630 
THE GARDENING- WORLD. 
June 6th, 1885. 
SCOTTISH GARDENING. 
Garden Extension, &c. —At the present time it is 
so common an occurrence, when listening to discus¬ 
sions on gardening topics, to hear frequent use 
made of such gloomy expressions as “reduction,” 
“retrenchment,” “retrogression,” and general cur¬ 
tailment of horticultural resources, that one is led 
sometimes to feel that our old love is becoming 
forsaken and has lost much of her popularity. We 
know that such conjectures are not altogether un¬ 
founded, as anyone may learn who has passed through 
the agricultural districts, both north and south of the 
Tweed, and noted the many fine old places which 
are now stamped with “ Ichabod.” Gardens let to the 
highest bidders or marketed by proprietors in a form 
too often which would make the bond fide marketmen 
recoil from such burlesques on their legitimate work. 
Most of the searching after economy and profitable 
returns from labour and land has been fraught with 
disappointment, the fine-looking geese, when caught, 
having turned out to be but insignificant ducks. We 
are glad, however, to find that there are other sides 
to the picture, and not so few or wide apart as one 
is sometimes pressed to believe. Judging from the 
demands on certain branches of the nursery trade, and 
the activity of many horticultural builders, it is certain 
that great additions to gardening establishments are 
being made somewhere, and we have, fortunately, seen 
some of the renovations and improvements which 
have been executed. A fortnight ago we went to see 
the extensive erections which have been formed at 
Park Hall, near Polmount, 
on the western side of West Lothian. The out-dis¬ 
tancing of compeers and neighbours by the much 
respected and spirited proprietor of Park Hall has 
made the gardens a place of note, and as time 
advances and the maturation of the fruit-tree depart¬ 
ment takes place, no doubt but a good school for tuition 
in pomology will be established. While approaching 
this new horticultural landmark, one is at first 
impressed with the bulk of the block of glass which has 
to be faced, and the nearer we approach the gardens 
the more we feel that the gigantic ranges do not 
diminish, while on entering them the feeling comes 
uppermost that there is plenty of room for the culture 
of the fruits which these structures are intended to 
produce. It would be useless to attempt at this 
season of the year or at the present stage of the 
fruit-tree growth to give an adequate description of 
what a visitor may expect to see at Park Hall. Inside 
the vegetable garden the walls have been covered with 
glass, lofty and wide houses, well calculated to give 
ample returns from the multitudinous trees in pots, 
trained on back walls, and in front of the structures. 
The eastern aspect has been chosen for Cherries, the 
western for Peaches, Nectarines, and other fruits; 
while Vines, for the greater part, have the southern 
aspect. 
A range forming three sides of a square filled with 
very healthy trees, loaded as they are in most cases 
with fruit, is a sight the like of which one does not 
often meet with. A great number of varieties of stone 
fruits are cultivated (especially in the way of Peaches 
and Nectarines), many more indeed than is often seen 
in older establishments. We do not always find that 
new and much lauded kinds retain their good names 
under all circumstances, and we hear of varieties 
failing entirely which were at one time destined to 
hold high position. While at the present time we do 
not intend entering into details as regards merit or 
demerit, we may mention that some fruits which 
have quite lately been denounced in a contemporary 
as worthless, are here, under the intelligent care 
of the gardener, Mr. Murray, in the most promis¬ 
ing condition. While many of the new kinds have 
been given a place on trial, old friends are well 
represented. 
The system of fruit-tree management in pots pursued 
at Park Hall is not the close-pinching system practised 
by some, nor the long-shoot system of others, but a 
combination of them both. We think there is much 
wisdom in this practice. It is not always an easy 
matter to get long, strong wood well ripened, neither 
is it always practicable to keep vigorous trees closely 
pinched, and be a success as well—the eyes which 
are often left for fruit-buds being sometimes pushed 
out into watery growth, and rendered worse than 
useless. 
