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JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
]\ray  21,  1903 
gardens.  The  men  of  Birmingham  seldom  do  things  by 
halves,  and  when  they  take  to  gardening — or  anything  else 
— they  evince  a  pride  in  eclipsing  each  other  in  a  friendly 
way ;  they  thus  obtain  a  good  deal  of  satisfaction,  if  not 
fun,  from  their  rivalry,  and  infinite  pleasure  from  their 
gardens. 
Arden  Vale  is  a  modern  mansion,  surrounded  by  ten 
acres  of  gardens  and  pleasure  grounds,  and  situated  near  to 
the  main  road  between  Olton  and  Solihull.  The  owner, 
H.  Hearthill,  Esq.,  is  an  enthusiastic  gardener  who  endea¬ 
vours  to  get  both  pleasure  and  profit  from  gardening, 
instead  of  pursuing  it  for  pleasure  alone  on  a  small  scale. 
I  recently  spent  a  few  extremely  enjoyable  and  instructive 
hours  in  this  charming  place.  Around  the  mansion  are 
large  stretches  of  lawn  and  shrubberies,  and  the  latter  are 
increasing  in  beauty  each  year,  as  a  varied  collection  has 
been  planted.  On  two  sides  of  the  mansion  an  extensive 
alpine  garden  has  been  formed,  and  in  other  directions  good 
use  has  been  made  of  rustic  arches,  which  are  being  I'apidly 
covered  with  strong  growing  Roses.  At  the  time  of  my 
visit  there  were  many  choice  Alpines  in  flower,  but  I  will 
only  call  attention  to  a  few  which  struck  me  as  worthy  of 
being  grown  largely.  Phlox  Vivid  and  Anemone  blanda 
made  particularly  bright  masses,  and  Arabis  alpina  fl.-pl. 
ought  certainly  to  be  grown  in  every  rock  garden  or  her¬ 
baceous  border.  The  double  white  flowers  resemble  Stocks, 
and  their  scent  is  almost  as  sweet.  Mr.  Hearthill  w’as  one 
of  the  first  to  recognise  the  good  qualities  of  this  improved 
Arabis,  and  he  at  once  set  to  work  to  propagate  a  good 
stock.  The  Achilleas,  Aubrietias,  Saxifragas,  Semper- 
vivums,  and  Primulas  are  grown  in  great  variety,  but  I 
cannot  touch  upon  them,  but  must  pass  on  to  the  Daffodils 
and  Narcissus,  which  are  grown  on  a  large  scale.  As  show¬ 
ing  the  earliness  of  the  season  compared  with  last  year,  it 
is  interesting  to  find  that  Mr.  Hearthill  this  season  cut  his 
first  blooms  thirty-one  days  earlier  than  last  year,  the 
variety  being  the  same  in  each  case.  A  long  border  of 
Golden  Spur  formed  a  dazzling  mass  of  colour.  This  border 
was  bounded  by  a  thatched  fence,  the  plants  on  the  sunny 
side  being  in  full  beauty,  while  those  on  the  north-east,  of 
the  same  variety,  were  fully  three  weeks  later.  Low  fences 
are  thus  evidently  valuable  for  both  market  and  private 
gardens.  Sir  Watkin  is  grown  in  large  numbers,  and  the 
flowers  were  just  beginning  to  open.  Emperor  surprised 
me  by  reason  of  the  grand,  broad,  strong  leaves,  wdrich 
shoulcl  be  a  sure  precursor  of  giant  flowers  to  come. 
Numerous  other  varieties  are  grown  so  as  to  provide  a 
regular  succession  of  flowers  from  the  beginning  to  the  end ' 
of  the  Daffodil  season.  A  layer  of  w'ell-decayed  manure  is 
usually  given  to  the  plants  annually  as  soon  as  the  foliage 
is  well  above  ground,  and  doubtless  this  helps  to  maintain 
the  vigour  necessary  for  the  production  of  fine  flowers. 
Mr.  Hearthill  has  hit  upon  a  very  happy  combination  of 
crops  which  answers  splendidly.  Daffodils  are  planted  in 
the  Strawberry  beds  (between  the  plants,  not  the  rows). 
The  Daffodils  are,  of  course,  over  before  the  Strawberries 
come  into  flower,  but  the  remaining  foliage  gives  a  little 
protection  to  the  fruit  blossom,  and  long  before 
the  Strawberries  begin  to  colour  the  Daffodil  foliage  has 
vanished  entirely.  There  are  also  standard  Apple  and  Pear 
trees  on  the  same  plots,  and  the  combination  is  one  which 
I  can  strongly  recommend  for  general  adoption.  Mr. 
