June 12, 1886. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
649 
The kitchen garden contains a good collection of 
fine young fruit trees getting well into bearing, and 
there are the usual kitchen garden crops coming on for 
use. On a north border can be seen fine patches of the 
double and single forms of Anemone fulgens just coming 
into full bloom ; a line of the pretty bright lilac 
Camassia esculenta ; a good quantity of Narcissus 
Bulbocodium in flower ; various forms of Scilla Belgica, 
the rose and white varieties being very charming ; lines 
of Trumpet Daffodils, Emperor and Empress being 
prominent ; and a few other pets of this kind. 
Of wall fruit there is but little ; the soil appears to 
be too light for Peaches and Nectarines, the trees soon 
decay, and in their place Mr. Sherwood cultivates 
Tomatos largely. He has an early supply under glass, 
and maintains it in the open air until late in the season. 
Such are the details gleaned by a rapid survey of the 
garden at Dunedin. A great amount of pleasure and 
interest is derived from it, for Mr. Sherwood takes cog¬ 
nisance of the smallest operations. The hours snatched 
from business have to be given in part to the require¬ 
ments of social life and other engagements, but the 
garden refreshes the spirit of its owner, as it should of 
every one who has a .kindly regard for flowers, and loves 
to see them presented in attractive forms. 
enormous prices are paid for floral designs as well as for 
loose flowers, for Roses, Carnations, Pansies, Lily of 
the Valley, Narcissus, and such like are extravagantly 
worn by the ladies. It is a very common occurrence 
to see ladies with a dozen enormous Roses in the 
belts around their waists, or a bunch of three or four 
dozen Pansy blooms worn in the same way. When in 
Baltimore and Washington, I frequently saw coloured 
ladies with from a dozen to eighteen Daffodils worn in 
the same way. The festive seasons are rare harvests 
for thfe florists. At Easter the prices for the following 
were :—Cut Violets, 4s. per 100 ; Roses, best, 2s. 6d. 
to 3s. 6 d. each ; Callas, Is. 6d. each ; Mignonette, 
twenty-four sprays, 2s. 6 d. ; Narcissus, 4s. per dozen ; 
Lilium longiflorum, 2s. each ; Pansies, about Id each, 
and so on in proportion. 
At weddings and funerals large and expensive de¬ 
signs are made up in the form of floral tributes, and 
enormous quantities of flowers are used. For instance, 
the saloon of the splendid Cunard steamer in which I 
returned was completely filled with floral offerings to 
friends leaving for Europe, some of which must have 
cost at least £20 to £30 each, being made of the choicest 
flowers, and designs of ships 8 ft. long and so on were 
amongst them. Just now a great amount of rivalry 
cut flowers. I must admit it does away with the stiff 
and formal way in which we show them—viz., inboxes. 
The quality of the Roses was very fine; indeed, never 
have I seen a finer or brighter lot of flowers, not even 
at Midsummer, than those shown here. Amongst 
the Hybrid Perpetuals, Magna Charta, Baroness de 
Rothschild, Anna de Diesbach, General Jacqueminot, 
commonly called “ Jacks ” by the florists : and amongst 
the new hybrid teas, American Beauty and W. F. 
Bennett stood their ground well. Niphetos, Perle des 
Jardins, Cornelius Cook, and Catherine Merrnet were 
admirably shown, and the new Rose, Her Majesty, was 
exhibited for the first time—a magnificent flower, re¬ 
sembling a gigantic bloom of Baroness Rothschild ; it 
was the admiration of all. Carnations, Lily of the 
Valley, Violets, and Pansies were well and very ex¬ 
tensively shown. In the plant classes, Azaleas and 
zonal Pelargoniums were well done and staged in con¬ 
siderable numbers. This society is working hard to 
establish itself upon a firm basis, and has an enthu¬ 
siastic secretary in Mr. James Murkland, whose object 
is to make the society second to none, and great praise 
is due to him for the admirable manner in which he 
carries out his duties under not over-favourable con¬ 
ditions, for I am sorry to say the wealthy, who might 
View of the Glass Range in Mr. Jay Gould’s Garden at Iryington-on-Hudson, U.S.A. 
