422 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
| May !$, 1889. 
itself—namely, the agreeable fragrance possessed by the flowers.— 
L. Castle. 
CATTLEYA F0RBE3I. 
I should be greatly obliged if some of your able correspondents 
could through the Journal of Horticulture give me the proper 
treatment of the above mentioned Cattleya. With me it seems 
very subject to the flower sheath drying off prematurely. My 
plant of Cattleya Forbesi has fifteen pseudo-bulbs from 5 to 7 
inches long, four of which are now showing flower sheaths. It is 
grown in a 5-inch pan suspended near the glass of an intermediate 
house where a number of other varieties of Cattleyas and Lselias 
are grown. It looks remarkably healthy, but I have never been 
able to flower it. I am under the impression it requires some 
special treatment.—N. C. 
A RUN INTO THE WEALD OF SUSSEX. 
Sussex is a beautiful county, nearly all pasture and woodland) 
with hills more or less bold, and corresponding intervening valleys, the 
general character resembling an ornamental park for miles. The tender 
green of the Oaks, which most abound, brings into the relief the dark 
hues of the Pines that crown the summit of many a smooth round 
eminence, and the golden Broom and Gorse impart brightness to the 
landscape. The pastures are full of flowers, for Primroses and Cowslips 
still linger, Orchises and Bluebells abound, and Celandines sparkle 
in damp dells. With all these and many more flowers, including blossom¬ 
laden fruit trees, there is much to admire in a journey southwards down 
the Brighton line from the Metropolis. But the blossom is later, and 
the leafage of trees less dense than are found several miles farther 
north, where the soil is darker in colour, lighter in texture, and w r armer. 
In Sussex it is generally light in colour, hence not quick in absorbing 
heat, and heavy in texture. Yet it is good soil when well treated, but 
judging by the few tilled fields, the farming instinct is not possessed by 
the natives. Orchards and fruit gardens appear few and far between, 
though there is an extension of planting—due in a measure, perhaps, to 
the enterprise of Messrs. Cheal, who have shown very clearly that both 
trees and fruit can be well grown in this delightful county. I hope to 
see their nurseries some day. My recent mission was of a different 
character, for it began with a gardeners’ supper and ended in a bed of 
florists’ Tulips. 
THE EAST GRINSTEAD GARDENERS’ IMPROVEMENT SOCIETY. 
I am not quite sure that the above is the exact title of a now organi¬ 
sation of gardeners, but it indicates their object. Of this Society Mr. 
G. Wyatt Truscott of Oakleigh was elected the first President, and he 
did not think it sufficient to simply rest in the enjoyment of the honour, 
but desired to make the personal acquaintance of the members, to shake 
them by the hand and to assure them of his wish to work with them in 
making the new Society successful. To this end he conceived that a 
repast would bring them together, and it did to the number of about 
fifty, and it was evident the host of the Dorset Arms understood it was 
to be a good one. To that repast I was kindly invited by the President, 
and had the delight of listening to a speech such as not many gardeners 
hear. For frank friendship with the men who work, for felicity of 
expression, for real appreciation of the skill of intelligent men, it was an 
address to be remembered, and, however high the speaker rises as a city 
magnate, he will be equal to the position. He with his friends were 
evidently as happy as if at a Lord Mayor’s banquet, and his guests will 
not soon forget the cheery friendly manner in which they were so 
hospitably entertained. I felt bound to tell them all, the men of wealth 
and men of labour, that it was good for both to join together, as each 
would understand the other better, and a feeling of mutual trust and 
respect would be engendered that would strengthen the aggregate com¬ 
munity. That was and is my belief, and the ringing cheers for the 
President and Sir Francis and Lady Truscott proved how highly the 
assemblage appreciated the association of classes on the occasion. 
DARKNESS AND LIGHT. 
Those of my readers who have had (as a few of them have) the 
pleasure of spending a night at Oakleigh will admit they have never 
had the light under more corqplete control. They can have darkness or 
light instantaneously, a thousand times if they like, a 3 they lie in bed, 
with the pressure of the hand. It is marvellous what can be done with 
stored up electricity and the latest mechanical appliances. It can be 
carried about and is carried about, and all that has to be done is to 
hang something like a watch on your waistcoat, turn a handle, and 
have the light thrown on a book or newspaper held before you for 
reading in a dark railway train or anywhere else. That is what I have 
seen and tested, so know it to be true. Gardeners and others interested 
in gardening like to know of advances of a scientific and useful 
character outside their own particular domain, hence this reference. 
A GAY CONSERVATORY. 
The Oakleigh conservatory is only briefiy referred to with the object 
of recording the great value of Petunias, raised from seed in Julv, as 
spring decorative plants. I have seen no such display of double'and 
single varieties—plants 2 to 3 feet high or more, in the zenith of vigour, 
and laden with handsome flowers in rich and delicate colours, grown in 
such a short time, and all from a shilling packet of seed. “ More for 
money ” could not very well be produced, for there must be a cartload 
of them. Just another plant must be mentioned, raised and grown in 
the same way, and very beautiful are the richly pencilled flowers in 
great heads—the Salpiglossis. The plants are 4 feet high, with stems 
as thick as a man’s finger, and cannot but be admired by those who see 
them. A word of praise is justly due to Mr. F. Dunn for what he has 
accomplished so quickly and well. I have only to say in addition that 
the kitchen garden is as clean and, in its way, as enjoyable as any other 
part of this well kept estate. And now a step onwards. 
