December  24,  1903.  JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AXD  COTTAGE  GARDENER, 
081 
in  the  best  sense  of  tlie  word.  It  is  easier  and  clieaper  to  grow 
a  house  full  of  one  tiling  than  a  house  full  of  many  things.  One 
man  becomes  famous  for  Grapes  or  Peaches,  and  another  for 
Rhubarb  and  Seakale,  or  Asparagus,  or  even  Mushrooms;  another 
grower  takes  up  Carnations  or  Roses,  Palms,  or  Ferns;  and 
we  have  even  specialists  devoted  to  Lily  of  the  Valley  who  can 
supply  flowers  of  it  practically  every  day  in  the  year.  We  have 
Tomato,  Potato,  Sweet  Pea,  and  Daffodil  specialists,  and  these 
men  are  bound  to  surpass  growers  who  divide  their  capital  and 
attention  amongst  too  many  separate  things.  The  word 
specialist  spells  progress.  The  planting  of  groups  or  masses  of 
one  good  plant,  or  shrub,  or  tree,  instead  of  the  old  method  of 
dotting  about  single  plants  of  almost  everything,  is  one  of  the 
most  radical  and  far-reaching  of  all  modern  methods  in  gardens. 
In  fruit-growing  the  same  principle  is  going  on,  and  instead  of 
an  orchard  of  fifty  or  a  hundred  trees,  all  different,  we  have 
perhaps  ten  to  500  trees  of  a  kind,  and  only  the  best  and  most 
useful  or  profitable  kinds  or  sorts  are  grown.  The  mixed-muddle 
orchard  or  fruit-garden  has  gone  the  way  of  the  mixed-muddle 
shrubberj^  and  plant-houses,  and  so  far  there  certainly  have  been 
progress  and  improvement  also  during  recent  years.  There  have 
been  revivals,  too,  in  the  garden ;  sundials  and  quaint  old  urns 
of  lead  or  stone  are  being  introduced  to  many  brand-new  gardens 
— “old  wine  in  new  bottles” — and  not  always  of  good  taste  or 
right  proportion.  Instead  of  the  old  moats  for  protection,  and 
fish  or  stew  ponds  for  food  on  fast  days,  we  have  Water  Lily  pools 
or  tank.s  and  canals,  and  we  have  borrowed  the  old  gazebO'  or 
pergola  from  Italy,  not  for  our  Grape  vine.s,  but  for  Honeysuckle, 
Clematis,  and  rambling  or  climbing  Roses.  Hedges  of  clipped 
Holly,  Box,  Yew,  or  Cypress  are  being  again  used  for  shelter  in 
places  of  vvalls,  and  I  may  add  that  Levens  and  Elvaston  must 
look  to  their  Laurels  or  other  old  formal  trees,  for  there  is  a 
marked  revival  in  the  shape  of  corkscrew-twisted  and  poodle- 
clipped  evergreens. 
Ev§n  in  garden  literature  there  is  progress,  thanks  in  the 
main  to  photography  and  process  blocks  —  and  may 
I  add  competition?  —  since  we  now  have  a  baker’s 
dozen  of  weekly  (and  “  weakly  ”)  gardening  newspapers 
where  we  formerly  had  only  two  or  three.  There  are,  or  are 
to  be,  revivals  in  our  craft  literature  also.  For  some  year's  all 
the  nice  old  gardening  monthly  magazines  with  coloured  plates 
(if  we  except  the  “  Botanical  Magazine  ”)  have  been  dead  and 
almost  forgotteir,  but  a  revival  has  taken  place  in  the  shape  of 
“Flora  and  Sylva  ”  which  Mr.  W.  Robinson  has  recently  taken 
in  hand.  I  may  be  allowed  to  say  that  rvith  all  our  many  horti¬ 
cultural  papers  there  appears  to  me  room  for  at  lea.st  one  more. 
Noire  of  us  can  read  everything  of  iirterest  now  published  in  the 
numerous  papers  and  books  devoted  to  gardening  in  all  its  many 
phases,  and  I  think  there  is  ample  room  or  scope  for  a  weekly 
dige.st  and  index  of  all  they  contain.  Such  a  paper,  or  let  us 
.say  horticultural  register,  well  done  and  of  a  convenient  size  for 
biirding  would  be  a  great  boon  to  us  all. 
New  methods  are  few  only,  but  of  great  economic  importance. 
Chief  amongst  them  perhaps  is  the  “  retarding  ”  process,  or  freez¬ 
ing  apparatus,  by  which  many  hardy  shrubs,  plants,  bulbs,  vege¬ 
tables,  and  flowers  may  be  held  inanimate  for  months  and  then 
brought  to  perfection  at  will.  In  this  Avay  rve  get  Lilac  and 
Lilies  and  other  things  any  day  in  the  year,  or  just  when  vre 
require  them.  The  use  of  ether,  again,  assists  materially  in  the 
proce.ss  of  forcing  or  acceleration,  and  the  electric  light  may  on 
emergency  be  pressed  into  our  service  to  the  .same  end. 
