January  25,  l&OO. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
60 
REMINISCENCES  OF  AN  OLD  FLORIST.— No.  3. 
It  may  well  be  imagined  what  a  change  it  was  from  the  lovely 
valley  of  the  Darkle,  with  its  rushing  river  and  wooded  slopes,  to  the 
cockneyfied  seaside  resort  of  Ramsgate  ;  from  a  good  sized  house  with 
its  pleasant  surroundings  of  garden  and  lawn,  to  a  cottage  whose  back 
garden  was  not  much  larger  than  a  tablecloth ;  and  how  little  likely  it 
seemed  that  1  should  ever  take  up  the  subject  of  horticulture  again. 
Yet  after  about  fifteen  months’  residence  there  I  removed  to  Deal, 
with  which  place  my  name  has  since  been  associated.  One  or  two 
things,  however,  concerning  Ramsgate  may  be  mentioned.  It  was 
almost  with  despair  that  I  looked  round  what  was  called  my  garden. 
I  had  a  border  about  18  inches  wide,  and  I  thought  I  might  fill  it  with 
something,  so  I  tried  Verbenas,  and  very  soon  had  it  gay  with  some 
of  the  older  varieties  of  this  charming  flower.  I  had  also  a  few  plants 
in  pots  of  a  Lily  that  was  very  scarce  then,  but  is  now  plentiful 
enough — Lilium  speciosum,  so  that  friends  used  actually  to  ask  to  see 
ray  flowers ! 
A  somewhat  amusing  incident  occurred  while  there.  A  friend, 
who  had  travelled  with  me  on  the  Continent,  came  to  see  me.  The 
plan  then  was  to  send  passengers’  luggage  up  to  the  various  residences, 
marking  them  accordingly.  They  did  not  put  the  whole  address  on, 
whether  terrace,  place,  or  so  on;  but  just  “1,  Vale,”  my  house 
being  1,  Vale  Place.  My  friend  was  asked  where  he  was  going  to, 
and  he  told  the  porter ;  the  man  replied,  “  Then  that  is  one  whale 
for  you,  sir.”  “  Well,”  said  my  friend,  “  that  is  the  largest  order  for 
fish  I  ever  gave.”  However,  no  matter  of  horticultural  interest  was 
connected  with  my  residence  at  Ramsgate. 
But  how  came  I  to  move  on  to  Deal  ?  In  a  curious  way  I  had 
gone  over  to  the  reopening  of  a  church  at  Canterbury  by  Archbishop 
Sumner.  lie  had  not  long  come  to  the  diocese,  ani  the  clergy  were 
mostly  strangers  to  him.  I  had  just  been  corresponding  with  him, 
saying  I  wished  to  remove;  so  when  his  chaplain  told  him  who  I  was, 
he  said,  “I  should  like  to  speak  to  Mr.  D’Ombrain,”  and  in  his 
affable  and  courteous  way  he  alluded  to  our  correspondence,  and  said 
something  about  a  curate  being  wanted  at,  as  I  thought  he  said,  Deal, 
and  said  so  to  him.  “  Oh,  no,”  he  said  ;  “  I  did  not  say  Deal,  but  by 
the  Dean.”  After  a  little  more  conversation,  as  I  was  rising  to  go,  he 
said,  “  By-the-by,  you  mentioned  Deal ;  there  is  a  church  vacant 
there  if  you  would  like  to  have  it.”  My  surprise  may  be  imagined. 
I  asked  if  I  might  have  time  to  think  over  it.  He  replied,  “  Oh,  yes ;  ” 
and  most  of  my  friends  advised  me  to  accept  the  offer,  which  I  did, 
and  the  mistake  of  that  one  letter  led  to  the  whole  alteration  of  my 
life  ;  on  such  little  matters  do  often  the  tenor  of  our  lives  depend. 
I  knew  little  of  Deal  by  previous  report  ;  I  went  over  to  see  it,  and 
determined,  notwithstanding  the  advice  of  my  friend  the  late  Canon 
Hoare,  who  was  then  my  rector,  to  accept  the  offer,  although  the 
stipend  was  a  small  one,  and  the  work  I  knew  was  very  heavy.  This 
was  in  the  year  1849,  fifty  years  ago ;  and  I  have  to  record  my 
experiences  during  that  lengthened  period. 
It  must  be  remembered  that  I  kept  no  diary  whatever  of  results 
connected  with  gardening,  and  therefore  there  will  be  no  chrono¬ 
logical  order  in  what  I  have  to  tell.  Some  of  the  most  noticeable 
events,  of  course,  I  remember  the  date  of,  but  the  great  majority 
will  be  only  vague  guesses,  somewhat  approximating  the  truth. 
