June  8,  1S99. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
463 
must,  however,  leave  for  the  present  the  Tulips,  and  glance  at  other 
flowers. 
Very  beautiful  still  is  Cytisus  pr^cox,  with  its  soft  creamy 
flowers,  and  it  is  accompanied  now  by  C.  Ardoini,  a  lovely  little 
yellow  Broom,  only  some  6  inches  or  so  high.  C.  scoparius 
Andreanus  is  also  in  bloom,  and  is  always  a  favourite  with  its 
crimson  and  gold  flowers.  Large  plants  of  this  Broom  are  very  fine, 
and  one  recalls  a  specimen  in  an  Irish  nursery  some  12  feet  high, 
and  clothed  to  the  ground  with  branches.  Much  pleasure  is  yet 
afiforded  by  the  Anemones,  and  now  that  the  varieties  of  the  Wood 
Anemone  are  nearly  over,  one  sees  with  satisfaction  the  advent  of 
A.  narcissiflora,  of  which  I  spoke  in  detail  a  year  or  two  ago.  One 
always  enjoys  its  pretty  white  flowers. 
Gay  still  is  “  Gold  Dust" — Alyssum  saxatile — and  before  it  has 
passed  away  A.  gemonense  will  be  in  full  glory.  Less  compact,  it 
is  more  prolonged  in  its  flowering,  and  is  thus  of  value  when  the  Rock 
Mad  wort  has  gone  for  the  year.  The  splendid  blue  of  Gentiana 
acaulis  is  associated  with  such  prettily  formed  flowers  that  everyone 
likes  to  look  upon  and  into  them.  The  Gentianella  may  have  rivals, 
but  it  has  no  equals  in  others  of  the  race.  It  is  a  pity  that  it  does  not 
do  well  everywhere. 
Auriculas,  Primroses,  Polyanthuses  are  a  trio  of  favourite  flowers 
at  their  best  just  as  one  writes.  It  is  against  tbe  future  of  the  stage 
Auricula  that  it  needs  so  much  care.  It  is  so  quaint  and  pretty  that  it 
will  be  a  misfortune  if  it  be  true,  as  some  hold,  that  it  will  go  out  of 
cultivation.  In  a  quiet  corner  grows  the  lovely  Trillium  grandiflorum 
—the  Trinity  Flower  of  some — so  called,  because  of  the  formation  of 
its  leaves  and  flowers.  Scattered  about  in  profusion  are  blue,  white, 
and  pink  Forget-me-nots,  the  little  yellow  Saxifraga  Cymbalaria,  and 
that  pretty  white  weed,  the  Claytonia.  There  are  Welsh  Poppies — 
Meconopsis  cambrica — in  hundreds.  They,  like  all  the  Poppies,  thrive 
too  well  here.  One  would  be  safe  in  predicting  that  this  Meconopsis, 
Papaver  pilosum,  P.  orientale,  and  the  annual  Poppies  would  soon 
take  possession  of  the  garden  to  the  ruin  of  many  less  prolific  occupants. 
As  these  last  lines  are  penned,  one  feels  that  the  tale  of  the  garden 
in  May  is  like  that  of  man>  months  before — one  long  enough  in  some 
respects,  but  not  long  enough  to  tell,  as  should  be  told,  the  beauties 
tbe  month  presents. — S.  Arnott. 
LONDON  GARDENS  OVER  FIFTY  YEARS. 
No.  9. 
Some  folks  there  are  who  seem  to  have  a  pleasure  in  forecasting 
evils  that  might  possibly  befall  the  biggest  of  all  cities.  At  one  time, 
we  are  told  that  London  will  at  last  be  made  desolate  by  a  terrible 
conflagration;  at  another,  it  is  suggested  a  huge  tidal  wave  may 
submerge  all  the  low-lying  districts.  The  latest  idea  thrown  out  is 
that  the  greater  part  of  the  metropolis  rests  upon  a  subterranean  lake, 
indicated  by  borings,  which  might  be  thrown  upwards  through  internal 
convulsion,  with  results.  Would  it  do  to  tap  this  extensively,  and  so 
supply  London  with  v;ater  ?  Anyhow,  in  the  olden  time  the  British 
capital  was  the  “city  of  the  lake,”  on  a  hill  between  two  meres,  north 
and  south,  into  which  the  Thames  widened  just  there. 
Finsbury  and  Moorgate  are  names  yet  standing  that  remind  us  of 
the  broad  space,  of  later  history,  upon  which  Sedges  and  Hair  Moss 
grew  freely,  and  our  ancestors  hunted  wild  fowl  amongst  the  windmills. 
