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THE GARDENING WORLD 
July 17, 1886. 
crock at the bottom of each pot, fill firmly to half an 
inch from the brim. Some employ 60-size pots for peg¬ 
ging the runners into, and then repot the plants after¬ 
wards into -32-size pots, and where a small number only 
is done, this is much the better plan. In large gardens, 
where some thousands are grown for forcing, it saves 
considerable labour to layer the runners into the large 
size at starting, but the soil is liable to become sour, 
and there is little in its favour except the saving of 
time and labour. The pots should be placed between 
every alternate pair of rows, thus leaving one space 
unoccupied to enable them to be watered and otherwise 
attended. Select the strongest runners, and secure 
them in the centre of the pot either with a small stone 
placed on the shoot or by a wooden peg. "Water them 
daily with a rose pot in dry weather, but do not separate 
the young plants from the parent UDtil the former are 
well rooted in the soil.— Scolytus. 
-- 
LONDON GARDENING-.—I. 
Among the non-professional readers of The Gar¬ 
dening World many, doubtless, live either in or close 
to London, and of these some, we must suppose, have 
breathing space behind their houses in the shape of 
small strips of vacant ground. Many such householders 
would be disposed to convert these empty plots into 
gardens proper, but that the discouragements attendant 
upon London gardening are usually held to be over¬ 
powering. To these unknown friends, and “especially 
to the women ” among them, the experience of one who 
has faced the discouragements and found them, with a 
few exceptions, spectres that may either be laid or 
laughed at, will, perhaps, be not uninteresting, “especi- 
a'ly to the women” among these potential gardeners, I 
say, because I am myself a woman, and a woman 
without much leisure or health, albeit the gardening 
that I deem worthy of the name cannot be done by 
proxy. 
The late Mrs. Ewing, whose death last year made 
the world poorer to many who did not even know her 
except through her books, was a true gardener. At 
the time of her death she was contributing monthly 
papers, such as only she could write, to a magazine 
identified with her name. These were called “ Letters 
from a Little Garden,” and from one of them I will 
here quote a short passage bearing directly upon the 
line of demarcation between what I will venture to call 
spurious and genuine gardening :— 
“ There are owners of big gardens and little gardens 
who like to have a garden (what Englishman does not ?) 
and like to see it gay and tidy, but who do not know 
one flower from the rest. On the other hand, some 
scientist are acquainted with botany, and learned in 
horticulture ; they know every plant and its value, but 
they care little about tidiness. Cut flowers are feminine 
frivolities in their eyes, and they count nosegays as 
childish gauds, like Daisy chains and Cowslip balls. 
They are not curious in colours, and do not know which 
flowers are fragrant and which are scentless. For them 
every garden is a botanical garden. Then, many 
persons fully appreciate the beauty and the scent of 
flowers, and enjoy selecting and arranging them for a 
room, who cannot abide to handle a fork or meddle 
with mother earth. Others again, amongst whom I 
number myself, love not only the lore of flowers, and 
the sight of them, and the fragrance of them, and the 
growing of them, and the picking of them, and the ar¬ 
ranging of them, but also inherit from father Adam a 
natural relish for tilling the ground, whence they were 
taken, and to which they shall return.” 
In town gardening Mrs. Ewing took a warm and 
special interest, and in a letter written to me a few 
months before her death, she expressed a wish that 
general attention could be called to its pleasures and its 
possibilities. Now the fact is that people living in 
towns, and particularly in London, make up their 
minds far too readily that nothing can be done except 
what the “jobbing gardener” does, and moreover that 
no one but he can do even that. Whereas, the secret 
of enjoying a garden to the full, lies in tending your 
flowers with your own two hands, bending your own 
back to reach them, and straining your own eyes in the 
ceaseless watch that must be kept against their enemies. 
Very tiring it sounds, no doubt, and very hot, and 
imperious in its demands upon your time ; but let 
experience, and not imagination balance the merits 
and the demerits of the system, and you will find that 
there is such a thing as refreshing fatigue, and that 
the gradual mastery of difficulties has a fascination all 
its own. 
