310 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
January 15, 1898. 
John's Wort to make an ointment for cuts, etc. , 
formerly it was held in great repute by housewives. 
A description from an old herbal may be interesting 
if only to illustrate the advance of descriptive botany. 
Description. —Common St John’s Wort shooteth 
forth brownish, upright, hard, round stalks, 2 ft. 
high, spreading branches from the sides up to the 
tops of them, with two small leaves set one against 
another at every place, which are of a deep green 
colour, somewhat like the leaves of the lesser 
Centaury, but narrow, and full of small holes in 
every leaf, which cannot be so well perceived as 
when they are held up to the light; at the top of the 
stalks and branches stand yellow flowers of five 
leaves apiece, with many yellow threads in the 
middle, which being bruised do yield a reddish juice 
like blood; after which come small round heads, 
wherein is contained small blackish seed, smelling 
like rosin. The root is hard aDd woody with divers 
strings and fibres at it of a brownish colour which 
abideth iu the ground many years, shooting anew 
every spring. This groweth in woods and copses, as 
well those that are shady, as open to the sun. 
"Government and Virtues. —It is under the 
celestial sign Leo. and the dominion of the Sun. It 
is a singular wound herb ; boiled in wine and drank, 
it healeth inward hurts or bruises. The decoction of 
the herb and flowers, especially of the seed, being 
drank in wine with the juice of knotgrass, helpeth all 
manner of vomiting and spitting of blood, is good for 
those that are bitten or stung by any venomous 
creature, and for those that cannot make water." 
I may add that the herbal from which this was culled 
has been described by an eminent living botanist as 
a mixture of botanical knowledge with astrological 
folly.— A. P. 
-H-- 
PEOPLE I HAVE MET. 
Mr. Robert Sydenham. 
" Second return Palace, please !” I thought I knew 
that voice, and turning round, recognised at my 
elbow the beaming features of my friend Mr. 
Sydenham. The scene was early morning in the 
booking-office at Ludgate Hill Station ; a crowd of 
ardent enthusiasts seeking tickets for the great 
Palace fruit show. 
“ Travelled up from Birmingham this morning, 
Mr. Sydenham ?" I asked, knowing that, when once 
on the road, our friend from the Midlands has a 
reputation for getting over a lot of ground in a very 
little time, often doing in a day what many would 
think hard work for two. 
"Well, no," said he; "but I have had a lotto 
do since I arrived in town yesterday ; you see I have 
lots of horticultural friends in this part of the 
country, as, indeed, I have in every part of the 
British Isles, who, like myself, make a study of 
special branches of horticulture, and whose 
collections I like to see when I am up this way. I 
never make it a trouble to be up early or late if I 
have an opportunity of seeing them, often starting at 
5 or 6 in the morning and going on till io or i r p.rn." 
" Well you have certainly made an earnest study 
of the possibilities of horticulture, Mr. Sydenham " 
"Yes,”, said he; "and I don't know another 
pursuit or hobby, call it what you will, out of which 
a.man of business life can get the same amount of 
true recreation ; it is a pursuit which opens up 
boundless possibilities, so to speak, and at the same 
time yields a solid satisfaction in the possession of a 
garden bright with flowers of every hue." 
As the train sped along, Mr. Sydenham’s views on 
the practicability of suburban gardens was an in¬ 
sight into his thoroughly genuine and earnest 
character. " Years ago," said he, “ I was struck 
with the hindrance to garden developments so far as 
the small grower at home was concerned, Dy reason of 
the high price of bulbs and small seeds ; and I set to 
work to find out why they should be so. That in¬ 
deed first gave me the idea of distributing bulbs and 
so forth in a sort of private way, without any notion 
that one day a business of very considerable mag¬ 
nitude would grow up around me. As you know, my 
business in our wholesale jewellery firm demands 
a vast amount of personal time and attention, and it 
has only been my spare hours that I have really 
been able to devote to the study of bulbs and seeds. 
But I have made it a study, and, my friends are 
pleased to tell me, with a certain amount of success. 
Anyhow, I have made it possible for the amateur 
who desires the best things to grow to get them in a 
way that shall be within his reach." 
“ You must have an army of correspondents, Mr. 
Sydenham " I remarked, recollecting the piles of 
letters I had seen iu process of being dealt with at 
the Tenby Street headquarters of the Messrs. 
Sydenham. 
Mr. Robert Sydenham, 
My fellow traveller assented; said he, " why, in 
our seed and bulb correspondence we probably deal 
with as many letters a day as many a similar busi¬ 
ness would do in a week ; and it is a matter of grati¬ 
fication to me that in addition to supplying my 
friends with bulbs and seeds — you know we have 
added seeds now—I can often give them information 
and cultural bints which will help them. Such an 
army of recruits to the love of horticulture has been 
the outcome of my system that I am convinced, from 
the evidence before me every day, that very many 
amateur enthusiasts to-day only date back their 
interest to the time when they first read my publica¬ 
tions." 
" Then it follows, Mr. Sydenham, that the trade at 
large is indebted to you as a pioneer in this matter.” 
"Yes, I think that may be the feeling now; but I 
fancy that at the start my practical methods were 
thought a trifle revolutionary and at first, too, some 
ill-feeling found expression, that I as a confessed- 
amateur, with the frankness to admit that much, 
should be able to accomplish that which the trade 
as a whole had failed to do or indeed to realise. 
They believe now, I think, that any harm I may have 
done in one way is more than counterbalanced by 
the good I have done in another." 
