, r il 18, 1903. 
fHE Gardening World 
| _ ' ...... .. ... - ■ 
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March 14. —NEW CHINESE PRIMULAS. 
March 21.— A GROUP OF DAVALLIAS. 
»larch28.— TEA ROSE “ CHAMELEON," 
id COOMBE CLIFFE GARDENS. 
tpril 4.-COLEUS THYRSOIDEUS. 
Vpril 11.— PITCHER PLANTS. 
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! iext 
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Views and Reviews. 
Horticultural Progress. 
For some time past our readers lia.ve been, 
enjoying the writings of Mr. F. W. Burbidge, 
M.A., in the pages of The Gardening 
World ; and on the 7th inst. we had the 
pleasure of listening to"a paper by this great 
master of gardening literature at the meetr 
ing of the Horticultural Club, Hotel Windsor. 
The paper was immensely enjoyed by the 
large company present, for the' writer of it 
furnished them food for- thought for many 
weeks to come', as was aptly expressed by 
the chairman, Mr. Hairy J. Veitch. Soane 
of these opinions we now commit to paper 
for the benefit of our readers. Mr. Bur¬ 
bidge enjoys the peculiar position of being 
in direct touch with practical horticulture, 
while at the same time enjoying the benefits 
of the science of it. Not only is his library 
of immense service to him, but he is in direct 
contact with the current literature of the 
subject, and with the masters of the pr'ofess 
sion, almost in their daily occupations. 
Almost at the' outset of the paper he set 
himself a question as to whether gardening 
progress was advancing all along the line, or 
in certain branches only. It wasi his opinion 
there was a spreading out of good cultivation, 
rather than better gardening, such as waq 
practised by some of the old masters, and 
now merely recorded in history. He con¬ 
cluded that at the present day there were 100 
good gardeners for ten that existed 100 years 
ago. At the- present day most of the best 
gardeners belonged to the merchant princeisi 
of our country, rather than to the landed 
gentry, as in olden times. What he com¬ 
plained of in the present time was that' 
everything was in a. state of change, nothing 
was stable, but styles and methods of gar¬ 
dening changed like the change of fashion. 
There were certain productions of the garden, 
such as fruits, vegetables, and hardy flowers, 
which we must have ; on the other hand, 
there were certain modes 1 of gardening which 
required the' aid of specialists in the profes¬ 
sion, and these the rich, and only the rich, 
could utilise and enjoy. 
The Cape Heath, the stage Pelargoniums, 
and hard-wooded plants generally, from the 
Cape and New Holland, were greatly neg¬ 
lected. Hybrid peqaetual or show Roses 
were now considerably on the wane. The 
best of them are more extensively grown, 
but. not for horticultural purposes. Changes 
had also taken place with regard to other 
classes' of plants. He 1 should like, to see less 
of the staging of Chrysanthemums on hard 
green boxes, but this would probably pass 
away like the exhibition of Carnations in 
paper collars. Hardy herbaceous and alpine 
plants occupy a. large place in the gardening 
of the present day. Narcissi were still ex¬ 
tensively cultivated, but perhaps a little less 
fervently than they were a decade, or two ago. 
The hardy wild garden afforded a means 
of improving our methods of cultivation of 
the plants suitable for that purpose. The 
Bamboo, garden, or rather Bamboos, the per¬ 
gola, and the water garden, seem at the pre¬ 
sent day to be on the rise. There was a 
revival of Sweet Peas and Dahlias, particu¬ 
larly in certain sections of the latter. 
Although he thought that the general enthu¬ 
siasm for the Narcissus was oil the 1 wane, lie 
thought that Tulips in the open garden 
would take their place, and he considered 
them a coming flower. Hardy gardening 
held as important a place as ever it. did in 
history. The best of the Conifers are sold 
in much larger numbers than formerly, hut 
the pinetum, as a whole, was not. so largely 
in favour as it was two or three decades ago. 
Nowadays the poorest cottager and allot¬ 
ment-holder may possess a bit of garden if 
he like®, and cultivate certain plants in the 
same. The practice of sending out. collectors 
to various parts of Hie world, and the auction 
sale® in London, Birmingham, Manchester, 
and other large towns, bad contributed 
largely to the spread of Orchid, culture. The 
improvements in Dutch bulbs had not 
advanced so much as they were wide, spread¬ 
ing, the demand at the present day being 
enormous. The culture of Orchids is more 
limited in scope, but their effects are more 
readily seen than in the case of Dutch bulbs. 
Anyone who. could go to the expense of build¬ 
ing a glass house could grow Orchids. An- 