One  of  the  things  that  most  struck  me  at  this  time  was  the  vast 
difference  between  the  nursery  establishments  of  London  and  Dublin. 
I  do  not  know  what  they  may  be  in  the  Irish  metropolis  now,  but 
at  that  time  there  was  not  one  which  was  better  than  those  in 
any  third-rate  English  town.  Orchids  were  unknown,  and,  indeed, 
expensive  plants  of  any  kind  found  no  place.  It  may  well  be 
imagined,  then,  how  astounded  I  was  at  the  grand  establishments  of 
James  Veitch  &  Sons  at  Chelsea,  Low  &  Co.  at  Clapton,  Wdliams 
and  Son  in  Holloway,  W.  Bull  of  Chelsea,  and  many  others. 
Equally  astonishing  to  me  were  the  high  prices  given  for  new  plants. 
It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  many  a  plant  sold  for  more  than 
its  weight  in  gold,  and  several  of  the  collections  of  amateurs  were 
valued  at  thousands  of  pounds.  Since  those  early  days  of  what  we 
may  call  the  Orchid  mania,  when  a  single  plant  was  sold  for  between 
£200  and  £300,  there  have  arisen  various  establishments,  containing 
house  aiter  house  filled  with  the  choicest  productions  of  various 
kinds,  and  affording  a  feast  which  no  other  country,  I  believe,  could 
furnish. 
There  were  also  other  flowers  which  were  then  appealing  to  the 
taste  of  the  amateur,  and  amongst  these  was  the  Chrysanthemum, 
and  numerous  were  the  pleasant  pilgrimages  I  paid  to  that  home  of 
the  flower  in  those  days — the  Versailles  Nursery  of  Mr.  John  Salter  of 
Hammersmith.  On  many  a  dreary  November  day  I  wended  my  way 
to  this  nursery  to  discuss  the  merits  of  the  new  varieties  of  incurved 
flowers  which  were  then  all  the  rage.  I  well  remember  the  introduc¬ 
tion  of  the  little  Chusan  Daisy,  as  the  Pompons  were  then  called,  and 
also  that  of  the  Japanese  variety,  which  were  at  first  more  scoffed  at 
than  welcomed  by  the  admirers  of  the  older  types.  No  one  could, 
of  course,  then  have  foreseen  the  wonderful  revolution  which  these 
were  to  make  in  the  development  of  the  flo.ver,  and  iudeel  it  must 
have  astonished  the  growers  themselves.  Take,  for  example,  a  bloom 
of  the  old  Red  Dragon  or  Meg  Merrilees,  and  compare  them  with 
those  of  Phoebus  or  Viviand  Morel,  and  it  will  be  found  very  difficult 
to  believe  that  they  are  developments  of  the  same  flower. — D.,  Deal. 
ORCHARD  AND  GARDEN  PESTS. 
There  are  few  cultivators  who  have  not  a  great  abhorrence  to  the 
presence  of  pests  in  their  gardens,  and  many  persons  go  so  far  as  to 
say  that  compulsory  measures  ought  to  be  taken  to  compel  the  careless 
and  indifferent  gardeners  of  all  sections  to  adopt  such  preventive  and 
remedial  measures  as  may  be  requirea  to  keep  their  crops  and  gardens 
clean — if  not  for  their  own  sake,  for  that  of  their  neighbours.  It  is 
hard  on  a  clean,  energetic,  and  thrifty  gardener  to  have  as  a  near 
neighbour  one  of  the  careless,  indifferent,  and  happy-go-lucky  sort, 
who  does  not  see  the  desirability  of  destroying  weeds  till  they  are 
seeding,  or  diseases  and  insects  till  his  plants  are  smothered  in 
filth. 
Possibly  men  of  this  calibre  have  an  idea  that  such  a  state  of 
things  balances  the  production  and  demand,  and  thereby  enables  the 
grourers  to  obtain  better  prices,  as  I  note  a  colonial  pomologist  writes 
to  the  effect  that  he  considers  the  codlin  moth  the  fruit  growers’  best 
friend,  for  without  it  he  says  the  markets  would  be  everlastingly 
glutted,  and  the  Apples  worthless.  Even  in  the  face  of  this  argument, 
however,  I  prefer  clean,  healthy  trees,  and  perfectly  sound  fruit. 