Comparatively few women, even in the country, have 
any personal knowledge of the soothing, strengthening, 
exhilarating power of gardening. The mere putting 
forth of a little bodily effort reacts healthily on the 
mind, while the diversion of thought into fresh chan¬ 
nels, the up-springing of a new interest, daily renewed, 
and the gradual acquisition of practical knowledge, 
all contribute to swell a chorus of “Begone dull care ! ” 
-—Who could count the worries that have been forked 
into stiffisli borders, the vexations that have been 
plucked up by the roots with tough weeds, the fits of 
depression that have been buried whole with the trowel. 
In smoky towns, notably in London, it is true, certainly, 
that the expectations of would-be-gardeners must be 
closely pruned at first, but we all know that pruning 
encourages a more generous, if not always a very rapid 
growth. And when the beginner has learnt by a little 
experience what she cannot do, the fog of probable 
failure-in-the-abstract clears slowly away, she can see 
to mark out the boundary lines of the situation, and 
presently the pleasure of discovering what she can do 
will be found awaiting her within the new enclosure. 
Let us therefore address ourselves tojthe consideration, 
first, of the difficulties presented by the typical London 
garden, and carefully separate the invincibles from 
those which may be robbed of their arms, if not con¬ 
verted into actual allies.— C. A. G. 
-- 
THE WOODLANDS, STREATHAM. 
It needs but a glance from the gateway along the 
smooth carriage-drive edged with ornamental tiles and 
brightened with flowering plants fronting the neatly 
kept shrubs and stately trees, in which nestles the 
comfortable residence of R. H. Measures, Esq., to tell one 
in search of good examples of gardening that he has 
discovered a worthy specimen of that in which he is 
interested. A closer inspection proves that he has not 
been deceived, and that it would be difficult to find a 
better kept garden in which the various kinds of plants 
are grown, from a showy herbaceous perennial up to a 
splendid collection of Orchids, in the neighbourhood of 
London. The garden is gay with Roses, which have 
done remarkably well this year, with a sufficient 
quantity of the ordinary bedding plants carefully ar¬ 
ranged with a view to effect, with loosely rambling and 
profusely flowered Jessamine and Honeysuckles, with 
a great variety of herbaceous perennials in flower in 
the border which runs round the whole of the garden 
towards the paddock and kitchen garden, and with 
various flowering shrubs planted here and there, while 
a homely and rural appearance is imparted by some 
fine old "Walnut trees, an occasional Apple, Pear, or 
Chestnut tree of large size, some fine Thorns, Acacias, 
Elms, and conifers, all of which are fine objects, some 
of them harbouring shady seats, and others giving a 
great show of flowers in their season, which are none 
the less acceptable that they are borne on well-known 
trees. One of the brightest and most effective of these 
shrubs is the golden-leaved Elder, several fine bushes 
of which appear along the herbaceous border. 
The Plant Houses. 
These consist of thirty-five structures of different 
sizes, all characterised by their neatness and the perfect 
arrangements made for ventilation, a matter which is 
much studied at The Woodlands. Among other good 
arrangements for this purpose, the skeleton doors 
covered with close netting, used in summer instead of 
the ordinary wooden doors, cannot be too highly spoken 
of. If more of our growers were to adopt them there 
would be fewer delicate plants killed in summer than 
there are. Another matter observable throughout the 
houses is the lightness and strength which is imparted 
by the use of the neat spiral iron supports wherever 
such are required. These are much stronger than any 
other kind of pillar, and light and ornamental as well. 
Also a feature worthy of notice is the use made of 
stone-ware edgings, pedestals, vases and fountains with 
a view to neatness, and as aids in making the arrange¬ 
ment of the plants more effective ; and another matter 
worthy of observation is the hard granite-like flooring 
of the walks, which are made all over the place, indoors 
and out, and in the making of which perfection seems 
to have been attained here, although in many places 
where it is attempted but indifferent results are ob¬ 
tained, probably from a want of knowledge of the 
proper ingredients and proportions. 
Of the thirty-five houses some twenty are devoted to 
Orchids, and it may fairly be said that the whole of the 
large and varied collection is in the most vigorous con¬ 
dition possible. This is as it should be, where so much 
care has been taken in providing suitable quarters for 
each section. One of the most successful additions is 
the new cool range in three divisions, each fitted with 
the open woodwork stage over the close one, which 
seems to give a betterchance to all Orchids. Thefirstcon- 
tains a rare selection of Ltelia anceps, some of the new 
white ones being very large masses ; and the still hand¬ 
somest L. a. Dawsoni represented by several good 
specimens. The other side of the house is filled with 
Odontoglossum grande, 0. Insleayi splendens, and others 
of that class. The second division contains a fine lot of 
Odontoglossums, with scores of sturdy plants of the 
scarlet Sophronites grandiflora overhead, and the third 
section holds the Masdevallias, in bloom being M. 
