January SO, 1887. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
49 
A narrow turning conducts us past a spot oddly called even yet 
“ Jockey’s Fields,” though it has ceased to be a broad open space to Red 
Lion Square, which is also all that is left of the old Red Lion Fields, 
so named from a memorable Holborn tavern. It was a square long 
neglected ; but it has recently been taken in hand and planted with 
additional shrubs. To some people this small plot has an interest, be¬ 
cause a tradition exists that the body of Cromwell, after exposure, was 
buried in its centre. But when we recollect the square, as it now exists, 
was not formed till the beginning of the eighteenth century, this becomes 
valueless, as in 1660 it was a larger and an irregular open space. The 
square has one large and old tree, a Lime, not far from the middle, and 
there are pairs of Elms of moderate size on the north and south sides. 
The evergreens for the most part appear to be in an unhealthy state, even 
such usually thriving cockneys as the Privet, the Holly, and the Box 
languish. I wish to point out to the gardeners of these London spaces 
one reason why some plants and shrubs do not get on. The ground is 
often insufficiently dug from time to time, hence no proper drainage is 
possible, and scarcely any water goes below a certain depth, because the 
subsoil is bard and unabsorbent. I have several times watched the turn¬ 
ing over of ground in London gardens, where at various depths there was 
a tough cake of a claylike substance, which neither rain nor roots pene¬ 
trated. At least once a year the ground should be deeply though care¬ 
fully dug. It is observable that in many London squares the soil con¬ 
tains but a small number of worms, which are so valuable as promoters 
of drainage, if they are a nuisance when they get into flower-pots. 
Almost opposite Gray’s Inn is Barnard’s Inn, on the south side of 
Holborn, where the houses look into a central gravelled space of small 
size, but which contains a cluster of Limes, which in the summer season 
gives it the aspect of a little grove. When one of the occasional gleams 
of sunshine appear, which even London may get on a winter’s day, hosts 
of sparrows gather here to chatter perhaps over the hardness of the 
times and the ferocity of the City cats. Far up some of the quaint old 
houses climbs the Virginian Creeper, festooning windows with its tangled 
stems, and, especially during autumn, giving a brightness to the dull 
brickwork. 
To the west of us, where Drury Lane winds its course between the 
two great lines of thoroughfare, just as it did when a rural lane with two 
or three houses, large adjacent gardens, and a vineyard (Vinegar-yard— 
Vine-garden yard), and here the Public Gardens Association has done 
what it can to make pleasant the old churchyard of h't. Martin’s. The 
space is small, not a quarter of an acre ; but a vaiiety of shrubs have 
been planted, and some well thrive. Trees have wisely not been at¬ 
tempted. 
CAMPANULA ROTUNDIFOLIA FLORE PLENO. 
I have had some correspondence with Mr. Lindsay, Curator, Edin¬ 
burgh Botanic Gardens, and Mr. Burbidge, Curator, Trinity College 
Botanic Gardens, Dublin, and both say they never saw a double form of 
Campanula rotundifolia, but the latter gentleman, through whose advice 
I write these lines, says it is mentioned in “ Johnson’s Gardeners’ 
Dictionary,” on p. 166, under Flore alba—the white variety. Both the 
single blue type and the white variety are therein set down as British, 
but the blue double-flowered variety.is thus referred to :—“ Flore pleno 
(double-flowered), J, blue, July, Gardens.” 
It may be stated for the information of the readers of the Journal oj 
Horticulture, that I found the above plant growing wild in Scotland a 
good number of years ago, but it was not till 1883, when along with a 
friend I began the study of botany, that I learned it was a rare plant, 
and had it removed at the first convenient chance I had to the garden, 
where it has been ever since, and made poor progress with the exception 
of last year, when it produced half a dozen spikes of bloom, which I 
procured some seed from. 
I may add that the friend referred to was Mr. A. Honeyman, who 
contributed to the Journal under the nom deplume of “Single-handed,” 
and whose seemingly premature death was a great loss to horticulture, 
for he was a most highly gifted man, and as Mr. Burbidge writes in one 
of his letters to me—“ It seemed a thousand pities that one so young and 
highly gifted should have gone to the Elysian Fields so soon.” 
The flowers of this Campanula are what florists term hose-in-hose, 
and are not all double ; on the same plant some with petaloid stamens, 
which means that there is a chance of improving what Nature has begun 
in the way of hybridisation.— John Thomson, Bonnybridge. 
PINE APPLE CHARLOTTE ROTHSCHILD. 
At the meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society on December 7th, 
1886, Mr. Coomber, The Ilendre ^Gardens, Monmouth, exhibited three 
fine Pine Apples, two of Smooth Cayenne and one of Charlotte Roth¬ 
schild, a cultural commendation being awarded by the Fruit Committee 
for them. The fruit of the last-named variety was a particularly hand¬ 
some one, beautifully proportioned, very even, 10 inches high and 6 inches 
in diameter at the base, and capitally ripened. A reduced illustration is 
given in fig. 8, and Mr. Coomber has obliged us with the following 
particulars of his mode of culture. 
“ Charlotte Rothschild Pine Apple is a valuable variety for autumn 
and winter use, and possesses the excellent quality of keeping for a 
considerable time after it is ripe, surpassing in this respect the Smooth 
Cayenne, and for which it is a suitable companion, requiring the same 
treatment and growing to a similar size. The fruit we exhibited with 
two Smooth Cayennes at South Kensington on December 9th, and for 
which the Royal Horticultural Society awarded us a cultural certificate, 
when gathered weighed 9 lbs. 4 ozs., but had lost weight at that date 
through being kept. 
“ Our mode of culture is simple, and we have nothing new to divulge. 
I will give that of the fruit in question briefly as follows :—A batch of 
sturdy suckers was taken from old stools and placed in 8-inch pots in 
April, 1885. Being plunged in a brisk heat (a bed of decayed leaves 
with pipes beneath) they readily filled their pots with roots, when they 
were at once shifted into pots 12 inches in diameter, and firmly and 
finally replunged into a bed with a temperature of 85°, accompanied 
with the usual atmospheric conditions. After this they were sparingly 
supplied with tepid clear water until their roots had well permeated the 
fresh soil, from which time until they were rested (from the beginning 
of November until March) they were more liberally treated. During 
the resting period the atmospheric temperature varied, according to 
external conditions, from 55° to 60° at night, with a rise of about 5° 
during the day, while the bottom heat was maintained at 75°. In March 
and April the heat was gradually raised until that in the bed reached 
85°, and the atmosphere 70° at night, or a trifle more in mild weather, 
with the usual increase in the day ; close attention forthwith at all 
times being paid to the indispensable daily duties, ventilating, syringing, 
shading, &c. A portion of the plants pushed up their fruits by the end of 
April ; the remainder made growth previous to showing fruit, and these 
produced the finest, those exhibited being some of them. 
“ In potting we insure thorough drainage and ram the compost firmly, 
and this is as simple as are the other divisions of culture. It consists of 
light fibry loam incorporated with a moderate amount of soot. Crushed 
bones or Standen’s manure are useful ingredients to mix in Pine soils, 
but we have, so far, been satisfied with results obtainable without them. 
Peruvian guano, dissolved in water and used regularly in a mild form 
throughout the growing season and occasionally in winter, is the 
stimulant we invariably depend upon to create vigorous growth.” 
INDIAN EXPERIENCES. 
( Continued from page IS.) 
To the young gardener fresh from England the free and easy charac¬ 
ter of a planter’s life, and the absence of all restraint has, without doubt, 
