464 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
A  ay  28,  1203. 
introduced  by  its  collectors ;  its  scientific  publications, 
experiments,  exhibitions,  and  the  multitude  of  its  other 
labours.  A  second  time  it  languished,  and  naught  but 
speedy  extinction  looked  it  in  the  face  until  the  Prince  Con¬ 
sort  took  it  by  the  hand,  and,  as  it  were  with  a  word,  gave 
it  strength  and  resources  beyond  any  it  had  previously  pos¬ 
sessed.  He  raised,  as  if  by  enchantment,  the  Arcadian  garden 
at  South  Kensington,  organised  the  International  Exhibi¬ 
tion  of  1862,  and  pointed  out  a  way  for  the  Society  partici¬ 
pating  in  its  advantages.  For  many  years  after  the  Prince 
Consort’s  death,  “the  Society,”  as  Sir  Trevor  Lawrence  has 
written,  “  dragged  on  at  South  Kensington  an  existence  of 
little  use  and  less  dignity  or  credit  up  to  the  end  of  the  year 
1887,”  when  the  gardens  were  given  up.  These  South  Ken¬ 
sington  gardens  lasted  for  twenty-six  years.  They  were  not 
experimental  gardens,  but  purely  ornamental,  the  old  and 
still  existing  Chiswick  Gardens  being  the  ground  whereon 
the  fruit,  flower,  and  vegetable  trials  were  conducted. 
Though  now  built  upon,  or  traversed  by  great  London 
thoroughfares,  some  notes  of  the  South  Kensington  Gardens 
will  still  be  accepted  with  interest.  They  occupied  the  area 
where  the  Imperial  Institute  and  the  Indian  Museum  now 
stand,  and  the  original  entrance  still  remains  facing  the 
Exhibition  Eoad,  the  title  of  the  Society  being  discernible 
over  the  doorway  in  faded  letters  of  gold.  The  names  of  the 
botanists,  Robert  Brown,  Linnseus,  Tourneforte,  Ray,  Jussieu 
— also  over  the  entrance  in  a  great  semicircle — can  still  be 
read,  but  beyond  these  fleeting  remnants  nothing  remains 
of  that  most  beautiful  garden  or  its  architecture — an  archi¬ 
tectural,  formal  garden,  as  a  glance  at  the  illustrations  on 
our  central  pages  will  show. 
The  greater  part  of  the  grounds  occupied  by  these 
gardens  had  previously  been  cultivated  as  the  Brompton 
Park  Nursery,  remarkable  as  being  the  first  nursery  of  any 
extent  in  the  kingdom,  and  entered  upon  as  a  great  com¬ 
mercial  speculation  in  1681.  Previous  to  the  middle  of  the 
17th  century  almost  the  whole  of  the  fruit  and  forest  trees 
planted  in  this  country  were  obtained  from  Holland  and 
Flanders,  and  it  was  to  supply  these  that  Lukar,  Field, 
Cooke,  and  London  (later,  London  and  Wise)  started  their 
Brompton  nursery  of  100  acres.  The  map  of  the  garden, 
which  we  publish,  will  help  the  reader  to  understand  the 
details  of  the  garden,  which  was  situated  on  a  gentle  slope 
facing  the  south.  The  area,  700ft  to  800ft  broad  and  more 
than  1,200ft  long,  was  formed  into  three  principal  levels, 
broken  by  subordinate  terraced  levels,  connected  by  slopes, 
and  reached  by  flights  of  steps.  The  whole  was  surrounded 
by  arcades,  opening  towards  the  garden,  each  being  about 
25ft  wide  and  20ft  high.  Those  at  the  south,  mickrie,  and 
north  were  all  different,  and  were  designated  the  Lateran, 
the  Milanese,  and  the  Albani  Arcades,  from  the  buildings  to 
which  their  styles  may  respectively  be  referred. 
At  the  centre  of  the  upper  end  stood  the  large  conserva¬ 
tory,  270ft  long,  100ft  wide,  and  75ft  high,  surrounded  by  a 
verandah.  A  broad  walk  passed  up  the  middle  of  the 
garden,  and  was  intersected  by  others.  Beds  of  flowers, 
lawns,  trees,  shrubs,  fountains,  cascades,  basins,  and  canals 
of  water,  with  band  stands,  vases,  statuary,  flights  of  steps, 
and  balustrading,  were  the  principal  features  of  the  garden. 
