96 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



t August 7, 1873. 



and justified. In those days the Welsh retained possession of 

 the mountains, and the English of the lowlands. When, says 

 Mr. Flavell Edmunds, opportunity served or provisions became 

 scarce, the Welshmen made a foray upon the herds of the 

 English and hurried back with their booty to theii' fastnesses. 

 The nursery rhyme records this in 



Taffy was a Welshman, 

 Taffy was a thief, 



Taffy came to my house 

 And carried off my beef, 



By-and-by retaliation was attempted — 



I went to Taffy's bouse, 

 Taffy wasn't at home. 



He was too prudent to await his visitors when inconveniently 

 numerous, but whilst they were seeking for him he sometimes 

 made a wide detoTir, came down upon the English homesteads 

 left unguarded, and carried off the remainder of the herds he 

 had previously thinned, or, as it is rhymed, 



Taffy came to my house 

 And stole a man-ow bone. 



That is, all that remained worth taking. 



Since last writing I have had more opportunities of seeing 

 and bearing of the gardening in the island. At Baron Hill 

 and other high-class places it is very superior, but of these I 

 shall speak and illustrate iu future communications. Among 

 the agricultural labouring classes the absence of gardening — 

 rather should I say of gardens — is most lamentable. There is 

 no want of a fondness for the culture of plants, both orna- 

 mental and useful, but space for useful gardening is rarely 

 attached to the cottages. There are frequently plots in front 

 of them, each of which plots might be covered with a table- 

 cloth, and iu these you see huge bushes of the Fuchsia coccinea. 

 Rose bushes. Nasturtiums, and Pinks. In the windows are 

 pots of praiseworthy Geraniums, many varieties of the double 

 among them ; Calceolarias, and Mimuluses. I saw one old 

 dame sitting paralysed before her cottage door, with some 

 especial pet Geranium iu her lap. Such tastes might be ex- 

 pected among those among whom crime is so rare, but it is a 

 taste that lingers even among the depraved of cities, and 

 is still more ardently fostered by those who find it a solace in 

 poverty. "My Pinks," was the pathetic comment of a per- 

 manent inmate of a workhouse, " My Pinks came from the 

 garden I once had ;" and a letter now before me from a lady 

 at Ipswich says, " I was in the workhouse this afternoon, and 

 thei-e one woman who cannot leave her bed had made quite a 

 pretty little garden on the wiudow-sill by her side. It was 

 only small bottles and jars filled with such flowers as she could 

 obtain, but they were prettily arranged and set upon little 

 mats which she had made. This was not much, but evidently 

 her window-sill is a solace to her, and in the workhouse there 

 is very little to make life at all bright." 



Of useful plots attached to the cottages, and to the shame 

 of the lauded proprietors I record the fact, there are but few, 

 and these very small. It is a disgrace to them, because they 

 must know if they thought at all what would improve the 

 home comfort of then- workmen, that a garden capable of 

 yielding a Cabbage, an Onion, or a mess of Beans to the 

 supper-pot, is as valuable to the cottager as the better-stored 

 larder is to his employer. It is true that the farmers are ac- 

 customed to let out a field in plots to their labourers on the 

 conditions that they manure the plots, plant them with Po- 

 tatoes, and keep them well weeded. But this is to secure a 

 Ijenefit to the farmers, for such manuring, forking, and hoeing 

 as is needed for the Potatoes prepares the field for the 

 Wheat crop. To obtain the requisite manure the produce of 

 the labourer's pigstye, if he owns one, is appropriated, and, in 

 addition, the horse droppings on the roads, which you see 

 urchins scraping and sweeping-up. 



It is a fact that wherever in Anglesea any part of a parish 

 boundary touches the seashore on that part the church stands. 

 Probably this was because in Roman Catholic days the eccle- 

 siastics found a supply of fish most desirable ; but as lay 

 residences were necessarily attracted to the vicinity of the 

 church, they were at the same time attracted to the most ex- 

 posed and least fertile spots on the island. One parish about 

 six miles from Beaumaris is remarkably so. I refer to 

 Llanddoua. Here the church is little more than a stone's 

 throw from the rocks, and the ways to it — they do not deserve 

 the name of roads — are so precipitous and rougli from rock 

 points studding their surface, that no carriage can proceed 

 further than to within a mile from the church. Yet even here 

 in the rectory garden the kitchen crops and the Apple trees 



are most healthful and prolific. Their culture, therefore, 

 should be encouraged, and landlords would do well for their 

 own interests to insist on their cultivation. You would aid in 

 effecting this by promoting the circulation of Mr. Lea's little 

 volume in this island.* How much such cultivation is needed 

 requh-es no other evidence than the deficient supply at Beau- 

 maris, and that supply is of bad fruit and vegetables. This is 

 explained by the fact that there is not a market gardener, 

 nurseryman, florist, or seedsman in the whole island, and the 

 greengrocers receive their supplies from Liverpool ! I except 

 from my condemnation the Potatoes, which are the best pos- 

 sible, and are evidence to the success that would attend the 

 culture of other garden produce. 



