VLgntt 16, -838. J 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
141 
"M. Niepraschk, and it was to celebrate this twenty-fifth anniver¬ 
sary of its foundation that this Exhibition was held. A grand 
banquet was given in the conservatory, which was well attended. 
Like most of the exhibitions on the Continent which are in¬ 
tended to extend over a lengthened period, this was no exception to 
the rule of being unprepared on the day of the opening. Besides 
the exhibition of flowers, which was held in the glass houses of the 
establishment, there were long ranges of sheds surrounding an open 
field of about three acres in extent, which formed an annex to the 
■garden, and was devoted to collections of implements of horticul¬ 
ture and agriculture, machinery, heating apparatus, and, indeed, 
the usual class of articles which are met with in similar exhibitions 
in this countiy. The field was well laid out with winding walks, 
and its surface occupied with clumps of specimen Conifers, 
■standard and dwarf Roses, ornamental trees, and flowering shrubs. 
Mr. Charles Van Ceert of Antwerp had a very choice collection of 
specimen Conifers. On the opposite side of this from the 
machinery was a department representing vegetable products, such 
•as grain, dried fruits, beverages, including the famous Lager beers 
•of '.Germany and the noted wines of the Rhine, cider, perry and 
mead, and there was also a large exhibition of honey and bee¬ 
keeping apparatus. 
The exhibitions in the houses were not of a very high order. 
Two good but not large collections of Orchids, and some orna¬ 
mental foliaged plants from Ghent, along with a large quantity of 
marketable-sized plants, constituted the leading featux-e, but there 
was no attempt at an exhibition of specimen plants such as we are 
(familiar with. One of the most gratifying incidents connected 
with the opening was the presentation of an artistic silver vase to 
M. Niepraschk by his students, with whom were associated Dr. 
Wittmack of Berlin as representing German horticulture, and Dr. 
Hogg of London, as the representative of the Royal Horticultural 
Society, both of whom felicitated M. Niepraschk on the happy 
■event, as being not only the celebi-ation of the twenty-fifth anni¬ 
versary of his directorship, but also of his marriage. 
In the evening of the opening day there was a display of fire- 
■werks in the gai'dens, and fortunately the weather was fine, but for 
several days the rain came down in unp'easant earnestness, which 
interfered much with the preliminary progress of the Exhibition, 
and reminding us of our own experience at Birmingham, when the 
tents could only be reached by walking on planks. The Exhibition 
will, as we have already said, be open till the end of September, 
during which the objects exhibited will be both numerous and 
washed. 
A WEEK’S WANDERINGS. 
IN THE ISLE OF WIGHT. 
•“ Where's Orchard now, and what is he doing ?” is an inquiry that 
has been heard by several readers of these notes during the past six 
months. Mr. C. Orchard having been engaged as a gardener most 
creditably and successfully in the neighbourhood of Croydon and 
Kingston-on-Thames for many years, became well and widely known, 
and by his willingness, or rather alacrity, to lend a helping hand to his 
fellow workers or to further any good cause in which they were 
interested, became highly respected. He wa«, moreover, and still is, one 
of the notabilities in the Chrysanthemum world, and there can be few 
men, if any, who have a more intimate acquaintance with the several 
varieties axxd their peculiarities than he has. He was also a pioneer in 
the cutting-down system near London for grouping, and no more 
effective arrangements of the plants have been seen than as produced by 
him at the Kingstoxa National and other shows. Therefore it is that 
Mr. Orchard became so well known and so popular that interest was 
manifested in his whereabouts and present occupation. It was known 
he was somewhere in the Isle of Wight, but by no means known what 
he was doing. So I thought I would go and see. 
It was said last week he was discovered in a delightfully situated 
house overlooking the bay of Sandown, but that was not quite exact. 
