674 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
June 15, 1901. 
latter makes a charming picture with its background 
of trees and shrubs. No flowers could be much 
more profuse than the Michaelmas Daisies facing 
p. 3. The Tree Paeony bush shows how floriferous 
this may be where it succeeds. A picture of Birch 
trees is excellently executed, and shows how orna¬ 
mental these trees may be. The double white Sweet 
Rocket (Hesperis matronalis alba plena) shows 
what a grand border plant it makes where it suc¬ 
ceeds. In northern gardens the joints of ihe stem 
are shorter, so that the spikes make an excellent 
substitute for East Lothian Stocks in spring. In 
moist, cool situations it ought to succeed well in the 
sunny south, where a little shade or a northern 
exposure should help it greatly. The accompany¬ 
ing illustration of the Garland Rose at Munstead, 
facing p. 132, was kindly placed at our disposal by 
Messrs. Geo. Newnes, Ltd. Other pictures that come 
out well are the mixed border at Kew, a bed of 
Nicotiana sylvestris, hardy Water Lilies in a tank, 
Eremurus himalaicus, Rose Reine Olga de Wurtem- 
berg, hybrid Cineraria Lady Thistleton-Dyer, the 
Amelanchier or Snowy Mespilus, a variety of Erica 
mediterranea, the Snowdrop Tree, a Rhododendron 
dell, and many others. The illustrations represent¬ 
ing garden tools, methods of propagation, glass¬ 
houses, methods of pruning, &c., are smaller and 
intercalated with the text. Printing and paper are 
good, so that altogether the reader will have good 
value for his or her money. 
RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE STUDY 
OF PLANTS. 
Sketch I. 
Since man's first appearance on the scene of 
creation, doubtless, plants, fruits, and perhaps 
flowers, must have to some considerable extent 
attracted his attention. The products of the 
vegetable world, must have partly, if not entirely 
in the infancy of our race, constituted the chief 
source of subsistence. In consequence, man was in 
a sense compelled by the law of necessity to devote 
more than ordinary attention to the vegetable pro¬ 
ductions, which on every hand surrounded him. 
His wants and tastes in a short time would no 
doubt enable him to discriminate between the 
species of plants, and fruits which were good for 
food, and those which were not. 
His experience of the uncertainty of a uniformity 
of natural production in due course would also 
undoubtedly lead to attempts, rude as they must 
have been, to cultivate them in order to supply his 
wants. In the favoured parts of the world where 
nature is lavish in her production of food supplies, 
the necessity for toil was at a discount, and, 
possibly, the first attempts to raise produce for 
food were first essayed in countries having a com¬ 
paratively temperate climate. Man, in whatever 
stage of civilisation he is found, labours only to gain 
his bread, and inferring from this well-known fact, 
it is pretty certain that the inhabitants of an 
equatorial region where food stufls must have at all 
times been produced in abundance would not labour 
when they found themselves, as it were, born 
aristocrats. 
Though we know absolutely nothing certain 
respecting the earliest attempts to cultivate plants, 
excepting what we derive from the “ Scriptures," 
still there is every reason for presuming that the 
art was at a very early period practised. Where- 
ever there was civilisation there was necessarily 
more or less attention bestowed on the study of the 
vegetable kingdom. Indeed, some hold, and with 
good reason, that the study of the latter was the 
inevitable precursor of the former. 
The Chinese, we learn, were engaged in the 
cultivation of the Mulberry ages before Greece or 
Rome had an existence, and when, no doubt, our 
forefathers were little else than painted savages 
running wild in the European forests. Babylonian 
civilisation appears to have been at an advanced 
stage, at least two thousand years before Christ. 
The civilisation of Egypt is computed to date back 
to the enormous antiquity of four thousand years 
before Christ ! 
It is quite legitimate to infer that the study of 
plants was in a fair state of proficiency in all those 
nations of antiquity. We do not think there need 
be any doubt that plants were originally studied for 
food, their other properties must have only engaged 
attention at a later stage of man’s history, for we 
are scarcely justified in supposing that the quality 
of beauty could be discovered apart from a certain 
degree of civilisation. At all events we know that 
even in our own favoured age beauty is only 
properly discerned, but by the few, and that 
favoured few, are always among the highest 
developed intellects. 
