124, 



JOttENAIi OF HOETICTJLTUEE A^^D COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ Jingaat IB, 1883. 



of the sixe they would be when fuU-grown, nor less than a 

 medium-sized Apple. If the ground is very dry water may 

 be given, but not much, and no more ought to be allowed 

 from the watering-pot. The leaves wiU iiag and cover the 

 head, which is desired, and the head will enlarge though the 

 leaves decay, aud these must be removed whenever they do 

 so. When frosts occur cover with clean straw — litter wUl 

 do — but take the covering olf in mild weather and increase 

 or decrease its tliiekness aeeoniing to the mildness or severity 

 of the weather. No ti'ost that occurs in our climate oftener 

 than once in half a centivry will harm Caidiflowers with 

 6 inches of straw immediately over them, for we have earth 

 heat aud one of the best of all non-conducting mediums — 

 straw. By tliis plan v/e can cut Cauliflowers at Chiistmas. 



An open shed is a better place than a north border for 

 protecting Cauliflowers. There they are not liable to rot 

 and ai'e shielded from drenching rains. A few plants taken 

 up on the approach of frost and hung in a cellar, roots up- 

 wards, will keep a long time. 



Of diseases and insects there are three that attack Cauli- 

 flowers — viz.. Shanking or Withering of the Stem in the seed- 

 bed, Clubroot incidental to all the Cabbage tribe, and the 

 Cabbage Caterpillar. The first is jn-omoted by sowing too 

 thiclily in the seed-bed, which prevents air and sun reaching 

 the neck of the plants. It is seldom that shanking occui-s 

 in the open ground. Sowing more sparingly and giving 

 abundance of light and air is a siu'e preventive of the disease. 



Clubroot is engendered by sowing Brassicas on the same 

 ground too often without change, and rarely shows itself in 

 the Cauliflower on newly-turned-up ground. Dipping the 

 roots in a mixtui-e of soot and Hme at piicking-out time acts 

 as a preventive. Any plant that looks sickly should be 

 taken up, and if on examining the root an excrescence is 

 found it should be opened, and a grub will be seen. If this 

 be taken out, and the roots dipped in soot aud lime water 

 and replaced in the sod, the plant wiU grow. 



Hand-picking is the best cure for the caterpUlar, and 

 giving a small sum to childi'en for every buttei-fly talien the 

 best of all preventive.s. 



Soot will keep snails and slugs at bay, and a liming now 

 and then is a sm'e way to IVee the soil from insect pests, 

 besides increasing its fertility. — Geokge Abbey. 



SoETs. — The following ai'e what I woidd recommend : — ■ 



Early London (Covent Garden, Improved Early London, 

 London Particulai'), — A useful eai-ly kind; best for August 

 and early sj)ring-sowings. 



Frogmore Early Forcing. — Of dwarf and compact growth, 

 heads large and fine, flavour excellent. Best for frames and 

 wintering in pots ; stands confhied air better than any other 

 Cauliflower. 



Dwarf Erfurt Mammoth — Dwarf, about 1 foot in height, 

 producing a large, close, compact head. White and delicate 

 eating; best for spring-sowings. 



Asiatic (Leyden). — The largest summer Cauliflower in 

 cultivation. 



Walchcren. — A good old sort, difficult to procm-e true ; 

 .stands the winter well. 



Stadtholdcr. — A free-gi-owing variety; heads close, large, 

 and firm. Best for autumn use, and a better vaaiety than 

 the Walcheren. 



Le Normand. — Grows from 1 foot to 1 foot 6 inches high ; 

 heads medium-sized, close, and firm. A very excellent 

 rai'iety, standing di'ought well. — G. A. 



Your only remedy is to shade a little in the middle of the 

 day now, so as to a%'oid sudden change. The Vine in 

 general cannot have one ray of sunlight too much. See 

 that the border is moist enough, and give plenty of air.] 



Vi:yE LEAFSTAXKS GANGEENI^^G. 



In February last I planted two houses of Vines, the roots 

 being in an outside border composed of fresh tm-f from a 

 pasture, with one cartload of stable-manure, and one barrow- 

 liil of rough bones to eight loads of sod. I kept the houses 

 moist and shaded until the miildle of July when the Vines 

 had rep^ched the top of the house. I then stopped them, 

 removed the shading, and gave more air. In a few days the 

 leafstalks became soft neiu- the bud, the leaves h\mg down, 

 <nid soon aftei-wards died. Hamburghs at the coolest end 

 began first, but they aU are going more or less. Pray what 

 are the cause and cui-e ? — Vitis. 



