242 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
December 14, 1895. 
established facts, your correspondent changed his 
ground and said he meant to say the first round- 
flowered hybrid Begonia, which was, of course, a 
totally different thing ; but even in regard to that 
claim he gave no proof or evidence of any kind to 
bear him out, nor has he given any yet which helps 
him out of his dilemma. 
By the courtesy of the editor I have seen the 
catalogue which Mr. Napper sent to him, and which 
not only bears no date, but strangely enough does 
not contain one single word which would lead anyone 
reading the raiser’s description of B Woodmanni to 
infer that it was a round-flowered variety. In the 
same list of new plants, and on the same page, there 
are descriptive paragraphs of B. Chelsoni, B. 
Sedenii, B. intermedia, and B. Veitchii; the last- 
named an imported species sent out by the Messrs. 
Veitch, and the others the three very first seedlings 
raised at Chelsea by Seden. What, then, becomes of 
Mr. Napper's second claim— i.c., that his friend, Mr. 
Pope, raised the first round-flowered hybrid 
Begonia ? I venture to submit that it belongs to the 
same category as the first, and has no foundation in 
fact. What is the fact of the case, so far as I can 
see through it, is that Mr. Napper has been caught 
“ gassing ” on a subject that he knows nothing about, 
and should now make the amende honourable to those 
raisers who have a prior claim to Mr. Pope, as 
makers of Begonia history, and whose honourable 
records he tried to besmirch. 
One word more and I have done with the subject. 
Mr. Napper refers in your last to old catalogues of 
the firm of Lucombe, Pince & Co.—1847 and 1859 to 
wit—in which Begonias are offered, but he does not 
seem to know that they were not tuberous-rooted 
Begonias, as any garden boy nearest to his hand 
could have told him, or he would surely not have 
mentioned them at all. Mr. Napper asked me how 
much B. boliviensis has had to do with the present 
race of tuberous-rooted Begonias of gardens, and I 
am happy to tell him. My answer is, not much, 
but that it is to the B. Veitchii and B.Pearcei blood 
that all modern strains can be traced back to.— A 
Lover of the Begonia. 
As a lover of plants in general, and not alone of 
Begonias, I am especially interested in the discussion 
that has been for some time carried on in The 
Gardening World regarding B. Woodmanii. 
Although the question at issue is the existence, or 
otherwise, at a certain date of B. Woodmanii, the 
manner in which this discussion has been conducted 
is far too acrimonious: for such expressions as 
“ pshaw,” “ pop-guns,” and “ cock-a-doodle-do ” are 
surely not wanted to prove a simple fact. When a 
nurseryman's catalogue, and that an undated one, is 
brought forward as the only corroboration of a state¬ 
ment that B. Woodmanii was the first round-flowered 
hybrid Begonia, one naturally asks for further ex¬ 
planation on that point. It is strange that the 
“ famous hybrid” (to use an expression in the article 
on p. 227) should have remained comparatively un¬ 
known, for it was not mentioned by Mr. B. Wynne 
in the publication on the Tuberous Begonia, issued 
from the office of The Gardening World, neither 
does it occur in the list of plants to which certificates 
have been awarded by the Royal Horticultural 
Society. 
Lastly, the expression used by Mr. Napper on p. 
226—viz., Now for a rattling broadside, and let the 
cannons roar along the distant shore,” is decidedly 
inappropriate, for, whatever amount of roaring is 
indulged in, the enemy will go unscathed when the 
shot employed consists only of an undated catalogue. 
—I am, another anonymous critic, J. S. 
-® 8 «- 
TREES TALL OR DWARF. 
I fear novices are often perplexed when they have 
so many opinions served out to them by eminent 
cultivators. Apples have had a large share of atten¬ 
tion for years past, and they frequently give texts 
to cultivators who denounce every form of pruning, 
size of. trees, and shapes of them, except the theory 
and practice which they have so long fostered. If 
the trees are for orchard culture by all means let 
them extend as far as desirable, as long as room is 
left to prevent each tree from crowding its fellow. 
We have seen success in every form on large trees 
and those of pigmy form Indeed, we know for 
certain that many of the finest Apples which have 
ever been grown (the past season especially) were 
exhibited from bushes as one would grow Currants. 
