694 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
June 30, 1894. 
flowers in the open at Easter Duddingston Lodge. 
The greenhouses are equally well stocked. 
Mr. Chapman, the gardener, deserves credit 
for the way in which he keeps this extensive and 
varied collection together in one small garden, 
under similar conditions although the plants are so 
diverse. The catalogue is admirably got up and re¬ 
markably free from errors of any kind, and we sus¬ 
pect that Mr. Chapman must have had a hand in 
the compilation of it latterly. It runs to sixty-nine 
closely printed pages, and gives the botanical name, 
the family, the popular name, and the native country 
of all the plants mentioned. 
-- 
ABOUT ACHIMENES. 
The value of Achimenes to those who have only a 
limited amount of space at command in which to 
grow plants that require a warm temperature can 
hardly be over estimated, for a well-flowered batch 
of them is one of the best floral treats of the 
season. A special recommendation also is that, 
when done flowering, they can be stored away any¬ 
where till the following spring, providing that they are 
kept dry and secure from frost, rats, and mice. These 
very necessary conditions being complied with, they 
may remain in their winter quarters without a 
thought or care till the month of March, when if 
wanted to flower early in summer some of them may 
be started, and others at intervals of a month or 
more, till the end of June, to keep up a succession 
till late in the autumn. 
They delight in a warm, moist atmosphere when 
growing, and when in flower any ordinary green¬ 
house temperature will suit them admirably during 
the summer months, and if well attended to as re¬ 
gards watering, will last in full beauty for a 
lengthened time. The best compost for them is 
rough, fibrous peat and loam. If the latter is heavy, 
one-third of loam to two-thirds of peat should be 
the proportion, but if light and turfy, equal propor¬ 
tions will be about right, and if really good leaf soil 
is at hand add some of it with a good sprinkling of 
coarse silver sand to keep the soil free and open, and 
as they require copious supplies of water thorough 
good drainage must be given. 
The best way of starting them into growth is 
this ;_After shaking them out from the old soil, an 
operation which requires some care, for the tubers 
are easily broken, is to place the roots into small 
pots, boxes, or pans, according to the stock in hand, 
in finely sifted leaf soil and silver sand, keeping 
them in a warm pit or frame till the young growths 
are about an inch long, when they should be 
separated and potted up into the pots they are des¬ 
tined to flower in, or into baskets as the case may be. 
If potted into 6-in. pots ten tubers will be ample, and 
in potting distribute them equally over the surface of 
the soil, and only give a slight covering of soil to 
commence with, because they will do better by having 
a top dressing after fresh fibres begin to form at 
the base of the stems. During these early stages of 
growth a temperature between 55° and 65°, with 
plenty of moisture in the air, is most essential to 
their well being, and no place surpasses for this pur¬ 
pose a warm pit or frame, where they can be treated 
by themselves, and have the requisite attention. Up 
to the end of April they will generally endure all the 
sunshine we get favoured with, after which 
shading of some kind must be provided, as they are 
naturally shade-loving plants, and a mat, piece of 
canvas, or similar material, must be thrown over 
them during the time the sun’s rays play directly on 
the glass. 
During the summer months they will thrive 
splendidly in a cold frame by giving them a good 
syringing both morning and evening to thoroughly 
moisten their foliage, and the entire surface of the 
place they are standing in. The damping down in 
the afternoon should be done about three o’clock in 
the afternoon. This gives every advantage that can 
be had from the warmth of the sun’s rays, and the 
shading can then be removed. Those grown in pots 
require staking before coming into flower, in fact, this 
is best done when they are not more than 4 or 5 in. 
in height, because they soon get into a disorderly 
condition, and if neglected too long the flower buds 
get damaged during the operation. Nothing for this 
purpose excels privet twigs, as these if cut when 
matured and dried are very durable and quite strong 
enough for the purpose. Certainly nothing can be 
neater or more natural. 
