188 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
November 2, 1895. 
these being weighted almost to the ground with 
their burden. We were too late to see them, as they 
had gone the way of all Pears. Other good sorts 
were, however, on view, such as Uvedale’s St. 
Germain, Duchess d'Angouletne, General Todleben, 
Marie Louise, Louise Bonne of Jersey, and Con- 
seiller de la Cour. 
With lips still hugging the exquisite flavour of a 
well-ripened fruit of the last-named, we strolled off 
to inspect the trees, guided by Mr Peed, who, with 
all the practical grower's absorbing interest in his 
trees, was ever ready to impart information regard¬ 
ing them. What stock do I prefer for Apples ? 
quoth he. Why the Paradise, of course ; who would 
not ? There is no doubt but that trees worked 
upon it come into bearing sooner than those grafted 
on the crab; the fruit is better-looking and finer 
flavoured, for I believe the crab stock exercises a 
prejudicial effect upon the quality of the fruit borne by 
any scion worked upon it; and then you see what pretty 
symmetrical trees you get, continued he, pointing to a 
large breadth of small plants about 4 ft. in height, 
but of perfectly regular pyramidal outline. These 
are the kind of stuff for the man who has to realise 
the utmost that every square yard of land is capable 
of producing; not tall, ungainly-looking objects 
that take up a deal of room, and may fruit or may 
not. Why ?—but here our guide paused, exhausted 
by the enthusiasm displayed by him on behalf of his 
favourite " Paradise,” an enthusiasm which would 
seem to be well merited, having regard to the 
beautiful little trees resulting from this system, and 
which were at that moment spread out before our 
gaze. Still, it must not be supposed that grafting 
or budding upon the Paradise stock alone is con¬ 
ducted at Streatham, for the Crab is employed as 
well, but to a less extent, and solely for the produc¬ 
tion of standard trees for planting in orchards. 
Pears are worked on both the Quince and the Free 
stocks with the best of results, and an abundance of 
excellent specimens of culture were apparent on all 
hands. 
Autumn Blooming. —Owing to the abnormality 
of the season this has been pretty prevalent through¬ 
out the country, Apples and Pears offending against 
the ordinary rules of behaviour in about equal de¬ 
grees. Some of those at Streatham are no 
exception, for during our round we noticed more 
than one tree to be carrying a few fruits result¬ 
ing from the secondary crop of bloom. Some of 
these have already reached the size of large 
Walnuts, and look singular enough at this time of 
the year. Pears have all exhibited a tendency this 
way, although the Jargonelle appears to have been 
the greatest sinner. A very peculiar picture was 
afforded by a row of small pyramidally-trained trees 
of this well-known sort that bore a really good 
crop of young fruits about the thickness of a man's 
finger. There can be no doubt whatever that this 
irregular behaviour on the part of the flower buds 
must lessen to a considerable extent the supply of 
bloom for next year, although at Streatham a close 
examination of the trees reveals the fact that, while 
a number of the buds have burst thus prematurely, 
there still remains a sufficient residue to furnish 
plenty of fruit next year, providing the constitution 
of the trees is not injured by the extra tax upon their 
energies. Oh yes, said Mr. Peed, this secondary 
blooming is rather out of the ordinary run of things, 
but the reason thereof is not far to seek. The fore¬ 
half of the summer being so dry, the wood got well 
on towards the ripening stage and the buds began to 
assume that plump appearance usually only observed 
at the end of the summer. Then came the wet 
weather, lasting some little time, accompanied by 
much lower temperatures, and finally a burst of 
sunshine which must have come straight from the 
tropics. The result has been that the trees have lost 
their record of the season under face of such a 
happily rare series of occurrences. 
Further on a fine batch of fan-trained Peaches, 
which looked the picture of health, were mute 
evidences that more than one Peach house through¬ 
out the country will be filled with trees from Streat¬ 
ham. The stock of Plums, both of standards for 
orchard planting as well as fan-shaped trees for 
growing on walls, is very large, and we were most 
favourably impressed with the high degree of cul¬ 
tural merit that was everywhere observable. The 
old proverb that “ a thing that's worth doing at all 
is worth doing well ” is evidently the compass by 
which Messrs. John Peed & Sons steer, 
ROBERT BROWN, THE BOTANIST. 
