380 
THE GARDENING WORLD . 
May T, 1904. 
Round the Nurseries. 
Spring Flowers at Chelsea. 
The other week when we visited the nurseries @i| Messrs. 
J. Veitch and Sons, Limited, King’s Road, Chelsea., we paid a 
visit to the show-lions© for greenhouse plants which is kept 
gay at all periods of the year with Hoovers in season. During 
the winter months:, of course', many things are forced or grown 
on from retarded plants, as the case, may be, in, order to ek-ei 
out a display during the dull period of the year. 
Very fine were the numerous, specimens of Rhododendroni 
vedt,chian,um on account of their large pure white and de¬ 
liciously-scented flowers. Alongside of it was R.. exoniense, 
with smaller white flowers very abundantly produced. The 
leaves: are evergreen, leathery, and somewhat similar to those 
of R. veitchianum, of which we take it to be one of the hybrids. 
The varieties' of R. pontieum were present in great numbers 
and variety. In every case the flowers and trusses were large, 
and many of them were really handsome and up. to date. 
A number of Cape Heaths were flowering, including the 
beautiful Erica pr open dens, with short and widely bell-shaped 
rosy-purplei flowers of great beauty. We are. surprised that 
the Heaths: have lost, so much in favour in private establish¬ 
ments., for they cannot be beaten in neatness, in any other class 
of flower suitable for the greenhouse. Many plants of E. ven- 
tricosa coccinea minor were sparkling in their brightness. The 
large tubular bright yellow flowers: of E. Caven.dishi are pro¬ 
duced in considerable quantity on quite small plants. Another 
very free-flowering Heath is E. candidi-ssima, with short cylin¬ 
drical white flowers. More graceful in its way is E. persoluta. 
alba, with its myriads of small bell-shaped white- flowers. 
The atmosphere of this: house: is nearly always delightfully 
scented, but. varies according to the kind of plants used. Oni 
this occasion. Boronia. megastigma, made its presence felt un¬ 
mistakably, though the brown flowers scarcely betrayed their 
presence. Mignonette was also present in. fine form, and 
Lilium auratum from retarded bulbs, reminded one of Aifgust. 
or September, rather than April. In the same house were 
other retarded Lilies in full bloom, including L. tigrinum, with 
its orange-spotted flowers. L. candidum and L. speeio-sum were 
just. on. the point of expansion. Orange blossom also- contri¬ 
butes its quota to the mixture of scents.;to be discerned in the 
atmosphere of the house. 
Some of the plants of Hydrangea, hortensis rosea bore flowers 
in accordance with the name, hut other plants had bright, blue 
flowers of a very attractive, character. The pure white flowers 
of Deut-zia, fragilis and D. lemoineana were very distinct in 
their way, the last-named being a, hybrid having its flowers 
almost in corymbs instead of racemes as in D. gracilis. Winter 
and spi ing flmvers, such as Cyclamen and Cinerarias, were Avell 
represented. The Cinerarias were the-ordinary florist type, 
but Feltham Beauty is a beautiful strain of the stellate or 
starry type of Cinerarias. Astilbe japoniea nearly alwa.ysi 
accompanies this class of flowers, and Marguerites are also 
useful for early rvork. 
Very interesting was Richardia childsiana, a recent intro¬ 
duction from America, with purer white flowers than R. afri- 
cana. The special features of it a.re broad and rounded spathes, 
small leaves, and the dwarf habit of the variety known, as The 
Gem, the stems being only 12 in,, to 15 in. high. Forced 
flowering trees and shrubs were plentiful, including Crimson 
Rambler Roses, the double white Hawthorn, the common Snow¬ 
ball tree, and the: Japan Snowball tree (Viburnum plica.turn). 
Lilacs were present in various colours, and Azaleas were staged 
about the house: in, a great variety, and were profusely laden 
with flowers. These included Azalea mollis, Ghent Azaleas, 
and Indian Azaleas. 
In one of the other houses we noted that, beautiful old-fash¬ 
ioned hard-wooded greenhouse subject Genetyllis fuchsioide®, 
more Correctly named Darwinia, hookeriana. The evergreen 
leaves are quite small, and that shows off the bright red droop¬ 
ing bell-shaiped flowers. Some of the plants of Xanthoceras 
sorbifolia which ye mentioned some time ago were still in 
bloom, and very distinct they were in the way of shrubs. 
