October 23, ISIS. J 



JODENAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



313 



■wonld have been out of place near it ; but a large fpace to the 

 west of the kitchen garden was devoted to flowers, and this 

 being on the line of route between the Castle and the kitchen 

 garden is, in consequence, first met with. It was gay with 

 the choicest gems in flower and foliage that wealth and skill 

 could supply. The main series of beds in this garden con- 

 sisted of a number of ch'cles and alternate curved beds sur- 

 rounding them, in shape something like a portion of the 

 letter S, fonning, in fact, what gardeners term the Florentine 

 chain. On each side of a broad walk of considerable length 

 there were a number of these beds, edged with Box, with paths 

 of coloured gravel between, and a band of turf separating 

 them from the broad walk. The whole was on so large a scale 

 as to require a great many thousand plants to fill the beds, 

 and their position being on a level space which could be 

 seen from the heights above, nothing could well look richer. 

 I did not attempt to particularise the contents of the beds, but 

 I was pleased to see that hardy plants were not altogether 

 omitted, one or two excellent examples of Pansies being 

 grown, as was also a much better variety of Viola cornuta 

 than is usually met with. There were Sedums and Semper- 

 vivums in great abundance, while stove plants, such as Coleuses 

 and Alternantheras, were in their best garb. In other places 

 the more robust kinds of ornamental-foliaged plants were 

 grown. I was told that winter, or rather spring gardening, was 

 also carried on to as great an extent as the summer decora- 

 tion, and an immense breadth of double Daisies was in reserve 

 to do duty when the tender plants were over. Ribbon flower- 

 borders also existed in front of the plant and forcing houses. 

 I was especially pleased with one by the side of a wall, and 

 consisting of a groundwork of Cerastium about 4 or 5 feet 

 wide, with a bordering of Beet and a few small circles about 

 12 or 1.5 feet apart in its centre. I forget the precise plant 

 composing these circles, but it was aU one kind. Other beds 

 on the turf banks which occupied the space between the two 

 tiers of glass structures were also filled with bedding plants, all 

 being in the best possible condition. 



I could not but notice that two of the plants used were 

 more robust in health and altogether presented a different 

 aspect from that which they usually do in the south, and these 

 were hardy plants — Arabis albida variegata, and Dactylis 

 glomerata variegata. The latter I have never been able to do 

 mncb with in Kent, although I have had it since 18.50. The 

 Arabis succeeds better, yet it never assumes that robust character 

 it has in the moister climate of the north, for I saw it at other 

 places as well as at Lambton, and in all cases it was good. I 

 may further remark that it is in much repute there, being 

 grown in abundance in most gardens, as is also the variegated 

 Dactylis. On the other hand, it was apparent that the Calceo- 

 laria is losing ground, and the same may be said of the 

 Verbena ; neither does it appear that tricolor Geraniums 

 occupy the high position they did a few years ago, but silver- 

 edged ones are more sought after. The increasing demand for 

 ornamental-foliaged plants threatens to throw many flowering 

 ones out of cultivation ; nevertheless, in all probability there 

 are more flowering plants cultivated now than at any former 

 time, but the cultivation of ornamental-leaved subjects has 

 advanced in much greater proportion, and in many respects 

 they do duty for a longer period than their more showy neigh- 

 bours, not being injured by the drenching rains we occasionally 

 experience. 



I may , perhaps, be excused for not going further into details on 

 the merits of the various long and well-arranged ribbon borders 

 and the innumerable beds wliich are introduced at every fa- 

 Tourable turn, leaving t)ie reader to judge for himself of the 

 magnitude of the bedding-out department, when it is stated that 

 about 10fi,000 plants are every season required for the work. 



Leaving the forcing department and flower garden alluded 

 ■to, of which we have an excellent view from the high ground 

 to the north of it, we cro^s a sort of ravine by an ornamental 

 bridge, where a spacious gravel walk of easy curves and gradients 

 takes us through a wood that clothes the left bank of the river 

 above the garden ; and amongst the noble Oaks and other 

 trees we see that Rhododendrons, &c., have been planted in 

 abundance. Ever and anon we come to spaces neatly turfed 

 over, where specimen Conifers of the choicest kinds are thriving 

 almost as well as the native trees, but of course smaller. The 

 positions chosen for these are in every way favourable, sur- 

 rounded as they are with high trees and other shelter. .Amongst 

 noticeable trees were some good Deodars and Wclhngtonias, 

 and not a few Araucarias in a promising condition. I was 

 told the memorable winter of 1860-01 had done much damage 



here, but other trees had been planted and were flourishing. 

