June 28, 1890. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
681 
DEATH OF MR. B. S. WILLIAMS. 
With deep sorrow we have to announce the death, after 
a long and painful illness, of Mr. B. S. Williams, of 
the Victoria and Paradise Nurseries, Upper Holloway. 
By the death of Mr. Williams, we and hundreds of 
others have lost a friend whom it will be difficult to 
replace—one whom to personally know was to hold in 
the highest respect and esteem alike for his manly, 
honourable character, the generous warmth of his 
nature, his kindly and genial disposition, and the high 
position he held in the world of horticulture. For 
many months past Mr. Williams had suffered from an 
internal complaint of a most painful character, and 
had become almost a shadow of his former self. But a 
few short months ago he had the great misfortune to 
lose his wife by death, and from this blow he may truly 
be said to have never rallied. Since Easter, he had 
been entirely confined to his bedroom, and passed 
quietly away at ten minutes to seven on Tuesday 
evening, -in the 67th year of his age. 
In a former volume we remarked of this good 
old man that he came of a good gardening stock, 
being the fourth son of Mr. James Williams, a 
gardener at Hoddesdon, Herts, where he still 
resides, enjoying life at the ripe old age 
of ninety-four, and we believe still nomin¬ 
ally in charge of the garden which he 
entered as chief some seventy-one years 
ago. Mr. B. S. Williams was born on the 
2nd of March, 1824, and leaving school at 
the age of fourteen years, commenced his 
gardening career under his father in the 
famous garden of Mr. John Warner. At 
seventeen years of age he left the garden 
at Hodaesden for another situation, which 
he retained for some six years, and it 
was while in this service, and at the age 
of twenty years, that he entered the com¬ 
petitive arena, his first favourite—as has 
been that of many another famous florist— 
being the Pansy. After a short term 
subsequently in the nursery of Messrs. 
Adam Paul & Son, at Cheshunr, Mr. 
Williams returned to Hoddesdon, and again 
under his father had charge of the fruit 
and vegetable gardens. He subsequently 
entered the service of Mr. C. B. Warner 
as Orchid grower, in which position he 
proved such an able cultivator that he 
was soon able to make his appearance as an 
exhibitor at Chiswick and .Regent's Park, 
in the palmy days of those famous places. 
For several years Mr. Williams continued 
in Mr. C. B. Warner’s employment, and 
each year added something to his reputa¬ 
tion as a skilful plantsman. In 1856 
he commenced business as a nurseryman 
in the Seven Sisters Road, Holloway, 
in conjunction with Mr. Robert Parker, 
subsequently of Tooting, and who is happily 
still with us, enjoying in retirement 
the sweets of an industrious life. The part¬ 
nership lasted only some five or six years, 
when Mr. Williams removed to the site of 
the present nursery at the foot of Highgate 
Hill, then an open spot, but long since 
entirely surrounded with bricks and mortar. 
Mr. Williams first became a writer on the cultivation 
of plants in 1851, when Dr. Lindley, recognising his 
skill as a grower, induced him to contribute a series of 
articles on “Orchids for the Million ” to The Gardeners’ 
Chronicle, and which was the foundation of The Orchid 
Growers Manual, afterwards published by Messrs. 
Chapman & Hall. Subsequently Mr. Williams under¬ 
took the publication of his own works, and edition 
followed edition, until of “The Manual’’the sixth 
edition, greatly extended, was published in 1885. His 
Choice Stove and Greenhouse Plants in two vols., one 
devoted to flowering and the other to fine-foliaged plants, 
has run into the third edition ; and his Select Ferns and 
Lycopods has also met with great favour. Mr. 
Williams also contributed the cultural notes to Mr. 
Robert Warner’s handsome publication, the Select 
Orchidaceous Plants ; and in 1881, in conjunction with 
Mr. Warner, commenced the publication of The Orchid 
Album, which still holds its own among lovers of that 
fascinating tribe of plants which Mr. Williams, by 
example and precept, did so much to bring into 
popular favour. 
As a cultivator and exhibitor of Orchids and stove 
and greenhouse plants generally, over a period of some 
forty years, Mr. Williams could always hold his own 
both at home and abroad, and the number of prizes he 
won must have long since run into four figures. For 
certain exhibitions he had a strong affection, and from 
which for many years he was never absent, until failing 
strength compelled him to cry “enough.” Thus to the 
famous Whitsuntide shows at Manchester, until two 
years ago, he had rendered good and highly valued 
support, and in that district, as indeed in all others 
where business called him, was Mr. Williams recognised 
as a warm personal friend. He was an enthusiastic 
supporter of every movement for the advancement 
of horticulture or the welfare of his fellow-men. He 
was a supporter of the Gardeners’ Royal Benevolent 
Institution for over forty years ; served for many years 
on the Floral Committee of the Royal Horticultural 
Society ; was a member of the committee which carried 
out the ever-to-be-remembered International Horti¬ 
cultural Exhibition of 1866, and as showing the warm 
interest he took in everything affecting the welfare of 
gardeners was present at the first meeting held in 
March, 1887, with reference to the proposed establishment 
of the Orphan Fuud. Of Mr. Williams indeed it may 
honestly be said we could have better spared a better 
man. Requiescat in pace. 