The Vines are vigorous, large leaved, and of the 
colour which so many try to attain, but so often fall 
short of. The side-shoots are left from 5 ft. to 7 ft. 
long, a system which always maintains the Vines 
in a productive and vigorous condition; and though 
we have a penchant for maintaining foliage in 
quantity proportionate to the size of the bunches and 
the vigour of the kind grown, yet we are not inclined 
to censure the practice of wide extension. Short or 
moderate stopping, we know, was adhered to for many 
years before we knew much of Grape-growing, and now 
such practitioners -would not be advised to adopt their 
earlier system of long growths. The system which 
brings most “grist to the mill,” we maintain, is the 
one which growers should adopt, but to set up any 
system as being the most direct one to follow is not 
advisable. Mr. Murray visited many of the leading 
establishments, both in England and Scotland, where 
they have a name for finely-cultivated fruits, but, like 
most men in search of knowledge, saw little to imitate, 
but much to avoid. 
As we intend to pay a longer visit to Park Hall, we 
shall then go minutely into the lists of kinds, com¬ 
paring them and making notes as to their excellence, or 
vice versd. At present we need only say further that, 
apart from the ranges of glass inside the vegetable 
garden, there are two large vineries, about 230 ft. 
long and 26 ft. wide each ; also ranges for Melons, 
Figs, Tomatos, &c., and several snuggeries for plant 
growing. Park Hall has other attractions beside the 
garden—the landscape east and south is of the most, 
beautiful description.— M. T. 
--»-£-«- 
Fruits Planted in Scotland in 1698 and 1700.—We 
have been favoured by Mr. Downie with the following 
extracts, taken last autumn from The Pegistrum de 
Panmure, by Mr. James Mitchell, the present gardener 
to the Earl of Dalliousie, at Panmure, Forfarshire, 
and which will doubtless prove of great interest to 
many of our readers. The first is a copy of the list 
of fruit-trees planted at Brechin Castle, Forfar, in 
1698, by James Maule, fourth Earl of Panmure, who 
built the entrance front of the castle, as it now exists, 
about that time, or shortly afterwards. “ Cherries, 
Quince, Gold Pippin, Black Mulberries, English 
Pergamon, May Cherrie, Algier Apricok, Boman Bed 
Apricok, Nectarine, Newington Peach, Blew Primor- 
dian, Great Blew Fige, Bruges Apprecok or Almond. 
Plumbs : Honeysuckle, Apricok, Orgelen, Old Apricok ; 
Violet Hastings Peach, Almond, Old Blew Primordian 
Plumbe, Old Plum, White Jan Hasting Plum, Hamllens 
Bergamond. Wines: Early White Muscadine, Beed 
Curran Grape.” 
The second extract comprises the following 
list of fruit-trees planted in the garden at Panmure 
House, Forfar, by the same Earl, in the year 1700. 
This garden, we are informed, was quite near the 
mansion house, but has been a grass field for over 
fifty years, the walls having been pulled down, and 
the materials used for making drains. The list is 
a more complete one than the first, and has the merit 
of being classified:—“ Apricoks: Mascalin, Great 
Turckie, Bruges, Orange, Ciminon, Brussels. Peaches: 
Bed Nuttmeg, White Nuttmeg, Pass Violet, Bed Mag¬ 
dalen, Monteban,BelleChereuse,EarlieNewington, Old 
Newington,Chancleur,Admirable. Nectarines: White 
Fleastin, Murray. Figs : Large 'White, Blew. Wyns: 
Early 'White Muscaddin, Earlie Currant. Almonds. 
Quinces. Cherries: May Duck, Hastings or May, 
Orleans, Morello, Guscher heart, Cluster, Flanders, 
Hungarian Green, Kentish, Luchwark, Earlie Flanders 
of Cherrie Garden, Early Flanders of Pailes, White 
Spanish, Amber. Plums: White Jan Hastine, Blew 
Perdrigon, St. Katharin, Lady Boyal, Beyn Clod, 
BlewPrimordian, Prenello, Imperial Bonum, Magnum, 
Moroco, Mussell, Black Damasch, Earlie Plum of 
Stevenson, Scarlet Plum of Weems, Violet Damasch, 
Earlie Damasch, Damasch ungrafted, Chester Plumb, 
Bed Primordian, VTiite Damask.” 
As many of the above-named varieties are yet 
in cultivation in gardens under their original names, 
it would be interesting to know how many of the 
others have been re-christened and are still in 
existence. 
HYBRIDIZATION OF ORCHIDS. 
(A pager read by Mr. II. J. Veitch, F.L.S., at the 
Orchid Con ference, May 13th, concluded from p. 615.) 
