May 19, 1900. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
595 
" Gardening is the purest of human pleasures, and the greatest 
refreshment to the spirit of man "— Bacon. 
Edited by J. FRASER, F.L.S. 
SATURDAY , MAY igth, igoo. 
NEXT WEEK'S ENGAGEMENTS. 
Tuesday, May 22nd.—Kew Guild Dinner at Holborn Res¬ 
taurant. Paris Exhibition (temporary show). 
Wednesday, May 23rd.—Royal Horticultural Society’s Show 
in Temple Gardens, London (3 days). York Florists’ Ex¬ 
hibition. Devon County Agricultural Society's Show at 
Barnstaple (3 days). 
Thursday, May 23th.—Linnean Society (Anniversary Meet¬ 
ing). 
Friday, May 25th.—International Congress of Horticulture 
and Arboriculture at Paris Exhibition (2 days). 
j^ovER House, Roehampton, Surrey.— 
Though within the municipal county 
of London, Dover House, the English 
residence of J. P. Morgan, Esq., enjoys the 
quietude of a strictly rural estate. On the 
one hand it abuts on Putney Heath, while 
in another direction it touches on the village 
of Roehampton, a small part of which it 
includes. Two houses and a piece of 
ground were recently purchased to rectify 
the outline of the estate. Putney Park 
Lane is another boundary, and the open 
space of Putney Park itself bounds the 
fourth side of the square. The many large 
trees on the estate are some indication of 
its antiquity; and include umbrageous 
specimens of American and other Oaks, 
Elms, Sweet Chestnuts, Limes, Horse 
Chestnuts, Sycamores, Black and Lom¬ 
bardy Poplars, now in the exquisite beauty 
of the spring leafage of many charming 
tints and shades of green. Even on the 
edge of Putney Heath are some fine trees, 
including male and at least one female tree 
of the Black Poplar of large size. The 
latter is already covered with dark green 
leaves, and a little later on it will smother 
the pleasure grounds with the cottony down 
of its scattering seeds. The male trees are 
later in leafing, but are now hanging out 
their tender leaves, tinted with amber and 
gold. 
On the pleasure grounds by the mansion 
is a magnificent Purple Beech, one of the 
finest in the country. The same may be 
said of a specimen of the Judas tree, 25 ft. 
to 30 ft. high, and as much in the spread 
of its branches. It stands clear of any 
protection whatever, j et is healthy and 
simply laden all over with deep purple 
flowers on the point of expansion. All 
these tall, umbrageous trees shelter, seclude 
and adorn the place. 
Arriving on the estate the other day we 
called upon the gardener, Mr. J. F. McLeod 
and passed through the extensive ranges of 
fruit and plant houses, at present all in full 
working order. The first house entered 
was the Black Hamburgh vinery, the 
bunches and berries of which are barely 
half-grown. About eighty bunches had 
recently been removed, yet the Vines bore 
a heavy and evenly distributed crop. The 
borders are both outside and inside. A 
house of Peaches was started in November 
and the fruits are now fast swelling after 
having fin shed stoning some time ago. On 
the back wall are heavy wreaths of Aspara¬ 
gus plumosus, very serviceable as a sub¬ 
stitute for Fern fronds. A. retrofractus 
arboreus has its needle-like branches 
arranged in tufts, reminding one of minia¬ 
ture branches of the Scotch Pine. A tree 
each of Elruge and Pineapple Nectarines 
occupy a house, and worthily too, for the 
first-named carries a splendid crop of some 
480 fruits. Two vineries came next in order, 
one of them filled with Lady Downes, Gros 
Maroc, Mrs. Pince, Gros Colman, and 
Appley Towers; this being the latest 
house, the Vines are only now in flower. 
There are two sets of Vines in the Muscat 
house, those intended as the permanent set 
along the front being in their first year of 
bearing. Temporary Vines are in pots, 
plunged in the bed, the rods being taken up 
the higher portion of the roof glass. There 
is a fine batch of Lilium longiflorum ex- 
imium approaching the flowering stage and 
distinguished from L. 1 . Harrisi by having 
shorter flowers, later in blooming, and being 
incapable of or unsuitable for early forcing. 
The plants are of vigorous though dwarf 
growth. 
A large Palm house has recently been 
built and filled with a variety of Palms, 
including Kentias, Phoenix, and Cocos, 
some of the first named being tall and 
stately plants. They are much used for 
the decoration of the London house when 
the family is residing there. These Palms 
are stood upon the ground, but along the 
sides are stages occupied with Crotons, 
Dracaenas, Caladiums, and other stove 
plants in variety. 
The Fig house has one large tree of 
Brown Turkey Fig along the front, two 
along the back, and some smaller specimens 
in pots. The first crop was an enormous 
one, but has mostly been gathered, and the 
trees are now swelling up their second crop. 
Some Cypripediums occupy the benches 
beneath. Close by is the earliest vinery 
filled with plants in pots plunged in the 
beds. Along the back of this house is an 
enclosed space beneath a very high bench, 
and very useful either for resting plants or 
forcing vegetables in winter. Cucumbers 
are in bearing in another house, and upon 
the benches along the back are newly-im¬ 
ported batches of Cattleya labiata and 
Dendrobium wardianum. 
