84 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
October 9, 1886. 
between carrier, salesman, market-owner, and 
shopkeeper or dealer. The metropolitan 
markets, for instance, seem to exercise a sort of 
mesmeric power over the growers. Nay, if 
they know that glut, glut is everywhere, still 
there is no cessation of the supply, no seeking 
for other outlets. All is forced into one centre, 
with the result that the eventual price of the 
fruit is treble to the consumer, simply because 
cost of distribution is so great. 
Without doubt also, in this old country, 
growers of fruit are terribly handicapped. We 
have a very uncertain climate, and no man can 
safely forecast, even when the greatest promise 
is evident, what the eventual product of a 
season will he. We have heavy burthens in 
the shape of rates, taxes, and tithes of a national 
character, and rents, wages, manures, and other 
expenses of a personal character. All those, 
especially when compared with the state of 
things existent in newer countries, are terribly 
heavy and burdensome; they threaten to 
strangle fruit cultivation presently, and thus 
kill the bird which has laid the golden eggs. 
Even our countiy, in becoming the market of 
the world, has attracted to it the produce of all 
climes where the cost of production is almost 
nothing. In the effort to combat such various 
difficulties we may do something, but it seems 
obvious that little is possible short of vast 
agrarian changes, which will relieve land and 
the hapless cultivator of the burthens which 
now fetter him. 
The outlook at present is not a pleasing one, 
and with every desire to stare difficulties in the 
face, it is hard indeed to take a very optimist 
view of the future prospects of fruit culture. 
We venture to think that of all the develop¬ 
ments of market gardening, that which relates 
to fruit culture is the most important. Any¬ 
thing, therefore, which can serve to promote the 
welfare and prosperity of so important an in¬ 
terest merits our most anxious consideration. 
May we appeal to those amongst our readers 
who are closely engaged in this branch of gar¬ 
dening to give us some of their experiences, 
aspirations, or suggestions, such as Mr. Harvey 
did a fortnight ago, calculated to throw light 
upon the probable future of fruit culture ? 
-- 
We understand that the Council of the Royal 
Caledonian Horticultural Society have awarded The 
Neill Prize, which is of the value of £40, to Mr. 
Malcolm Dunn, of Dalkeith Palace Gardens. 
Primroses are stated to be in full bloom in the woods 
around Ashford, Kent ; and at Mersham, in the same 
neighbourhood, two Apple trees are in full blossom. 
A general meeting of the members of the National 
Chrysanthemum Society will be held on Monday 
evening next, at 7 p.m., at the Old Pour Swans, 
Bishopsgate, E.C. 
Mr. Ryder, late gardener to Lord Bateman, Shobdon 
Court, Herefordshire, has been engaged as gardener to 
Sir William Anderson Ogg, Oakfield, Dulwich, S.E. 
In Canonbury Square, Islington, near to Queen 
Elizabeth’s Tower, two Horse-Chestnut trees have 
taken advantage of the recent remarkably high tempe¬ 
rature to come out with a second crop of leaves this 
season ; one of them has three spikes of flowers open. 
Those rvho are desirous of becoming candidates for 
the pension of the Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent 
Institution should send in their applications at once 
to the secretary, Mr. E. R, Cutler, 50, Parliament 
Street, S.W. 
Chrysanthemum growers should make a note of 
the fact that the Floral Committee of the National 
Chrysanthemum Society meets at the Royal Aquarium 
on Wednesday next at 1.30 p.m., and also on the fol¬ 
lowing dates at the same hour-.—October 27th, No¬ 
vember 10th and 24th, and December 8tli. 
We understand that the Commissioners of Woods 
and Forests have entrusted Messrs. Dickson & Co., 
Waterloo Place, Edinburgh, with a commission to 
supply a !a r ge quantity of forest trees from their nur r 
series, to be delivered in the Isle of Man in November. 
The trees, which consist of Larch, Austrian Pine, Alder, 
Birch and Scotch Fir, are wanted in connection with 
the carrying out of a resolution by the Commissioners 
to proceed with extensive planting on the Crown lands 
on the south of the Island, which at present are 
practically waste—growing nothing but furze. 
