438 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
November  6,  1896 
Holland  was  iuccessfal  in  raising  plants  from  tubers  she  obtained 
which  were  sent  over  as  Jerusalem  Artichokes,  but  she  discovered 
their  real  nature.  Hence  these  lines  were  written  in  her  honour 
by  somebody  : — 
“  The  Dahlia  you  brought  to  our  isle, 
Your  praises  for  ever  shall  speak, 
In  gardens  as  sweet  as  your  smile, 
And  colours  as  bright  as  your  cheek.” 
However  that  may  be,  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  Dahlia  was 
for  years  maltreated,  being  confined  in  greenhouses,  or  buried  in 
tanpits,  till  a  better  method  was  tried  in  the  French  garden  at 
Holland  House,  and  at  the  Hammersmith  nursery,  where  Lee  the 
elder  had  specimens  which  were  a  surprise  to  other  nurserymen. 
The  great  conservatory  was  erected  to  receive  large  and  choice 
exotics ;  on  tha  north  side  of  it  is  a  banqueting  room,  and  on  the 
south  a  long  colonnade  communicating  with  the  mansion.  From 
the  square,  where  Orange  trees  and  other  greenhouse  plants  were 
placed  in  summer,  we  reach  an  orchard  house  90  feet  long,  which 
has  produced  large  quantities  of  fruit,  and  opposite  to  this  is 
another  range  of  glass  buildings  of  five  divisions.  These  have  been 
used  for  Vines,  Peaches,  and  other  fruits  in  succession,  also  for 
various  forcing  purposes,  and  are  surrounded^  by  extensive  frames 
and  pits. 
Altogether  the  gardens  of  Holland  House  exhibit  the  latest 
modern  improvements,  while  they  carry  us  back  to  the  Georgian 
era,  as  they  illustrate  styles  then  popular,  or  of  earlier  date.'  Some 
indeed,  of  the  curiously  shaped  flower  beds  remind  us  of  the  devices 
which  were  favourites  in  the  sixteenth  century.  One  matter  to 
which  the  Holland  House  gardeners  are  said  to  have  given  special 
care  was  the  regulation  of  the  edges  of  beds,  so  that  the  outline 
should  not  be  made  indistinct  by  plants  straggling  over,  a  thing  we 
often  notice  even  in  well-kept  gardens. 
Holland  Park  occupies  pare  of  one  slope  of  the  long  ridge  called 
Netting  Hi  1.  A  notion  that  the  name  vr9s  Nivtling  Hill,  from  the 
place  being  resorted  to  for  wild  nuts,  seems  to  be  groundless.  The 
earliest  facts  about  it  connect  the  spot  with  the  manor  of  Knotting 
Barnes,  rather  an  extensive  one  in  1524,  including  about  200  acres 
of  wood  lying  to  the  north,  and  a  “  Wood  Lane  ”  still  remains. 
Describing  it  seventy  years  ago,  one  author  depicts  the  grassy  valley 
below  the  hill,  which  seemed  to  have  undergone  no  change  for 
ages,  a  resort  of  linnets,  larks,  and  nightingales,  though  but  three 
miles  from  Hyde  Park  Corner.  Quantities  of  hay  were  produced 
for  the  London  cowkeepers.  Market  gardens,  however,  began  to 
appear  soon  after  that  date,  also  some  nurseries.  One  of  the  oldest 
of  these  was  the  Cape  Nursery,  owned  by  Middlemist,  which  was 
on  land  called  Charecroft,  belonging  to  the  parish  charities. 
Another  Notting  Hill  nursery  was  that  of  Hopgood,  who  had  also, 
I  believe,  till  1846,  one  upon  Craven  Hill,  Bayswaler,  now  covered 
with  mansions  ;  that  at  Notting  Hill  yielded  to  the  builder  about 
1877.  Taviner  was  another  well-known  nurseryman  at  Shepherd’s 
Bush  ;  near  that  locality  some  market  gardener  planted  20  acres 
with  Hops,  but  the  experiment  of  growing  them  in  that  part  of 
Middlesex  was  unsuccessful. 
From  this  hill,  looking  to  the  south-west,  is  seen  North  End, 
which  seems  now  to  be  dignified  with  the  title  of  West  Kensington. 
A  fertile  land  between  Fulham  and  Hammersmith,  formerly  with 
luxuriant  orchards,  having  intervening  spaces  devoted  to  Straw¬ 
berries  or  vegetables,  Beans  and  Peas  being  very  conspicuous. 
