March  1,  IPOO. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER, 
The  wanderings  of  Mr.  PETER  BARR,  V.H.M. 
(^Continued  from  page  11'2.) 
I  VISIT K.D  the  Falls  of  Niagara,  and  I  spent  two  days  with  Mr. 
Cameron,  who  is  in  charge  of  Queen  Victoria  Park  on  the  Canadian 
side — a  fine  man  and  a  good  bctanist.  The  Falls  are  shrinking,  though 
some  deny  it ;  hut  I  think,  with  Mr.  Cameron,  the  river  will  never  be 
as  full  as  it  used  to  be,  except  when  there  are  floods.  The  reckless 
cutting  of  timber  all  over  the  States  and  Canada  has  decreased  the 
volume  of  water  in  the  great  rivers  and  lakes.  At  Milwaukee  I  met  a 
Mr.  Dunlop,  who  has  been  there  since  early  in  the  forties — a  fine  old 
Scotsman,  who  was  a  friend  of  Loudon’s,  and  in  conjunction  with  him 
laid  out  a  famous  garden  at  Streatham — I  forget  the  name  at  the 
moment.  Mr.  Dunlop  confirmed  the  lowering  of  the  great  lakes. 
Then  I  went  to  Rochester,  and  called  upon  Elwanger  &  Barry. 
Mr.  Barry  took  me  to  the  parks.  I  there  met  John  Dunbar,  the 
Assistant  Superintendent — a  most  exceptional  man.  Being  surprised 
at  his  work,  I  asked  him  where  he  came  from.  He  had  been,  amongst 
other  places,  at  John  Laing’s,  Forest  Hill  ;  and  was  three  years  under 
Falconer,  when  he  was  at  a 
great  man’s  place  near  New 
York.  I  next  went  to  Albany. 
Here  I  found  a  most  remarkable 
statue  to  Robert  Burns,  the 
Scottish  poet,  unlike  anything 
of  him  that  has  yet  appeared. 
Thence  I  returned  to  New  York. 
I  was  nearly  four  months  on 
this  tour.  I  then  went  to  Bur¬ 
lington,  Vermont,  to  see  what 
was  being  done  in  agriculture, 
but  the  ground  was  frozen  hard, 
so  I  looked  over  the  indoor 
work.  At  Charlotte,  Vermont, 
I  met  Mr.  Pringle,  the  Mexican 
botanist,  at  his  cousin’s  house, 
Mr.  Horsford,  of  Tomato  fame. 
Journeyed  on  to  Montreal, 
Quebec,  and  Ottawa.  Here  the 
Government  put  a  sleigh  at  my 
service,  and  I  made  two  visits  to 
the  Experimental  Farm,  where 
good  work  is  being  done. 
After  Ottawa  I  spent  a 
month  with  a  cousin,  eighty 
years  of  age.  With  an  uncle 
and  aunt,  and  some  seven  or 
eight  children,  he  went  to  Canada 
fifty-six  years  ago,  so  that  Paul’s 
and  Barr’s  literally  inherit  the 
land.  I  was  never  amongst  so 
many  Barr’s  before.  Then  to 
Toronto.  This  is  a  perfect 
city,  with  fine  parks,  that  want 
more  money  spending  on  them. 
Hamilton  is  a  nice  place ;  London 
is  lovely ;  Windsor,  where  John 
Barr,  the  writer,  came  from,  is 
dirty.  After  calling  at  Detroit 
and  Chicago,  I  had  four  or  five 
days  on  the  train  to  California. 
