236 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
March  12,  1896. 
A  REMINISCENCE. 
In  ruminating  about  for  a  subject  to  write  a  word  upon  for  the  spring 
number  of  the  Journal  of  Horticulture ,  my  mind  seems  bent  on  revert¬ 
ing  to  the  past,  now  long  ago,  since  the  Journal  and  I  first  became 
companions.  I  think  it  was  in  1860,  and  certainly  since  then  we  have 
scarcely  ever  missed  our  weekly  greeting,  and  although  we  are  now  both 
getting  on  in  years  the  appreciation,  on  my  part  at  least,  is  as  keen  and 
sympathetic  as  ever  it  has  been  ;  I  know  that  the  Journal  would  be 
sorry  to  miss  paying  its  weekly  visit  to  my  desk.  If  I  may  so  express 
myself,  there  is  a  sort  of  family  circle  feeling  among  gardeners  towards 
the  Journal,  engendered,  I  think,  by  the  able,  genial,  and  practical 
way  it  is  conducted  by  those  on  whom  the  responsibility  rests. 
It  was  at  the  then  beautiful  gardens  of  O.  F.  Meyrick,  Esq,, 
Bodorgan,  Anglesea — that  forlorn-looking  part  of  N.  Wales  which  visitors 
to  Ireland  so  well  know,  and  who  perhaps  will  be  surprised  to  hear  that 
this  county  boasts  of  being  able  to  grow  the  best  beasts  and  the  best 
roots  of  any  county  in  Wales — that  the  Journal  and  I  first  met. 
Mr.  Meyrick  was  one  of  the  most  liberal  and  enlightened  patrons  of 
horticulture  of  his  or  any  other  day.  His  beautiful  gardens  were 
then  under  the  superintendence  of  Mr.  Chas.  Ewing,  one  of  the 
cleverest,  shrewdest,  and  most  energetic  Scottish  gardeners  who  ever 
crossed  the  border.  I  was  with  him  a  matter  of  nine  years,  and  graduated 
through  all  the  degrees  of  service,  from  crocking  pots  to  potting  Orchids. 
To  give  the  young  generation  of  gardeners  of  the  present  day  some  idea 
of  the  training  the  older  generation  of  probationers  had  to  go  through, 
I  may  be  permitted  to  note  a  few  items  of  my  youthful  experience,  in 
the  hope  that  it  may  induce  some  of  my  young  gardening  friends  to 
prosecute  their  studies  with  a  better  and  a  stouter  heart,  and  with 
greater  determination  to  succeed  in  the  object  of  their  hopes. 
Schooling  in  Wales  in  those  days,  except  for  the  well-to-do,  was  one 
of  those  things  that  a  little  of  it  had  to  go  a  long  way.  Being  one  of 
twelve,  I  had  to  turn-to  at  ten  to  help  to  keep  the  pot  boiling,  and  this 
I  did  by  entering  the  above  gardens  as  a  post  and  errand  boy  at  6d.  a 
day.  As  I  got  older  I  was  transferred  to  the  plantation,  flower  garden, 
and  drives  department,  where  I  had  to  put  my  hand  to  anything  there 
was  to  do.  From  there  I  was  promoted  to  the  position  of  assistant  to  a 
funny  and  half-cracked  old  character  tailed  Big  Dick,  whom  I  went  to 
assist  in  painting  and  glazing  the  houses;  After  this  I  joined  old  David 
Roberts,  the  kitchen  garden  foreman, a  devout  and  good  mao,  whose  great 
pride  in  his  work  and  faithfulness  to  his  duty  I  shall  never  forget.  A 
better  kept  or  a  better  cultivated  kitchen  garden  than  this  I  have  not 
yet  seen; 
At  fourteen  I  was  placed  in  the  plant  department  under  glass  under 
a  foreman  of  the  name  of  McNab.  I  was  now  fairly  landed  on  the 
lower  rung  of  the  horticultural  ladder,  and  my  elation  at  which  can  be 
better  imagined  than  described.  Here  my  chief  work  was  assisting  in 
the  potting  shed,  crocking  and  washing  pots,  and  helping  the  young 
gardeners  to  wheel  coal  a  long  distance  to  the  stokeholes  and  clean  out 
the  ashes  left — all  for  6s.  a  week.  I  can  remember  the  longing  I  bad 
to  be  allowed  to  pot  a  plant  or  insert  a  cutting  ;  but  for  this  I  had  to 
wait.  The  first  cutting  I  ever  rooted  was  one  of  the  old  Begonia  nitida, 
sent  to  me  by  a  brother  then  in  a  garden  in  England,  and  placed  surrep¬ 
titiously  in  the  propagating  frame.  No  cutting  or  plant  has  ever  been 
watched  by  me  since  with  greater  interest,  nor  have  I  ever  experienced  a 
keener  delight  in  my  work  than  I  did  on  the  day  I  found  my  cutting 
had  taken  root  and  was  growing. 