Many  people  object  to  Acts  of  Parliament  which  compel  them  to 
spray  and  bandage  as  interfering  with  their  so-called  liberty.  They 
cannot  do  as  they  like  with  their  own.  Why,  might  I  ask,  should 
they,  if  it  is  detrimental  to  the  interests  of  their  neighbour,  or  to  the 
development  of  an  industry  which  is  for  the  common  good  ?  Such 
measures  would  not  be  passed  for  those  who  do  their  best  to  have  clean 
gardens,  trees,  and  crops,  but  even  these  would  have  to  give  the 
inspector  all  the  necessary  information,  and  show  him  over  the  orchard 
or  garden  at  a  considerable  cost  in  the  shape  of  time,  simply  because 
of  the  black  sheep  who  have  spoiled  the  flock. 
An  intimate  friend  who  grows  fruit  largely  in  New  Zealand  says 
that  “  economic  fruit  growing  cannot  be  a  success  in  that  colony 
until  men  with  experience  and  capital  enter  the  industry  on  an 
extensive  scale,  which  no  one  is  prepared  to  do  so  long  as  our  laws 
allow  the  careless  and  lazy  orchidist  to  breed  all  kinds  of  insect  pests 
that  invade  all  orchards  in  the  district,  and  mske  profitable  fruit 
raising  impossible.”  In  1898  the  colony  paid  for  imported  fruit 
something  like  £71,000.  They  have  had  an  Orchard  and  Garden 
Pests  Bill  before  their  House  of  Representatives,  but  whether  the  Bill 
has  yet  been  passed  I  cannot  say.  The  main  objects  of  the  Bill  were 
(1)  To  prevent  the  introduction  into  New  Zealand  of  insects  and 
diseases  affecting  orchards  and  gardens  ;  (2)  to  provide  for  the 
eradication  of  such  pests  as  infest  the  trees ;  and  (3)  to  prevent  the 
spread  of  any  such  pests. 
The  pests  mentioned  in  this  colonial  Bill  are  the  Mediterranean  or 
West  Australian  fruit  fly  (Halterophora  capitata),  San  Jose  scale 
(Aspidiosus  perniciosus),  Queensland  fruit  fly  (Tephrytes  tyroni),  Vine 
louse  (Phylloxera  vastatrix),  American  blight  (Schizoneura  lanigera), 
Apple  scab  (Clados^xirium  dentriticum),  codlin  moth  (Carpocapsa 
pomonella),  and  the  mussel  scale  (Mytilaspis  pomorum). 
la  my  opinion  there  is  nothing  unreasonable  in  a  Bill  of  this 
nature.  Relative  to  the  first  clause,  I  would  ask  what  can  we  in 
Eng'and  do  towards  preventing  the  introduction  of  insects  and  diseases  ? 
What  about  the  Chrysanthemum  rust  and  the  American  blight  ? 
Are  they  introductions?  If  so,  what  measures  could  have  been  taken 
to  prevent  their  introduction  into  this  country  ?  Can  we  adopt  any 
means  to  prevent  the  introduction  of  other  insects  and  diseases?  Is 
the  question  worth  our  consideration  ?  If  so,  may  ave  have  the 
opinions  and  suggestions  of  the  many  experienced  contributors  of  the 
Journal  of  Horticulture?  To  eradicate  and  prevent  the  spreading  of 
garden  pests  many  methods  are  in  vogue,  the  majority  of  which  would 
no  doubt  if  persistently  followed  prove  efficacious. 
The  San  Jose  scale  is  evidently  very  prolific  if,  as  one  large  fruit 
grower  states,  that  “  one  female  alone  can  produce  5,600,000,000 
descendants  in  four  months.”  I  trust  we  may  never  have  personal 
proof  of  its  rapidity  of  propagation.  Local  influences  have  unquestion¬ 
ably  much  to  do  with  the  spread  and  development  of  various  insects 
and  diseases.  Good  cultivation  is  an  important  factor  in  keeping 
insects  and  diseases  at  a  minimum,  for  without  this  spraying  bandaging 
and  other  methods  would  be  of  little  use.  I  am  acquainted  with  a 
New  Zealand  fruit  grower  who  obtained  in  1898  13s.  per  case  of  48  lbs. 
for  Apples  whilst  the  average  price  was  Ss.  6d.,  and  this  was  very 
largely,  if  not  solely,  due  to  good  cultivation. 
The  sura  total  of  cleanliness  in  our  gardens,  of  productiveness  and 
of  success  generally,  may  be  condensed  into  the  one  word— cultivate — 
which  should  ever  be  the  fruit  grower’s  watchword. — S.  H. 
