September 22, 1863. ] JOTTENAi OF HOSTTCULITIRB AND COTTAG-E Gi!LB©BNEI 



and likewise on dung-beds ; but what I want to know is if 

 any one has been visited by the same evil ? If so, I should hke 

 to know if he can suggest any preventive ? — J. B. C. P. 



[Your case is by no moans a singular one, and from what 

 you say it is evident that your Melons have been destroyed 

 by canker at the root, or rather at the main stem of the 

 plants just at the surface of the soU. Tliis disease is easily 

 detected by the enlarged corky-like appearance at the neck 

 of the plants, and is most frequently attendant on a strong 

 plethoric growth such as you describe your plants to have 

 made. When the disease appears the best means of coun- 

 teracting it is to thickly dust the affected part with quick- 

 lime ; but this does not always prevent it. From what you 

 say it sti-ikes us that you grow your Melons in rather too 

 light and tui-fy a soil, and that you water too frequently ; 

 and if you were to use a heavy rather clayey loam with no 

 manm-e mixed with it, putting a good depth of soil in 

 yovu- frame, and treading it firmly together, and to apply 

 water seldomer but in greater quantity at a time, you would 

 find that your Melons woidd not grow so rankly, and be less 

 subject to go off as you describe. We have always found 

 two or three good waterings sufficient to bring a crop of 

 Melons to maturity when a good depth of heavy soil has 

 been used, and under such cfrcumstances they are less liable 

 to canker.] 



WELL HEAD. 



(Concluded from page 21.3.) 



In stepping out of the Orchid-house a fine plant of the 

 Australian Pitoher-plant, Cephalotus foUicixlaris, in the shovy- 

 house again attracted my attention ; and as Mr. Baynes is 

 very fortunate in his treatment of this and many more rare 

 and curious plants, and very liberal in imparting his know- 

 ledge, I will give the treatment he pursues so advantage- 

 ously. Cephalotus foUicularis delights in a humid atmo- 

 sphere, and what may be termed a warm gi-eenhouse tempe- 

 rature suits it exactly. It does best when in a small pot 

 enclosed in a larger one, the interval filled up with sphag- 

 num. The compost in which it is potted consists of sphag- 

 num and fibi-y peat in equal parts, the main point being to 

 provide good and perfect drainage. It is necessary to place 

 the pot in a feeder of water, and to cover the plant vdth a 

 glass fitting the inside of the outer pot if the house in 

 which it is placed is at all dry, but not where the atmo- 

 sphere is humid or very moist. The glass should be taken 

 off and wiped occasionally, which prevents the plant being 

 surrounded by stagnant afr. 



Without much time after leaving the Orchid-house to 

 enjoy the pm-e air, we enter a vinery 30 feet by 18, with a 

 half-span roof The border is inside entirely, about 20 laches 

 deep, and composed of the top spit of a pastui'e incorpo- 

 rated with about one-tenth charcoal and uncrnshed bones. 

 The house is well heated by four pipes along the front and 

 two at the back, which permit of keeping up the tempera- 

 ture to the proper pitch without making the pipes very hot, 

 and, what is better, au- is admitted below them in front, 

 whilst at the back the pipes are enclosed in a drain. In 

 both cases no cold afr can under any cfrcumstances pass 

 into the house without becoming heated. Ample provision 

 is also made to let ovxt the heated afr at the top of the 

 house. 



The Vines are carrying half a dozen bunches each, this 

 being the second season fr'om planting. The sorts are 

 Bowood Muscat, a very fine Grape, in my opinion the best 

 of all Muscats ; Black Hamburgh, like sloes in colour ; 

 White and Charlesworth Tokay ; Koyal Muscadine; Cham- 

 pion Hamburgh, a very fine even-berried bxincher ; and 

 Muscat Hamburgh, a very fine flavoured Grape, rich and 

 vinous, with the peculiar fiavour of the Muscat, but shanked ; 

 but I do not think outside planting has anytliing to do with 

 that. The Frontignans shank quite as much planted inside 

 as when planted outside, and so do many others. I am per- 

 suaded Frontignans shank through a deficiency in the com- 

 ponent pai'ts of the compost. Grizzly Frontignans v/ere 

 here the coloiu- of badly-ripened Hambui'ghs, and were 

 very fine indeed. In some pots were layers fed from the 

 pajent as well as the pot, carrying large bunches in propor- 

 tion to the size of the pots, and although inadmissible for 



exhibiting, they nevertheless form useftd subjects for thq 

 dinner-table, where lai-ge fruit is preferable to that generajly 

 yielded fr-om pots ; the size and weight of the pot being a 

 matter of some import also in matters of this kind. 



