March 19, 1892. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
451 
to suggest it possible that ladies might earn money 
by fruit and vegetable growing I had personally tried 
the experiment at Harrow, and had found the work 
very pleasant and fairly easy. Early in 1890 I 
submitted my views in writing to the adviser to the 
Board of Agriculture, who pronounced my ideas of 
the scheme 1 excellent,’ and promised his active 
help, at the same time kindly sending the best 
reports on market gardening that had then been 
published. He also drew my attention to what had 
been published as early as 1877 i n Volume 13 
of the Royal Agricultural Society’s Journal regard¬ 
ing fruit growing on a large scale on low bush trees. 
Several plantations existed at that time, notably 
that of Mr. Dancer at Chiswick. 
"Other eminent authorities also gave their honest 
opinion, and in no instance could I get an adverse 
one. 
"The colony established at Mettewold, in Cam¬ 
bridgeshire (seven miles from a station), surely proves 
that this place might also be made a self-supporting 
industry, but nothing could possibly be a success 
without loyal co-operation, combined with individual 
effort and individual responsibility. 
" Within one month of my ideas of market garden¬ 
ing for ladies going the round of the Press, I was 
besieged by over two hundred ladies, all saying they 
wished to join, and had the necessary capital. 
Perhaps I should here state that the promoters have 
found all the capital, and started the industry on 
their own property. This land being available in so 
thickly populated a neighbourhood, and close to the 
Midland main line, so eminently suitable for the 
purpose, and in the opinion of some experts more 
valuable than that at Melbourne, being of a rarer 
nature, it was taken in hand. 
" Before the first six ladies, who only contributed 
10 guineas each, a mere bagatelle compared with the 
heavy outlay necessary to prepare for them, had 
been in residence two months, no one saw more 
plainly than myself that the suggestion published in 
the April number of the Strand Magazine could not 
practically be carried out, but that with certain 
modifications fruit, vegetable, and salad growing 
might be made an opening for an unlimited number 
of ladies, provided each had a taste for garden 
work, sufficient powers of observation, and capacity 
enough to see through from the planting of the trees 
and sowing of seeds to selling the product at a fair 
price. Each one must also be prepared to pay for a 
term of apprenticeship. 
" No one could have started anything with a fairer 
prospect of success or a more enthusiastic determi¬ 
nation to overcome any and all difficulties. Soil, 
products, favourable freights, and markets have 
exceeded my expectations. 
" Possibly this industry might now be utilised by 
either County Council availing itself of it, as a techni¬ 
cal school for youths and men, and at the same time 
working it as a market garden, a private connection 
having been secured for the sale of the produce 
retail .—Grace Harriman. 
_ _ 
WORLD’S COLUMBIAN 
EXPOSITION. 
Horticultural Department. 
This will be one of the most wonderful features in 
a wonderful undertaking. Chief Thorpe, the "Father 
of the Chrysanthemum,” has arranged to hold a 
series of flower shows throughout the season, pro¬ 
minent among which will be the Rose and Chry¬ 
santhemum displays. He has lately made a tour 
through the East, and has secured the donation or 
loan of magnificent specimen Palms and Cycads, as 
well as of rare Orchids, etc. Several English 
nurserymen, includingLaing and Canned, are already 
to the front with promises of large donations of 
Pansies, Begonias, etc. The wooded island in Jack- 
son Park is to be turned into a flower garden, and 
will be made a veritable bower of beauty with rare 
plants and fine specimens of Roses. On its shores 
•will be grown aquatic plants. 
Two sets of greenhouses are to be built, one to be 
600ft. by 500 ft., in the southern part of the park ; the 
•other along the west side of the horticultural build¬ 
ing, and connected with it by walks and gateways. 
It will be 25 ft. wide, and 1,000 ft. long. In it will 
he thousands of rare plants. It will cost 12,940 
dollars. Applications for space in the Horticultural 
Department have been received from 224 German 
wine growers. A consignment of flower seeds from 
a German firm and also one from a London house 
are to hand. Chief Thorpe will personally super¬ 
intend the planting of such, and the exhibitor will 
have nothing to do with it. Those are for the com¬ 
petitive exhibit, for which 20,000 square feet will be 
reserved. The American Association of Nursery¬ 
men has applied for space for a collective nursery 
exhibit. 
