502 
THE GARDENIN G WORLD 
April 7, 1888. 
is based on actual experience. I planted out a bench 
of Mrs. John Laing for early forcing, and they were 
pruned and tied down Sept. 17th last; they were in 
bloom Nov. 23rd, and we continued cutting flowers until 
Jan. 6th, 1883. The bench was 3 ft. by 145 ft., and 
from it we cut 2,000 blooms. Can anyone give me 
any data where more blooms were produced from any 
other hybrid Rose occupying that amount of space and 
blooming at that season of the year ?” 
The late Mr. Augustus Mongredien.—The death is 
announced of Mr. A. Mongredien, on the 30th nit., at 
Forest Hill, at the age of eighty-one. In 1870 he 
ssued his work on Trees and Shrubs for English 
Plantations, being a selection’and description of the most 
ornamental trees and shrubs, native and foreign, which 
will flourish in the open air in our climate. In 1874 
he was the chairman of the board of directors of the 
Heatherside Nurseries Company, Limited, which had 
extensive nurseries at Bagshot, extending over 270 
acres, but it had a short-lived existence. Mr. 
Mongredien prepared The Heatherside Manual of 
Hardy Trees and Shrubs, with descriptions and selec¬ 
tions, which was published in 1874-75, and which is a 
most useful list for reference. , Mr. Mongredien was a 
great advocate of a Free Trade policy, and he prepared 
and published several important works in advocacy of 
this policy, and also pamphlets which were issued by 
the Cobden Club. His life was one long service for the 
promotion of the good of humanity, and he closed a 
long life in peace and honour. 
The Dutch Flower Trade.—In July last we an¬ 
nounced the intention of the General Royal Union of 
Dutch Bulb Growers of Haarlem to endeavour, as far 
as possible, to stop the trade in cut flowers, which is 
considered detrimental to the bulb trade. Resolutions 
in support of this movement were passed at the sixty- 
eighth general meeting of the society, held on the 30th 
of January last,'and at the sixty-ninth general meeting, 
held on the 26th ult., the results of the movement 
were communicated to the meeting, showing that 2,081 
bulb growers and bulb salesmen had signed a declar¬ 
ation not to sell any cut flowers of Hyacinths, Tulips, 
Narcissus, Ranunculus, and Anemones for trade pur¬ 
poses, nor to deal with those who sell such flowers or 
who refuse to sign the declaration, and the number 
has increased daily since. There were only 107 names 
on the list of refusals, but many of these are expected 
to sign the resolution by-and-bye. 
Roman Hyacinths.—We regret to learn from Mr. 
Bremond, of Ollioules, near Toulon, that the weather 
this winter has been more severe in that part of the 
south of France than has been experienced for some 
twenty years, and that as a result the bulbs of Roman 
Hyacinths and other things grown in that district will 
not be so low in price as they were last season. Mr. 
Bremond was the first to grow bulbs on a large scale 
in the district round Ollioules, and also the first 
exporter from thence to this country. Besides double 
and single Roman Hyacinths, Paper White Narciss, 
Ornithogalum, Allium, and Lilium candidum are 
also cultivated in immense quantities, and all have 
felt the ill effects of the severe winter—the Lilium 
perhaps the least of all. The “Romans” having 
been found so useful for forcing, the demand for 
them in this country has increased enormously 
during the last few years, and especially last season 
was this the case, when the supply was not much more 
than equal to the demand, so that any misfortune 
which befalls the crop is a misfortune to the buyer as 
well as to the grower. 
Early-flowering Hyacinths. — Among the many 
varieties of bulbous plants cultivated in Holland, there 
has not, of late years, been so much attention paid to 
those sorts which are fit for very early forcing as might 
have been and as is even desirable. The aim has 
always been to get fine and large flowers, and these are 
not always found to be among the earliest to bloom. 
For many purposes, however, early-flowering varieties 
are wanted, and there is just now a tendency among 
growers to give them more attention than heretofore. 
In January last a show of flowering Hyacinths and 
Tulips was held in Overveen, near Haarlem, which suc¬ 
ceeded pretty well, and at a recent general meeting of 
the General Royal Union for the cultivation of flower 
roots at Haarlem, it was decided that on the 24th, 
25th, and 26th December next there shall be held 
another show of flowering bulbous and tuberous-rooted 
plants. The programme contains forty classes, viz., 
for Hyacinths and Tulips in pots or glasses, for Crocus, 
Narcissus, Amaryllis, Orchids, Anthurium, Cyclamen, 
and miscellaneous bulbs and tubers for the open ground 
as well as for culture under glass, novelties included. 
As this exhibition is principally organised for the 
benefit of the trade and for study, no medals or money 
prizes will be given, but certificates of the first, second, 
and third class. At this exhibition the varieties fit for 
early forcing, and which are not sufficiently known at 
present, can be brought forward with the certainty 
that they will become more appreciated by growers. 
-- 
ONCIDIUM SARCODES. 
Considering the size this plant attains the habit is 
neat, and all that can be desired in the convenience it 
offers for staging in houses of a limited size when out of 
bloom. The pseudo-bulbs are extremely curious in 
shape compared with others of this genus, being dark 
green, greatly elongated and finger-like. The flower 
stems vary from 2 ft. to 5 ft. or more in height, and 
are simply racemose in the smaller specimens, but 
become once or twice branched or panicled in the more 
vigorously grown specimens. There is also consider¬ 
able variation in the size of the flowers, as our 
illustration, which was drawn from flowers we obtained 
at Mr. William Bull’s nursery at Chelsea the other 
day, will show. The small flower measured somewhat 
over 1 in. across the petals, while the larger one was 
twice the size. The ground colour of the flower is a 
bright golden yellow, while the sepals and petals are 
irregularly and richly blotched with deep chestnut- 
brown. The latter are by far the larger and most richly 
coloured of the two sets of organs. The lip is also very 
OnCLDITJM SARCODES. 
conspicuous, brilliant yellow, and sparingly blotched 
with brown near the base. The species is by no means 
difficult to grow, and from its fine appearance should be 
in every collection. 