NOTES OP A TRIP TO AMERICA. 
By Alfred Outram. 
The journey from London to New York is now easily 
accomplished, the new country being reached in eight 
days, and frequently in a week, as was the case on my 
last trip. Horticulture has made great progress in the 
States during the last few years. It is just ten years 
ago since I made my first trip in company with Mr. 
Harry Williams, of Holloway, when we took a choice 
collection of stove and greenhouse plants, Orchids, &c., 
to the Centennial Exhibition, which rather astonished 
the horticultural visitors, and which gained the highest 
honours. This collection of plants, I believe, stimu¬ 
lated many American gentlemen to import plants who 
at one time thought it impossible to get them over in 
good condition, for since then large importations have 
been received from various English firms. The plants 
have been received in splendid condition, and have 
given great satisfaction to the exporter as well as to the 
importer. New York is, as everyone knows, a busy 
commercial centre ; and so it is as regards the nursery 
and seed trade. There are many very large horticul¬ 
tural establishments, and the cut-flower trade especially 
is carried on in a very extensive way. 
There are hundreds of florists shops, a great number 
of which are worked in conjunction with country 
establishments, but the majority are supplied with 
flowers from the growers who make specialities of 
various things. The demand is very extensive, and 
seems to exist among the leading florists. One or two 
of them have taken large halls, and converted them into 
promenade flower shows, and beautifully done they 
were, far surpassing anything of the sort ever seen 
before ; a fairy palace could not possibly be more 
beautiful than these were. 
Horticulture in New York. 
New York has an influential horticultural society, 
and I was present at one of its shows, and being 
invited to act as one of the judges, I had a good 
opportunity of examining the various exhibits. The 
exhibition was held early in April, and the liberal 
prizes offered brought out some good collections of 
plants in the various classes. The principal features 
were the cut flowers, Orchids, Roses, and Carnations, 
which were well and extensively shown. Among 
the former a grand collection ivas sent by AV. S. 
Kimball, Esq., of Rochester (gardener, Mr. George 
Savage), and which consisted of about fifty varieties, 
represented by many flowers of each sort, which were 
nicely put up, being dressed with Fern and Asparagus 
plumosus, and shown in dwarf glasses. Collections 
were also shown by De Witt Smith, Esq., and Mr. 
Taplin, but they were not so large. A fine specimen 
of Cattleya Lawrenceana, with nineteen flowers, was 
also shown by Mr. Kimball, as flue a variety as any I 
have seen. Roses are shown in threes and sixes, cut 
with long stems, showing plenty of foliage, and put in 
glasses of the same description to those used with the 
support such an institution as this, do very little to 
assist it. 
Plant sales are held in New York twice or three 
times a week, and the city can boast of numbering 
among its citizens, one of the best horticultural auc¬ 
tioneers I have ever heard in a rostrum. This gentle¬ 
man is familiarly known as “Billy Elliot,” and is a 
member of the firm of Young & Elliot, seedsmen, 
formerly of Courtland Street, but now removed to 
more commodious premises in Dey Street. All valu¬ 
able collections of plants from far and near are sent 
to him for disposal, and it was stated when the valu¬ 
able collection of Orchids formed by the late Mrs. 
Morgan was being sold, that “Billy Elliot” could roll 
out more words in one minute than any other man in 
America ; I think so too, for his volubility is wonderful. 
In April and May the great spring sales of bedding 
plants take place. These are made up in boxes of 25 
to 50 nice clean healthy stuff fit to plant out, and they 
realise very much about the same prices as they would 
here in the market. At a sale of Orchids from Mr. 
Fred Sander, the pieces commanded good prices, buyers 
coming from far and near. 
The parks, squares, and cemeteries of New York 
are well laid out and planted. The fine Central Park 
is very extensive, handsomely laid out, and orna¬ 
mented with fine trees ; it has good roads, and costly 
bridges, but lacks age to make it equal in beauty to 
ours. Greenwood Cemetery is one of the largest and 
handsomest in the world ; it has fine lakes, and an 