NEPENTHES BURKEI SUPERBA. 
The superior beauty of this variety over the type is well 
marked. In good sized specimens the pitchers attain a 
length of 6 ins. or 7 ins., and are beautifully but 
irregularly blotched with crimson on a light green 
ground. The spotting is best developed towards the 
top ; but the rich colouration of the annulus or collar 
surrounding the mouth, constitutes the finest feature 
of the variety. The annulus is broad, revolute at the 
margin, undulated, finely ridged, and furrowed trans¬ 
versely, and of a deep shining brown. The type has 
more narrowly cylindrical pitchers, a paler annulus or 
almost green, with the edges of the ridges only of a 
brown colour. Specimens of both may be seen in the 
fine collection in the nursery of Messrs. J. Yeitch & 
Sons, Chelsea. 
-->Z<-- 
VICIA SYLVATIOA. 
As a climber for scrambling over the upper part of a 
rockery amongst large projecting stones or banks 
skirting a drive, this beautiful native Vetch might 
receive much more hearty recognition at the hands of 
the lovers of hardy plants. The stems attain a length 
of 4 ft. to 6 ft., or perhaps more in good 
soil, and might be utilised as a screen for 
covering fences, and hiding unsightly 
objects. Flowers are produced in great 
quantity all along the stems, and although 
not so large as those of the popular species 
of Lathyrus, they are very pretty. The 
keel of the flower is white with a blue 
tip, and the petals are thinly lined with 
purple on the inner face. The standard 
is, however, the most conspicuous and 
beautiful part of the flower, as it is the 
largest and closely reticulated with purple 
on a white ground. Some freely-flowered 
pieces may be seen on the rockery in the 
gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society 
at Chiswick. 
The funeral will take place at Highgate Cemetery on 
Monday next, the 30th inst., at 12.30 p.m. 
-- 
DOWNINGIA PULCHELLA. 
The habit of this plant is very similar to that of the 
common bedding Lobelia, to which it is allied; but the 
flowers are larger in every way and most beautifully 
marked. The general colour is of a deep blue, but at 
the base of the broad lower lip is a large golden yellow 
blotch, surrounded by a broad white band, and marked 
at the very base with three black spots. Being an 
annual, and easily raised from seed, it is a plant that 
all who are fond of annuals should grow. Possibly it 
could be propagated from cuttings, and if so, a dwarfer 
habit could, no doubt, be induced. Possibly it is more 
often named Clintonia pulchella in the catalogues of 
nurserymen, and sold under that name ; but the true 
Clintonias belong to the Lily family, and are in no way 
to be confounded with this plant, which belongs to the 
Bell Flower family, and is allied to the Lobelias. It is 
well adapted for culture in large towns, and might be 
grown to great advantage in pots, in which it would be 
more restricted in habit. 
>Z« 
CORONILLA IBERICA. 
One of the good old-fashioned hardy sub¬ 
jects that has been much neglected is 
Coronilla iberica, which, as its name im¬ 
plies, is a native of Iberia. The habit is 
much like that of our native Bird’s-foot 
Trefoil, but it is much larger in every 
way, and the leaves, which consist of seven 
to eleven obversely heart-shaped leaflets, 
are of a dark glaucous green colour. The 
short stems are procumbent, forming a 
spreading patch, which in time attains a 
large size. The flowers are borne in 
umbellate circular heads, a peculiarity 
which no doubt suggested the generic 
name, which means a little crown. They 
are of a bright golden yellow, and when 
seen in the mass surmounting the dark 
foliage they are very pretty. When once 
established the plant requires little or no 
further attention, as its roots penetrate very 
deeply, and keep the plant in health even 
in the driest weather. 
>Z< 
CATTLEYA GIGAS. 
Such is the name given to one of the handsomest 
Cattleyas by Linden and Andre, in the Illustration 
Eorticole, 1873, p. 70, and afterwards figured in the 
same work for 1874, t. 178. Professor Reichenbach 
previously, however, described the variety under the 
name of C. labiata Warscewiczii, and such, therefore, 
is the correct name of it. Several other sub-varieties 
differing in a shade of colour have been disseminated 
under the names of C. Sanderiana, C. Warscewieziana 
Sanderiana, C. gigas Sanderiana, C. gigas, C. g. bur- 
fordiensis, and C. imperialis, but it is impossible to 
give characters that would distinguish them from one 
another. A flower sent us recently had warm rosy mauve 
sepals and petals with a purple mid-rib to the upper 
half of the petals. The tube of the lip was of a deep 
rosy purple, on each side of the orifice was a large white 
blotch heavily suffused with purple, and the huge 
orbicular, deeply bifid lamina was of a rich crimson- 
purple. The interior of the tube was of a deep purple 
closely lined with golden yellow. On the whole we 
considered the flower as a good type and withal 
beautiful. 