When looking at baskets of Achimenes, I have 
often thought that the very best way of growing 
them, for although very beautiful objects when 
grown in either pots or pans, they show to better 
advantage when grown and suspended in baskets. 
Their natural habit is to droop, and when suspended 
they show up their flowers to better advantage and 
have a more graceful appearance than when formally 
shaked out as they must be when grown in pots. 
Basin-shaped wire baskets are preferable to others. 
Line these with moss and fill them with the same 
sort of soil recommended for pot culture, then make 
holes through the wire meshes of sufficient size and 
depth into the soil at regular distances apart, and 
hang the baskets up in a close warm place, treating 
them the same as those grown in pots till they com¬ 
mence to flower, when cooler and dryer quarters will 
be more suitable. 
The following list includes some of the most 
distinct and beautiful varieties :— 
Admiration, dwarf and free, violet magenta, throat 
white. 
Beaumanii caeruUa, violet-blue, white throat spotted 
with purple. 
Celestial, white, large flower, slightly tinged violet- 
blue. 
Chelsoni, dark violet-blue, very floriferous, and 
better than longiflora. 
Diamond, larger than Ambroise Verschaffelt, white 
ground, beautifully veined lilac-purple. 
Harry Williams, vermilion-yellow eye, spotted 
carmine. 
Jaureguia maxima, very large, white, slightly 
shaded with lilac. 
Margarita, large, pure white. 
Masterpiece, violet-rose, with white centre. 
Sir Treherne Thomas, large, rosy-amaranth, very 
free. 
Unique, purple-magenta, orange eye, dwarf. 
Patens major, clear purple, large flower. 
Pygmea, clear red, very dwarf.— W. B. G. 
FREELANDS, NEAR 
PERTH. 
There is at the -present time a grand display of 
Odontoglossums in the Orchid houses at Freelands, 
Forgandenny, near Perth. The plants are 
splendidly grown, the varieties good, and the flowers 
extra-fine in size. Some of the O. crispums are 
carrying eight spikes, and a form of O. Pescatorei 
has four and five. There are considerably more 
than 100 spikes open, and they are beautifully 
grouped, with fine specimens dotted here and there 
of Masdevallias and Epidendrum vitellinum majus. 
Among the Masdevallias are well-formed, clean 
plants of M. Veitchii, M. Harryana, M. Ignea, M. 
Sanderii, many with three and four dozen expanded 
blooms ; and a grand specimen of M. Schlimii has 
over fifty spikes, many with seven flowers on a spike. 
A quaint but very telling and distinct species. There 
are good examples of the curious looking M. trochilus 
and M. bella, and the pretty M. Shuttleworthii. 
In addition to the Odontoglots named, the beauti¬ 
ful and useful O. Noezlianum is very effective. I 
have always had a good opinion of this brightly 
coloured Orchid, and have been more than ever 
pleased with what I have seen of it this year. The 
plants seen at Manchester and at the Temple were 
very conspicuous, and it certainly deserves general 
cultivation. Other good pieces are O. cordatum, 
O. cirrhosum, O. Hallii with nine spikes, and many 
dark coloured forms of O. (Miltonia) vexillaria, 
with Oncidium macranthum, all help to swell the 
display. In other houses are fine specimens of 
Cypripedium Lawrencianum, C. Veitchii, Demidoff 
var., C. hirsutissimum, C. Schroderae, C. Stonei, C. 
Curtisii, very fine; C. grande, C. barbatum varieties, 
and C. Swanianum, a very good variety; Vanda 
tricolor and V. teres, the latter flowering freely; 
Cattleya Mossiae var. Schroderae, and some 
Laelias. 
Mr. Woods, the owner of this nice collection, 
kindly allows visitors to walk round his beautiful 
place, and no doubt in so doing is cultivating a taste 
in the district for Orchid cultivation. All depart¬ 
ments of the garden at Freelands are well done and 
reflect great credit upon the gardener, Mr. Sharp. 
—Alfred Outram, F.R.H.S. 
