244 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
March  26,  189?. 
blows;  but  closing  our  ears  to  all  insinuative  reminders  of  juicy 
“Georges”  and  luscious  Louise  Bonne*  we  look  lovingly  upon 
our  old  wall,  fill  our  dishe*  elsewhere,  and  let  trimuess  and 
tidiness  go  to  the  other  part  of  the  grounds.  It  is,  of  course, 
very  wrong — that  is,  so  far  as  the  right  side  of  the  wall  i* 
concerned,  and  we  duly  and  daily  feel  our  perverseness,  plead 
guilty,  but  can’t  give  way,  so  have  to  stand  a  fire  of  criticism,  from 
the  rough  and  ready  shots  of  our  handy  man  to  the  polished  shafts 
from  our  accomplished  chef,  who,  saying  less,  means  more,  for  the 
dignified  wave  of  his  hand  to  our  wall  when  hurrying  past  his 
friends  to  the  supreme  examples  of  law  and  order  appear  to 
“  Convey  a  libel  in  a  frown,  and  wink  a  (our)  reput ition  down.” 
Just  now  we  are  inflated  with  pride  as  the  bursting  buds  of 
glorious  patches  of  Daffodils  at  its  foot  tell  us  that  spring  has 
come.  Patches  that  one  may  walk  through  and  about  without 
leaving  tell-tale  footmarks  behind,  for  be  it  known  to  our 
shame  that  we  neither  delve  nor  dig  save  to  introduce  some 
especial  favourite  to  the  general  confusion.  Confusion?  No! 
There  is  method  in  our  madness,  as  you  may  see  by  those  grand 
masses  of  N.  princeps  now  waving  in  the  wind.  Horsefieldi’s, 
Emperors,  and  other  mighty  trumpets  play  no  mixed- medley,  each 
company  keeping  their  own  ground.  All  these  things,  and  more 
also,  are  under  the  protection  of  ourselves  and  the  old  wall,  but 
there  comes  wafted  down  from  the  crummiest  part  of  its  crumbling 
summit  a  delicious  perfume  recalling  the  wandering  senses  to  our 
chief  object.  Wallflower*  pure  and  simple,  not  fatted  up  with 
manure  for  the  beds,  but  bravely  holding  their  own  ;  humble 
members  of  their  kith  and  kin,  just  old  brown  and  golden  yellow. 
Away  at  the  far  end  where  the  trees  will  shade  from  the  noon¬ 
day  heat  of  summer  suns,  into  every  available  crevice,  and  they 
are  many,  more  shame  to  us  again,  Erinus  alpinus  has  crept ;  later  on 
the  setting  sun  which  finds  its  way  there  will  light  up  the  myriads  of 
tiny  blassoms  into  a  warm  glowing  mass  of  beauty.  Roses,  which 
(alas !)  will  never  deck  an  exhibition  board,  we  shall  fairly  revel  in, 
in  tangled  masses  of  yellow  B  inksians  and  white  multifloras.  At 
that  time  it  may  be  a  relief  to  retire  into  the  cool  shade  of  the 
other  side,  where  the  simple  Rue  Fern  and  the  Ceterach  are  at 
home.  At  the  foot  yet  rest  many  crowns  from  which  the  Lady 
Fern  will  soon  unroll  its  graceful  fronds.  Already,  here,  patches 
of  Venus’s  Navelwort,  Omphalodes  verna,  have  opened  their  eyes 
of  heaven’s  blue.  It  is  very  beautiful,  just  a  little  too  leafy,  but 
its  luxuriance  testifies  to  the  presence  of  the  limestone  which  it 
loves. 
Yet  one  would  fain  return  and  linger  at  the  south-west  side  of 
our  wall  where  the  sunbeams  are  trapped  and  note  how,  even  so 
early  in  the  season,  the  potent  days  are  warming  back  to  life  and 
beauty  climbers,  and  creepers,  things  above  and  things  below. 
