214 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
December 3,1887. 
A COLLECTION OF ENDIVES. 
As the season wanes, and autumn gives place to 
winter, the supply of such things as Lettuce and Endive 
becomes more and more a problem, and can only be 
done when means are taken to preserve such things 
from damping and from frost; and the combination of 
frost, fog and rain to which we have for some time past 
been subjected, tells seriously on all kinds of vegetation 
that is not perfectly hardy. We recently had the 
opportunity of taking notes and comparing the re¬ 
spective merits of a large number of varieties of Endive, 
both green and curled-leaved, in Messrs. J. Veitch & 
Sons’ trial grounds at Chiswick. This occurred after 
a period of frosty weather, or rather sharp frosty nights, 
which told visibly on the more tender kinds. The 
regularity of the plants in the rows showed how care¬ 
fully cultivation is carried on at these trial grounds, 
and the general uniformity of the plants themselves 
showed how true to name the respective varieties were. 
Plain-leaved. 
The best and the hardiest of all the plain-leaved 
kinds was that named Improved Round-leaved. The 
plants formed round tufts spreading flat on the ground, 
were very vigorous in habit, of a deep green colour, and 
from the evenness and general uniformity in appearance 
indicated that the variety was true to name. Fraser’s 
Endive was even more vigorous, however, with large 
coarser leaves, and considered inferior in point of 
quality to the above-mentioned, but was equally hardy, 
if not more so, and calculated to give a larger amount 
of produce. A more tender kind, named White 
Batavian, was characterised by the uniformly pale 
green colour of its leaves, and, if less hardy, would 
constitute more delicate eating. The habit was robust 
and free, with broad flat leaves. 
Curled-Leaved. 
The varieties classed in this section are characterised 
by the leaves being variously cut and jagged, giving 
them a more or less curled appearance, according to the 
degree of laceration. They would seem to be more 
popular than the plain-leaved kinds, and are more 
numerously represented by good and useful sorts. Of 
nine distinct varieties grown there we noted seven of 
the best kinds. White Curled had pale or yellowish 
green leaves, and the plants, although generally smaller 
in size than the others, would, no doubt, prove tender 
and delicate eating. Another good kind named Green 
Curled was represented by plants grown both from 
French and English seeds : and the latter appeared 
slightly the more robust or vigorous of the two. Large 
Curled Pancalier is a French variety with broad leaves, 
and evidently a vigorous kind, while it was quite 
distinct from any other on the square plot of ground. 
A close-habited sort forming patches on the ground 
about 9 ins. across was notable for its pale green leaves, 
while those in the centre of the crown were even paler. 
This was named Pictus, evidently from the two 
different colours of the leaves. An Italian variety 
named Comte a Cloche, and known also as Green 
Curled Summer, is most useful for cultivation in 
summer, but being tender is not much used in this 
country. A distinct-looking kind, and apparently a 
fine one, named Livius, was notable for its compact 
habit and deep green colour. The leaves were also flat 
and very much cut. The most distinct of all the cut¬ 
leaved kinds, however, was that named Moss Curled, 
which formed large bushes that were more erect in 
habit than any already mentioned. The leaves were 
very much cut, lacerated, and curled or frizzled, bright 
green, and apparently very hardy. 
— -- -=■»£■«*- 
WOODSIDE, PAISLEY. 
Situated as it is on the rising ground above Paisley, 
Woodside, the residence of Archibald Coats, Esq., 
enjoys a considerable amount of variety of scenery in 
wood, hill, and undulated or rising ground, while the 
elevated situation would ensure a more bracing and 
healthy condition of the atmosphere than the more 
densely populated lower ground. Being autumntide 
at the time of our visit, our attention was chiefly 
directed to the houses, where the high state of cultivation 
everywhere visible testified to the abilities of Mr. J. 
Beveridge as a gardener. 
We were particularly struck with the magnificent 
appearance of the Nepenthes, especially that of N. 
Rafflesiana and N. Mastersi, the pitchers of which were 
of huge dimensions and most beautifully coloured. 
N, Hookeri, N. Chelsoni, N. Lawrenceana, N. 
ampullacea, and N. compacta were also good according 
to their kind, but excepting the two first mentioned 
they do not attain the imposing proportions of N. 
Mastersi and N. Rafflesiana. The latter have been 
grown in the same pots for the last ten years, and are 
simply top-dressed, a method of procedure very differ¬ 
ent from that pursued by some cultivators who re-pot 
their plants about every second year. The whole of 
them are grown in a low span-roofed house kept at a 
high temperature, and hang over an open tank of water 
also kept very warm. The result was a close steamy 
atmosphere, which, as the sequel showed, was very 
beneficial to a high development of the pitchers, but 
from which we were glad to beat a hasty retreat. 
