644 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
June 14, 1890. 
of Douglas, Dickson, Lobb, Fothcrgill, Fortune, 
Wallich, Eoezl, and many others, mill live in 
vegetation with honour long after mere State- 
given titles have been forgotten. 
^ruit Culture. —It cannot be denied but 
-R that not only in the jrresent, but in some 
previous years, the weather has given hardy 
fruit culture in this country a slap in the face. 
In spite of all that has been spoken and 
written in favour of the extension of fruit 
culture, and still farther under the. stimulus 
given by foreign and colonial competition, it 
has been the lot of unfortunate home growers 
largely to have to look on with saddened hearts, 
because the earth has failed to give forth her 
anticipated increase. All the cultivation in the 
world, all the planting in the world, all 
the knowledge in the world—in fact, every¬ 
thing we may do to raise or to develop 
our fruit crops, is checkmated by the climate 
which is obstinately opposed to our require¬ 
ments. 
We are this year brought face to face with 
what bids fair to be one of the thinnest hardy 
fruit crops on record. There will be, perhaps, 
should the weather prove fine in the fruiting 
season, a good crop of Strawberries, and of bush 
fruits there will be a moderate produce, although 
more than usually affected with aphis. But 
of hardy tree fruits it is' indeed difficult to 
write with complacency, because .so partial and, 
so far as we learn, generally so very poor. It 
need not be said that results of this kind are 
not only disappointing, they are distinctly 
discouraging. How can we hope that fruit 
planting will extend and progress, when 
established trees give nothing to the grower- — 
not only now, but so often 1 We have for this 
mischance no other advice to offer than 
patience. 
It is a long lane which has no turning, and 
the few years of comparative rest that trees are 
now getting may in good time be productive of 
grand crops. Still we know that only with 
favourable weather can those hopes be realised. 
A warm dry autumn, plenty of sunshine, and 
strong ripening forces, will do more to bring to 
realisation pleasing anticipation, than will a 
thousand meetings or papers. Perhaps a 
climatic reform society may be established to 
some useful purpose. 
0!reen Peas. —We are just on the eve of 
the green Pea season. It is rather late 
this year, because the spring season was so 
prolonged by dull and cold, and Pea plants 
were late in blooming. In warm gardens 
and on south borders Peas have been gathered. 
These are the exception. The London and 
other large markets have been supplied with 
green Peas, such as they are, from extreme 
south counties and from the Continent, but 
they lack the freshness which belong to Peas 
of really home production, gathered one day 
and consumed the next, and sold by tens of 
thousands of bushels daily at very moderate 
prices. It is when the home-grown crops 
come in that the million can enjoy to 
the full a fill, as it were, of real green Peas. 
Hot that under any conditions of marketing 
can the real flavour of Peas be obtained in 
the same way that quality is furnished from 
our own gardens. 
To gather Peas one hour, cook them the 
next, and eat at once is . to have green Peas 
in the full flush of their highest excellence. 
That is a joy which only those who grow 
their own Peas can realise. With all possible 
care taken, market Peas suffer from comparative 
staleness, as some twenty-four hours must 
invariably elapse from the gathering ere they 
reach the consumers’ tables. They are sent 
to market closely pressed into baskets and 
sacks, and suffer accordingly ; they are later 
fully exposed to the air and again suffer. 
Hot least, the market Pea is grown less for 
its flavour and table quality than for its 
hardiness and prolificness, hence the ordinary 
town consumer rarely finds in the market— 
apart from freshness, which it never can be 
his to enjoy—that excellence of quality which 
better sorts under garden culture so plenti¬ 
fully give. 
We could wish that Peas of finer quality 
were more widely grown and could be got 
to market in quicker time. It ought to be 
possible, had we more liberal means for 
vegetable distribution, for Peas and other 
vegetables to be put on rail anywhere within 
fifty miles of the metropolis, gathered in 
the early morning and delivered to the 
consumer in town by 10 o’clock. That would 
indeed be a revolution in our market 
practice. 
^The Gardeners’ Orphan Fund.— The 
nomination list of candidates is now 
issued to subscribers, and those who have but 
one or two votes to give will find some cause 
for perplexity in selecting their favoured 
proteges amidst so many. Ho less than 
seventeen orphan children are found on the 
list, six of whom made application last year 
but were not successful. Of course out of 
this large number of applications there are 
easily enough found gradations of necessity 
which will, we are sure, find full appreciation 
at the hands of, the voting subscribers to the 
fund. 
Still every case is more or less meritorious, 
and may well find a place in the considera¬ 
tion of all concerned. We may remind our 
readers that should any not have received 
the nomination list and accompanying voting 
paper, the fault is their own, and owing to the 
fact that the annual subscription is due at 
the very latest on June 30th; the sooner, 
therefore, contributions are sent in to the 
secretary the better. But we could wish that, 
apart from the ballot paper, the nomination 
list, with its seventeen applications on behalf 
of gardeners’ orphan children, could be placed 
in the hands of every gardener in the 
kingdom. There are myriads connected with 
the profession who seem as if ignorant of the 
Orphan Fund. It is difficult to understand 
how or why they so continuously ignore it. 
If they have any doubt as to the value or 
necessity of the fund, their reading over the 
nomination list for the present year would 
help to dispel those doubts, and dissipate 
unjust prejudices. 
We very much doubt, with all due respect 
to other charities, whether there exists a 
fund more economically worked, or more 
worthy of support than is the Gardeners’ 
Orphan Fimd. We mentioned the other day 
that our distinguished compeer, Mr. Shirley 
Hibberd, whose name is a household word in 
horticulture, would preside at the annual 
dinner on July 18th next. It should be the 
desire of every subscriber to be present in 
support of so popular a horticulturist. 
