38 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
September 16, 1893. 
The nature of the geological formation is indicated 
on the closely-mown lawns in the immediate vicinity 
of the Abbey, by the determined growth and 
flowering of dwarf tufts of Canpanula glomerata. 
Other wild flowers on the banks of the ha-ha 
limiting the lawn proper are Thymus Serpyllum 
Chamaedrys and Verbascum nigrum, both of which 
are particularly at home on limestone. Just beyond 
this a cricket match was carried on the whole day 
between the members of the Aylesbury Floral and 
Horticultural Society and of the National Chrysan¬ 
themum Society, while those who were otherwise 
disposed, could roam about the grounds and garden 
at will. 
In close proximity to the Abbey are three noble 
specimens of the typical Oriental Plane (Platanus 
orientalis) with stout old trunks and a great spread 
of branches. Other notable trees are Horse Chest¬ 
nuts and Elms with huge trunks. One of the tall 
Elms comes in the foreground of our illustration at 
the right hand corner. Close by here are two 
interesting specimens in the shape of old Dutch 
Cannon captured by the English at the Cape of 
Good Hope in 1795. They were presented by Sir 
Henry B. Coder, Governor of Cape Colony in 1891. 
There are also some noble trees of the Turkey Oak. 
Two large specimens of the Purple Beech are very 
handsome, especially by contrast with the deep green 
foliage of the trees surrounding them. Several large 
specimens of Walnut trees still thriving in a green 
old age, add considerably to the variety. Extending 
eastwards is a long and cool avenue of Lime trees of 
which there is a double row on one side of the drive. 
The islands on the lake are planted with green and 
golden Yews, &c. Beyond this are numerous Deodara 
Cedars, whose glaucous foliage looked grand in the 
summer sun. The view from the Abbey is perhaps 
the best that could be had, looking along the 
avenues, up the side glens, and above all across the 
wide expanse of grass rising to the Beech-clad hill 
above, where the wide-spreading old trees form a 
glorious fringe or framework to the picture. 
-- 
THE LAVENDER 
INDUSTRY. 
The Lavender fields of Surrey have, from time 
immemorial, been world-famed, and although, un¬ 
happily. the cultivation of this sweet scentful plant 
is no longer carried on at the once renowned 
Mitcham, there is still (says a writer in the Daily 
Chronicle) enough grown at Wallington to make the 
home-produced extract the finest and purest in the 
world. Just at this moment, for miles around the 
fields of Wallington the air is fragrant with the 
scent of Lavender and Mint, which grow side by 
side and are distilled during the next few weeks. 
The introduction of a distillery (which, be it noticed, 
refers in this instance to flowers and not spirits) at 
Wallington, is due to the energy of a woman whose 
family had for over a century been engaged in the 
process of distilling at Mitcham. Miss Sprules, the 
sturdy gentlewoman in question, should delight the 
heart of Mr. Thomas Hardy. From six o’clock in 
the morning, when business begins, to late eventide, 
she is the head and soul of the concern, and there is 
something in her clear, quick eye and air of authority 
which warn the laggard that she is not a person to 
be trifled with. Clad in a spotless print gown. Miss 
Sprules receives the London visitor with old- 
fashioned hearty hospitality which is in harmony 
with the big straggling kitchen garden—full of 
“fair Marigolds,’’ “ bees-alluring Thyme,’’ and 
“ breathful Camomile’’—which runs round the 
comfortable one-storied farmhouse. Everywhere is 
the mingled perfume of Lavender and Peppermint; 
and as you approach the distillery, which is nothing 
more than a huge beamed, thatched shed a few 
yards away from the house, you recognise the 
difference between this fresh tonic-like fragrance and 
the rather sickly scent exhaled by London street 
Lavender. 
