April 20, 1901. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
541 
variable character of our weather. The book you 
inquire after is "Cacti and their Culture,” by Mr. 
W. WatsoD, of Kew, a book written specially for 
amateurs. 
THE FRINGE TREE OF JAPAN. 
About the end of May and the beginning of June, 
the shrubbery border is greatly enriched where this 
hardy shrub finds a place. At present herbaceous 
plants and shrubs are behind time, but possibly 
before the end of May a week or two of fine weather 
will bring flowering trees and shrubs more up to 
time. The shrub under notice is a native of Japan, 
and has been proved hardy in this country. Botanic- 
ally it is Chionanthus retnsus, the generic name 
being translatable as Snow Flower. Other names 
applied to it are Snowdrop Tree and Snowdrop 
Flower, which refer to the snow-white flowers which 
are borne in corymbose cymes at the apices of the 
branches. The four long segments of the corolla 
recall those of the Flowering Ash (Ornus), and the 
ovate shining leaves are opposite. It is, however, 
more closely allied to the Olive from which it chiefly 
differs in having its corolla cut almost into four 
petals. Besides its hardiness and conspicuous sweet- 
scented flowers, the shrub has a dwarf habit to recom¬ 
mend it to planters. The R.H.S. awarded it a 
First-class Certificate on June gth, 1885. 
JOHN CLAUDIUS LOUDON. 
(i Continued from p. 526 ) 
During the course of his long journey upon the 
Continent Loudon visited all the palaces and other 
establishments to which gardens of any note were 
attached, taking notes and sketches of those things 
which most interested him as a landscape gar¬ 
dener and draughtsman. Most of the eminent 
scientific men of the countries he passed through 
were also visited ; and to all appearances he was well 
received, for he was made a member of the Imperial 
Scciety of Moscow, the Natural History Society of 
Berlin, the Royal Economical Society of Potsdam 
and many others. Although he made use of many 
of his descriptions and illustrations to some extent, 
he did not publish his travels in book form. Possibly 
his mind was diverted to other channels by the 
troubles that awaited him on his return. For more 
than twelve months he laboured under pecuniary 
difficulties, on account of losses he had suffered owiDg 
to the failure of mercantile speculations, such as 
underwriting ships at Lloyds. In 1815 he made one 
journey to Paris in order to recover some part of his 
property, but finally he lost almost the whole of it, 
which crippled him very seriously in more ways than 
one. 
His mother and sisters left the country in 1816, 
and in order that they might reside with him he tcok 
the house at Bayswater, known as the Hermitage. 
Here was a large garden in which he spent a con¬ 
siderable amount of time in making experiments in 
the construction of greenhouses, different kinds of 
which he had fixed up in his garden. He had 
evidently been led to a study of this particular work 
by the reading of a paper on the form that forcing 
houses ought to have to receive most advantage from 
the sun, and which was published by Sir George 
Mackenzie, of Coul, in the Transactions of the Royal 
Horticultural Society. A globe was suggested as the 
best form, but this was more theoretical than practi¬ 
cal. Loudon had some constructed with curvilinear 
roofs, and also tried the ridge and furrow system, 
which was afterwards put to practical purpose by 
Sir Joseph Paxton in the building of the great con¬ 
servatory at Cbatsworth. While engaged on these 
experiments he wrote and published a book entitled 
Remarks on the Construction of Hothouses, &c. This 
was in 1817. Soon after this he invented a new kind 
of sash-bar, which he described in a pamphlet 
bearing the title of Sketches of Curvilinear Hothouses, 
<&<£., and published in 1818. During the same year 
he published another work, A Comparative View of the 
Common and Curvilinear Modes of Roofing Hothouses. 
His bodily infirmities prevented to a great extent 
the activity necessary for attending to landscape 
gardening, but on the other hand drove him to a 
more extensive use of the pen. He now began to 
collect materials for his Encyclopaedia of Gardening. 