Mr.  Murray  includes  in  his  book  an  especially  interesting 
chapter  on  the  Great  Cascade,  the  water  of  which  was 
drawn  from  an  artesian  well  which  was  sunk  behind  the 
Great  Conservatory,  and  Avhich  he  compares  Avith  the  foun¬ 
tains  of  Trafalgar  Square,  giving  diagrams  to  shoAv  the  depth 
of  the  wells  in  each  case,  and  the  strata  through  Avhich  the 
shafts  Avere  sunk.  The  total  depth  AA'as  401ft,  a  AA'ell  having 
been  sunk  to  the  depth  of  226ft,  and  a  bore  thereafter  carried 
down  175ft  farther.  This  Avell  gave  a  far  greater  Anlume  of 
water  than  the  Trafalgar  Square  Avells,  and  Avas  rightly 
regarded  as  the  finest  artesian  AA'ell  in  the  metropolis. 
Could  the  AAvater  have  been  utilised  at  the  same  rate  as  that 
then  charged  by  the  AA'ater  companies,  viz.,  6d.  per  1,000 
gallons,  it  Avould  haA’e  yielded  a  gross  yearly  return  of 
£7,500,  or  above  £5,500  net  profit.  The  water  Avas  pumped 
from  the  AA'ell  by  a  small  engine,  Avhich  dreAA'  about  100 
gallons  in  a  minute,  and  emptied  it  into  the  system  of  pipes 
or  arteries  by  Avhich  all  the  basins  and  canals  Avere  con¬ 
nected.  The  Avater  system  AA'as  kept  in  circulation  through¬ 
out  by  an  Appold  pump,  and  was  of  magnificence  and  great 
beauty.  It  is  to  be  ho)'ecl  that  the  new  garden  succeeding  Chiswick 
may  Ije  commemoratingly  designed  to  cany  on  some  of  the 
best  features  of  both  its  famous  foreriinners. 
Rose  Exhibits. 
At  the  u.sua!  monthly  dinner  of  the  Horticultural  Club,  held  on 
•Tue.sdaA',  the  19th  inst.,  at  the  Hotel  Windsor,  London,  under 
the  chairmanship  of  Mr.  F.  G.  Lloyd,  a  goodly  number  of  meinber.s. 
and  guests  were  present,  and  a  most  interesting  paper  on  the 
above  .subject  Avas  read  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Pemberton.  The  main, 
irurpose  of  the  paper  Avas  to  advocate  a  reform  in  the  mode  of 
exhibition  of  cut  blooms  by  doing  away  Avith,  or  minimising  as  far 
as  possible,  the  obtrusive  pre.sence  of  the  formal  boxes,  arranged 
Avith  mathematical  precision,  Avhich  noAV  form  too  prominent  a 
feature.  Long  .stalks  A'ersus  short  stalks  constituted,  in  fact,  the 
bone  of  contention  throAvn  doAvn  by  Mr.  Pemberton,  but  in  reality 
the  contention  resolved  itself  entirely  into  a  question- of  practi¬ 
cability  of  the  long  .stalk  .system  rather  than  any  real  opposition: 
thereto,  as  all  present  agree  that  se.sthetically  it  Avas  the  right 
system  to  pursue. 
In  the  subsequent  discussion,  hoAvever,  Avhich  was  participated' 
in  by  such  eminent  Rose  authorities  as  Messrs.  E.  Mawley,  Wilks. 
Cant,  Paid,  Burnside,  Watei'er,  Bunyard,  Gordon,  Pearson,  and 
Shea,  it  transpired  that,  OAving  to  the  fleeting  nature  of  the  Ro.se- 
floAver,  it  Avould  be  extremely  difficult,  if  not  impo.ssible,  to  guaran¬ 
tee  blooms  Avith  long  stalks  and  their  oavii  foliage,  to  stand  the 
heat  and  drought  of  croAvded  close  tents  sufficiently  long  for  exhi¬ 
bition  purposes.  The  farther  the  bloom  from  the  AA'ater,  and  the 
greater  the  area  of  the  foliage,  the  more  difficult  it  is  to  .stand 
the  extreme  .strain  set  up  by  transpiration. 
