July 29, 1899. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
755 
Early White Roman Hyacinths, 
Early Snowflake and Paper-white Narcissus. 
JAS. YEITCH & SONS, Ltd., 
Beg to announce the arrival of, in exceptionally fine condition, 
THE ABOVE VALUABLE BULBS FOR EARLY FORCING, 
And will be pleased to receive Orders for immediate delivery. 
EOYAL EXOTIC NURSERY, KING’S ROAD, CHELSEA, S.W. 
WEBBS 1 
EMPEROR CABBAGE. 
The Earliest and Best. 
6d. and Is. per packet; 1 b. 6d. per oz. 
From Mr. JOHN WRIGHT, Prestonpans, June 30th, 1899. 
“Your Emperor is the best early Cabbage I have seen, 
aod I 6old them at a much higher price in Edinburgh and 
Glasgow markets than anything I have yet grown.” 
WEBBS’ WORDSLEY, STOURBRIDGE. 
THE ROYAL NURSERIES, 
MAIDSTONE, KENT. 
GEO. BUNYARD & Co., 
are now Booking Orders, for Early Delivery, 
of the very best 
STRAWBERRIES. 
NEW and OLD kinds in Pots for Forcing; 
Runners for Open Culture. 
THE LARGES T STOCK IN TH E TRADE. 
CULTURAL CATALOGUES FREE. 
ORCHIDS! ORCHIDS!! 
Den. Bensonae, 1/6, 2/6, 3/6. 
„ Crassinode, 1,6, 2/6, 3/6. 
,, nobile (our superior type), 2/-, 3/-, 4/-, 5/-. 
Thunia Bensonae, each, 2/6. 
,, Marshallianum, each, 2/-. 
Lilium Nepalense, 2/6 to 5/-. 
„ Wallichianum, 2/6 to 5/-. 
J. W- Moore, Ltd., Orchid Importers, Rawdon, Nr. Leeds . 
BEGONIAS. RARE SINGLE TULIPS. 
NE WEST DAFFODIL S. 
H ARTLAND’S LIST for 1899 and 1900 
now ready. Most beautifully illustrated from photos 
taken at Ard Cairn. Write— 
Wm. Baylor Hartland, 
Ard Cairn, Cork. Seed Warehouse—Patrick St. 
ORCHIDS! ORCHIDS!! 
Quantity Immense! 
INSPECTION of OUR NEW RANGE of 
HOUSES 
IS CORDIALLY INVITED BY 
HUGH LOW & CO., 
Bush Hill Park, Middlesex 
CUTBUSH’S 
MILLTRACK MUSHROOM SPAWN. 
Everyone can readily grow Mush¬ 
rooms, and by using this Spawn will 
ensure success, All growers speak 
in the highest possible praise of the 
quality. Numerous testimonials. 
None genuine unless in scaled r ack- 
ages and printed cultural directions 
enclosed, with our Signature attac hed. 
Price 6s. per bushel, or is. per cake, 
free per parcels post, 
Wm. CUTBUSH & SON, 
Nurserymen and Seed Merchants. 
Highgate Nurseries, LONDON, N., and Barnet, HER T S. 
“ Gardening is the purest of human pleasures, and the greatest 
refreshment to the spirit of man."—B acon. 
Edited by J. FRASER, F.L.S. 
SATURDAY, JULY 29 th, 1899. 
NEXT WEEK'S ENGAGEMENTS. 
Tuesday, August ist.— Bridgwater Shaw. 
Wednesday, August 2nd.—Midland Carnation and PIcotee 
Show at Edgbaston Botanical Gardens, Birmingham (2 
days); Salisbury Show. 
Thursday, August 3 rd.—Halberton Cottage Garden Show. 
Wewin Water, Welwyn, Herts. —Al- 
A though close to Welwyn station, on 
the Great Northern Railway, nothing can 
be seen of the wood-embowered and rural 
residence of H. Tower, Esq., until the 
visitor is close upon the house itself. A 
magnificent viaduct carries the railway 
over the Maran, a small river or stream 
of crystal water that rises in the form of 
several springs a short way up the deep 
valley for which it is responsible, and falls 
into the muddy Lea a little lower down. 