Behind a wall and in another part of the 
grounds are more fruit houses. Pineapple 
Nectarines occupy one of them, while 
Strawberry Royal Sovereign is ripening its 
fruits in another. This variety is the only 
one grown at Dover House for the purpose 
of forcing. On the stages beneath are large 
batches of Gloxinias, well advanced, and 
Cannas also in pots. The Tomato house 
contains a batch of Tomato Sutton’s 
Earliest of All, in pots, carrying a heavy 
crop of fruits, now commencing to ripen. 
It is the best for setting in winter when 
light is bad. One side of the house is de¬ 
voted to planted-out batches of such 
varieties as Earliest of All, Duke of York, 
Perfection, Hackwood Park, and Imperial, 
intended as a succession to the first variety 
named. More Strawberries are ripening in 
this house, as they are in the Melon house, 
where the fruits of the latter are about the 
size of a turkey’s egg, and abundant. The 
most is made of the houses, and here a fine 
batch of Hydrangea paniculata grandiflora 
was just being started, though another 
batch elsewhere is now showing the flower 
buds. In another division of the garden, 
largely devoted to fruit culture, both under 
glass and in the open air, are 350 ft. run of 
glass, including a large Peach house in 
three divisions and some Peach cases. In 
the latter there is a good set of Peaches 
and Nectarines, while cordon Pears are 
also well set along the front against the 
glass. In the large house are many fine 
trees, some of them being of great size. 
Dymond, Condor, Grosse Mignonne, 
Buckinghamshire Mignonne, Rivers’ Early 
York, Prince and Princess of Wales bear 
heavy crops. Most of the trees monopolise 
the light along the front, but in one of the 
divisions, at least, the back wall is occupied 
as well. Amongst Nectarines is a large 
tree cf Precoces de Cronsel, never a good 
cropper and only of average flavour. Lord 
Napier and Pineapple Nectarines, on the 
contrary, give every satisfaction. 
The plant houses are also numerous and 
contain a considerable variety of interesting 
subjects, some of which have already been 
mentioned, especially those that have to be 
temporarily accommodated beneath the 
fruit. Two of the most attractive houses 
are those which contain the collection of 
Malmaison Carnations, which has now 
swelled to magnificent proportions. They 
are great favourites with J. P. Morgan, 
Esq., the proprietor, and Mr. McLeod has 
completely mastered their cultivation and 
exterminated the Carnation disease which 
has had no footing here since 1895. This 
desirable consummation has been effected 
entirely by hygienic treatment, by keeping 
the atmosphere, floor, and stages of the 
house thoroughly dry, particularly in win¬ 
ter. During the latter period the floor 
would not be washed out for months to 
guard against the harbouring of moisture 
about the plants. All the other houses are 
washed out about twice a day ; so that it 
is almost needless to say everything is kept 
spick and span, and clean as a brass pin. 
The old blush Malmaison Carnation is 
grown, but it seems out-classed by the pink 
variety which is wonderfully bright in 
colour. There are many large plants, each 
consisting of about fifteen leading stems, in 
the first house entered, but there is a 
splendid collection of the newer varieties in 
smaller pots. An idea may be gathered of 
the high-class quality of the collection from 
the fact that it includes King Oscar, Mrs. 
Martin Smith, Calypso, Ivanhoe, Tom 
Carter, John Coles, Lord Welby, Mrs. 
Torrens, J. F. MacLeod, Churchwarden, 
Lady Grimstone, and Trumpeter. There 
is also a fine batch of the pink Malmaison 
in 32 size pots, and which are now throwing 
up their solitary flower stem for the first 
time. They are stocky plants with the 
requisite number of fifteen or more shoots 
which will make good sized specimens by 
this time next year. The second house 
used to be a plant stove. Here the smaller 
plants are two years old and the larger 
ones will be three in August next. All are 
healthy and vigorous. The same plants 
have been flowering more or less all the 
winter, and will continue up to the middle 
of July. They are full of buds at the 
present moment in various stages of ad¬ 
vancement, so that one can see how the 
succession is kept up. It depends on the 
growth of the stems and branches which 
are of different ages, yet all reach the 
flowering stage in due course. Some of 
the larger plants have as many as fifty 
flower buds. 
Caladiums are very gay at present in the 
bright and sparkling colours of the young 
foliage. Golden Queen is notable for the 
handsome golden-green hue of its leaves. 
Mrs. McLeod is one of the best of the 
dwarf varieties, with uniformly soft red 
young foliage. It received an Award of 
Merit at the Temple Show in 1898. The 
collection consists of some 160 varieties, so 
that it would scarcely be possible to give 
\ a ;i:ul trs of even the cream of the varieties 
he e. Crotons in another house run to 
something like 60 varieties, the plants being 
of useful, decorative size. The flowering 
house is kept gay all the year round, the 