In one of the warm houses two very handsome species of 
Haemanthus were in bloom. In our opinion the better of the 
two was H. Kalbreyeri, with large globular umbels of briehr 
rosy-scarlet flowers. The segments of the flower are verv 
narrow, but they are so numerous and close together and the 
stamens so prominent that the whole head presents a starrv 
and Bristly appearance. Tire other species in bloom was H. 
diadem, the flowers of which were less, numerous and arranged 
in. a flat umbel. The leaves 'of this species were ovate, with 
long stalks, and fully developed a,t the time of flowering 
whereas in the previously-named species they were onlv j u ~t 
advancing. J J 
Orchids. 
The cool house contained a large number of species in full 
bloom, including numerous varieties of Odontoglossum C rrt 
pum, 0. Pescatorei, 0! triumphans, and 0. luteo-purpureum. 
A very fine variety of 0. Hallii was also notable for the rich 
colour of its blotches and the length of the racemes Com 
pared with this quite a little pet was 0. Oerstedi, having white 
flowers with an orange spot on. the crest and some'' small 
blotches at base of the lip. Large numbers- of Oncidium con- 
color, grown m small pansi, were suspended from the roof, run¬ 
ning the whole length of the cool house, most, of them beiim i u 
iull bloom. Amongst the Masdevallias we noted M. ignea and 
a. finely-coloured variety of M. Lindeni. The bright scarlet 
flowers, of Cochlioda noetzliana make this one of the prettiest 
of the species. Large numbers of Sophronitis grandiflo-ra. were 
also, suspended from the roof in small pans. 
The occupants of the Cattleya house have already com- 
menced to make a. long display of bloom. For some years past 
Messrs. Veitch have had a. very good strain of Cattleya Sehro- 
derae^ many of the varieties being notable for the rich blotch 
in the throat, and this, again is sometimes supplemented by a 
purple band rouhd the upper end of the large blotch. Many 
plants of C. Mendelii were- in. bloom, some of them having white 
sepals and petals. C. Mossiae was present in quantity, but the 
plants had not commenced flowering. Distinct in its way is 
Laeliocattleya highburyensis, with orange flowers and a dark 
purple hp. La el i a. Latona,, on the other hand, had oramre 
flowers with a crimson, lip. 
In another house close by we found healthy pieces of Cym- 
b id iu m lowianum, bearing one or two long racemes, of bloom. 
There was a considerable! amount of variation amongst the 
flowers:, some having a, rich velvety-brown lip,, giving the 
variety first, rank in. quality. The waxy-looking white flowers 
of C. eburneum have an orange blotch on the lip. Here we 
noted a magnificent specimen of Oncidium phymatochihuu 
bearing eleven, spike® of flowers. We believe that it is seldom 
tliart, specimens of that, size are met with'. It flowers during 
late spring and early summer, and is very graceful. Very 
piettv and distinct in its way is 0. leucochilum, with chocolate- 
In own sepals 1 and petals and a, white lip. The: pale purple 
wings of the column, also- -serve, to, make this a very pretty 
species,._ Large numbers of Masdevallia, Veitchi were just open¬ 
ing their large scarlet flowers'. The: massive flowers' of Lycaste 
Skinneri were also noticeable. 
The Demdrobium house was quite gay with numerous species 
and hybrids in full bloom. T'hei stems of D. wardianum varied 
from 2 ft. to 4 ft. in, height. D. crassinode was also- notably 
floriferous. The stems of D. jamesianum were only 12 in. to 
15 in. high, and carried large white flowers with a yellow 
throat. A finei contrast to'this was offered by D. aggregatuni, 
with yellow flowers and a dwarf habit. Particularly strong 
also was D. Bensoniae', having stems about 1 ft. to- 2 ft. long. 
Amongst the hybrids we noted D. Euterpe (wardianum x 
no-bilei), having white flowers, deep- purple tips-, and a, maroon 
blotch in the throat. Somewhat similar wasi D. melanopthal- 
mum, but the lip, had two blotches of black on it. A very 
curious hybrid was that named D. striatum (dalhousianum x 
japonicum). The flowers were'moderate in size, owing to- the 