[You have given the Vines a border rather too rich. 

 They should have had no shade after beginning to grow. 



FAWSLEY HALL, WEAE DAVENTEY. 



"Ant place but Daventry. I cannot go there. Why, it 

 is five miles from a railway station, and the telegraph wires 

 stop a quai-ter of a mile short of the town, because even a 

 message per annum was considered hopeless ! " 



Such was a friend's response to a proposal to visit this 

 Benaventa of the Britons, and Isannavaria of the Eomana. 



However, Ms fear of banishment was overcome ; we 

 travelled by the North Western Railway to Weedon Station, 

 were duly met by a friend's phteton, stayed some days at 

 Daventry, and when we turned oiu- backs upon the old town, 

 the last head-quarters of the king of infirm piu'pose before 

 he ruined his cause on the not-far-off field of Nascby, our 

 friend acknowledged that " there is something worth seek- 

 ing beyond the reach of railway trains and telegraph wires." 



Let us trace what this "something" is about Daventiy. 

 And, iii'st, of Fawsley Hall. 



There is something in a name — and there is something in 

 bearing such a name as " Knightley of Fawsley," that must 

 deter from unworthy conduct — something that summons to 

 one's mental groupings all that belongs to and chai'acterises 

 " the good old Enghsh gentleman ;" and we rejoiced when 

 told of traits in the present baronet's character, fuU-worthj- 

 of one among whoso ancestors was a daughter of John 

 Hampden ; and the Norman founder of whose family. 

 "Eainald de Chenistelei," was with William the Conqueror. 



Fawsley Hall is about four miles fiom Daventry, and is 

 aixived at by a road of very vaiied beauty thi-ough the 

 village of Badby, and the Fawsley Woods. We halted for 

 a few minutes to search for old inscriptions in Badby 

 Chui'ch, and thougli we failed in finding marble effigies of 

 cross-legged knights, or even a single brass, 3'et there was 

 one recent tablet which made one take a long breath, and 

 think how that heart had suii'ered which recorded that "tha 

 angel of the house" was gone, and added, "May my two 

 sons imitate her virtues, and thus be a blessing to their 

 father." We passed on saddened, if not wiser, and soon 

 were among the Fawsley Oaks, beneath wliich there is no 

 doubt Hampden, Pym, and other kindi-ed spiiits had held 

 council with Sir Kichard Knightley, who then was Fawsley's 

 lord, how best to resist the Stuai't tyranny. 



But it is with the garden we have more immediately to 

 do. Oiu' visit being a very short one, too short to enable us 

 to enter into f\dl jjarticulars of the beauties and attractions 

 of this interesting place, we shall merely notice a few of the 

 objects that fonned the greatest attraction for us. 



Having been introduced to Mr. Brown, the gardener, he 

 at once conducted us to the points which he knew would 

 afford the greatest interest, and which brought out the most 

 prominent features of the department imder his care. Con- 

 ducting us down the west side and on the outside of the 

 walls, along a broad walk tastefully planted on either side 

 with a profusion of flower-beds, we entered a covered walk 

 which runs at right angles with it, and communicates from 

 the kitchen garden to the Hall. This covered walk is one of 

 the features of the place. Issuing from a shrubbery and 

 plantation which separate the kitchen gai'denfrom the paa-k. 

 the distance between the shnibliery and the entrance to the 

 garden is planted on either side with a hedge of Hornbeam, 

 which has been trained over so as to form a spacioxis arch- 

 way of beautiful proportions, and which is kept in very fine 

 order. It is not one of those dense wild masses, with merely 

 a passage cut thi'ough it, but is of itself a work of art, upon 

 which no small amount of skill and labour is bestowed. 

 Although not more than 9 inches or a foot in thiciuess, it is 

 perfectly close, and affords a cool and agreeable shade. At 

 the end of this walk is the entrance to the kitchen garden 

 through large folcUng-doors, and here it was the beauties of 

 the place were exposed to our view. 



Like a first-rate artist, Mr. Brown knew -well how t» 

 exhibit his pictm-e with the most telling effect. 'While we 

 were yet at the farther end of the covered way, Mr. Brown 

 hastened a little in advance of sis, and throwing, {^«n the 