Harryana in many varieties, including the rich maroon- 
striped M. H. versicolor, M. Peristeria, literally sur¬ 
rounded with flowers, M. Reichenbachiana, M. Bella, 
M. Backhousiana, &c. The Chimaeroid varieties are 
suspended overhead, and are profusely flowered. 
Cattleva and L.elia Houses. 
The several Cattleya and Laelia houses are rich in 
large specimens of L. purpurata, of which, perhaps, a 
dozen distinct varieties are here. The Laelia elegans, 
too, are equally good, one of the forms being a beat on 
the old L. e. Turneri, which is saying a great deal for it. 
Also allied to this species is the unique L. Measuresiana, 
figured in The Orchid Album , a very neat and hand¬ 
some species with a peculiarly frilled labellum. Other 
noteworthy plants are the finest Cattleya labiata 
Pescatorei, an autumn flower with three large double 
sheaths well advanced ; Cattleya Gaskelliana alba, the 
loveliest pure white Cattleya, and one of the only two 
pure white Gaskellianas we have seen. Well in bloom 
in the Cattleya house are a quantity of the showy 
Cattleya Gaskelliana, the white C. "Wagnerii, many 
forms of C. Mossise, and C. Eldorada, some superb 
Cattleya gigas, with grand expansion of their velvety 
crimson labellums ; a few C. MendeUi, C. guttata, and 
C. Schilleriana. 
In the Phakenopsis houses are flowering two grand 
forms of the lovely P. Mari®, one with twenty-four 
flowers, and the other the finest form, perhaps, which 
has yet appeared ; the flowers are large and wax-like, 
white, barred with violet. In the other warm houses 
appear Saccolabium Blumei majus, with-twenty-five or 
more spikes coming up ; many ASrides and Vandas, 
the rare and difficult to grow Saccolabium Hendersoni, 
with two spikes ; Angraecum caudatum, a grand mass 
with many heads ; Coelogyne pandurata, C. Massange- 
ana, C. cristata alba, with twenty-seven leading growths ; 
Cypripedium Schroederii, C. Lawrenceanum, C. Roezlii, 
C. Parishii, C. Godefroy®, C. niveum, Oncidium Papilio, 
0. Krameri, Pescatorea cei'ina, Coryanthes macrantha, 
Dendrobium Dearei, and other Dendrobes. 
In the other houses are several very distinct forms of 
Lycaste Deppei, L. Skinneri alba, L. aromatica, Bi- 
frenaria inodora zanthina covered with golden yellow 
flowers ; Oncidium curtum, several fine forms of An- 
guloa Ruckeri, Epidendrum prismatocarpum, Calanthe 
Textorei, &c., and in the cold house a nice lot of large- 
flowered white Odontoglossum Alexandr®, 0. crista- 
tellum, and a glowing batch of the orange-scarlet 
Epidendrum vitellinum majus, one superb form bearing 
heavy spikes of flowers, each over 2 ins. across. 
The Flowering House, &c. 
The large specimens of Cymbidium Lowianum, on 
pedestals, which have been frequently noted at The 
"Woodlands, are in fine order, the small quantity of 
Jensen’s Fish Manure which is applied to them seeming 
to impart astonishing vigour; the collection of Calanthes 
also are very strong, a little assistance of the same 
kind being probably given them. The chief flower¬ 
ing house is always gay all the year round, and now 
very charming, its centre vase having for a middle 
plant an Odontoglossum vexillarium, which, although 
only in a 24-in. pot, bears nine beautiful spikes of 
bloom. Others equally well flowered are also in the 
house, arranged with Cymbidium Lowianum, Oncidium 
varicosum, Dendrobium superbiens, D. suavissimum, 
Cattleyas, many forms of Oncidium Jonesianum, &c., 
skilfully set up with Ferns and foliage plants. 
Another flowering house, containing principally rare 
Cypripediums on the stages, and having an elegant 
fountain in the centre, has the whole of the roof 
covered with Odontoglossum citrosmum, of which we 
