406 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
February 25, 1888. 
NOMENCLATURE AT KEW. 
I have read, with interest what has been said in your 
pages concerning Holothrix secunda or Tryphia, and 
should very much like to see the little martyr con¬ 
cerning which so much has been said ; but the double 
or even multiple system of naming which has prevailed 
of late is a great puzzle to me, and more so to those 
under me whom 1 endeavour to instruct. It is greatly 
to be desired that some universal system of naming 
should be adopted, so as to prevent the increasing con¬ 
fusion that threatens to swamp the whole system of 
garden nomenclature ; and notwithstanding the age of 
progress of which we are wont to boast in'too eulogistic 
or paneygyric terms, the desired end seems to be farther 
off than ever. 
One would have expected that the Genera Plantarum, 
a voluminous work, whose compilation or elaboration 
is stated to have occupied twenty years, would have 
done much to mitigate the evil ; but I fail to see that 
such is the case. It may be a mine of wealth, but. not¬ 
withstanding, it is a sealed book to gardeners in general, 
both on account of its price and from the fact of its being 
written in a dead language. "VVe should expect, 
however, the embodiment of its principles with respect 
to nomenclature carried out in the national garden at 
Kew ; hut on comparing notes with an account of the 
book in question given by a correspondent in one of 
your contemporaries some years ago, it does not appear 
that its teachings have been followed. Within recent 
years Huntleya, Warscewiezella, Limatodes, Burling- 
tonia, Thrixspermum, and others have been used in 
naming plants, notwithstanding the assertion that they 
have been merged in other genera ; and had I access to 
the Genera Plantarum, judging from the mongrel 
system of naming, it would, no doubt, be easy to prove 
that Kew has not embraced the opportunity afforded of 
adopting a uniform system by following any particular 
authority. 
What does Odontoglossum (Miltonia?) vexillarium 
mean ? But matters are complicated when in another 
part of the house the same species may be named 
Odontoglossum vexillarium or Miltonia vexillaria. It 
seems like a dawning of the truth by a process of mental 
evolution. The question of Imantophyllum and Olivia 
was considered as settled ; but why should a specimen 
of Olivia nobilis exist and flower year after year under 
the name of C. Gardeni when any practical gardener 
could point out the difference? Veltheimia viridiflora 
and Y. viridifolia are both used in the naming of a 
batch of plants flowering at the present time. Surely 
this must be an oversight, otherwise it is high time 
the schoolmaster was abroad. 
The Palms are a fertile source of vexation to gardeners 
unacquainted with synonymy, and I must confess 
myself puzzled with a plant I have always known as 
Areca lutescens. How, this is labelled Chrysalidocarpus 
lutescens, and the newest edition of Johnson's Gar¬ 
deners Dictionary does not help me in the matter, as 
on looking up the name it refers the reader to Hyophorbe ) 
under which the plant is tabulated as H. indica, with 
H. Commersoniana and Areca lutescens as synonyms ; 
but where does the Kew name occur? [It is described 
in the Genera Plantarum, under doubtful and im¬ 
perfectly known genera, as Chrysalidocarpus of H. 
Wendland, with ITyophorbe indica and H. lutescens 
given as garden names.— Ed.] Instances might he 
multiplied, but I have no desire to trespass on your 
patience or your space. Neither do I give the above 
as “tips from Kew,” but to represent a real national 
grievance that should receive redress. Where are 
benighted gardeners to look for uniformity and correct 
naming if not to Kew ? Many of my neighbours and 
acquaintances would take greater interest and pleasure 
in inspecting that grand collection if properly and 
intelligibly named, but as it is we are apt to get 
annoyingly fogged.— A Gardener. 
-«->!«.- 
HORTICULTURAL TECHNICAL 
EDUCATION. 
To my mind the letters on this subject which have 
appeared in your columns lately omit reference to one 
of the main points of the subject. Some seem to think 
the rising generation of gardeners is falling short of 
what it ought to be, and advocate the dead languages 
as a remedy against foreign competition. So far as 
education goes, I have every confidence in our young 
gardeners holding their own ; the old school of gardeners 
is nowhere, as they never had such opportunities. 