-- 
The Covent Garden Fete.—We understand that the 
Gardeners’ Orphan Fund will benefit to the extent of 
about £175 by the late floral fete organised by the 
market growers. 
Daffodil Farming in the South of Ireland.—We 
understand Mr. W. Baylor Hartland, of Cork, has been 
obliged to give up his nursery ground’at Temple Hill, 
near Cork, and has established himself at Ard Cairn, an 
adjoining property. 
Professor Stewart, of the Royal College of Surgeons, 
has been elected president of the Linnean Society, in 
succession to Mr. W. Carruthers, F.R.S., whose term 
of office has expired. 
Gardening Engagements.—Mr. J. Mills, of The 
Gardens, Underley Hall, Kirkby Lonsdale, as gardener 
to Commander Phillpots, Chelston Cross, Torquay. 
Mr. A. Parry, foreman at Shendish, Hemel Hempstead, 
as gardener to Geo. Courtauld, Esq., Cat Hedge, 
Halstead, Essex. Mr. Thomas Prickett, for the last 
six years foreman at High Ashurst, as gardener to 
J. L. Wylie, Esq , Camilla Lacy, Dorking. 
Wedding Decorations, says the Daily News, appear 
to be more beautiful and elaborate at the Antipodes 
than they are at home. On the occasion of a recent 
marriage in the Wesleyan Church at Toorak, the 
pillars were wreathed with greenery, and clumps of 
feathery Ferns were arranged at intervals upon the white 
walls. In front of the Communion rails a large cross¬ 
arch was erected, from the intersection of which hung 
a marriage bell composed of white flowers. Under this 
the bride and bridegroom stood during the ceremony. 
A long walk from the gate to the church door was 
trellised in and covered with foliage. 
New Potatos in Lincolnshire.—The first English- 
grown new Potatos of the season seen in the Horncastle 
district were on Saturday, May 31st, sent to the Horn- 
castle market by Mr. T. Kime, of Mareham-le-Fen. 
They were very quickly all sold at 6 d. per lb. The 
Potatos on sale were of the variety known as Sharpe’s 
Victor. It is stated to be a circumstance unprece¬ 
dented in the Horncastle district for new Potatos to be 
on sale in the market in the month of May. Hitherto 
the 12th of June has been regarded as the earliest date, 
but Mr. Kime has -beaten the record by nearly a 
fortnight. 
Laburnum Flowers Poisonous.—It has been re¬ 
peatedly stated, for twenty or thirty years past, that 
children have lost their lives through eating the flowers 
of Laburnum, which, as everyone knows, are very 
attractive during May and the early part of June. The 
other week a child died at Kingston-on-Thames, owing, 
it is said, to the poisonous effects of the flowers of 
Laburnum which had been eaten. The local medical 
authority stated that the seeds after they had attained 
some size were more highly poisonous than the flowers 
with their yet incipient seed pods. He, therefore, 
deferred his decision as to the causa of death until he 
had made a post-mortem examination. The incident, 
however, and which has many times been repeated, 
ought to put parents on their guard and instruct their 
children what plants to avoid. Object lessons would 
not be amiss in such cases as these. 
-- 
THE QUEEN'S BOUQUET OF 
VANDA TERES. 
The note in your issue of May 17th, announcing the 
fact of a bouquet of Vanda teres being presented to Her 
Majesty on the occasion of her visit to Baron Ferdinand 
de Rothschild, at Waddesdon Manor, recalls to my 
mind an interesting circumstance. I had the gratifi¬ 
cation to be the first to flower Vanda teres in England 
while gardener to the Duke of Northumberland at 
Syon House in 1833. At that time the Duchess of 
Northumberland was governess or preceptoress to the 
Queen, then Princess Victoria, a young lady about 
thirteen years of age, living with her mother, the 
Duchess of Kent, at Kensington Palace. The Duchess, 
when at Syon, always left, for the Palace about 10 a.m., 
and every morning I had to supply a basket of flowers 
to he taken with her. I well remember that the first 
flower which opened of Vanda teres was cut by the 
Duchess’s orders, and taken for the Princess to see ; 
and the illustration in the Botanical Register, t. 1809, 
was subsequently prepared from the same plant. It is 
curious that after a lapse of fifty-seven years a bouquet 
of Vanda teres should be selected by Baron Ferdinand 
de Rothschild as the most beautiful floral offering he 
could make to Her Majesty.— J. IV. Thomson, Hortulan 
Lodge, Haywards Heath. 
-- 
CHOISYA TERNATA. 
What a grand shrub this is ! Iam glad to think it is 
finding favour with good gardeners. As a greenhouse 
plant it is easily grown, and, if need be, easily forced ; 
whilst it is hardy enough to flower outside in any of 
the English counties south of York, and in the north 
with very little protection. 
As an evergreen, it compares favourably with 
Aucubas, Laurels, Berberis, or any of that class, and as 
a flowering shrub it is exceptionally valuable. The 
flowers are so much like Orange-blossom that they are 
easily taken for it, hence its fancy name, the Mexican 
Orange Flower. The foliage is not less beautiful than 
the flowers, and has an agreeable aromatic perfume. 
The finest piece of it that I have ever seen is in the 
Exminster Nurseries of Messrs. R. Veitch & Son, of 
Exeter. It is a row of about 60 ft. in length, while 
the bushes are 5 ft. to 6 ft. high, and about the same 
through. It is right ont in the open there, and goes 
on from year to year without the slightest sign of 
injury from frost or anything else. If I were asked to 
recommend half-a-dozen flowering shrubs, this would 
certainly be one of them. 1 send herewith a bunch 
of it.— Dcvoniensis. 