A bronze bust, over life size, was unveiled at Mont¬ 
rose on the 18th inst. by way of a memorial to Dr. 
Robert Brown, the distinguished Scotch botanist. 
The bust is situated in a niche in front of the house 
in which he was born on September 21st, 1773. He 
was the son of an Episcopalian clergyman, and in 
1787 entered Marischal College, Aberdeen, where he 
won the Ramsay Bursary in Philosophy. Two 
years later he entered Edinburgh University, and 
during the time he was there he became engrossed 
in botanical studies, and wrote papers on the local 
flora. In 1798 he made the acquaintance of Sir 
Joseph Banks andjworked in his library. He had an 
appointment in a Fifeshire Regiment of Fencible 
Infantry, but in 1800 he was commissioned as 
naturalist to Flinder's Expedition to survey the 
coasts of Australia. 
He was absent four years, during which time he 
collected 4,000 species of plants, including many 
that were new to science, and some that exhibited 
new types of plant structure. He was constantly at 
work, and during the voyage described and classified 
many of his specimens with great accuracy. On 
reaching England he was appointed librarian to the 
Linnean Society, then to Sir Joseph Banks in the 
same capacity, and ultimately became the first 
keeper of the Department of Botany in the British 
Museum when the Banksian collections were trans¬ 
ferred there Before he died in 1858 he had become 
a member of almost every society at home and 
abroad. His scientific works brought him a wide 
and lasting reputation. 
The bust was the gift of Miss Paton, a relative of 
the Doctor, and, when she unveiled the same, it was 
made over to Provost Mitchell on behalf of the 
community by Mr. W. M. Jameson Paton. The 
Provost subsequently entertained a large company in 
the Council Chamber. Short speeches were 
delivered during the course of the proceedings by 
Mr. W. Carruthers, formerly librarian of the 
Botanical Department in the British Museum ; 
Professor Balfour, of Edinburgh ; Professor Bower, 
of Glasgow; Professor Traill, of Aberdeen; and 
Professor Geddes, of Edinburgh, representing 
Scottish Universities ; Mr. Murray, librarian of the 
Botanical Department of the British Museum ; and 
Dr. Howden, President of the Montrose Natural 
History and Antiquarian Society, all the speakers 
testifying to the great work of the greatest of English 
botanists. During the afternoon Miss Paton enter¬ 
tained a large company of visitors who had come to 
Montrose from various parts of the Kingdom to take 
part in the ceremony. 
-**-- 
HANGER HILL HOUSE. 
Gardening in all its different phases is well looked 
after by the inhabitants of Ealing, which, although it 
is well within the limits of the metropolitan radius, 
has yet managed to preserve a semblance of the 
sweet rurality, at least, in some parts of it, that 
close connections with our roaring, smoking, romance- 
destroying metropolis rarely fail to obliterate. 
Wending our way from the railway station one 
phenomenally bright and abnormally hot September 
day up the hill towards the house at the top to which 
the hill in question has been but name-father—viz., 
Hanger Hill House—a number of wonderfully well- 
kept villa gardens charmed our eyes with their cool 
and fragrant beauty, and seemed to implore us to 
bestow upom them something more than a passing 
glance. 
Hanger Hill House is the property of E. M. 
Nelson, Esq., and comprises within its adjuncts 
vegetable, fruit and flower gardens of considerable 
extent, and outlying grounds of more than ordinary 
beauty and attractiveness. Without doubt much of 
this is due to the practical skill and ability of Mr. D. 