Indeed,  according  to  the  old  plan,  and  to  get  most  out  of  the 
ground.  Cabbages,  or  other  vegetables  made  an  undercrop  in  the 
orchards,  sometimes  Gooseberries  and  Currants,  but  it  proved  thit 
the  bushes  did  not  succeed  when  so  situated,  getting  insufficient 
light  and  air.  (There  are  still  places  about  Kent  where  the 
orchards  have  a  growth  of  rather  venerable  boshes.)  Also  there  was 
an  apprehension  that  insects  on  Apples  might  transfer  themselves 
to  Gooseberries,  or  vice  verad ;  this,  however,  would  not  often 
happen,  it  might  possibly  be  so  with  some  aphides.  Amongst  the 
market  gardens  of  North  End  stood  Colehill  House,  built  about 
1770.  After  a  few  years  tha  owner  purchased  the  land  around  it, 
and  laid  this  out  on  a  plan  of  his  own  in  ornamental  grounds  and 
shrubberies,  which  contained  a  variety  of  novelties.  North  End 
was  noted  also  tor  many  fine  Walnuts.  About  the  middle  of  this 
century  florists  joined  the  market  gardeners  of  the  district, 
cultivating  chiefly  for  local  sale. 
Hammersmith  was  once  noted  for  its  Vines  on  walls  or  trellis- 
work,  occasionally  grown  on  sloping  banks  with  sunny  aspect. 
Wine  was  made  here  by  the  hogshead,  and  a  memory  of  those  days 
remains  in  the  Vineyard  Nursery  connected  with  four  generations 
of  the  Lee  family.  Loudon,  indeed,  called  this  one  of  the  first 
nuraeries  in  the  world,  and  he  attributes  the  success  of  the  firm  to 
their  energy  in  obtaining  new  and  rare  plants,  also  to  the  skill 
shown  in  propagating  or  developing  these.  The  story,  which  has 
been  frequently  printed,  how  Lee,  senior,  founder  of  the  nursery, 
introduced  to  the  public  Fuchsia  coccinea,  having  discovered  one  by 
accident  in  the  window  of  a  sailor’s  wife  at  Wapping,  has  been 
denied  by  some,  but  it  is  quite  true.  The  original  price  of  a  guinea 
each  was  highly  profitable ;  but  the  firm  had  not  only  an  extensive 
correspondence,  from  the  commencement,  with  foreign  gardeners 
and  botanists,  they  employed  collectors  in  likely  countries,  as  for 
instance  in  America,  North  and  South  ;  also,  in  conjunction  with 
the  Empress  Josephine,  they  had  travellers  over  South  Africa, 
who  sent  home  new  Ericas,  Ixias,  and  other  tropical  species. 
James  Lee  was  one  of  our  illustrious  Scotch  gardeners,  being 
born  at  Selkirk  in  1715  ;  he  came  south,  and  got  employment  at 
the  Chelsea  garden,  afterwards  under  the  Duke  of  Argyle,  at 
Whitton.  He  came  to  know  Lewis  Kennedy  (another  Scotchman), 
who  was  gardener  to  Lord  Bolton,  and  the  two  started  the  Vine¬ 
yard  Nursery  about  1760.  The  original  extent  is  not  stated  ;  it 
has  had  its  ground  reduced  of  late  years,  and  there  has  been  more 
culture  under  glass  than  in  the  open  air,  though  the  original  green¬ 
houses  were  numerous,  and  new  bouses  were  built  by  Lee  and 
Kennedy  for  Figs,  Peaches,  and  Vines.  Amongst  the  friends  of 
Lee,  sen.,  was  the  great  botanist  Linnaeus,  and  probably  it  was  at 
his  suggestion  and  with  his  aid  that  Lee  brought  out  an  “  Intro¬ 
duction  to  Botany  ”  illustrative  of  the  Linnean  principles,  which 
passed  through  several  editions  last  century.  This  brought  many 
scientific  visitors  to  the  nursery.  Van  Roven,  professor  of  botany 
at  Leyden,  honoured  this  nurseryman  in  1767  by  giving  the  name 
Leea  to  a  genus. 
On  the  death  of  James  Lee  at  the  age  of  eighty  in  1795,  the 
business  was  carried  on  by  the  sons  of  the  two  partners  ;  but  young 
Kennedy  relinquished  in  1818,  and  Lee  remaining,  infused  new 
activity  into  the  concern,  four  of  his  sons  taking  departments 
under  their  charge. 
