23G 



JOUENAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. t September 22, 1868. 



box, derived estra strength before tie roots of the Rafted 

 paa-t established themselves in the border beneath the box. 



The second range in the same garden consists of two 

 vineries and one early Peach-house, each 52 feet long, 

 17 feet wide, 15 feet high at the back, and IJ foot in front, 

 air being given there by a moveable louvi-e-board. One 

 vinei-y had been cleared, but contained fine short-jointed 

 wood. The second had some excellent Lady Downes' and 

 Hamburgh Grapes : and the Peach-house was cleared, but 

 the wood in excellent bearing condition. The rafters, I 

 think, were about 4i feet apart, and there was a Vine up the 

 rafter and also one in the centi-e between. Here the same 

 attention had been paid to drainage without chambering. 

 The Peach trees were ti'ained under the roof on two treUises, 

 fi-om two sets of trees, dwai-fs in fi-ont and standai-ds behind, 

 against the columns, which 3Mr. HUl considers much pre- 

 ferable to having st&ndards against the back wall, to be so 

 far shaded by a treUis in front. In fig. 3 1 is the lower 

 treUis, and 2 the upper trellis. 



Fig. 3. 



In the upper kitchen gai-den is a splendid range of glass, 

 with a lofty conservatorj- in the centre. Taking them as 

 they come, we first notice a Peach-wall fronted with glass, 

 on which were many fine fruit, and the trees are almost sure 

 to produce a heavy crop with far less care than on the open 

 wall. This house is 116 feet long, 12 feet high at back, 

 scarcely 1 foot in fr-ont, with louvi-e -boards made to open 

 upwards, and the sloping part of the roof is also made to 

 open upwards; the width at base is 41 feet. The front is 

 very neatly supported on ii-on bars, which gives it a very 

 light elegant appearance. Our recollection of this house is 

 something as shown in fig. 4. The sloping shut roof at A is 

 glazed. The trees looked remarkably well. 



In fi'ont on the border were four masses at equal dis- 

 tances of the Tritoma uvai-ia, which were very magnificent, 

 averaging fr-om foui- to five dozen heads of flowers°to each! 

 We forget now how long they had been planted, but Mi-, 

 ffill kindly told us what he considered the two points 

 essential to their successful culture. The first was, to dio- 

 out a good hole for them, and to fiU it with good turfy loam 



We next came to a very fine Muscat-house 52 feet long, 

 20 feet wide, lOi feet high at back, and 5 feet high in front; 

 length of rafter 21 feet, -vvidth of path about 4 feet : but a 

 smaU border is placed close to the back wall, against which 

 were growing Shaddocks, Lemons, &c. The Vines here are all 

 planted inside, and are about thirteen years old. The whole 

 crop was good, but some bunches at the east end were very 

 fine. The house is roofed, small ridge-and-ftuTOw fashion, 

 the ridges being 2A feet at the base, and 11 foot at sides. 

 The Vines are trained up the fiuTows of the ridges, and are, 

 therefore, ij feet apart. The borders inside and outside are 

 made as respects their bottom also in the ridge-and-furrow 

 style, whicli renders the drainage more perfect. The front 

 of the outside border as at c, fig. 5, is supported by a 

 low wall, sci-eened by a similar close hedge of Yew, and 

 through these there are drain-pipes conrmvmicating with 

 the siuface of the walk b, besides the other di-ainage at the 

 bottom. ^ In the case of this fine house, too, the most of the 

 border is above the surrounding level. In ventilating in 

 front, the lai-ge upright sashes open outwards by means of a 

 lever, and the back ventilation is eifected in a very superior 

 I'^ay by double louvre-boards of fron, communicating with a 

 hollow chamber in the top of the wall, which has a connec- 

 tion above the glass with the external atmosphere. The ad- 

 vantage of this plan is, that in the coldest weather the fresh 

 air at top vrSi. be amehorated and softened, and warmed 

 before it passes in among the tender fiiiit and foliage. The 

 house had previously been used as a pit for Pines and plants 

 requiring stove heat, and a portion of these pipes had been 

 srmk for bottom heat. On removing the pits to give the 

 Vines the benefit of the whole house, these pipes were raised, 

 and now there are seven four-inch pipes all on a level placed 

 along the floor of the house. Mr. Hill is a great advocate 

 for plenty of piping, and never over-heating the pipes, con- 

 tending, as we have often done, that the exti-a heating of a 

 small amount of piping is only a waste in whatever way it is 

 looked at. A small amount of piping- is often, as respects 

 fael, the exemplification of the old adage, " Penny wise and 

 pound foolish." Mr. HiU assured us that even in very cold 

 weather, and when the house was kept to 70°, these pipes 

 were never so hot but that a person might sit down on them 

 comfortably. On clearing out the pits the inside borders 

 were not all made at once, ftrUy half the space yet remains 

 to be filled up, and thus the Vines can have a little 

 more feeding-ground for a number of years to come. We 

 here noticed several nice bunches of Foster's White Seed- 

 ling, very interesting not only on its own accoitnt, but also 

 fr-om being said to have come fi-om the same ben-y as that 

 which produced the celebrated black Lady Downes' Grape. 



The conservatory being in the centre, there is at the 

 opposite end a Black Hambirrgh-house of the same dimen- 

 sions as the Muscat-house, wliilst the outside and inside ar- 

 rangements are similar. Here, too, t'ne inside border is as yet 

 only pai-tiaUy fiUed. Mr. HiU imagining that these Vines 

 planted twelve years ago v/ere deteriorating a little, lifted 

 the roots last November, replanted them careftilly in fresh 



Fig. 4. 



and rotten manure, and the second was, never to remove a 

 leaf, be it broken, be it green, or withered and several years 

 On examining their bottoms we found masses of old 



old. 



withered lep.ves, but concealed by the green ones, and these 

 formed the best of all protection for the plants. 



fibry loam, with some rotten dung, and broken boiled bones, 

 covei-ed the soil with about a foot of tree leaves, above which 

 the wooden covers spoken of were placed, and did not at all 

 hun-y the Vines, and now there ai-e about 250 bunches of 

 what promise to be exceUeiit Graj)es. A Fig-case of 40 feet. 



