\2G2 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
March  29,  1900. 
of  the  laiger  flowered  Angraecums.  In  the  same  structure  too,  was 
observed  Angraecum  (Aeranthus)  Leonis,  whose  flowers  also  are 
white,  but  of  diSerent  form  from  A.  modestum,  as  well  as  being 
produced  in  an  entirely  dissimilar  manner.  These  are  two  Orchids 
that  might  advantageously  be  far  more  frequently  seen  in  good  con 
dition.  The  once  comparatively  scarce  but  now  extremely  plentiful 
Dendrobium  atro-violaceum  is  seen  producing  numbers  of  its  quaintly 
formed  and  coloured  flowers.  Vanda  gigantea  is  not  commonly  met 
with  in  flower,  and  neither  in  the  habit  of  the  plant  nor  the  beauty  of 
its  flowers  can  anything  be  found  that  is  probable  to  bring  it  into  the 
forefront  of  popularity. 
Dendrobiums  barbatulum,  superbum  giganteum,  and  Wardianum 
play  a  prominent  part  in  adorning  the  houses,  the  last  named  especi¬ 
ally  looking  particularly  handsome.  D.  Wiganise  is  not  at  this 
moment  in  flower,  but  the  magniflcent  growths  the  several  plants  are 
making  promise  an  abundant  display  of  flowers  in  due  season.  Like 
the  foregoing,  D,  Victoria  Regina  is  not  flow^ering,  but  its  blue  blooms 
will  doubtless  come  at  the  proper  time.  I),  spectabile,  which  created 
quite  a  mild  sensation  at  the  Drill  Hall  when  shown  some  few  months 
back,  is  in  evidence  so  far  as  growth  is  concerned,  as,  needless  to  say, 
are  many  others  of  this  charming  family.  An  attractive  variety  is 
D.  Sibyl  superbum,  whose  rose  coloured  flowers  show  themselves 
conspicuously  amongst  the  other  occupants  of  the  structure.  A  plant 
of  Wigan’s  variety  of  Spathoglottis  aureo-Veillardi  has  been  in  flower 
continuously  since  October,  which  says  much  for  the  attention  that  is 
given  to  the  plants.  The  flowers  of  Lselia  cinnabarina  are  always 
appreciated  in  an  Orchid  house  simply  because  of  the  distinctness  of  their 
colour. 
Clare  Lawn  has  been  justly  famed  for  its  splendid  Coelogyne 
pandurata,  which  with  some  growers  is  decidedly  “  miffy.”  Mr. 
Young  has,  however,  been  singularly  successful  in  its  culture,  and  has 
been  able  to  exhibit  to  the  interested  visitor  some  grand  spikes.  This 
year,  unfortunately,  the  plants  show  signs  of  failing,  and  the  grower’s 
efforts  will  have  to  be  concentrated  upon  them  to  endeavour  to  bring 
them  back  to  the  health  and  strength  that  have  hitherto  characterised 
them.  Tricopilia  suavis  alba  demands  a  moment’s  notice  by  reason  of 
its  boldly  handsome  flowers  ;  as  also  does  Epidendrum  Stamfordi- 
anum,  on  account  of  the  peculiar  colour  of  the  blooms,  and  of  the 
habit  of  producing  them.  E.  xanthinum  deserves  a  word  in  passing,  as 
also  E.  Wallisi  and  E.  Endresio-Wallisi,  the  latter  having  three  distinct 
sets  of  growths,  each  of  which  is  flowering.  Numerous  bigeners,  in 
the  form  of  Zygocolax,  find  a  place,  and  are  apparently  in  the  best  of 
health — indeed,  the  latter  attribute  is  a  feature  of  nearly  the  who'e 
of  the  collection.  The  hybrid  Phaius  Norman  in  variety  and  Cook- 
soniae  are  handsome,  and  find  many  admirers. 
