28G 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
April  2,  1503. 
Briefly  stated,  the  work  accomplished  in  the  best  centres 
is  that  of  delivering  : — 
1.  Saturday  morning  lectures  to  elementary  school 
teachers. 
2.  Winter  evening  lectures  to  all  comers. 
3.  Summer  garden  lectures  and  practical  demonstrations. 
4.  Addresses  and  judging  at  cottagers’  shows. 
5.  The  establishment  of  experimental  and  continuation 
school  gardens  in  villages. 
The  lectures  are  similar  to  many  that  are  given  at  the 
Gardeners’  Mutual  Improvement  Society  meetings,  but  the 
audiences,  instead  of  being  professional  gardeners,  are  from 
all  classes  of  the  community — ladies  and  gentlemen, 
gardeners,  artisans,  and  the  working  population  generally, 
and  the  lectures  are  the  product  of  serious  thought  and 
careful  preparation.  The  summer  demonstrations  in  the 
gardens  are  very  enjoyable  and  well  attended,  being  un¬ 
doubtedly  of  primary  importance.  The  lectures,  be  it  noted, 
are  illustrated  in  many  cases  by  lantern  slides  or  diagrams 
and  coloured  drawings,  photographs,  and  living  and  dried 
(prepared)  specimens  of  the  subject  or  subjects  under  con¬ 
sideration.  Our  report  of  the  Nature  Study  Exhibition  held 
last  summer  in  Regent’s  Park,  London,  conveyed  a  fuller 
idea  of  the  means  employed  to  illustrate  the  lectures  than 
we  can  repeat  here. 
In  the  continuation  school  gardens,  the  ground  is  en¬ 
closed,  where  practicable,  and  divided  into  plots  of  about  a 
rod  each,  where  school  children,  or  youths  who  have  ceased 
attendance  at  school,  are  taught  to  cultivate  vegetables  and 
flowers,  and  there  is  generally  a  fruit  plot  where  the 
principles  of  culture  can  be  .imparted  to  them  all.  The 
necessary  implements  and  seeds  are  provided,  the  plots  and 
tools  periodically  inspected,  faults  pointed  out,  and  advice 
given  that  may  be  helpful  to  the  workers.  In  this  way,  and 
by  means  of  these  gardens,  a  knowledge  and  love  of  garden- 
work  is  implanted  in  the  youthful  minds,  and  wherever  they 
may  go,  either  abroad  or  at  home,  they  are  thus  equipped 
in  the  fundamental  principles  for  obtaining  the  best  possible 
extract  from  the  land. 
For  the  convenience  of  those  who  may  desire  the  refer¬ 
ence,  we  furnish  on  page  299  a  list  of  the  names  of  instruc¬ 
tors  and  the  counties  in  which  they  are  engaged,  which  is  as 
complete  as  we  have  been  able  to  make  it. 
Turning  now  to  individual  instances,  the  new  garden 
belonging  to  the  Middlesex  County  Council  may  be  noticed, 
and  this  is  situated  at  Edmonton  in  the  North  of  London. 
This  garden  was  secured  from  the  Urban  District  Council,  . 
who  had  bought  the  estate,  known  as  Pymmes  Park,  some 
years  ago,  and  having  disposed  of  five  acres  to  the  County 
Council,  they  have  employed  the  remainder  of  the  domain  as 
a  public  recreation  ground.  The  estate  and  mansion  (the 
latter  being  now  fitted  up  for  teaching  and  technical  pur¬ 
poses)  had  lain  idle  for  nigh  twenty  years,  yet  this  North 
London  district  is  thickly  populated,  as  the  following  figures 
serve  to  show ;  Edmonton  has  47,000  citizens  ;  Tottenham, 
102,500  ;  Enfield,  43,000  ;  and  Wood  Green,  35,000 ;  making 
for  this  one  compact  district,  a  total  population  of  227,500 
souls. 
