March 28, 1891. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
475 
CALANTHES. 
The season is now at hand in which we generally 
attend to the potting of our C'alanthes. We do not 
grow many sorts, but many who see them say that 
they do not see them dono better elsewhere ; be this 
as it may, they come in useful to us. As to fruit pot 
Yines successfully they require to he grown first, so it 
is with Calanthes ; they must he well grown or they 
will not flower well, and to do this is perfectly easy if 
proper accommodation is available for them. During 
their growing season, alongside of the Eucharis is a 
very good position for them as to heat and moisture, 
hut they require a little shading during bright hot 
weather in summer. 
For potting compost we generally use rough peat, old 
cow manure, chopped sphagnum moss, and plenty of 
small crocks well mixed up together. We mostly pot 
in new pots previously well soaked in water, hut if we 
have to use old ones they are well scrubbed to make 
them perfectly clean. We fill the pots about one third 
with clean crocks, over which some sphagnum is placed, 
and then fill up with compost pressed in as tightly as 
can be done with the hands. The bulbs are tightly fixed 
on the top with the compost rounded off rather above 
the rim of the pot. 
The bulbs require to be closely examined at first for 
scale, and if any are found the bulbs should be washed 
with soapy water. The number of bulbs placed in the 
pots must depend upon the size of the latter. In small 
pots we put in one bulb only, in larger ones four or 
five ; and some we put in round pans with a small 
empty pot in the centre, into which to introduce small 
Ferns as the foliage of the Calanthes begins to ripen off. 
Some of our bulbs of C. Yeitchii run fip to 14 ins. and 
15 ins. in height, other sorts not being quite so large ; 
and we have often over forty blooms on our Yeitchii 
spikes. 
We give hut little water until the bulbs have taken 
a firm hold of the compost with their roots, but 
afterwards we are not afraid of giving them plenty, as 
well as an occasional soaking of liquid manure from 
the stables. In fact, generally speaking, they get the 
same treatment as the Eucharis until they begin to 
flower, when we leave off syringing, and use the water- 
pot less freely until they ripen off altogether, when 
they are stored in a dry place until potting time comes 
round again. 
I may mention that I find the plants very useful for 
indoor decoration ; putting a batch of them into a 
large vase mixed with Ferns. The heat of the rooms 
is quite sufficient to bring out the late blooms.— J. 
Miller, Huxley Lodge, Fsher. 
-- 
THE FROST & THE BRASSIOAS. 
The slaughter by the ice king this winter has in most 
districts been complete and disastrous to the growers 
of Brassicas. I have just walked through sixteen 
acres of sprouting Broccoli, about ten acres of 
which are in a far better condition than could possibly 
have been expected, in fact the owner (a well-known 
market farmer and fruit grower) told me that after the 
frost had ceased its terrible work of annihilation, he had 
felt reluctant to examine the crops, thinking that the 
returns in market value would be nil ; but although the 
loss will be considerable, there is sufficient remaining 
that must result when ready for the market in making 
a good return. 
One piece of the same kind, of about six acres, planted 
I think a little later, and put in with the plough 
instead of the dibble as the ten acres were, is wholly 
destroyed, and yet both are equally exposed. This may 
he accounted for by the fact of the first being planted 
deeper, and with dwarf stocky plants, whereas in the 
second piece the plants were more leggy, and the roots 
not so firmly or deeply placed in the soil, consequently 
the stems, more exposed, succulent, and tender, and 
not well covered by the snow, were not so well prepared 
to resist the frost as those of a more sturdy growth. 
For garden practice that was not a bad plan which I 
saw recommended about the years 1846-1847— i.e., 
to take up carefully every alternate row, and bank up 
the then standing rows to the leaves of the plants, 
then laying those taken up in the trenches. I tried the 
plan at the time, and came to the conclusion that this 
system was one that might be adopted with success, as 
those in the trenches in well-drained ground were 
greatly protected. 
Snow’s Winter Broccoli I have put into pits, and for 
immediate use in cellars, bedded in the usual way with 
great success, and had fine Broccoli in December, 
January and February. The preserving of crops 
between thirty and forty years ago was perhaps more 
important than it is now that our markets are abun¬ 
dantly supplied from the Continent and various parts 
of the globe where the winter climate is of a more 
genial character than our own .—George Fry, Lewisham. 
