March 14th, 1885. 
THE GARDENING WORLD, 
441 
the other to fine foliaged plants, has run into the 
third edition; and his .Select Ferns and Lycopods 
promises to become equally as popular. Mr. Williams 
also contributed the cultural notes to Mr. Robert 
Warner’s handsome publication, the Select Orchi¬ 
daceous Plants ; and in 1881, in conjunction with Mr. 
Warner, commenced the publication of The Orchid 
Album, the fourth volume of which is in course of 
completion. 
Mr. Williams’s nursery is one of the most extensive 
in the Metropolis, and as regards the main subjects 
cultivated, viz., Orchids and stove and greenhouse 
plants, it is also one of the richest. It is impossible, 
in the limited space at our disposal, to give anything 
like a detailed description of the contents of the fifty 
houses, large and small, of which the nursery is now 
comprised, but we will endeavour to give a summary, 
brief though it must be. First, then, comes the large 
conservatory, full of handsome specimen Palms and 
Cycads, and noble Tree Ferns, with a brilliant show 
of flowering-plants on the front and side stages. 
The next structure to be visited is a fine three-quarter 
span roofed structure, one division of which is 
devoted to Stove Palms, large and 
small, all choice and in fine con¬ 
dition ; and the second to Stove 
Ferns, of a like character. Then 
comes a series of long span-roofed 
houses, well built, and admirably 
designed, the first of which is 
devoted to small Ferns (which are 
just beginning their season’s growth), 
and which also includes a very 
choice assortment of Filmy Ferns. 
The second is a Cattleya-house, 
which contains a fine lot of thrifty 
plants, and which is now gay with 
many varieties of C. Trian®, some 
good examples of that old favourite, 
Dendrobium nobile, and the beauti¬ 
ful Ccelogyne Lemoniana. The 
third is also a Cattleya-house, in 
which may be seen, amongst other 
good things, the white-lipped variety 
of the rare Lycaste Plana, and an 
exceedingly fine form of C. Trian®, 
called splendens ; and here also may 
be noted some hundreds of sheaths 
of Cattleya Mendelii, which will 
make the house gay indeed, by-and- 
bye, as well as a splended lot of 
plants of L®lia purpurea; and a 
Phakenopsis Schilleriana, which may 
be mentioned as having been grown 
in the coolest Cattleya-house for some 
years, and which has leaves like 
boards, and bears a spike of flowers 
which will shortly prove that if this 
lovely Orchid does like heat, it does 
not always resent “ cool ” treat¬ 
ment. 
The Vanda-house is well filled with 
good specimens of the leading mem¬ 
bers of this fine genus. The plants are strong and 
vigorous in growth, so that one is not surprised to see so 
many strong spikes pushing up. On the side stages some 
good examples of the pretty Dendrobium Devonianum 
have been carrying a fine lot of blooms, as also have 
numerous plants of the showy D. Wardianum and 
Phal®nopsis Schilleriana. Succeeding the Vanda- 
house comes a similar structure filled with a mixed 
collection of flowering and fine-foliaged stove plants, 
in which Crotons and Dracaenas are a strong feature 
(see illustration on p. 437). Among the flowering 
subjects, perhaps the leading plant just now is the 
Amazon Lily, Eucharis amazonica, of which we 
noted a number of large well-filled pots. 
At the bottom of the nursery is a large three- 
quarter span which used to be devoted to Camellias 
and other cool greenhouse plants, but which Mr. 
Williams has now filled with greenhouse Rhododen¬ 
drons, a most useful race of plants which are rapidly 
being improved in habit, and increased in great 
numbers. On the Junction Road side are the Camellia 
and Azalea houses, large span-roofed structures, 
connected on the nursery side by a house filled with 
stove-flowering plants mostly. The Camellia-house 
is just now one of the attractions of the establish¬ 
ment, all the neatly-grown, healthy specimens, large 
and small, carrying a good head of bloom. The 
Azaleas are, of course, still at rest—their turn to make 
a display coming on a month or two later. 
Between this block and the Rhododendron-house 
before mentioned, are several very useful structures 
devoted to mixed collections mostly, and in which we 
noted good batches of Ixoras, Gardenias, full of buds, 
Dipladenias and Allamandas, noticeable amongst the 
latter being a good stock of young plants of A. grandi- 
flora, maintained by grafting a batch every year. In 
the frames near at hand amongst other hardy plants, 
are a large quantity of strong young plants of Carna¬ 
tions and Picotees. The Heath-house, to us at all 
events, is one of the most interesting in the nursey, 
so few in the trade now keeping up such a good 
collection as is here to be seen. The half-specimens 
of Ericas and the usual class of New Holland plants, 
are models of cultural skill, the Heaths in particular 
astonishing us by the beautiful growth they make so 
near to London. At the present time, the house is 
redolent with the perfume of Boronia megastigma, 
a plant which though of somewhat insignificant 
appearance should be grown for its perfume alone by 
BENJAMIN SAMUEL WILLIAMS. 
every gardener whose houses are frequented by 
ladies. 
