118 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
Augrust  6,  1897. 
the  admission  of  light,  it  was  the  dawn  of  a  new  era.  If  we  view 
the  long-ago  greenhouse  in  the  light  of  modern  criticism,  the 
methods  of  heating  must  be  considered  as  barbarous.  As  far  back 
as  1684,  we  are  told  by  Ray,  the  greenhouse  in  the  Apothecaries’ 
Garden  at  Chelsea  was  heated  by  means  of  embers  placed  in  a  hole 
in  the  floor.  Later,  in  1771,  in  the  “Medicus  Index  Plantarum,”  a 
sectional  view  of  a  greenhouse  in  the  Elector’s  garden  at  Mannheim, 
advance  is  marked  by  a  stove  being  shown.  This  was  followed  by 
the  use  of  flues,  which  carry  us  well  within  the  Victorian  era,  and 
some  examples  of  which,  now  rightly  termed  old-fashioned,  are  still 
to  be  found.  Literally  and  figuratively  those  were  the  dark  ages  of 
garden  architecture,  when  struggling  under  disadvantages,  that 
intense  love  of  gardening,  especially  characteristic  of  the  English 
and  German  races  found,  in  the  system  of  hot-water  heating,  the 
freedom  we  now  enjoy. 
Of  that  increasing  demand  and  marvellous  supply  of  horticul¬ 
tural  produce  necessarily  grown  under  glass,  which  in  its  turn 
incresses  horticultural  building  by  leaps  and  bounds,  it  is  needless 
to  dwell  upon  ;  sufficient  to  say,  or  rather  to  quote  from  a  recent 
work,  “Where  twenty  years  ago  one  plant-house  was  to  be  seen, 
there  are  nearer  fifty  now,’’  and  the  cry  is  Still  they  come  ;  good, 
sound,  sensible  houses,  designed  on  the  most  practical  of  all  bases 
— viz.,  to  pay.  In  viewing  some  of  this  building,  of  which  the 
suburbs  of  London  provide  so  many  examples,  where  ten,  twenty, 
fifty  and  more  span-roofed  bouses  of  considerable  length  are  to  be 
seen  en  hloc,  although  the  architecture  is  of  the  simplest  description, 
the  eye  dwells  upon  them  with  not  less  satisfaction  than  upon  the 
more  imposing  types,  so  admirably  do  they  in  their  rigidity,  light¬ 
ness,  and  general  essentials  adapt  themselves  to  their  purpose. — 
Freemason. 
CHARACTER  SKETCHES. 
Busy  Men. 
We  have  received  two  letters  from  correspondents  in  which 
regrets  are  expressed  for  not  sending  contributions  of  late.  It 
must  be  understood  that  had  no  thought  of  making  any 
complaint  on  the  subject,  though  we  are  pleased  to  hear  from  both 
of  them  when  they  have  time  to  write.  They  are  young  men — 
that  is  to  say,  were  born  about  a  generation  ago,  and  are  above  the 
ordinary  run  of  gardeners  in  educational  attainments,  largely,  we 
suspect,  and  laudably,  acquired  since  they  left*  school.  One  of 
these  men  is  more  of  a  “  dandy  ”  than  the  other,  and  he  cannot 
very  well  object  to  our  saying  so — first,  because  it  is  true  ;  and 
secondly,  because  wild  horses  would  not  drag  from  us  his  name. 
As  the  two  letters  arrived  by  the  same  post,  and  were,  in  fact, 
the  first  and  second  opened,  we  could  not  but  observe  the  difference 
between  them.  They  were  alike  in  one  respect,  and  one  only. 
The  two  young  gardeners  had  been  so  very,  very  busy  that  they 
could  not  find  any  time  for  the  pen.  If  the  statement  bad  ended 
there  no  more  would  have  been  heard  of  the  matter,  but  they  both 
found  just  time  enough  to  make  explanations  as  to  the  pressure  to 
which  they  had  been  subjected  ;  and  as  these  statements  are  not 
without  significance,  it  might  be  somewhat  of  a  pity  if  they  were  lost 
to  the  world.  The  first  letter  that  was  opened  is  in  these  words: — 
“We  have  had  such  a  busy  season  that  writing,  much  as  I  love 
it,  has  been  out  of  the  question  of  late.  To  give  an  example  of  a 
week’s  work — Three  swell  dinner  parties,  three  cricket  matches, 
and  one  ball.  I  have  had  to  attend  all  these,  but  I  don’t  mind,  as 
we  won  twice.” 
