August 29, 1903. 
The Gardening World 
GENERAL NOTICES. 
We would earnestly urge secretaries of societies to notify us as far in advance as possible as to dates of meetings, shows, etc. We desire to do all in our power to have these 
idequately represented in the columns of The Gardening World. 
We respectfully request our readers, when they write to persons or firms advertising in this paper, to mention that their advertisement was seen in The Gardening World 
fhey will thereby not only oblige this paper, but the advertisers. 
MOTTO FOR THE WEEK: 
“The earth is young, and yields us kindly her fruits with little labour.”— Byron. 
Weekly Prize 
FOR 
Short Articles. 
The Proprietors of The Gardening World 
will give a cash prize of Ten Shillings fob 
t he best paragraph, or short article, sent 
by readers during the week. The Editor’s 
judgment must be considered final, and he will 
be at liberty to use any of the contributions 
sent in. The paragraph, or article, must not 
exceed one column in length, but the value, 
rather than the length, of the article will be 
considered in making the award. Competitors 
may send in items' of news or comments on 
news; hints of practical interest to gar¬ 
deners or growers of plants, fruits, or flowers; 
successful methods of propagating plants 
usually considered difficult; or contributions 
ON ANT SUBJECT COMING WITHIN THE SPHERE 
or gardening proper. Letters should be 
addressed to The Editor, marked “ Competi¬ 
tion,” and posted not later than Friday night 
to ensure insertion in the issue of next week. 
The following Coloured 
Plates have appeared :— 
March 14— NEW CHINESE PRIMULAS. 
March28. —TEA ROSE “ CHAMELEON.” 
April 4— COLEUS THYRSOIDEUS. 
April 18.— CESTRUM SMITHII. 
( April 25.— JAPANESE PIGMY TREE. 
May 23.-Coloured Plate of SAXIFRAGA 
jRISEBACHII and A GROUP OF ALO 
CASIAS. 
May 30.—Coloured Plate of DENDROBIUM 
NOBILE ROTUNDIFLORUM and D.n. 
NOBILIUS. 
June 6.—Monochrome plate of CALADIUMS. 
June 20.—Monochrome Plate of ZENOBIA 
SPECIOSA PULVERULENTA. 
July 4.—Coloured Plate of APHELANDRA 
MJRANTIACA ROEZLII. 
July 11. — Monochrome Plate of the 
AUSTRALIAN PITCHER PLANT. 
August 1.—Coloured Plate of BORONIA 
HETEROPHYLLA. 
Back numbers may be obtained from the 
publishers, price 2£d. post free. 
With the PRESENT ISSUE we present a 
dalf-tonePlate of ALLIUM ALBOPILOSUM. 
NEXT WEEK we shall give a Half-tone 
late of NYMPHAEA GIGANTEA 
tIUDSONII. 
Views and Reviews. 
Sweet Lavender. 
Lavender is a familiar plant to most gar¬ 
deners in private establishments, but- a plant 
or two in the herb border is usually all that 
they require. It may interest them, how¬ 
ever, to learn that Lavender is still culti¬ 
vated in England on a large scale for com¬ 
mercial purposes. Those who have travelled 
on the railway between Croydon and Sut¬ 
ton, Surrey, could hardly have failed to have 
seen the broad acres 1 between those two 
towns, as well as further down the line, by 
Gieam, on the way to Epsom. A field of 
Lavender is a beautiful sight when in full 
blo'om, as the whole field is of a pleasing 
dark blue. We cannot describe it as pic¬ 
turesque, as the small bushes are. of uniform 
height, varying between 18 in. and 2 ft. 
Cultivation for commercial purposes requires 
that the plants should be of the same age, 
and as uniform as possible, so as to secure 
the greatest quantity from the ground. 
The' Lavender plant or shrub is not very 
particular as to soil, and may be grown in. 
any garden where the climate is sufficiently 
mild to enable it to 1 withstand the winter. 
The glands from which the oil is distilled, 
however, are produced in the greatest quan¬ 
tity on plants that are grown on the chalk, 
and the district we have named is purely a 
chalk country, so that this explanation will 
demonstrate why it should he grown in that 
particular neighbourhood. The same ap¬ 
plies to Mint and Rosemary, also more or 
less' extensively grown there and in other 
parts of the chalky uplands of Surrey. 
The cultivation of Lavender is a very old 
English industry, and it is interesting to 
know that it is still carried on by a family 
which has prosecuted it for several genera¬ 
tions. Miss Sprules is the head of the firm 
at the present day, and, assisted by her| 
brother and sister, continues the business of 
orowing and distilling Lavender water. Her 
home Is at. Wallington, between Croydon 
and Sutton, and she is celebrated for the 
supply of the best Mitcham Lavender water 
all over the world where this commodity 
happens to' be used. She is well known, not 
only in this country, but to the French, 
Germans, and Americans, in connection with, 
this industry. She not only distils the 
Lavender grown in her own fields, but that 
of various other growers for miles around. 
Those who may not have distilling plant 
bring their produce to be pressed into La¬ 
vender oil. Some of them may distil their 
own, but it is on a small scale by compari¬ 
son with the business conducted at Walling- 
ton. Most of the world’s supply of Lavender 
water, we understand, comes from this neigh¬ 
bourhood. 
Tlie cultivation of Lavender is a very sim¬ 
ple operation, provided one has got the suit¬ 
able soil to commence with. As we have 
alieady said, Lavender may grow in any 
good garden soil, but to get the essential oil 
in sufficient quantity to make it pay com¬ 
mercially, the soil must be good, and lying 
on a bed of chalk. The soil in the district 
we have just named is of a rich dark loamy 
nature from long cultivation. A warm sum¬ 
mer is essential to the highest development 
of Lavender oil, so that the past season has 
not been so favourable as some of the 
warmer summers which preceded it. The 
plants grow strongly enough, but- the oil 
glands are in proportionately smaller quan¬ 
tity. 
October is the month when the youno- 
rooted plants are set out- in the form of a 
new plantation. The following season a 
small crop is obtained from the plants, but 
they continue increasing in size and weight 
of produce for the next four years, after 
which the bushes are uprooted and destroyed. 
In the way of culture little is needed beyond 
keeping the ground thoroughly clean, "and, 
to the credit of the Lavender’ growers in this 
district, we may say that weeding is tho¬ 
roughly attended to, and the fields appear 
perfectly clean’by comparison with the corn 
fields of farmers adjoining. We have passed 
through these fields frequently during the 
past years, and have seen very large patches 
of Thistles amongst the corn, and in other 
fields the whole area may be red with Pop¬ 
pies. Not. so with Lavender fields, in which 
scarcely a. Poppy is left to contrast with the 
brig-lit blue of the Lavender flowers. 
