Juno  18,  19C3. 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
533 
Tlius  he  was  engaged  at  a  salary  not  much  better  than 
he  would  have  received  in  England,  and  had  to  meet  the  heavy 
expenses  of  living,  then  current  in  the  United  States.  For  a  time 
he  and  his  wife  occupied  part  of  a  waiting  room  in  the  garden, 
their  furniture  consisting  of  a  table  made  by  Gurney  himself  from 
slabs,  two  stools,  and  a  cooking  stove.  Here  they  passed  their 
■earliest  days  at  St.  Louis.  The  Botanic  Garden  at  that  time  (to 
quote  Mr.  Barr)  “  consisted  of  two  plants,  Perilla  and 
Petunias.”  (!)  A  grant  was  obtained  for  a  few  annuals,  which 
w'cre  raised  and  eventually  planted.  One  day’s  scorching  sun, 
however,  caused  their  demi.se,  and  Perillas  and  Petunias  again 
reigned  supreme.  But  a  second  consignment  was  got,  these 
being  seeds  from  Germany,  and  soon  James  had  a  bed  of  plants 
which  he  was  able  to  label  “  Plants  of  the  Bible.”  Mr.  Shaw 
was  delighted;  and  as  one  of  the  subjects  was  the  Sensitive 
Plant,  the  employer’s  amazement  and  interest  knew  no  hounds, 
and  his  botanical  instincts  quickened  rapidly.  The  next  move 
was  to  gather  a  collection  of  medicinal  plants,  which  in  due  time 
w'ere  labelled  as  such;  and,  priding  himself  on  his  collection,  -the 
■old  gardener  never  forgave  Sir  Joseph  Hooker,  who,  when  vi.siting 
the  gardens,  spoke  rather  contemptuously  of  them. 
Dr.  Englemann,  of  St.  Louis,  being  an  enthmsiastic  botanist, 
collected  and  sent  many  plants  to  'the  garden,  including  the 
nucleus  of  the  very  fine  collection  of  Cacti,  which  are  at  present 
one  of  the  greatest  features.  The  Missouri  Garden  is  to-day 
rich,  and  has  a  yearly  increasing  revenue.  Mr.  Shaw  had  much 
nroperty  in  the  town,  which  the  trustees  for,  are  improving,  and 
the  land  in  the  vicinity  of  the  town,  belonging  to  the  late  Mr. 
Shaw,  is  now  being  fued  off,  so  that  the  gardens  will  in  time  be 
the  richest  botanical  gardens  in  the  world.  They  are  now 
managed  by  a  gentleman  of  remarkable  activity,  Mr.  T.  M. 
Trelees,  a  Corni.shman,  and  distinguished  botanist,  who  is 
accumulating  a  library  of  ancient  and  modern  horticultural  and 
botanical  works,  even  to  the  extent  of  securing  old  catalogues. 
Provision  is  mad©  for  educating  a  limited  number  of  students  in 
the.se  gardens,  who  may  be  represented  by  lads  from  various 
countries.  An  old  student  is  running  a  nursery  on  his  own 
account  in  Tokio,  the  capital  of  Japan.  Visitors  should  pay  him 
a  visit,  see  his  garden  and  his  family  temple  ;  his  address  is  H. 
Ixawase,  1030-1034  Mitsugi,  Mina  mi  Shinagawa,  Tokyo  Fer  Japan. 
Besides  founding  the  garden,  the  late  Mr.  Shaw  gave  St.  Louis 
sufficient  ground  for  a  public  park,  and  his  henchman,  Mr. 
Spiraea  confusa.  (See  page  540.) 
Gurney,  was  placed  in  superintendence  there  as  well  as  retain¬ 
ing  the  Botanic  Gardens. 
At  Jersey  City,  N.J.,  is  the  e.state  of  Mr.  Tombly,  who.se  gar¬ 
dener,  Mr.  Herrington,  is  well  known  in  England,  and  has, 
within  a  few  years,  made  his  mark  in  American  gardening.  He 
was  engaged  from  Mr.  William  Robinson’s  offict*,  his  employer 
being  desirous  to  have  a  rich  private  garden,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  to  make  money  out  of  his  hobby.  After  a  time,  Herrington 
assured  Mr.  Tombly  that  there  were  good  prospects  in  the  market 
culture  of  certain  Orchids,  and  was  allowed  to  test  the  point, 
which  hecaiiie  .so  succe.ssful  that  he  has  built  other  large  I'anges. 
Mr.  Barr  found  the  flowers  of  Herrington’s  culture  in  Chicago, 
where  they  were  declared  to  be  the  finest  in  the  U.S.A.  The 
flower  gardens  around  Mr.  Tombly’s  house  are  such  as  would  equal 
the  finest  of  ours  in  the  United  Kingdom  ;  the  aim  being  to  main¬ 
tain  the  richest  floral  display  possible.  Not  far  distant  from  the 
estate  there  are  many  interesting  private  gardens,  and  Mr.  Barr 
had  vivid  recollections  of  the  striking  effect  made  in  one  of  these 
by  a  Crimson  Rambler  covered  trellis,  ‘‘  which  was  worth  going 
a  long  distance  to  see.”  This  trellis  divided  the  kitchen  garden 
from  the  floral  part  in  the  form  of  a  hedge,  the  support  being 
so  covered  one  not  aware  of  the  nature  of  the  plant  would  have 
supposed  it  a  self-supporting  Rose  hedge. 