Education is essential to every man, but it has its 
limits; it develops, hut it cannot create. Between the 
manufacturing and agricultural or horticultural in¬ 
dustries there is a wide distinction ; one exports her 
goods with tariffs, the other has to import, and is free. 
Foreign competition is the sole cause of both, but again 
distinct; one possesses superior educational advan¬ 
tages over the other. The next which concerns us 
most is the superior climatic conditions of foreign 
countries, quick and cheap transit of produce at little 
more than ballast price, which does, however, pay for 
cheap lands or low rents. The technically educated 
gardener situated near the north pole would be a farce, 
in the face of circumstances no man can alter. It is the 
more favoured that keep the British land cultivator under. 
The able paper read by Mr. Hughes at Manchester 
(p. 374) shows what an advantage Jersey has over 
us, and although at our very doors education 
(mechanical) develops or brings those products to us in 
a few hours, it takes weeks of time to obtain the same 
results in our gardens. It is evident then that climate 
can laugh at the learned gardener unfortunately so 
situated, with his Latin, French, and other such 
accomplishments. Legislation can develop and benefit 
the land cultivators by breaking the law of entail, 
lowering of rents, and railway rates, concerning the 
latter of which a bill is now on foot. Of the former I 
cannot help thinking that the advocates of them else¬ 
where are the very last to practically carry them out at 
home with their own where these poor farmers and 
Irishmen labour. "What political capital it would 
generate ! Because they bear their sufferings in silence 
and with fortitude, they command no sympathy, and 
as a last resource, stern necessity has driven these 
hardy, honest, and sturdy sons of the soil into our 
towns, to seek their living as best they may. 
The same may be said of the gardener. The breaking 
up of large places where a good staff of men was once em¬ 
ployed the necessity of the times has compelled proprietors 
to dispense with their services, and if a place be open 
there are innumerable applicants. Yerily, the struggle 
for life by which w T e are now menaced is scarcely known 
in history. In the loss of these men from the country 
there is loss of capital also, arable land being turned 
into pasture, and demesnes running to neglect. Who 
is to find capital to get them back again in the present 
unremunerative state of affairs ? 
Mr. Murphy has made several suggestions, which are 
good if practicable. Undoubtedly a school with land, 
having for its object the chief rudiments of gardening, 
would be of service. The artisans of our towns would, 
no doubt, avail themselves of this earth hunger, and 
■would be able to put a little capital in their plots. As 
workmen’s trains are now run for their special benefit 
into and from the country for ten or twelve miles, 
carrying them to and fro from many of our large 
towns, they could cultivate their little plots with better 
advantage, and be less dependent elsewhere. 
Parents in towns and the vicinity much prefer their 
children being in warehouses, workshops, or mills, 
where they can command good wages as soon as able 
to work. This is the reason that gardeners, coachmen, 
and general servants are in such high per-centage near 
thereto; consequently, there has always been this 
steady influx from the rural to suburban parts, but 
never before to the extent it is now ; but to this I 
intend to devote a separate paper with your permission, 
showing the advantages and disadvantages of town and 
country gardeners.— B. L. 
-- 
VARIEGATED BRUSSELS 
SPROUTS. 
Some two or three years ago I had growing amongst 
my Brussels Sprouts one that was strikingly interesting 
—in fact, a novelty in a variegated form I had not seen 
before. I was induced to take the plant up and pot this 
special freak of nature, with the object of saving the seed 
to enable me to perpetuate it without its being brought 
into contact with any other of the Brassica tribe, with 
which it might have got fertilised. In this Ithink I have 
succeeded in the most satisfactory manner, as the seed 
thus obtained produces from 80 to 90 per cent, of 
variegated plants, whilst some of the stems are well 
and uniformly furnished with sprouts that are nearly, 
or, in some instances, quite white ; and I may state 
those plants growing on a north border in proximity to 
the ordinary kinds, and under precisely the same treat¬ 
ment, have really withstood the frost better than the 
common ones, although subjected to 1S° of frost, which 
has been the lowest temperature registered by me this 
season. 
The frost not having been continuous, vegetation has 
not materially suffered, unless we may except the 
autumn and early winter Cauliflower and Broccoli, of 
which many acres are growm in this neighbourhood. 