This seems to have been the most practical purpose 
to which he put the experience and knowledge he 
bad gained while travelling upon the Continent. As 
is well known he commenced ty giving a history of 
gardening, with descriptions of the various gardens 
he had visited. He illustrated the text by means of 
drawings or well executed sketches, engraved upon 
wood. The gardens of France and Italy had not 
been visited on the occasion of his first journey, so 
with this object in view he commenced a second 
tour of inspection The goal of his first move was 
Paris by way of Calais and Abbeville, and this he 
reached on May 30th, 1819. Armed with letters of 
introduction from his fast friend, Sir Joseph Banks, 
he left Paris on June 10th, for Lyons, in the Botanic 
Garden of which he noted living specimens of 
Valisneria spiralis, which, hitherto, he bad only seen 
in the dried state in the herbarium of Sir Joseph 
Banks. From Lyons he went to Avignon, then to 
Nice, and afterwards to Genoa. 
While progressing through France he made copious 
notes of everything of any importance in the 
numerous gardens he visited, just as he had pre¬ 
viously done in Northern Europe; but on tbis 
occasion he had a more definite object in view, and 
worked at the subject perseveringly. At Genoa he 
also acquired a collection of OraDge trees which he 
sent home for his greenhouse at Bayswater. At a 
private place near Genoa he saw Orange trees grown 
in slate tubs for the first time. Meeting his friend 
Capt. Mangles in this city he joined him and Capt. 
Irby in a voyage along the shores of the Mediter¬ 
ranean, starting on the 6th of July, for Leghorn, 
which they reached in the course of two days, and 
passing through Pisa reached Florence. Loudon's 
journal gave ample evidence that he utilised his time 
to the best advantage in making descriptions of the 
gardens he visited, and jotting down observations on 
various plants of interest that came under his notice. 
Saxifraga crassifolia was killed by a slight frost, 
though it proves hardy in the north of Scotland, even 
when the thermometer falls to zero or below it. 
Rome was the next place of importance in thecourse 
of this journey, passing thence to Naples, Pompeii, 
and Herculaneum in succession, returning to 
Florence on the 21st of August. In all these historic¬ 
al cities he felt greatly interested, but in the midst 
of many attractions he made the important gardens 
his foremost care to inspect and describe. The 
Greffe des Charlatans, as the French term the trick, 
was at that time much practised by the Italian 
gardeners. The plan they adopted was to scoop out 
the pith and other centra! portion from the trunk and 
branches of Orange trees, and introducing the shoots 
of a Rose or other subject, made it appear that these 
were grafted upon the Orange. The roots of both 
were carefully preserved so that the false scion and 
stock continued to grow and produce flowers and 
foliage. 
For some time after this he was greatly delighted 
with the richness of plant life through which he 
passed. At Bologna he spent two days with an 
Italian family, busy with, and in the full enjoyment 
of the vintage. On his way through Ferrara to 
Venice, the first part of the road was lined with 
hedges in which Vines swung from tree to tree, 
presenting a picture of fertility not soon to be for¬ 
gotten. Taking a boat at Deux Ponts for Venice he 
was delighted with the abundance of beautiful 
aquatic plants flourishing in the canal. Amongst 
them he noted the Vallisneria, for which by this time 
he had acquired a great fascination ; and before 
leaving Venice he made a point of procuring a living 
plant, which he placed in a tin vessel and made it 
his own special care to see that no harm should 
befall it. " The best laid schemes of mice and men 
gang aft agley," as we shall presently see. Loudon 
was greatly charmed with Venice and the superb 
views which it presented. The post office of the 
city he observed was built on immense piles of Log¬ 
wood. It was impo.sible he said to conceive what 
Italian paintings and architecture were like, without 
actually seeing those at Venice. 
PRUNING. 
That pruning is not so well understood as it ought 
to be is well illustrated by a walk through some of 
our large fruit-growing districts. There is a science 
and a philosophy in pruning that is not easily under¬ 
stood. The first thiDg to understand is the habit of 
the tree to be operated on, and no man ought to 
touch a tree with a view to pruning it until he 
thoroughly understands this. There are many 
schools of pruners about the country. Some allow 
the trees to grow almost wild, and ultimately the 
orchards in their charge develop into unfruitful 
forests; others hack off limb after limb, and twist 
and contort the remainder into all sorts of fantastic 
shapes, and thus sacrifice fruit for appearance. Be- 
The Fringe Tree of Japan. 