The  great  nurserymen  in  the  State  of  New  Jersey  are  Mr. 
May  and  Mr.  Dreer,  the  former  being  especially  noted  as  a  Rose 
grower.  Mr.  Dreer,  of  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  has  his  nursery  in  New 
Jersey,  which  is  run  as  a  limited  liability  concern.  It  is  here, 
too,  that  Mr.  William  Tricker  devotes  nearly  his  whole  time  to 
the  culture  of  Nymphseas,  and  to  the  cro.ssing  of  the  varieties. 
The  hardy  Victoria  Regia  Trickeri  is  named  in  his  honour. 
Mr.  Dreer  also  cultivated  the  Nympheeas,  and  has  immense 
quantities  of  Palms,  Cannas,  and  general  nursery  stock.  Mr. 
Peter  Barr  also  visited  a  number  of  other  establishments  at  Phila¬ 
delphia,  which  is  a  great  market  centre,  and  among  these  were 
the  businesses  of  two  Shropshire  men,  one  of  whom  was  “  making 
a  mint  of  money,”  the  other,  who  spent  time  and  care  on  his  stove 
and  greenhouse  plants,  and  loved  to  see  fine  specimens,  was 
not  so  prosperous.  The  moral  here  is  not  to  cultivate  what 
is  not  much  wanted  if  you  want  to  get  rich.  Another  call 
was  made  at  Mr.  Robert  Craig’s  nursery,  who  i.s  one  of  the 
cheeriest  and  most  genial  men  in  America.  He  is  a  clever 
public  orator,  and  much  in  evidence  at  various  horticultural  meet¬ 
ings  both  in  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey,  and  elsewhere.  “  Horti¬ 
cultural  visitors  to  Philadelphia,”  says  Mr.  Biarr,  “  should  make 
his  acquaintance  if  they  would  know  what  a  real  Man¬ 
hattan  Cup  is.”  It  was  in  Philadelphia  that  Lilium  longi- 
florum  eximium  was  fii'st  flowered  by  Mr.  Harris,  a  nurseryman 
there,  and  as  it  blooms  at  Easter,  the  name  of  Easter  Lily  was 
applied,  though  Lilium  Harrisi  and  Bermuda  Lily  are  equally 
popular  and  well-known  appellatives.  It  was  in  1875  that  the 
first  two  bulbs  of  L.  Harrisi  were  taken  from  the  Bermuda  Isles 
to  Philadelphia.  These  were  at  once  seen  to  be'  ”  good  for  market 
work,”  and  in  three  years  the  two  bulbs  had  increased  to  100, 
so  rapidly  do  they  propagate.  As  the  source  of  the  two  originals 
was  kno-(vn,  and  the  flower  was  fully  appreciated  for  Easter  flower¬ 
ing.  a  supply  of  bulbs  was  got  from  the  gardens  of  Bermuda,  and, 
in'l882,  under  the  name  of  L. Harrisi,  it  was  put  upon  the  market. 
Such  is  Mr.  Barr’s  history  of  this  profitable  and  very  beautiful 
Lily.  Philadelphia  lies  ninety  miles  south-west  of  New  Vork 
City.  It  is  one  of  the  best  planned  cities  of  the  Ltnion.  William 
Penn,  the  Quaker,  was  its  founder.  The  streets  are  named  after 
the  trees  of  Pennsylvania  (Penn’s  Woods). 
(To  be  contipued.) 
Starting  Cycas  Stems. 
The  new  importations  of  Cycas  stems  are  now  coming  in, 
and  as  received  are  totally  denuded  of  leaves  and  roots  in  order 
to  be  more  conveniently  and  cheaply  packed.  Stems  of  moderate 
size  are  the  most  useful  and  saleable  for  the  average  grower,  those 
ranging  in  weight  from  21b  to  101b  being  such  as  we  have  found 
most  useful.  Stems  of  this  weight  may  usually  be  potted  up 
into  Gin,  Tin,  or  Sin  pots,  the  best  practice  being  to  put  the  stems 
into  as  small  a  pot  as  possible  while  allowing  room  enough  around 
them  to  use  a  rammer  to  make  the  soil  firm.  These  plants  are 
not  very  exacting  in  regard  to  soil,  only  requiring  a  good  loam 
with  a  'moderate  quantity  of  well  rotted  manure,  it  being  well 
to  avoid  the  use  of  fresh  manure  when  potting  up  the  unrooted 
stems.  After  potting,  place  the  Cycas  in  a  warm  and  shaded 
house,  for  the  young  leaves  are  very  soft  when  they  first  come 
out,  and  mav  be  stunted  or  crippled  by  too  much  sun.  Give  the 
stems  a  good  watering  to  settle  the  soil,  and  also  syringe  them 
well  twice  a  day  during  bright  weather,  until  the  leaves  begin 
to  unfold,  at  which  time  it  is  best  to  syringe  them  very  lightly, 
as  these  tender  young  leaves  may  readily  be  bruised  by  too  great 
a  force  of  water. 
Many  growers  use  strong  bottom  heat  for  starting  Cycas 
stems,  a  practice  that  does  not  give  the  very  best  results  from 
the  fact  that  under  such  conditions  the  leaves  are  forced  out 
before  the  roots  have  made  a  fair  start,  this  method  being  re- 