One large grower told me that in one piece he lost 
something like 75 per cent, from one night’s frost, but 
the Sprouts in question have in no way been injured, 
although it might have been thought that their 
delicate white green-edged crowns, and also sprouts, 
would from their blanched and delicate appearance have 
been highly susceptible of cold, and the first to suffer 
rather than the ordinary varieties commonly cultivated. 
I herewith send you a few leaves, &e., as examples of 
this vegetable novelty, not as attaching any appreciable 
value thereto, but as an illustration of the fact of the 
existence of some of the varied and beautiful forms in 
both colour and contour obtainable by care and 
attention, even amongst the commonest of vegetable 
products. 
It is an amusing fact that the smaller leaves have 
been utilised for button-holes on very many occasions. 
Even those who have cultivated and traded in every 
branch of the profession—some specially in bronze and 
variegated Pelargoniums—have been deceived, con¬ 
ceiving the leaf to he none other than some well-defined 
type in the foliage of some new Pelargonium with which 
they were not acquainted, and surprised beyond 
measure to learn that the subject in question was none 
other than a Brassica. 
For many years I have been familiar with the 
variegated Kales, and very beautiful many of them are, 
being often used for decoration and garnishing. Up to 
the present time I have not seen the Brussels Sprouts 
so uniformly distinctive in character and disposition.— 
George Fry, Lewisham. [\Ye have tried the Sprouts 
you sent, and find that when cooked they are tender, 
excellent, and delicious in flavour. It does not seem 
(in many instances at least) that because a plant is 
variegated it is less able to withstand frost or a low 
temperature. Indeed, there is evidence to the contrary, 
which the limit on our space forbids inserting here. —Ed. ] 
- *&&&* - 
TWO PINE OLD WALNUT 
TREES. 
On the grass that surrounds the pleasant and pretty 
Yicarage at Aylsham, Norfolk, there stands amongst 
others two very fine old 'Walnut trees. On stretching 
a tape round one of them, I found the measurement of 
the bole at 3 ft. from the ground to be 18 ft. 8 ins. 
This bole, at about 10 ft. high, branches into two, and 
has a head that looks as if it had felt the effects of 
many a bygone storm. 
The nuts produced by this tree are exceedingly fine, 
measuring 5 ins. one way and over 4 ins. the other. I 
send you one, and the entire crop—a good one the past 
season—was similar in size. [Unusually large.— Ed.] 
The second tree that I measured was 13 ft. 9 ins. at a 
distance of 3 ft. from the ground, and at a height of 
6 ft. it measures 16 ft. in circumference. Here it sends 
out five or six huge branches, and shows where some 
have been cut off. 
There are also other and much younger trees of 
different kinds ; but undoubtedly these two existed 
previous to the erection of the present vicarage, which 
was built in 1701, near to the site of a former parsonage. 
The present commodious house is surrounded by a 
terrace and gently undulating grass lawns. A young 
Cedrus Libani in the centre of the grounds is a 
conspicuous object from various points outside the 
boundaries, as well as inside ; it measured 9 ft. in 
girth at 2 ft. from the ground, and bids fair to make 
a good specimen. These pleasure grounds are frequently 
thrown open to the public during the summer months, 
and some very fashionable bazaars and garden parties, 
with good music, are held here. The amiable vicar 
also allows the grounds to he open on Sunday afternoon 
during the summer season from 4 p.m. to 5 p.nn, 
where he can meet his friends and neighbours, as he is 
wont to call the working classes of his parish, whoaremore 
especially welcomed on these occasions, because they 
cannot spare the time on toiling days to have a friendly 
talk with the vicar. The horrse and grounds occupy a 
sloping bank on the north side of the handsome 
cathedral-like parish church, which was originally 
built by John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and 
occupies a commanding position from the fact of it 
standing on high ground. The grave-yard has long 
been closed to interments, and was some years ago 
levelled. It is now closely mown during the summer 
months, and has a lawn-like appearance. Being 
situated in the centre of the town, there is a public 
right-of-way through it at all times ; therefore, broad 
gravel walks, with brick-built kerbs or boundary lines 
on either side of most of them, renders the place a very 
agreeable promenade for the towns-people. 