Mentioning Llanddona reminds me of its most energetic and 

 praiseworthy rector, the Rev. Peter Jones. The old church 

 was unsightly, devoid of the slightest architectural pretensions, 

 and was some two years ago in snch a dilapidated, not to say 

 discreditable and unseemly condition, as to call for immediate ' 

 attention, otherwise il would in the coirrse of a very short 

 time have degenerated into a tumble-down structure, such as 

 that ruined edifice misnamed the parish chiu'ch, which at present 

 disgraces the adjoining parish of Llangoed. The old fabric 

 boasted considerable antiquity, and its foundation is traced so 

 far back as the seventh century, tradition ascribing its erection 

 to the pious St. Dona, the sou of Selyf. So the rector resolved 

 to have a new church, and he affords one more instance in 

 support of my Ufe's maxim — a clear head, a strong arm, and a 

 good heart, expunge "impossible" from their owner's diction- 

 ary. The new church was opened for divine service a few days 

 since. The works, which occupied about eighteen months in 

 completion, were done by day work under the superintendence 

 of the rector, to whose indomitable perseverance and energetic 

 efforts the erection of the new church is solely due. Mr. Jones, 

 in addition to acting as secretary and treasurer of the building 

 fund, furnished the plans, acted as clerk of the works, and 

 superintended the construction of the buUdiug from its very 

 foundations. In addition to working single-handed in this 

 good work, he had to depend a great deal upon extraneous 

 pecuniary assistance, Llanddona being a not over-wealthy and 

 very thinly populated parish. In the face of great difliculties 

 and obstacles which would have disheartened many parish 

 clergymen, he has succeeded in erecting a pretty and sub- 

 stantially-built church at a cost barely exceeding £G00, and in 

 opening it with a very trifling incubus of debt still remaining. 

 His appeal for pecuniary aid was very liberally responded to, 

 Sir Richard Bulkeley headed the subscription list with £50, 

 Captain Verney, R,N., contributed £30, and Lord Penrhyn, 

 whose name figures prominently in every fund for the erection 

 or restoration of a church iu the PrincipaUty, was also a liberal 

 donor. Still, there is a small debt remaining, and any of your 

 readers will do worthily who send a contribution directed to 

 the rector, " Llanddona, near Beaumaris." It might be sent 

 in postage stamps now that that thoughtless requirement about 

 registering has been rescinded. 



The new church is about five miles from Beaumaris, far oft 

 the beaten tourist track, and about a mile beyond the village 

 proper of Llanddona. It occupies the exact site of the old 

 fabric, and nestles at the foot of a mountain on the east side 

 of Red Wharf Bay, commanding a splendid view of the wide 

 expanse of sea, and the rugged mountain scenery, and its 

 widely extending sands are firm and stoneless. — G. 



ALLEGED NEW POTATO DISEASE. 



A NEW Potato disease is described as having made its 

 appearance near Jena, differing from the one commonly known 

 in its directly attacking the tubers, and not the leaves. The 

 tuber becomes covered by a purplish felt, which is the my- 

 celium of a fungus. The skin of the Potato is sometimes 

 apparently not penetrated by the mycelium, the contrary being 

 the fact in other cases. Iu the latter event, the tuber becomes 

 completely destroyed by a cancerous disease. The fungus 

 belongs to the genus Scleroticum, and according to Professor 

 HoUiss, the remedy will probably be the same as in the ordi- 

 nary Potato disease — namely, the selecting of early kinds, 

 using only mineral and no animal nor vegetable manures, and 

 with a careful selection of the best adapted soil. The Rev. 

 M. J. Berkeley, the eminent fungologist, however, has lately 



* The name of this volume is " Small Farms ; How tbey can be matle to 

 answer by means of Fruit-growing : " — London, Journal of Horticulture Office, 

 171, Fleet Street. 



