568 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
June  24,  1897. 
Along  with  the  cultivation  of  these,  hardy  and  half-hardy  annuals 
have  come  into  great  request,  and  I  notice  that  there  is  a  tendency  to 
grow  the  simpler  formed  flowers  in  preference  to  the  very  double  ones, 
such  as  the  Aster  and  the  Marigold.  Two  double  flowers,  however,  still 
maintain  their  place — the  Rose  and  the  Dahlia — though  in  both  cases 
single  forms  have  been  much  sought  after,  and  were  at  one  time  very 
popular.  There  is  another  flower  which  was  at  one  time  considered  the 
almost  exclusive  property  of  the  florist,  which  has,  however,  become  as 
popular  as  either  of  the  preceding — I  mean  the  Carnation  ;  its  delicious 
perfame  and  its  brilliant  colour  soon  made  for  it  a  place  in  all  well- 
ordered  gardens,  and  now  what  are  called  border  varieties  are  eagerly 
sought  after.  Great  impetus  has  been  given  to  their  culture  by  the 
establishment  of  the  southern  branch  of  the  National  Carnation  and 
Picotee  Society  (although  that  was  not  the  purpose  for  which  it  was 
established),  and  by  the  liberal  action  of  Mr.  Martin  R.  Smith,  who  is 
a  most  enthusiastic  cultivator,  and  who  distributes  every  year  to  all 
its  members  a  packet 
of  his  carefully  hy¬ 
bridised  seed.  I  can 
personally  testify  to 
the  excellence  and 
variety  of  the  flowers 
thus  obtained. 
C II  ANISES  UNDER 
Glass. 
So  far,  then,  as  re¬ 
gards  the  progress  of 
gardening  in  its  out- 
of-door  aspect  ;  but 
what  shall  we  say  to 
the  greenhouse  and 
stove  portions  ?  Here 
the  change  has  been 
as  great  as  in  the 
other  case.  Orchid 
houses  1  Why,  one 
can  recollect  the  time 
when  these  were  few 
and  far  between ;  but 
now  they  are  every¬ 
where  to  be  seen,  and 
in  the  vicinity  of 
some  of  our  most 
smoky  towns  — 
notably  Manchester 
—  the  plants  have 
found  many  enthusi¬ 
astic  and  successful 
cultivators.  Out-of- 
door  gardening  is 
pursued  in  such  districts  under  great  difficulties,  and  hence  the  culture 
of  plants  under  glass  has  seemed  more  congenial  and  more  suited  to 
the  surroundings,  and  in  places  where  only  two  or  three  were  grown 
large  collections  are  now  to  be  found.  One  curious  change  has  taken 
place  in  the  cultivation  of  greenhouse  plants — that  is,  the  unpopularity 
of  the  Camellia;  The  flowers  are  beautiful  in  form  and  in  the  purity 
of  their  colouring  ;  but  |many  people  think  them  too  stiff,  while 
they  are  quite  devoid  of  perfume.  Ladies  gave  them  an  unkind  blow 
when  they  refused  to  use  them  for  personal  decoration,  and  preferred 
the  less  formal  and  sweetly  scented  Rose. 
with  large  overgrown  specimen  Ferns  and  flowering  plants,  neither 
the  owner  or  his  family  being  able  to  gather  any  of  them  for  fear  they 
should  spoil  the  symmetry  of  the  plants. 
Fig.  118. — Melon  Frogmore  Orange  (page  555). 
One  might  say  a  good  deal  on  the  progress  which  has  been  made  in 
the  culture  of  Orchids.  No  such  magnificent  collections  as  those  of  Sir 
Trevor  Lawrence  or  Baron  Schroder  were  to  be  seen  in  the  earlier  days 
of  her  Majesty's  reign.  The  fabulous  prices  which  have  been  given  for 
Orchids  sufficiently  attest  the  enthusiasm,  and  I  may  add  the  deep 
pockets,  of  some  of  our  Orchid  fanciers  of  the  present  day.  Then, 
too,  it  has  been  found  many  of  them  do  not  require  the  excessive 
heat  which  they  were  supposed  to  need,  and  the  term  cool-house  Orchids 
shows  how  this  change  has  operated  ;  aDd  the  enormously  enlarged 
establishments  of  Messrs.  Veitch,  Sander,  Bull,  Williams  &  Son  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  London,  and  many  others  in  the  provinces,  clearly 
indicate  how  great  is 
the  demand. 
