234 



JOUENAL OP HOETICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



I September 23, 1873. 



I think, would be well worth growing with care for suh-tropical 

 gardens at Battersea Park or elsewhere, as the varieties in 

 colour are now becoming more marked, and some of the colours 

 very glowing. 



Among the cut flowers, which if my friend, "D., Deal," had 

 Ibeen with me there would have been a detailed report, were 

 long lines and banks of Gladioli. These were massed rather 

 like the beautiful bank which Mr. Kelway showed at Manchester, 

 but clustered much nearer together, and it was difficult to 

 examine the individual spikes, and I had not time to take down 

 the names of the best. There were also Dahlias in great variety, 

 a good selection of Asters, some Verbenas, which were much 

 injured by the wet weather ; some good spikes of Phlox de- 

 cussata, ttc, but I need not stop to jiarticularise. 



Outside in a sort of boundary to the ornamental garden were 

 fine and interesting examples of trained fruit trees as cordons, 

 pyramidals, candelabra-shaped wall trees trained on wires, fan- 

 shaped, horizontal, iipright, and cordons; tall standards trained 

 fan-shaped and horizontal, for covering the upper spaces of 

 ■walls (and of these there were some remarkably fine specimens), 

 double cordons for espaliers, &c. 



On the right annexe were several collections of horticultural 

 instruments, especially pruning tools, as S(?cateurs, saws, knives, 

 iSrc. Then came two long tables covered with fine fruit shown in 

 large collections : for instance, the first collection of Pears I 

 looked at contained fifty-one varieties, the next forty -seven, and 

 so on. The Apples and Pears had chiefly been grown on cordons 

 and espaliers. Among the sorts I noticed especially good were, 

 among Pears, Doyenne Sterckmans, Nouveau Poiteau, Colmar 

 des Invalides, Beurre Hardy, very fine ; Fondante des Eois, 

 Bon Chretien, Unique, and Williams's, Benrre Gris, Benrre 

 Superfin, Eeine d'Hiver, Prince Albert, Louise Bonne de Jean, 

 Louise Bonne d'Avranches, 'generally known with us as Louise 

 Bonne of Jersey; Bon Chretien, Napoleon, Suzette de Bavay 

 (our Aston Town), Doyenne St. Michael, Belle Auvergne, St. 

 Michel Archange, Triomphe de Louvain, Alexandre Lambrc, 

 Autumn Crassane, very fine ; Duchesse d'Angoulrme, very fine ; 

 Colmard'Aremberg, Josephine de Malines, Beurre Bachelier, &c. 

 Among Apples were Eeinette du Canada, and also a beautiful 

 striped variety of the same called Reinette du Canada, Panachee, 

 Alfriston, Belle Dubois, very fine, one Apple the size of an 

 ordinary Green-fleshed Victory of Bath Melon ; Eeinette de 

 Versailles, Eeine de Eeinette, Eibston Pippin, the best of all, 

 one Apple wonderfully fine ; Cadean de General, Baldwin, 

 Alexander, quite a picture in point of colouring, &c. 



There were some good Peaches shown, but not so many as I 

 expected ; very few Nectarines comparatively ; a great number 

 of the Grapes of the country, and a fine collection of eighteen 

 varieties of Grapes shown by M. Bergman, gardener to Baron 

 de Eothschild, at Ferrieres, a hothouse collection, backed-up 

 by five or six very good Pines, Mr. Bergman having for some 

 time learnt English Grape and Pine growing at Chatsworth. 



There were some fine collections of Plums also shown, though 

 in no gi-eat variety, the Eeine Claude de Bavay predominating. 



To turn to the vegetable department, I need not enter into 

 detail upon the ordinary vegetable, but will mention some 

 peculiarities, among which were enormous Gourds (Potirons), 

 one weighing 60 kilogrammes, the kilogramme being nearly 

 2 lbs., another 63, and another 60. Another very peculiar 

 Gourd was the Turban, looking like a large yellow loaf quartered, 

 striped with red, and placed on the top of a round flat one, the 

 four quarters at the top bending over towards the centre and 

 bulging out at the side. Then there were large Black Spanish 

 Eadishes, about the size of a medium long red Mangel Wurtzel. 

 Very fine Aubergine, or fruit of the Egg Plant, in varieties. 

 Snake Cucumbers more than 6 feet long, and twisting about 

 like a real snake. Potatoes in great varieties, one exhibitor 

 showing 120 varieties, among which were our Yorkshire Lap- 

 Btones, and a dish called Lapstones, wrong-named, which were 

 really American Early Rose ; a good Kidney called La Certiere, 

 De Bretonneau, large, round, looking like a good Potato, and 

 one very curious and ugly-looking Potato, called Crapeaii 

 Nouvelle, or the New Toad, which certainly deserved its name. 

 Many of our known varieties of English Potatoes, as the Mar- 

 golin or Ashleaf, Chare Jaune, or Yellow Shaw, and others 

 were shown very small, and in many were traces of disease. 