These  scientific  resources  of  civilisation  have  already  worked 
wonders  as  practically  applied  by  trade  growers,  and  it  would 
appear  that  time  and  .season  will  be  done  away  with,  and  it  will 
be  possible  to  have  many  choice  garden  products  in  the  market 
and  on  our  table.s  any  or  every  day  in  the  year.  We  mu.st  look 
also  for  new  legislation  on  the  important  question  of  diseases 
(fungoid  or  otherwise),  insects,  and  weeds  in  gardens  and  fields 
alike.  Sir  James  Rankin,  M.P..  has  already  a  Bill  in  the  House 
of  Commons,  which  has  passed  the  first  reading,  “  tvith  a  view  to 
the  eradication  of  disease  and  in.sects  from  among.st  fruit  trees, 
&c.,  in  nursery  gardens.”  This  will  mean  some  quarantine 
regulations  and  inspection  of  imported  stocks,  seeds,  (fee.,  and 
may  lead  to  a  pathological  section  being  added  to  the  existing 
machinery  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture;  in  a  word,  it  is 
becoming  as  serious  to  harbour  diseased  or  insect-infected  plant.s 
as  it  is  to  keep  diseased  animals. 
In  con.sidering  horticultural  progress  the  Royal  Horticultural 
Society  may  be  taken  as  an  index,  or  let  us  .say  as  a  barometer, 
showing  the  high  pre.ssure  and  popularity  of  gardening  in  Eng¬ 
land.  We  need  scarcely  ask  whether  garden  craft  is  spreading 
when  the  fellowships  of  our  premier  Society  are  increasing  by  a 
thousand  or  more  year  by  year.  Then  the  Royal  Botanic  Society 
is  also  progres.sing  and  doing  good  work,  though  perhaps  along, 
slightly  different  lines.  To  put  the  difference  of  method,  one 
may  say  that  the  R.H.S.  teaches  gardening  as  associated  with 
botany,  while  the  R.B.S.  teaches  botany  as  associated  with 
gardening.  It  is  tweedledum  v.  tweedlcdee,  and  the  result  is 
a  loss  of  force  and  to  .«ome  extent  a  needless  competition,  and  it 
is  a  matter  of  regret  that  the  two  societies  cannot  cc-operate  for 
the  public  good.  Local  societies  we  must  have,  and  very  useful 
work  is  done  by  them;  but  even  these  are  all  the  more  useful 
if  federated  with  the  central  authority  and  irrestige  of  the  R.H.S. 
of  England.  On  all  sides  we  .see  evidence  of  combination  and 
co-operation  in  tlie  farming  world  and  in  other  fdrms  of  produc¬ 
tive  and  distributing  commerce,  but  gardeners  as  a  body  hold 
aloof  from  organised  association,  as  some  of  us  think,  to  their 
own  loss  both  individually  and  collectively. 
In  these  concluding  lines  I  sum  up  my  present  argument 
as  this.  That  method  and  skill  in  the  best  private  gardens  are  up 
to  a  very  high  state  of  excellence,  but  that  the  most  economical 
production  and  the  large.st  and  best  crops — I  do  not  say  of  the 
best  varieties  in  all  cases — are  to-day  produced  in  our  concen¬ 
trated  trade  or  market  gardens.'  I  also  may  suggest  that  no 
finer  produce  is  grown  in  private  gardens  now  than  was  grown 
fifty  years  ago.  either  in  the  shape  of  fruit,  vegetables,  or  flowers, 
de, spite  the  influx  of  new  and  improved  varieties.  The  old 
records  now  beaten  are  but  few. 
I  am  no  politician  or  prophet  ;  I  merely  note  the  signs  of  the 
times;  and  I  hope  I  have  shown,  or  at  least  sugge.sted.  that 
gardening,  foi'inerly  aristocratic,  conservative,  and  secretive,  is 
now  democratic,  more  generally  diffused,  and  more  liberal,  and 
that  as  an  art  or  craft  it  is  open  to  peer  and  peasant  alike  ;  open 
to  “  all  .sorts  and  condition.s  of  men,”  open  as  is  the  sunshine  or 
the  light  of  day. 
- - 
Gadding  and  Gathering. 
Notes  from  Kew. 
Ce.strum  aurantiacum  furnishes  ma.sses  of  its  golden,  trumpet¬ 
shaped  flowers,  and  what  we  took  to  be  Dahlia  imperialis  (though 
like  many  other  things  at  Kew,  it  was  not  named)  was  flowering 
at  the  apex  of  its  succulent  stems,  10ft  high.  The  blos.soms  are 
single,  and  pale  mauve  colour. 