Gradually  as  I  increased  in  age  and  experience  I  was  entrusted  with 
work  of  greater  importance,  until  at  nineteen  I  had  gone  through  all 
the  various  departments  of  the  garden,  which  included  every  horti¬ 
cultural  aspect  of  importance.  The  collection  of  Orchids  was  one  of 
the  best  in  the  country  at  the  time.  Vandas,  Saccolabiums,  Aerides,  and 
all  the  East  Indian  kinds  then  so  extensively  grown  were  represented 
there,  and  as  for  the  rare  and  beautiful  Anmctochiluses,  I  have  never 
seen  them  so  well  grown  since.  The  collection  of  stove  and  greenhouse 
plants,  including  Cape  Heaths  and  New  Holland  specimen  plants, 
was  up  to  date  in  every  respect,  Mr.  Ewing  making  frequent 
visits  to  London  to  buy  all  the  new  plants  worth  having.  Ferns  also 
were  a  special  feature,  there  being  two  houses  exclusively  devoted  to 
them,  a  hardy  and  exotic  one.  I  vividly  remember  the  pleasure  and 
interest  these  houses  had  for  me. 
I  do  not  think  Mr.  Ewing  excelled  so  much  with  fruit  under  glass. 
He  was  too  much  of  an  experimentalist,  always  lifting  his  Vines  and 
other  fruit  trees  and  trying  new  soils  and  new  manures,  thereby  con¬ 
stantly  worrying  the  trees  out  of  health  and  fruitfulness.  I  have  a 
“  warm  ”  recollection  of  my  first  lesson  in  Pine  growing.  The  plants  were 
grown  in  a  deep-sunk  pit,  and  they  were  so  badly  infested  with  white 
scale  that  one  lad  used  to  be  constantly  employed  picking  them  off  and 
sponging  the  leaves.  This  I  have  had  to  do  boxed  up  for  weeks  at  a 
time  in  a  fearful  heat  and  without  a  chance  of  escape. 
Those  were  the  days  of  small  boilers  and  smaller  furnaces,  neces¬ 
sitating  constant  firing  all  the  night  through  in  hard  weather  and  woe- 
betide  the  young  fellow  who  neglected  his  firing,  and  was  found  out  ; 
both  Mr.  Ewing  and  his  foreman  used  to  be  about  at  all  times  of  the  night, 
bo  there  was  no  chance  of  shirking  duty  if  anyone  were  so  disposed. 
As  a  diversion  to  ordinary  work  we  often  bad  a  few  chimneys  and  flues 
to  sweep.  I  shall  never  forget  the  fright  I  once  had  by  seeing  a  young 
fellow  stuck  fast  in  a  flue,  and  who  had  to  be  pulled  out  by  main  force, 
nearly  suffocated.  On  other  occasions  we  had  to  go  with  a  big  boat  on 
an  expedition  of  six  or  seven  miles  getting  gravel  on  the  seashore,  and 
on  returning  one  night  we  were  stranded  on  the  sands  through  the 
bad  steering  of  a  tipsy  captain,  and  were  rescued  by  the  crew  of  a  life¬ 
boat  close  by; 
At  times  in  the  summer  we  had  to  do  a  little  sea  fishing  with 
nets,  starting  at  seven  in  the  evening,  and  returning  about  six  the 
next  morning,  often  with  a  good  boatful  of  fish.  On  one  occasion  I 
remember  catching  sixteen  salmon  at  one  haul,  one  weighing  20  lbs. 
Although  we  bad  to  be  in  the  water  all  night,  this  used  to  be  a  most 
enjoyable  diversion  when  the  weather  was  warm  and  the  nights  light. 
