February 10, 1887. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
Ill 
and Sons, Chelsea, showed extremely large flowers of Cyclamen giganteum 
and the handsome pure white Primula Snowflake (certificated). Mr. 
B. S. Williams had a richly coloured single Primula, named Magenta 
Quern, with large flowers. Messrs. Paul & Son, Che3hunt, sent a plant of 
Iris Histrio with precty flowers veined with blue on the whitish falls ; and 
Mr. W. B. Hartland, Cork, was awarded a vote of thanks for a large 
trumpet Daffodil, named Irish King. A cultural commendation and vote of 
thanks were adjudged to Mr. W. Allan, gardener to Lord Suffield, Gunton 
Park, Norwich, for two baskets of double white and blue Violets, fine 
healthy plants, with large clear tinted flowers. Mr. W. Gordon, Twicken¬ 
ham. sent two Camellias, red and salmon coloured varieties. 
A silver Banksian medal was awarded to Messrs. Carter & Co., High 
Holbo'n, for an extensive and meritorious display of PrimulaB, over 500 
plants being staged, representing nineteen varieties of mo3t diverse colours. 
Very noticeable were the following :—Fern-leaf White, single, fine flowers ; 
Prince of Wales, double, salmon pink; Holborn Blush, single; Fern-leaf 
Vermilion, single, very bright; White Improved, single, large white flower; 
Double Carmine, bright and free ; Holborn Pearl, a de'ieate soft tint; Fern- 
leaf Elaine, white flowers, dark stems and leafstalks ; Holborn Blue, Holborn 
Salmon, Holborn Carmine, and numbers of others, all sho wing the quality 
of the strain. 
CERTIFICATED PLANTS. 
Odontoglossum crispum leopardinum (H. M. Pollett, Esq.).—A distinct 
variety, thought to partake of the Hystrix type, the petals deeply notched, 
and with the sepals densely spotted and blotched with rich reddish brown 
on a white ground, the lip having a yellow central crest. 
Pachystoma Thomsonianum (W. Vanner, Esq.).—This Orchid has now 
been in cultivation some time, and we have seen better plants and varieties 
than the one certificated. The sepals and petals are narrow, white, the lip 
with a long central tapering lobe of a crimson purple hue. 
Primula sinensis Purity (J. James, Slough).—A single Fern-leaf variety, 
with exceedingly large, substantial, and handsome pure white flowers. 
Primula sinensis Brightness (J. James, Slough).—A double variety, with 
large, full, bright rich red flowers. 
Primula sinensis Cannell's White Perfection (H. Cannell & Sons).—A 
superb single white variety, with very large flowers, and dark leaves of the 
Fern-leaf type, the dark stalks of which contrasted with the pure white 
flowers. 
Primula sinensis SnowJlaJce (J. Veitch & Sons).—A Fern-leaf variety 
with pure white single flowers of great substance. Very notable for its 
purity and good bebit. 
Lycaste plana Measuresiana (B. S. Williams).—A variety with uniform 
brown sepals, the petals white dotted with crimson, and the lip similar. 
THE JUBILEE—A GARDENER’S ORPHANAGE. 
While all classes of society are meditating the above, and looking 
about for some tangible mode of memorialising our beloved Queen, the 
question comes to our community — What can we gardeners do ? 
After hearing and reading many suggestions on the subject, it occurs 
to me that a home for the orphans of gardeners is very badly wanted 
in our country. Almost every other craft is represented by some such 
institution, but we have none. And when one sees earnest, hard¬ 
working gardeners struck down in the very hey-day of life, leaving 
their children totally unprovided for, it seems time that some such 
scheme should be set on foot. 
A hearty united, effort must be made by all if this is to be effected. 
No difference of opinion, either religious or otherwise, must be suffered 
to break in and mar the harmony of the whole, but all should work 
together in one great effort to make it a success. In my opinion an 
orphanage, with a good piece of land attached for cultivation, a school, 
&c., to hold fifty boys and girls or more, as the funds might permit, 
could be started if every gardener in the United Kingdom Would con¬ 
tribute 5s., and every journeyman 2s. 6d. now, and continue the same 
yearly. If any of the fraternity can improve on my suggestion, I shall 
be most happy to fall in with their views ; but I trust the matter may 
have due consideration.— C. Penny, The Gardens. Sandringham. 
AN HOUR IN A SEED WAREHOUSE. 
It has been frequently remarked that one of the peculiar features 
of our great metropolis is the vast amount of business conducted in a 
quiet manner in offices and warehouses that strangers might pass un¬ 
noticed. In some of the most important commercial thoroughfares there 
is comparatively little to indicate the enormous industries they contain, 
the employment they furnish to hundreds, or even thousands of persons, 
and the world-wide importance of their productions or special wares. 
Examples of this could be cited by scores in numerous trades, but as a 
horticulturist we recently had a most striking instance brought pro¬ 
minently.before our notice. When passing down the continuation of 
Oxford Street known as High Holborn, one of the main arteries of 
London, an invitation of long standing to visit Messrs. J. Carter & Co.’s 
seed offices and warehouses was remembered. The opportunity seemed 
a favourable one for a visitor who wished to form an idea of the mode 
in which such businesses are conducted, though it is also one in which 
the managers and their assistants have the least time to devote to 
visitors. Happily, however, we found that Mr. C. H. Sharman, the 
courteous Manager, had an hour to spare, and under his guidance a 
hurried but most interesting survey of a great establishment was quickly 
commenced, 
The offices at 237 and 238, High Holborn, are chiefly occupied with 
the retail department of the business, but on one of the floors a museum 
of seeds, dried grasses, Tobaccos, models of vegetables, &c., has been 
formed, constituting a kind of conspectus of the products with which 
the firm is concerned. Samples of the different new and leading 
varieties of garden vegetables can there be seen, mostly preserved by a 
patent process, showing accurately their distinctive forms and colours, 
and in several respects much preferable to models. In the case of Peas 
and Beans, the most minute differences being exactly indicated. 