The first authentic knowledge we get of the origin 
of the study of plants is, as we have already said, from 
the Scriptures (Gen. 1.-29) [apud 4004 A.C.), possibly 
very much more. Nature seems to have produced, 
under the conditions in which our venerable ancestor 
was placed in charge of Eden, the best possible 
results. This circumstance evidently left no room 
for the application of the art of man to interpose 
very much in the matter. The fact does not, how¬ 
ever, imply that the study of plants was not closely 
attended to. As soon as those conditions ceased 
man was destined to provide by his ingenuity and 
art what nature hitherto had accomplished for him. 
The art of gardening was evidently early after¬ 
wards elaborated into agriculture: for we find the 
hoary gardener's son " A tiller of the ground." We 
find Noah a little more than a thousand years after, 
not only a husbandman, but the planter of a vine¬ 
yard, and a maker of wine, a state of matters which 
serves to indicate considerable progress over his 
ancestors. 
The Egyptians must have had acquired considerable 
knowledge of the properties of plants at a very early 
period, for we find that, as early as the time when 
Joseph was carried captive to the slave market at 
Egypt, by the Ishmaelitish merchants, these were 
engaged in the trading of spices, etc., between 
Gilead and Egypt. The inference to be deduced 
from the fact is that undoubtedly Egypt was the 
cradle of civilisation, and at this time probably past 
its zenith, had given more than general attention to 
the study of the vegetable kingdom. Sacred and 
other history shed no light on this important period, 
and in consequence all that can be said in favour of 
the development of the study of plants, is simply 
that it very probably held then a prominent place 
among the studies of the Egyptians.— Antiquus. 
To be continued. 
PLANTS RECENTLY CERTIFICATED, 
The undermentioned awards were made by the 
Royal Horticultural Society on the 4th inst. 
Orchid Committee. 
Odontoglossum loochristiense Lord Milner.— 
The flowers of this natural hybrid variety are of 
large size and handsome. The sepals are richly 
marked with large chestnut blotches. The petals 
have smaller blotches of a similar hue on a paler 
yellow ground colour, becoming nearly white when 
fully developed. The lip is white with a large, 
chestnut brown blotch in front of the crest, one or 
two at the sides, and many small spots in a cluster 
on each side of the base. (Award of Merit.) A 
plant bearing a long and vigorous spike was ex¬ 
hibited by Thos. Baxter, Esq. (gardener, Mr. R. 
Roberts), Oakfield, Morecambe. 
Odontoglossum crispum punctatum Rosslyn 
var. —The flowers of this showy variety are of large 
size and of a soft silvery rose, thickly marked with 
numerous deep rose or purple spots at the base of 
the petals ; the sepals have much fewer spots. The 
white lip has several chestnut blotches around the 
frontal area of the disc. The typical O. c. puncta¬ 
tum appeared many years ago and is partly for¬ 
gotten. (Award of Merit.) H. T. Pitt, Esq. 
(gardener, Mr. W. Thurgood), Rosslyn, Stamford 
Hill. 
Cattleya Mossiae Mrs. F. W. Ashton. —The 
sepals, petals and tube of the lip of this delicately 
chaste and beautiful variety are pure white. The 
lamina is faintly tinted with lilac, with a light orange 
blotch in the throat. (Award of Merit.) Messrs. 
Stanley, Ashton & Co., Southgate, N. 
Floral Committee. 
Rosa rugosa (hybrida) Conrad Ferdinand Meyer. 
—The leaves of this garden Rose have large, round 
leaflets, but they are relatively smooth and show 
little or no influence of R. rugosa. The flowers are 
of large size, spread out widely when fully developed 
and are of a silvery-pink hue. They are very freely 
produced at every joint along the stems. (Award of 
Merit.) Leopold de Rothschild, Esq. (gardener, 
Mr. J. Hudson), Gunnersbury House, Acton. 