Visiting  places  on  the  way  I 
landed  at  St.  Barbara,  and  in 
company  with  Mr.  Dreer,  of 
Philadelphia,  spent  some  days  in 
‘  the  private  and  public  gardens.  I  then  took  steamer  to  San  Francisco ; 
and  passed  on  to  see  Carl  Pardy,  at  Ukiah,  the  centre  for  collected 
Californian  bulbs.  After  that  to  Santa  Rosa,  to  see  Mr.  Burbank,  the 
wizard  hybridiser.  To  reckon  up  the  value  of  this  man’s  work  would 
mean  six  months  at  Santa  Rosa.  All  America  have  their  eyes  upon 
him,  and  he  is  doing  a  great  trade  in  the  sale  of  grafts,  which  he  sells 
by  the  foot.  He  has  a  nurse  tree,  on  which  are  500  grafts.  He  sows 
the  seed  in  spring,  grafts  in  winter,  and  in  three  seasons  he  knows 
his  results.  I  wanted  him  to  carry  his  knowledge  to  the  Chiswick 
Conference,  but  this  he  could  not  manage.  Then  I  said,  send  a  paper  ; 
and  this  he  promised  to  do.  We  visited  the  seed  grounds  of  Moss  and 
the  Californian  Nursery  Co.,  at  Santa  Clara.  In  California  I  found  the 
country  white  with  Prune  blossom  for  miles  and  miles,  and  still  the 
planting  goes  on.  Once  they  can  cure  the  Prunes  as  well  as  the  French 
the  industry  in  this  will  be  great,  and  affect  the  French  market. 
After  this  I  took  shipping  on  the  good  ss.  “  China,”  March  24th,  for 
Yokohama,  via  Honolulu.  At  this  last  place  I  spent  one  day  at  the 
museum  and  the  Government  gardens,  presided  over  by  a  Scotsman, 
reaching  Japan  12th  April,  in  time  to  see  the  tail  end  of  the  Cherry 
blossom  feast.  In  February  the  Plum,  blossom  is  on  ;  in  March  and  April 
the  Cherry  blossom.  These  are  the  great  spring  feasts  in  Japan. 
Nurseries  are  spread  all  over  Japan,  but  the  two  principal  are  in 
Yokohama.  Boehmer  &  Co.,  a  European  nursery,  run  by  a  German, 
Mr.  Ungar ;  the  other  a  very  extensive  one,  the  Japanese  Yokohama 
Nursery  Co.  I  work  between  these,  as  the  two  are  each  willing  to  give 
me  every  kind  of  information  I  desire.  I  have  been  several  times  to- 
Tokyo  and  other  places.  One  tour  I  made  to  Kobe,  calling  at  Nagoya, 
a  great  centre  for  China  goods  (porcelain) ;  Osaka,  the  centre  for  tree 
Pa3onies,  where  I  described  sixty  sorts  for  the  Yokohama  Nursery  Co.;  and 
Kyoto,  a  great  place  for  ancient  Bhudda  temples.  Nara  was  once  great 
in  temples,  but  not  so  much  so  now.  There  is  the  great  bronze  image  of 
Darbutsu,  53  feet  high,  in  a  sitting  posture,  dating  back  to  747,  when 
the  casting  began.  Hundreds  of  tame  deer  roam  about,  and  take  bread 
from  the  hands  of  visitors.  Paid  to  see  the  sacred  dance  at  one  of  the 
temples;  and  then  returned  to  Yokohama  in  time  to  see  the  spring 
races,  the  Emperor  being  there,  who  for  the  first  time,  at  the  invitation 
of  the  foreign  community,  drove  through  the  European  settlement — a 
great  occasion.  The  Emperor  is  a  divinity,  descending  from  the  sun’s 
eye,  and  no  one  head  must  be  higher  than  the  Emperor’s,  and  no  peeping 
Toms  allowed  ;  window  blinds  had  to  be  drawn  down,  and  we  had  all 
to  stand  on  the  level  of  the  tire  of  the  carriage  wheel. 
I  went  north  800  miles  to  the  islaud  of  Yego  to  the  capital  Sapparo 
and  saw  the  ancient  race  of  Japan,  ibe  Ainus,  now  fast  dying  out.  In 
mv  northern  tour  I  saw  some 
of  the  wild  Lilies,  and  all  along 
the  railway  sometimes  whcle 
fields  of  the  species  Iris  Ktemp- 
feri.  It  is  said  that  over  a 
century  ago  this  Iris  became  a 
favourite  with  amateurs,  and 
has  been  cultivated  ever  since. 