A Covent Garden Potato Salesman has requested 
his clients to cover the trucks with straw after this 
date. If the weather continues warm, a thin layer over 
the Potatos will be sufficient, but it should be put on 
in any case, as it makes the trucks look brighter, and 
the tubers make a better sale. 
A course of Lectures on Agriculture will be 
given at the City of London College, White Street, 
Moorfields, E.C., on Tuesday evenings, at 7 p.m., by 
Mr. Bernard Dyer, F.C.S., F.I.C. The course of 
lectures will treat of soils, plant life, manures, tillage 
operations, live stock and food. 
-- 
WOODSIDE, FARNHAM ROYAL. 
With some 2,000 seedling Cinerarias still in small 
pots, and about 800 propagated plants, including all 
the best kinds raised by Mr. James during the past six 
years also still in 60’s, it is evident that Woodside is 
not now quite so gay within the houses as it will be 
about next April. Only those privileged to see the grand 
show of flowers which Cinerarias give here, can realise 
how beautiful a display is made. The wonderful per¬ 
fection of form, allied to breadth of petal and general 
substance, are features in which no other strain excels, 
or, indeed, equals. We have heard it remarked that 
the flowers shown from time to time by Mr. James have 
been dressed ; certainly, if such be the case, then 
myriads must have also been dressed, as the same 
singular even-rayed appearance in the petals is found all 
over the plants in the blooming season. 
The chief plants grown here for the production of seed 
are, Cinerarias, Chinese Primroses and Calceolarias, 
and these may be said to furnish a succession of bloom 
for six months of the year. Cyclamen are also grown, 
but not in so marked a degree at present; however, 
there is no doubt but that these will form a striking 
feature shortly. Whilst the Cinerarias are in 60’s, 
Calceolarias are tiny plants not long pricked out from 
the seed pans, and Primulas are in diverse-sized pots, 
ranging from 32’s down to small 60’s. During the 
summer, some important alterations have been made in 
the glass houses, for the three admirable spans have each 
had 31 ft. more of length added. Thus for the plants 
named, with a few other things, there are now 333 ft. 
run by 11 ft. wide houses, and as the stages on either 
side are 4 ft. wide, there is the considerable area of 
2660 square ft. of space on which to stand plants. 
Lighter or more suitable houses for the culture of the 
particular plants named could hardly be found ; some 
important alterations, too, have been made in the 
heating arrangements, for, satisfied of the value of top¬ 
heating, Mr. James has had in two of the houses an 
inch iron pipe run along on either side close up to the 
bars and about 4 ft. from the plants. These pipes also 
help to support the roofs, for they are gripped at 
intervals by means of uprights standing on the stages. 
These pipes heat wonderfully soon after the fire is on. 
In the other house only one pipe is employed. Not 
only in the case of Primulas, but with Cinerarias and 
Calceolarias it is found of the first importance that 
damp should be dried up quickly, or otherwise the 
pollen is injured materially. Then, on either side, 
the stages are removed from the plates, so that there 
is an interval of some 2 ins. wide between the 
stage and side of the house. Through this the heat 
rises from the large pipes below, so that every effort is 
made to enable a fairly dry atmosphere to be main¬ 
tained during the blooming and seeding seasons. Then 
in the new parts of the houses the staging is of corru¬ 
gated iron, made specially in 4 ft. widths ; this tips or 
slopes very gently indeed to the sides of the houses, 
and being impervious to moisture, is for the purpose 
almost imperishable ; upon this is laid small washed 
shingle, filling up the hollows so as to make a fairly 
even surface on which to stand the plants. This sort 
of staging is being largely adopted now by market 
plant-growers. 
