July 16, 1898. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
723 
ORCHIDS. 
Clean Healthy Plants at Low Prices. 
Always worth a visit of inspection. Kindly send for Catalogue, 
JAMES CYPHER, 
Exotic Korseries, CHELTENHAM. 
GLOXINIAS 
JOHN PEED & SONS, 
FINEST MEDAL COLLECTION 
IN THE WORLD. ifc 
Send for CATALOGUE to 
West Norwood, London 
The Royal Nurseries, Maidstone, Kent. 
GEORGE BUNYARD & GO., 
Are now booking orders for early delivery of the very best 
NEW AND OLD STRAWBERRIES. 
For crop 1S99, or for lorcing. 
They offer the largest stock and the best plants in the trade. 
Change of stock pays. 
Catalogue of Strawberries and Summer Fruits now ready. 
POCKET KNIVES FROM MAKER 
■ 
Stag Handle Pruning Knives, a real good 
article, is. id. each ; Ivory Handle Budding 
Knives, no better made, is. 3d. each ; Ivory 
Handle. 2 bla^e waistcoat pocket Knife, is. id. 
each; Corn Knives, is.; Workman’s Stag 
Handle Sheepsfoot and Pen Blade, is. id. The 
blades of all the above are made from the very 
best English crucible cast steel. Post free. 
J. & H. R. HOUNAM, 
Sheaf Island Works, SHEFFIELD. 
FORBES’ iQ Q Q 
CATALOGUE IOUO. 
(Over 150 Pages. Nearly 150 Illustrations.) 
of Florists’ Flowers and Hardy Border Plants 
Is got up regardless of trouble or expense, with the result that 
it is by unanimous consent pronounced the most comprehen¬ 
sive, most accurate, most reliable, most complete aud beet 
extant. 
It gives full and accurate descriptions of everything in the 
way of Florists' Flowers, also colour, height, time of 
flowering, aud price of all the best Hardy Border Plants, 
together with then English or Common Names, aud a mass of 
other Valuable Information that cannot be had else¬ 
where. 
It Is In fact a veritable reference-book, Invaluable to all 
growers of these plants, and should be m the bauds of all 
intending purchasers. Free on application. 
JOHN FORBES, 
Nurseryman, Hawick, Scotland. 
ESTABLISHED 1870. 
IMPORTANT TO GARDENERS. 
If you have not received our Illustrated 
Supplement with particulars of Important 
Horticultural Improvements and Hints by 
Specialists upon successful 
CARNATION CULTURE 
please send post card for same. 
MOST VALUABLE INFORMATION! 
Wm. WOOD & SON, Ltd., WOOD GREEN, LONDON. 
LAXTON’S STRAWBERRIES. 
If you wish for the best, write for our new 
Illustrated Catalogue with descriptions of Laxton’s 
new Fillbasket, Mentmore, Monarch, Leader and 
Royal Sovereign. The largest cultures specially for 
runner plants. 
LAXTON BROTHERS, BEDFORD. 
FINEST COLLECTION 
in the World. We make 
a speciality of CALA- 
DIUMS. Gold Medals 
Manchester& Leicester. 
Silver Cup, R.H.S., &c. 
Satisfaction guaranteed. JOHN PEED AND SONS, 
- West Norwood, London. 
RETARDED LILY OF THE VALLEY CROWNS. 
Headquarters at Dersingham. 
For prices &c., apply to — 
T. JANNOCH, 
Lily Nursery, Dersingham, King's Lynn, Norfolk. 
Caladiums 
WEBBS’ 
EMPEROR CABBAGE, 
The Earliest and Best 
6 d. and Is. per packet; Is. 6 d. per oz 
From Mr. J. TURNBULL, The School House. 
July 9TH, t8g8. 
“ I sowed some seed of Webbs’ ‘Emperor Cabbage’ and 
the Cabbages have been simply grand ; they get better each 
time we have them.” 
WEBBS’, WORDSLEY, STOURBRIDGE. 
RCHIDS of the highest quality, every 
Vplant guaranteed true to name, from 2/6 each. Please 
send for free list.—P. McARTHUR, The London Nurseries, 
4, Malda Vale. London W. 
” Gardening Is the pnrest of human pleasures, and the greatest 
retreehment to tbe spirit of man."— Bacon. 
Edited by J. FRASER, F.L.S. 
SATURDAY , JULY 16 th, 1898. 
NEXT WEEK'S ENGAGEMENTS. 
Wednesday, July 20th.—Cardiff Show (2 days.) 
Thursdax, July 21st.—Sidcup Rose Show. 
Tiverton Show. 
Friday, July 22nd.—Southern Counties Carnation Society’s 
Show at Southampton (2 days . 
N. Meneage Show. 
Wlower and Fruit Farming in England. 