Even  now,  if  a  portion  of  this  ground  is  left  untouched,  plants  of  the 
marshes  are  apt  to  spring  up.  When  an  old  author,  commenting  upon 
the  growth  of  London,  remarked  that  it  would  some  day  be  at 
“  Hogsdon," — f.e.,  Hoxton — people  probably  laughed,  but  the  town 
went  northwards  with  a  rush  far  beyond  that  village,  evidently 
named  from  the  hogs  that  ranged  its  fields.  For  the  Londoners  did 
not  then  shut  up  their  pigs  in  sties  as  a  rule  ;  indeed,  these  animals 
were  occasionally  made  useful  in  gardens  or  cultivated  fields  to  clear 
off  decayed  vegetables  and  various  weeds. 
Within  Finsbury  proper  we  have  two  conspicuous  open  spaces, 
upion  which  the  eye  of  many  a  bypasser  rests  with  a  feeling  of 
refreshment,  even  as  he  hurries  by,  and  which  are  a  boon  to  the 
neighbourhood.  These  are  the  gardens  of  Finsbury  Square  and 
Crescent,  together  about  nine  acres,  enclosed  a  century  ago.  Farther 
off,  really  in  “  healthy  Hornsey,”  as  it  has  been  called,  is  Finsbury 
Park,  acquired  for  the  public  benefit  in  1857,  an  expanse  of  115  acres, 
with  pleasant  walks  amongst  flowers  and  shrubs,  also  having  a  part 
devoted  to  games,  and  retaining  what  was  an  attraction  when  the 
place  was  Hornsey  Wood,  a  lake,  upon  whose  banks  oft  sat  the 
patient  angler.  The  tavern  on  tbe  edge  of  the  wood  was  a  popular 
resort  early  in  this  century,  and,  well  enclosed  by  the  trees,  stood  old 
Hornsey  Wood  House,  once  much  visited  too,  the  la-t  possessors  being 
two  ancient  dames,  who  delighted  to  sit  outside  under  two  venerable 
Oaks  at  the  portal,  listening  to  the  hum  of  bees  that  made  their  combs 
amid  the  branches,  and  gossiping  to  their  guests.  We  might  have 
wished  to  see  the  old  wood  kept  intact  to  this  hour,  but  a  pirk  was 
needed  for  many  thousands  in  crow'ded  localities  not  far  distant  on 
the  south,  such  as  Hoxton  and  Kingsland. 
Kingsland,  though  we  may  not  realise  it  now,  had  a  repute 
amongst  the  gardeners  of  Loudon’s  time.  Bassington  owned  a 
nursery  here,  which  had  been  commenced  by  Fairchild;  and  at  Ball’s 
Pond  near  was  the  establishment  of  Brooks  &  Co.,  who  employed 
feveral  travellers  to  collect  exotics.  This  firm  seems  to  have  had  a 
premonition  of  the  importance  of  the  Chrysanthemum,  as  they  sought 
out  varieties  of  it,  while  the  plant  was  receiving  little  attention  from 
gardeners  generally.  That  Hoxton  was  once  famous  for  its  Roses  and 
its  fruit  is  certain.  In  its  neighbourhood  lived  three  notable  gardeners 
of  the  old  school — Ricketts,  Pearson,  and  Drrby ;  the  last  of  these  said 
to  be  the  discoverer  of  striped  Hollies.  But  fifty  years  ago  Hoxton 
had  ceased  to  be  a  village,  or  to  have  gardens  worth  naming  ;  and  all 
round  it  since  houses  have  multiplied. 
Lately  the  few  small  spaces  which  could  be  secured  in  the  district, 
such  as  squares,  from  being  cat  walks  or  rubbish  heaps,  have  been 
changed  into  gardens ;  also  some  churchyards  are  now  made  bright 
resorts  for  the  living,  who  cannot  possess  garden  plots  of  their  own.  In 
fact,  it  is  amongst  the  old  burial  grounds  that  the  London  County 
Council  and  the  Public  Gardens  Association  have  had  chiefly  to  seek 
land  for  laying  out,  where  streets  have  swallowed  larger  spaces,  as  in 
Hoxton,  Dalston,  Bethnal  Green,  and  suburbs  adjacent.  St.  Mary’s 
Churchyard,  Hag^ierston  ;  St.  Leonard’s,  Shoreditch  ;  St.  John's, 
Hoxton,  are  good  examples  of  what  mav  be  done  with  a  single  acre. 
There  was  much  rejoicing  in  Mile  End  when  H.R.II.  Princess 
Beatrice  opened  the  garden  of  Holy  Trinity  ;  so,  too,  in  Spitalfields, 
when  Lord  Meath  performed  the  like  ceremony  at  the  Christchurch 
ground — a  great  boon  to  the  most  congested  district  of  the  metropolis. 