Other stove plants showed that great skill and care 
were devoted to their cultivation. They included many 
highly ornamental subjects, such as Fittonia argyro- 
neura, F. Pearcei, Cyrtodeira fulgida, Pelionia 
Daveauana, P. pulchra, and Calathea rosea-picta, 
which we seldom find absent from any good collection. 
The broad bronzy foliage of Begonia Gloire de Leaux, 
and the beautifully marked leaves of B. Louise Chretien 
were very conspicuous and attractive. Anthurium 
Dechardi, with white spathes and large leaves, con¬ 
trasted finely with the commoner and better-known, 
but, at the same time, more useful species. In another 
house the sweet-scented Pancratium speciosum was 
carrying six spikes of flowers of great size. Fine pans 
of Selaginella Martensi, S. Yolgelii and S. serpens 
occupied the side stages of a house chiefly devoted to 
Ferns and finely-foliaged stove plants. A curious but 
pretty Fern was Davallia hemiptera from Borneo, with 
half-moon-shaped pinnte, while Goniophlebium sub- 
auriculatum and Woodwardia orientalis were good 
basket Ferns. The curiously proliferated fronds of the 
latter were very striking. 
The collection of Orchids at Woodside was commenced 
about four years ago, and is now extensive, well grown 
and in a clean healthy condition. In the warmer 
section a particularly fine form of Odontoglossum 
grande, with intensely coloured markings, had flowers 
that measured 5 ins. by 6 ins. across petals and sepals. 
The autumn-flowering Cattleya Gaskelliana and the 
magnificent C. Dowiana were also responsive to their 
season of flowering, and certainly looked very gay. 
Some variety was also produced by Dendrobium 
formosum giganteum and Oncidium papilio. Most of 
the Dendrobiums had, however, gone to rest, and were 
conspicuous for the fine growths they had made. This 
was particularly noticeable in the case of D. Falconeri 
and some others with very long and proportionately 
plump and well-developed pseudo-bulbs. Oncidium 
varicosum Rogersii had already hung out its huge 
panicles of bloom, while Restrepia elegans and the 
intense red Epidendrum-like Broughtonia sanguinea 
were equally admirable in their way. Amongst cool 
Orchids Odontoglossum Alexandra was carrying panicled 
spikes of bloom, which testified to the cultural treat¬ 
ment it received. Some of the Masdevallias, such as 
M. Yeitchii and M. Lindeni, were still in bloom. 
In the Palm house were some fine specimens of Sea- 
fortliia elegans, Phoenix rupieola and Livistonia 
Commersoni, interspersed with smaller ones, and setoff, 
especially on the side stages, with various stove plants, 
among which Croton Warreni was very conspicuous by 
its yellow, crimson, and green twisted leaves, many of 
which measured from 2 ft. to 3 ft. in length. There 
were also fine specimens of Adiantum "Williamsi, A. 
Farleyense and A. Pacottii. The curious spiny-leaved 
Dasylirion acrotrichum, tipped with its withered fibro- 
vascular tissues, ivas also located here. A healthy 
collection of Heaths occupied the stages of the green¬ 
house, which also contained Lapageria rosea alba, 
Francoaramosa, Tremandra verticillata, large specimens 
of T. hirsuta, Nerine Fothergillii major, and a varied 
assortment of other things in good order. 
A pleasant bit of variation was afforded by a fernery 
devoted to the cultivation of filmy Ferns and Mosses. 
The back wall was covered with green Moss collected 
from its native haunts, and through and among this 
the long trailing stems of Lycopodium clavatum 
rendered the whole very charming and attractive. 
This plan might more often be adopted in cool ferneries, 
where our native Club Mosses might be turned to great 
practical utility, and their beauty as decorative subjects 
be more fully demonstrated than they are at present. 
Among filmy Ferns were five pieces of Hymenophyllum 
demissum, H. tunbridgense, Triehomanes radicans, 
large pieces of T. reniforme grown in pans filled with 
sandstone and a little fibry peat; specimens of Todea 
superba and T. intermedia. 
