September 22, 18C3. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOETI CULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENEE. 



235 



Z-. 



Fig. 1. 



Peai's on this wall are of large size, the Beurre Kance being 

 frequently fully 1 lb. in weight. On the opposite side of 

 the walk that bounds the borders 

 of these fruit-walls is a naiTOW cir- 

 cular trellis {see fig. 1), chiefly de- 

 voted to Apple trees in good con- 

 dition, and which trellis looks very 

 neat. It is 2^ feet wide at the base, 

 and 5 feet in height to the blunt 

 circular apex. The crops were de- 

 ficient this season, owing to the 

 severe frost on the 20th and 21st 

 of May. 



But passing these, general cropping, lots of hotbeds, and 

 Asparagus-pits v/here the plants grow where they are to be 

 forced, we come to the ranges of hothouses which have 

 made Keele HaU gar-den and its superintendent so illus- 

 ti-ious ; Ml-. Hill, in the course of nine or ten years, having 

 taken about sixty first prizes for fi-uit at the metropolitan 

 exhibitions. The very best of the fimit had been cut from 

 the earher houses ; but sufficient remained in later ones 

 and others ripening to show very superior management, and 

 also to prove conclusively that the success was no haphazard 

 affair — no happy result occiUTing from merely sticking a 

 Vine into the ground and letting it take its chance of suc- 

 ceeding or failing, but the consequence of much thought 

 and study as to the best modes of management and a con- 

 stant unwearied attention to the smallest minutice of prac- 

 tical details. Owing also to the combined liberality and 

 the mechanical and ai-tistic taste of the worthy proprietor, 

 all the structures about the garden were in iirst-rate con- 

 dition, and furnished -with the best modern improvements 

 as to ventilation, &c. 



The fii'st range of houses we entered consists of four 

 vineries, each 31 feet long, 16 feet wide, 10\ feet in height 

 at back, and 3 feet in height at fi-ont. These heights refer 

 to that above the surface level. The fi-ont 3 feet above the 

 wall-plate is of glass sashes, opening outwards all at once 

 by a rod, &c. The border inside is neai-ly up to the glass A 

 (see fig. 2, made merely from memoi-y). B Is the back 



rig. 2. 



path i feet wide, bounded by a neat curb, from which a 

 pillar c goes to the roof at every 4.J feet. On these pillars in 

 some instances Vines are also trained, and an arch goes 

 from pillar to pUlar. The two middle vineries are for the 

 earliest Grapes ; and the borders for these at least, if 

 not for the whole of the range, ai-e chambered or arched 

 underneath. The outside borders E are 9 feet vride, and 

 ai-e arched underneath at f, communicating with linings G, 

 covered with boai-d flaps, so that dung may be placed under 

 the arches and the heat kept in. h Is the pathway in the 

 fi-ont, and the ground gently falls from the pathway. 



Now let us glance at some of the peculiarities of these 

 first-rate vineries. First, fi-om the elevation of the borders, 

 the chambering, and means used for di-ainage, it is utterly 

 impossible that the Vines can suffer fi-om stagnant moisture, 

 and therefore noiuishment can be freely given to them. 

 Secondly, the Vines are all planted inside, about 18 inches 

 from the front glass, and in every case the inside border is 

 higher than the outside one, but with free communication 

 between them. Thirdly, all the heating-pipes are 4 inches 

 in diameter, and are placed pretty regularly and level across 

 the floor of the ieuse — a plan which we consider far prefer- 



able to placing pipes in tiers above pipes, as we have them, 

 because we found them so. These pipes in all the houses 

 at work were well coated with sulphur. There was an ex- 

 ception to this placing the pipes on the level, and we con- 

 sider a valuable one, in the shape of two small two-inch 

 pipes, placed over each other some 18 inches fi-om the base 

 of the back wall. These, so placed behind the pathway, 

 prevented any stagnation of ail- there, made the circulation 

 of the internal atmosphere more complete, and alike enabled 

 and required top ventilation to be more freely given. Then, 

 fourthly, instead of sinking a huge pit for a Vine-border, it 

 will be perceived that the whole, inside and out, is above 

 the gi-ound level ; and then, again, there is the opportunity 

 of heating these borders fi-om beneath. The arches are 

 formed of brick and good mortar, so that little or none of 

 the enriching gases fi-om the dung can reach the roots, nor 

 is it desired they shoidd do so. A root now and then may 

 find its way thi-ough the mortar into the chamber, but it is 

 soon destroyed by the heat or removed, as Mi-. Hfll has no 

 idea of ha-ving a forest of spongioles whitening the top of 

 his ai-ches : he wishes these aU to be confined to the good 

 material above which he gives them so liberally. This mode 

 of heating the borders fi-om beneath with dung involves a 

 great amount of labour and constant supervision, as the 

 heating material is subject fi-oni mere changes of weather 

 to great and sudden fluctuations of temperature. 



On this account it is proposed to dispense with the 

 dung and use hot water as being much more under com- 

 mand. With this heating fi-om beneath, a slight covering — 

 say from 9 inches to a foot — of di-y leaves or litter is sufficient 

 to keep up the desirable tempei-atiue in the borders, more 

 especially as that covering is kept di-y by moveable wooden 

 covers 4 feet -wide, and in lengths so that one or two lengths 

 go over the border. These covers are made of rough boards 

 fastened to cross pieces, and then a slip 2 inches -wide tacked 

 along each joint — a capital plan where green unseasoned 

 wood is used, and even for an}' wood exposed to great 

 alternations of wet and di-yness. These well tarred will last 

 a great many years, and will come in for many purposes of 

 protection in the spring and autumn. Mr. Hill uses them 

 largely in temporai-y pits, for protecting his 

 bedding plants in spring. And, lastly, the 

 borders were made simply of the very best 

 materials. Some new ones that we examined 

 seemed to consist chiefly of about half-inch 

 slices of the fibi-y top part of some old pasture 

 ■with a very liberal allowance of boiled bones. 

 I would rather that such men as Mr. HOI and 

 Mr. Henderson wordd tell us the quantity in 

 proportion to soil rather than make a rough 

 guess at it. These bones are boiled at the 

 potteries for obtaining the gelatine, &c., and 

 after this boiling the fermenting and rank pro- 

 pei-ties ai-e so gi-eatly removed that they may 

 be used to a much greater extent than fresher 

 bones could be with propriety. 



Though equally well chambered or drained 

 the two end houses were for late Grapes, and would require no 

 heating fi-om beneath whilst so used. One of these had been 

 planted in November, chiefly with Lady Downes' and Alicante, 

 Kempsey and Meredith's, as tar as we recollect, and they 

 were now strong canes rising to and along the back of the 

 house. In this house Vines were also trained to the rods by 

 the sides of the path, where, no doubt, they would remain 

 until the finest ones monopolised aH the space. The laterals 

 near the top were merely stumped in ; but they had been 

 removed fully half way up the stems, and would be removed 

 gi-adually all the way to expedite the hardening and ripening 

 of the wood. Some fine Azaleas stood in open spaces between 

 the pillars. In the other end -vinei-y, among other good 

 fruit, were some huge bunches of the Trebbiano Grape 

 approaching matm-ity. 



From one of the middle vineries the glass was removed 

 and the Vines closely pruned-in preparatory to cleaning them 

 and the house thoroughly. In the other, though the fi-uit 

 was aU gone, the wood was in fine condition. Here I noticed 

 that a number of small shoots near the base of the Vine 

 had been grafted -with new or more desirable kinds, and 

 after the graft had taken the shoot was laid or taken through 

 a box filled -with good rich material, and, rooting in the 