Amongst  other  interesting  facts  connected  with  the  Vineyard 
Nursery  is  that  the  firm  obtained  the  fi  st  fruit  in  Britain  upon  the 
Weeping  Black  Bigarreau  Cherry,  of  very  excellent  flavour  and 
good  size.  They  raised,  in  1869,  J uniperus  virginiana  elegans,  a 
beautiful  variety  of  the  Red  Cedar.  A  few  years  previously 
Begonia  Colteri,  with  its  distinct  orange  crimson  flowers,  was  raised 
here,  and  B  Rodwelli.  That  remarkable  Laurel,  Cerasus  Lauro- 
cerasus  camellise folia,  was  sent  out  in  1876,  and  the  same  year  the 
Golden  Spruce,  Abies  excelsa  aurea.  Another  old  nursery  of 
Hammersmith  was  that  of  Messrs.  Colley  &  Hill,  who  were  famous 
for  their  seedlings,  and  that  of  Plimby  dated  from  the  beginning 
of  the  century.  He  was  a  great  grower  of  Pines.  Several 
amateurs,  early  in  our  Queen’s  reign,  were  very  successful  with 
their  Auriculas,  Pelargoniums,  Irides,  and  Boses. — J.  R.  S.  C. 
WINTER  AND  SPRING  GARDENING. 
As  most  of  you  are  aware,  Cliveden,  near  Maidenhead,  is  the  birth¬ 
place  of  what  is  known  as  winter  and  spring  gardening,  and  Mr.  John 
Fleming,  for  many  years  gardener  there,  is  the  name  to  be  associated 
with  it.  About  the  year  1860,  when  the  then  Dowager  Duchess  of 
Sutherland  was  the  owner  of  this  tine  place,  she  encouraged  this  style 
of  gardening,  and  to  her,  and  more  especially  to  her  gardener,  we  owe 
its  origin  and  remarkable  development. 
Op  to  this  time  most  of  our  flower  beds,  particularly  those  in  all 
geometrical  or  Italian  gardens,  were  from  October  to  May  quite  empty 
— nothing  but  bare  earth  to  look  at  for  this  long  period.  It  was  the 
custom,  as  it  is  even  now  in  some  places,  after  the  frost  had  disfigured 
the  summer  bedding  plants  to  dig  the  beds  up  roughly,  and  let  them 
remain  so  until  the  summer  bedding  time  came  round  again.  To  use  an 
agricultural  term,  the  flower  beds  were  lying  fallow  for  seven  or  eight 
months  of  the  year.  To  remedy  this  unsightly  appearance  for  so  long  a 
time  (these  gardens  being,  as  we  know,  in  almost  all  cases  in  prominent 
positions  within  sight  of  the  windows),  Mr.  Fleming  got  together  various 
kinds  of  plants  that  were  perfectly  hardy,  of  good  constitutions,  varied 
in  the  colours  of  their  foliage  as  well  as  flowers,  and  massed  them  care¬ 
fully  together,  using  much  judgment  and  taste  in  their  arrangement,  so 
that  the  beds  were  made  effective  even  in  winter  and  gloriously  beautiful 
in  spring.  He  said  he  could  not  produce  the  pleasing  colours,  or  the 
charming  combinations  with  the  flowers  of  summer,  as  he  could  with 
those  of  spring.  This,  then,  is  what  is  understood  by  winter  and  spring 
gardening — the  replanting  of  our  flower  gardens  in  autumn  at  the  close 
of  the  summer  bedding  time,  and  to  make  them  as  bright  and  cheerful 
as  we  can  until  the  end  of  the  following  May. 
There  is  one  other  name  I  must  associate  with  Mr.  Fleming,  that  of 
the  late  Mr.  William  Ingram,  for  many  years  gardener  to  the  Duke  of 
Rutland  at  Belvoir  Castle.  He  developed  this  movement  in  a  very 
remarkable  way,  especially  for  spring  effects.  The  unique  position  of 
Belvoir  Caetle  lends  itself  to  the  extension  of  this  style  of  gardening, 
for  not  only  did  Mr.  Ingram  furnish  the  beds  and  borders,  but  he  avail^ 
himself  of  the  many  sheltered  nooks,  grassy  slopes,  and  extensive  rock 
gardens  which  he  created,  so  that  all  spring-flowering  plants,  whether 