MARKET  GARDENING 
But  perhaps  in  no 
department  of  gar¬ 
dening  has  the 
change  been  greater 
than  that  of  market 
gardening,  especially 
as  regards  the  culti¬ 
vation  of  fruits  and 
vegetables  under 
glass.  Let  anyone 
go  through  the  mar¬ 
ket  gardens  in  the 
neighbourhood  of 
London,  east,  west, 
north,  and  south — in 
Essex,  Middlesex, 
Surrey,  Herts,  and 
visit  such  districts  as 
Broxbourne,  Ches- 
hunt,  Ham,  Hamp¬ 
ton,  Finchley,  Swan- 
ley,  Dartford,  and  if 
he  has  not  before  seen 
them  they  will  indeed 
be  a  revelation. 
When  you  can  go 
into  one  house  and 
see  7  tons  of  the  most 
perfectly  finished 
Grapes,  and  when 
you  know  that  this 
house  is  but  a  sample  of  others  in  the  same  grounds  where  there  are 
20  acres  of  glass  ;  or  let  him  go  to  another  from  whence  the  pro¬ 
prietor  has  sent  to  Covent  Garden  100  tons  of  Grapes  in  the  season ; 
or  let  him  talk  to  Mr.  George  Monro,  the  eminent  salesman,  who  will 
tell  him  that  in  the  four  days  preceding  Christmas,  1896,  4  tons  of 
Grapes  passed  through  his  hands,  he  will  be  able  to  appreciate  the 
wonderful  progress  that  has  been  made  in  this  department. 
We  find  now  in  our  greenhouses  a  more  varied  collection  of  mis¬ 
cellaneous  plants  of  small  size.  This  is  occasioned  by  the  taste  for  plants 
for  house  decoration,  and  especially  for  the  dinner  table,  which  shows 
the  happy  change  which  has  taken  place  in  dinner  arrangements  ;  so 
that  instead  of  the  heavy  and  strong  smelling  dishes  which  used  to  be 
placed  on  our  tables,  and  under  which  they  groaned,  we  have  the 
utmost  skill  and  intelligence  used  in  decorating  them  with  flowers  in 
various  ways.  Table  decoration  has  also  gone  through  various  changes. 
Many  can  remember  when  a  sort  of  young  forest  of  Palms,  Ferns,  &c., 
completely  enveloped  the  guests,  and  tables  were  specially  made  to 
insert  the  pots  in  which  these  plants  were  grown.  We  rarely  now  see  the 
huge  plants  which  were  at  one  time  considered  the  best  witness  to  the 
gardener’s  skill.  One  case  I  call  to  mind  in  which  the  owner  had  come 
into  a  large  and  unexpected  windfall,  and  spent  thousands  of  pounds  in 
erecting  a  magnificent  range  of  houses,  and  these  were  entirely  filled 
Connected  with  this  one  cannot  but  notice  the  remarkable  develop¬ 
ment  that  has  taken  place  in  the  culture  of  the  Tomato.  One  can  see 
acres  of  houses  100  to  200  feet  long  filled  with  this  wholesome  and 
agreeable  vegetable  or  fruit  (whichever  we  call  it).  I  can  remember 
the  time  when  it  was  considered  poisonous,  and  on  about  the  same  level 
as  the  berries  of  the  Potato.  We  used  in  bygone  days  to  grow  a  plant 
of  it  in  our  greenhouses  on  account  of  its  ornamental  fruit,  and  it  then 
went  under  the  name  of  Love  Apple.  At  first  Covent  Garden  used  to 
be  supplied  from  abroad,  and  even  now  in  the  early  part  of  the  season 
France,  Spain,  and  the  Canary  Islands  supply  us  with  them ;  but  as  in 
the  case  of  fruit,  as  soon  as  we  can  get  our  home-grown  plants  into 
bearing  the  foreigner  is  “  obliged  to  take  a  back  seat ;  ”  and  as  there  are 
no  Peaches,  Nectarines,  or  Grapes  equal  to  those  in  our  hothouses,  so  all 
Tomatoes  are  inferior  to  those  with  which  our  market  gardeners  supply 
the  London  and  other  markets.  Those  amateurs  who  have  small 
greenhouses  have  got  into  a  way  of  growing  Tomatoes  for  their 
own  use,  and  they  are  always  a  welcome  addition  to  the  dinner 
table.  As  one  who  can  remember  the  suspicion  with  which  they 