Now  that  the  Damios,  who  were 
the  great  patrons  of  horticul¬ 
ture,  have  been  abolished,  the 
flower  has  gone  into  interested 
parties’  hands.  Thus  in  Tokyo 
there  are  three  large  collections, 
and  while  the  plants  are  ia 
flower  the  people  flock  to  these 
places,  which  for  the  time  are 
turned  into  tea  gardens,  and 
these  visitors  drink  tea  or  sake,, 
make  poetry  on  the  flowers,  and 
enjoy  themselves.  Sometimes 
private  theatricals  are  held  ;  like 
the  Cherry  blossom  festival,  a 
time  of  pleasure,  but  mostly 
amongst  the  better  class.  The 
Cherry  blossom  time  is  a  notable 
occasion  with  all  classes,  and  a 
great  time  to  drink  sake.  A 
marriage  in  Japan  is  celebrated 
over  three  cups  of  sake ;  the 
man  drinks  three  cups  and  the 
woman  three  cups  in  the  pre¬ 
sence  of  the  members  of  each 
family,  and  the  knot  is  tied. 
The  culture  of  dwarfed  trees 
has  been  a  great  art  for  hundreds 
of  years.  There  is  one  at  the 
Yokohama  nursery  of  which  they 
have  data  for  400  years,  and  they 
suppose  it  may  be  500  years  old. 
Most  of  those  trees  go  to  America 
and  are  killed,  so  I  have  drawn 
up  directions  how  to  manage 
them  for  the  Yokohama  Nursery 
Co.,  and  shall  suggest  they  send 
one  to  each  of  the  American 
and  English  newspapers.  (See  page  492  last  vol.).  Lilium  rubellum  is 
a  valuable  Lily  for  market  men,  three  to  be  put  in  a  5-inch  pot. 
Here,  as  in  America  and  Canada,  I  have  met  with  every  attention 
and  kindness.  I  have  sent  many  Japanese  books  and  pictures  to  my 
daughter  Agnes,  the  artist.  Somewhere  within  three  weeks  I  will  close 
up  here  and  move  on  to  China.  I  may  mention  I  have  prepared 
descriptions  for  about  three  hundred  varieties  of  Iris  Kgempferi,  and  will 
prepare  cultural  directions,  as  it  is  a  pity  that  people  so  often  fail  with 
it.  The  Japs  manure  both  Iris  and  Lilies  when  they  are  working  at  the 
roots,  but  not  when  the  top  appears  above  ground.  They  grow  the 
Iris  in  the  Rice  fields,  and  all  the  time  they  are  growing  they  are 
in  water.  When  done  flowering  the  water  is  drained  off.  In 
England  they  should  be  grown  in  beds  that  can  be  soaked  with  water 
once  a  week  or  oftener  while  growing,  and  after  flowering  less  water, 
and  about  August  no  more  water.  The  Japs  use  liquid  manure. 
The  Bermuda  Lily  not  being  equal  to  the  demand,  a  New  York 
syndicate  started  the  industry  in  Japan.  This  year  about  four  millions 
will  go  to  America  and  Europe,  mostly  New  York  and  London.  The 
roots,  when  the  demand  was  made,  were  collected  from  the  southern 
islands,  and  are  represented  by  some  six  or  more  varieties,  and  as  tie 
Americans  depend  upon  having  the  flowers  by  Easter,  for  general 
convenience  I  have  been  pressing  home  upon  the  Yokohama  Nursery  Co. 
the  importance  of  getting  rid  of  all  but  two  sorts  Thus  you  see  I  am 
leaving  my  impress  on  Japan  in  a  quiet  sort  of  way. 