Hearthill  has  evidently  a  firm, belief  that  good  Apples  and 
Pears  pay  to  grow,  for  they  have  been  planted  on  a  con¬ 
siderable  scale,  and  recently  an  additional  two  acres  have 
been  drained  and  ploughed  with  the  object  of  cropping  ic 
during  the  present  summer  and  planting  fruit  trees  next 
autumn.  Among  the  Apples  largely  planted  Cox’s  Orange 
Pippin  plays  an  important  part,  and  it  succeeds  admirably 
here,  as  it  does  in  Warwickshire  generally.  A  good  system  of 
pruning  is  adopted  ;  after  the  trees  have  been  shortened 
back  for  two  or  three  years  their  branches  are  allowed  to 
extend  naturally  without  further  shortening,  but  they  are 
kept  very  thinly  disposed,  and  they  provide  an  excellent 
illustration  of  how  such  trees  should  be  treated.  For  the 
purpose  of  comparison  a  few  hard-pruned  trees  are  grown 
near,  and  this  should  make  the  lesson  all  the  more  valuable. 
There  is  not  much  glass  at  Arden  Vale,  but  good  use  is 
made  of  the  little  there  is.  One  is  principally  occupied  by 
Orchids  and  a  few  stove  plants.  In  another  there  are  good 
batches  of  young  Roses  in  pots.  Liberty  figiu’ing  promi¬ 
nently  among  them.  Many  other  Roses  are  grown  in  pits. 
Ih'imulas  in  their  season  must  be  a  great  feature,  as  the 
plants  I  saw  possessed  a  wonderfully  sturdy  vigour,  and  the  J 
strain  is  of  the  highest  excellence.  With  whatever  plants 
or  crops  are  grown  at  Arden  Vale  the  aim  is  to  get  the  best 
possible  varieties  and  grow  well.  I  should  previously 
have  mentioned  that  among  Strawberries  the  favourite 
varieties  are  Royal  Sovez'eign,  Paxton,  Leader,  and  Sen¬ 
sation,  and  the  perpetual  St.  Joseph  is  also  thought  highly, 
of.  The  Laxton  is  being  tried  this  year.  I  might  w'rite 
much  more  about  a  pleasant  afternoon  spent  in  a  delightful 
spot  in  the  company  of  gardening  enthusiasts,  but  already 
I  hear — or,  at  least,  fancy  I  do — the  “  click  ”  of  scissors  in 
the  editorial  sanctum.  Let  it  sufiice,  therefore,  to  say  that 
both  Mr.  Hearthill  and  his  energetic  head  gardener,  Mr. 
Hicks,  are  brimming  over  with  enthusiasm  and  interest  in 
the  plants  and  crops  around  them.  Under  such  circum¬ 
stances  the  results  of  their  labours  are  necessarily  gopd, 
and  will  be  still  better  as  the  years  roll  on. — H.  D. 
Notes  on  Plant  Distribution.* 
{Continued  from  page  330.) 
Pa.s.sing  from  the  tropical  to  the  sub-tropical  zones,  we  find 
that  in  the.se  (apart  from  a  few  extensions  of  tropical  forest  areas, 
as  in  India),  the  climate  is  con.siderably  drier  than  in  the  tropical 
forest  regions,  but  it  is  not  very  different  from  some  of  the  drier 
tropical  areas,  except  in  the  degree  of  heat,  and  at  the  boundaries 
the  floras  gradually  pass  into  each  other.  In  general  character, 
with  some  exceptions,  the  vegetation  is  dwarfer  than  that  of  the 
tropical  zone,  the  trees  and  foliage  smaller,  the  forests  u.sually 
le.ss  dense  and  not  overrun  with  woody  climbers,  and  epiphytes 
and  tree-parasites  are  very  much  less  numerous,  and,  together 
with  PahiLS  and  tree  Ferns,  die  out  in  this  zone. 
