68 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ January 26, 1888. 
generalljf found the best all-round gar lening, competing as they do in 
all classes. I may be met with the rejoinder that under gardeners, being 
generally restricted to one department for a given time, have no facilities 
for acquiring experience in other branches ; if so, I reply I have never 
known the head gardener who, if his men conducted themselves arijsht, 
did not give under gardeners the opportunity of passing through all the 
departments, remaining in each for a year, and longer, if they choose to 
stay. “ Under Gardener” is strangely reticent anent the suggestion of 
“ A Head Gardener,” that when the value of prizes taken will not cover 
expenses, will the young men contribute towards doing so? For in 
many cases when shows are at a great distance the prize money is not 
nearly sufficient for that purpose ; in such cases it may be seen at a 
glance they compete for the post of honour and not for the mere value 
of the prize. To their credit be it said gardeners as a rule are not so 
mercenary as your correspondent represents them to be. Finally, he 
raises objections to the concluding remarks of descriptions of gardens in 
horticultural papers because the entire credit is given to the head 
gardener, vvhile none is given the assistants ; and who, permit me to ask, 
is the credit due to, if not to the head gardener ? Without assistants I 
admit he could do but little ; but who is responsible for all the garden 
contains 1 Who directs the work of the garden in its proper course ? 
Even though he may do no manual labour he works harder with his 
brains than all his assistants combined. His life is doubtless imagined an 
enviable one ; take my word for it that his bed is not all Roses, but 
composed largely of thorns. In conclusion, I would advise “ An Under 
Gardener ” to bear his troubles like a man, and not get up an agitation 
among his colleagues, and remember that if he does his work willingly 
he will at some time receive his reward, when I hope he will not forget 
his motto, “ Do as you would be done by also bearing in mind that 
much as he may object to extra work without tangible acknowledgment 
that there are numbers of young gardeners waiting for places, who would 
accept the post without hesitation. Dissatisfaction will injure his 
reputation eventually, and though he may consider this fault a small 
thing he must remember his own words, “Life is made up of small 
things.”—R. Wellee. 
RANDOM NOTES. 
Last September, when visiting Trentham Hall Gardens, I was much 
struck with the splendid health of the numerous cool Orchids, especially 
the Odontoglossums. Though rather late in the year to see many 
of the latter in bloom there were still some fine varieties in flower. 
A photograph taken when the Odontoglossums were in bloom was 
shown me bj' Mr. Blair, and it made me wish to see the house when in 
full beauty. The spikes were enormous, and the individual flowers all 
that could be desired in regard to size, shape, and markings, Mr. Blair- 
is not easily satisfied as regards the (luality of the Odontoglossums he 
grows, and only the first-rate forms are to be found in the collection he 
cultivates so well. 
General gardening is well carried on at Trentham, and large 
quantities of fruit, plants, and cut bloom, all of good quality, are 
produced in the numerous houses. Not content with the already large 
amount of glass at Trentham, Mr.-Blair was having some more large 
houses erected at the time of my visit. A beautiful drive of five miles 
or so in company with Mr. Blair brought me to Keele Hall, where much 
to interest and instruct was to be seen. The view from the gardens is 
most extensive and beautiful. 
Another day I had the pleasure of visiting Eaton Hall, the princely 
seat of the Duke of Westminster, near Chester. The glass houses at 
Eaton are very numerous and of the most substantial construction, no 
expense having been spared. Large quantities of all kinds of fruits, 
plants, and flowers are here grown, and Mr. Selvvood is evidently quite 
prepared at all times to meet the great demands on the resources of the 
gardens that are made by the hospitable and wealthy owner of this 
most splendid place. 
A day was also spent in Liverpool and vicinity was well repaid by a 
hearty welcome and much kind treatment received from Messrs. Ker. 
Mr. Ker took me to see the firm’s well-stocked houses and nursery 
grounds at Aigburth. Her; amongst other things excellently giowii, I 
took especial note of some houses of Cyclamens, large numbers of 
strong and short-jointed pot Vinos, and a house of Crotons that could 
not be surpassed for health and colour. I felt quite repaid by the sight 
of this grand collection of Crotons, and would have liked to have spent 
a much longer time in admiring them. 
At Mf. Heine’s residence in Manchester a wonderful collection of 
specimen Orchids is to be seen. At the time of my visit there were not 
many in flower, as most of the blooms had been cut a few days before 
and exhibited at the Flower Show held in connection with the Great 
Exhibition in Manchester. Anyone who saw the stands of Orchid 
trusses that Mr. Heine exhibited at that Show will not forget them in a 
hurry. They were superb, and a crowd was continually round them. 
For luxuriant health the Orchils at Mr. Heine’s are remarkable. 
Enormous plants of almost every good variety of the various branches 
of the Orchid family are here grown, and all flourishing in grand style. 
The only thing 1 saw amiss was that the houses were not by any means 
numerous enough to ''old the plants in such a vvay as would enable one 
to see them to full advantage. The collection would easily fill nearly as 
many houses again and th n not be too thinly disposed. Mr. Cragg 
seems thoroughly at home in Orchid culture, anl may well be prou 1 
of the grand collection,—J. T. 
