370 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ May 9, 1889, 
So far little has been said about Twickenham and its gardens, 
and little will be said, because the rain prevented visits to several 
that were down in the mental programme ; but the intervals 
between the showers afforded opportunities for indulging in reflec¬ 
tions of the nature of those recorded, as founded on observation in 
the locality, and over a wider field elsewhere. However, the main 
object of the visit was accomplished in the acceptance of an invita¬ 
tion to “ see the Lilies ’’ from Mr. Henry Hawkins. For years the 
cultivation of the Lily of the Yalley for the sale of flowers has 
been a specialty of Messrs. Hawkins & Bennett, and their stately 
variety The Victoria is a favourite, not only in Covent Garden, but 
in most of the chief cities and towns in the kingdom. The variety 
is also being largely grown elsewhere than at home, for the stock 
having increased so largely the proprietors determined to advertise 
roots and crowns by the square yard, and the practice will no doubt 
continue. But to have vigorous plants and tall stout spikes of 
large flowers good culture must be practised, and as it is pursued at 
Twickenham, with protection also afforded to the beds, there can 
be no doubt of the profits accruing. 
The beds are apparently about G feet wide, and some of them 
100 yards long or thereabouts, and so packed are they with bold 
spikes that there must be at least 53. worth in a yard run, or 2s. 6d. 
per square yard of those early in the market, while it is not con¬ 
ceivable that any of the full beds, or those over two years old, can 
realise less than 4s. a square yard, and that is at the rate of £240 
per acre. The truth is, the crops of flowers are of far more value 
than the land they would occupy in the best agricultural districts. 
They are profitable for five years, and after the sixth are dug up, 
the requisite number of new beds being planted yearly to compen¬ 
sate for the old. The five and six-year-old beds are enclosed with 
planks on edge, with sashes laid across, a small portable boiler 
being placed at the end, and 3-inch pipes run through. The oldest 
bed is forced into flower the first. The spikes were beiug cut 
daily as fast as they were ready for executing orders that were 
continually coming in—more quickly in fact than they could be 
executed. Before this bed is over the next will be in, to be followed 
in turn by others. Those not covered with glass are protected with 
canvas blinds on rollers ; but for these frost might do much damage, 
or a hailstorm be ruinous. The successional beds are not boarded 
to the ground, but a space of 4 or 5 inches is open for retarding the 
growth to some extent, while the latest beds are not boarded in at 
all. Rough skeleton frames are formed over them by driving a 
few stout battens here and there along the back and front, tying 
rails to these a foot or so above ground. At every 5 or 6 yards 
battens are fixed across, and from these five or six lines of wire are 
stretched for supporting the canvas. This is also made secure in 
a simple way ; a line of wire is run along, just below the top of 
the frames outside, and to this the blinds are tied, with tapes 
attached to them at suitable intervals, so that there can be no 
displacement by rough winds. Mr. Hawkins has a large number of 
such beds, and the flower spikes are as fine and the crowns as strong 
and good as any produced on the continent. 
With suitable soil, of which there is no lack, and proper 
methods of culture, the best of Lily crowns may be grown in 
Britain, and nurserymen and others will buy them when they are 
equal in quality and do not exceed in price those grown abroad, 
and for which large sums are sent from this country. Snowdrop 
bulbs are chiefly raised in England, these excelling those from the 
Continent, and the able Dutch growers have already formidable 
opponents with Narcissus bulbs for the English market. The race 
for supremacy is getting closer each year, and now the London 
market gardeners are working in earnest it is a question if England 
does not stand to win, and perhaps also with some other bulbs 
which it has been customary to obtain from the eastern shores of 
the German Ocean. In any event purchasers will benefit by the 
international rivalry in production in being able to procure the 
best possible bulbs at the lowest possible price. 
Narcissus and Daffodil culture—for the ‘' market growers "' 
make a broad intelligible distinction between them—is extending 
in a remarkable manner in the Thames Yalley. The yellow forms 
are Daffodils to them, the whites—Poeticus and its varieties—being 
referred to under the proper generic name, also presumably the 
Polyanthus forms. The rain prevented a call on Mr. Walker, but 
as I have heard a veteran florist has been visiting the flowery 
fields of Whitton we shall perhaps hear a little about them. 
Dodging between the showers a rush was made for Mr. W. Pou- 
part’s grounds of about 120 acres under spade culture. His beds- 
of N. p. ornatus were a great sight. There appeared to be acres of 
this charming early variety, some in the open, others between and 
under a plantation of young Plums, and the silvery blossom of these 
with the sheet of starry flowers below produced an effect that can- 
be better imagined than described. Perhaps I had better not in¬ 
dicate the probable sum the crop of flowers of this variety alone 
will bring to the cultivator, as I might be suspected of drawing the 
long bow, and the bulbs are increasing all the time, and it is not 
conceivable that any bulbs, come from whence they may, could 
produce finer flowers than these. This crop of flowers will be fol¬ 
lowed by the old Poeticus, its variety recurvus, and others, growa 
in thick rows between Gooseberry bushes, and these between Plums. 
There is thus a chance of three crops from the ground, and two 
are a practical certainty. All the obtainable varieties of Narcissus 
(including Daffodils) appear to be grown, the owner evidently 
cherishing them, and giving to them close personal attention. Mr. 
Poupart is also engaging largely in Lily culture in the manner 
above described. 
Busy is the scene presented in a market garden like this. Time 
and space forbid the detailing of gangs of men pulling and 
bundling Champagne Rhubarb by the ton; women bunching 
Wallflowers by the cartload—grown under fruit trees; Radish 
pullers busy, the open beds cominencing yielding last week—later 
than usual, as everything is late ; the pricking out of 30,000 
Celery plants ; and so on. The labour bill must be enormous, so 
must the returns, and it is only by great yet well considered 
outlay, close successional cropping so as to always have something 
for the market, with the most generous treatment of the soil for 
enabling it to produce the best of everything that is grown, 
together with placing it before the public in the best manner, that 
success can be won in “growing for market ” in these keen com¬ 
petitive days. 
Mr. Poupart grows nearly everything ; Mr. Hawkins relies 
mainly on Lilies, Stephanotis, and scarlet, pink, and white Zonal 
Pelargoniums for cutting. Thousands of dozens of bunches are 
sent to market, every individual flower being gummed to prevent 
the petals falling. The varieties mainly relied on appear to be 
F. Y. Raspail, double deep scarlet; F. Da Lesseps, single scarlet 
Constance, single pink ; Queen of the Whites for summer, and 
Eureka for winter. Madame Crousse, peach, Mr. Hawkins says, 
is the favourite Ivy-leaved Pelargonium in Covent Garden. 
A word must be said on his new early Chrysanthemum, Mrs. 
Hawkins, a golden sport from G. Wermig, and twice certificated 
last year. He has not yet sold any plants, but those he has are of 
extraordinary sturdiness and vigour. In dwarfness and thickness 
of stem, with size and substance of leaf, it is clearly distinguishable 
from all others, and it is evident no topping is required for pro¬ 
ducing bushy plants, those at home breaking freely from the stems 
right down to the soil even before the plants are 4 inches high. 
When I go to Twickenham again I shall hope for a finer day.—W. 
RENOVATING OLD FRUIT TREES. 
In some gardens, if not all, trees of Apple, Pear, and Plum are 
found covering a large extent of espalier or wall space most 
satisfactorily as regards growth, and some are models as regards the 
symmetrical disposal of the branches. The shoots are healthy and 
numerous from close pinching, affording an abundant crop of spray 
and leaves. Sometimes, however, both espalier and wall trees are 
seen with growths projecting sideways, and overtopping the walls 
