JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER, 
June  21,  1900. 
5U 
the  mansion,  where  the  eye  looks  down  upon  them,  and  can  take  in  the 
whole  at  a  glance.  From  the  bright  tiower  beds  the  rising  ground  of 
verdant  grass  leads  to  an  irregular  belt  of  trees  in  the  woodland 
beyond,  and  the  whole  thus  forms  a  lovely  picture  which  lingers  in  the 
memory. 
The  Ancient  Yews. 
Still  one  other  feature  had  to  be  noted  before  Wistow  was  left 
behind.  We  traversed  a  woodland  walk  bordered  with  gay  Daffodils, 
and  the  sky  blue  Scilla  sibirica,  and  pressed  onward  in  a  quiet  retreat 
till  we  reached  some  ancient  Yews,  famous  by  reason  of  their  gnarled 
and  twisted  trunks,  which  must  have  withstood  the  storms  of  many 
centuries,  and,  like  the  England  in  which  they  stand,  still  show  no  signs 
of  senile  decay.  It  is  always  a  pleasure  to  visit  an  establishment  when 
the  relationship  between  employer  and  employed  are  of  that  happy 
description  which  enables  the  one  to  carry  out  with  pleasure  the  wishes 
of  the  other,  as  at  Wistow. 
To  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Clark  for  their  kind  hospitality  the  thanks  of 
Nos.  1  and  2  are  due.  We  were  glad  to  get  out  of  Leicester  during  the 
freshness  of  morning,  but  welcomed  its  lights  at  night  as  wayworn 
travellers  in  a  driving  rain. — H.  D. 
- - 
Tlie  Charm  of  England. 
London  at  last !  We  get  our  luggage  together.  It  is  nine  o’clock 
on  Saturday  night,  and  we  wonder  what  we  are  to  do  with  our  things 
and  where  we  are  to  go.  A  Queensland  squatter  who  has  been  used  to 
the  back  blocks,  and  has  about  100  square  miles  of  country  on  which  he 
lives,  wears  an  expression  of  hopeless  perplexity,  and  exclaims  almost 
tearfully,  “  I’ve  been  about  five  minutes  in  London,  and  I’m  satisfied 
it’s  too  big  a  place  for  me.  I’m  off.  I’ll  take  a  cab  and  drive  into  the 
country.”  He  darts  toward  a  hackney  coach,  but  suddenly  stops,  as  if 
turned  to  stone,  and  stares  intently  at  the  cab.  Then  he  exclaims, 
“Look  at  it!  No.  17,240.  Fancy,  seventeen  thousand  cabs.  Oh,  why 
did  I  leave  my  little  - ”  But  here,  says  the  writer  in  the  “  Daily 
Express,”  his  friends  arrived  and  took  charge  of  him. 
With  Monday  morning  came  our  first  good  look  at  the  city  of  the 
world.  Companions  for  seven  weeks  journeying  across  the  world,  our 
patriotic  little  party  had  to  break  up.  Each  had  to  go  his  own  way, 
and  I  was  left  in  the  town  alone.  Lonely.  I  had  heard  people  say  how 
lonely  one  could  be  in  London.  But  now  I  know.  The  countless 
throngs  of  people,  the  endless  streets,  the  network  of  traffic,  the  rush 
of  business,  bewilders  all  the  faculties  and  makes  one  stand  dismayed. 
“  What  am  I  among  all  these  millions  ?  Why,  if  I  dropped  dead  no 
one  would  ever  know  anything  about  me.”  That  was  the  feeling — a 
feeling  that  grew  hour  after  hour  as  I  cominued  to  discover  myself 
in  new  districts,  utterly  unable  to  realise  how  I  got  there,  and  only 
getting  out  of  one  puzzle  to  get  into  a  worse  one.  I  spent  all  the 
morning  trying  to  find  the  Strand.  I  spent  all  the  afternoon  trying  to 
lose  it.  I  had  made  up  my  mind  that  I  would  find  my  way  back  without 
taking  a  cab — but  I  made  a  shameful  surrender,  drove  home  and 
forfeited  my  self-respect.  Through  the  night  the  spectre  of  the  City 
was  upon  me.  Bewildering  crowds  passed  before  my  heated  brain, 
and  I  tried  to  solve  impossible  problems.  If  there  are  six  million 
people  in  this  City,  and  they  take  on  the  average  twenty  steps  a  minute, 
how  many  footsteps  have  fallen  in  London  to-day  ?  How  many  pulse- 
beats  have  there  been  in  London  to-day  ?  Alternately  I  tried  to  realise 
the  greatness  of  London  and  to  forget  it.  I  could  do  neither.  A  fear 
— an  unreasoning  fear,  but  a  great  fear — fell  upon  me. 