-- 
GOOD PINES FOR PRESENT 
PLANTING. 
The Cluster or Maritime Pine. 
Long experience has proved Pinus pinaster to be a most 
valuable tree for shelter-giving purposes, particularly 
in maritime districts, though an almost worthless species 
so far as the value of the timber it produces is con¬ 
cerned. This latter quality can, however, very well be 
dispensed with when we look at the great value of the 
tree for planting as a screen to others of a less hardy 
nature, and in positions where these could not other¬ 
wise survive. 
Many instances of its value in this way might be 
pointed out in England and Scotland, and also of the 
use to which it is applied in the reclaiming of sandy 
sea-side wastes. Few there are who do not know of 
the invaluable services rendered by this tree in fixing 
the drifting sands of the downs of Gascony, as well as 
those of several British sea-coast districts. In exposed 
sea-side districts on the coast of the Irish Sea we have 
used it largely in conjunction with the Austrian and 
Corsican Pines for shelter purposes, and formed fine 
thriving plantations of valuable timber that could 
never have been accomplished without the aid of this 
useful tree. 
In such instances as these the value of timber pro¬ 
duced by so admirable a sea-side and shelter-producing 
tree as P. pinaster was never taken into account, more 
than sufficient benefit being derived from the numerous 
other trees that by its friendly aid were permitted to 
grow on these exposed and wind-swept wastes. It 
grows and produces large quantities of timber when 
planted on almost pure sand; indeed, sandy soil 
and a maritime district would seem to be two of the 
conditions under which the Pinaster succeeds best. 
That it will, however, grow and attain to large dimen¬ 
sions in inland districts we have been careful on more 
than one occasion to point out, for many of the largest 
specimens in this country are to be found at consider¬ 
able distances from the sea-coast. In the formation of 
plantations and clumps on an English estate, and 
where the south-west winds blow hard and long, we 
have used the Cluster Pine with most satisfactory results, 
and by its aid got other valuable timber-producing 
trees to become perfectly established. True it is, the 
timber produced by the Pinaster is of no great value 
in a commercial sense, but that produced in this country 
is, from comparisons we have made, quite equal to 
that grown along the Mediterranean coast, and may, 
consequently, be used for similar purposes. The uses 
to which it has been applied are few indeed, and these 
of simply a temporary kind, as in the construction of 
rough buildings, for firewood, &c. ; while successful 
experiments have been made with a view to use it, 
when prepared with sulphate of copper, for street¬ 
paving. Of late years the Pinaster has been exten¬ 
sively used in the formation of woods and plantations 
at the Cape of Good Hope, and the results have been 
highly satisfactory. 
The timber produced there is—judging from large 
samples exhibited by the Cape Government at the late 
Colonel Exhibition—of very superior quality, being of 
a rich reddish brown colour, and highly impregnated 
with resin. No special treatment is necessary in raising 
young plants of the Pinaster, but from the long tap-root, 
with which each is furnished, it is compulsory for the 
tree’s safety in removal to do so at an early date, 
although we have found out that by breaking over this 
tap-root, and resorting to annual transplanting, the 
risk of final planting out is greatly minimised. Sowing 
the plant, or rather its seed, in situ, has been practised 
both here and on the Continent with marked success, 
and as this is likewise an inexpensive method, it is to 
be recommended for general adoption. In every sense 
of the word, the Pinaster is a tree that is well worthy 
of extended culture in this country, but more particu¬ 
larly where shelter to other less hardy kinds is desired, 
and as it is perfectly hardy, of rapid growth, easily 
propagated, and by no means fastidious about soil, 
will no doubt be yet largely used where its particular 
qualities are in request. 
The Scotch Fir. 
The Scotch Pine, P. sylvestris, must on no account 
be omitted from our list, for certainly for planting 
in exposed situations where few other trees could 
succeed it is one of the best. Probably the principal 
reason why this tree is not more generally cultivated, at 
least of late years, is on account of the almost valueless 
timber it produces, for of late it has been almost an 
impossibility to get rid of it at any price. The first 
quality of Scotch Pine timber, such as that produced 
in some of the northern Scottish counties, no doubt 
realises even at the present time a fair price, but 
generally speaking that grown throughout southern 
Scotland, England as a whole, and also Ireland, is of so 
inferior a quality as hardly to fetch the price of even 
second-rate firewood. No doubt this Pine will con¬ 
tinue to be planted extensively wherever shelter is of 
first importance, and rightly so, for few others are 
capable of withstanding the cold cutting blasts of our 
exposed hillsides in a more commendable way than the 
one in question. 
Another point in favour of the extensive use of the 
Scotch Pine in our woodlands, is the small cost at 
which young plants can be procured, this being lower 
than that of any other species. It is, likewise, very 
accommodating as to soil, transplants with perfect safety, 
grows rapidly, and soon affords a great amount of 
shelter to other trees planted in its close vicinity. The 
above fine species of Pines may be considered as the 
only ones that can be depended upon, or that have 
proved themselves as worthy of extensive cultivation 
in these islauds, that is, for economical planting. 
The Bhotan Pine (P. excelsa) and the Swiss 
Stone Pine (P. cembra). 
These are perhaps worthy of notice, but the former 
produces soft and almost worthless wood, and does not 
stand exposure well, while the latter is of slow growth, 
and cannot with safety be planted at high altitudes. 