Cooper, who, assisted by an efficient staff, keeps both 
gardens and pleasure grounds in remarkably neat and 
creditable style. The house itself is a square-built 
and solid-looking structure ; comfort rather than an 
ornate form of architecture evidently being the 
dominating idea of its designer when it was con¬ 
structed. Now, however, the walls are covered with 
climbers of all sorts that clothe the masonry to the 
very eaves, and twine lovingly around the windows, 
a perfect flower garden in themselves. A splendid 
specimen of Tecoma radicans, with its umbels of 
long, tubular, blood-red flowers, climbs to a consider¬ 
able height, and forms a conspicuous feature. A 
goodly number of blooms were to be seen upon it at 
the time of our visit, although we were informed that 
we ought to have been a month sooner to have seen 
it at its best. To the right a truly regal specimen of 
Ampelopsis quinquefolia, better known perhaps as 
A. hederacea, was clambering partly over the wall, 
and partly over some trees standing close to one 
corner of the house. Its leaves, with all their rich¬ 
ness of scarlet colouring, sparkled with a glow of 
colour that was all the more enhanced by the 
sombreness of their supports. Yet, so it is ! things 
are beautiful only by comparison; but we have 
other work to do than to moralise. By the side of 
the doorway a grand healthy plant of Clematis 
Flammula, with its heavy load of the large, somewhat 
drooping panicles of pure white flowers, was 
apparently striving its hardest to outdo its neigh¬ 
bours in the race for effectiveness. But the most 
uncommon feature of all was to be found in a wall 
entirely covered with a superb specimen of Lippia 
(Aloysia) citriodora. The plants have made uncom¬ 
monly robust growth, and are evidently happy 
enough in their quarters. They passed through the 
last severe winter without damage, but, of course, 
they were covered up warmly and well. 
The flower beds on the lawn immediately in front 
of the house were filled with a great deal of taste and 
judgment, and none of that stiffness and formality 
usually to be seen in regularly-laid-out flow er gardens 
were observable. The aim in view was evidently to 
introduce as great a variety of subjects as was 
possible, and the results were exceedingly happy. 
For instance, a couple of beds beneath the windows 
were filled with large specimens of Ficus elastica 
surrounded by nice plants of Zea Mays variegata, 
Ricinus humilis, Salvia patens, Fuchsias, Iresines 
Herbstii, Wallsii, and Lindeni, whilst a suitable 
edging was formed of Echeveria secunda glauca, 
and Mesembryanthemum cordifolium variegatum. 
Another special feature was a number of large 
pyramidally-trained specimens of Ivy-leaved Pelar¬ 
goniums, and Hydrangeas Otaksa and paniculata 
grandiflora, that were growing in huge tubs. The 
Pelargoniums particularly made a brilliant display. 
The Hydrangeas had also been good, but, of course, 
were long past their best. 
The plant houses afforded accommodation for a 
good many fine-foliaged plants suitable for house 
decoration, which is here a heavy item. In one 
roomy stove Allamandas Chelsoni and Hendersoni 
were a blaze of bloom, whilst such as Dracaenas 
terminalis, Lindeni, congesta, and gracilis; Pandanus 
Veitchii, Crotons of various kinds, and some grand 
samples of such Ferns as Davallia mooreana, D. 
canariensis, Gymnogramma calomelanos, and Adian- 
tums farleyense, scutum, and Veitchii filled the 
stages underneath, each and all of them in remark¬ 
ably good condition. Other houses contained 
Orchids in variety, so useful for furnishing cut 
flowers, besides greenhouse plants of various kinds. 
The conservatory, a rectangular erection, joins the 
mansion, and at the period of our visit was very 
prettily furnished, the walls being clothed with the 
graceful sprays of Myrsiphyllum asparagoides and 
the not less graceful pendulous growths of Cobaea 
scandens variegata. Fine specimens of Cyathea 
dealbata, Eucalyptus globulus, Begonia metallica, 
and Asplenium flaccidum were some of the most 
distinguished occupants of the pretty conservatory. 
Chrysanthemums are grown to the tune of some 
500 plants, all of them in the pink of condition, with 
not a single weakling to be seen. Although we were 
too early to see the flowers, some of the blooms were 
commencing to open, and others w re plumping up 
grandly in a manner calculated to raise the hopes of 
an aspiring cultivator to a considerable height. 
Foliage of excellent substance, free from blemish of 
any kind, and stout, short jointed wood, that gave 
promise of ripening well, spoke in sufficiently 
intelligible language of cultural skill of no mean 
order. 
The principal range of fruit houses was undergoing 
repairs, although we were informed that satisfactory 
crops of Grapes, Peaches, and Nectarines have been 
obtained this season. Outdoor Pears and Apples 
have been a wonderfully heavy crop, and despite the 
fact that much of the fruit yet remained upon the 
trees, the shelves of a commodious store-room were 
already groaning beneath the weight of that which 
had been gathered. 
Not the least interesting feature of the establish- 