Warmth  and  Life.  Our  feathered  friends  are  already  busy  ;  a  pair 
of  tits,  blue-headed  busybodies,  disappear  through  a  marvellously 
small  portal  into  a  snug  retreat,  whilst  there  are  sundry  nests  of 
the  blackbird  and  thrush,  last  year’s  homes,  in  excellent  repair  ; 
but  the  former  tenants  are  about  to  build  upon  other  eligible  sites, 
comprising  an  old  Magnolia,  sundry  varieties  of  Honeysuckle, 
Pyrus  japonica,  with  other  bushy  or  tangly  things.  We  have  a 
weakness  for  Ampelopsis  Veitchi,  so  much  so  that  a  little  restriction 
is  necessary  or  our  old  wall  would  soon  be  entirely  hidden  ;  but 
there  are  peeps  of  the  warm  red  crumbling  brick  that  one  would 
fain  keep. 
Years  ago  a  crimson  Snapdragon  settled  itself  in  a  breach  ;  it 
has  multiplied  and  replenished  on  that  particular  spot  in  the 
happiest  manner.  We  have,  of  course,  introduced  various  things 
with  partial  success  on  both  sides  of  our  wall,  of  which  we  may 
have  something  to  tell  later  on,  provided  that  contingencies  hinted 
at  are  averted.  Our  old  wall,  venerable,  picturesque,  comforting  on 
the  sunny  side  now  in  its  Riviera-like  clime  ;  grateful  on  the  other 
when  dog  days  deserve  their  name,  and  taken  all  together  and  at 
all  seasons  the  favourite  spot  in  a  favoured  garden  of  —  The 
Squire, 
HARDY  BULB  CULTURE  IN  ENGLAND. 
[By  F.  W.  Burbidge,  M.A.  Read  before  the  Birmingham  Gardeners’ 
Mutual  Improvement  Association,  March  15th,  1897.] 
We  are  told  by  politicians  nowadays  that  thrift  and  home 
industries  are  essential,  and  whilst  some  advocate  milk  or  meat,  or 
poultry  and  eggs,  or  jam  making,  or  the  “  busy  bee  ”  industry,  I 
will  advocate  bulb  culture.  We  have  here  in  Birmingham  our 
friends  Mr.  W.  Sydenham  and  Mr.  Pope,  and  others  interested 
in  bulbs,  but  I  should  like  to  see  every  small  farmer,  every  cottager 
and  allotment  holder,  and  even  the  railway  porters  growing  at  lqast 
a  few  bulbs  for  sale. 
In  Holland  and  elsewhere  it  is  the  small  growers  who  supply 
the  wholesale  growers  and  merchants,  and  I  should  like  to  see  the 
day  when  Mr.  Sydenham  and  others  of  our  great  bulb  merchancs 
are  not  obliged  to  go  over  to  Holland  with  their  big  cheque  books 
once  or  twice  a  year.”  Bulb  growing  is  safer  and  more  pleasant 
than  gold  or  diamond  mining,  even  though,  perhaps,  not  quite  so 
profitable  as  “bicycle  booms”  and  breweries,  or  some  cornered 
shares  on  ’Change.  We  all  want  more  faith.  If  the  English 
gardener  has  one  greater  fault  than  another  to-day,  it  is  that  he 
does  not  believe  in  himself,  and  in  the  soil  and  climate  of  his  native 
land. 
So  far  as  general  energy  and  garden  skill  are  concerned  no 
gardener  on  earth  can  beat  the  English  gardener,  and  what  seems 
to  me  of  paramount  importance  just  at  this  juncture  is  that  the 
English  gardener  should  have  faith  in  his  own  ability,  and  more 
especially  faith  in  his  own  climate  and  in  his  own  soil.  He  should 
also  be  more  eager  and  careful  to  learn  thoroughly  the  technics 
of  special  cultures,  whether  of  fruit  trees,  vegetables,  flowers,  or 
bulbs.  We  want  the  intimate  and  special  practical  training  that 
the  Dutch  bulb  growers  turn  to  such  a  national  advantage.  This 
is  no  new  Gospel,  for  the  text  itself  has  been  preached  from  the 
days  of  Dr.  Bulleyne  of  Ely,  in  1570,  to  those  of  Miller,  of  Chelsea, 
in  1731.  Miller,  in  his  great  “Gardeners’  Dictionary”  under 
“Tulip,”  especially  recommends  English  growers  to  compete  with 
those  of  France  and  Flanders  or  Holland  in  the  rearing  of  these 
and  other  hardy  bulbous  flowers  from  seed.  My  present  object  is 
twofold,  and  I  wish  to  show  that  bulb  culture  may  be  a  profitable 
form  of  land  culture,  and  that  the  rearing  of  new  varieties  of 
bulbous  flowers  from  home-grown  seeds  may  be  a  most  intellectual 
and  interesting  pursuit  whether  it  be  profitable  or  otherwise. 