With  the  first  streak  of  dawn  I  arose,  gathered  up  my  belongings, 
and  fled.  I  told  the  cabman  to  drive  to  the  railway  station.  “  What 
railway  station  ?  ”  he  asked.  “  Any  one,”  said  I.  He  drove  me  to  some 
station.  A  train  was  going  somewhere.  I  think  it  was  in  the  direction 
of  the  Isle  of  Wight.  I  bought  a  ticket  and  got  in.  Presently  we 
sped  away,  past  the  Thames  Embankment,  past  Westminster,  away 
from  the  nightmare  of  streets,  and  shops,  and  houses,  and  ’buses,  and 
endless  throngs  in  which  was  not  one  face  I  knew.’  At  the  village  of 
H - -  I  left  the  train.  There  are  green  fields  here,  and  running 
streams,  and  flowers,  and  singing  birds,  and  giant  trees,  and  gentle 
breezes  whispering  through  their  branches.  It  is  springtime,  and 
the  merry  month  of  May,  and  the  blossom  is  on  the  tree,  and  the 
glory  of  God  is  upon  the  land.  I  wander  down  leafy  lanes  and  lie 
by  the  babbling  brook,  and  the  air  is  sweet  to  breathe,  and  the  peace  of 
the  great  All- Father  is  in  my  heart. 
Ah  !  this  is  England  ;  this  is  the  Motherland  which,  enshrined  in 
song  and  story,  has  struck  her  roors  deep  in  the  hearts  of  millions  in 
distant  lands  who,  though  of  English  blood,  have  never  seen  England. 
Not  London,  whose  greatness  drives  away  the  novice  in  an  unknown 
terror,  but  countryside  and  river,  and  lake  and  village,  and  wood  that 
take  the  wanderer  to  their  hearts,  and  seem  to  whisper,  ‘‘  Rest  ;  here  is 
peace.”  This  is  the  England  I  came  to  see ;  the  England  that  has 
made  the  breed  (  f  men  who  overrun  the  world.  Twenty  miles  away  is 
London — vast,  inconceivable.  They  say  that  there  men  win  world-wide 
fame,  imperial  power,  fabulous  wealth.  It  may  be  so.  Here  peace 
comes  to  us,  and — hear  that  blackbird  singing. 
- »  t - 
Hardy  Azaleas. 
The  value  of  Rhododendrons  is  familiar  to  all,  but  it  seems  that  the 
merits  of  hardy  Azaleas  are  not  fully  recognised  by  those  engaged  in 
the  formation  or  planting  of  new  gardens.  They  yield  their  flowers  in 
the  greatest  profusion,  the  colours  are  most  varied  and  rich,  and  a 
large  proportion  of  the  varieties  possess  a  pec  iliarly  powerful  yet 
agreeable  fragrance.  Many  of  those  that  flower  before  the  leaves  are 
fully  out  become  masses  of  the  richest  yellow,  orange,  red,  and  rose- 
shaded  flowers,  the  brilliant  effect  of  which  can  scarcely  be  realised  by 
those  who  have  not  seen  a  number  of  plants  together. 
Somewhat  sheltered  positions  suit  these  .Azaleas  best,  chiefly 
because  their  flowers  are  soon  damaged  by  wind  in  exposed  places. 
Similarly  they  do  not  thrive  in  very  dry  soil,  for  most  of  them  are 
derived  from  the  swamp-frequenting  North  American  species,  ar.d  even 
those  that  are  not  found  in  such  wet  localities  are  chiefly  confined  to 
woods  where  they  enjoy  considerable  moisture  and  protection.  The 
soil  must  be  well  drained,  and  though  a  compost  of  peat  and  loam  is 
generally  employed  the  former  is  not  essential,  as  tuify  loam  not  too 
heavy  with  a  good  proportion  of  leaf  soil  will  make  excellent  beds  for 
them.  The  hardy  Azaleas  cultivated  in  English  gardens  have 
originated  from  the  Mediterranean  A.  pontica,  the  North  American 
Azaleas  calendulacea,  uudiflora,  viscosa,  occideutalis  and  speoiosa,  and 
the  Chinese  or  Japanese  Azaleas  sinensis  or  m  Jlis.  These  have 
been  much  intercrossed,  and  the  respective  types  are  now  connected  by 
so  many  intermediate  forms  that  it  is  not  easy  to  classify  them  under 
their  respective  species.  In  the  older  forms  the  parentage  can  be  more 
readily  detected. 