—These two branches of horticultural 
industry are annually extending their 
boundaries and influence, but as far as 
home cultures are concerned it would be 
difficult to formulate an idea as to the 
quantities produced, for it seems that no 
record is kept by the stall holders of Covent 
Garden, nor by the management officials of 
the market. Mr. William E. Bear gives a 
lengthy account of the industry, as carried 
on in various parts of England, in the 
Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society , for 
June 30th last. In speaking of the great 
increase of production, he mentions the fact, 
now well known to our readers, that Lily of 
the Valley may be had in bloom all 
the year round, by the use of the 
refrigerator for retarding the crowns beyond 
their natural season, and by forcing from 
early winter onwards. Spring flowers are 
extensively forced in vineries, Tomato and 
Cucumber houses, so that they come into 
the markets contemporaneously with the 
natural productions of the South of France 
and Italy. This takes place in December, 
and is immediately followed by the open 
air productions of the Scilly Islands and 
the more favoured parts of the mainland of 
England. The flowers include Narcissi, 
Anemones, and Marguerites. It may afford 
home growers some satisfaction to know 
that few forced flowers are imported, with 
the exception of French Lilac, in the early 
part of the year. As soon as flowers in 
the open air become plentiful the foreign 
supply ceases, until it commences with 
Chrysanthemums in early autumn. British 
wild flowers find a ready sale, including 
Violets, Primroses, Chrysanthemum sege- 
tum, C. Leucanthemum and others. The 
fruit houses are extensively utilised to 
bloom Chrysanthemums late in autumn and 
early winter, until last year the production 
was so overwhelming that prices were un- 
remunerative. The modern development 
of the Narcissus industry is the most re¬ 
markable phase of flower growing, includ¬ 
ing the production of bulbs. 
The Scilly Isles are first dealt with by the 
writer, appropriately, for it is from thence 
that the earliest supplies of flowers grown 
in the open are obtained. Only eight of 
the Scilly Isles are used for agricultural or 
horticultural purposes. The soil is mostly 
of granitic origin, the surface consisting of 
a sandy loam, mixed with clay in some 
places, and peat in others, but always light 
and well adapted for bulbous plants and 
vegetables. The islands are enveloped by 
the Gulf Stream, so that the climate is mild 
and equable at all times. Frost is rare, 
and snow more so, never lying more than 
twenty-four hours when it does come The 
prosperity of the islanders really depends 
upon the mild and equable character of 
their climate. The mean annual rainfall is 
34-38 in. ; the maximum temperature. 55’5°; 
the minimum, 48-5° ; and the mean, 52’i°. 
It will thus be seen that the weather is 
never very hot nor very cold. 
In 1870, or the previous year, the father 
of the present steward packed a box of 
Narcissi for the late Mr. Augustus Smith, 
then Lord Proprietor of the islands, and 
sent it to Covent Garden. The return 
was £1, and this proved in fact the turning 
point in the prosperity of the islands, which 
had been in an impoverished condition, 
owing to over-population and the excessive 
division of the land. A few of the farmers 
began quietly to collect bulbs wherever 
they could find them growing in the fields 
or hedgerows, and to get up a stock for 
market work. The species and varieties of 
Narcissus then growing in the islands were 
confined to N. Telamonius plenus, Camper- 
nelli, Scilly White, Grand Soleil d’Or, two 
varieties of Grand Monarque, N. biflorus, 
N. poeticus'recurvus, and N. p. flore pleno. 
It is believed that some of the above were 
first brought to Tresco by the monks, and 
later on by the Governors in St. Mary’s. 
Two bulbs of Campernelli were obtained 
by Mrs. Gluyas from a French captain 
about sixty years ago, and from them the 
whole of the stock has been developed. 
The industry in Daffodils did not become 
thoroughly remunerative till 1880, and even 
then the quantity produced was small. 
Mr. T. A. Dorrien-Smith, the present Lord 
Proprietor, took up his residence at Tresco 
in 1875, and being greatly interested in the 
welfare of his tenants he visited the princi¬ 
pal bulb-growing centres in 1883. He 
found that Daffodils flowered a month later 
in Holland than at Scilly, and from that 
concluded it would be safe to extend the 
business ; he bought bulbs largely for him¬ 
self and his tenants, introducing many new 
varieties. In 1885 the produce in flowers 
amounted to 65 tons a year, and this went 
on steadily increasing till the amount 
reached 448 tons in 1893, after which there 
was a falling-off; but in 1896 the climax 
was reached in the export of 514 tons of 
flowers, consisting of 3,598,000 bunches. 
The islands are subject to frequent gales of 
wind,and the Daffodils have to be sheltered 
by means of hedges consisting of Veronica, 
Escallonia, and Euonymus, which thrive 
splendidly. Accounts are also given of 
several of the bulb farms in the Scilly 
Islands. 
Within the last twenty years there 
has sprung up a considerable industry 
in the growing of bulbs and of flowers 
for cutting in Lincolnshire. Snow¬ 
drops were grown, however, for the 
sake of their bulbs as far back as forty 
years ago ; but the continuous production 
of them on the same land renders them 
liable to disease, and this militates against 
their production. Mr. White, of Spalding, 
has twenty-four acres of his farm devoted 
almost entirely to the cultivation of Nar¬ 
cissi. The only manure he uses is bone 
dust, of which he applies 14 to 15 cwts. per 
