Septcmter 8, : 



] JOUKNAL OF HORTICTJLTtTRE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



193 



Certainly they must never be trusted to railway officials or 

 any person who does not know or care for the contents of 

 the box. If only to he conveyed for a short distance, the 

 safest way to do it is to put the box on a man's head and let 

 him walk steadily, or, of course, it can be carried between 

 two men the same as a basket is usually carried. 



To send Grapes by rail or any other mode of transit with- 

 out a person specially entrusted with them and yet presei-ve 

 the bloom, is an almost hopeless task, and a different sys- 

 tem of packing must be resorted to. The best plan that we 

 have tried is to put a layer of paper-shavings in the bottom 

 of the box, then a layer of wadding, then a sheet of tissue 

 paper, on which the bunches are laid. They are then care- 

 fully covered over with tissue-paper, wadding, and paper- 

 shavings, the same as that which is placed under them. 

 There must be as much of these materials placed over them 

 as will rest firmly on the bunches when the lid is screwed 

 down, so that all motion of the bunch or beiTy is prevented. 

 Each bunch should have a compartment in the box for itself, 

 or at most no more than two bunches should be packed in 

 one compartment. Grapes can be sent to any distance in 

 this way, but not without rubbiug-off the bloom to a con- 

 siderable extent. If conveyed by the former method all 

 that is required when the show table is reached is to take 

 out the paper-covered tray of wood which we have described 

 and place it on the table. In the latter case the bunches 

 must, of coui'se, be removed from the box and dished afi'esh. 

 — D. Thomson. 



WELL HEAD GAEDENS, H.y.IFAX, 

 YOEKSHLRE. 



Few persons entertain an opinion that there is any gar- 

 dening worth seeing in or around our great seats of manu- 

 facturing industiy. Our trees ai-e represented as hidebound 

 and incapable of expanding because of the smoke, and our 

 gai'dens as containing nothing worth going a mile to see. 

 Speaking for myself, I may say I have been in the valleys, 

 by the side of the brooks, on rooks, in caves, passed fi-om 

 dells to hills, and from the mountain-top scanned Nature in 

 all her loveliness, and seen her adorned in all those localities ; 

 but in no place nor position has it fallen to my lot to see 

 her better assisted, nor her beauties stand out more nobly 

 in the limited area of a suburban residence, than at the Well 

 Head Gardens belonging to J. Waterhouse, Esq. 



Well Head is sitviated about a mile from Halifax Station, 

 about half a mile from the centre of the town. The gardens 

 are enclosed by a rather high wall and are open to the 

 south, towards which the ground slopes gradually, but stDl 

 has an undulating surface. 



I will enter this enclosure with my friend Mr. Baynes, the 

 clever gardener, presuming that the reader may do so at any 

 time if he feels disposed. Here I wiU observe, too, that the 

 first objects I notice on entering a garden are the walks, 

 the disposition of the ground, and the variedness of the 

 arrangement. The walks here are formed of asphalt and 

 spai', and are so smooth as not to cause any annoyance even 

 to the feet of an invalid, but not so smooth as to be slippery. 

 The ground is advantageously disposed, and the whole so 

 arranged that but one feature can be seen at a time — in 

 fact, it is just the sort of place where every corner brings 

 yoii to a halt. It is a place where the alpine finds a home, 

 the herbaceous plant a nest, and exotics find a comfortable 

 resting-place. 



We had scarcely entered the gardens before we met the 

 proprietor, who is not only a man of science, but free, liberal, 

 and kindhearted. Mr. Waterhouse gave one of the best 

 reasons for the faOure of Apricots in some localities that 

 I have yet heard. It was simply this — " the soU is unsuited 

 to their growth, and that success in Apricot-culture is more 

 dependant on the geological strata than on the skiU of cul- 

 tivators. Where an Apricot thrives, fruiting profusely every 

 year, a Rhododendron does not luxuriate. Lime in some 

 shape is one of the components essentially necessary for the 

 Apricot tree, but in what way it acts is as yet unknown. 

 All, or nearly all, ai-tificial soOs made for Apricots fail to re- 

 move the predisposition of the tree to giimming or cankering, 

 and no one, except those having the soil in which the Apricot 

 thrives natm-aUy, has succeeded in obtaining fruit annually 



in pots or planted-out in an artificial or natural climate. 

 Rhododendi-ons will not thrive on limestone ; but limestone, 

 in some shape or other, is necessary for Api-icots to succeed." 



