June  24,  1897. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
573 
the  most  marvellous  products  of  the  gardener’s  skill  are  brought  together 
from  all  parts  of  the  country,  and  when  those  interested  in  them  have 
an  opportunity  of  meeting  and  discussing  matters  connected  with 
horticulture.  _ 
I  thiDk,  too,  that  one  may  say  that  the  establishment  of  the  Horti¬ 
cultural  dab  has  tended  towards  the  same  end.  It  has  now  been  in 
existence  since  1875,  and  has  greatly  tended  towards  the  cultivation  of 
kindly  feelings  between  all  classes  of  horticulturists.  One  cannot  forget 
that  it  was  at  one  of  its  meetings  that  the  proposition  was  brought 
forward  which  broke  the  icy  wall  that  had  frozen  the  Royal  Horticultural 
Society,  and  that  ultimately  ended  in  such  good  results.  It  has  been 
made,  too,  the  medium  of  returning  to  the  foreign  horticulturist  that 
hospitality  which  Englishmen  are  sure  to  receive  both  in  France  and 
Belgium,  and  very  warm  have  been  the  expressions  made  by  those  whom 
the  Club  has  welcomed  to  its  gatherings. 
Charitable  and  Provident  Institutions. 
The  last  sixty  years  have  also  witnessed  the  wonderful  progress 
made  by  the  Royal  Gardeners’  Benevolent  Institution,  and  by  its 
younger  sister  the  Royal  Gardeners’  Orphan  Fund.  These  must  both 
tend  to  the  encouragement  of  gardeners,  and  so  to  that  of  the  craft.  I 
hear  it  sometimes  said  that  gardeners  ought  to  support  the  former  more 
than  they  do,  and  perhaps  they  ought  ;  but  then  it  mast  be  remembered 
that  a  gardener’s  situation  is  not  a  permanent  one,  and  so  he  may  be 
unable  to  continue  the  subscription,  which  he  may  be  sorry  to  give  up. 
The  Royal  Gardeners’  Orphan  Fand  was  instituted,  as  we  all  know,  in 
honour  of  Her  Majesty’s  Jubilee  ten  years  ago,  and  its  progress,  I  think, 
has  surprised  even  those  who  watched  over  its  cradle.  I  remember 
talking  over  with  some  of  its  promoters  as  to  what  form  it  should  take, 
and  it  was  strongly  urged  that  that  which  many  advocated  should  be 
avoided ;  and  I  am  sure  the  Society  has  no  cause  to  regret  that  this 
advice  was  adopted,  and  it  is  a  great  consolation  to  a  gardener  that 
should  his  life  not  be  spared  his  children  may  not  want  a  helping 
hand  to  bring  them  forward.  There  are  other  institutions  of  a  most 
commendable  kind,  such  as  the  United  Horticultural  Provident  Institu¬ 
tion,  which  have  excellent  objects  in  view  ;  but  the  two  first  named  are 
the  principal  charitable  ones  which  appeal  to  the  sympathies  and  kindly 
actions  of  all  horticulturists. 
Enterprise  in  Collecting  Plants. 
There  are  unquestionably  two  sources  from  whence  the  great  advance 
in  gardening  has  sprung,  and  which  cannot  be  left  out  of  consideration 
here.  I  mean  the  efforts  of  foreign  collectors  to  introduce  new  species 
into  our  gardens,  and  the  efforts  of  the  hybridiser.  With  regard  to  the 
first  of  these  there  are  two  elements  in  it — the  enterprise  of  those  who 
send  out  these  collectors,  and  the  efforts  of  the  men  themselves,  while 
there  are  others  as  amateurs  who  have  gone  out  on  their  own  initiative, 
and  all  combined  have  added  materially  to  the  enrichment  of  our 
gardens.  Hardly  any  part  of  the  world  has  escaped  the  plant  hunter. 
He  has  gone  to  the  tropical  regions  of  Asia  and  Africa  and  America,  he 
has  swept  over  the  cold  regions  of  the  North,  has  climbed  the  alpine 
heights  of  Central  Europe,  of  the  Himalayas,  has  brought  home  the 
treasures  of  that  paradise  of  bulbs,  South  Africa ;  he  has  visited  the 
Southern  seas  and  the  Australian  colonies,  and  the  gardens  of  all,  high 
and  low,  rich  and  poor,  have  benefited  by  his  energy  and  research. 
Probably  the  richest  field  has  been  what  sixty  years  ago  was  an 
almost  unknown  region — the  islands  of  Japan.  Botanists  like  Thun- 
berg  had  visited  it,  and  described  its  productions  ;  pictures  drawn  by 
Japanese  artists  of  their  indigenous  flowers  had  reached  us.  Most 
people  considered  these  were  exaggerations,  while  others  thought  they 
were  such  clever  imitators  of  Nature  that  they  must  have  had  the 
flowers  before  them  when  they  made  the  drawings.  When,  then,  the 
old  exclusive  system  of  Government  was  broken  up,  and  Japan  no 
longer  remained  a  sealed  book,  it  was  no  wonder  that  some  of  our 
enterprising  firms  at  home  turned  their  attention  to  the  far  East,  and 
sent  out  those  who  might  be  worthy  representatives,  and  on  whose 
skill,  intelligence,  and  energy  they  might  depend. 
