90 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER, 
February  1,  1900. 
Many  went  to  Percy  Cross  Nursery  to  examine  some  remarkable 
specimens  of  Salisburia  adiantifolia,  planted  early  in  the  reign  of 
George  III.,  and  other  curious  exotic  trees.  By  an  unfortunate 
accident  a  fire  broke  out  in  October,  1876,  that  entirely  destroyed 
the  storehouses  and  packing  sheds,  with  a  quantity  of  seeds  in  which 
Mr.  Dancer  then  did  a  large  business.  About  three  years  afterwards 
the  growing  stock  of  trees  and  shrubs  was  sold  and  the  land  cleared 
for  building. 
Ravensworth  House,  Percy  Cross,  has  a  memorable  garden  ; 
commenced  by  i\Ir.  Ord  in  1756,  it  had  some  things  visitors  came  far 
to  see.  Thus,  there  was  in  the  kitchen  garden  a  Moss  Rose  which 
had  been  repeatedly  layered,  till  it  covered  a  circumference  of  45  feet. 
Amongst  the  trees  was  a  Lombardy  Poplar  10  feet  in  girth,  and 
reckoned  to  be  120  feet  high,  also  a  Juglans  nigra  60  feet  high,  raised 
from  seed.  The  firm  of  J.  Veitch  &  Sons  have  ground  at  Southfields, 
near  Fulham,  but  they  are  not  able  to  say  whether  it  was  formerly  a 
part  of  the  nursery  of  the  famous  Reach’s,  father  and  son.  Reach, 
senior,  is  stated  to  have  been  an  early  grower  of  the  Auricula  and  the 
Chrysanthemum ;  he  had  thirty-three  children  by  two  wives,  yet 
reached  the  advanced  age  of  ninety-nine  !  Some  of  the  fields  about 
Fulham  used  to  have  quite  an  aromatic  fragrance  in  the  summer  season, 
as  various  herbs.  Thyme,  Basil,  Sage,  and  Marjoram,  were  largely 
grown  for  Covent  Garden  Market. 
Loudon,  one  of  the  very  notable  writers  on  horticulture  belonging 
to  the  earlier  years  of  this  century,  is  not  given  to  exaggeration 
generally,  'but  he  may  have  over-estimated  the  importance  of  the 
Vineyard  Nursery  at  Hammersmith.  He  commences  a  brief  account 
of  it  with  the  remark  that  it  was  certainly  the  first  nursery  in 
Britain,  or,  it  might  even  be  said,  in  the  world,  which  we  can  scarcely 
admit,  though  allowing  it  occupied  a  place  amongst  a  select  few. 
Nor,  oven  to  this  day,  has  it  lost  repute,  numerous  as  are  its  rivals  of 
younger  date,  though  the  nursery  does  not  cover  the  ground  at 
Hammersmith  it  formerly  did.  What  its  original  extent  was  seems 
to  be  uncertain  now,  but  before  it  became  a  nursery  the  whole  or  a 
part  of  the  land  was  occupied  as  a  vineyard,  and  considerable  quantities 
of  wine  were  made  there  in  favourable  seasons. 
The  situation  attracted  the  notice  of  two  young  Scotchmen, 
Kennedy  and  Lee,  in  their  walks  about  the  west  of  London,  and  they 
obtained  the  place  to  convert  it  to  a  nursery  garden.  (Here,  again, 
we  have  an  instance  of  the  indebtedness  of  horticulturists  to  North 
Britain.)  Lee  came  south  to  an  engagement  in  the  Chelsea  Physic 
Garden  under  Miller,  afterwards  he  became  gardener  to  the  Duke  of 
Argyll  at  Whitton.  About  that  time  he  got  to  know  young  Kennedy, 
then  employed  at  Chiswick  in  Lord  Bolton’s  establishment.  The 
would-be  wits  of  the  reign  of  George  I.  called  this  Duke  a  “  tree 
monger  ”  because  of  the  exertions  he  made  to  obtain  varieties  of  trees 
from  abroad.  With  James  Lee  it  was  the  grand  object  of  his  life  to 
obtain  exotics  from  all  attainable  lands ;  also  he  had  a  hearty  desire 
to  promote  and  simplify  the  study  of  botany.  He  died  in  1795,  but 
it  might  truly  be  said  his  works  follow  him  to  the  present  time. 