In this house, too, were several Amaryllises and a great 

 quantity of Vallota purpurea. Adjoining is a late viuei'y, 

 rather in front of the other, which is identical with the 

 other in every respect except the varieties, among which v/as 

 Lady Downes', not only the best of all long-keeping Grapes; 

 but as good as a Hamburgh when ripe, and not like the 

 Barbai-ossa and some others, which reqmre to be turned into 

 raisins before they are fit to eat. Golden Hamburgh is not 

 worth g-rowing in my estimation, though Mr. Baynes has 

 some very fine frmt upon his Vines. There were also Mill 

 HiU Hamburgh, Muscat Hamburgh, and Trentham Black, 

 well worthy of the name, as it is a very fine Grape though 

 small in ben-y. The crops on these Vines are excellent and 

 do great credit to the manager. In pots were some strong 

 caues ripening their wood well. 



The next house is approached by descending some steps, 

 and is a Cncumber-liouse 27 feet by 15, which is heated by 

 hot water for both top and bottom heat. In it I noticed 

 some good fruit of Eji-klee's Defiance, a free winter-fr'uiting 

 variety; Champion; and a sort of local repute, Robin Hood, 

 which judging from appearance is a desfrable variety. Here, 

 too, were several seedling Stephanotises from floribunda 

 with the midrib of the leaves red. I only remember having 

 once seen the Stephanotis in fruit, but I never saw seed- 

 lings raised from it before. The seedlings are very promis- 

 ing. Let us hope they may give scarlet and blue flowers 

 with the perfume of the parent. 



Close to the last house is the Azalea-house, 27 feet by 15, 

 in which are good plants of all the leading kinds and 

 studded with bloom-buds. The plants are not large, but 

 neatly trained in the shape of pyramids and bushes. For 

 my part I prefer a moderate-sized specimen to one that 

 takes iiji the space occupied by a dozen smaller plants. I 

 can see more beauty in variety than sameness, and, con- 

 sequently derive more pleasure from examining a dozen re- 

 presentatives of a genus than a huge plant whose beauties 

 are seen at first sight. In this house were three new Eho- 

 dodendi'ons — Princess Eoyal Veitchi, and PrEeeox super- 

 bum ; also Ceutaurea ragusina, more shining in colour lijJii 

 C. argentea. 



A little fm-ther on are some of those iisefiil appendages 

 to every garden — cold pits ; and in them were some things 

 from which Mi-. Beaton would have drawn some instructive 

 conclusions, but I must be content to note them — viz., boxes 

 containing seedling Ehododendrons, Dalhousise crossed with 

 Broughtoni, Broughtoni crossed with Dalhousise, Bdgworthi 

 crossed with Broughtoni, and vice versd; Dalhousise with 

 Princess Victoria, and Dalhousise with Edgworthi. The 

 pits also contained some softwooded stuff — as Cinerarias, 

 Pi'imulas, &c. 



Mr. Baynes showed me his boiler, which is Ormson's No. 5, 

 heating ten compai'tments satisfactorily. It consumes about 

 two tons of coke per week, does the work of ten saddle boilers, 

 or twenty flues, presuming that mode of heating were 

 adopted, and gives every satisfaction. Mr. Baynes is 

 opposed to flues, and reckons them amongst the tilings of 

 the past. 



In journeying towards the other houses we meet with a 

 large TuUp Tree, which is very fine, and appears to stand 

 smoke well. The Yews, alas ! are fast succumbing to the 

 smoky atmosphere, which outs off Conifers as frost does 

 early blossoms. A bed of hardy Statices on the lawn is 

 very pretty, and one often wonders that such plants are not 

 more generally cultivated ; and why everybody should pass 

 over that fine old herbaceous plant, Onosma taurieum, the 

 flowei-s of which rival any yeRow Calceolaria, is, indeed, 

 marvellous. Its projjagation was said by a contemporary 

 to be diffioidt, but Mr. Baynes strikes it by layers as freely 

 as a Carnation. 



But of the very many charms to be seen at this interesting 

 place, none are more worth seeing than a plant of Lapa- 

 geria rosea, which had fifty fiowers expanded when I saw it 

 (August 18th), and several green ones coming on. It 

 occupies the northern h;ilf of the Heath-house, a small spam- 

 roofed structure 22 feet by 18, and is trained near to the 

 glass. It is planted in what I will term a bed 4 feat long. 