Meconopsis heterophylla. —The leaves of this 
species are pinnatisect, and occasionally the two 
lowest pinnae are much longer than all the rest- 
The flowers are very pretty and equally distinct 
from most other species occasionally seen in culti¬ 
vation. The flowers are orange and have a blackish- 
maroon blotch at the base of each petal. When 
grown in a mass this species must be very pretty, as 
.well as in the cut state for indoor decoration. Being 
an annual it would be necessary to sow seeds every 
year. (Award of Merit.) Mr. M. Prichard, Christ¬ 
church, Hants. 
Papaver orientale Mrs. Marsh. —The flowers 
of this strikingly distinct variety are longitudinally 
striped with silvery white on a scarlet ground. 
Some of the flowers have a belt of silvery white 
across the centre of them. (Award of Merit.) Mr. 
Amos Perry, Hardy Plant Farm, Winchmore Hill. 
Acer pictum aureum. —There are several varieties 
of A. pictum better known in gardens as A. colchi- 
cum. That under notice has the young leaves of a 
distinct yellow hue. No doubt the leaves will by 
and by change to green, but should show beautiful 
yellow tints again in autumn when the second growth 
is being made. (Award of Merit.) Messrs. T. Cripps 
& Son, Tunbridge Wells. 
Tree Paeony Elsie Perry. —The flowers of this 
variety are of large size, perfectly single, dark 
crimson-maroon, and have the petals slightly jagged 
at the ends. (Award of Merit.) Mr. Amos Perry. 
Canna Grossherzog Ernest Ludwig von 
Hessen.— The blooms of this variety are of great 
size, with dark crimson and very broad petals. The 
foliage is also dark, making this altogether one of the 
finest of the modern race of Cannas. (Award of 
Merit.) Messrs. H. Cannell & Sons, Swanley, 
Kent. 
Canna Jean Tissot.— In general aspect this 
resembles the preceding but the flowers are some¬ 
what smaller and paler in colour, though still making 
a good variety. (Award of Merit.) Messrs. H. Can¬ 
nell & Sons. 
Canna Oscar Dannecker.— The petals of this 
variety are smaller than either of the above varieties, 
but show a rather uncommon arrangement of colours, 
being orange with broad yellow margins. (Award of 
Merit.) Messrs. H. Cannell & Sons. 
Canna indica Elizabeth Hoss.—The large 
flowers of this variety are thickly spotted with scarlet 
all over an orange-yellow ground, and are very hand¬ 
some. (Award of Merit.) Messrs. H. Cannell & 
Sons. 
Lewisia Tweediei. —Like L. rediviva, this plant 
is of very dwarf habit, and if sufficiently hardy should 
prove an interesting subject for dry and sunny spots 
on the rockery. The leaves are short, spathulate 
and spring up from the root stock. (Award of 
Merit.) Messrs. Barr and Sons, King Street, 
Covent Garden. 
Pelargonium Mrs. W. H. Martin. —The semi¬ 
double flowers of this Ivy-leaved variety are light 
rose with rich purple veins on the upper petals. 
(Award of Merit.) Mr. H. B. May, Dyson s Lane 
Nursery, Upper Redmonton. 
Pelargonium Leopard. —Here again we have an 
Ivy-leaved variety with semi-double flowers of 
large and handsome proportions, the petals being 
rose, with a prominent dark purple blotch on the 
upper petals. (Award of Merit.) Mr. H. B. May. 
Fruit and Vegetable Committee. 
Peach Duchess of Cornwall. — The fruits of 
this early variety are creamy, marked with reddish 
stripes and of moderate size. The flavour is stated 
to be very good. (Award of Merit.) Messrs. T. 
Rivers and Son, Sawbridgeworth. 
Melon Excelsior.— We hope that a reversion is 
being made to fruits of smaller size than has pre¬ 
vailed for some time, as we may expect an 
improvement in flavour. The sample of this variety 
that was cut at the committee table soon disappeared 
so that it must have been good. The fruits are of 
small size with a yellow rind and light scarlet flesh. 
(Award of Merit,) Mr. S. Mortimer, Swiss Nursery. 
Rowledge, Farnham, Surrey. 
-— X -- 
London Trees.—A contemporary says it is a fact 
that London is better off for trees than any other 
city in Europe. 