 .\s there were several of these openings in the wood through 

 which the path wound, and choice shrubs and trees planted 

 in each, the interest was well kept up till we reached the noble 

 mansion, of which a view was given last week, standing on the 

 summit of a steep on the left bank of the Wear, one of its 

 principal fronts facing that river. A rather confined teiTace, 

 sustained by a retaining wall of considerable height with 

 a balustraded top, overlooks the steep slope and the view at 

 the bottom, while a bridge across it a little way higher up 

 affords access to the carriage way that runs along the oppc- 

 site bank and approaches the mansion by a curve on the 

 north side. 



The park and grounds, which cover an area upwai'ds of 

 five miles in circumference, have escaped the intrusion of the 

 railways which intersect the country all around, and have done 

 so many long years before railways were thought of in other 

 parts of England. It was not known that coals had been 

 worked in the immediate neighbourhood of the Castle until 

 many years after it was built and occupied, when it began to 

 sink in places to the great alarm of its inmates, as a sudden 

 fracture in the walls accompanied with an alarming noise would 

 occur occasionally at night. This, of course, led to the ex- 

 amination of the ground below, and it was found that the coal 

 had all been worked-out underneath it. Means were therefore 

 adopted to remedy the evil, and a long and careful process of 

 undersetting, with the necessary repairs to the damaged walls, 

 has made the whole structure Uke one buUt within the last 

 twenty years. It contains many splendid apartments. The 

 hall is, I believe, 90 feet long and 60 feet high, with stained 

 glass windows and other embeUishments. 



I cannot conclude these notes, long as they are, without 

 thanking Mr. Hunter for his courtesy in giving me all the in- 

 formation on which the above description of Lambton is based, 

 and apologies are due on my part for many omissions. The 

 contents of the kitchen garden, for instance, have scai'cely 

 been alluded to, and these were both good and judiciously 

 arranged ; but time compelled a separation from one whose 

 merits as a Grape-grower are only on a par with his frankness 

 and hospitality as a man. — .T. Eobson. 



SOIL FOR VINES. 



Mk. BL.iCKBrKN (see page 2.S7) writes on the compensating 

 system ; in asking for information he gives it, and this of a 

 practical kind. Let us hope to hear next of his little house of 

 Grapes, as by the good start he has made, and the thoughtful 

 attention he gives, he is sure to have fruit — useful, handy, 

 enjoyable fruit. His " new border site has been excavated half 

 a yard deep, and filled (possibly a foot above the level), with 

 a good, kindly, but rather Hght loam without a particle of 

 manure or dressing of any kind. The roots were spread out 

 carefully fan-fashion, as near the surface as possible, lightly 

 covered, and not trodden. A good coating of stable manure 

 was spread over the surface. The border never to be dug, but 

 to be fed by successions of top-dressings." These remarks are 

 so good and sound as to be worthy of reproduction. He then 

 asks for a first-rate border. Well, that is a first-rate border 

 for a little house intended for useful Grapes for home table 

 use. It may not be quite first-rate in the sense of producing 

 sensational bunches for exhibition purposes, but nevertheless 

 many a prize has been taken for Grapes from borders not 

 better than this, including the good supplemental attention it 

 is sure to receive. 



I may just add, in proof of my confidence in it, that I last 

 year renewed a Vine border and lifted the roots. I did not, 

 however, go so boldly to work as Mr. Blackburn, because I 

 could not afford to sacrifice a season's Grapes. The soil used 

 was a " good, kindly, but rather Hght loam, without a particle 

 of manure;" but — and in this respect my border may be the 

 better of the two — I mixed in a portion of charred vegetable 

 refuse. A foraging expedition landed me at the " stick yard." 

 The foundations of old stacks, the accumulation of years, were 

 cleared out and purified in the fire. Kvery particle was charred 

 — not an inch, I believe, being missed — for fear of fungus. 

 This proved also a compensating system, as I did the yard 

 people a kindness in clearing away the rubbish, and myself 

 one in getting some valuable mixing stuff for the Vine border. 

 New roots commenced to form into it at once, bristling out of 

 the old, straight, fibreless stems, and the Vines carried a 

 heavier crop of Grapes than they had ever done before, 

 although every particle of the old border was taken away. 



