I feel confident that if he searches through every page 
in the Journal he will be unable to place his finger on one sentence over 
•the signature of “ A Northern Gardener ” that attributes to him the 
” of anything good, bad, or indifferent. If he had, stated I 
had detailed my experience of growing certain crops he would have 
perhaps exercised better taste ; but he makfs a definite assertion in 
•these words—“ It was ‘ A Northern Gardener ’ who detailed his 1 exploits ’ 
an the way of growing Beet for the pigs,” and other vegetables that were 
•condemned for their coarseness. 
I have in reply to tell your correspondent that it is not in his power, 
mor in the power of any man, to authenticate that charge. So far from 
growing unwieldy Beet, wasteful Celery, and gigantic Onions, I grew 
s' 1 *.! vi °PP os ^ e when I was writing on the subject, and it was because 
i did so systematically, and because the produce met with approval, that 
f V T°f a ^ C< k'Sft quality against mere size, and denounced the waste 
that I found attendant on attempts to produce examples of vegetables 
of unwieldy proportions. 
So far from detailing my “ exploits ” in blundering in the way 
suggested, the Beet grown was so much admired for its small size and 
•sweetness that I had to send packets of seed to guests of the family, and 
1 have distributed in that way hundreds of ounces; but though the 
selected variety was no doubt good, the roots would not have been so 
-small and juicy if the sowing of the seed had not been deferred till the 
•end of May or early in June, and in very deep and fertile soil, enriched 
the previous year for Celery, and the growth of the crop stimulated with 
nitrate of soda. Sowing in March or early in April is the way to get 
Beet too large for table, and growing it in poor shallow soil is the way to 
have it dry and earthy in taste. 
As regards wasteful Celery, my practice at the same time was to 
grow for the main crop the most compact variety I could find, and this 
was a choice selection of Turner’s Incomparable, subsequently known 
as the Sandringham. The seed was sown thinly early in April in a 
layer of rich soil on a bed of leaves that heated mildly. The bed had 
the protection ofi mats when needed, and the dwarf sturdy plants 
were transferred direct to the trenches after the early Cauliflowers and 
Cabbages were cleared off in June or early July. The Celery was grown 
About 10 inches apart, five rows in each trench, 3 feet ridges between. 
Air. Iggulden will perceive that close cropping prevailed, and as a prac¬ 
tical man will know that plants so rais d and grown could not be made 
■;-arge and coarse by any possible means. They were wanted small, with 
the least waste in trimming, and were small, yet large enough, and the 
hearts white, crisp, and solid. If he can state how more heads can be 
grown on a given space with less waste of time in “ pricking out,” and 
of material in the form of luxuriant leafage, he will, I respectfully 
submit, be better engaged than in formulating a charge against me of 
being humiliated by having my produce turned out of the garden as unfit 
for human beings to eat. 
When ground is limited and demands great it is necessary to grow 
■the greatest amount of produce that will actually be used, and under 
these circumstance huge Onions are huge mistakes, therefore my practice 
was to sow thinly in drills, and leave the plants to grow and the bulbs 
•>.o find room for themselves. They were nothing to be proud of as 
regards shape and size, but there was always plenty when wanted, and 
in sizes to suit various culinary purposes. When Onions were grown of 
sensational size in the same garden the waste was so great in the 
scullery that purchasing had to be resorted to long before the season 
was over, but I never had to spend a penny for extra supplies. So much 
tor my ‘'exploit” in erowing big Onions, and so I might go on in 
Tespect to other crops, but it is not necessary. 
If Mr. Iygulden ever has to provide vegetables and small fruit for 
twenty persons daily, and often more, from an acre of land, and does 
•supply them with produce in season for seven years without a blank to 
■cause an inquiry, he will find he has no room for growing crops to be 
wasted. He will also find out something else—namely, that he would 
fail completely by a system of wide planting in soil dug a spit deep 
•and a hard sole a foot below the surface. He would have to resort to 
• closer cropping than he has yet described, and to deeper and better land 
working. It is close and constant cropping that proves the value of a 
■deep and good rooting medium. Where there is such a wide expanse of 
.surface that a slipshod method suffices, the capacity of the ground is 
seldom developed, because the spur of necessity is not applied ; and if 
. r - Iggulden considers that vegetables must of necessity be coarse and 
inferior when grown in soil that is both rich and deep, my experience, 
not exploits, justifies me in expressing my belief that he is labouring 
under a very great delusion. Such a dictum, by whomsoever advanced, 
I am convinced is unsound and indefensible. 