The  most  striking  botanical  features'  of  these  zones  are  un¬ 
doubtedly  (1)  the  great  abundance  of  dwarf  bushes  and  shrublets 
belonging  to  the  orders  Compositse,  Myrtacese,  Butacese, 
Cistacete,  Thymeleaceie,  and  the  Heaths  and  Epacrises ;  (2)  the 
abundance  of  bulbous  and  tuberous-rooted  plants  and  terrestrial 
Orchids,  all  of  which  are  more  abundant  in  these  zones  than  in 
all  the  others  put  together ;  (3)  the  prevalence  of  .succulent  plants, 
which  form  a  special  feature  in.  the  vegetation  of  North  Mexico 
and  South  Africa,  whose  floras  may  be  selected  for  comparison. 
Both  are  very  rich  in  species,  and  are  remarkableifor  the  numerous 
genera  they  contain,  which  have  more  than  twenty-five  species 
belonging  to  them.  Some  of  these  will  be  indicated  in  the  South 
African  list,  but  the  North  Mexican  cannot  well  be  estimated, 
and  are  omitted. 
In  these  two  regions,  perhaps  more  than  in  any  others,  is 
demon.strated  in  a  very  .striking  manner  the  way  in  which  like 
conditions  of  climate  act  upon  vegetation  so  as  to  produce  a  great 
similarity  in  the  general  appearance  of  plants  belonging  to  totally 
distinct  natural  orders.  Compare,  for  instance,  the  Agaves  of 
Mexico  with  the  Aloes  of  South  Africa  ;  so  similar  are  they  to  the 
general  public  that  the  writer  has  several  times  been  a.sked  by 
the  uninitiated  how  they  may  be  distinguished  when  not  in  flower. 
This  is  easily  done  by  making  a  transverse  section  of  a  leaf,  when, 
if  the  central  part  is  filled  with  a  transparent  watery  pulp,  with¬ 
out  fibres,  it  is  an  Aloe;  if,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  filled  with  a 
whitish  pulp  with  numerous  fibres  scattered  through  it,  then  the 
leaf  is  that  of  an  Agave,  and  it  is  these  fibres  which  render  some 
of  the  species  so  valuable  as  fibre  producers. 
North  Mexico. 
This  portion  of  Mexico  consists  of  a  central  plateau  between 
300  and  400  miles  broad,  having  a  general  elevation  of  4,000ft  to 
7,000ft  above  sea  level,  with  mountains  up  to  8,000ft  to  10,0()0ft 
upon  it,  and,  abruptly  .sloping  down  on  either  side  to  the  low 
coast  land.  The  climate  is  dry  and  warm,  the  annual  rainfall 
varying  in  different  parts  from  8in  to  23in,  except  on  the  eastern 
coast,  where  the  climate  is  more  humid,  with  a  rainfall  of  30in  to 
40in  annually.  On  this  account  tlie  flora  (which  extends  into 
Texas,  New  Mexico,  Arizona,  and  Lower  California)  is  different 
in  character  from  that  of  Southern  Mexico  and  the  rest  of  Central 
America,  which  has  a  much  heavier  rainfall,  is  richly  wooded,  and 
has  an  abundance  of  epiphytes.  Here,  in  the  north,  trees  are  not 
numerous  in  kind,  and  it  is  but  thinly  wooded,  except  in  the 
ravines,  along  the  rivers,  and  in  the  coast  region.  Epiphytes 
are  very  few,  and  find  their  northern  limit  here,  a  dry  climate 
being  detrimental  to  their  existence,  from  which  it  is  obvious  that 
they  must  have  originated  in  hot  humid  forest  regions  like  to 
those  where  they  still  enjoy  life.  Among  the  trees  of  this  region 
are  the  familiar  genera  Quercus,  Finns,  Salix,  Taxodium,  Fraxi- 
*  The  mitJior  commenced  these  articles  in  our  Spring  Number,  March  12th, 
discussing,  on  that  occasion,  the  factors  vdnch  govern  the  distribution 
of  plants  over  the  surface  of  the  earth,  the  consideration  being  carried 
0  1  in  his  next  article  on  March  26th,  page  270.  The  principal  floral 
areas  cf  the  morld,  which  Mr.  Brown  placed  under  twenty-one  groups, 
viere  tabulated  on  page  200  of  our  issue  for  April  2nd ;  and  on  page 
329  he  began  these  brief  comparatire  analyses  cf  the  chief  floras, 
tahing  them  in  pairs  in  each  zone.  The  article  on  pages  329  and  330 
compared  the  distinctive  genera  of  the  flora  of  East  Tropiccd  South 
A  terica  with  that  of  the  Malay  Begion,  both  in  the  Tropical  Zone. — Ed. 