The “ Dark Pasha,” for he is no Elaine, was first found prospecting on 
the pier at Ryde. He seemed to be expecting the steamer from Stokes 
Bav—Mr. Molyneux arranging that I suspect, for he advised that route 
from Swanmore, not telling me that I should be met. “ Had you come 
to Portsmouth,” observed Mr. Orchard, “ I would have met you there, 
and we could have crossed by one of our steamers to Bembridge, and 
gone on by our railway to Brading. It would have cost nothing, as 1 
have got a pass for you till the end of the month, and it can be 
renewed.” The words “our” steamers and “ our ” railway sounded a 
little strange out of the mouth of a gardener. Some gardeners ha<e a 
“trap” at disposal I know, if only a vegetable cart with a hamper to 
sit on, though at least one of my friends in the craft has a carriage and 
groom ; but a gardener with a huge steamer, also a railway at command, 
was quite a novel idea. I thought of an episode in the movements of a 
duke and a doctor, and how much better off I was than they were. I 
think I may tell the story, for it is true. A certain doctor not 
runknown in the horticultural world, and a noble duke whose name is 
honourably and deeply engraven in the records of history, went to see a 
garden, and when they arrived at the station found nothing but a cart 
with a board across. Without any waiting for the carriage they requi¬ 
sitioned the cart and jogged across the country, enjoying the trip 
immensely. There is nothing like a novelty for making people contented 
while it lasts. 
But to hark back. The steamer and railway sequel only dawned on 
me by degrees. When my friend tried to explain things I thought he 
was joking. To my inquiry as to what he was doing, I was told I should 
“ see in the morning.” His answer to the request for the size of his 
garden was “about 800 acres;” that to what they grew in it, “ Oh, 
400 or 500 acres of grass, 200 or 300 acres of nothing, 4 or 5 acres of 
vegetables and flowers, besides, ducks, chickens, rabbits, and 4,000,000 
oysters.” But I should “ see in the morning.” Well, I did see stretch¬ 
ing out before me a narrow level tract of land about two miles long, the 
railway skirting one side of it, connecting the station near us with the 
distant steamers. In this great flat tract were bare patches of blowing 
sand, a far greater extent of waving meadows, with stacks rising 
slowly between the showers, the garden towards the end, the oysttr 
tanks shimmering in the sun, and next the sea, on a spur of land, the 
“ Royal Spithead Hotel.” Then I began to comprehend. The sea is 
eating away the land in many places in the Isle of Wight, but here it 
has been driven back and held back, and what was a dank and noisome 
morass will soon be rich firm grazing land, and th's with the harbour 
formed by throwing a huge embankment, which forms a bioad road, 
across the valley, developing trade and traffic, will be the reward of 
the promoters of the great enterprise. The land thus reclaimed is under 
Mr. Orchard’s management. It is bis duty to secure the crops and 
make the still barren patches productive, to supply the hotels with 
vegetables and flowers, and generally to look a‘'ter everything that is 
Fir. 1G.—MR ALDERMAN COLDWELLS, J.P. 
not of an engineering nature for his chief and head of the whole huge 
concern - the harbour, the hotels, the railway, and steamers—Mr. J. U. 
Coidwells, once a gardener, and with a gardener’s instincts still, and 
now and for a long time an alderman and a magistrate. 
Mr. Orchard appears to have nothing to do but ride to and fro in his 
train and look after his men ; but having a high sense of duty he is not 
the man to let anything go wrong or be lost through inattentiveness. 
He contrived to get some hundreds of tons of hay in splendid condition 
—by far the largest bulk and of the best quality I saw in the island. 
He does not do what some haymakers do in showery weather—spread 
the grass all over the ground, and prevent it (the ground! drying, but 
works on the wind-row system—that is, clearing broad strips of ground 
to dry, then throwing the grass on them lightly, and the strips from 
which it is removed dry in turn. The quicker the gi’ound is dried in 
this way and the hay turned back the quicker it is made ; and it is a 
fact that he secured tons in excellent condition when much spread all 
over the land from which the moisture could only escape by rising up 
through the hay, and of course not drying, it was spoiled. This is no 
new plan, but a good old one i - egularly practised in some districts but 
not in others. Sheets and pulleys have also been a profitable invest¬ 
ment in protecting the stacks in the process of building. So many per¬ 
sons, including gardeners, are inter sted in haymaking that these re¬ 
marks may be permissible. 
It is astonishing to see the freedom with which not only grass and 
Clover but garden crops grow in this sea bed of sand. When dry it 
blows in clouds, and for a time not even weeds will grow in it ; but when 
the salt is drained out and the excess of sulphur dissipated, verdure 
follows. The upper part of the valley, or that most distant from the 
sea, has been reclaimed for generations, and no finer grazing land can 
be found. Animals thrive astonishingly on the herbage, probably 
because the sand is rich in phosphates. It is as poor to look upon as can 