An  interG.sting  plant  i.s  Dermatobotrys  Saundersise,  with  bright 
crimson,  tubular  flowers  (o-cleft  perianth)  in  verticles  of  twelve. 
These  are  borne  at  the  ends  of  the  half-ripened  shoofis  which  are 
not  unlike  the  woody  stems  of  Hydrangea  Hortensia.  It  comes 
from  Natal.  The  flowers  are  over  2in  long,  and  are  narrow. 
Cytisirs  filipes  is  a  white  Broom,  now  in  flower. 
Libocedrus  macrolepis  with  flattened  imbricate  leaves,  in  a 
general  way  resembling  Thujopsis  dolobrata.  but  of  a  darker 
green  and  much  flatter  in  structure,  is  represented  by  a  bushy 
plant  in  a  lOin  pot  in  the  Temperate  Hcu.se.  It  is  about  SJft 
high.  The  label  beans  the  record  “  Veitch,  ’01,'”  which  would 
seem  to  indicate  tlrat  it  is  a  novelty  introduced  by  the  Chelsea 
firm.  While  naming  Conifers,  attention,  might  be  draAvn  to 
another  splendidly  ornamental  .subject— Cupressusfunebris  glauca. 
It  grows  very  fast,  for  a  specimen  in  the  Himalayan  division  of 
the  Temperate  House  at  Kew  has  attained  a  height  of  about 
20ft  in  four  or  five  year.®.  The  branchlets  are  “  rveeping  ”  in 
character,  and  the  colour  is  .slaty-blue,  otherwise  called  glaucou.s. 
It  is  very  distinctive  and  graceful. 
To'  the  list  of  plant,®  in  flower  in  the  greenhouse  which  I  gave 
recently,  there  should  be  added  Roman  Hyacinth.s,  YelloAv  Potte- 
bakker  Tulips,  Tibouchina  macrantha,  Chironia  linoide.s,  Tecoma 
Smithi  and  Browallia  demissa. 
Ivies. 
Iw’  English  Iv3’,  perhaps  the  most  tj-pical  plant  or  climber 
that  adorns  Old  England.  People  array  far  acro.®.s  the  ocean,  in 
sunny  colonial  homes,  wlieir  thinking  of  the  Mother  Country 
must  picture  in  their  mind.s  the  old  half  tumbledown  outhouses 
standing  by  the  pretty  cottage.®,  and  the  outhouses  are  always 
loaded  with  Ivy.  Or  it  may  be  the  Avails  over  the  bridge  that 
spans  the  stream  in  Avhich  they  AA'ere  Avont  to  Avade  and  "  guddle” 
for  trouts  or  other  fishe.s  in  the  days  of  their  childhood.  Ivy! 
English  Ivy  !  Thousands  of  Ivy  plants  are  inserted  in  rhe  ground 
evm-y  autumn,  Avinter  and  spring  (summer  as  Avell,  rye  might  as 
AvelTsay),  but.  alack!  it  is  mostly  Jiri/i  Iaw  that  is  planted. 
Nevertheless,  “  Irish  ”  Ivy  is  “  English  ”  Ivy  too  :  and  that 
makes  a  bull !  When  At.siting  the  nurseries  of  Messrs.  AVm. 
Paul  and  Son  at  Waltham  C’ross  some  little  Avhile  back  I  noted 
the  names  of  those  Ivies  that  are  most  commonly  .sold,  and 
Avliich  can  be  procured  from  good  nursery  firms  everywhere. 
There  Avas  the  Irish  Iaw  and  its  silver-leaved  form ;  amuren.■^ls 
and  dentatus,  both  large  lea\'ed  forms.  At  Kgav  the  largest 
leaved  Hedera  (Iv^’)  is  one  they  call  grandifolia.  size  about  oin 
deep  (or  more)  by  Jin  Avide  at  the  top.  Hedera  Helix  (which  i.s 
the  botanical  name  of  the  Ia\v  A’ariet^',  atro-purpurea,  ha.s 
moderate  sized  purplish  leave®.  Aurea  spectabilis  is  yellowish, 
and  recommended  for  Avails,  the  .®ame  as  Algeriensis.  aaIhcIi  I 
alAA'ays  think  is  one  of  the  most  neglecLed  Avail  plants  the  British 
gardener  deals  AA'ith.  It  is  AnwA'  liardA’,  and  i.s  so  cheering,  neat, 
clean,  and  prettju  Walthamiensis  is  a  partictUarl\’  iifat  and 
useful  A’ariety  of  the  English  Iva'.  Lastly',  I  AA  Ould  name  Emerald 
Green,  Avhich  has  someAvhat  rounded  leaves;  that  is,  it  is  about 
a,s  broad  as  long,  3in  either  A\aA’,  and  of  a  brighter  green  than 
most  Ivies.  For  root-stumps,  banks,  rough  coverings,  it  is  tmry 
beaut'  ful  and  commendable.— AV.axdering  AVillie. 
