306 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
January 11, 1896. 
THE NURSERIES, EXMOUTH, DEVON. 
Without set purpose, but accidentally as it were, we 
found ourselves at the nurseries of Mr. W. J. Godfrey, 
of Exmouth. Knowing well that the Chrysanthe¬ 
mums, for which Mr. Godfrey is reputed throughout 
the country, were out of season, we called upon him 
because we were in the neighbourhood the other 
week. We could not well have paid a visit at a 
more unsuitable season, seeing that the flowers 
brought forward for Christmas had been cut a few 
days previously. Nevertheless, we found something 
worthy of notice. This energetic nurseryman and 
florist has four or five nurseries situated in and 
around this thriving and beautiful watering-place 
well furnished with every modern convenience. 
The Claremont nursery is a comparatively recent 
addition to the older branches of the establishment, 
and was formerly a well-kept and handsomely-fur¬ 
nished private establishment. The largest structure 
in this place does duty for a Chrysanthemum house, 
and is admirably adapted for the purpose. It is 
built on a modified curvilinear system, and though 
the iron rafters are curved, the glass is in sections, 
flat, and almost comes down to the ground line, so 
that light falls upon the Chrysanthemums from 
every quarter. At present the house is entirely 
filled with an enormous quantity of stock, which, be 
it remembered, is grown in the open air for the 
purpose, and not subjected to forcing, like the plants 
grown for exhibition blooms. The stock may there¬ 
fore be relied upon for vigour. A remainder of the 
late plants were still in bloom, chiefly those on trial. 
For late work, Earl Canning and Princess Victoria, 
both white varieties, and E. G, Hill, yellow, are the 
•favourite late varieties grown for cut flowers and 
decorative purposes here. The large house used to 
be heated with three rows of pipes all round it, but 
the severity of last winter showed that more were 
necessary to keep up the requisite temperature, and 
Mr. Godfrey had two more rows put along the central 
bed. 
Passing into another division of this house, we 
found it occupied with Peach trees and more Chry¬ 
santhemums. A third division contained a large 
quantity of seed of the same class of plants being 
dried, for Mr. Godfrey raises seedlings in quantity. 
Cuttings of Chrysanthemums in various stages of 
rooting occupied the benches, both in this and other 
houses. Beneath the side benches were large quan¬ 
tities of Bouvardias, which had been cut down and 
placed there to rest, preparatory to the taking of root 
cuttings for the raising of fresh stock. On the central 
bench was a quantity of seedling Zonal Pelargoniums. 
Another speciality of this establishment is a large 
quantity of Richardias, or Arum Lilies as they are 
generally called. One house contained the ordinary 
form, the plants of which were planted out of doors 
in summer and potted up in autumn ; but the flowers 
had been cut for the Christmas markets. Beside 
them were large plants of the sweetly-scented 
Daphne indica rubra, far too little grown for cut 
flowers considering their utility. Another house of 
Richardias was decidedly interesting, inasmuch as 
Mr. Godfrey has been raising new kinds of decided 
merit. The house contained 400 plants of three sets 
of seedlings, differing slightly in height, but all 
flowering freely, notwithstanding the fact that 
hundreds of spathes had been cut. Many of the 
plants had thrown up a second scape, though the 
plants were small. The best of the types had foliage 
about a foot in height, and the scapes were 18 in. 
high. This fine form has been named the Godfrey 
Calla, and is sure to become popular, either for 
market purposes or private establishments. The 
special features that recommend it are dwarfness of 
habit, spathes of good size and of a much purer 
white than the type, and lastly great freedom of 
flowering. The latter character is of great value, 
and will drive the well-known Little Gem out of the 
market. The plants have been grown in pots all the 
year round. On the contrary, Little Gem has been 
tried in various ways, and still refuses to throw up 
anything more than a scattered flower here and 
there, notwithstanding all the trouble bestowed upon 
it. Those who are restricted for house-room in 
private establishments could not do better than 
provide themselves with this beautiful and dwarf 
variety which flowers so freely. 
In another part of the Richardia house we noted a 
remainder of the Bouvardias still flowering. The 
popular single varieties here are President Cleve¬ 
land, brilliant scarlet, Priory Beauty, white, 
Vreelandi, white, and Mrs. Robert Green, pink. 
