June 24, 1993. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
677 
before it was looked upon as a new and distinct acquisi¬ 
tion which could be put to a great variety of uses, both 
in market, public and private establishments. Mr. 
May raises spores of many kinds by the thousand, 
and when anything distinct turns up he is not slow 
in dectecting it and propagating it. 
-—- 
THE OLDFIELD NURSERIES, 
ALTRINCHAM. 
The principal nursery establishment of Messrs. 
William Clibran & Son, for they have a branch at 
Llandudno Junction in North Wales, is situated in 
a pleasantly-wooded suburb of the Cheshire town of 
Altrincham, and about fifteen minutes’ walk from 
the railway station. The firm has altogether some¬ 
thing over one hundred acres under nursery culti¬ 
vation, and some three to four acres of glass accom¬ 
modation, the business they carry on being a 
steadily increasing general nursery trade, to which 
a rapidly extending seed business has been added 
during the last few years. The nursery contains an 
infinite variety of both hardy and exotic subjects, 
and all the more popular tribes of plants are culti¬ 
vated in large numbers. 
A hurried walk through the houses a few days ago— 
the excessive heat making a leisurely inspection almost 
unendurable—brought under our notice a large 
collection of stove and greenhouse plants, and some 
good novelties with which we were not previously 
very familiar. The first of these is the new Urceo- 
charis Clibrani, a most interesting plant, insomuch 
as it is a bigeneric hybrid, being the result of a 
cross between Eucharis grandiflora and the drooping 
golden flowered Urceolina aurea. It has a fine free 
habit of growth like the Eucharis, and is a remark¬ 
ably free bloomer, the white flowers being produced 
in umbels of eight to ten each on stout scapes. The 
pure white blossoms, intermediate in form between 
both parents, are erect like the Eucharis until they 
become past their best, when they partake of the 
drooping character of the Urceolina. It is a grand 
acquisition to our stoves, and, as it cannot be in¬ 
creased by any means at a very great rate, is bound 
to be a good selling plant for a long time to come. 
Another useful novelty is a new sweet-scented 
Passion Flower, which has been obtained by crossing 
P. Watsoniana and P. violacea, and which is seem¬ 
ingly most closely allied to the former parent. It 
bears the name of Oldfield Gem, and the ample, 
deeply three-lobed leaves are deep green above and 
slightly shaded with violet beneath. The sepals 
are lilac shaded with violet on the inner face and 
edges, and the petals are wholly of that colour. 
The coronna is a very conspicuous feature of the 
flower, consisting of deep violet and short inner rays 
with long outer ones of the same hue, barred with 
white in the middle. A showy and fragrant 
climber, all the more valuable for the latter pro¬ 
nounced characteristic. 
Caladiums are also extensively and well grown by 
the Messrs. Clibran, and a considerable quantity of 
seedlings of their own raising bear witness to the 
success of their venture in this direction. The 
general collection is both large and well-selected, 
and especially good and distinct are those of their 
own seedlings being sent out this year, viz., Duchess 
of Portland, Duke of Portland, and Duke of Devon¬ 
shire. Stephanotis and Allamandas are represented 
in goodly numbers and in fine growth ; and among 
greenhouse plants we noted a larger stock than we 
have seen for some time of Plumbago capensis and 
its variety alba, which meets with a ready sale. 
Other special lines in the glass department are the 
fine-leaved Begonias, a fine lot ; tuberous Begonias, 
with some 25,000 planted out ; the grand winter¬ 
flowering Clematis indivisa and C. indivisa lobata, a 
fine stock ; Ferns by the thousands, both stove and 
greenhouse, and basket Ferns a specialty ; Palms in 
great quantities ; greenhouse Rhododendrons, and 
Camellias in great variety. Show and decorative 
Pelargoniums, especially the latter section, made a 
very gay display; and the extensive collection of 
Zonals, all the best in cultivation, was exceedingly 
well worth looking through. An excellent strain of 
herbaceous Calceolarias also claimed attention, and 
a fine lot of erect-flowering Gloxinias was equally 
attractive. Tea and Noisette Roses are a big feature, 
the fine healthy stock consisting of some ten 
thousand plants, a thousand of which are climbers 
and the remainder dwarfs. 