Ferns and Fern Culture. By J. Birkenhead, F.R.H.S.-— 
How to grew Ferns, with selections for stove, warm, cool and 
cold greenhouses ; for baskets, walls, wardian cases, dwelling 
houses, &c. Price, IS. ; by post, is. fid. Publisher, Garden¬ 
ing World, i, Clement's Inn, Strand, London, W.C. 
FLOWERS: COVENT GARDEN.* 
When asked by our secretary to read a paper on 
market flowers, I felt that it was a subject so likely 
to interest the members of our Horticultural Club, 
that it was impossible for me to decline to accede to 
his request. The after-dinner discussion and 
friendly chat on such an occassion is a connecting 
link between the horticultural scientist of learned 
leisure, and his more mercantile brothers of the 
nursery and seed trade, and the wholesale market 
trade. For after all, what are the advantages of 
botanical scientific pursuits. The improvement of 
fruits and flowers, and the introduction of new and 
inferior varieties, if such advantages are confined to 
the few, and not appreciated and shared by the many. 
It is only through such a channel as a public 
market offers that the genuine stamp of popular 
approval can be obtained, and the business and 
commercial value of any fresh articles introduced 
for public supply can be truly tested. One thing is 
certain, and that is, that there is no advertisement in 
the world so powerful for a really good article as its 
exhibition on a grower’s stand side by side with its 
rivals. 
In adding my mite to the discussion of the Club, 
it will be a novelty for you to have a paper on 
flowers from one who does not possess one inch of 
ground on which to grow them, and even if he had, 
they could hardly be expected to succeed where 
nothing but the hardier Palms or the Aspidistra 
long survive. My misfortune in this respect has 
not diminished my old love for them, but on the 
contrary, perhaps made me more keenly observant 
as to how we poor non-growing public are supplied. 
In the first place I would observe that there will 
be nothing new in my remarks—nothing but what 
each and every member can easily see and learn 
for himself; hardly anything but what has appeared 
from time to time in the gardening and other public 
press. ■ 
I have often been interviewed by public writers 
for information respecting market matters, and I 
have not only given them every information correctly 
myself, but have referred them to growers ard 
others, who could, and probably would, furnish 
them with particulars and details beyond my own 
knowledge and observation. Such articles upon 
market flowers as those of Mr. Gordon which have 
recently appeared in the Leisure Hour, are the out¬ 
come of such inquiries, supplemented by visits to 
the market during business hours, and to the estab¬ 
lishments of our leading producers. Perhaps I may 
be pardoned if I turn back and give a brief review of 
the 
History and Growth of the Market. 
Before speaking of its present flower supply it may 
be interesting to know that in 1828, when the present 
regulating Act of Parliament under which the 
market is managed was passed, the area of the 
chartered market was divided into eight different 
sections for various purposes. These were named 
after the first eight letters of the alphabet, and 
varied much in size. Section H, the smallest and 
last, was the portion assigned for flowers; it con¬ 
tained twelve small stands, about equal to one 
hundredth of the market area, and had no provision 
for shelves, or other method of exhibiting the goods, 
except the floor-space, which was uncovered. Such 
was considered sufficient provision for the wants of 
that time, and continued so for many years. 
The growth of the public taste for flowers is a 
most marked illustration of the advance of the age 
in which we live. Doubtless many causes have 
worked together contributing towards it, such as— 
1. The increase in the wealth of the manufacturing 
and trading classes, enabling them to acquire and 
indulge in more refined taste. 
2. The increase of London, by the retirement of 
its more prosperous citizens into suburban resi¬ 
dences, with gardens and conservatories attached. 
3. The public exhibitions, and the shows of the 
Royal Horticultural Society, doubtless stimulated 
and directed public taste. 
4. The spread of education amongst the working 
classes had a decided tendency to create amongst 
them a taste for the beautiful. 
5. The migration into London of country folk, 
who regarded a window plant as a connecting link 
between the new life in town and the green fields of 
happy memory left behind. 
* A Paper read at the Horticultural Club. 