We have had Stirling Castle (in a Scottish garden) 
from trees well fed, lifted, and kept dwarf to about 
4 ft. or 5 ft., year after year, fine in crop and very 
large. The free exposure to sun and air gave a 
beautiful colour ; 16 in. in circumference was the 
measurement of some, but we could easily get them 
from 12 in. to 13 in. in girth. 
For gardens I would never advocate the growing 
of large orchard trees, as they are against vegetable 
culture. To prevent much cutting I prefer lifting 
and keeping an abundance of fibre. The wood is 
then short and fruitful, the foliage is large, and the 
trees remain many years in vigorous health. In 
Scottish gardens many fine Apples are often gathered 
from walls (East Lothian especially), and they are 
of course cultivated on the spur and “ curtailed ” 
system. Many of the grandest Apples ever seen 
have been gathered from cordons, notably in the 
fruit garden of the late Archdeacon Lee. While 
that distinguished pomologist grew trees in every 
form and size, his cordons were a source of much 
pleasure to him—and no wonder.— M. T., Stirling¬ 
shire. 
« l- - 
POTATOS. 
(Continued from p. 229.) 
Monsieur Henri L. de Vilmorin in his lecture on 
the best kinds of Potato, read before the Agricultural 
Society of Paris on January 30th, 1888, mentions that 
towards the end of the sixteenth century the Potato 
was introduced directly into England, where it 
rapidly obtained a position amongst the common 
vegetables of the garden. On the continent, how¬ 
ever, its progress was attended with greater difficulty. 
The prejudices which existed against its general use 
were, however, combated with energy by certain men 
devoted to the public welfare, such as Duhamel du 
Morceau, Inspector General of Naval Construction, 
Mgr. du Barral, Bishop of Castres, and the Minister 
Turgot himself. It was reserved, however, to 
Monsieur Parmentier to succeed where so many 
devoted men had failed, and his success was due 
above all other things to his perseverance and the 
tact with which he profited from his intimate 
knowledge of the character of the Parisiens Instead 
of trying to convince them by argument he under¬ 
took, with the consent of the King, Louis XVI., to 
plant Potatos on the plain of Les Sablons, and 
surrounding his experiments with a certain air of 
mystery he undertook to guard the plot by a cordon 
of troops, and succeeded thus in adding to the 
curiosity of the population. Then, when he had 
invited a certain number of scientific and influential 
men to a banquet where every dish was either composed 
chiefly of Potatos or was served up with Potatos 
as an accompaniment, he provided the most eloquent 
demonstration possible of the culinary properties of 
the new vegetable. His cause was gained. During 
the end of the eighteenth and the early years of the 
nineteenth century the Potato made great progress, 
and when, in 1813, the Central Society of Agriculture 
undertook to provide, as a basis for study of the 
culture of Potatos, a collection of the varieties then in 
use throughout the French Empire, it brought to. 
gether no less than 115 to 120 varieties. Count 
Rumford in the middle of the last century painfully 
tells of the trouble he had to persuade the people of 
Munich to use the Potato as food, even in a time of 
great scarcity; in fact, only by disguising the Potato 
in a kind of soup did they gratefully accept his 
offering. 
Then if we were to discuss the various species of 
tuber-bearing Solanums, has not Mr. Baker in his 
very able paper read before the Linnean Society in 
January, 1884, entitled “ A Review of the Tuber¬ 
bearing species of Solanums,” given the result of 
such careful research that none but the most rash 
would attempt to follow him in the same field of 
enquiry ? Or, if one wished to trace the history of 
the Potato and its susceptibility to disease, are we not 
met at once with the singularly complete and 
exhaustive paper contributed by Lord Cathcart to the 
Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, Part I, 
April, 1884 ? 
Coming down to the practice of Potato culture we 
have had treatises on various new or improved 
methods such as the "Jensen” system of earthing 
up Potatos, the best time to plough and manure the 
land, the best kinds of land for Potatos, the best 
kinds of Potatos for the various descriptions of land, 
the best manures for any and all soils, the best 
methods of planting and lifting and storing the crops, 
and other topics, too many even to mention, either 
one of which alone might afford material sufficient 
for an ordinary lecture. 
