42 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTUKE AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



r July 18, 1867. 



KOYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY'S 

 EXHIBITION AT BURY ST. EDMUNDS.— July 10. 

 About five years have elapsed since we recommended the 

 Horticultural Society to follow the example of its younger 

 relative the Agricultural, and hold country meetings, changing 

 the locality annually. At length the Society has entered on 

 that course, and we" think the result is such that the course 

 will be pursued in future years ; for, beyond all doubt, the 

 Exhibition at Bury St. Edmunds, now open, comprises one of 

 the finest aggregates of fruits and flowers ever brought together 

 in England, and afEdrds the most unmistakeable evidence of 

 the skill, judgment, and good taste of British gardeners. 



The extent of the Show may be estimated from the fact that 

 the fruit tent is 300 feet long and 30 feet wide ; the Pelargo- 

 nium tent, 175 by 33 ; the three circular tents for miscella- 

 neous collections, 90, 40, and 30 feet in diameter respectively ; 

 and the implement tent is 100 feet by 35. 



All the collections are arranged effectively, and leave nothing 

 to be desired except that they could have been placed on turved 

 terraces, for that would have shown their great excellence to 

 stUl more advantage. 



We wiU accept as a good omen that this first Exhibition is 

 held within the vineyard of Bury Abbey — that Abbey's annual 

 revenues amounted to £200,000 ; and we will hope that the 

 soil is promotive of good incomes to associated bodies lay as 

 ■well as ecclesiastical. At all events, if the spirits of abbots 

 revisit the precincts of their earthly dwellings, those of this 

 Abbey must be round and about the displays of luscious, tooth- 

 some fruits now gathered together within their ancient vine- 

 yard. For there were more Friar Tacks among them than that 

 one immortalised in " Ivanhoe." " It was not the hood that 

 made the monk ;" and as we passed through this Abbey's 

 gateway we recalled to memory the tales of festal doings, when 

 plumed knights and bodiced ladies had passed beneath its 

 portcullis some four centmies previously, and caroused with 

 their cowled entertainers. 



Jolly fellows were those Benedictine Monks of Biiry. Two 

 and twenty cooks were found daily employment by them — 

 cooks whose names are recorded — Soyera of their day — such 

 were Brodhaye, Bigot, and Cowe. And what a bUl of fare must 

 have been theirs ! for, among other outlays we find £10 — 

 equal to one hundred now — dispended weekly on flesh, fish, 

 and cheese ; 30a'. on Beans ; Cs. 8rf. on honey ; 13s. id. on nuts ; 

 12s. Ud. on poultry, though the price of one fowl was then 

 only a penny ! 



Good eating was never divorced from good drinking ; and 

 though among the officers of the Abbey was a " Keeper of the 

 Waters," yet his was a sinecure compared with the office of 

 that brother who was " Squire of the Cellar," for even his 

 official title was thus dignified. In the refectory, on the four 

 principal days of each week, " four score and eight sextarii of 

 mead or wine " were drunk — equal to more than one hundred 

 bottles of modern measure ; and besides that, each official had 

 a weekly allowance, and kept it probably in his cell for his 

 " stomach's sake." 



" These cellarers," says Fuller, " were brave blades, much 

 affecting secular gallantry ;" and a stUl older authority, who 

 well knew what power they possessed as the bursars of the 

 monasteries, warns that they should not " be wine-bibbers, not 

 proud, not dull, not prodigal, but faithfully distributing the 

 allowances," for all the provisions, cooks, &c., were under their 

 supervision ; and they even held a court of justice, where, to 

 nse a drinking phrase of the time, they " took down a peg " 

 offenders brought before them. 



Prominent among the disputes were the perquisites of the 

 officials ; and we must remark upon one — the swineherd, who 

 was entitled to have their dung, and which, with msre delicacy 

 than has influenced us, was mentioned as "fructus de eauda." 

 But we have reached the Abbey vineyard, one of the many 

 Imown to have been attached to the monastic establishments 

 of England, as at Abingdon, Gloucester, Eocbester — " a newly 

 planted " one in the time of Edward the Confessor at Hautun, 

 belonging to the monastery at Evesham — Glastonbury, Michel- 

 ney, and others in Somersetshire — Thomey, Cambridgeshire. 

 In 1140 the tithes of the Vines of Lyncomb were confirmed to 

 Bath Monastery. In 1070 the priory of Belvoir in Lincoln- 

 shire was endowed by its founder with the tithes of all his 

 vineyards ; and in 1136 the Abbey of Walden, Essex, was en- 

 dowed with a vineyard. 



Nor were these mere orchards, as some have persisted in 

 asserting ; for we read of Edward 11. receiving the wine and 



Grapes from a vineyard at Hailing in Kent, and we have the 

 expenses attendant upon the cultivation of a vineyard belong- 

 ing to the monks of Canterbury. The Abbot, Ralph Bourne, 

 planted it in some year between 1300 and 1331. The account 

 stands thus : — 



" OUTLAY ON THE VINEYARDS. 



The stipend of the Vine-dresscr per annum 52 



Paid for di^Ring in the same for the whole year 43 1 



Trellises bought for the same, with carriage 33 H 



Spades, hoes, and other implements for the same .... 52 0." 



Then follows a similar account for another vineyard. 