All  these  species  are  extremely  variable,  frequently  sporting,  and 
by  natural  cross-fertilisation  they  had  yielded  a  number  of  varieties 
before  they  were  taken  in  hand  by  hybridisers  here.  They  were  first ' 
popularly  known  as  American  Azaleas,  and  subs*  qnently,  after  they 
had  received  much  attention  in  Belgium,  and  the  number  of  forms  had 
been  artificially  increased  very  largely,  they  became  known  as  Ghent 
Azaleas,  while  now  the  progeny  of  A.  mollis  are  commonly  termed 
Japanese  Azaleas,  and  a  collective  term  for  them  is  hardy  hybrid 
Azaleas.  The  European  A.  pontica,  which  is  found  in  Turkey  and  the 
Levant,  is  a  deciduous  shrub  with  ovate  ciliate  leaves  and  yellow  open 
shallow  corollas,  not  unlike  Rhododendron  ponticum,  but  readily 
distinguished  by  the  characters  named.  It  does  not  appear  to  have 
been  introduced  to  England  as  early  as  some  of  the  American  species, 
but  it  has  produced  a  number  of  varieties  ranging  in  colour  from  pure 
white  to  dark  coppery  orange,  and  it  has  been  useful  in  crossing  with 
the  other  species. 
Of  the  American  Azaleas,  one  of  the  first  brought  to  this  country 
was  A.  nudiflora,  which,  according  to  the  elder  Alton,  was  introduced 
by  Mr.  Peter  Collinson  in  173 1,  and  'before  the  close  of  the  century 
several  varieties  of  it  had  been  added  to  collections.  The  flowers  vary 
in  tint  from  white  to  blush,  pink,  rose,  red,  and  scarlet;  they  are  tubular 
in  shape,  and  suggestive  both  in  form  and  fragrance  of  the  Honey¬ 
suckle,  under  which  name,  with  the  prefix  Wild  or  Upright,  it  is  known 
in  the  United  States.  It  is  frequent  in  swampy  districts  in  several 
States,  and  Gray  remarks  that  the  varieties  are  numberless.  This  is  a 
charming  type,  owing  to  the  rich  colours  prevailing  in  the  flowers,  their 
powerful  fragrance,  and  the  freedom  with  which  they  are  produced 
before  the  leaves  are  fully  expanded.  It  is  also  known  as  the  M’ay- 
flower  in  America,  in  allusion  to  the  time  at  which  it  blooms.  Several 
scores  of  varieties  have  received  botanical  names  and  been  admitted  into 
authoritative  works,  and  the  characters  of  the  respective  soecies  are 
well  preserved  throughout.  As  the  White  Honeysuckle,  another 
American  species.  Azalea  viscosa,  is  familiarly  known  in  its  native 
home,  where  it  is  chiefly  found  in  swamps  near  the  coast  in  the 
northern  and  eastern  States.  This  materially  differs  from  the  preceding 
(introduced  at  the  same  time)  in  producing  i  s  flowers  when  the  leaves 
are  fully  expanded  ;  and  though  the  plant  is  beautiful,  it  does  not 
present  such  a  mass  of  colouring  as  A.  nudiflora.  The  shades,  too, 
have  not  so  wide  a  range,  being  confined  to  white  or  yellow  with  rosy 
tinge,  but  the  flowers  are  borne  in  large  trusses,  and  are  very  fragrant. 
The  flame-coloured  Azalea,  A.  calendulacea,  is  of  a  similar  habit  to 
A.  nudiflora,  but  has  larger,  more  open  flowers,  and  of  yellow,  orange, 
or  reddish  hues.  It  is  a  native  of  woods  and  mountains  in  Pennsyl¬ 
vania,  and  from  it  has  been  obtained  a  large  number  of  handsome 
varieties.  A.  speoiosa  and  A.  occidentalis,  allied  species,  have  also  been 
cjncerned  in  the  production  of  hardy  varieties,  but  the  foregoing  are 
the  principal  types.  With  regard  to  Azalea  mollis,  many  very  hand- 
some  forms  have  been  raised  from  it  during  the  past  twenty  years, 
surpassing  all  the  others  in  the  size  of  the  flowers  and  trusses,  but 
wanting  fragrance,  and  the  colours  only  consist  of  shades  of  yellow, 
orange,  or  reddish  orange.  They  are,  however,  extremely  handsome, 
very  early,  and  especially  useful  on  this  account  for  forcing,  as  though 
hardy  they  are  sometimes  damaged  by  our  late  spring  frosts. — 0. 