-- 
CINERARIAS AT WEXHAM 
PARK. 
Lovers of this beautiful plant would be amply repaid 
by visiting Wexham Park, Slough, the residence of 
Sir Charles Pigott, Bart., where Mr. J. Lord, the 
gardener, has a splendid collection of dwarf, healthy 
plants, which are marvels of successful culture. As 
is well known, Mr. Lord, who has carried off leading 
honours at the Crystal Palace exhibitions for the past 
two years for Cinerarias, is a master of the art of their 
cultivation, and the house, a long span roof, which is 
devoted to this class of plants, is now a perfect picture. 
The colours are of the most dazzling brilliancy and 
varied hue, among the seifs being magentas, purples, 
maroons, blues, and also white and various shades, all 
beautiful and rich colours, while the rayed flowers are 
equally striking. I think I never saw such intensely 
pleasing colours, which, added to the perfect form of the 
flowers, leave nothing to be desired. These magnificent 
flowers are the result of many years’ careful hybridising 
and selection, and those who have seen Mr. Lord’s 
previous productions will be astonished this year at the 
strides he has made in the improvement of this lovely 
flower. 
The recent trying winter, followed by the long con¬ 
tinuous fogs, so disastrous to suburban gardens, have 
made it extremely difficult to succeed with these plants, 
even so far away as Slough. Mr. Lord told me he was 
obliged to have ail his glass washed to clear off the 
sooty sediment. In the same house were some equally 
well-grown Chinese Primulas, single and double ; the 
colours are excellent, and resting on short healthy 
foliage is a perfect pyramid of flowers. — T. 0. M. 
-- 
NOTES FROM OAKWOOD. 
We have just dug up a bed of seedling Gladiolus, 
about 10 ft. by 5 ft. The seed was given me by my 
old friend the late Mr. McIntosh a good many years 
ago ; the label is illegible, so I cannot tell how many. 
The plants have never been touched since the time 
when the seed was sown. Many have bloomed well 
with good flowers, the bulbs were much crowded and 
some of them had two of the hard formations under the 
bulbs. We took up 378 bulbs of different sizes, leaving 
many quite small one3 behind. This would seem to 
show that Gladioli may be grown in suitable soil with 
very little trouble. 
At Oakwood we are finding some rather unexpected 
survivals. Arnebia echioides ispushing up very strongly. 
Narcissus cyclamineus has many buds, and Hypericum 
aureum has stood much better than B. oblongifolium, 
which in many parts of the garden, though not in all, 
is killed. Veronica Traversii is still a puzzle—a great 
bush is killed while others are hardly touched. There 
is no obvious reason for this, therefore the dead bush 
shall be left standing, in hopes that some of my 
scientific friends may solve the difficulty. Among the 
best of the early spring flowers which are blooming 
with us for the first time are Leucojum carpatieum, 
much larger and finer than the old Leucojum vernum ; 
Anemone blanda alba is a good companion to the 
beautiful blue form which Mr. Ingram did so much to 
introduce ; Muscari Szovitzianum is in good bud in the 
open—in flower in a frame it shows itself to be a very 
valuable acquisition ; and Iris reticulata histrioides is 
even finer in the open border than it was under glass. 
We have lately planted an acre with self-sown 
Rhododendrons, which were choking up their parents, 
or otherwise in the way ; the leaves of many of these 
show good blood, therefore they should make a fine 
show next year .—George F. Wilson, Heatlierbank, 
Weybridge, March 20 th. 
--- 
GARDENING-. 
The influence of gardening as an agency in the pro¬ 
motion of civilisation is undoubtedly very great. Its 
potency in reclaiming many from the vortex of dissi¬ 
pation is perhaps not far short of that of religion 
itself; indeed, the lover of gardening, pure and simple, 
is engaged in a sort of natural worship, which, rude as 
it may be, must have a wondrous effect on his mind to 
influence him for good. If the influence of the weaker 
sex has a tendency to impart refinement to the nobler 
and less accomplished one, it cannot be the less true 
that association with the beauties of the garden tend to 
stamp their impress on the ardent disciple of Flora. 
Thousands of instances go to prove the advantages that 
even the labourer who devotes his spare hours in his 
small garden has over his neighbour who does not. 