Of  the  excellence  of  the  collection  of  Laelias,  Cattleyas,  and  Laelic- 
Cattleyas  it  would  be  impossible  to  speak  too  highly.  Every  effort  is 
naade  to  maintain  its  standard,  and  many  are  the  superb  forms  that  it 
includes.  There  were  not  great  numbers  in  flower,  but  scores  of 
sheaths  were  readily  observable,  and  will  perform  their  share  in 
beautifying  the  houses  at  a  later  period.  One  plant  of  Cattleya 
Schrdderae  had  fifteen  flowering  growths,  while  C.  Trianae  was  much 
in  evidence.  But  it  is  impossible  now  to  name  more  of  these,  or  of 
the  many  other  Orchids  that  were  seen  ;  they  must  form  the  theme 
for  a  further  tale  that  it  is  hoped  will  not  take  another  five  years  in  the 
telling. — Orache. 
Freemasonry  of  Gardening. 
{Concluded  from  page  225.) 
Some  delicate  matters  there  are,  probably  this  is  one,  requiring 
more  subtlety  than  a  gardener’s  pen  is  invested  with  to  place  them 
properly  on  paper,  “  for  many  a  shaft  at  random  sent  finds  aim  the 
archer  little  meant,”  but  the  feeling  obtains  that  an  opportunity  is 
now  offered  to  do  so,  as  well  as  some  reasons  for  it.  Young  travellers, 
like  young  gardeners,  have  something  to  learn,  and  possibly  a  hint  may 
be  taken  in  the  spirit  in  which  it  is  offered  and  bring  them  in  closer 
relationship  to  the  great  and  happy  family.  In  the  first  place  we  may 
take  it  as  an  accepted  fact  that  the  traveller  shows  his  interest  in  the 
welfare  of  gardeners  and  gardening  by  subscribing  to  the  Gardener’s 
Royal  Benevolent  Institution.  That  his  firm  may  do  so  is  another 
matter.  It  is  personal  interest  which  will  afford  him  the  opportunity 
of  showing  he  is  desirous  of  companionship  with  The  Order  which 
means  so  much  to  him.  Why  should  he  not,  also,  carry  this  gospel  of 
benevolence  among  the  heathen — viz.,  those  of  little  faith,  selfish 
instinct,  or  whatever  deters  them  from  linking  themselves  to  this 
noble  institution  ?  To  think  of  what  it  is  doing  for  gardeners,  and  to 
think  of  what  it  might  do  if  every  gardener,  from  the  pound-a-week 
one  upwards,  loyally  supported,  must  be  the  writer’s  justification  for 
firing  another  shot  into  the  trenches  of  prejudice  or  phlegmatic- 
indifference.  Travellers,  pray ;  carry  this  gospel  with  you  in  your 
wanderings  and  preach  it  with  all  the  force  of  that  great  eloquence  you 
are  especially  gifted  with. 
Most  travellers  will  admit  that  if  they  are  not  always  fervently 
welcomed  they  are  seldom  denied  common  courtesy,  though  perforce  of 
circumstances  the  gardener  may  be  placed  in  he  is  not  only  told  that 
gardening  is  “  going  to  the  dogs,”  but  that  it  has  already  arrived  there- 
From  this  canine  point  of  view  things  are  bad,  could  not,  in  fact,  be 
worse,  but  fairly  and  honestly  how  do  matters  really  stand  ?  Within  a 
local  radius  of  five  miles  it  is  easy  to  select  a  dozen  gardens  which  are 
annually  visited  by  half  a  dozen  representatives  of  as  many  firms  seeking 
orders  it  is  utterly  out  of  the  gardener’s  power  to  give  ;  and  still  they 
come  ;  or  if  occasionally  one  drops  off  in  disgust  a  stranger  steps  into 
his  tracks.  Now  and  again  the  proprietors  of  these  gardens  may  give 
small  orders  for  trees,  shrubs,  or  plants,  which  the  recipients  will, 
perhaps,  tell  you  are  comparatively  worthless,  and  which  you  can  well 
believe,  for  what  are  they  among  so  many.  Apart  from  this  each 
place  draws  its  regular  supplies  from  its  own  particular  source,  the 
business  being  done  by  post  or  personally  in  the  shop.  All  this  should 
account  for  something  in  the  decadence  of  gardening  from  a  trade  point 
of  view.  What  a  pleasant  and  goodly  thing  it  is  to  meet  a  traveller 
who  values  men  for  what  they  are  and  not  for  what  they  have !  It 
brings  them  as  once  within  the  charmed  circle  of  the  gardener’s  free" 
masonry.  “  I  know  you  cannot  now  give  me  an  order,  but  I  could 
not  refrain  from  calling  on  an  old  friend  for  a  chat.”  This  is  grateful 
and  comforting.  Yet,  again,  there  are  some  in  which  the  commercial 
spirit  enshrouds  all  else. 