We had by this time reached our destination at the 
High Level station, Crystal Palace, and Mr Syden¬ 
ham was off, with a cheery good morning, and that 
vice-like grip of the hand, peculiarly his own, as of 
to emphasise all that he has told you. 
A man of middle life, Mr. Sydenham is an in¬ 
stance of well-developed energy and enterprise. Few 
probably would have had the inclination, or indeed, 
the perseverance, to take up and supervise a business 
outside his own calling, which, for absolute command 
of detail, and the exercise of keenly directed judg¬ 
ment, stamps the man who engages in it successfully, 
as one above the ordinary run of mortals. All this is 
the rightful due and tribute of Mr. Robert Syden¬ 
ham. 
Recalling a visit I made to Birmingham in August 
I was struck with the enthusiasm and esprit de corps he 
imparts to the Carnation and Picotee Society's shows. 
An excellent judge of these flowers himself, and one 
of the most successful exhibitors the last three 
years, he has the ability to instil into others a little 
of that enthusiasm with which he is so replete ; 
whilst a visit to the immense wholesale jewellery 
warehouse, with its strong rooms and safes, stored 
with gems and precious stones on one floor,and a com¬ 
plete and perfect seed and bulb warehouse and offices 
on another floor, with rooms, 67 ft. long — impresses 
one anew, and proclaim the man again a master of 
detail, a guiding spirit in all that he undertakes, with 
a masterful method of accomplishing anything 
upon which he sets his heart. Ten years ago Mr. 
R. Sydenham could not have told us the name cf any 
flowers or bulbs, whereas now, there are few, if any, 
who could name more bulbs correctly than he can 
when in flower, or name the Hyacinth bulbs in their 
dry state.— Gyp. 
-- 0 -- 
ORCHID NOTES & GLEANINGS. 
By The Editor. 
Odontoglossum crispum guttatum pittianum. 
Nov. var . — This magnificent variety is now flowering 
with H. T. Put, Esq., Rosslyn, Stamford Hill, 
London, after whom it is named. The original O. c. 
guttatum is nowhere by comparison with the variety 
under notice, and the owner may justly feel proud of 
it. The flower is of average size and a very fine round 
form, the petals overlapping the sepals considerably. 
The ground colour is pure white, thus bringing into 
great prominence the group of large chestnut-red 
blotches on the centre of the sepals. The petals are 
also similarly adorned with a group of smaller 
blotches. The white lip has a large, nearly heart- 
shaped, chestnut-red blotch in front of the crest, and 
several small ones on either side of the crest. The 
possess r of it secured it last year as a very small 
piece at the sale rooms of Messrs. Protheroe and 
Morris, Cheapside. Since then it has more than 
doubled in size, and now carries nine of these beau¬ 
tiful flowers on a spike. Mr. Pitt intended to exhibit 
the p'ant at the meeting of the Royal Horticultural 
Society on Tuesday last, but the morning was frosty. 
Cypripedium W. H. Cannon, Nov. hyb .—This 
bold flowered and handsome hybrid was obtained 
from C. nitens superbum w th the pollen of C. insigne 
Chantini. The dorsal sepal is white, with a pale 
green base, heavily blotched with dark purple for 
two-thirds of its length ; the upper portion is white, 
and marbled with purple along both sides. The 
petals are of a rich brown, edged with yellow. The 
lip is also of a shining dark brown, the mouth of 
the pouch being bordered with old gold.. The rich 
spotting is easily accounted for, seeing that both 
parents are characterised by the abundance and 
prominence of their markings. It is now in the 
possession of William Handel Cannon, Esq., Vanda 
Lodge, Whitton Road, Twickenham, Middlesex, in 
compliment to whom it has been named. 
CYPRIPEDIUMS AT FALKLAND PARK. 
Little or no fog of any consequence prevailed in 
Christmas week on the high ground at Falkland 
Park, South Norwood Hill, the residence of T. 
McMeekin, Esq. It often happens that the sun is 
shining on the top of the hill while all the lower ground 
in the valley of the Thames is invested in a thick 
sooty fog, and so it was on this occasion. 
Cypripediums are always in season when the 
conditions are favourable, and the undermentioned 
species, varieties, and hybrids, amongst others, have 
been flowering for some time past. C. williamsianum 
giganteum is flowering for the first time from plants 
raised at Falkland Park, between C. villosum 
superbum and C. harrisianum. The cross has been 
raised by other growers so that the original name 
given the progeny has been adopted. Though the 
plant is small the lip and petals of the flower are of 
handsome proportions, well meriting the varietal 
name. C. Calypso Falkland Park var. is 
a striking and handsome hybrid, with flowers 
of great size and beautifully spotted on the 
dorsal sepal. The most remarkable peculiarity 
of the plant is that the lateral sepals of the 
flower are perfectly separated from one another. 
C. Niobe is one of the prettiest of the C. fairieanum 
hybrids, having the dorsal sepal Apple-green at the 
base, the upper three-fourths being white and beauti¬ 
fully marbled with rose. The blackish-brown 
blotches on the petals of Cypripedium venustum 
Falkland Park var. are very noticeable, both petals 
and lip being of large size and tinted with reddish- 
brown. C. crossianum and C.c. amandum, flowering 
together, show the characteristics and differences of 
the two admirably. Though they are generally 
regarded as distinct hybrids, the difference is one of 
degree only, the type being almost entirely un- 