 There was a fine assortment of Endive, which are much used 

 for salading, and also Eschalots and difi'erent varieties of 

 Onions, but I need not enter upon any detail about the other 

 sorts.— C. P. Peach. 



KENT LABOURERS versus NORTHERN MINERS. 



Let me state that my impression of Kent, gathered from a 

 ten-days stay in one of its most beautiful localities, is exactly 

 the opposite of Mr. AVitherspoon's. I was charmed with the 

 county, its people, and its productions, and feel sure, it Mr. 

 ■Witherspoon had seen what I saw in my short sojourn, any 

 remarks he may have made would have smoothed " D., Deal's," 



fui', instead of, as was natural, putting his hack up. On 

 returning to the coal pits of Durham I really had some com- 

 passion and feeling for the Israelites when they remembered 

 the Onions, Leeks, Cucumbers, etc., which they had had in 

 Egypt ; Kent was my Egypt. I need say nothing respecting 

 the north country and the Kent labourer, but the latter, 

 though he has less wages and less beef, has other gifts more 

 conducive to the well-being of his county. 



-J.N. 



" Yes, in the poor man's panlen grow 

 Far more than berbs or llowers — 

 Kind thoujjhts, coutentment, peace of mind. 

 And joy for many houi'S." 



WASHINGTON AS A CULTIVATOR OF THE SOIL. 



At a recent meeting of the Norfolk Agricultural Society 

 (Virginia) Mr. Hope detailed the following particulars relative 

 to General Washington : — It is my intention to take you to 

 the estate of the Father of his Country, and to show you 

 George Washiu gton as a Virginia farmer of the last century. 

 I begin first with Mount Vernon, where, indeed, I shall linger 

 for the greater part of the time I have allowed myself in 

 illustrating his system of agriculture. This estate consisted 

 of the Mansion Ilouse farm, on which, as its name indicates, 

 his residence stood. Then, attached to it were the following : — 

 Union Farm, Muddy Hole, Dogue Run and River. These 

 estates, at the time of his death, contained an aggregate of 

 8027 acres, as may be seen by reference to his will, and a 

 water front of over ten miles in extent. He owned lands in 

 Fayette and Washington counties equal to 4644 acres ; on the 

 Ohio and Great Kanawha, 32,373 acres, which land, in his own 

 language, was " the cream of the country," and here he had 

 a river front of fifty-eight miles. In addition, he had a tract 

 of 1200 acres on Four Mile Run, then the Round Bottom 

 opposite Pipe Creek, fifteen miles below Wheeling, containing 

 587 acres, with two miles and a half of river front, and 

 234 acres at Great Meadows on Braddock's Road, a line which 

 will for ever remain associated with the courage and sagacity 

 of Col. Washington when on the staff of that gallant but 

 unfortunate commander. lu addition, he acquired by his 

 marriage with Mrs. Custis control of 15,000 acres of land and 

 three hundred slaves, for which information I am indebted to 

 the President of our State Agricultural Society ; I need not 

 say I mean Major-General W. H. P. Lee, who now resides at 

 the White House, where his ancestress was married to Wash- 

 ington. In addition, he owned lauds in Pennsylvania, in. 

 Gloucester, and in the Great Dismal Swamp, which he person- 

 ally surveyed, and out of this examination and his report 

 thereon grew the company which is now in existence in the 

 city of Noifolk. Finally, he owned lots in Williamsburg, 

 Richmond, Manchester, Fredericksburg, and Alexandria. Y'ou 

 will observe that I have been only able in part to give you the 

 extent of his possessions, hut we see that he owned or 

 managed as a fiduciary during the most vigorous years of his 

 life, !in aggregate of 01,244 acres, and that his riparian owner- 

 ship amounted to seventy miles and a half. 



Having given you this general and imperfect view of his- 

 possessions, a very great part of which were its primeval 

 forest, to which on a more formal occasion I might have 

 ventured to give some colouring, I return to the Mount Vernon 

 estate as it was in 1762. At that time it contained 3260 acres 

 under cultivation, and was worked by the foUowing force of 

 hands : — 



Bleu. Boys. Women. Girls. 



Mansion House farm 12 . . 6 . . — . . 4 



Muddy Hole fiu-m 3 .. — .. 9 .. — 



Ferrv form 7 .. 4 . . 18 . . — 



Bivertaim 8 .. — .. IS .. 19 



Dogue Eun farm 6 .. — .. 8 .. 2 



88 10 5:i 25 



Total force, 126. 



The above is taken from his manager's report for.\pril 14th, 

 1792. 



Going a step further I find in a letter to Arthur Young, of 

 England, dated Philadelphia, December 12th, 1793, that the 

 General described his estate as follows, and Mr. Irving, in his 

 charming life, has copied in full the paragraph from which I 

 quote a part: — "No estate," says the General, "in United 

 America is more pleasantly situated than this. It lies in a 

 high, dry, healthful country, three hundred miles from the 

 sea, on one of the finest rivers in the world. A husbandman's 

 wish would not lay the farms more level than they are. The 