Numerous illustrations with dried plants of the Tobaccos so successfully 
cultivated during the past season form another feature of interest. 
Various forms of Flax are included, showing the respective merits in 
quantity and quality of fibre from different districts, and the Hybrid 
Wheats, which are now being carefully fixed, have a case appropriated 
to them, in which the parents and progeny are seen side by side. All 
these and much more might occupy attention for some time, but the 
chief object of our visit—the warehouses—had yet to be seen. 
The office occupies the same site as that taken by Mr. J. Carter when 
removing to Holborn exactly fifty years ago, but the warehouses arc a 
few hundred yards farther east, and have not a frontage to the main 
road, so that strangers might pass quite near without the remotest 
knowledge of their existence. A huge building six or seven storeys 
high is there devoted to the storing and dispatch of seeds, several other 
detached buildings being similarly occupied, one which originally formed 
the sole warehouse of the firm now barely sufficing as a storehouse for 
Radish seed alone. The main building contains a series of offices and 
rooms almost bewildering in their number, and while the countless sacks 
of seeds occupying every available space would seem, to a person un¬ 
acquainted with the trade, sufficient to supply the civilised world for a 
considerable period, yet the storing space does not suffice ; and though 
some hundreds of tons are dispatched weekly, considerable quantities 
are always in store at the docks or elsewhere awaiting transferrence to 
head-quarters. 
To give a detailed description of the various departments would 
occupy too much space, nor would it be possible from such a cursory 
glance as time permitted to do justice to them. Perhaps one of the 
most striking features is the floor where Peas are cleaned and sorted, 
especially as it affords a good example of several other departments. 
Great care is exercised with this important crop, the seeds as received 
being first placed in a machine that removes all waste, small and foreign 
seeds ; then they are submitted to the sorters or pickers—women and 
girls—of which about 150 are employed in the height of the season. 
The Peas are placed on long benches, something like potting benches, 
with divisions at intervals. The women sit at these, and the seeds are 
passed singly but rapidly under their examination, every broken, 
damaged, or imperfect seed being cast on one side. The labour and 
expense necessitated by such a process as this can be readily imagined, 
but the object at which the firm aims—namely, providing a pure sample 
—amply repays the cost in many ways. Beans are dealt with similarly, 
as also are all crops that will admit of or which require such treatment. 
Machines of the most approved kinds are provided on the different floors 
for sifting or blowing, and some of these can be adapted to different 
seeds by employing sifters or trays with meshes proportioned to the 
size of the seeds to be cleaned, and it is surprising to see with what 
accuracy the work is performed. Much improvement has been effected 
in this way in recent years, and seed purchasers have now many advan¬ 
tages they did not formerly possess, though chiefly at the cost of the 
vendors. 
Passing several floors filled with Grass and Clover seeds, threading 
our way along narrow passages left between the piles of sacks repre¬ 
senting so many tons of seeds, we glance successively at the flower seed, 
wholesale, and dispatch offices, where busy scenes are presented to view. 
The whole building seems, indeed, like a vast hive, and that the “ bees ” 
are busy can be judged from the fact that they are now working until 
9 p.m. each night. In the general office employment is also plentiful, 
for letters and orders received each morning vary from 800 to 1200, and 
as the majority of these require immediate attention, promptitude and 
a well arranged system are absolutely necessary to ensure the satisfactory 
despatch of such business. The post office on one of the floors is 
another important institution now the Parcel Post is in operation, and 
the “ post mistress,” scarcely visible amongst the heaps of neat packages, 
cannot have much unoccupied time. For larger journeys packing 
cases of all kinds are seen up to the great metal tanks employed in the 
shipment of large seed orders to the tropics or the antipodes. 
The analyst’s office merits a word of notice, for there work of a most 
important character is performed. Every sample of seeds sent to the 
firm is there subjected to the examination of an expert, who reports 
upon their respective merits and the proportion of other seeds they con¬ 
tain. If this first report is considered satisfactory, a sample taken from 
the bulk is next examined, and usually a third report is necessary before 
the seeds are passed to the storehouse. By the aid of a microscope and 
a most delicate balance the smallest and lightest seeds can be thus 
tested, but the work requires considerable care. 
Miscellaneous garden and farm seeds have much space devoted to 
them. A floor at the base is appropriated to Potatoes, where the same 
system of sorting, already noted, is followed, and below this still are 
“ the vaults ” for the safe, the books and the files of orders for a year 
past, arranged most systematically, and under the charge of an ancient 
custodian, who gives his whole time to this employment. But sufficient 
has been said to indicate the character of a modern seed warehouse, and 
it need only be added that we bid our genial guide farewell with a mixed 
feeling of surprise at the extent of the business, and admiration of the 
methodical manner in which it is conducted. For the first time we in¬ 
spected a London seed warehouse, and it astonished—A ^y^ANGEE. 
