778 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
August 6, 1887. 
DUTCH BULB CULTURE. 
In an interesting brochure, entitled, “How I Came 
to Grow Bulbs,” Mr. Robert Sydenham, Tenby Street, 
Birmingham, remarks :—“ When I first went specially 
to Holland to see why the Dutchmen were able to grow 
bulbs better than they can be grown in any other 
country, I quite realised, when there, the secret of their 
success. The land is all perfectly flat; the soil is 
nothing but fine sand, such as is seen by the seaside, 
which is always about one even moisture, for about 
18 ins. to 24 ins. under the surface is always water ; 
consequently, however dry the weather is, the moisture 
drawn from the water always keeps the bulbs in one 
even state of dampness, as the soil is never dry 3 ins. 
under the surface. As a proof of this, I am told the 
Dutch can plant young Lettuce out in the hottest 
weather, and the plants will hardly feel the shift after 
the first night. Should heavy rain ever fall, it drains 
through the sand immediately. The Dutch always 
cover their bulb-beds over during the winter with straw 
or reeds, about 4 ins. thick, to keep out the frost, and 
they tell me the great secret of success is to keep the 
bulbs in an even temperature and away from the frost. 
The land where the bulbs are grown is very very richly 
manured with cow-manure every second or third year, 
the ground being covered with it 6 ins. or 8 ins. thick. 
There is such a demand for cow-manure in the bulb 
districts that it is brought from all parts of Holland, 
and constitutes quite a trade ; in fact, many dairymen 
make nearly as much out of their cows’ manure as they 
do out of their milk. Hyacinths are only grown in 
the same ground once in three years, then a crop of 
Tulips or Crocus, the third year often standing idle. 
“Bad bulbs are to be seen in Holland as well as good 
ones, but the poor kinds are generally the one or two- 
year-old bulbs, it taking from four to six years for a 
Hyacinth to mature properly. This accounts for the 
high prices of some of the. varieties which grow very 
slowly, and also for the lower prices of the doubtful 
bulbs usually sent to auctions, which are really only 
the waste or doubtful bulbs of the large growers, or the 
one and two-year-old bulbs of small growers, who 
cannot afford to wait till they are properly matured for 
their returns. 
11 1 found that in Holland, as here, there are often 
failures in some of the best bulbs, which the growers 
cannot account for. To protect themselves as much as 
possible, they always plant the different varieties in 
several different fields, as often a disease called black 
or white ‘ snot ’ or rot will destroy the whole of one 
variety in a field, leaving all the others untouched, 
and the variety that is thus destroyed in one field may 
be perfectly healthy in the next. This, I find, is a 
source of great loss to the large growers, who have from 
thirty to fifty acres of bulbs. To protect themselves as 
much as possible, they keep one man expressly to walk 
up and down the different beds or gardens to look out 
for any bulbs that show any signs of disease, or any 
that have been planted in the wrong beds ; in either 
case they are taken out and thrown away. Rats are 
great enemies of the bulb growers; When the straw or 
reeds are taken from the beds, the growers often find 
they have been at work during the winter, and have 
eaten nearly the whole of a good-sized bed of bulbs. ” 
On the subject of Hyacinth cultivation by amateurs, 
Mr. Sydenham gives it as his opinion that where most 
fail in growing them is that they do not give them 
enough air. “Hyacinths are hardy, and the more 
air they get the better they will flower. It is quite sad 
to see how some amateurs, when they have potted 
Hyacinths or placed them in glasses, put them in a 
close room or on the mantelpiece, where they get 
suffocated, so to speak, early in life, and they seldom 
if ever recover. They ought rather to be put out of 
doors every favourable opportunity, or, better still, 
kept in a cold frame plunged in cocoa-fibre or sand, 
opening the frame in all weather except during frost. 
This may delay their flowering, but when they do flower 
they will be finer, and last twice as long in bloom. The 
end of March to the end of April, according to the 
season, is when the Dutch expect these bulbs to bloom. 
This season (1887) it was well into May before the best 
Hyacinths were seen to perfection. In England we 
want them from January onwards ; but this can only 
be done by forcing, and the more they are forced the 
more necessity there is for air, otherwise the strength 
of the bulb goes into the green leaves, and makes them 
drawn and long, instead of into the spike of bloom.” 
