June 26, 1897. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
677 
Water in Plants.—Experiments have proved that 
a plant uses 300 lbs. of water for every lb. of solid 
matter it contains. It is estimated that a corn crop 
will require about 10 in. of water during its whole 
season of growth, and that this quantity actually 
passes through the plants. Naturally we are chiefly 
dependent upon the clouds for the water supply, but 
a great deal can be done by good cultivation to assist 
the clouds. By keeping the soil in an open porous 
condition, by the addition of good manure, and 
thorough turning, the effects of drought may be to a 
very large extent minimised. This holds good in the 
garden as in the field. 
-— 
ROYAL DIAMOND JUBILEE ORCHID 
TROPHY, 
By Command, for Her Majesty The Queen. 
Messrs. F. Sander & Co., St. Albans, employed 
Messrs. Wills & Segar, Onslow Crescent, South 
Kensington, Florists to Her Majesty, to design 
and artistically arrange the trophy for them, which 
consisted of a basket made of wicker work, heavily 
gilt, standing on a polished mahogany base; in 
shape trifoliate, beautifully fluted and plaited. From 
from the South African Veldt; the Moth-flowered 
Dendrobe from Australasia and British New Guinea; 
Burmese Vandas from the British East Indies; 
Cattleyas and richly coloured Oncidiums from 
British Guiana ; and the lovely scarlet Epidendrura 
and Laelia from the West Indies served to illustrate 
the vast floral wealth in Orchids indigenous to the 
many lands over which our Queen reigns. 
The handles of this magnificently arranged basket 
of Orchids were fitted with flutes or sockets, and the 
flowers placed in them, with the spikes entire, and— 
in very many instances—the whole bulb and leaf 
also. The interior of the basket, which had to be 
specially designed and constructed for the occasion, 
was one central dome, forming a solid foundation, 
supporting the whole heavy mass of blossoms, which, 
perfectly finished and arranged, had a maximum 
height of 8 ft., with a diameter of 6 ft. The number 
of flowers in the monster Jubilee Orchid bouquet 
prepared and presented to the Queen by Messrs. F. 
Sander & Co., in 1887 was 50,000, but this huge 
trophy contained a larger number, while the quality 
and rarity were far greater. By command it was 
delivered at Buckingham Palace on Monday after¬ 
noon, the day before the Diamond Jubilee Celebra¬ 
tion. 
ROYALk ttUNDSOR. 
It is on record that Windsor has been used as a 
Royal palace for 786 years ; indeed, there are those 
who trace the date back to the time of the Conquest, 
which would be 831 years ago. On this occasion, 
however, it is of gardens, gardening, trees, and the 
Queen’s favourite walks that we intend to speak. 
Gardening, even within the precints of the Palace 
grounds, is of very ancient date. In 1405, James I. 
of Scotland was detained a prisoner in Windsor 
Castle by Henry IV., and while looking out of the 
window of his apartment, he saw walking in the 
garden, and fell in love with, the daughter of the 
Duke of Somerset, who afterwards became his queen. 
The circumstances are related by James I. himself 
in “The “King's Quhair ” or Book, and the follow¬ 
ing quotation relates to the garden : — 
“ Now, was there made, last by the touris wall, 
A garden fair, and in the corners set 
Ane herbere green, with wandis long and small, 
Railed about, and so with treis set 
Was all the place, and hawthorn hedges knet, 
That life was non walking there forby, 
That might within scarce any wight espy. 
Windsor Castle from the Home Park, showing the Tree-clad Slopes. 
the three corners arose the handle, its three branches 
forming a dome, surmounting the top of which was a 
Royal crown, the letters “ V. R. I.,” 12 in. in length, 
being arranged beneath the crown, which consisted 
of several hundreds of flowers of Odontoglossum 
citrosmum, the letters being composed entirely of 
the orange-coloured Epidendrum vitellinum, 
Millais’ favourite Orchid. It is impossible to 
attempt the description in detail of the many 
thousands of Orchids used in this the most superb 
bouquet ever seen, endless spikes of all that is best 
and rarest from Her Majesty's dominions being 
used, together with almost priceless blossoms of the 
hybridist’s art raised in this country since our 
Queen’s accession, many of them unique and of 
great value. Among the choicest varieties were 
Cattleya Empress of India, Cattleya Our Queen, 
and Cattleya Victoria Regina, which received 
awards at the meeting of the Royal Horticuitural 
Society on Tuesday, the 15th inst. The Princess of 
Wales’ Odontoglossums were prominent in magnifi¬ 
cent, pure white spikes, as also was Lord Dalhousie’s 
Dendrobe, with its nankeen-yellow and maroon 
blossoms. The sprays of the Disa from Table 
Mountain (“Flower of the Gods’’); Stenoglottis 
When this gigantic and absolutely unique Orchid 
Trophy was in full dress it had a most gorgeous 
appearance. Notwithstanding its enormous bulk, 
two men could carry it about. The Jubilee Bouquet 
of 1887 was nowhere by comparison with the Dia¬ 
mond Jubilee Bouquet, for we have seen them both. 
Its massiveness was relieved by long drooping 
sprays of the Princess of Wales’ Odontoglossums, 
Oncidium crispum, Cymbidium lowianum, Dendro- 
bium Phalaenopsis schroderianum, Phaius, Sobra- 
lias, Thunias, &c., the two latter being cut with long 
leafy stems. The V. R. I. in brilliant orange-scarlet 
was particularly effective and prominent, overarched 
by long sprays. A gorgeous effect was imparted by 
Cattleya reineckiana from the Temple Show plants, 
by Vanda teres, V. suavis, Maxillaria sanderiana 
Laelia purpurata, L. tenebrosa, and the hybrids 
named after the Queen. The rarest things were 
Cypripedium callosum sanderianum, and C. Gode- 
froyae godseffianum, the latter a particularly hand¬ 
some and absolutely unique variety said to be worth 
1,000 gs. On Monday afternoon the Trophy was 
placed close to the Queen's table, where she sat at 
the banquet, at Buckingham Palace. A separate table 
was at her service as for her guests present. 
" And on the smalle greene twistis sate 
The little sweet nightingale, and sung 
So loud and clear, the hymnis consecrate 
Of lufis use, now soft now loud among, 
That all the gardens and the wallis rung 
Right of their song, and on the copill next 
Of their sweet harmony, and lo the text." 
These two stanzas show that the cultured language 
of England and Scotland, even at that early date, 
was identical or closely akin. 
On the steep slopes of the Round Tower Garden, 
to-day, is some beautiful scroll bedding of modern 
pattern. The private secretary’s apartments are 
situated here, and the garden is spoken of as his. 
A little further to the western side of the tower is a 
bit of gardening which is considered to be some hun¬ 
dreds of years old, and seemingly of Elizabethan 
pattern. The hollow is planted with fruit trees and 
herbaceous plants, while the slopes are occupied 
with flowering trees and shrubs, including Lilacs, 
which are very gay in their season. 
THE NORTH TERRACE. 
A grand prospect opens before the eye of the visitor 
who arrives on the North Terrace. Windsor Castle 
is situated on the eastern edge of Berkshire, on a 
chalk cliff or hill at an elevation of about 100 ft. 
