208 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER 
September  15  1898. 
SOLANUM  WENDLANDI. 
Ornamental  and  useful  plants  of  widely  diversified  characteristics 
are  found  in  the  genus  Solanum,  and  in  one  form  or  another  they  are 
to  be  found  in  almost  every  garden.  We  would  now  draw  attention  to 
S.  Wendlandi,  of  which  is  given  an  illustration  (fig.  37)  as  being  excellent 
for  stove  culture.  It  is  a  remarkably  floriferous  climbing  shrub  that 
may  be  worthily  added  to  any  collection  where  space  is  at  disposal. 
The  flowers  are  rich  purplish  crimson  in  colour,  and  an  idea  of  their 
attractiveness  may  be  taken  from  the  woodcut.  A  stove  temperature 
is  essential  to  success,  as  are  a  moist  atmosphere  and  a  well-drained 
soil,  whether  grown  in  large  pots  or  narrow  borders.  Provide  a  sub¬ 
stantial  compost  at  the  outset,  and  when  the  plants  are  in  active  growth 
afford  supplies  of  good  liquid  manure  in  addition  to  the  pure  water. 
Tike  many  other  stove  plants  it  is  liable  to  the  attacks  of  insect  pests, 
and  for  their  prevention  the  syringe  must  be  frequently  requisitioned. 
Treat  the  plants  generously,  and  they  will  give  a  splendid  reward  in 
the  abundance  of  flowers  produced  during  the  late  summer  months. 
S.  Wendlandi  usually  commences  to  flower  in  April,  and  continues  to 
bloom  profusely  for  about  four  months. 
VICTORIAN  GARDENING. 
Among  other  interesting  articles  in  the  July  issue  of  the 
“Quarterly  Review”®  (No.  357)  appears  one  under  the  heading  of 
“  Curtis’s  Botanical  Magazine,”  which  should  he  of  interest  to 
botanists  and  horticulturists.  We  are  reminde'd  that  the  magazine 
was  commenced  by  William  Curtis  in  1787,  and  is  now  conducted 
by  Sir  Joseph  Hooker.  It  consists  of  123  volumes,  and  the  able 
reviewer  thinks  it  may  not  be  uninteresting  to  consider  some  of  the 
changes  that  have  passed  over  gardening  during  the  period  which  it 
covers.  We  take  a  few  extracts,  because  they  are  interesting  in 
themselves,  and  also  indicate  the  character  of  the  article,  though  by 
no  means  the  whole  of  its  features  can  be  represented  here. 
The  gardens  of  England  at  the  close  of  the  year  1799  offered  a 
complete  contrast  to  those  on  which  that  century  had  dawned,  and  the 
transformations  through  which  they  have  passed  in  the  last  hundred 
years  have  been  no  less  numerous  or  varied.  .  .  .  Many  British  gardens 
have  been  completely  transformed,  and  now  present  features  totally 
distinct  from  any  which  characterised  those  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
This  alteration  of  ideals  is  only  one  of  the  many  changes  which  have 
helped  to  develop  the  modern  garden.  In  all  the  numerous  departments 
of  horticulture,  which  touches  botany  on  the  one  hand  and  agriculture  on 
the  other,  and  includes  within  its  limits  even  chemistry  and  architecture, 
vast  progress  has  been  made.  .  .  .  During  the  first  half  of  this  century 
botanists  were  3till  thinking  out  theories  to  account  for  various  phenomena 
in  plant  life  ;  at  the  present  day,  on  the  other  hand,  the  results  of  their 
labours  are  taught  even  in  elementary  text-books.  It  is  impossible  to 
exaggerate  the  power  which  these  scientific  truths  have  placed  in  the 
hands  of  practical  gardeners. 
'Garden  design  has  passed  through  numerous  phases  during  the 
present  century.  Architects  and  landscape  gardeners  can  be  held 
accountable  for  many  changes  ;  but  in  spite  of  all  their  efforts  to  regulate 
the  form  of  a  garden,  the  plants  themselves  have,  as  it  were,  the  power 
to  control  and  direct  design  in  a  greater  measure  than  is  usuallv 
supposed.  .  .  .  Early  Victorian  gardens  are  nearly  all  in  the  Italian 
style,  with  terraces,  balustrades,  fountains,  and  statues.  Numbers  of 
large  gardens  were  planned  in  this  fashion  betwoen  the  years  1840  and 
1860  by  Paxton,  Nesfield,  and  Barry,  three  of  the  most  eminent  garden 
architects  of  the  period,  and  many  of  them  are  extremely  beautiful.  To 
keep  such  Italian  gardens  aglow  with  gaudy  flowers  was  the  first  object 
of  practical  gardeners,  and  just  at  this  time  many  half-hardy  flowers  were 
being  introduced  which  were  peculiarly  suited  to  their  purpose.  The 
natural  sequence  of  events  led  to  the  banishment  of  many  less  showy 
hardy  plants  to  make  room  for  their  more  sensitive  rivals,  and  thus 
the  “  bedding-out  ”  system  became  firmly  rooted.  .  .  .  This  rage  for 
Geraniums,  Calceolarias,  and  other  brillian'tly  coloured  half-hardy  plants 
pervaded  almost  every  garden  in  the  kingdom,  till  numbers  of  the  old- 
fashioned  hardy  plants  fell  out  of  sight.  The  restoration  of  many  of 
these  forgotten  plants,  and  the  assignment  to  hardy  herbaceous  flowers  of 
a  foremost  place  again  in  gardens,  have  been  among  the  most  marked 
developments  of  modern  gardening. 