FRUIT NOTES FROM PRESTON. 
Apricots are not much grown in this district; but 
where they are, and the soil suits them, they are a very 
heavy crop. The same may be said of Plums, including 
Damsons. Peaches and Nectarines set so thick that 
as many as a score of fruit was counted on a shoot 
12 ins. long of Bellegarde Peach. All the above are 
swelling well considering the dry weather. Morello 
Cherries are giving way in places, and as they are 
changing colour they drop ; dessert Cherries were and 
are still good. Some varieties of Apples and Pears 
that seldom bear have a good crop on this year, as for 
instance, Golden Noble in this garden has not had such 
a crop on only once in seven years. Small fruit has 
been abundant, and the size has varied according to 
the nature of the soil and rainfall ; heavy showers 
having fallen in places, whilst only a few drops in 
others, perhaps only a mile or two distant. 
Black Currants, from the method of pruning them, 
suffered severely in most gardens from the gale on the 
19th of May, when the ground was covered with the 
racemes of flowers and partially set fruit. Honey- 
dew has troubled the trees in odd places. We have 
had the finest lot of Strawberries in these gardens this 
year that we ever had, both on old and young plants, 
but some of the former are all now dying for want of 
water. We have had good crops most years, but the 
weather has been invariably showery at picking time, 
and many of the best fruits have been lost. We have 
had no rain on them this season since they commenced 
to flower ; what had fallen we secured from evapo¬ 
ration by a heavy mulching of short litter, which we 
were fortunate enough to possess. Mowings from the 
lawn are useless in this garden, and, I should say, in any 
other in a wet season, when it is advisable to protect 
the fruit from dirt, but litter answers for this as well 
as for mulching. 
The set of fruit in all gardens was marvellous, and 
as many as 200 fruit were counted on one plant of 
Barnes’ Prolific, a local variety much grown in the 
district; but many old plants of this and other sorts 
in light soils shrivelled up before scarcely a fruit was 
picked. Potatos are few in number, and miserably 
small ; there has been no rain to reach their roots since 
the tops appeared above the soil, nor, indeed, very 
little since they were planted, and that little was in 
the shape of snow. 
Last night, July 26th, we had several hours of rain, 
but on lifting some plants of winter greens this 
morning, with the view of transplanting them, lumps 
of soil adhering to the roots were dust dry. Our 
“oldest inhabitant” informs me that he cannot 
recollect such a season for heat and drought in this 
part. — W. P. It. 
-- 
ONIONS AT CHISWICK. 
There is quite a large trial of these at Chiswick, and 
having made fair progress towards maturation, the 
visitor is enabled to gain some idea of their characters. 
How many there are of the White Spanish or Reading 
type, and what a striking family resemblance they bear 
to each other! Take the Banbury, the Banbury 
Improved, Main Crop, a very good selection ; Veitch’s 
Main Crop, and Improved Wroxton, which is slightly 
globular-shaped, but mainly flat. Sion Yellow Flat 
(Vilmorin) and Rousham Park Hero are all of the White 
Spanish type, the latter being the best, probably 
because the seeds were saved from bulbs highly culti¬ 
vated, and therefore a good strain might be looked for. 
Here, at Chiswick, where they are all growing together, 
it would take something more than a human being to 
show the essential difference between them. 
The old two-bladed Onion is here—an old kind 
formerly used as a pickling variety, but now superseded 
by other sorts. It produces two blades of top—hence 
its name, though as many as three can be counted upon 
some of them. Nutting’s Golden Ball is a kind of 
globular-shaped Danvers’ Yellow. Improved Globe, 
from Messrs. Carter & Co., is a fine stock of the Brown 
Globe, or James’s Keeping. Dark Red Mezieres is of 
the Blood-red type, and so is the Bright Red August. 
There is a bright red form of the Mezieres Onion also, 
and the name is derived from a village in France, where 
this particular form has been cultivated for a very long 
period. The Pear-shaped Early Yellow is a good form 
of the White Globe kind, with a yellow skin. Large 
Yellow Trebons is a very excellent Onion, and can be 
had very fine when sown in the autumn with the 
Tripolis ; but does not stand the English winters well. 