The process of distillation is a very interesting and 
somewhat primitive affair. The Lavender is deftly 
cut by men with small saw-like scythes, then made 
up into sheaves, and finally rolled into “ mats,” into 
which they are secured by skewers. These mats or 
sacks of Lavender are then brought along to the dis¬ 
tillery, which consists of a lower floor, in which are 
the receiving-cans for the oil and the furnaces for heat¬ 
ing the stills above,and an upper floor which is a raised 
platform of wood with a thatched roof supported by 
beams, in which are the stills and vats. The big 
iron coppers or stills are filled with the pretty 
delicate-looking bloom by men naked to their waists, 
who press it down and stamp upon it till the still is 
tightly packed. Water is then added, the head of the 
still is firmly fixed on by means of a crane, and the 
whole made air-tight (to prevent the escape of any 
steam) by layers of whitening. The men than light the 
fifes below, and the vapour, passing through a pipe 
technically known as the “worm,” is caught in a 
huge vat nearly full of cold water, where it gets con¬ 
densed, and flows into a receiving-can below as oil 
and water. The essential oil is thus retained, whilst 
the water, which is useless, trickles away. In the 
distillation of peppermint the water is collected, as 
it is regarded by the poorer people of the district as 
a potent remedy against certain minor ailments. A 
large portion of the Lavender oil is sent up by Miss 
Sprules to the druggists for medicinal purposes,the re¬ 
mainder being retained for the preparation of her 
famous Lavender water, the details of which are her 
own secret. During the autumn and winter, the 
bottling of the Lavender Water, Lavender Essence, 
and the Aromatic Lavender Salts, are carried on in the 
farm'parlour.the preparations being put into charming 
little and big cut-glass bottles, which are labelled in 
white and gold, and tied about the neck with delicate- 
hued ribbons by a deft-fingered niece of Miss Sprules. 
The Queen has for years been one of Miss Sprules’s 
regular customers, the essence being used for 
fumigating and perfuming the royal palaces; and 
lately the lady’s fame has spread beyond the seas, 
several large orders having been received from Indian 
princes. 
Once upon a time, rosemary, beloved of poets, was 
also distilled here, but its cultivation has now entirely 
declined, and another branch of Miss Sprules’s 
industry—that of conserving roses—is, owing to 
foreign competition, no longer so flourishing as it 
once was. 
The stranger should not leave this attractive place 
without a stroll through the fields where the 
Lavender and Mint grow. The country, although it 
bears the name of Bandon Hill, is almost unin¬ 
terruptedly flat, except towards Addington, where 
the woods and hills rise dark; but there is a quiet, 
orderly beauty about it which is infinitely restful to 
a contented eye. A huge field of Lavender lies a 
little to the east of the town, skirted on one side by 
a plain of yellow, waving Oats, and on the other by 
a field of mauve-tinted Mint. Near by is a field of 
Cgimomile, the white blossom of which is dried and 
used in the composition of various drugs. 
Unhappily, one is told on every side that it has 
been a bad season for Lavender, but, indeed, when 
was any season ever known which was approved by 
the farmers ? It is, however, pleasant in these days 
of decaying agricultural industries to think that, so 
far as "azure-bloomed ” Lavender is concerned, the 
fields of Surrey can hold their own against the 
growth of foreign countries, and that the home-made 
perfume is still ahead of its rivals. 
-- 
SELECTION IN ITS RELATION TO 
SEED GROWING. 
In a lengthy and well-considered paper on this sub¬ 
ject, read at the late Horticultural Congress at 
Chicago, Mr. C. L. Allen, of Floral Park, New York, 
a gentleman who has devoted many years to a study 
of the scientific principles of selection, said :— 
Selection, from the seedsman’s standpoint, means 
more than a choice of samples, or more even than a 
preference of types in the various classes of 
vegetables or flowers, whether it is in regard to 
shape, size, colour, or in its relation to earliness or 
lateness in development, as may be desired. Neither 
has it any connection with the popular theory of 
what is known as “ natural selection,” “ the survival 
of the fittest,” that active principle of evolution 
which was cradled in the fertile mind of that dis¬ 
tinguished philosopher, De Lamarck, and by the 
late Chas. Darwin, developed into the “ Origin of 
Species.” 