The California horticultural exhibit in the open 
court will be noteworthy, being a Citrous fruit tree 
exhibit, with a group of Date Palms in the centre, 
surrounded by an ornamental grass plot. There will 
be five rows of bearing Lemons and Oranges of 
various sizes, surrounded by festoons of Monterey 
Cypress heads. California’s fan Palms are to fill all 
the inclosed spaces within the ornamental design of 
the border, and there will also be shrubs and many 
characteristic California plants. 
The Japanese Government are to have a garden 
on the north end of the wooded island. 40,000 square 
feet have been allotted for this and for their official 
headquarters. Their building and garden is to be 
Chicago’s property after the hair, they having agreed 
to present them either to the Park Commission or to 
the City. They also desire 8,000 square feet for 
nursery purposes. The building and garden round 
it will cost 70,000 dollars. We note that British 
railroads have agreed to carry goods at half rates, 
and the principal steamship companies will carry 
freight at ns. per ton, also offering a reduced pass¬ 
enger tariff to exhibitors and assistants, properly 
certified by the Royal Commission. 
The horticulturist to the Imperial Court of Austria- 
Hungary promises a donation of Roses, comprising 
200 each standard and half-standard, and 400 bushes, 
to be of the finest sorts. To the horticultural de¬ 
partment belongs the honour of the first installed 
exhibit, which is also a donation by a local nursery¬ 
man. It consists of an Elm, 75 ft. high, and 2 ft. in 
diameter, weighing 10 tons ; and a Sugar Maple and 
Ash also of large proportions. A Hackberry, a 
Willow, and another Elm are also to follow. The 
three now planted took twenty-two men and twelve 
horses to convey and replant them. The Hackberry 
is 40 ft. high, and 2 ft. in diameter, and is a most 
representative Western tree. Transplanting these 
has cost the donor 500 dollars. 
The Department expects to secure much of their 
display thus and in exhibits, which will lessen the 
expense of laying out the grounds. They are now 
engaged in ascertaining how much can be hoped for 
in this way.— C. Macquarie, Chicago. 
--I-- 
ALPINE PLANTS. 
[Continued from p. 435.) 
The Cultivation of Alpine Plants in this 
Country. 
With the exception of the mountain districts there is, 
perhaps, no country in Europe better adapted for the 
cultivation of Alpine plants than this United King¬ 
dom. It is true we have no glaciers and no snow to 
speak of (except an occasional blizzard). Neither can 
we transfer the brilliant sunshine of Switzerland to 
these Islands. But, thanks to its insular position, 
this country possesses one of the most important 
conditions, viz, a humid atmosphere such as cannot 
be found in any part of the Continent. This enables 
us to grow choice Alpines even better than the Swiss 
themselves are able to do in the lowlands of their 
own country, where the air is very dry. In view of 
these facts it is surprising that choice Alpine plants 
are not grown more generally in England, and that 
the plants in cultivation include mostly the larger 
and coarser kinds only. Let us enquire into 
The Cause of Failure. 
There seems to be a great deal of prejudice. I have 
often heard ladies and gentleman who have travelled 
in Switzerland remark that the Edelweiss and other 
plants from high altitudes will not thrive in this 
country. " We have tried,” they say, “ and failed.” 
Many gardeners, too, are very shy about growing 
choice Alpines, and often with good reason. Proba¬ 
bly their employers sent home from abroad a quantity 
of plants just torn from the mountains, almost without 
roots, and almost dead wheu they arrived. In 99 
cases out of 100 such plants must naturally succumb 
to a speedy death, and the most skilful gardener 
could not have saved them. I know several cases, 
however, where the loss was attributed to careless¬ 
ness on the part of the gardener, and the latter could 
hardly be blamed for expressing a wish that all Alpine 
plants would " go to Jericho." This is the experi¬ 
ence of many who look upon the cultivation of Alpines 
as failure. Very different would have been the result 
if well-established home-grown plants had been used. 