This  reference  to  seven  events  in  one  week  is  perhaps  a  little 
mixed,  but  we  may  presumably  take  it  that  the  “winning”  refers 
to  the  “  work  ”  of  cricket,  of  which,  we  understand,  our  smart  young 
friend  is  somewhat  of  an  adept.  The  other  “  work,"  we  may  suppose, 
consisted  in  dressing  the  dinner-table  on  three  nights,  and  taking 
part  in  a  ball,  possibly  after  a  cricket  match,  which  loould  be  a  hard 
day’s  (and  night’s)  “  work,”  especially  if  it  were  the  losing  day. 
That  all  this  comes  within  the  “  work  ”  of  a  young  gardener 
shows  how  different  things  are  now  from  what  they  were  a 
generation  ago  ;  still,  a  man  must  do  his  duty,  even  if  he  has  to 
sacrifice  the  evening  occupation  he  “  loves  so  much  ” — composing 
essays  on  gardening.  Let  it  be  granted  that  he  really  does  enjoy 
this  instructive  exercise,  the  question  still  may  be  asked — Does  he 
“  love  ”  cricket  more  ?  In  this  reference,  however,  it  may  be  said 
that  skill  in  the  “  field  ”  is  not  incompatible  with  capacity  in  the 
garden,  as  sundry  examples  prove. 
These  remarks,  it  must  be  understood,  are  not  condemnatory  of 
anything  or  anybody,  but  comparative  ;  and  here  is  the  comparison 
— the  second  letter.  It  reads  as  if  from  the  “  ’orny  hand  ”  of  a  son 
of  toil,  but  there  are  brains  behind  the  labour,  as  there  always 
ought  to  be  ;  and  after  the  potting  and  the  packing  will  come  the 
pen,  because  this  worker  (not  in  the  ball-room  or  with  the  hat  and 
ball)  tells  us  so  as  follows  : — 
“  My  work  has  been  so  heavy  of  late  that  when  the  day  was 
over  I  was  too  tired  to  write.  No  one  will  know  better  than  your¬ 
self  what  I  have  had  to  do  when  I  say  that  during  the  past  month 
I  have  potted  4400  Tomatoes  in  12’s,  and  1100  Chrysanthemums 
in  the  same  size  ;  also  2000  Royal  Sovereign  Strawberries  in  32’s  ; 
and  besides  all  the  watering  and  tying,  packed  4  tons  of  Tomatoes — 
my  first  crop — my  only  help  being  a  labourer  ;  but  now  that  the 
heavy  work  is  finished  I  shall  soon  be  at  the  pen  again.” 
It  will  be  conceded  that  the  two  letters  are  different  from  these 
two  men,  each  able  in  his  own  way  ;  and  it  may  perchance  be 
granted  that  they  ought  not  to  have  been  consigned  in  silence  to 
that  receptacle  of  random  thoughts  known  as  the  W.P.B.,  because 
they  will  give  birth  to  other  thoughts,  which  may,  perchance, 
culminate  in  action,  on  lines  that  each  particular  young  thinker 
may  deem  the  best.  We  should  rather  like  to  know,  also,  what  some 
of  the  older  “  thinkers”  think  of  them — the  “  Old  Boy,”  for  instance, 
whose  sympathies  with  striving,  struggling  youth  are  obviously 
so  sincere — whose  counsel  is  so  wise,  whose  desire  is  so  strong  that 
the  gardeners  of  the  future  shall  be  better  than  those  of  the  past. 
Cannot  he  in  the  fertility  of  his  conceptions  enforce  no  lessons 
from  letters  so  diverse,  and  which  were  never  intended  to  see  the 
light,  as  those  above  cited  ? 
Character  sketches,  they  may  be  taken  to  be,  aa  indeed  they  are 
— types  of  men  of  whom  there  are  many  of  each  kind,  but  more 
perhaps  of  one  than  the  other.  Will  there  be  room  in  the  coming 
years  for  all  of  both  these  types  to  distinguish  themselves  in  the 
world  of  gardening  ?  and  for  which  are  there  the  greater  possibilities 
of  raising  themselves  above  their  fellows,  of  exalting  the  art  of 
which  they  are  exponents  and  enriching  the  world  ? 
EXHIBITS  OP  WILD  FLOWERS. 