To the seedsman, selection is not a cause, but an 
effect, and in its application to his business it is of 
vital importance, in fact, it is the foundation upon 
which the super-structure of business success 
is completed. In the development of a type, selec¬ 
tion is the principal agent employed, but doubly 
important is its office in preserving a type after it is 
secured. There are two separate and distinct 
principles in selection, and the two are antagonistic; 
they are both methodical, but for entirely different 
purposes. In the one instance, we select with a view 
of the greatest possible increase in seed production, 
and in the other just the opposite. In our cereals, 
selections, are made to produce the greatest amount 
of seed with the least possible amount of straw. To 
that end, in the best Wheat-growing sections, the 
longest and best filled heads are carefully selected; and 
those too, in which the grains are the heaviest for 
seed purposes. The seed thus saved is given every 
possible aid to reproduction, by growing it on soil 
best adapted to its development; by giving each 
plant sufficient room to grow strong, rather than tall; 
and by furnishing plant fcod proportionate to its 
necessities. At the proper time, if the same careful 
selection is again made, and the same care in cultiva¬ 
tion given, there will result another marked improve¬ 
ment, both in size and productiveness of the grain. 
This operation oft repeated will establish a type 
superior to that from which the first selection is 
made. To preserve that type the same care must be 
given that was necessary to produce it. 
The same rule holds goods in the selection of 
Indian corn, an important work that is generally 
overlooked. It is the common practice to select 
the best ears for seed at the time of husking, which 
is a step in the right direction ; yet this practice is 
attended with many disadvantages, and does not, as 
a rule, accomplish the purpose intended. In this 
method the largest ears are selected, of which there 
is usually but one ear on a stalk; besides, there is no 
certainty about selecting such ears as ripen at the 
same time, which is a matter of great importance. 
It is possible for a weak plant to produce a large ear, 
and it is very common for a plant of bad habit to do 
so. It is but natural to suppose that the grains of 
stunted and sickly corn, even though the ears may 
attain a large size, necessarily partake of the weak 
constitution of the plant that produced them, and 
that to reproduce from such would only be to en¬ 
courage bad habits. For this reason ears should be 
selected before the stalks are cut, choosing those on 
which there are two well-formed ears on the stalk, 
which should be of low growth and well furnished 
with leaves, and the ears set near to the ground. 
The whole plant should by the length and breadth of 
the leaves, and the vigour of the stalk, indicate per¬ 
fect health. Earliness should always be combined 
with productiveness, therefore the first ears to ripen, 
when all other conditions are favourable, are the ones 
to select in the line of improvement. All should be 
gathered at the same time, in order that there may 
be uniformity in ripening united with earliness, 
which is of the greatest importance in developing 
a variety. 
This may suffice to show the method of selection 
where the object is to produce the greatest amount 
of perfectly developed grains, or seeds from a given 
acreage, to be employed as food. With this object in 
view it is needless to state that nearly all seeds will 
reproduce themselves more freely if sown as quickly 
as possible after maturity. This is shown plainly by 
the way weeds reproduce themselves, the seeds of 
which are sown as soon as ripened. But in selection 
for vegetables, where seeds are only used to repro¬ 
duce the plant, the opposite course must be pursued, 
and forms must be chosen that produce as little seed 
as possible. This is particularly noticeable with the 
English grown cucumbers, which are, from Nature’s 
standpoint, degenerate forms, as they do not repro¬ 
duce themselves, except by artificial fertilization. 
This comes from their having been grown for a long 
series of years under unnatural conditions. 
All species of the natural order. Cucurbitaceas, to 
which the cucumber belongs, find a congenial home 
in warm climates and on dry soils. The further 
they are removed from these conditions the less seed 
they will produce, and the vitality of which will be 
proportionately lower. At the same time. Nature is 
always true to her first principle—self-preservation. 
To that end greater protection is given to the germs 
of future generations. 
The outer covering of seeds is for their preser¬ 
vation or protection while in the infant state, and at 
maturity these coverings dry up or decay and dis¬ 
appear. These coverings are adapted by Nature to 
the plant’s necessities; if but little protection is re¬ 
quired, only little will be given. With all Vine 
seeds, the less seed there is produced the greater is 
its value for the production of the crop, as the flesh- 
is the part consumed; and it invariably follows that 
the greater the amount of the one, the less there will- 
