August 20, 1891. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
3 58 
guns, formerly regarded as articles quite justifiable, and there are 
persons still living who can remember seeing them frequently in 
London market gardens. 
A favourite form of trowel in the reign of George III. was in 
the form of a spatula, the edges being turned up. Its size was larger 
than that of the garden trowel now mostly used. This was substituted 
sometimes for the hoe in loosening weeds for removal, and by its 
aid shrubs or young trees were transplanted. The draw hoe seems 
to have been generally preferred at that time to the thrust or 
Dutch hoe, especially that one with blades like a half-circle, which 
served for drilling, often also made double, the broad piece form¬ 
ing the other half being effective in removing weeds. About 1770 
the wheel hoe is said to have been introduced from Holland, where 
garden walks were kept in order by its means. It was a combina¬ 
tion of the draw and thrust hoes, a cumbrous affair, requiring two 
men to work it, and it did not find favour with English gardeners, 
nor did the French combination of the hoe and rake, at opposite 
ends of one handle, intended for dressing borders. Saul’s fruit 
gatherer was also, I believe, the invention of a native of France. A 
pair of cutters were mounted on the top of a pole, having a basket 
attached ; these had a lever by which they were worked, and which 
could be shifted to any part of the pole. The pole itself was some¬ 
times made in joints on the fishing-rod principle. Lane, shortly 
after, brought out his apparatus for the same purpose. His pole had 
to be lifted up and down with each fruit picked. This was made 
with forceps at the extremity, which were moved by a trigger and 
lined with soft leather. The fastidious taste of the upper classes 
led to the introduction of an implement called the berry gatherer 
moved by the hand like a pair of scissors, and by which Straw¬ 
berries or Raspberries could be gathered without any contact with 
the fingers of the person engaged in the work—a method of 
picking which would certainly not pay in our time. And an occa¬ 
sional sight in a gentleman’s garden was rows of Strawberry plants 
in pots meant to be brought to the table thus, so that guests might 
pick the fiuitfor themselves. One of the notable events marking 
the early years of George the Third’s reign was the spread of 
nurseries on the southern or Surrey side of the metropolis, where 
formerly there had been but few, and distant from each other. 
Many of their proprietors were intelligent men skilled in floricul¬ 
ture, willing and able to impart information to others. There was 
Rutter of Wandsworth, and his friend Carter of Battersea (the 
latter an ancestor of men well-known in the present reign) who 
brought out between them, in 1767, a book somewhat oddly called 
“ Modern Eden,” and intended to give particulars on all points 
connected with the production of flowers, fruit, and vegetables. 
Then there was Michelson, no author, but a great conversationist, 
who reclaimed some waste land at Kennington, now familiar as the 
Oval, and cultivated it many years, living to become a centenarian. 
One of his men, Denyer, afterwards started an important nursery 
at Brixton. Walworth was an attraction to visitors because 
Maddock’s and Griffin’s establishments were rich in bulbs. This 
Maddock took pen in hand, and at a later period published a 
“ Florist’s Directory,” illustrated, descriptive of flowers, and methods 
of culture. Under Curtis and Milliken, who succeeded him, the 
Walworth nursery became even more renowned. Chandler of 
Yauxhall was not an author, but he subsequently did more than 
any other Georgian gardener to make the Camellia popular, and 
produced himself a number of varieties. At Camberwell, not far 
distant, was the celebrated Arboretum o£ Buchanan, to which 
people sent from long distances to obtain specimens of exotic trees 
and shrubs. 
To us, at this advanced date of the nineteenth century, it seems 
a thing scarcely supposable that a volume of poetry should have 
sufficient power over the public mind to alter the taste in matters 
of garden arrangement, yet such was, so we are assured, the effect 
of William Mason’s “ English Garden,” the first book of which 
came out in 1772. • (He is to be distinguished from George Mason, 
also an eighteenth century man, who wrote about 1768 an essay 
upon design in gardening, though he was not himself one specmlly 
qualified to discourse upon this topic). A death blow was given to 
the mechanical and monotonous style of laying out gardens and 
parks, which had made Brown and his compeers famous in their 
day, and the principle of introducing as much variety as your space 
allows, and that of following Nature, without imitating her too 
closely, were gradually recognised, and have ever since then been 
more or less put into practice. AVith the poetical work of Mason 
we must couple Wheatley’s “ Observations on Modern Gardening ” 
as another book of high importance, published one year earlier. It 
was soon very highly commended by continental gardeners, having 
been translated into French. Sir W. Chambers and others had 
already called attention to the Oriental styles of gardening and 
their defects, insisting on the advantages of art judiciously 
employed in planning and arranging, while artificiality is avoided. 
Thei’e would have been much communication between English and 
continental gardeners upon this and other interesting subjects had 
it not been for the unsettled state of France on the verge of 
revolution.—J. R. S. C. 
CYPRIPEDIUM ALFRED. 
Hybrid Cypripediums are now numerous, but that of which a 
flower is represented in fig. 23 is distinct and attractive, though not one 
of the most showy. It is a hybrid from C. kevigatum and C. vcnustum,. 
the flowers neat and remarkable for the colouring, the streaks and spots 
being clearly defined. The ovate dorsal sepal is white, v & ' ed with 
green, the lower sepals similar. The petals are broad and twisted, 
spotted and tipped with reddish brown, and edged with dark hail's, the 
lip yellowish green. It was shown by Drewett 0. Drewett, Esq., Kiding- 
mill-on-Tyne (gardener, Mr. H. A. Keeling) at the Royal Horticultural 
Society’s meeting on August 26th, 1800, when an award of merit was 
FIG. 23.— HYBRID CYPRIPEDIUM ALFRED. 
granted for it. At the same meeting Mr. Drewett also had two other 
hybrid Cypripediums, one named Constance, from C. Curtisi and. 
C. Stonei, the other Alice, from C. Spicerianum and C. Stonei. 
A RUN INTO SOUTH WALES. 
The Cardiff Conference and Show last week afforded an oppor¬ 
tunity for a run through a very pleasant district of England into 
one of the busiest parts of South Wales ; a glimpse of agreeable 
scenery, an inspection of a fine garden, and the privilege of adding 
a few more to a wide circle of horticultural friends and acquaint¬ 
ances, constituting full compensation for the fatigue of a hurried 
railway journey. Some of my co-workers in the British Fruit 
Growers’ Association had wisely taken advantage of their chance 
to travel Cardiff way the previous night ; but this I was unable to- 
do, and therefore an early start on Wednesday morning was 
necessitated, especially as I had decided to make 
A Call by the Way. 
Reading was the first stage, and here I found I could spend an 
hour without any material loss at the other end of the journey, so 
a scamper through Messrs. Sutton & Sons’ nurseries and trial 
grounds was indulged in as a preliminary. Every season, alnaost 
every month, has its special horticultural attractions at Reading- 
Just now the Gloxinias present a magnificent display, several large- 
houses being filled with vigorous young plants, bearing richly- 
coloured, varied, and delicately tinted flowers in surprising pro¬ 
fusion, with well-developed pot-concealing foliage. So much 
prolonged attention has been paid to the improvement of the 
Reading strain of Gloxinias that it is difficult to see what remains 
to be accomplished. The flowers are large, bold, well formed, of 
great substance, borne erect upon stout stalks, which enable theix* 