Another fine feature of the place is an imposing and 
well-built structure, internally designed so as to re¬ 
present a Fern jungle. The lower basin is occupied 
with a pool of water supplied from a higher source, and 
which trickles down the rocky declivities and rugged 
escarpments. Tree Ferns—Cyathea australis and C. 
medullaris—occupy projecting ledges at a high level, 
and other species, such as C. AVilliamsi, occupy lower 
levels, which can be viewed from a narrow rocky path 
leading round the sides of the house at some consider¬ 
able height above the basement. The rocks are built 
of water-worn stones from the Isle of ArraD, and 
over these Marchantia polymorph.a grows in great 
quantity and beauty. Other fine-foliaged plants 
occupy suitable and prominent places, and altogether 
the house, which is kept at a low temperature, is very 
attractive, and enjoys a pleasant atmosphere for any 
who may have the pleasure of inspecting it. 
The rockery is laid out on a bold and rugged or 
undulated piece of ground, which, from the nature of 
the place, has “ great capabilities,” as Capability Brown 
would have said. One of the lower levels was occupied 
by a small pond or basin of water, in which the Bog 
Bean (Menyanthes trifoliata), the yellow Gentian YTort, 
Lymnanthemum nymphoeoides, and Nymphrea alba 
rubra grew luxuriantly. The steeper places at the 
time of our visit were gay with Polygonum vac- 
cinifolium, P. Brunonis, and Cornus canadensis. The 
fine-leaved Muhlenbeckia complexa and Saxifraga 
longifolia were also choice and attractive. The latter 
was planted in perpendicular crevices of the rocks, and 
was particularly fine. 
- — - 
HAPTON HOUSE, BURNLEY. 
At the present time a visit to Hapton House, near 
Burnley, the residence of J. Riley, Esq., would be well 
repaid, no matter from what distance the visitor came. 
Although surrounded on every side with huge chimneys 
of manufacturing premises, emitting volumes of smoke 
both night and day, when once in the hands of the 
courteous host, or his able gardener, Mr. Lambert, the 
beauties of the garden do not seem to suffer on that 
account. The first thing that will strike the eye on 
entering the houses is the tidiness and cleanliness all 
around you ; next to this being the plants in flower, of 
which there are a goodly number at the present time. 
The first to attract our notice were two plants of Yanda 
Sanderiana in full flower, one a superb variety, which I 
was told had been in bloom for the past ten weeks, and 
is now full of freshness, and likely to be so for some 
time. In the same house is a magnificent specimen 
of Ccelogyne Massangeana, with four spikes of its 
beautiful flowers fully expanded ; this is the fourth 
time this plant has flowered this year—a very unusual 
occurrence. In the same house, Oncidium tigrinum is 
well represented by a dozen or more of its graceful 
spikes of flowers in full beauty ; there is one amongst 
them deserving of special mention, having sepals and 
petals of unusual width and clearness of marking, with 
a lip twice the usual size. Other Oncidiums in flower 
are 0. Forbesii flexuosum, 0. incurvum, 0. aitissimum, 
the charming 0. cheirophorum, with unusually long 
panicles of its beautiful yellow flowers. 0. phalienopsis 
is the picture of health, and is just beginning to 
expand its beautiful flowers. 0. Krameri and 0. 
papilio were flowering side by side in profusion. There 
is also a variety of 0. macranthum, named nanum, 
which is earlier in flowering, and in my opinion far 
preferable to the ordinary form, which is in the same 
house and sending out a spike some 3 ft. or 4 ft. long, 
while the one named nanum has a spike only some 18 
ins. long, with four or five branclilets and cairying 
from twelve to fifteen fully-expanded flowers. Odon- 
toglossums were not so forward in bloom, but judging 
from the army of spikes which are to be seen they will 
be very fine. Just beginning to open its flowers was a 
fine variety cf 0. Andersonianum ; also a form which I 
think will prove to be the scarce variety 0. Wilckeanum. 
0. Bictonense album was also in flower; on seeing it 
one cannot wonder at the eagerness of Orchid amateurs 
to possess it. 
Numbers of Lcelia anceps were about to burst their 
flower-buds, one already open being a grand form, 
having broad sepals and petals of a deep rose colour, 
and a lip of the richest amethyst. A plant of the 
white variety, from an importation (out of which has 
flowered a fair percentage of L. a. Schroderi), has a 
spike of unusual vigour. Ltelia autumnalis lights up the 
house, there being a large number of this favourite in 
full flower. One may be singled out from amongst 
them on account of its vivid colour. The bulbs of this 
plant are not larger than ordinary bulbs of Lielia 
furfuracea, thus crushing the idea that the largest- 
bulbed forms give the best varieties. 
The visitor is next introduced to the house wherein 
are a lot of Cypripediums in flower. There are several 