The double white Alfred Neuner and the pink 
President Garfield are also grown in quantity. 
Carnations both for border culture and tree or 
perpetual flowering varieties also constitute a special 
feature of this establishment. The salmon-pink 
Reginald Godfrey is a winter-flowering sort of great 
value, for although the top flowers had been cut, side 
shoots were being produced in great abundance and 
in all stages of progress. There were two or more 
batches of it in healthy condition with fine foliage 
and an abundance of shoots. Mary Godfrey is a 
beautiful white variety. Other varieties of tested 
merit were Mrs. A.Hemsley and Henry Gibbons, both 
crimson, and the latter considered an improvement 
upon Uriah Pike. A self-coloured heliotrope seedling, 
a near approach to blue, arrested our attention. The 
flowers are deliciously scented, and on that account 
alone well worthy of cultivation. Cuttings of tree 
Carnations were being rooted in great quantity in 
one of the propagating pits. In cold frames close by 
were some 200 to 250 new varieties of border Carna¬ 
tions ; and American sorts newly imported were 
staged in one of the houses. Among them were 
Vesperis, pink, Buttercup, yellow, Jubilee, an 
immense scarlet flower, and Triumph, rose-pink. 
Seedling Carnations were also being grown in con¬ 
siderable quantity in frames. 
Lily of the Valley and Roman Hyacinths were 
being forced in batches to meet the requirements. 
The Berlin variety of the former is employed, and 
very beautiful it is. Amongst other bulbs we were 
pleased to see a large batch of Hymenocallis macros- 
tephana becoming more and more popular every year 
for cut flowers. Large and attractive were the bright 
blue flowers of Browallia speciosa major, which 
should in time supersede the better-known B. elata 
for conservatory work. The handsome flowers last 
for fourteen days in the cut state. A batch of the 
Buttercup Oxalis, with large yellow flowers arrested 
our attention in another house. 
Peaches and vines in span-roofed houses were 
being cleaned preparatory to forcing. Under the 
latter were Ferns and Palms, including Seaforthias 
and Kentias for decorative purposes. Maidenhair 
Ferns do very well under the shade of the vines in 
summer. Elsewhere, we noted the remainder of the 
latest batch of Poinsettias. Tomatos are largely 
grown here, and the first batch of seedlings are 
already in 60-size pots. The popular varieties are 
Excelsior, one of Mr. Godfrey’s selection, also 
Dunedin Favourite, Perfection, Chemin Rouge, and 
Sharpe's Plentiful. Frogmore Selected does not 
succeed very well here. 
St. Andrew’s Road Nursery is situated at a much 
lower level in the town and at the end of the 
esplanade under the eyes of the summer visitors, 
where a good show is always kept up. Epacris, 
Camellias, and Roses in pots are grown for the sake 
of cut flowers. Palms also make a feature of the 
house. At the present time the display consists 
largely of Zonal Pelargoniums grown expressly for 
winter flowering. 
--— 
ORCHID NOTES & GLEANINGS. 
Eulophia congoensis, Nov.Sp .—This beautiful 
Eulophia has been described in the Lindenia, PI. 486, 
by M. A. Cogniaux. It is most closely allied to E. 
guineensis, a native of central but more particularly 
western tropical Africa ; but the colours of the 
flowers are quite different in the two cases, and the 
segments differ in botanical details. The sepals and 
petals of E. congoensis are flat instead of being 
twisted, similar in size and shape, and of an intense 
violet-purple, though a little paler towards the edges 
and apex. The large lip is the most conspicuous and 
showy organ of the flower, and, although it is three- 
lobed, the middle lobe is by far the largest. It is 
broadly obovate, rounded at the apex, almost 
truncate, and purple, shaded with white, and having 
a slightly thickened disc on which are five intense 
violet-purple lines; the very base is almost white. 
The flowers are plentifully produced in a long erect 
raceme arising from the young pseudobulbs. The 
species was introduced from the Congo by Messrs. 
Linden, L’Horticulture Internationale, Brussels, and 
flowered at their establishment. The English name 
applied to the species is the Congolan Eulophia. 