The latest addition to the plant-houses is a large 
and most substantially built span-roofed structure in 
two divisions, erected specially for the cultivation of 
the Amaryllis, a plant with which Mr. Williams’s name 
has been for some years associated as an improver 
and raiser of new varieties. The first compartment 
at present contains a grand batch of Cyclamens and 
numerous other flowering subjects, which must expect 
to be eclipsed in a week or ten days’ time, by the 
Amaryllis in the next division. The large house is 
crammed full of strong bulbs which are showing for 
flower with unwonted vigour. The most conspicuous 
varieties in bloom at present are Harry Williams, a 
plant with three spikes bearing nine large well-formed 
flowers of a deep crimson colour, shaded with purple, 
and light centre; and Masterpiece, an improvement 
on Dr. Masters, deep scarlet in colour, and possessing 
every good quality. 
The cool Orchid-houses, as usual, contain a nice 
lot of Odontoglossum Alexandr® and other species in 
bloom, including the pretty little 0. Oerstedii and a 
distinct form of 0. nebulosum. 
At the rear of these houses is a block of conveniently 
arranged structures, opening out of a warm and 
comfortable potting-shed, which are devoted to the 
trial, cultivation, and propagation of choice new and 
rare plants, of which Mr. Williams annually sends out 
a batch in May, and which, with his recommendation, 
generally become popular subjects in gardens. 
Another house claims attention, and then we must 
conclude. This is the Nepenthes-house (see illustra¬ 
tion on p. 445), which contains a large collection of 
all the leading species and garden varieties, and 
which is at all times worthy of inspection, though of 
course more so in the autumn than at the present 
time. The house has lately been improved by the 
removal of the glass partition which formerly stood in 
the centre. 
PINKS. 
These are among the most hardy and most 
beautiful of garden flowers. Many of the varieties 
are most useful for supplying cut-blooms in spring if 
brought along in a little heat. The majority of these 
plants are perfectly hardy, and will succeed where the 
Clove or Carnation will grow. They 
enjoy a rich soil, or that in which 
plenty of manure has been added, 
indeed, the best plants I ever saw, 
and which produced the greatest 
abundance of flowers in a given 
time, were grown almost exclusively 
in manure, the plants and the bed 
for their reception being prepared 
as follows: — 
To obtain good plants with plenty 
of “ grass ” or flowering-growths by 
autumn there is nothing like an 
early start, so we will suppose that 
we have a stock of useful plants now 
in their flowering pots ready to 
introduce into a little warmth about 
the end of February, or the begin¬ 
ning of March. Place them on a 
shelf near the glass, and do not let 
the temperature exceed that of an 
intermediate greenhouse ; take care 
also that green-fly does not harm 
them, but fumigate with tobacco on 
its first appearance. Plants under 
this treatment will usually unfold 
their sweet and delicate blooms 
during April and May, and about 
the time the plants are in flower is 
the best time to take off the pipings 
or cuttings, dibble them in pots, in 
sandy soil, and place them on a 
slight hot-bed, or in a propagating 
frame till rooted. When rooted they 
should be gradually hardened off 
until they are placed out-of-doors. 
A bed should now be prepared as 
follows :—Select the site, on which 
place a good coating of manure, 
that which has been used for a hot¬ 
bed answers well, if it contains a good portion of leaves 
well decomposed. The whole should be slightly forked 
in, and the bed will then be in readiness for the 
reception of the young plants, which should be 
planted with a dibble from 15 ins. to 18 ins. apart all 
ways, taking care that the ground is not hollow about 
them. After being planted, they should receive a 
good watering, and also have water whenever they 
require it during the summer. Under this treatment, 
I have known plants of the commoner kinds make 
specimens nearly a foot across, and produce between 
twelve and twenty flowers on one plant in 5-in. and 
7-in. pots. 
Pinks are perhaps more adopted for border culture 
than for forcing, and certainly are more generally 
grown for that purpose. If a few early pipings can be 
procured by the above means, even for border or beds 
out-of-doors, they will be most acceptable, as it is late 
before they can be obtained out-of-doors, and the 
plants necessarily do not grow to so serviceable a size 
the first season. Where it is not thought desirable 
to grow them to their largest size, or when it is not 
convenient to do so, they may be readily propagated 
either under a hand-glass kept close, and in a sandy 
soil out-of-doors, or in pots in a frame or cold pit. 
Cuttings taken off out-of-doors should never be 