This  century  has  witnessed  the  importation  of  countless  plants,  now 
so  familiar  in  gardens  that  it  is  difficult  to  realise  that  many  of  the  most 
popular  among  them  are  of  very  recent  introduction.  Since  the  very 
commencement  of  the  century  collectors  have  been  busy  in  all  parts  of 
the  world.  Much  has  been  done  by  private  enterprise.  Many  able  men 
have  been  sent  on  special  expeditions  by  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society, 
and  a  great  debt  of  gratitude  is  also  owed  to  the  large  firms  of  nursery¬ 
men  who  have  sent  their  collectors  to  every  quarter  of  the  world. 
Between  1800  and  1850  perhaps  the  largest  number  of  new  plants  came 
from  India.  Many  were  sent  home  by  William  Roxburgh,  some  of  the 
first  Orchids,  including  Vandas  and  Dendrobiums,  being  among  the 
number.  Quantities  were  collected  by  Dr.  Wallich  and  other  botanists, 
and  from  1848  to  1850  Sir  Joseph  Hooker  was  making  adventurous 
j  mrneys  in  unexplored  regions  of  the  Himalayas,  in  Sikkim,  Thibet,  and 
Nepaul,  and  finding  wondrous  Rhododendrons,  tropical  plants  from  the 
valleys  and  plains,  and  hardy  ones  from  regions  near  the  eternal 
snows.  .  .  .  Some  few  plants  were  imported  from  China  before  1820, 
Pasonies,  Chrysanthemums,  Wistaria,  and  Japan  Quince  among  the 
number  ;  but  it  was  not  until  after  the  Chinese  war  of  1842  that  they 
came  in  considerable  numbers.  The  energetic  and  adventurous  collector, 
Robert  Fortune,  penetrated  into  the  country  after  the  conclusion  of  peace, 
and  was  rewarded  by  the  discovery  of  innumerable  floral  treasures.  .  .  . 
Quite  lately  a  large  number  of  plants  has  been  found  in  Western  China 
which  are  likely  to  prove  hardy  in  the  open  air  in  England.  ...  In 
Africa  the  collection  of  plants  has  followed  the  advance  of  civilisation. 
New  varieties  of  Gladiolus,  Ixia,  and  Arum  (Richardia)  have  been  added 
to  the  older  ones  of  late  years,  while  the  species  of  Friesia,  so  popular 
among  greenhouse  spring  flowers,  was  sent  from  South  Africa  as  recently 
as  1875.  About  the  same  time  the  brilliant  Montbretia  Pottsi,  from  the 
same  locality,  first  became  known  in  the  hardy  flower  garden.  The  first 
to  collect  plants  in  British  Central  Africa  was  Sir  John  Kirk,  while 
travelling  with  Livingstone  between  1858  and  1863,  when  he  went  up  the 
Shire  and  discovered  Lake  Nyassa. 
It  cannot  fail  to  strike  the  casual  observer  that  it  is  wonderful  how 
plentiful  many  of  these  plants  of  recent  introduction  have  become,  and 
truly  the  numbers  in  which  many  are  imported  are  astonishing.  .  .  . 
Large  importations  of  plants  from  Japan  are  of  almost  daily  occurrence. 
The  principal  sale  of  these  takes  place  at  the  mart  of  Messrs.  Protheroe 
and  Morris,  who  dispose  of  countless  thousands  of  plants.  Such  sales 
as  the  following,  of  Lilies  from  Japan,  are  of  constant  recurrence  : — 
“  March  16th,  1898. — 11,080  Lilium  auratum,  14,020  L.  speciosum  album, 
1440  L.  tigrinum  splendens,  and  other  Lilies,  the  contents  of  395  cases 
just  received  from  Japan.”  Large  quantities  of  Lilium  longiflorum  var. 