After  this  we  had  three  hours’  rest  before  starting  work  again.  Happily 
those  bard  times  are  gone  by,  never  I  hope  to  return  ;  still,  there  is 
nothing  like  a  bit  of  bard  uphill  work  to  bring  out  the  best  qualities 
of  a  man. 
In  the  estimation  of  the  best  among  us  labour  is  rising  more  and 
more  in  dignity,  and  in  my  experience  of  life  I  have  met  many 
hardworking  gardeners  who  are  Nature’s  gentlemen,  and  to  whom  I 
would  much  sooner  raise  my  bat  in  respect  than  I  would  to  some  I  have 
met  claiming  the  title  of  educated  gentlemen.  As  I  have  said,  these  little 
experiences  are  mentioned  in  the  hope  they  may  be  useful  to  some 
struggling  young  fellows  in  facing  the  battle  of  life  with  more  courage 
and  cheerfulness. — 0.  Thomas,  Royal  Gardens,  Windsor. 
NOTES  ON  MALMAISON  CARNATIONS 
Very  marked  has  been  the  attention  paid  to  the  culture  of  this 
beautiful  class  of  Carnations  during  the  past  few  years,  and  if  we  may 
judge  from  the  new  varieties  that  are  being  introduced,  and  the  eagerness 
with  which  they  have  been  sought  after,  their  culture  will  become  still 
more  general  as  time  goes  on.  Nor  is  this  to  be  wondered  at,  for  in 
places  where  a  large  supply  of  choice  cut  blooms  in  variety  has  to  be 
constantly  maintained  there  is  no  class  of  plants  that  will  more  amply 
repay  for  a  little  careful  attention  than  these. 
Their  proper  season  for  flowering  is  during  the  months  of  April, 
May,  and  Junp.  They  are  then  welcomed  for  their  usefulness,  as  the 
flowers  travel  well,  and  their  sweet  clove  perfume  is  much  appreciated  ; 
the  plants  also  when  in  flower  may  be  utilised  for  room  decoration  or 
making  up  into  groups.  They  may  with  ordinary  care  be  bad  in  flower 
during  the  late  autumn  and  spring  months,  when  they  are  especially 
prized.  A  few  blooms,  cut  with  long  stems  and  arranged  with  a  little 
of  their  own  grass,  gives  a  pleasing  relief  from  the  monotony  of  the 
Chrysanthemum  during  the  autumn,  and  affords  an  equally  pleasing 
contrast  to  the  early  forced  Liliums  and  Lilac  of  the  spring. 
The  prac' ice  here  has  been  to  select  during  September  some  of  the 
plants  that  show  a  tendency  to  throw  up  a  flower  spike  earlier  than 
others  from  among  the  two-year-old  plants,  and  place  them  in  a  light 
airy  structure  where  a  brisk  heat  can  be  maintained  as  required.  In 
this  way,  from  a  few  dozen  plants,  we  have  been  able  to  gather  blooms 
during  the  past  four  months,  and  shall  continue  gathering  until  the 
main  batch  comes  into  flower. 
We  find  the  pink,  or  the  Princess  of  Wales  variety,  respond  to 
gentle  forcing  better  than  the  blush,  or  Lady  Middleton.  The  last 
named,  a  beautiful  pink,  striped  with  a  deeper  shade,  is  not  so  generally 
or  extensively  grown  as  it  should  be,  but  when  well  represented  is  one 
of  the  best  of  the  Malmaisons.  I  find  it  requires  less  pot  room  than 
the  blush  or  pink  varieties,  and  if  anything  the  soil  a  little  lighter. 
The  newer  forms — Princess  May,  Mr.  E.  Hambro,  Sir  Evelyn  Wood, 
Sir  C.  Freemantle,  and  the  Churchwarden — have  so  far  with  me  been 
rather  disappointing  in  size  and  form,  while  in  colour  there  is  a  same¬ 
ness  about  them  that  makes  it  unnecessary  to  grow  them  all.  The 
Churchwarden  and  Sir  Charles  Freemantle  are  the  two  best ;  whether 
they  will  be  more  floriferous  than  the  older  forms  remains  to  be  seen. 
Complaints  are  sometimes  made  of  the  difficulty  in  growing  this 
class  of  Carnations  well,  and  keep  them  free  from  disease.  Soil, 