Probably  it  was  about  130  years  ago,  soon  after  George  III.  became 
monarch,  that  the  Royal  Vineyard  Nursery  was  established.  In  1760 
Lee  published  his  important  and  u-eful  “Introduction  to  Botany,” 
designed  to  explain  the  Linnean  system,  illustrated,  which  passed 
through  several  editions.  Though  superseded  now  by  the  general 
adoption  of  De  Cacdolle’s  natural  system,  it  helped  the  progress  of 
botany,  and  it  made  Lee  acquainted  with  most  of  the  first-class 
botanists  of  Europe.  It  seems  likely  this  was  written  before  he 
entered  upon  the  responsibilities  of  business;  later  he  issued  a 
catalogue  of  exotics  grown  at  his  nursery.  Lee  was  also  an  earnest 
student  of  shells,  insects,  and  fossils,  collecting  all  these.  Many  of 
them  were  drawn  by  his  daughter  Anne,  besides  various  rare  plants. 
The  story  of  his  having  discovered  the  first  Fuchsia  coccinea  brought 
to  Britain,  in  a  sailor's  house  at  Wapping  in  1788,  has  been  often 
printed  and  often  questioned,  but  I  find  that  it  is  authenticated. 
Roses,  too,  were  even  in  his  time  a  specialty  of  the  nursery,  where  he 
had  the  China  varieties  before  anyone  else.  He  lived  till  1795, 
surviving  Kennedy.  An  excellent  portrait  and  sketch  is  in  the 
Journal  of  January  25th,  1877. 
After  the  decease  of  the  founders  their  surviving  sons  carried  on 
the  nursery  till  1818,  when  they  dissolved  partnership,  and  it  became 
the  sole  property  of  James  Lee,  jun.  He  was  followed  by  John  Lee, 
who  retired  in  1877,  having  been  actively  engaged  in  the  nursery  for 
fifty-six  years,  and  it  entered  upon  a  new  era,  being  carried  on  by  the 
fourth  generation  of  the  family,  under  the  title  of  Cliarles  Lee  &  Son. 
About  the  middle  of  this  centnry  the  Royal  Vineyard  Nursery  passed 
through  a  period  of  depression,  from  which  it  gradually  recovered, 
and  several  new  houses  of  improved  structure  were  erected  at 
Hammersmith  by  Mr.  C.  Lee,  though  the  open  ground  has  undergone 
diminution.  Grapes  still  receive  due  attention  on  the  spot  which  has 
so  long  been  famous  for  them.  Additional  nurseries  of  some  extent 
have  been  maintained  successfully  many  years  at  Ealing,  Feltham,  and 
Isleworth. 
If  it  be  the  fact  that  the  first  English  Dahlias  were  planted  at 
Holland  House,  having  been  sent  there  in  mistake  for  Artichokes,  it 
is  likely  Lee  was  favoured  with  an  early  sight  of  them.  They  used 
to  put  the  tubers  in  the  driest  road  scrapings  they  could  get,  and  kept 
them  under  glass,  thinking  the  plants  required  warmth  in  our  climate. 
It  is  impossible  to  enumerate  the  good  things  which  have  come  from 
this  nursery  in  recent  years.  Here  was  raised  Juniperus  virginiana 
elegans  in  1869,  a  pleasing  variety  of  Red  Cedar.  Notable  also  was 
the  Weeping  Black  B  garreau  Cherry,  with  large  fine  flavoured  fruit, 
which  ripened  there  in  1878  for  the  first  time  in  Britain. 
Hammersmith  has  enormously  increased  its  population  during  the 
half  century,  ri-ing  from  18,000  to  104,000.  Hence  it  has  spread 
largely  towards  Kensington  and  Fulham.  Streets,  factories,  brick¬ 
fields,  cemeteries  now  occupy  much  of  the  space  that  was  garden 
ground  in  1850.  One  calls  to  mind  the  names  of  Broad  bent,  Evans, 
Humphries,  Maty  ear.  Smith,  and  others,  who  used  to  send  many  tons 
of  vegetables  to  market.  Even  yet,  I  believe,  Mr.  0.  Bagley,  one  of  a 
well-known  race  of  gardeners,  has  land  near  the  Packhorse  and  Talbot, 
a  quaint  old  sign  in  the  Hammersmith  Road,  reminding  us  of  the  time 
when  much  luggage  went  by  packhorses,  a  spotted  dog  or  talbot 
trotting  in  front. 
But  though  market  gardens  and  nurseries  have  diminishpd,  it  cannot 
be  said  that  Fulham  and  Hammersmith  are  badly  off  for  open  spaces. 
