678 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
June 25,1898. 
plantations. All our leading nurserymen have good 
stocks of them, and those ignorant of the varieties 
may safely leave the selection in their hands. 
W. B. G. 
HERBACEOUS CALCEOLARIAS. 
The herbaceous Calceolaria when well grown is an 
excellent decorative plant for a cool greenhouse or 
conservatory. Moreover, nine months is not a long 
time from the sowing of the seed to the full blown 
plant in an 8 in. or io in. pot, smothered with 
flowers. The herbaceous Calceolaria, however, 
unless well grown is a sorry sight, and had better be 
left alone. Cleanliness is its first consideration, and 
some special, though simple, details are requisite to 
its culture if it is to be presented in a floriferous and 
creditable condition, such as I saw it the other day 
in the gardens of Oakhurst, St. Stephen's Road. 
Ealing, W. 
A small collection of about fifty plants exhibited a 
great variety of colour, running from pure yellow 
through infinite shades of red to darkest claret. 
The foliage also possessed a healthy hue, and 
bespoke a vigour born of cleanliness, suitable soil, 
and attention to other details. Mr. C. Edwards in¬ 
formed me that the seed was sown the first week in 
August last, and came from the well known firm of 
Veitch & Sons. Mr. Edwards was rather proud of 
his plants, but, alas! they will soon have to go the 
way of all " flesh ; " their place will soon know them 
no more; a fresh start will have to be made; the 
cycle will be complete; for who would grow such 
plants as these from cuttings or divisions, when they 
may be satisfactorily raised from good strains of seed, 
and treated as annuals or biennials.— C. B. G., 
Acton, IV. 
■ -» 1 —- - 
A FINE FERN FACTORY. 
Ferns have long been prized and cared for, and culti¬ 
vated in and for the hothouses and mansions of the 
opulent, but of late years a change has come over 
• the spirit of the dream,’ and they are not alone the 
peculiar property of the classes nor solely the setting 
to wealth and luxury, but are to be seen represented 
by one or other of their myriad forms in the humble 
cottage, as well as the more pretentious villa, where 
the children of the masses, both indigent and com¬ 
paratively well-to-do,-live and move, and have their 
being. A great change truly is this, and one that 
has not been worked in a day, for as with dead so 
with living things, before a popular demand for 
either can be met the problem of wholesale supply 
has to be considered and solved. With the solution 
of this particular phase of the industrial problem 
the name of Mr. H. B. May has been indissolubly 
connected, for with true business enterprise he has 
grasped the real inwardness of the situation, and— 
the British public has but to ask and to have, in fact, 
has asked, and has bad. Ferns galore. 
Mr. May now owns three large and thriving es¬ 
tablishments in the neighbourhood of Edmonton, 
each of which is a business complete in itself, and 
independent of the others, and each of which is 
supplying day by day, and year by year, plants of all 
sorts and sizes that popular fancy may call for. The 
Dyson’s Lane Nurseries, the oldest of these three, 
are the headquarters, as it were, of the industry, and 
here it is that the complex workings of the scheme 
are most readily apparent to the visitor, who sees 
house after house, block after block of houses, every 
nook and corner of them filled with plants of all 
sizes, from the tiny sporeling to the matured plant— 
Ferns here, Ferns there, Ferns everywhere, hanging 
from the roof, clinging against the wall, filling high 
shelves, and covering the lower stages, and yet the 
remarkable thing is that there seems to be never a 
weakling amongst them They all grow vigorously, 
for they seem to have nothing else to do, 
A word as to the arrangement of the houses. They 
are of the usual span-roofed type that experience 
has found to be the best for market work, but at 
Edmonton they are associated in blocks of five or 
six or seven, a heated corridor used as a potting 
shed being built on the end. Potting can thus be 
conducted at any season without the trouble and 
risk of exposing the plants to the outer air. In 
one case a very long corridor is placed in the 
middle, and forms a junction to two large blocks of 
houses (one on either side) which constitute in them¬ 
selves a huge glass area. The corridor itself is set 
off with Neprolepises and other Ferns, either grow¬ 
ing in pendant baskets, or standing on high side 
shelves. 