It  has  been  well  said  by  many  good  authorities  that  English 
farming  in  the  future  will  resolve  itself  into  “  gardening  in  the 
fields”— tba1'  is  to  say,  that  at  a  time  when  corn  and  meat  and  wool 
can  be  imported  as  cheaply  or  more  so  than  we  can  grow  them  for 
ourselves,  then  English  soil  wherever  suitable  may  be  best  utilised 
in  growing  fresh  flowers,  fruits,  vegetables,  milk,  and  other  com¬ 
modities  not  so  easily  and  cheaply  imported  to  our  shores. 
Bulb  culture  in  Holland,  and  South  France  and  Italy,  in  the 
Channel  Islands  and  in  Cornwall,  and  in  the  Isles  of  Scilly,  has 
proved  to  be  the  most  profitable  of  all  cultures  on  suitable  sites 
and  soils.  The  soil,  and  especially  the  mild  and  early  climate  in 
Scilly,  is  an  advantage  ;  but  the  methods  of  culture  there  are 
generally  of  a  very  simple  and  ordinary  kind.  The  same  is  true 
in  some  other  parts  of  England,  as  in  Lincolnshire,  in  many  market 
gardens  and  nurseries  near  London,  and  in  the  Isle  of  Wight. 
There  are  already  hundreds  of  acres  in  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland  under  bulb  culture,  but  there  is  room  and  demand  for 
more.  We  may  never  export  many  home-grown  bulbs,  but  so  far 
as  Narcissi,  Crocus  and  Tulips  are  concerned,  we  might  easily  grow 
our  own  supply.  There  are  many  growers  here  and  there  who  are 
making  a  good  living,  even  though  not  a  fortune,  by  careful  bulb 
culture.  As  you  go  about  through  the  country,  and  especially  near 
most  large  towns,  you  see  rows  and  strips  of  bulbs  almost  every¬ 
where.  Now  that  is  a  good  sign,  and  though  the  cultivators  do  not 
stand  shouting  out  to  the  passer-by  as  to  bulbs  being  a  paying  crop, 
yet  it  is  true  all  the  same.  A  man  who  is  doing  a  good  business 
is,  as  a  rule,  a  sober  and  industrious  man,  content  to  eat  a  meaty 
bone  in  peace  and  quietness. 
Let  us  ask  what  a  bulb  really  is  ? 
A  bulb  is  simply  a  large  bud  with  close-packed  fleshy  leaves,  or 
leaf  baseB,  in  which  ate  stored  an  accumulation  of  starch,  sugar,  and 
other  concentrated  plant  food.  As  hibernating  animals  store  up 
fatty  matter  before  going  to  sleep  for  the  winter,  so  do  bulbs  store 
up  surplus  food  and  hide  themselves  underground  so  as  to  go 
through  cold  or  drought  unharmed.  This  habit  renders  bulbs  so 
handy  and  convenient  for  distribution  at  certain  seasons  of  the 
year.  Bulbous  plants  are  due  to  sudden  changes  of  temperature  or 
of  drought  and  moisture,  such  as  occur  in  the  great  natural  bulb 
fields  of  the  world.  These  are  in  Southern  and  Eastern  Europe,  in 
*  At  the  very  lowest  salculation,  England  pays  £100,000  to  the  Dutch  bulb 
growers  every  year. 