Below the viaduct, the valley and even the 
heights above it appear densely covered 
with fine timber of great age, but on the 
banks of the Maran the house, gardens 
and pleasure grounds are situated, while the 
home farm is hidden amongst the trees a 
little way off. The magnificent Beeches 
and Elms are now in their summer garb of 
sombre green; but the Sweet Chestnuts 
being covered with a profusion of scented 
blossom, may justly be entitled to the 
epithet of queen of the woods for the time 
being, for they are highly conspicuous as 
far as the eye can discern them. The 
quantity of male flowers produced and the 
waste of pollen must be prodigious, for 
each short twig carries many long racemes 
of male flowers while only the uppermost 
one or two bear a few clusters of embryo 
nuts at their base. Other fine trees that 
attain magnificent dimensions are the Oak, 
Ash, Gray Poplar (Populus canescens), 
White and Crack Willows, Birch, Alder, 
Horse Chestnut, Sycamore, English Maple, 
and Wild Service Tree (Pyrus torminalis). 
The trees of the latter to the number of 
thirty or thereby form one side of a wood¬ 
land avenue, and are believed to be the 
largest in the country ; and in that opinion 
we shall concur until we see larger trees. 
They are 40 ft. to 50 ft. high (the height 
recorded by Loudon) with long, ascending 
branches, particularly on one side, and fruit 
freely. The trunks are proportionately 
stout, and present a spiral appearance in 
their manner of growth. The fruit is eat¬ 
able only when in a bletted condition, or a 
state of incipient decay as in the case of the 
Medlar, which it resembles in flavour. 
Some parts of the estate are thickly 
covered with fine timber of the above species 
of trees, while near the Maran are mea¬ 
dows with isolated trees or groups of them. 
The same holds good of the fields or park¬ 
like sides of the valley which ascend to a 
considerable elevation and carry fine crops 
of hay, which has just been stacked for the 
fine stud of hunter and carriage horses kept 
by Mr. Tower. Clumps and isolated trees 
of great age are scattered about on these 
hay-producing slopes, and some of them 
present strange features of growth. Two 
tall Elms in proximity are joined by a per¬ 
fectly horizontal trunk, as thick as a stout 
man’s body, the pair forming vegetable 
Siamese twins; for the horizontal limb 
belongs equally to both, the method or line 
of union being indiscernible. Of course we 
regard it as a case of natural grafting at 
some earlyperiodoftheirexistence. Another 
curious case of natural grafting is that of an 
Ash and a Crab, there being some fine trees 
of the latter on the higher grounds. At 
the base the Ash throws out a knee, which 
seems kneeling upon the lower part of the 
Crab, while they have become welded to¬ 
gether as it were at two points higher up. 
The line of union is here visible, and 
whether the Crab would live after being 
severed from its roots remains to be proved. 
There are many Oaks with gigantic trunks, 
and one we measured was between 23 ft. 
and 24 ft. round the waist. At some early 
period of its existence it had nearly been 
blown down or was undermined by rabbits ; 
but it must have grown enormously since 
then and the head is still healthy. Near 
the gardens an old, pollarded Hornbeam 
had been hollow in the centre for many 
years,and the gardener, Mr. F. C. Thomson, 
had obtained good, fibrous peat from this 
hollow, which he used for potting Allaman- 
das. It seemed good enough for Orchids. 
Another curious phenomenon of growth 
present itself in the shape of tall Alders 
growing near the Maran. They must 
have been cut down like Willow stools in 
the early stages of growth, and afterwards 
allowed to run up with three or four trunks 
from one root. They are 40 ft. to 50 ft. 
high, perfectly healthy and form clean, 
straight timber. The rural aspect of this 
demesne, and other estates in the neigh¬ 
bourhood is guarded by the proprietors, 
who discourage the letting of land for build¬ 
ing purposes. 
Since Mr. Thomson took charge of the 
garden and farm about eighteen months ago, 
he has effected several improvements and 
innovations. One of the latter is a bog 
garden by the Maran and close to the 
south-western corner of the gardens and 
lawns proper. Along one side of the stream 
from near the railway station to the garden 
he has made a footpath along the banks of 
the stream and beneath the shade of tall 
trees. Several linns or small water falls 
have been made to check the rapid course 
of the stream and maintain a body of water, 
with excellent effect. The sound of the 
waterfall was most refreshing, so to speak, 
on the occasion of our visit, when the 
thermometer stood at 89° in the shade. The 
bog garden has been made out of useless 
bog-land or impassable swamp. Several 
waterways have been cut out and the mud 
heaped up so as to form two largeislands and 
some lesser ones. The water being clear 
to the bottom, one can see many fine trouts 