The Large Brown St. Laurent (Yilmorin) is of the 
Brown Globe type. The Yellow Lescure is a good form 
of the Yellow Zittau, and White Round Early Hard 
Dutch a late form of the Nocera Onion. 
After all, there are not many really distinct types of 
Onions. There is the White Spanish, or Reading, and 
the Brown Spanish, or Deptford, or Strasburgh. There 
are the Brown and White Globes, the Blood-red, 
Tripoli, and Silver-skinned, and thus we get a list of 
the leading types. All the others are more or less 
related to one of these. 
-—> 37 <—- 
CAMBRIDGE LODGE, 
CAMBERWELL. 
Go whenever one may there will always be some¬ 
thing to interest or instruct in such an extensive 
collection of Orchids as that of Mr. R. J. Measures at 
Camberwell. The season is practically over for the bulk 
of the more popular Orchids anywhere; but where 
variety prevails, no month of the year is without its 
quota of interesting or useful things. The labour of the 
cultivator is not, however, at an end for the season, as 
that is incessant, and at no time must greater attention 
be paid to Orchids than when making their growth. 
At a recent inspection we were highly pleased with 
the clean and healthy appearance of every plant, 
whether in flower or not, a matter which reflects great 
credit on the care and attention exercised on them by 
Mr. Simpkins, the gardener. In one house a stalwart¬ 
looking collection of Yandas in vigorous health occupied 
the centre stage. It may not be out of place or 
inappropriate to state that not only Yandas but 
TErides are kept in this house, and the temperature is 
kept so cool and enjoyable compared with those 
sweltering hot and steamy houses in which such 
tropical Orchids are usually grown, that we were 
agreeably surprised with the results. The deep green 
foliage and stiff leathery leaves made under this 
treatment is very noticeable. The amount of growth 
for any one season is certainly not great, but the stems 
are short-jointed, and the leaves are retained fora great 
length of time. 
Vanda suavis Leeana, flowering at the present time, 
shows a close rich spotting on the purest of white 
grounds, which latter is always a telling point in good 
varieties of V. suavis. The labellum is, also, much 
deeper in colour than usual. A fine form of Y. tricolor, 
on the other hand,'showed its rich spotting of brown 
on a yellow ground. A magnificent specimen of Y. 
Lowii showed its spikes advancing from the axils of its 
great rigid deep green foliage. In this same cool 
temperature, a great quantity of Hkides odoratum were 
showing their spikes abundantly, and the foliage was 
healthy, rigid and clean. A very distinct species is 
7E. Leonii, with broad expanded flowers, slightly 
spotted and tipped with purple on a white ground. The 
median and longitudinal area of the lip is deep purple. 
An altogether different type is represented by HI. 
Ballantineanum, which has an erect or infolded lip, in 
the way of Hi. odoratum. Its yellow colour, however, 
marks it out as a distinct and fine thing ; the sepals 
and petals are, on the contrary, soft purple and white. 
Two fine pieces of Hi. Lawrencianum are not yet in 
flower. The well-known Hi. Fieldingi showed con¬ 
siderable vigour in a large-branched, many-flowered 
spike. A form introduced about twelve months ago, and 
named Hi. Reedii, has slender closely flowered spikes, 
similar to Saccolabium guttatum, and spotted with 
purple on a soft rose or white ground. 
Some rare and excellent Orchids, grand specimens 
of cultivation, were to be seen in several other houses. 
Chysis aurea, usually considered a difficult species, was 
pushing up two or three flower-spikes from each pseudo¬ 
bulb ; and Dendrobium speciosum Hillii showed con¬ 
siderable skill in cultivation, inasmuch as the pseudo¬ 
bulbs had attained the enormous length of 2 ft., with 
foliage of corresponding vigour. Two grand plants of 
the rare Dendrobium Gibsoni were noticeable for their 
size, and a fine specimen of Miltonia ccerulea is believed 
to be unique. How very distinct is Phaius bicolor, 
with its long yellow tube and purple lamina, changing 
to white some time before the flower becomes spent and 
fades ! The vigour of this plant is also very noticeable, 
and the leafless flower-stems contrast strongly with the 
leafy upright ones of its near relative, Thunia Mar- 