The  too  common  and  utterly  worthless  exhibits  of  wild  flowers  set 
up  at  flower  shows  all  over  the  kingdom  have  absolutely  no  merit,  for 
whilst  sot  one  in  fifty  is  really  light  and  graceful  in  appearance,  the 
bunches  teach  the  little  ones  nothing  useful.  Then,  too,  they  lead  to  a 
wholesale  gathering  and  consequent  destruction  of  these  pretty  natural 
products,  and  the  more  flowers  are  thus  ruthlessly  and  wastefully 
gathered  the  greater  are  the  reproductive  powers  of  these  plants  reduced. 
It  is  too  much  forgotten  that  so  long  as  wild  flowers  adorn  our  hedge¬ 
rows  and  lanes,  our  woods  and  commons,  they  make  in  all  such  places 
gardens  for  humanity  at  large.  No  feature  is  so  noticeable  and  so 
lamentable  in  the  neighbourhood  of  large  towns  as  is  rapid  disappearance 
of  wild  flowers,  destroyed  by  reckless  and  ill-advised  plucking. 
Those  whose  duty  it  is  to  judge  such  exhibits  as  nosegays  or  bunches 
of  wild  flowers  present  at  shows,  realise  almost  their  impotence  to  decide 
as  to  the  merits  of  such  products,  and  when  shown,  as  is  sometimes  the 
case,  in  hundreds,  the  task  is  almost  an  appalling  one.  Against  these 
wild  flower  bunches  I  have  often  written  and  spoken  most  earnestly, 
because  they  are  worse  than  useless. 
On  the  other  hand  I  have  strongly  advised  that  wild  flower  exhibits 
should  be  of  an  essentially  educational  nature,  the  children  who  present 
them  being  wanted  to  stage  so  many  kinds  or  varieties,  in  small  bunches, 
neatly  set  up  in  glasses,  each  one  being  correctly,  or  so  far  as  possible 
correctly,  named  both  with  the  botanical  and  common  appellation. 
Some  children  know  the  common  names  of  wild  flowers  as  they  do  those 
of  wild  birds  ;  but  even  that  knowledge  is  both  limited  and  imperfect. 
Still,  whilst  a  general  knowledge  of  such  common  names  is  useful,  it 
helps  little  to  a  better  knowledge  of  or  appreciation  for  these  wild 
flowers.  It  is  when  children  are  not  only  taught  the  family  or  botanical 
names  of  wild  flowers,  but  to  thoroughly  understand  them,  that  real 
interest  is  aroused,  and  what  was  in  wood  and  hedgerows  before  a  sealed 
book,  into  which  not  the  least  care  is  shown  to  look,  now  becomes  an 
open  volume,  which  is  read  with  the  deepest  interest. 
I  have  often  urged  that  not  only  should  the  present  absurd  wild 
flower  classes  be  withdrawn,  but  also  that  the  prizes  be  given  only  to 
named  collections  culled  from  the  district ;  and,  still  farther,  that  persons 
of  leisure,  ladies  especially,  who  have,  or  for  the  purpose  would  acquire, 
botanical  knowledge,  should  form  children’s  classes,  and  during  the 
summer  evenings  (jr  on  days  when  there  was  leisure  take  these  round 
the  locality  to  collect  plants  or  flowers  for  naming,  and  in  that  way 
pot  only  find  very  delightful  occupation,  bnt  also  spread  abroad  such 
wide  knowledge  of  names,  habitats,  and  families  of  wild  flowers  as 
would  speedily  transform  numbers  of  children  from  being  mere  dullards 
or  drones  into  intelligent,  devoted  lovers  of  Nature,  and  especially  of 
wild  flowers. 
I  met  with  a  very  interesting  feature  at  a  recent  village  flower  show 
in  Petersham,  near  Richmond,  where  the  Rector,  the  Rev.  W.  H.  Oxley, 
all  honour  to  him,  had  offered  to  boys  under  fifteen  years  of  age,  and 
girls  in  a  separate  class,  capital  prizes  for  the  best  collection  of  wild 
flowers  set  up  in  separate  bunches,  and  so  far  as  possible  correctly 
named.  There  were  several  large  collections  staged,  the  numbers  of 
diverse  kinds  ranging  from  twenty  to  fifty.  The  nomenclature  was 
very  fair,  not  a  few  being  botanically  correct,  whilst  many  others  had 
their  common  appellations  only.  All  praise  to  Mr.  Oxley  for  what  he 
has  thus  done,  and  it  but  needs  the  friendly  coaching  of  some  lady  or 
gentleman  to  render  these  classes  of  immense  value  to  children  generally. 
— A.  Dean. 
