January 12, 1895. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
318 
for which we are indebted to Messrs. J. Veitch & 
Sons. The tree is perfectly hardy, and may be 
planted in any situation that is not too much shaded 
or overhung by trees ; but its graceful and pyramidal 
outline can only be seen to best advantage when it 
is isolated upon the grass. The type was intro¬ 
duced from British Columbia in 1850, and there it 
grows to a height of 40 ft. to 60 ft. The golden 
variety is bright yellow in the younger stages of the 
branches, but the older ones assume a rich dark 
green hue. 
-•*-- 
NOTES FROM GUNNERSBURY. 
In the majority of gardens at this season of the year 
there is but little doing; nature in her dullest and 
most apathetic of moods exercises a corresponding 
effect upon everything, including the occupants of the 
plant and fruit houses. In 
the above fine establish¬ 
ment, the property of the 
Messrs. De Rothschild, 
however, an air of bright¬ 
ness and attractiveness 
prevails which is to a large 
extent enhanced by the 
strict tidyness and cleanli¬ 
ness which obtains under 
the careful management 
of Mr. G. Reynolds, the 
gardener. 
The glass is of an exten¬ 
sive character, as indeed it 
would need to be, having 
regard to the immense 
amountof fruit and flowers 
that it is expected to 
produce. The greatest 
run on the resources of the 
establishment, in the way 
of cut flowers more par¬ 
ticularly, usually being 
experienced during the 
autumn months, numbers 
of the plants have to be 
flowered somewhat earlier 
than is generally the case 
in many other private 
gardens. Large quantities 
of the hybrid perpetual 
section of Carnations are 
grown in pots, but at the 
present they are long past 
their best, as from the 
reason before stated, their 
flowers are requiredearlier 
in the season. Such 
varieties as Mrs. Calcraft, 
Mrs. Leopold De Roths¬ 
child, Mrs. H. Cannell, 
and Countess of Erne— 
the latter a fine yellow— 
may be cited as examples 
of sorts that are held in 
high estimation at Gun- 
nersbury Park. Most of 
the plants I saw were of 
a single year’s growth 
only. The cuttings are 
struck about the end of 
September or the beginn¬ 
ing of October in a gentle 
heat, and potted on into 
thumbs or small sixties as 
soon as they have acquired 
sufficient root. 
A large central bed in one roomy house was filled 
with large healthy-looking specimens of Eucharis 
amazonica from which large quantities of the much- 
esteemed flowers were obtained for some time before 
Christmas, and even now as if not satisfied with 
their labours some of the plants are again throwing 
up their flower scapes. Amongst the usual stove 
plants some splendidly coloured Crotons were very 
conspicuous, some fine heads in small pots of C. 
Warreni and C. Prince Henry of Prussia being ex¬ 
ceedingly neat. Orchids are not made a speciality of, 
although numbers of Vanda teres, Cattleya Gas- 
kelliana, Dendrobium Wardianum, Cypripediums of 
sorts, etc. are cultivated. 
A number of well-flowered plants of Cyclamens 
were affording a brave show, some fine whites and 
not a few pink and purple varieties being very meri¬ 
torious. It is the usual practice here to raise a 
number of plants each season, but very few of them 
being grown on for the second year. Primulas were 
represented by a quantity of nice little plants of the 
double-flowered section ; single varieties were, how¬ 
ever, conspicuous by their absence. 
The fruit houses are very numerous and through¬ 
out of an extensive and commodious character. Pot 
Vines were just starting away well, the shoots being 
2 in. or 3 in. in length. In other houses the canes 
were being tied down in readiness for forcing or 
undergoing the usual pruning. A fine run of Peach 
cases upwards of 300 ft. in length is a principal 
feature of the establishment. In the earliest house 
the buds were just beginning to swell nicely. 
A range of Fig houses erected against the wall at 
the time of my visit were just breaking into rough 
leaf, and as the houses in question have recently been 
painted, they presented a particularly clean appear¬ 
ance. The trees are trained in a peculiar manner 
which allows of the roof of the house as well as the 
the walls being furnished. A stout stem is taken up 
to the point where the house joins the wall, is bent 
over and allowed to ramnify in all directions, some 
exceedingly fine fruit being thus obtained. As in 
many other gardens, so here the Brown Turkey and 
the White Marseilles varieties are held in high 
esteem. 
Melons are here looked upon as a most important 
crop, and although the conveniences for their culture 
are somewhat restricted with regard to space, by dint 
of careful management, successful results are arrived 
at. I was informed that during last year an abun¬ 
dance of fine fruit was procured, canker making its 
appearance only in one or two instances, and then 
without doing any injury. When we consider the 
wet, sunless, and unfavourable character generally 
of the past season, such a record as this speaks 
volumes for the skill of those in authority at 
Gunnersbury Park in the cultivation of such a 
fastidious subject as the Melon. 
-- 
LENTIL CULTURE IN FRANCE. 
The Lentil has been cultivated since pre-historic 
times in temperate Oriental countries, in the Medi¬ 
terranean regions, and even in Switzerland. It is 
believed that it existed in a spontaneous state in 
Western Asia, in Greece, and in Italy, and its geo¬ 
graphical area now includes all Europe and all 
temperate Asia. The United States Consul-General 
in Paris says that the production of Lentils in France 
is confined chiefly to the 
eastern and south-eastern 
departments. In the 
western provinces they are 
grown to a limited extent 
by farmers and used as 
food for their stock. There 
seems to be a great 
diversity in the habits 
and tastes of the people of 
the different sections of 
France as regards this 
vegetable. In some pro¬ 
vinces they are almost 
universally used by the 
peasantry and the labour¬ 
ing people of the cities in 
the making of soup and 
porridge and for other 
purposes,and are regarded 
as a nutritious and eco¬ 
nomical food stuff. The 
Lentil is, like all farina¬ 
ceous vegetables, very 
nourishing, and among 
the peasantry in some 
sections the belief exists 
that it induces the hyper¬ 
secretion of milk after 
parturition. Sometimes 
Lentils are ground into 
flour from which bread of 
an inferior qualityis made. 
In the north, Lentils 
are said to be used to 
some extent in the manu¬ 
facture of chocolate,cocoa, 
and infants’ food. There 
are several species, viz., 
the common Lentils, large 
white or rather pale 
green Lentils, with very 
flat seeds of a pale blonde 
colour, about one-fourth 
of an inch in diameter; 
the small Lentil of the 
same colour; and the 
small ied Lentil, the seeds 
of which are of a reddish 
colour and do not reach 
a larger size than about 
one-sixth of an inch in 
diameter. There is of 
the species last named a 
spring Lentil known as 
Lentil a la Heine, and 
a species of small winter 
Lentil. 
The Puy Lentil, of a green colour, especially culti¬ 
vated in the neighbourhood of the towh of Puy-en- 
Velay, is plainly characterised by its small seeds and 
showing a green colour dotted with black. There 
are many differences in the culture of Lentils 
according to the species. The common Lentil is the 
kind more generally met with in commerce. It is 
especially consumed in the north, being a spring 
Lentil which, in the central part of France, is sown 
as soon as the cold and frosts are over. As it 
requires a light soil, two ploughings alternately with 
harrowing are sufficient to bring the earth to the 
required state. They are sown sometimes in 
“pockets,” sometimes in rows. The sowing in 
“ pockets,” performed with a hoe, produces a tuft 
of Lentils about every 12 in. For this purpose five 
or six seeds are placed in holes rather large, not 
CUPRESSUS NUTKAENSIS LUTEA. 