The contents of the houses it would be well-nigh 
impossible to describe in detail, for of the numerous 
species of the order Filices many are very versatile, 
and run into all sorts of variations, and it is almost 
needless to say their natural tendency to sport, to 
become plumed, feathered, tasselled, or variegated, 
as the case may be, is encouraged. Thus many of 
the finest Ferns in cultivation have first seen the 
light at Dyson’s Lane. 
The newest comer is Polypodium Mayi, a spore- 
ling raised from P. glaucum, which was exhibited by 
Mr. May at the late Temple Show, and which we 
fully described then. P. glaucum is itself a vastly 
pretty thing, and is grown in great numbers, whilst 
P. aureum still holds its own with the public. 
The genus Pteris is probably the most important 
from a market point of view. The numbers of 
crested and tasselled Pterises are legion. P. serru- 
lata and P. cretica alone have given rise to a quantity 
of handsome plants, showing all gradations of 
tasselling. Thus P. s. gracilis multiceps has medium 
sized, very finely cut, tassels to the ends of the 
narrow pinnae, whilst P. s. corymbosa, certificated 
in 1894, has heavy, bunchy tassels, and the fronds 
have assumed in consequence a pendant habit. Both 
of these are grand basket Ferns. P. s. compacta, 
on the other hand, is true to its varietal name, the 
stipes of the fronds are shorter and stiffer, and the 
plant has a bushy and compact habit. P. cretica 
Wimsetti is probably the finest market Fern in 
existence, whilst P. c. nobilis and P. c. Summersii 
are other splendid forms. P. tremula has evidently 
no desire to be outdone in versatility. The heavily 
crested form, P. t. smithiana shows what it can do in 
this direction, whilst P. t. elegans, although it has a 
true “ tremula ’’ rootstock, appears at first sight to 
have got clean away from the type, with its long, 
tasselled fronds. P. t. flaccida is equally dis¬ 
tinct with its looser habit and graceful, feathery 
presence. The broad fronds of P. Driokwateri are 
most distinct, and the plant is of noble appearance; 
indeed, it bids high for second place to P. Wimsetti 
as a market Fern, and is a distinct advance on the 
common P. umbrosa. 
Variegated Ferns find favour in some quarters, 
and one is astonished at the wealth of material avail¬ 
able. The genus Pteris is again the heaviest contri¬ 
butor. P. Mayi, P. c. Reginae, P. c. R. cristata, P. 
Victoriae and P. t. variegata are all chaste and 
handsome plants that ought to be in every collection. 
The rather rare but highly beautiful P. goringianum 
pictum may be placed in this section. We cannot 
leave the genus without allusion to the noble P. 
ludens, and the equally distinct P. sagittifolia, with 
its arrow-head shaped fronds. 
Of Adiantums Mr. May has a magnificent stock, 
the numerical strength of which may be gauged from 
the fact that A. Farleyense is turned out at the rate 
of 12,000 plants a year—an army in itself. The new 
A. hemsleyanum is a distinct acquisition to the 
genus. Gymnogrammes, again, are in superb con¬ 
dition, every variety in cultivation that is worth any¬ 
thing being grown, G. Mayi, G. chrysophylla 
grandiceps, G. c. g. superba, G. Alstoni, G. flaves- 
cens, G. wettenhalliana, G. Parsoni and G. schizo- 
phylla elegantissima beiDg just a few of the gems. 
It would be easy to give the names of the plants, but 
it would not be so easy to convey to our readers a 
correct idea of the wonderful beauty of the varied 
forms of the gold and silver Ferns to be seen here. 
The curious Platyceriums are much in evidence, 
P. grande, P. aethiopicum, and P. Willinckii being 
three of the best, although we must not forget the 
commoner P. alcicorne. All of these appear to 
great advantage when grown in pockets against a 
wall, or planted on rustic tree stems. 
Among Aspleniums the elegant A. caudatum is 
a capital basket Fern, whilst for stateliness and 
distinctness there is nothing like A. Nidus, with 
its huge shining green fronds and black stipes. 
Davallia fijiensis robusta is a strong growing 
variety of the pretty Fijian Davallia. D. Mariesii 
and its crested variety are other notable plants. 
Lygodium japonicum is the best of the so-called 
climbing Ferns, and we were greatly struck by the 
fine batches of it in 6-inch pots that were to be 
seen in some of the houses. Small wonder is it 
that these plants sell well when we consider how 
elegant and effective they are. 
