448 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
f May SI, 1888. 
being fully considered in the work, besides incidental reference to and 
short notes respecting- other species. 
As in the preceding parts this one commences -with the leading 
characters of the genus, and the groups in which the known Den- 
drobiums are classed. Then follows an interesting and useful account 
of their geogra])hical distribution and the climate of the districts where 
they abound. Two excellent maps accompany this portion of the book 
and serve to illustrate the subject admirably. In the first South-East 
Asia, comprising India, Burma, the Malayan Archipelago, and the 
Philippine Islands ; the second dealing with the Australian region. 
Some difficulty has been experienced in the first map—the South-eastern 
Asia region—in indicating the precise districts where the plants have 
been found, because in Burma, and Moulmein especially, large numbers 
came from a limited area, and the names in consequence could not all 
be printed on the maps. This has been overcome with regard to the 
Moulmein district by a marginal list of forty-three species, including 
such well-known garden plants as D. Bensonife, D. chrysotoxum, 
D. Dalhousieanum, D. fimbriatum ocnlatum, and D. thyrsiflorum, though 
some of these are by no means confined to that region. One of the 
most widely distributed Dendrobiums is D. crumenatum, which is found 
in the Andaman Islands, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and the Philippine 
Islands ; D. secundum also has a wide range. In Java over sixty species 
have been discovered, but as these are mostly of little horticultural 
value, they are, with the exception of six, omitted from the book. Upon 
the western side of the Indian Peninsula, in Nepal, Bhotan, Western 
Burma, and Moulmein, are found the chief homes of the genus in this 
portion of the world. The Australian forms are not very abundant, a 
few coming from the eastern side, but these, except D. speciosum and 
its variety Hilli, are mostly more curious than beautiful. The more 
northern and New Guinean Dendrobiums, D. superbiens, D. bigibbum, 
D. Phalasnopsis, and D. Macfarlanei, are, however, amongst the most 
handsome members of the genus. 
The cultural instructions are most valuable, and full details are given 
respecting the peculiarities of the different species, as though these are 
nearly all tropical they vary considerably in their requirements, a few, 
like D. infundilaulum and D. Jamesianum, now classed as a variety of 
the jrrcceding, which come from a higher altitude, requiring cooler treat¬ 
ment than the others. The descriptions, historical information, and illus¬ 
trations are all that could be desired, and the book will be welcomed, 
not only by admirers of Dendrobiums, but by Orchid growers generally, 
as a useful and reliable addition to Orchid literature. 
BARREN STRAWBERRIES. 
At pages 405 and 406 “E. J.” records his failure to induce Straw¬ 
berries to fruit, and the Editor invites correspondence on the subject. I 
do not think I can solve the “ puzzle,” but at page 414 of the same 
number the answer to “ F. G.” goes far to solve the problem. I will 
therefore, as one that made Strawberry-growing a speciality, give my 
mode of selecting phants and cultivation. 
My niode of securing fertile and strong plants was to plant strong 
runners in July in rich soil. These along with the main plantations 
grew into large plants by October, no runners being allowed to issue 
from them, and they werakept free from weeds. Whenever the flower 
blossoms appeared in the crown of the plants a careful exanrination w'as 
made, and if any showed signs of barrenness they -were instantly taken 
out. Then, as soon as the blossoms were well up, they were cut from 
the plant and allowed to throw out runners for again planting in July 
if possible. If any of the runners showed an inclination to shoot out 
far before a plant was formed it was pinched, and the shorter ones 
allowed to root, as being more to be relied upon than the grosser ones. 
In fact the shorter the runner the better I found the plants to be. After 
I had secured iny plants I dressed the ground, and some varieties 
rewarded me with a late crop of Strawberries, particularly Garibaldi, 
not Vicomtesse Hericart de Thury. 
When runners could be had from young plants I never depended 
upon taking them from old ones, believing it to be a cause of producing 
blind or barren plants. A case in point. My garden has been neglected 
for eight years ; a bed of Dr. Livingstone Strawberry previous to that 
time never had a blind plant, now' many of them are blind.—A. L. B. 
WISLEY. 