Clematises and pot Ivies are represented by about 
three thousand plants of each, and a big stock of the 
new Broom, Cytisus Scoparius Andreanus, testified 
to the rapidly growing popularity of that pretty 
shrub. Bedding plants represent a very large spring 
trade, and of Dahlias alone the firm does between 
thirty and forty thousand of store roots and spring- 
struck plants. 
Hardy herbaceous plants are represented in end¬ 
less variety, and at the time of our visit the Pyre- 
thrums and single and double Paeonies were a blaze 
of bloom in all directions. The Pyrethrums alone 
are grown by thousands and all the best varieties 
that can be obtained are represented in the collection. 
The hardy trees and shrubs are of a well diversified 
character, but, as might be expected, those things 
that have been found to do best in the vitiated 
climate of the Manchester district are grown in the 
largest numbers. Thus Rhododendrons, Hollies, 
and Aucubas are found to be the most reliable ever¬ 
greens, and Weigelias and Elders the best deciduous 
shrubs, while of deciduous trees the Ash, Thorns, 
Service trees and the large leaved Poplars find most 
favour. 
SALESMEN AND THEIR 
RESPONSIBILITIES. 
There can be no question but that the case relating 
to rotten Tomatos sold in Covent Garden Market 
and resulting in a conviction of the vending salesman, 
reported in your columns, last week, must have some 
effect on all of the same class of trader or middleman 
» 
in the direction of rendering them careful as to the 
condition of the goods they offer for sale. We have 
now sanitary regulations which render the sale of 
anything classed as food criminal if it be knowingly 
offered when in a decayed or unfit condition. That 
is a regulation which applies equally to fruit, or 
vegetables, or meat, or any other article of food, and 
it is a regulation that, so far as the health of the 
people is concerned, is of the highest importance. 
Whilst the present hot weather prevails and 
cholera may at any moment seek to obtain a landing 
on our shores, it is of the first consequence for the 
preservation of the national health that all food in 
whatsoever form should be of the purest and 
soundest. So far as Tomatos are concerned, for 
instance, we can conceive of no greater misfortune 
to the large trade now so deeply concerned in their 
culture than any report of any epidemic, or even 
of temporary illness, arising from the consumption of 
decayed fruits. The result would be such a scare or 
condition of alarm as to check the consumption of 
Tomatos enormously. 
There can be absolutely no need for the putting of 
these fruits on to the market in any other than a 
sound, fresh, wholesome state, for they will keep 
well fully some ten or fourteen days after being 
gathered, hence few fruits are safer for consumption. 
We rejoice in the conviction recorded, because it 
will serve to show in other directions that the London 
market is not to be regarded as a sink into which all 
other towns' impurities may be recklessly flung.— 
Solatium. 
PEACH GROWING OUT 
OF DOORS. 
For some years I, with my gardener, have taken 
great interest in Peach culture out of doors, and I 
think with some success, as the following will show. 
I may say that I have excellent brick walls from 7 ft. 
to 10 ft. high round my three small gardens giving 
various aspects. The soil is light on gravel, but 
has for many years been kept in good heart by 
regularly manuring for vegetables and all kinds of 
fruits. For some years we were content with the 
old and good sorts of Peaches, but six years ago I 
had planted on a south-west aspect an Amsden June 
Peach and two Early Gross Mignonnones, all of which 
gave satisfaction. But Messrs. Rivers having recom¬ 
mended me to try their Alexander, they sent me in 
October, 1890, half a dozen three-year-old trees of this 
sort, two of which I had planted, one on a west wall 
and the other on a south-west wall, and the result has 
been most satisfactory in every way, as the following 
will show. I may say that I let a friend or two 
have the other four trees, and they are much ple'ased 
with them. 
In 1891 we allowed them (as they grew well) to 
bear a dozen fruits, all of which came to perfection 
from the 7th to the 20th of July. Last year the crop 
was about two dozen, but the fruit did not ripen 
before the 14th to the end of July, the season having 
been later. This year there are six dozen fruits on 
the two trees, which are promising to be very fine. 
They are now ripening on, and this day, June 20th, 
the gardener brought in one of a fair size, well. 
\V~ 
K-i, -s-v-L 
Pteris cretica nobilis. 