Mr. Iggulden may say that the views which he has advanced con¬ 
demnatory of trenching land in gardens have been exaggerated or not 
understood ; that his qualifications have not been appreciated, nor his 
'modifications sufficiently taken into account. This may be so, and I am 
one of those who suspect he is not such an extremist as many suppose 
him to be ; but it is not what a person intends to convey, but the effect 
•of his utterances that make or mar his reputation, and I am constrained 
to say that our mentor has not done justice to himself in treating a 
.subject that has given rise to so much controversy, because of the 
impression created that his teaching had a retrograde tendency. 
His intentions have no doubt been of the best. In his desire to 
avoid what he considered a wasteful expenditure of labour in trenching 
when trenching was not needed, and in doing the work recklessly and 
wrongly when it was undertaken, he in a moment of earnestness over¬ 
shot the mark and he was understood, rightly or wrongly, to assail a 
system that as such is practically unavailable. I have planted many 
crops without even digging the ground for them, because the firmness of 
that particular soil was advantageous, and because I knew it had been 
deeply worked previously and that its fertility was ample for those 
crops ; but so far from this being evidence against deep culture it is 
the strongest possible testimony in its favour as judged by the value of 
the two or more crops obtained after one working of the land. 
Although Mr. Iggulden has allowed himself to be tempted to make 
an allegation that cannot be substantiated I do not seriously dissent, be¬ 
cause it was founded on a mistake and will do me no harm. The mis¬ 
take was this. I described with exactitude the practice of a hard¬ 
working man who persisted in growing vegetables of a substantial size 
against the desire and often expressed wishes of his employer, who con¬ 
veyed a stern rebuke in having a lot of coarse Beet and other things 
cleared awav. I was not very likely to indicate the perpetrator of the error 
or it would have prej udiced him in obtaining a situation where gigantic 
vegetables were not disapproved, and I am glad to know that such a 
position was found for him. I recorded the facts of the case as a 
lesson and a warning that might possibly deter others from pursuing a 
similarly mistaken course of pleasing themselves instead of complying 
with the wishes of those whom they might be engaged to serve. Those 
are the facts, and so far from my having incurred displeasure by my 
methods of procedure I was presented with what I never expected, anil 
did not know I had deserved, every member of a family joining in a 
tribute that would not have been accorded for growing coarse vege¬ 
tables.— A Northern Gardener. 
ORCHIDS AT ARNOT HILL, ARNOLD. 
A few miles from Nottingham is the residence of C. G. Hill, 
Esq., and although gardening is cherished there in all its branches, 
one can soon see that Orchids are a specialty. The varieties have 
been very carefully selected, and the healthy condition of the whole 
collection testifies to the care and attention bestowed by Mr. Albert 
Philp, who has charge of them. 
The first houses are large and span-roofed, connected by a 
corridor on the north. This is in three divisions, the first being 
filled with Odontoglossum vexillarium, all clean healthy pieces. 
The useful autumn-blooming variety rubellum is well represented 
by fine plants in flower. The second part contains most of the 
Masdevallias, and in bloom are M. Harryana, M. macrura, M. Wallisi, 
M. trochilus, M. Yeitchiana, and M. bella, which continues to bloom 
all the year round, while the third is used for the cooler Odonto- 
glossums. At the time of my visit on September 24th there were 
forty spikes of blooms, chiefly 0. Alexandra and 0. Pescatorei. 
Of the former there were large healthy plants with twenty growths 
each and branching spikes. Most of the flowers were of the large 
type, and some heavily blotched. A fine form of 0. Pescatorei 
having broad petals and sepals well marked is a near approach to 
the famous (3. P. Yeitchi. Another large branching spike had 
about three dozen blooms on it. Others doing well in this 
house were O. Halli, Oncidium macranthum, Mesospinidium vul- 
canicum in bloom, Epidendrum erubescens, and Odontoglossum 
coronarium. On the roof are suspended many Sophronitis grandi- 
flora in pans, with good flowering growths. Coelogyne cristata is 
noticeable in the first large house, being over 3 feet through, also 
large pots of Pleiones, the old Cypripedium insigne 4 feet across 
and equally good, C. Boxalli and C. villosum, and the sweet-scented 
Oncidium ornithorhynchum with its graceful spikes of bloom. 
Dendrobium Hilli, named in honour of the possessor, is repre¬ 
sented by a large specimen with many growths. Other members of 
this genus have completed growth and are at rest on the cool side 
of the same house, Dendrobium Wardianum being well ripened 
and promising well for a good display of bloom. The Lycastes 
and Maxillarias are accommodated here, also large pieces of Cymbi- 
dium giganteum and Sobralia macrantha. 
The Cattleya house contains some rare treasures. Nearly all 
the varieties of Laelia anceps are grown with the white forms, 
Sanderiana and Stella. Among others flowering L. a. Hilli is very 
distinct, being lighter in colour than the variety named Percivaliana. 
Cattleya gigas has made a grand show, but these were past at the 
time of my visit. Of C. aurea I saw a fine plant with a bloom having 