POINSETTIA CULTURE MADE EASY. 
At this time of year many gardeners will have a number of Poinsettia 
plants which have flowered, that they will feel inclined to throw away ; 
if these are kept in some shed or greenhouse until next spring where the 
fiost is excluded they may be turned to good advantage for next winter’s 
floral display by a very simple and easy method. Let them retain all 
their old growth till about the end of the second week in May, and then 
cut them well back, and let them still remain where they have been 
wintered. By about the end of May they will have begun to grow 
a.ain. Then shake them out of their pots and plant them in a sunny 
outdoor border, putting some leaf soil around the roots of each plant. 
About the third week in August lift the plants carefully and pot them. 
Place them in a cold pit or frame, and keep them close and shaded from 
the sun for a week or so, then gradually give air and light. Grow them 
in the usual way, and there will be no lack of scarlet bracts for 
Christmas and New Year decorations.—C. Denning. 
THE SEED SUPPLY. 
Perhaps there are few greater mistakes, and they occur every year, 
than deferring the ordering of seeds till the last moment, or until the 
time has arrived for sowing, and when the ground and weather are 
favourable for the work. Experienced gardeners who are free to act in 
providing garden requisites take care to have everything in readiness 
when the moment for action arrrives ; but many owners of gardens who 
give personal attention to these matters cannot of necessity per¬ 
ceive the importance of early action in providing seeds. These cost no 
more to purchase early than late, and further, the earlier the applica¬ 
tion the better the choice. By waiting till the actual time of sowing 
the weather may change and be unfavourable for weeks by th; time the 
seeds arrive, late crops or lost crops being the unpleasant result. Though 
the operatives in seed warehouses work almost night and day in the 
execution of orders that arrive in shoals during bright weather in spring, 
they cannot all be completed and dispatched with the expected 
promptitude ; and it would be to the advantage of all concerned, pur¬ 
chasers and vendors, workers in the garden and the warehouse, if seeds 
were more generally ordered a few weeks before they are required for 
sowing, thus insuring their b ing ready to hand for the gardener to take 
advantage of opportunities, which are often of very short duration, for 
placing them in the ground at the proper time and under the best con¬ 
ditions for insuring a good return in the form of thrifty plants and 
satisfactory crops. There is danger in delay in this matter, as hundreds 
of gardeners, of whom I am one, know to their great disappointment.— 
A. D. M. 
MEMORIES OF A TOUR. 
MARGAM. 
I HAVE been interrupted in jotting down a few memories of South 
Wales, with the inevitable result of some of them becoming obscured 
and others vanishing, but a few cannot be easily obliterated. I suspecc 
no wandering gardener could enjoy a day or two’s rest with Mr. J. Muir 
at Margam and forget everything that was seen there, and particularly 
the hospitalities dispens d by the presiding genius of the lean-to house. 
The “ lean-to,” let it be said, is not a vinery, but the gardener’s cottage, 
which in some far past years was erected against a lofty wall which 
appears to have been built for displaying on the other side, facing the 
pleasure grounds, some fine examples of Inigo Jones’ architecture. 
But I have made a mistake, not about the house, but the resting. 
I cannot conceive it | ossible that Mr. Muir will allow anyone to “rest” 
long. Strong, active, energetic, accustomed to rush to and fro, up hill 
and down, over some hundreds or thousands of acres of land in his 
charge, he seems able to laugh at fatigue, and to rejoice in seeing a 
fellow mortal seeking rest, “ done up ” with his exertions. No, I shall 
not forget Marram. Seeing a stiff and foot-sore piLrim, he proposes a 
remedy in this wise, “ Come on, I want to go to some men where you 
hav’n’t been yet; a short walk will do you good, it’s only just over 
there.” If anyone is tempted to go “just over there” at Margam he 
will perhaps find a four or five miles journey before he gets home again, 
the leader going as if he were fetching a doctor, and without a spark of 
pity for the panting victim he has allured limping along beside or 
behind him. We get back to the lean-to, and he says to the weary one, 
“ Now you go in and have a good rest while I go round the garden.” A 
“ good rest !” In ten minutes he is back again dragging us out—for 
Mrs. Tourist has to go this time—“ You must go up the hill or you will 
not see Margam at all; it’s quite easy, I am sure you will like it.” 
After making us feel as if he had a hydraulic lift to hoist us up iu com¬ 
fort, he prevails, and we enter the wood, for it is a wooded hill, and now 
commences this easy promenade. We twist about along the mountain 
side, now stumbling over a boulder, next getting entangled amongst 
brackens an<l Brambles, anon slipping into a rabbit hole, then resting 
on a prostrate tree, and so we struggle on higher and higher. “ Ouly 
a few inches more,” says the tempter, “ and we shall be above the trees.” 
And so we persevered and had a reward. We look down on the mansion, 
a great pile with its lofty central to < er when viewed from the base, but 
now resembling a game-keeper’s lodge with a rather prominent chimney, 
and the eye sweeps across the Vale of Glamorgan from the Severn to 
the sea. It is a splendid panorama. We thread our way down the 
pathless slope, and instead of taking us to the lean-to, we are adroitly 
' led iuto a garden, and after shouting for a fork as if there were a lion 