I have already pointed out that the mountain plants 
in their native home are so firmly and so deeply 
rooted in the narrow fissures of the rocks, that it is 
in most cases impossible to remove them without 
greatly damaging the roots. To ensure success, 
therefore, beware of fresh importations and procure al¬ 
ready acclimatized plants, which have been grown in 
this country. Another frequent cause of failure may be 
found in the positions where Alpine plants are grown 
The right place is undoubtedly a well-constructed 
rockwork, exposed all round to full light and air, and 
on no account under the shade of trees. This should 
be so arranged as to provide every aspect, for 
although most plants require a sunny position there 
are several which require a north aspect, while others 
succeed best in an easterly or westerly position. If 
the work is properly constructed even the choicest 
Alpine plants will flourish and soon take care of 
themselves, giving the gardener no trouble, except 
that of keeping out the weeds and giving, perhaps, an 
occasional watering. But the composition of such a 
rockwork requires very much greater care than is 
usually given to it. A few years ago I visited a gen¬ 
tleman's gardens not 100 miles from Exeter, and was 
shown by the gardener a new rockwork, which he 
had just constructed for growing choice Alpines. 
It consisted of a round heap of well-manured 
garden soil, studded at regular intervals of about 
two feet with large stones all standing upright, and 
really good Alpine plants planted between. “There, 
what d’ye think of that ? ” my friend proudly asked, 
adding in tones of self-congratulation, " I’ve done it all 
myself.” I am afraid I should have wounded his 
feelings if I had told him that his work resembled a 
large pudding with almonds stuck in endways. But 
when a year or two later I visited the same spot the 
Alpine plants were dead, with the exception of one 
or two of the very coarsest kinds, and the stones 
might fittingly have been described as tomb-stones 
marking the graves of dead plants. The rockery has 
now been turned into a shrubbery, as " Alpine plants 
won’t grow in that part.” Why so many people when 
making a rockwork content themselves by simply 
sticking long stones endways into a heap of soil seems 
difficult to understand. As a matter of fact, nothing 
could be worse. A few of the coarsest plants, which 
it would be difficult to kill under any circumstances, 
might possibly thrive in such a position, but fancy 
an Alpine plant from the higher altitudes in such a 
position as I have roughly shown on this sketch. 
The stones impede the free access of light and air, 
and as they are a foot or more apart the roots of the 
plants would spread close under the surface of the 
soil, where the slightest excess of moisture or draught 
would be quickly felt, and result in speedy death. 
Many people object to the cultivation of Alpine 
plants because they hate rockeries, and well they 
might when the work is of such a stiff and formal 
appearance as that described above.— F. IF. Meyer. 
(To be continued.) . 
-- 
DEUTZIA GRACILIS. 
I was much interested in the notes on this valuable 
forcing shrub, which “ Stirling ” contributed to your 
number for March 5th. They should set those 
thinking as to their method of culture, who have 
hitherto not been so successful as they could wish 
in blooming the plant. It is a fact that cannot be 
too often stated, that if you want a plant to bloom 
early you must have an early growth, and well ripen 
it. To get this you cannot depend upon plants grown 
in the open air, because the shoots do not ripen quick 
enough to bloom by Christmas or the New Year. 
All forcing shrubs that are wanted to bloom early 
should be grown in pots, and if possible have their 
growths made under glass. It is surprising how 
quickly Deutzias so treated, and subsequently put in 
the open air to ripen up will come into bloom if only 
put into a little warmth. This is well illustrated by 
some plants now under my charge, which v ' = been 
forced early for several years. After flowering they 
are put into a warm fruit house, and subsequently 
into the open air. Not having this year so much 
heat at command as in other seasons, the plants were 
put into a temperature of 50° by night, and they were 
in full bloom by the end of January. Early in the 
autumn a friend gave us half a dozen large plants 
that had been in the open border. These were 
potted up and put into a little warmth, but on 
March gth we cut them hard back because they were 
bloomless. They shall now make their growth in pots 
and under glass.— Con. 