And now, how long must the hybridist wait before 
his labours are rewarded with a sight of the flower 
whose appearance he has been awaiting with longing 
expectation, and upon which many hopes have been 
built, too often, unfortunately, to end in disappoint¬ 
ment. 
The shortest periods from the germination of the 
seed to the production of the flower yet observed are 
those of the Dendrobium, that is, D. aureurn crossed 
with D. nobile and vice versa, three to four years; 
Phaius and Calanthe about the same; Masdevallias 
four to five years; Chysis about the same. Then 
come longer intervals: Zygopetalum five to nine 
years, according to the cross; thus, Z. maxillare 
crossed with Z. Mackayi five years, vice versa nine 
years, a curious but, to us, unaccountable circum¬ 
stance, as is the case of Cypripedium Sclilimi, which, 
crossed with C. longifolium, flowers in four years, 
but the vice versa cross takes six years. Lvcaste 
takes seven to eight years; Lselias and- Cattleyas may 
be said to flower from ten to twelve years from the 
seeds. 
I will now glance at some of the results obtained 
by us from muling. Dominy began to hybridize 
Orchids at our Exeter Nursery in 1853, and continued 
his operations for some time after removal to Chelsea 
in 1861. Seden began at Chelsea in 1866, and has 
worked uninterruptedly from that time to the 
present. Our experience, therefore, extends over a 
period of more than thirty years, during which the 
field of operations has been greatly enlarged, espe¬ 
cially of late years, our experiments being made 
upon a vast number of cultivated Orchids, including 
many hundreds of crosses, not only between allied 
species but also between species of different genera. 
Among the results obtained by Dominy at Exeter, 
Calanthe Domini, raised from C. masuca x C. furcata, 
will always be regarded with interest, as being the 
first hybrid Orchid that flowered. It flowered for the 
first time in October, 1856, on which occasion the 
spike was shown by my father to Dr. Lindley, who 
exclaimed on seeing it, “ You will drive the botanists 
mad,” an expression quite characteristic of the rigid 
systematists who flourished prior to the publication of 
Darwin’s Fertilization of Orchids by Insect Agency. 
The first hybrid Cattleya that flowered was C. 
hybrida, a plant now lost, but which was soon 
followed by the flowering of C. Brabanti®. The 
first hybrid Cypripedium to flower was C. Harrisianum, 
which justly commemorates the name of Dr. Harris. 
Among other noteworthy acquisitions raised at Exeter, 
were Cattleya Dominiana, L®lia exoniensis, Calanthe 
Veitchi, and Laelia Veitchi. The last-named flowered 
for the first time at Chelsea. Dominy also raised 
some seedling Vandas, but they were afterwards lost. 
Seden’s acquisitions are more numerous, and many 
of them unquestionably prove that substantial 
progress is being made, in spite of the innumerable 
difficulties that beset the raising of seedling Orchids. 
To any one who has compared Cypripedium cardinale, 
C. Schrceder®, and C. Sedeni candidulum, with the 
original C. Schlimi, this progress is manifest enough. 
Aud so with C. oenanthum superbum, C. Leeanum 
superbum, and C. Morgani® ; nor ought I to omit 
mention of L®lia flammea, still unique in colour 
among Orchids, Masdevallia Chelsoni, Calanthe 
Sedeni, also obtained by other operators, and 
Dendrobium micans. 
The following details may prove to be of some 
interest. Among Cattleyas we find that all the 
members of the Labiata group and also the Brazilian 
species with two-leaved stems, as C. intermedia, C. 
Aclandi®, C. superba, &c., cross freely with each 
other, and with the Brazilian L®lias, which also 
cross freely with each other. It is worthy of note too 
that those hybrids which have a two-leaved Cattleya 
for one parent and a one-leaved L®lia or Cattleya 
for the other, have some stems with one and others 
with two leaves, and the flowering does not seem to 
be affected thereby. But neither the Cattleyas nor the 
Brazilian L®lias will cross freely with the Mexican 
L®lia albida, autumnalis, majalis, rubescens (better 
known in gardens as acuminata), <fcc. Numerous 
crosses have been effected both ways, and capsules 
have been produced, but the seed has always proved 