Harrisi  are  grown  in  Bermuda,  hence  the  Lily  has  become  popularly 
known  as  “the  Bermuda  Lily,”  although  a  native  of  Japan — bulbs  to  the 
value  of  £20,000  being  supplied  from  there  annually  to  the  United  States 
and  Europe.  Within  the  last  few  years  efforts  have  been  made  to  culti¬ 
vate  this  Lily  in  Natal  for  export  to  Europe.  Four  thousand  from  there 
were  sold  in  London  in  April,  1897,  for  about  15s.  per  hundred  ;  the 
bulbs  have  proved  good,  but  flowered  nearly  three  months  later  than 
those  from  Bermuda.  The  msst  marvellous  importations  of  plants  have 
been  those  of  Orchids.  Species  which  were  extremely  rare  twenty  years 
ago  are  now  quite  common,  and  the  prices  given  to-day  in  many  cases  are 
a  smaller  number  of  shillings  than  formerly  they  were  pounds. 
Almost  every  family  of  cultivated  plants  is  undergoing  improvement 
in  the  florists’  hands.  .  .  .  The  florists’  flowers  of  to-day  are  many  of 
them  so  widely  different  from  the  parent  plant  as  to  be  scarcely  recognis¬ 
able  at  first  sight.  The  large  Calceolarias  are  a  gradual  development 
from  the  first  hybrid  which  was  produced,  by  Penny,  at  Milford  Nursery 
in  1830,  from  Calceolaria  arachnoides  and  purpurea.  The  wonderful 
tuberous  Begonias,  double  and  single,  in  every  shade  of  red,  pink,  yellow, 
and  white,  which  now  form  such  a  brilliant  display  in  greenhouse  and 
summer  garden,  could  not  have  been  imagined  but  a  few  years  ago.  .  .  . 
The  results  of  the  artificial  hybridisation  of  Orchids  have  been  eminently 
satisfactory,  and  every  year  new  ones  appear,  in  spite  of  the  length  of 
time  it  takes  to  produce  specimens.  Some  fresh  combination,  productive 
of  a  new  variety  of  form  or  colour,  is  frequently  the  greatest  attraction  at 
the  horticultural  shows.  These  exhibitions  are  such  conspicuous  institu¬ 
tions  nowadays,  and  florists  depend  on  them  to  such  a  great  extent  to  see 
what  other  gardeners  have  been  accomplishing,  that  it  is  difficult  to 
realise  that  they  are  of  comparatively  recent  origin. 
The  earliest  record  of  anything  at  all  approaching  shows  were  the 
“  florists’  feasts,”  held  at  Norwich  in  the  seventeenth  century,  and 
mentioned  by  the  naturalist  Ray  about  1660  as  then  existing.  It  was 
customary  at  these  feasts  to  make  some  award  for  the  best  flower  of  the 
year.  Other  forerunners  of  shows  were  the  meetings  held  early  in  the 
following  century  by  “  A  Society  of  Gardeners.”  These  were  instituted 
by  twenty  of  the  leading  gardeners  and  nurserymen  in  and  near  London, 
and  they  met  once  a  month  for  some  six  years,  usually  at  Newhall’s 
coffee  house  in  Chelsea.  Flowers  were  brought  for  inspection,  and  a 
classified  list  was  prepared,  a  portion  of  which,  dealing  with  flowering 
shrubs,  was  published  with  fine  illustrations  by  the  Society  in  1730. 
Some  of  the  earliest  shows  were  those  held  for  exhibiting  Auriculas, 
Pinks,  and  Carnations  at  the  beginning  of  this  century.  The  Florist 
Society,  by  which  this  work  was  started,  met  together  about  three  times 
a  year,  and  combined  the  judging  of  flowers  and  awarding  of  prizes  with 
a  sociable  dinner. 
In  the  London  parks  the  spring  flowers  are  a  great  charm.  The 
grass  is  spangled  with  many  shades  of  Crocuses,  and  the  brilliant  blue 
carpets  of  Chionodoxas  are  a  joy  to  all  beholders.  These  bright  star- 
like  flowers,  so  striking  as  almost  to  eclipse  the  Scilla  sibirica,  are  of 
very  recent  introduction.  They  come  from  the  high  lands  of  Asia 
Minor.  Mr.  Edward  Whittall,  who  has  been  the  fortunate  discoverer  of 
some  of  the  finest  varieties,  describes  the  spot  on  which  he  first  saw 
them,  on  Boz  Dagh  in  the  Imolus  mountains,  and  truly  they  deserve  their 
popular  name,  the  “Glory  of  the  Snow.”  For  a  mountain  stream  of 
melting  snow  had  forced  a  passage  through  the  ice,  leaving  a  natural 
arch  of  ice  as  a  bridge  over  the  water,  and  the  whole  of  the  cave  thus 
formed,  where  the  snow  had  disappeared,  was  a  dazzling  blue  mass  of 
Chionodoxas. 
Kew  Gardens  are  now  a  national  institution  of  great  importance,  but 
at  the  beginning  of  the  Queen’s  reign  they  held  a  very  different  position. 
The  gardens  were  originally  begun  about  1760,  and  the  pagoda  and 
temples  and  buildings  were  designed  by  Sir  William  Chambers.  Under 
*  John  Murray,  Albemarle  Street. 