It  is  all  very  Avell  to  go  into  a  garden,  cut  floAvers  Avith  long 
stalks,  and  insert  them  at  once  in  A'a.ses  in  a  cool  room,  but  it  is. 
quite  another  thing  Avhen  the  blooms  hai-e  maybe  to  travel  some 
hundreds  of  miles  after  cutting,  and  then  have  to  be  exposed  to 
the  heat  and  drought  of  an  exhibition  tent.  That  is  one  point ; 
another  is  the  gi'eater  carriage  expense  involved  in  the  larger 
packages  necessitated ;  and  still  another,  and  by  no  means  an  un¬ 
important  one,  is  the  loss  to  the  Rose  bush  of  so  much  material, 
Avhichinthe  succession  of  shoAvs  AVould  have  to  be  provided  for  by 
exhibitors  during  the  season  Avould  mean  the  practical  destruction, 
of  A'aluabie  plants  or  the  culture  of  a  far  greater  number. 
Mr.  MaAvIey,  too,  as  representing  the  National  Rose  Society, 
deprecated  progress  of  a  revolutionary  type  ;  he  recognised  the- 
fe.sthetic  need,  and  the  society  Avas  doing  all  it  could  to  meet  it. 
The  box  sy.stem,  hoAvever,  had  been  really  evolved  in  carrying  out 
the  fir.st  and  fundamental  object  of  the  society,  viz.,  to  foster  the 
exhibition  of  the  very  finest  Rose  blooms  obtainable,  so  that  the 
standard  of  perfection  might  be  raised  higher  and  higher,  and  to 
enable  the  judges  to  make  fair  aAvards  .some  uniformity  in  the- 
mode  of  .shoAving  these  blooms  AA'as  essential.  The  extemsion  of 
the  trophy  class  to  coA'cr  a  Avide  range  of  A'arieties  had  been  ad- 
A'ocated,  and  to  some  degree  effected;  but  Mr.  Cant  pointed  out 
that  the  difficulty  of  judging  a  A'ery  mixed  class  properly  Avas  so 
great  that  he,  for  one,  Avould  not  care  to  be  called  upon  to  under¬ 
take  it. 
Ventilated  tents  Avere  adA'ocated  by  Mr.  C.  Pearson,  and  cer¬ 
tainly  much  reform  is  called  for  in  this  direction,  and  should  be 
practicable  ;  the  heat  ordinarily  experienced  Avith  the  tents  and 
marquees  is  usually  a  great  draAvback,  not  only  to  the  enjoyment 
of  the  Ausitors,  but  CA'en  more  so  to  the  stability  of  the  exhibits.^ 
TAvo-day  shoAvs  Avere  adi'ocated  by  Mr.  Waterer  on  the  lines  of 
different,  schedules  each  day;  but  this,  it  AAas  pointed  out.  in- 
A'oh'ed  an  iiiA'idious  selection,  Avhich  Avould  be  unpleasant,  and,  in 
fact,  prohibitive.  An  autumn  shoAV  Avas  Avarmly  advocated  by 
Mr.  Wilks,  and  met  Avith  general  approA'al.  A  Avarm  vote  of 
thanks  to  Mr.  Pemberton  and  the  chairman  concluded  the  pro¬ 
ceedings. 
Rose  Wood  Injured. 
I  do  not  see  any  signs  on  the  j)iece  of  Maman  Cochet  wood 
submitted  to  me  of  such  splitting  as  Avould  .sugge.st  a  “bur.st.”  I 
agree  Avith  Mr.  Strange  that  the  damage  AA'as  done  earlier  than 
April,  in  fact,  that  the  shoot  Avas  in  a  dying  state  Avhen  the  neAA' 
groAA'th  AA'as  made,  this  being  small  and  Aveakly  in  comparison 
AA'ith  the  old  AA  Ood.  I  am  surprised  that  Mr.  Strange  finds  it  a 
neAA'  experience — it  is  a  .sadly  familiar  one  to  me — to  find  in  May 
that  the  old  Avood  to  Avhich  one  has  pruned  back  Avith  confidence 
has  since  that  time  turned  broAvn  or  black,  and  is  evidently  in  a 
clA'ing  condition,  though,  as  yet,  the  neAV  groAvth  from  it  shoAvs  no 
sign  of  failure.  It  seems  simply  to  be  that  the  affected  Avood  does 
not  turn  thoroughly  black  or  broAvn  till  the  rising  of  the  sap.  I 
do  not  think  that  the  injury  is  due  in  all  cases  to  frost.  Maman 
Cochet  is  particularly  liable,  in  old  plants,  to  die  back  thus  pars 
tially  in  the  spring.  I  could  find  several  instances  on  my  OAvrt 
plants  at  the  present  time  of  old  Avood  thus  turned  black  since- 
pruAiine.  tliough  AA'ith  fine  fresh  groAvth  on  them.  Some  of  such 