Of Chinese Primulas there is a large and very in¬ 
teresting collection. The old white is well represented, 
as also is a newer and finer white, the product of cross 
fertilisation, and which does not flush its blooms with 
pink so much as does the older variety. Alba magnifica 
has also been crossed with a good white, with the 
result, that whilst the peculiar habit of that good kind 
is retained, the calyx or flower-sheath is so shortened, 
that the blooms are not forced off, as is the case with 
the original kind. That a Primula having such an 
admirable habit, and very free blooming, should have 
yet, as a rule, carried such thin heads was a puzzle to 
many ; but the cause is now made clear, as it arose 
from the long form of the calyx of the flower, which 
literally lifted the blooms off the truss. A year or two 
since, a cross was effected between one of the plain¬ 
leaved whites and a purple kind, and curiously enough 
from the batch of seed produced came white, purple, 
and reddish or lavender mottled flowers on both plain¬ 
leaved and Fern-leaved forms, making six kinds in all. 
These are all good, and the white is of a fine pure 
nature, and produced under the leafage. It is a curious 
fact, but true, that we almost always find the purest 
white flowers in Chinese Primroses on the dark-leaved 
foliage. 
■ Red forms are found in a fine strain which originated 
at Chalfont Park, and also in Mr. James’ own selection 
of the Meteor type—rich and vivid in hue and large in 
flower. Purples and rose tints are also present, as also 
some of the rich carmines and pinks, which are so 
delicately tinted and are so beautiful. A batch from a 
couple of named kinds, obtained from a seed-house in 
the midlands, is a very disappointing lot, the leaf¬ 
stalks being long and the flowers pale of hue. Mr. 
James is working to obtain good sturdy habits as well 
as fine flowers. A semi-double red, which itself sported 
from Chiswick Red a year or two since, has this year 
thrown a foliage sport in six plants, the leaves re¬ 
sembling those of a Cyclamen, being rounded and solid 
and only slightly serrated ; this is the oddest sport in 
the way of foliage yet seen in the Chinese Primrose. 
A batch of the blue kind is also being grown, but 
further reference must be left until the blooming 
season. Outdoors there is a big breadth of the fine 
Giant Pyramidal Red Mignonette, a very superb strain 
of this sweet-smelling plant, and the earlier spikes of 
seed are being harvested. 
Pentstemons are good, and from a batch of seedlings 
some very fine flowers are obtained. The stock is from 
Scotland, but the soil here is good and holding ; hence 
the plants thrive well and produce huge spikes of 
flowers. Antirrhinums, also, are good, and some of the 
paler forms of Delphiniums from seed are very refined 
and beautiful. Fancy Pansies thrive well under a 
north fence, where the soil is cool. Being naturally 
watered by springs, the soil is much more retentive than 
might have been expected, considering the elevated 
position of Mr. James’ present house at Woodside. 
--- 
CALANTHE WILLIAMSII. 
The genus Calanthe is a favourite one with all 
lovers of Orchids, on account of their very easy 
cultivation and free-blooming proclivities during the 
dullest months of the winter. Some or other of the 
species, or fine garden varieties, are largely grown by 
many for decorative purposes, with whom Orchids are 
not a speciality. During the last few years some very 
fine seedlings have made their appearance ; and also 
from Eastern Asia have come some beautiful and 
distinct forms of which, as yet, we know nothing of the 
origin. Among the latter must be included the fine 
acquisition introduced by Mr. B. S. Williams, and 
which has been well figured and described under the 
name of C. vestita Williamsii in The Orchid Album, 
t. 134. 
As stated in the work just alluded to, this variety 
“adds anew charm to the genus, since it will intro¬ 
duce among our winter-blooming Calantlies a most 
distinct and showy form, which will be welcomed by all 
plant growers as being superior in beauty to all those 
which have preceded it.” It is a deciduous plant, 
with pseudo-bulbs like those of C. vestita Turneri, 
and a spike of flowers of a similar character. The sepals 
and petals are white, faintly margined with rosy 
crimson ; and the lip and column are deep rosy crimson 
with an intense crimson eye. It flowers during 
December, January, and February, is a strong grower, 
and requires similar treatment to the other deciduous 
forms. Sir. Williams, than whom few have done 
more for orchid culture, is to be congratulated on the 
possession of so thoroughly good a novelty. 