Horticulturists, whether amateurs or profession.als, who visit 
many gardens are often made almost painfully conscious of the for¬ 
mality of design, want of originality, or what may be termed unnatural¬ 
ness of the majority. Too frequently the larger establishments are the 
worst in this respect. A pretentious striving after effect results in 
glaring incongruities or a most tiresome monotony utterly defeating all 
the objects of a true garden. Many a quiet little country retreat un¬ 
known to the horticultural world generally displays more real taste in 
its arrangement than the “ show places and satisfactory as it always is 
to see good examples of cultural skill in plants, fruit, or vegetables, it 
is a pleasant relief at times to leave the glass houses and wander in a 
charming garden free from the restraints of the all-prevailing conven- 
tionalisin. I have had the good fortune to visit some of the best 
gardens in all parts of the kingdom, and last j-ear when penetrating the 
w'ilds of Northumberland 1 included in my tour Lord Armstrono'’s 
celebrated garden, Cragside, Eothbury. Favoured by exceptiomil 
natural advantages this has been treated boldly and must be ranked as 
one of the most remarkable of natural gardens in this country. On 
Monday last I visited Mr. G. F. Wilson’s garden at Wisley, and though 
totally different in surroundings and scenery, yet for natural treatment 
and freedom from artificiality it is equally as remarkable as Cragside, 
but for its collection of hardy plants it is unique. It is an extraordinary 
garden, and with its ow'ner, designer, and superintendent as conductor, 
it is one of the most interesting a plant lover could visit. It is not one 
that can be dispatched with a cursory survey, and a day is far too short 
to enable a stranger to realise its character and contents. 1 cannot 
attempt in the present notes to give anything more than a resume of 
its features, in another letter I may have something to say of its occu¬ 
pants in detail, 
Wisley has been repeatedly described before, but I wdll attempt to 
convey my owm impressions of the place and the w'ork, as it contains 
much that is suggestive. The garden is about five miles from Wey- 
bridge, being reachol by a pleasant drive along the Guildford road 
through plantations of Conifers and across wild heaths of Furze now 
rich with its golden flowers, and is situated at a much lower level than 
Heatherbank. Some seven or eight acres of level woodland and fields 
on irregular hill slopes have been there taken in hand by Mr. Wilson, 
the variety of soils and aspects afforded having induced him to select it 
as a fitting site for “ an experimental garden.” The diversity of aspect 
has been greatly increased, but only gradually ; it W'as not a garden to 
plan by rule and compass, anything of that character was far from its 
owner’s intention, and he wisely preferred to let it develope slowly, and 
as the result of experience, than to map it out all at once. Besides, 
as he rightly observes, very much of the pleasure of gardening is lost 
when it is drawn up to scale and furnished like a house prepared in 
baste for a new tenant. So Wisley, as we sec it now, is the result of ten 
years’ pleasurable work. “• The first season or two,” says Mr. Wilson, “ we 
committed many blunders, which it took us several years to correct, and 
even now we have much more to do, but we have learnt much and are 
still learning.” 
The garden is devoted exclusively to hardy plants, shrubs, or trees ; 
there is not a glass house on the place, and even frames are dispensed 
■with, for many thousands of seedlings are raised out of doors in special 
beds. Digging in banks and mounds occupied w'ith valued plants is 
tabooed, and the result is that seedlings are springing up in all direc¬ 
tions, and one is almost afraid ,to step lest some precious gem that is 
being daily watched may be crushed. Conventional paths and edgings 
are carefully avoided, the ground rises into innumerable mounds of 
varying height, or sinks into little dells and rivulets in the woodland 
portion, -while in the more open part is a small lake filled with the 
fragrant Cape Pondweed, Aponogeton distaebyon, and other choice 
aquatics, with higher mounds of a miniature alpine character, and a 
steeper slope behind these occupied with choice shrubs and trees, or 
devoted to Lilies. 
Amongst the shrubs just now the handsome Exochorda grandiflora 
(fig. Cl) is flowering profusely, and it is one of the features of the 
garden. This remarkably handsome shrub is one of the numerous 
valuable additions to our garden plants for which we are indebted to 
the assiduous co lector Mr. Fortune. He first discovered it in the 
northern part of China in the year 1843, and some short time afterwards 
he found it in the Che-kiang Hills, and the specimens collected were 
despatched to Messrs. Staudish & Noble of the Bagshot Nurseries under 
the name of Amelanchier racemosa. It flowered at Bagshot in 1854, 
and then attracted considerable attention owing to the profuseness with 
which the flowers were produced and the length of time that they con¬ 
tinued in beauty. From examinations then made the name Amelanchier 
racemosa was found to be inaccurate, and the plant vras referred to the 
genus Spirma under the name of S. grandiflora, but from certain 
characters of the fruit the present generic title was finally adopted. The 
name being definitely determined general interest in the plant seemed 
to subside, and so we find that although more than thirty years have 
elapsed since its introduction it still remains comparatively unknown in 
gardens. This is the more unaccountable, as the merits of the shrub are 
of no onlinary character. When we have hardiness of habit combined 
with beautiful flowers and a lengthened period of blooming it is a little 
surprising that such valuable qualities should remain generally unob¬ 
served or neglected ; still this is only one of the many instances which 
are constantly occurring of useful and attractive plants being gradually 
lost in cultivation. The Exochorda is diffuse in habit, and occasionally 
requires a little pruning to keep it in form ; and it can scarcely be sur¬ 
passed for planting in shrubberic's, as it rarely exceeds 9 feet in height 
and flowers freely during April .and May. Mr. Wilson cuts the shoots in 
freely, and he finds this is the only way to ensure its annual free flower¬ 
ing. The same practice is adopted at Stillyans, the residence of Lady 
Dorothy Nevill in Sussex, with equally satisfactory results. 
Lilies are a specialty at Wisley, and though grown in several dif¬ 
ferent soils, under varying conditions, and in distinct aspects, all alike 
seem to thrive most luxuriantly. At Weybridge, upon a hill of sand 
said to be 70 feet in depth, beds have been formed 5 deep, filled with 
loam and peat, in which Liliums lancifolium, auratum, Krameri, and 
tigrinum flourish splendidly ; but the soil has been excavated for 
several feet all round to form a;kind of dell, and shelter is afforded by 
trees. At Wisley two other situations have been tried, one in the 
natural black vegetable soil, and damp shaded woodland portion, and 
the other on a steep northern slope of loam fully exposed. In the 
woodland the Lilies are the most satisfactory in a dry season, and on the 
slope in a dry one, but at the present time it would be difficult to say 
which are the stronger and better. L. Hansoni, L. Krameri, L. Browni, 
L. giganteum, L. lancifolium varieties, and many others make up a 