DR. HOGG’S LAND. 
This is still farther south I think, but the line twists about so, follow¬ 
ing the valleys between the hills, that you appear to face nearly all points 
of the compass in a few miles, and lose your geographical bearings. 
The Doctor has quite a territory very delightfully situated on a 
southern declivity, with the English Channel twelve miles distant, but 
the air was so clear that the ships and steamers could be seen plainly 
enough gliding along past Eastbourne. He made himself a new garden 
eight years ago, or rather commenced then with a ploughed field, and to 
see it now furnished with deciduous trees, Conifers, and shrubs, some of 
the walks quite embowered, evokes something akin to astonishment, 
and shows what can be done with good soil and good management. 
Of course there are fruit trees, such standard Apples that 1 
scarcely know where to find their equal at the same age in size, 
symmetry, and fruitfulness. The branches are clustered with blossoms 
to the very base, and no weight of fruit will break them down. This 
is the result of judicious pruning in the early stages, and subsequent 
thinning, not shortening, the branches. I should like my friend 
Mr. A. Young to see those trees, and I am able to assure him that they 
were pruned the spring following the planting, in the way that I have 
been bold enough to advise. I am afraid my two or three opponents 
will think the Doctor a great vandal, for he planted a number of trees 
last autumn, and I observed every shoot had been shortened this spring. 
Every one is growing as freely as can be desired, and in the autumn the 
number of branches will be doubled at least, and will be as strong as 
anyone could wish them to be for maturing. I just note the fact and 
pass on, though before I leave the fruit trees I may allude to some 
examples of canker by way of preparing Mr. Tonks and Mr. Hiam for 
something which will follow ; and, if I mistake not, it will take them 
all their time to sustain their theories without modification. We shall 
SC6 
FLORISTS’ TULIPS. 
It is not, perhaps, known to all men that Dr. Hogg is a florist as well 
as a pomologist. His very old friends know it, but the younger genera¬ 
tion do not. He makes no fuss about it, but the fact remains that not 
many men know hardy plants, or are better acquainted with florists’ 
flowers, than he is. Years ago he wrote a work on the Dahlia, and 
nearly half a century has elapsed since he won his first prize for 
Tulips, though he has long since ceased exhibiting. His collection 
has of late been a great source of pleasure to him. It consists of 
nearly 200 named varieties, collected from various sources, and 
arranged in the orthodox seven rows in a frame and canvas-covered 
bed, like a span-roofed house. There he sits with his book, record¬ 
ing the characters, properties, and defects of the varieties - selecting, 
rejecting, and taking notes for future arrangement. How beautiful 
the flowers are in the mass with their glistening colours and chaste and 
gay markings, yet on close examination some will not “ do.” This has 
a stained base, that a ragged edge, a third some short petals, a fourth 
rather weak in the stalk. These old florists are very exacting, but when 
they show you what they regard as a perfect flower, and it is examined 
with another that is lacking in something, there is no mistaking the 
difference, and you are bound to admit the authorities are right, that.is 
to say if you are not—well, an artist of .an aesthetic turn of mind, and 
prefer something with a ragged hang-dog appearance. If you do, 
enjoy your preference by all means ; the florist will remain a florist 
still, and will work for the ideal standard of excellence which is not the 
less valued because difficult to attain. Mr. Walker says florists’ Tulips 
will not be popular for sale as cut flowers. Probably not, nor will florists’ 
Dahlias, Carnations, Picotees, and Auriculas of the highest types. They 
are not “ shop” flowers ; but all the same they are the aristocracy of the 
families to which they belong, the thoroughbreds so to say, and as such 
valued by those who rejoice in their possession. The florists’ Tulip is 
one of the most beautiful of flowers. It is not “gaudy.” The bizarresare 
brilliant by their translucent colours, and the roses and bybloemens pen¬ 
cilled with such delicacy that the artist’s “ improvements ” are clumsy 
in comparison. They will never be shop flowers, and fortunately there 
are plenty without them, but will be sougfht after because of their 
intrinsic beauty, and grown by those who understand their properties 
and can appreciate their exact lines and points of merit. Florists’ 
flowers are satisfying to their possessors, and the plants or bulbs are 
cared for and cherished all the year round. I was pleased to see the 
Doctor among his Tulips, and I learned a wrinkle or two about them 
which will enable me to admire them the more. I found out too 
the cause of the so-called “ disease ”—excessive wet and nothing else, 
but I cannot enlarge on this at one o’clock in the morning.—W. 
FRUIT CULTURE IN CALIFORNIA. 
Apples.— This was one of the first fruits grown in Santa Clara 
County after the American occupation. It was found that the peculiar 
climate and soil of this section caused the trees to bear heavily and the 