He has not only enjoyments which none but those 
who have experienced can know, but there is an all¬ 
round breadth of soul in his being that defies penetration 
to fathom. His cares and anxieties by the free 
imbibition of those real pleasures are chased to the 
limbo of forgetfulness. 
Order in the garden soon make3 itself felt within 
the cottage. Imitation and emulation have such a hold 
of us that we do, and aspire to he as others in our every 
action. The good wife thus has not infrequently been 
taught a lesson by her husband to emulate his tasty art 
outside in a more orderly interior. And almost without 
exception, where a well-kept garden is seen at the cottage 
door, is it a true index of what may be expected to be 
seen within. There are other pleasures besides these to 
be derived from gardening pursuits, and perhaps which no 
other art can so efficaciously bestow on man. In 
restoring normal tone to the bodily constitution, even 
when only practised as a mere mechanical enjoyment, 
the pastime of gardening is peculiarly specific. 
It would be difficult to assign any particular time to 
the origin of gardening, though unquestionably its value 
from many points of view must have been considered at 
a very early period in the history of the human race. 
Essentially it must have paved the highway for 
other—all other arts. The evolutionist would say, if he 
were asked to give his opinion on the matter, that 
while yet Homo Primigenius could not appreciate 
abstract philosophy, he could without much mental 
effort admire the floral grandeur of his environments. 
This appreciation for the beautiful, possibly as old as 
man himself, would be at an early age excited, and 
ages of ever increasing excitement of a faculty, would 
in due course develop into a passion. Everyone knows 
that the natural outcome of pishon is incentive to 
action, hence, he would say, the universal desire to 
imitate nature would alone satiate the passion. We 
can scarce feel justified in denominating this desire for 
imitation, gardening, hut yet we must confess that it 
certainly is the germ that only required time to develop 
to what it now is. Continued observation would in 
the course of time tend to develop the mental powers 
and raise them towards the abstract. The first ideas 
of natural religion would therefore take their origin 
from the results of this mental development, conse¬ 
quent on observing closely the wonders of nature. 
Proportionately with mental development are the 
requirements of the body. Horticulture developed into 
Agriculture. The child-like gardens of our rude fore¬ 
fathers could no longer suffice to supply the ever 
increasing wants of man. The mere enclosed groves of 
the beautiful, as simply ornaments for admiration in 
the savage’s eye, in process of time gave way to ideas of 
more practical utility. In place of wavy blue-bell, and 
the golden sheen of yellow primrose, and hoary oak, 
arose the prosaic shocks of corn, that formed a useful 
food commodity. Many short-sighted people of the 
present day would have no scruples in assigning the 
universal tendencies so early perceived in the child for 
gardening, to the results of civilisation. Our friend the 
evolutionist would think differently, and in so doing 
would exactly reverse the order, and would say causes 
produce effects ; what has gone before has led to what 
now is. 
The love for gardening and the beautiful in all past 
ages has had much in making us what we are. The fact 
that gardening shows itself so manifestly as an inherent 
quality in the human species in childhood is sufficiently 
strong proof, the naturalist would say, of its antiquity ; 
for it must have taken countless ages to weave itself into 
our beings so as to form a part of our constitutions. 
The naturalist points out that we have inherited fear 
from the fact that we, when in the infancy of our race, 
were exposed to extreme and continual dangers. The 
faculty therefore was unduly developed by the con¬ 
tinual excitement of apprehension, and notwithstanding 
our educative and religious powers arrayed against the 
absurdity ef many kinds of fear, we are still its partial 
victim. Reason points out incessantly the groundless 
nature of fear, but it is powerless to bring home perfect 
conviction. The explanation would appear to be found 
in the assumption that Reason herself is but as a child 
of yesterday in comparison with our first acquaintance 
with fear. 
The sense of the Beautiful must have been the thing 
that first applied its soothing powers to the human 
mind in its earlier history to divert its apprehensive 
nature without happiness to one of at least mingled 
pleasure and happiness. And as it is plain that 
gardening rests on this, it will not be less clear that 
our ancient ancestors became gardeners as a natural 
consequence. 
Gardening, then, the noblest art now extant, and to 
which the artist owes his source of ideas, the dame her 
taste and decorum that gladdens the eye in her personal 
and household order, must have been a providential 
design of the All-wise Ruler of the Universe to lead man 
upward—Godward—when he was yet too young to 
appreciate more profound things.—Z>. Chisholm. 