Pymmes  Park  lends  itself  admirably  for  the  purpose  to 
which  it  has  noAv  been  put.  The  old  mansion  stands  well 
back  in  the  grounds,  on  a  rising  piece  of  ground,  and  is  sur¬ 
rounded  with  spreading  lawns,  and  the  new  gardens  to  the 
west.  When  Mr.  J.  Weathers  (a  few  biographical  particu¬ 
lars  of  whom  we  also  print)  took  charge  of  the  place,  “  One 
couldn’t  see  a  pathway  for  weeds,”  to  quote,  his  own. words. 
Nettles,  Docks,  and  grass  abounded.  He  has  quickly  made 
a  change.  The  paths  are  now  even  and  clear  ;  the  lawns  are 
assuming  a  smooth,  firm  verdancy;  the  little  ornamental 
lakelet  has  had  its  sides  pared,  and  a  rock-garden  is  con¬ 
templated  along  one  edge  ;  while  new  beds  have  been  cut 
and  old  ones  abolished  in  divers  parts.  The  coup  d’etat, 
however,  is  in  the  formation  of  a  splendid  herbaceous 
garden,  laid  out  after  the  botanical  pattern  of  that  at  Kew, 
with  numerous  beds  in  grass,  these  beiug  15ft  long  and  6ft 
wide.  The  entire  area  of  over  half  an  acre  has  been  dug, 
levelled,  and  turved,  there  being  asphalt  pathways  at  the 
centre,  sides,  and  ends. 
Two  lads  were  seen  busily  engaged  in  the  preparation  of 
these  beds  with  new  and  suitable  soil,  and  these  young  men 
were  holders  of  the  Council’s  scholarship  of  £26  offered  yearly 
in  competition.  They  receive  a  free  training  under  Mr. 
Weathers  and  his  foreman. 
Within  the  brick  walls  lies  the  fruit  and  kitchen  garden, 
an  acre  in  extent,  and  it  is  here  that  the  teachers’  experi¬ 
mental  plots  are  placed,  where  they  may  come  whenever 
they  have  the  leisure,  to  make  the  most  of  their  knowledge 
of  Adam’s  art,  and  they  are  at  liberty  to  remove  the  flowers 
or  vegetables  they  cultivate. 
The  main  area  of  this  walled  garden  has  been  planted  by 
the  instructor  with  bush  fruits,  and  also  with  stocks  for  the 
purpose  of  demonstrating  the  process  and  methods  of  graft¬ 
ing  and  budding  Roses,  and  all  sorts  of  fruit  trees  are,  and 
have  been,  grafted  and  budded  on  to  the  respective  suitable 
stocks.  The  ground  is  a  good,  dark,  heavy  loam,  and  has 
been  trenched  4ft  deep,  being  at  the  same  time  well  manured. 
On  the  walls,  which  are  in  a  very  good  condition,  a  selection 
of  fan-shaped  Plum,  Pear,  Cherry  and  Peach  trees  is  gradu¬ 
ally  being  augmented.  The  nursery  ground  on  the  outer 
side  of  the  hardy  herbaceous  plant  department  consists 
of  a  miscellaneous  collection  of  tall  bearded  Irises,  perennial 
Asters,  Hemerocallis,  Saxifrages,  Poppies,  and  many  odds 
and  ends  gathered  together  from  the  original  garden  before 
the  remodelling  was  begun,  and  these  are  here  being  in¬ 
creased  to  furnish  the  nucleus  of  the  new  collections.  Mr. 
Weathers  has  received  kindly  and  prompt  assistance  from 
the  Directors  of  the  Royal  Gardens  at  Kew  and  Edinburgh, 
who  have  sent  plants,  and  even  a  number  of  nursery  firms 
have  supplied  seeds,  plants,  Roses  and  bulbs  gratis,  on  his- 
solicitation.  He  is  an  able  man,  and  will  assuredly  mal^e 
Pymmes  Park  Garden  a  great  success. 
One  need  say  very  little  at  the  present  time  about  the 
glass  houses.  Some  of  them  have  already  been  renovated 
and  brought  more  into  harmony  with  up-to-date  require¬ 
ments,  and  progress  will  be  recorded  as  time  advances. 