The  churchyard  of  St.  Dunstan’s,  Stepney,  is  large,  having  7  acres; 
this  was  opened  as  a  garden  by  the  Duchess  of  Leeds  in  1887.  Still 
larger  is  Meath  Garden,  Bethnal  Green,  a  transformation  of  wb.at  had 
been  a  repulsive  cemetery.  This  was  opened  in  1893  by  H.R.II.  tho 
Duke  of  York. 
Half  a  century  aio  people  spoke  of  Hackney  as  one  of  the  rural 
suburbs  of  London.  Some  suppose  hackney  coaches  took  their  name 
from  it,  because  such  vehicles  were  much  used  by  its  residents  in  their 
journeys  to  and  from  the  City.  Fields  and  market  gardens  extended  to 
more  than  a  thousand  acres,  besides  some  extent  of  marsh.  A  notable 
old  street,  Mare  Street,  seems  to  have  been  in  proxmiity  to  a  mere,  or 
lake,  which  gave  it  the  appellation.  Nobles  and  citizens  of  standing^ 
had  mansions  formerly  in  what  has  ceased  to  be  a  fashionable  part  ot 
Loudon,  and  one  of  these  claims  a  brief  mention,  because  he  was  a 
horticulturist  of  the  reign  of  Queen  Bess,  and  many  came  to  see  his 
grounds  at  Hackney,  where  he  grew  flowers,  vegetables,  and  fruits. 
This  was  Lord  Zouch,  triend  of  Ben  Jonson.  One  of  his  experiments,, 
we  read,  was  the  transplanting  of  trees  that  had  attained  some  size. 
Pepys  tells  a  droll  story  of  a  visit  he  paid  to  a  friend  at  Hackney  who 
had  several  greenhouses — greenhouses,  that  is,  of  seventeenth  century 
style,  with  only  side  lights.  Upon  the  roof  of  one  of  these  his  friend 
arranged  to  store  rain  water,  but  its  weight  was  too  much  for  the 
structure.  On  Pepys’  visit  he  saw  the  c.itastrophe  of  this  roof 
descending  upon  the  plants  and  pots  within.  He  would  not  know 
Hackney  now.  Even  recently  the  increase  of  population  is  great ;, 
since  1851  it  has  advanced  from  54,000  to  213,000. 
Mare  or  Mere  Street,  already  mentioned,  is  the  most  memorable  of 
Hackney  roads.  There  was  a  time  when  along  the  greater  part  stood 
on  one  side  a  fine  row  of  Limes,  and  on  the  other  a  row  of  Elms. 
Half  of  these  trees  were  cut  down,  in  spite  of  protests,  by  decree  of  a 
local  authority,  some  thirty  years  since.  The  absurd  reasons  xvere — 
first,  that  the  falling  leaves  caused  litter  about  the  roads;  second,  that 
the  trees  were  conducive  to  dampness;  and  third,  that  they  interfered 
with  the  free  circulation  of  the  air  !  Few,  or  no  public  bodies,  one 
hopes,  now  entertain  objections  to  the  presence  of  trees  in  a  thorough¬ 
fare,  bvit  would  rather  encourage  the  planting  of  suitable  species.  Out 
of  Mere  Street  runs  Loddiges  Road  eastward,  reminding  us  ot  a 
nursery  which  had  a  world-wide  fame  for  many  years,  but  which  was 
tending  to  decay  and  closure  when  this  Journal  came  into  existence. 
'Phere  is  no  doubt  that  Loddiges’  nursery  owed  its  ori^rin  to  John 
Busch,  who  commenced  it  on  a  plot  of  land  near  Well  Street,  subse¬ 
quently  it  was  removed  to  a  part  of  the  estate  called  Barbour  s  Berne. 
This  man  was  one  of  the  Dutch  gardeners  who  had  been  successful  in 
England,  but  when  Catherine  11.  of  Russia  invited  him  to  lay  out  her 
gardens,  Busch  left  Hackney  in  1771,  transferring  his  place  to  Conrad 
)  oddiges. 
Who  “Barbour”  was  nobody  knows,  but  D.irnley  Road  records 
the  fact  that  Lady  Lennox,  mother  of  the  ill-fated  Darnley  of 
Scotland,  lived  for  awhile  at  the  old  mansion  on  the  estate,  which 
included  many  acres  of  field  and  orchard.  Half  a  century  ago  a 
beautiful  orchard  existed  on  land  which  Darnley  Road  crosses. 
Loddiges’  nursery  comprised  15  acres,  being  divided  into  two  parts. 
After  he  had  inspected  the  houses,  which  were  arranged  according  to 
temperature,  a  visitor  crossed  the  public  road  by  a  bridge  to  the  open 
ground.  The  firm  had  representatives  in  many  countries,  who  sent 
home  not  only  rare  or  new  plants,  but  other  objects,  such  as  birds  and 
insects.  Its  most  successful  period  was  the  time  of  peace  which 