Catasetum stupendum, Nov. sp .—This name 
has been translated as the astonishing Catasetum. 
It is described and figured in the Lindenia, PI 487. 
The male plant only is represented, the female one 
being unknown. The plant flowered for the first 
time in the collections of L'Horticulture Inter¬ 
nationale during last winter. The purple-brown 
scapes bear four or five singular-looking and fairly 
ornamental flowers. The sepals are straight but 
concave, involute at the margins and dark brown 
shaded to some extent with purple. The petals, like 
the sepals, are drawn out to a long point, but lie 
under the dorsal sepal as in many other species, and 
are similar in colour except that the brown is broken 
up into spots and lines showing a green ground. The 
lip is the most striking feature, being large, fleshy, 
sub-orbicular and rather deeply fringed all round the 
edges of the lamina. The upper face of it is of a 
beautiful clear or apple-green, much spotted all over 
the upper surface with brown-purple; around the 
mouth of the sac or pouch, the colour is white, 
forming a strange contrast. 
Vanda Parishi marriottiana.—This beautiful 
variety was described by the late Professor Reichen- 
bach in 1880. The type is a rare Orchid, but the 
variety is even more so. It is much richer in colour, 
more choice, and altogether one of the gems of the 
East Indian house. But the variety and the type 
are comparatively rare in cultivation notwithstanding 
their beautiful and refined character. They have 
much the same character and habit asP. violacea, P. 
ludemanniana, P. speciosa and others of that class 
and equally deserving of cultivation. A good plate of 
V. Parishi marriottiana is given in the Lindenia, 
PI. 488. 
(gleanings fount the, IDorlti 
uf Science. 
Mistleto in Devon.—There is a widely prevalent 
opinion in Devon that the Mistleto is very rare or 
even absent from the county. This is the belief in 
Budleigh Salterton, between four and five miles from 
Exmouth. The supplies for the Christmas festivities 
come from Somersetshire, from whence it is brought 
by the gipsies in their vans, and hawked from door 
to door in that beautiful and secluded seaside 
retreat, which will almost certainly lose its cus¬ 
tomary seclusiveness when the new railway, now in 
the course of formation, is completed. There is, or 
was, however, two very fine plants of Mistleto on a 
small Apple tree and a smaller plant on a larger tree 
at Budleigh Salterton, as pointed out by an 
inhabitant of that place in one of our contemporaries 
as recently as midsummer last. The popular 
parasite also grows at Bishopsteignton. Several 
other places were also mentioned where Mistleto 
grew upon Apple trees in Devon, so that in all pro¬ 
bability the plant is not nearly so rare as is 
generally imagined if the truth were known. It is 
quite natural that those who possess it in their 
gardens should conceal the fact, lest unscrupulous 
collectors should endeavour to appropriate the same 
without the consent of the lawful owners. Mistleto, 
whether native to the country or cultivated, would 
have more attraction for some people than imported 
specimens. 
Mistleto in Cornwall.—The question has also 
been raised concerning the existence of Mistleto in 
Cornwall, but the evidence of various correspondents 
goes to prove that plants growing upon trees occur 
at various places in the Duchy of Cornwall. Near 
Falmouth it is pretty frequent in orchards, gardens, 
and small woods upon Apple, Pear, and other trees. 
In a garden at that place a large specimen in perfect 
health fruited freely last winter, and furnished many 
branches for the young people at Christmastide. It 
is also reported from Tregullow, Bull Point, Truro, 
and Little Petherick. At the last-named place it 
used to grow in profusion, and may exist there yet. 
It is evident that the Apple is the favourite host for 
the parasite both in Cornwall and Devon. Possibly 
a number of the recorded specimens may have been 
planted originally, and would account for the pre¬ 
ference shown for the Apple. Nevertheless, more 
than one species of the Rose family affords a suit¬ 
able nidus for the plant in question. Apple trees can 
be purchased from certain nurseries with the male 
and female plants grafted upon them, and this would 
also account to some extent for the distribution of 
the parasite in gardens. 
Various Host Plants for Mistleto—Asfaras 
real native specimens are concerned, this parasite is 