Bedding  plants.  Ferns,  flowering  subjects,  and  Vines  are 
each  grown,  but  there  will  be  a  general  re-arrangement  once 
the  outside  alterations  have  become  more  fully  completed. 
The  “  ornamental  grounds  ”  are  of  moderate  extent  and 
suitably  timbered,  lending  themselves  well  for  artful  and 
tasteful  dispositions  of  ornamental  flowering  shrubs  in 
groups,  and  doubtless  other  features  which  Mr.  Weathers 
may  have  in  meditation,  if  the  Council  can  see  their  way  to* 
support  him.  Amongst  the  established  trees  were  noted  a 
magnificent  Cedrus  atlantica,  similar  to  the  famous  patriarch 
of  the  Chelsea  Physic  Garden,  which  has  so  recently  died  ; 
and  a  Tulip-tree,  80ft  high,  which  flowers  well  each  year.  A 
small  collection  of  hardy  Bamboos  have  already  been  planted 
around  the  lakelet,  and  if  the  two  white  swans  won  d  mend 
their  manners  and  leave  alone  the  Hybrid  Water  Lines,  the 
collection  already  started  would  speedily  be  increased.  Uie- 
superintendent  has  prepared  a  neat  little  catalogue  of  the 
names  of  the  entire  plant  collection,  which  he  hopes  may  be 
published  for  use  during  the  coming  suinmer  in  the  same 
form  as  the  list  of  gardening  and  botanical  books  in  the 
library.  The  volumes,  be  it  noted,  are  lent  out  to  the 
district  ratepayers,  Thursday  evening  being  set  apait  for 
changing  and  giving  out.  The  library  is  also  used  as  the- 
lecture  room,  and  on  the  walls  are  huge  coloured  diagrarns 
to  illustrate  botanical  and  horticultural  principles,  a  black¬ 
board  and  coloured  crayons  not  being  omitted,  tor,  besides- 
being  a  gardener-botanist-author-lecturer,  the  instructo'i 
here  is  a  reputed  draughtsman,  as  evidenced  by  his  dmwings 
in  “The  Gardeners’  Chronicle,”  and  elsewhere.  Certain 
cases  by  the  end  walls  contain  specimens  of  various  s^ds 
and  chemical  and  manurial  preparations  in  glass  Jjirs.  Ine 
work  is  from  end  to  end  practical,  and  the  students  and 
attendants  at  the  lectures  are  very  closely  watched  and 
tcstccl 
Such  work  must  exercise  a  splendid  effect,  leading  the 
minds  of  those  who  are  thus  privileged,  to  an  innei  study  o 
Nature,  developing  the  reflective  and  deductive  powers,  and 
fitting  the  mental  organism  with  the  means  for  greater 
pleasures  begot  of  the  imagination,  and  tending  to  produce 
the  happy  medium  between  the  warping  or  restraining" 
studies  of  languages  and  arts,  and  those  of  Nature,  which  are 
libertarian  in  their  tendency.  _  w  ^ 
The  new  Education  Act  may  in  a  measure  anect  tne 
cause  of  horticultural  instruction,  seeing  that  the  local  edu¬ 
cation  authorities  can  now  exercise  the  power  of  voting  or 
withholding  the  money  grants  for  technical  teaching. 
Rhipsalis  is  an  epiphytal  genus  of  Cacti.  There  are  ^out 
sixty  species  belonging  to  the  family.  Rhombea,  giberula,  cribata, 
and  Regnelli  are  exceedingly  pretty  free  flowering  Brazilian 
species,  worthy  of  greater  notice,  e.specially  the  first-named. 
The  Rhipsalis  do  well  in  pots  grown  in  a  soil  consisting  of  leaf 
mould,  peat,  and  fibrous  loam.  Most  of  them  may  be  grown  in 
baskets,  and  suspended  from  the  roof  of  the  Phyllocactus  house. 