The  First  English  Flowered  Lilium  auratum. 
Mr.  John  Gould  Veitch,  of  the  great  Chelsea  firm,  and  Mr.  Robert 
Fortune,  in  connection  with  the  late  Mr.  John  Standish,  did  their  best 
to  explore  the  country,  and  what  riches  they  found  to  reward  their 
labours.  Well  do  I  remember  the  feverish  anxiety  with  which  the 
opening  of  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society’s  Gardens  at  Kensington  in 
1861  was  looked  forward  to.  Would  such  and  such  plants  be  in  flower  1 
and  would  they  be  fit  for  exhibition  on  the  opening  day  1  and  well  do  I 
recollect  the  delight  with  which  my  old  friend  John  Standish  placed 
upon  the  table  a  plant  of  Lilium  auratum — the  first  that  had  ever  been 
seen  in  flower  in  England — with  just  one  bloom  open,  a  plant  which 
Mr.  Rucker  of  Wandsworth  carried  off  in  great  triumph,  after  having 
paid  fifteen  guineas  for  it.  This  was  the  first-fruits  of  a  mighty  harvest. 
Millions  of  bulbs  we  may  say  of  this  Lily  have  since  been  imported,  and 
many  of  them  have  been  obtainable  at  the  cost  of  a  few  pence.  But 
with  all  this  the  progress  of  horticulture  has  not  conquered  the  difficulty 
of  the  culture  of  this  Lily  ;  indeed,  it  has  almost  come  to  be  considered 
as  an  annual.  The  (to  my  mind)  far  more  beautiful  Lilium  speciosam 
was  introduced  a  few  years  before  this,  but  its  importation  in  large 
quantities  bringing  it  within  the  reach  of  all  must  be  placed  at  this 
period. 
Ampelopsis  Veitchi. 
It  is  not  in  Lilies  alone  that  these  explorers  added  to  the  treasures  of 
our  garden  ;  there  were  flowering  shrubs  and  trees  of  ornamental  foliage, 
such  as  the  Maples  and  Clematis,  and  also  herbaceous  plants,  which  have 
found  their  way  in  the  gardens  wherever  attention  is  given  to  the 
cultivation  of  what  will  add  to  their  ornamentation.  Probably  the 
most  popular  and  useful  plant  which  we  owe  to  Mr.  Yeitch’s  energy  is 
Ampelopsis  Veitchi,  and  when  I  look  upon  my  church,  the  south  side  of 
which  covered  by  its  growth,  and  which  is  one  blaze  of  scarlet  in 
autumn,  I  cannot  but  feel  how  great  is  the  debt  we  owe  to  its  introducer. 
We  cannot  forget  the  services  of  collectors  in  the  enrichment  of  our 
gardens  when  we  see  what  a  change  has  been  wrought  by  Mr.  Fortune’s 
introduction  of  the  little  Chusan  Daisy,  as  it  was  called,  the  forerunner 
of  our  Pompon  Chrysanthemum;  or  the  11  Ragged  Jacks”  of  the 
TapaneBe  Chrysanthemum,  which  was  so  sneered  at  at  first,  but  which 
has  shown  such  marvellous  development  that  missionaries  and  military 
men  have  in  no  small  degree  added  to  the  beauty  of  our  gardens.  Such 
men  as  Mr.  Parish  in  Burma  and  Mr.  Ellis  in  Madagascar  have  shown 
that,  in  addition  to  their  own  special  work,  they  were  able  to  help 
forward  the  introduction  of  ^beautiful,  and,’  rare\Orchids ;  whi’e  quite 
Fig.  123.— Arched  Pear  Trellises  ( page  558). 
lately  Mr.  Henry  of  N.  China  has  discovered  and  introduced  into  our 
gardens  one  of  the  most  beautiful  of  Lilies,  Lilium  Henri. 
African  and  American  Plants. 
Then  again  what  marvellous  and  beautiful  additions  have  been  made 
from  what  I  have  called  that  paradise  of  bulbous  plants,  SouthiAfrica, 
amongst  which  one  must  include  that  loveliest  of  terrestrial  Orchids  Disa 
grandiflora.  This  was  known  before  the  period  to  which  I  allude,  but  no 
one  had  mastered  its  cultivation  until  the  late  Mr.  Charles  Leach  took 
it  in  hand  and  exhibited  it  in  full  bloom  at  the  opening  show  of  South 