Passing some rockwork crowded with trailing and alpine 

 plants, always more or less interesting, where plants of Os- 

 munda interrupta and regalis were thi-iving out-doors, a 

 Fern-house, 30 feet by 18, fii'st engaged my attention. The 

 house is furnished with stone shelves, which, owing to then- 

 porosity, are calculated to absorb water, and give it off 

 when the atmosphere of the house becomes drier than the 

 stones, and that assists in keeping up a moist atmosphere 

 in which Perns revel. Out of a large collection the names- 

 of a few maj' be given as being conspicuous .amongst their 

 neighbours. Asplenium bifidum, a capital dinner-table- 

 plant ; A. formosum, growing about a foot high ; Acro- 

 phoi-us chterophyUus, with creeping stems and finely-divided 

 li-onds ; A. pulcheUus, var., a fitting companion for Pteris sca- 

 berula; DavaUia polyantha, with creeping stems like the 

 rest of the genus, but having handsome rosy fronds whOst 

 young ; Gymnogramma gracilis, a fine variety ; G. palcheUa, 

 more powdered than generally seen ; G. peruviana, 3 feet 

 across; G. chrysophylla, richly powdered, and deeper in 

 colour than many varieties of this species, of which G. chry- 

 sophylla aurea, a stronger grower, is paler in colour ; and 

 the wooUy-fronded G. lanata ; Loncliitis pubescens, a scarce 

 and handsome kind, with pinnje not unlike an oak leaf; 

 Pteris natalensis, something in the way of a gigantic Adi- 

 antum trapeziforme, but with handsome pale green ft-onds ; 

 G. lutea, looking lilce a cross between G. peruviana and 

 G. chrysophyUa, with the habit of the last ; Litobrochia 

 nobilis, much in the way of L. (Doi-yopteris) sagittsefoHa, 

 but with a white mark or blotch in the centre of the frond, 

 which is about an inch wide at the setting-on of the frond 

 with the stipes, and tapers off in proportion to the length of 

 the frond, generally extending from the stipes to three- 

 quarters the length of the frond ; Nothochliena nivea, 1 foot 

 6 inches high and 2 feet across ; N. tomentosa, vestita, &c., 

 in fine condition ; Cheilanthes hu-ta EUisiana, 2 feet across ; 

 C. viscosa, and many more of tliis fine genus in robust 

 health ; Cibotium barometz, S feet high and 12 across, gi-ow- 

 ing in a tub ; Blechnum corcovadense, with a tree-like stem 

 over a foot in height and a head 8 feet in diameter — the 

 fronds of this variety being a beautiful bronzy pink whilst 

 young, which is retained till nearly mature. Brainea insig- 

 nis, rosy ciimson f^'onds when yoiing, with wavy divisions — 

 an exceedingly handsome variety from Hong-Kong, has a 

 massy tree-like stem^the plant was 4 feet across ; Lastrea 

 opaoa is vei-y fine ; Todea peUueida was growing in a well- 

 drained pot in fibry peat, the pot in a pan of water, and the 

 plant with a glass over it ; and Goniophlebium subauricula- 

 tum, in a basket suspended from the roof, with fronds 10 feet 

 long, nearly reaching to the floor. 



We scarcely step outside and take a breath of ft-esh air 

 before we pass into a vinery 57 feet long by IS wide, which 

 is divided into two compartments. The Vines are planted 

 outside; but the border has been covered with glass to 

 remedy the non-ripening of wood, which it has done effectu- 

 ally. What a nice place this covered border would make to 

 winter bedding stuff! Prior to covering the border with 

 glass the Vines did very indifferently, and Grapes coloured 

 badly, but they now coloiu- well. Under the Vines were 

 several Ferns — as Cibotium Scheidii, 10 feet through ; the 

 beautiftil Adiantum chilense; the Pingers-and-Tongue 

 Fern, Dictyoglossum criuitum ; Angiopteris evecta, with 

 fronds 9 feet long, and the plant 10 feet in diameter; Poly- 

 stichum ti-iangulum ; Asplenium polyodon, .and A. pumilum» 

 with a host of other varieties. Besides Ferns, there were 

 also Selaginellas atro-viridis, erytlii-opus, rubricaulis, Wal- 

 lichi, and Lobbi, all conspicuous for their Fern-hke habits. 

 In addition to these were a fuU collection of Lycopods, and 

 amongst other things Punica gi-anatum in fruit, and Steno- 

 chlsena scandens in a pot looking for a wall. The back part 

 of one division was covered with the Night-blooming Cereus, 

 and a large collection of Cacti on a broad shelf at its feet. 

 In a glass was VaUisneria spfralis, in which you watch the 

 flow of the sap with the microscope ; and Cai-ia vulgaris, 

 another microscopic object, both, of course, immersed ia 

 water. Stepping outside, a border filled with Stocks, Asters, 

 &c., looked well. 



The Rhododendron-house is the next we come to. It is 