Does  a  gardener  ever  realise  how  much  he  owes  to  his  “  Missus 
Possibly  not ;  such  things  are  taken  as  a  matter  ot  course.  There  is 
no  phase  of  life  in  a  world  of  work  in  which  the  wholesome  influence  of 
man’s  helpmate  permeates  with  greater  force  than  in  gardening,  if  there 
are  any  in  which  it  does  so  much.  Go  where  you  will,  or  when  you  will, 
at  the  eleventh  hour  or  any  other  hour,  a  gardener’s  friends  will  find 
themselves  friends  of  his  “  Missus  his  work  her  work,  but  her  work 
her  own.  She  is  a  striking  though  unobtrusive  personality  in  the 
freemasonry  of  gardening.  Genially  sympathetic,  eminently  hospitable, 
loyally  helpful.  Gardeners’  visits  are  not,  indeed,  like  angels’  visits  ; 
they  have  a  knack  of  “  dropping  in  ”  at  unpropitious  times,  or  what 
might  be  regarded  as  such  elsewhere.  “  Oh !  never  mind  your  boots.” 
The  easiest  of  easy  chairs  is  pulled  out,  and  “  What  do  you  think  of 
the  Wardianums  ?”  Whilst  ever  and  anon  “  the  Missus  ”  provides  a 
missing  word,  which  neither  can  think  of,  and  the  cheerful  chink  of 
china  has  mingled  with  words  of  welcome. 
The  gregarious  instinct  of  gardeners  is  a  feature  with  its  faults. 
The  “  cuckoo  gardener,”  a  peculiar  variety  of  the  species,  appears  to 
be  the  chief,  but  not  the  only  culprit  in  this  direction.  Until  coming 
within  the  environs  of  what  for  present  purposes  may  be  called 
Suburbia-super-Mare  deponent  had  never  heard  the  appellation,  so 
possibly  it  is  merely  local.  The  “  cuckoo  gardener,”  though  of  the- 
smaller  kind,  being  chiefly  single. handed,  is  one  of  the  best  of  good-' 
fellows,  as  well  as  an  excellent  workman,  often  producing  specimens  oU 
culture  which  would  be  highly  creditable  to  men  and  places  of  higher- 
pretensions.  Certainly  he  is  prone  to  much  talking,  and  thinks  no  little 
of  himself.  Sunday  is  his  great  opportunity  for  visiting,  and  he  makes 
the  most  of  it.  No  harm  in  that.  But  when  represented  in  flocks,  the 
visit  is  embarrassing  even  to  “  the  Missus.”  So  much  is  this  the  case 
that  the  edict  had  to  go  forth,  “  not  at  home  on  Sunday.” 
A  man  of  mystery  may  go  into  the  pillory  of  print  without 
compunction.  When  first  seen  he  was  taken  for  a  gardener,  ha-ving 
all  the  appearance  and  much  of  the  impedimenta  pertaining  to  the 
craft,  including  a  goodly  houseful  of  olive  branches.  He  then 
managed  a  fairly  large  garden,  and  seemed  to  manage  it  fairly  well 
The  next  time,  when  seen,  he  was  ”  out,”  walking  the  streets  of  a 
big  city  as  an  inspector  of  buildings,  he  said,  when  asked  what  he 
was  doing  ;  a  facetious  attempt  to  make  the  best  of  a  failure. 
Nothing  coming  in;  all  going  out;  wife  and  bairns  lodged  in  a  back 
street.  Oh,  the  pity  of  it  !  One  cannot  add  much  beyond  saying, 
“The  quality  of  mercy  is  not  strained,”  nor  was  it  then  or  upon  a 
subsequent  application  by  post,  after  which  he  disappeared.  Several 
years  after,  the  wheel  of  fortune  had  spun  round,  and  the  writer  was 
— well,  a  bit  down,  the  man  of  mystery  up,  when  he  called  in  all  the 
glory  of  floe  clothes,  massive  gold  chain,  and  sundry  gewgaws  disposed 
about  his  person.  “You  don’t  know  me?”  “No,  sir,  you  have  the 