Then there is the increasingly important question 
of disease prevention, which can be treated from at 
least two chief starting points, either with the object 
of simplifying and extending the French system of 
spraying the crops when growing with the Bordeaux 
mixture known as “ Bouillie Bordelaise,” or of dust¬ 
ing the plant with the same compound in the form 
of powder, and thereby saving from disease the sorts 
of Potato already largely grown ; or, on the other 
hand, of introducing to the public notice varieties 
obtained by cross-fertilisation which may have 
proved themselves able to withstand the ravages of 
the dreaded fungus. 
On all these topics, except the last, so much has 
been said already that I felt I could not hope to in¬ 
terest you with any additional remarks of my 
own, but as I have long been identified with the 
raising and introduction of seedling Potatos I 
thought it possible that I might succeed in popularis¬ 
ing this branch of study, especially if aided by the 
lantern views which Messrs. Newton have made for 
me from photographs taken especially for this 
lecture. 
(To be continued.) 
- <+> - 
THE LATE MR. R. GILBERT. 
By the lamented death of Mr. Richard Gilbert on the 
22nd ult., as briefly announced in our issue of the 30th 
ult., it is no exaggeration to say that there has passed 
away from amongst us one of the best practitioners of 
our art, and one of the most interesting of "characters” 
that ever adorned the ranks of the gardening com¬ 
munity. No ordinary man was “ Gilbert of 
Burghley,” and in the days of his prime and in his 
own special branch of horticulture, no ordinary 
brother gardener was his equal, and few his master, 
while all who knew him may be said to have been 
his friends. A “character” undoubtedly he was, 
but of a type that are all too few, because so accept¬ 
able in gardening company ; a severely practical 
man at home, yet a most entertaining friend to meet 
out on a holiday jaunt. Many there are still happily 
left among us who will recall some interesting 
" incident,” some amusing anecdote associated with 
the name of this many-sided man, but none there 
are, we verily believe, who will not shed a tear of 
sympathy over the loss of such an old and well-tried 
friend. 
Richard Gilbert was a Nottinghamshire man, 
being bred in "The Dukeries ” the centre then, as 
now, of a number of princely gardening establishments. 
He was born at Worksop, in August, 1821, his father 
being the proprietor of the Red Lion Hotel, an 
hostelry still largely patronised by horticultural 
travellers. At the age of fourteen, gardening being 
his choice of a profession, he was apprenticed for 
seven years to Mr. John Wilson, and served his term 
in Worksop Manor Gardens, whence he went to 
Arundel Castle, in Sussex, serving there about ten 
years, first under Mr. R. Wilson, a noted fruit 
grower and exhibitor in his day, and subsequently 
under Mr. George McEwan, who afterwards became 
superintendent of the Royal Horticultural Society's 
gardens at Chiswick, at a time when the old gardens 
were in their glory, and South Kensington, with the 
disasters that followed, had not been thought of. 
Leaving Arundel, Gilbert found a friend, as so 
many good men did in those far-off days, in the late 
Dr. Lindley, who sent him to his first head place, 
Sewerby House, Bridlington Quay, where, 
however, he did not make a long stay. Pre¬ 
ferring the climate of the South to that of York¬ 
shire, he found employment at Chiswick for a time 
under his old master Mr. McEwan, and in the con¬ 
genial company of his old Arundel companion, 
Mr. A. F. Barron. From Chiswick he went as 
gardener at Shalimar, in the neighbouring parish of 
Acton, and there for seven years he had the pleasure 
of serving one of the best employers a gardener ever 
had in Mr. Rickards, whose death brought about the 
break-up of the establishment. 
His next move was an ' unfortunate one ; he went 
as gardener to a famous pill maker of that time who 
had a place on Wandsworth Common, and who was 
the exact opposite of Mr. Rickards. Needless to 
say that after leaving Wandsworth, pills were for a 
long time at a discount with Richard Gilbert. For 
a few months he again found a congenial haven at 
Chiswick, this time under Mr Barron. This-was 