’Tis  true  old  greens  have  sometimes  become  mere  names— Starch  and 
Walham  Greens,  for  instance — but  new  gardens  or  recreation  grounds 
have  appeared.  Ravenscourt  Park,  once  renowned  for  its  trees  and 
flowers  while  a  private  residence,  is  a  space  of  32  acres,  greatly 
frequented.  It  is  one  of  several  parks  under  the  London  County 
Council,  which  have  a  botanical  garden  containing  collections  of  plants 
arranged  in  natural  orders,  and  a  guide  is  to  be  printed  for  the  benefit 
of  teachers  or  students.  Eelbrook  Common  of  14  acres  is  now  a  park  ; 
then  close  to  the  river  we  have  the  Bishop’s  Park  at  Fulham  of 
12  acres,  and  adjacent  thereto  another  space  of  9  acres  free  to  the 
public. — J.  R.  S.  C. 
SMALL  DECORATIVE  FERNS. 
Those  who  have  house  furnishing  with  plant  or  table  decoration 
know  how  useful  small  healthy  Ferns  are  for  filling  up  and  to 
enhance  the  beauty  of  flowering  plants  used.  Unfortunately  the 
same  species  are  in  many  cases  repeatedly  propagated,  and  one  rather 
wearies  of  them.  The  pretty  Pteris  serrulata,  in  its  many  forms,  is 
one  of  the  best  of  all  for  the  purpose ;  Pteris  tremula  is  also  excellent 
in  every  size,  from  the  largest  to  the  smallest. 
This  has  led  to  their  very  common  use,  but  there  are  many  others 
not  so  frequently  seen  that  would  make  a  pleasing  variety.  Some  of 
these,  it  is  true,  are  by  no  means  so  easy  to  propagate  as  the  well- 
known  forms  named  above.;  and  others,  unfortunately,  do  not  freely 
reproduce  themselves  from  spores,  but  where  there  is  a  demand,  and 
they  are  likely  to  be  admired,  the  gardener  may  well  stretch  a  point, 
and  take  a  little  trouble  in  the  matter.  The  pretty  Cheilanthes 
elegans  ought  to  be  much  more  grown,  for,  though  it  demands  careful 
treatment,  no  difficulty  will  be  found  in  freely  propagating  it  by 
division.  And  here  it  may  be  well  to  note  that  this  and  similar 
habited  Ferns  look  far  prettier  in  small  plants  where  the  individual 
shape  of  each  plant  can  be  seen,  than  when  these  grow  larger  and 
thicker,  and  consequently  become  confused  and  crowded. 
How  charming,  too,  and  how  easily  grown,  are  some  of  the 
Pellmas  in  a  small  state  !  We  have  P.  hastata  and  P.  rotundifolia 
that  both  thrive  in  quite  a  cool  house,  and  the  genus  contains  a  large 
number  of  such.  In  the  Gymnogrammas  again  there  are  several 
striking  and  easily  grown  forms.  Those  of  the  schizophylla  section 
are  often  thought  to  be  difficult  to  cultivate,  but  there  was  never  a 
greater  mistake.  All  they  want  is  sufficient  warmth  and  moisture 
with  room,  so  that  the  tender  fronds  may  not  be  rubbed.  G.  s.  gloriosa, 
that  beautiful  variety  so  well  known  now  in  large  and  medium  sized 
plants,  is  quite  a  gem  in  small  pots  just  as  the  young  fronds  are 
creeping  over  the  side,  and  the  first  young  plantlets  are  appearing  on 
their  end.  These  latter,  of  course,  afford  the  readiest  means  of  propa¬ 
gation  in  this  case. 
Many  of  the  Adiantums  are  largely  grown  already,  by  private 
gardeners,  but  some  of  these  even  are  much  neglected.  Any  number, 
for  instance,  of  the  ordinary  type  of  A.  capillus  Veneiis  may  be  seen  ; 
but  how  often  do  we  see  the  prettily  cut  forms,  such  as  A.  c.  V. 
fissum  ?  Yet  this,  and  many  others,  are  as  easily  propagated  and 
grown  as  the  type,  and  with  it  would  make  a  charming  variety. 
Some  of  the  broader  leaved  forms,  too,  as  A.  c.  V.  rotundifolium  and 
magnificum,  are  hardly  second  to  A.  Farleyense  for  beauty.  Raising 
these,  and  others,  from  spores  would  make  a  delightful  hobby  for 
anyone  with  the  time  to  spare,  for  one  never  knows  quite  what  is 
coming,  and  as  the  various  types  begin  to  develop  they  are  wonder¬ 
fully  interesting. 
Pteris  scaberula  would  make  a  very  pretty  plant  in  a  small  state, 
but  its  propagation  is  so  difficult  without  the  best  of  convenience  that 