For basket plants the Neprolepises have few 
compeers. Some twenty species and varieties are 
grown by Mr. May, and these include all that are 
worth growing. N. davallioides plumosa and N. d. 
multiceps are two of the finest forms of this species, 
and seeing that they originated from the same 
batch of spores it goes to show how subtle is the 
tendency to variation possessed by our cultivated 
Ferns. N. pluma, N. recurvata, N. philippinense 
and N. Duffi are other weli-known forms that were 
represented in great quantity. 
The above mentioned Ferns constitute only a few 
of the gems of a collection that is a marvel of 
completeness and comprehensiveness. Many good 
things have been passed over, perforce, from lack 
of space, for our notes are already lengthy enough. 
-- 
PLANTS RECENTLY CERTIFICATED. 
The undermentioned awards were made by the 
Royal Horticultural Society on the 14th inst. 
Orchid Committee. 
Laeliocattleya Eudora splendens. Nov. var .— 
The parents of this grand variety were Laelia pur- 
purata and Cattleya Mendelti, the latter being the 
pollen bearer. The progeny has the vigour of the 
former. The sepals and elliptic petals are rich rose- 
purple. The lip is of huge size and has a crimson- 
purple crisped lamina; the throat is white, tinted 
with pale yellow ; and the base is crimson lined with 
white. The lip is the great feature, being darker and 
richer than the type. First-class Certificate. Messrs. 
J. Veitch & Sons, Ltd., Chelsea. 
Epicattleya radiato-bowringiana. Nov. hyb. 
bigen.— Strange results continue to be obtained by 
the hybridisation of Orchids. That under notice 
was derived from Cattleya bowringiara and Epiden- 
drum radiatum, the latter having a cochleate, striate 
lip. The flowers in size recall those of the Cattleya, 
and have the sepals and elliptic petals of a dark 
slate-purple hue. The lip has a short tube striated 
with crimson purple on a white ground, and a short 
lamina, also veined. The plant bore three flowers, 
one of them having three lips, the lateral ones being 
petals. It is an interesting case of peloria. Award 
of Merit. Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons, Ltd. 
Laeliocattleya Hippolyta auranhaca. Nov. 
hyb. var. —In this we have one of the prettiest 
varieties of this bigeneric hybrid in cultivation. The 
sepals and petals are rich orange-scarlet, the lip being 
orange and striated with crimson forking veins. The 
contrast is beautiful. Award of Merit. Messrs. J. 
Veitch & Sons, Ltd. 
OdontoglossumelegantiusBaronessSchroder. 
Nov. var ,— To the light and graceful form of O. ele¬ 
gans, this beautiful variety adds the colours of O. 
excellens. The sepals and petals are clear yellow 
with a few rich brown blotches. The lip is white, 
with a large chestnut blotch in front of the crest. 
Award of Merit. Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons, Ltd. 
Bulbophyllum saltatorium. —The subulate 
sepals of this species are yellow with black spots at 
the base. The lip is black at the edges and furnished 
with a beard of long, purple hairs. It is a rival for 
B. barbatum. Botanical Certificate. Messrs. J. 
Veitch & Sons, Ltd. 
Bulbophyllum Lobbii Burford var. Nov. var .— 
The upper sepal is yellow, richly spotted with 
brownish-purple, the lateral ones being falcate and 
and paler. The petals are beautifully lined with pur¬ 
ple on a yellow ground. Botanical Certificate. 
Messrs. J. Veitch & Sons, Ltd. 
Cattleya Mossiae Madonna. Nov. var.— The 
sepals and large petals of this chaste and handsome 
variety are pure white. The tube of the lip is blush 
externally and purple, lined with white internally ; 
the throat is orange, and there is a pale purple blotch 
on the centre of the lamina, the rest being white. 
The variety belongs to the C. M. reineckiana section. 
Award of Merit. Messrs.Stanley-Mobbs & Ashton, 
Southgate, N. 
Laelia purpurata Ernestii. Nov. var. —Here 
we have a chaste and beautiful variety of delicate 
colours. The sepals and petals are pure white. 
Both the outside and inside of the tube are yellow, 
lined in the latter case with fine purple striae. The 
lamina has a broad, distinct zone of purple running 