The vineyard of Bury Abbey, then, is a fitting as well ais 

 convenient locality for our national Society's Exhibition, an(3 

 to this we will now pass on. 



Of stove and greenhouse plants, wbich are chiefly shown in the 

 large circular tent, there are several splendid collections ; that from 

 Mrs. Cole & Sons, Withiugton, Manchester, which takes the first prize 

 in Class 1, for nine, is especially remarkable. It consists of a splendid 

 specimen Ixora coccinea, Bougainvill.Ta glabra, a vel'y large finely- 

 bloomed Erica ohbata, Allamanda cathartica. the lai-ge-flowered Alla- 

 manda Hendersoni, Kalosanthes Madame Celeste Winans, with a 

 crowd of rose-coloured heads of bloom, Dipladenia crassinoda. Erica 

 Jacksojii, and a good specimen of E. gemmiiera elegans. 



The county cup for the b •-( stove or greenhouse plant in flower, is 

 taken by the same exhibitors with .1 most beantifolly bloomed speci- 

 men of Dipladenia amabilis, covered with bright rosy crimson flowers 

 upwards of 4:} inches in diameter. 



The Royal Horticultural Society's cnp for the best and most effec- 

 tive group of ten fine-foliaged and ten flowering plants was awarded 

 to Messrs. Lee, of Hammersmith, who exhibit a fine specimen of 

 Pandanus elegautissimus, Gleichenia scmivestita with beautiful bright 

 grec-u fronds, Cordyline indivisa, Latania rubra, Cycas revoluta, a fine 

 Theophrasta imperialis, Dion ednle, and a handsome thick-tranked 

 Dicksonia antarctica. Among the flowering plants completing this col- 

 lection are Isora coccinea, with very fine heads ; a large specimen of 

 I. javanica, covered with a profusion of orange hfads of bloom ; the 

 showy Kalosanthes coccinea, Stephanotis floribuuda, Allamanda Hen- 

 dersoni, line ; Dipladenia spleudens, and Erica P:\rmt-ntieri rosea, 

 densely covered with bloom. Mr. Baines, gardener to H. Micholls, Esq., 

 Bowdon, is second with Theophrasta imperialis, a magnificent specimen 

 of Gleichenia speluncae, Alocasia Lowu with noble foliage, an excel- 

 lent Cordyline indivisa, Ehopala corcova'dense, Dicksonia antarctica 

 with a thick trunk, Croton variegatum, a fine specimen of Gleichenia 

 flabellata, a wonderfully fine panful of Sarracenia purpurea, np- 

 wards of a yard in diameter, with pitchers of the largest size ; and Sar- 

 racenia flava, also remarkably fine, having pitchers about 2^ feet long. 

 Among plants in flower from the same exhibitor are a large specimen 

 of Clerodendron Balfourii, forming a mass of white and Ecarlet 

 blossom ; a very large and fine specimen of Erica ohbata, Genetyllis 

 tulipifera, also very large and fine ; Dipladenia amabilis, rich in 

 colour, but not equal to the plant shoi^Ti 'oy Cole & Sons ; Allamanda 

 Hendersonii, with nnmerous immense yeUowflowers, and A. cathartica, 

 veiy fine. 



In Class 2, for the best six Stove and Greenhouse plants, Mr. W. 

 Green, gardener to Mrs. Honeywood, Mark's Hill, Kulvedon, who 

 takes the first prize, has the deep blue-flowered Sollya linearis in ex- 

 cellent condition, a very good specimen of Clerodendi'on Balfonrii, and 

 Dipladenia amabilis with several very large flowers. 



In Class 3, for the best twelve fine-foliaged and variegated plants, the 

 first prize is taken by Mr. W. Niehol, gai'dener to T. H. Powell, Esq., 

 Drinkstone Park, Bury, with large specimens of Caladinm hicolor 

 splendens, Wightii, and Chantini, Maranta zebriua. Alocasia macro- 

 rhiza variegata, Chama:a'ops excelsa, Sphjerogynelatifolia, a.nd Maranta 

 regalis. Mr. Southgate, gardener to E. .J. Pettiwurd. Esq., Stow- 

 market, who is second, has good examples of Maranta eximia, CissuS 

 discolor, fine Caladiums, Maranta zebrina, and Anthurium cordifolimn. 

 Mr. W. Green, gardener to Mrs. Honeywood, who is third, has a large 

 specimen of Coleus Verschaffelti, a good Alocasia metallica, Alocasia 

 macrorhiza variegata, and good Caladiums. Mr. D. T. Eish, gardener 

 to Lady Cnllum, Hardwicke, is fourth. 



Class 4 is for the best six fine-foliaged plants, and in this Mr. Baines, 

 who is first, exhibits a very fine example of Yenus's Fly-trap (DionaBa 

 muscipnla), beautiful Aniectochils, of which intermedia and Lowii are 

 especially remarkable, and Sphfprogyne latifoUa not large but with its 

 ample foliage in a beautifully fresh condition. Mr. D. T. Fish is 

 second, and exhibits Solanum atropurpureum, with very rich aad 

 handsome foliage, a plant seldom seen in collections of this kind, 

 Cissns discolor, a good Coleus Verschaffelti, and Anthurium mag- 

 niticum or cordifolium. 



For the best nine fine-fofiaged plants Messrs. Leo. of Hammersmith, 

 are first with a collection in which Croton variegatum. Anthurium 

 acaule, fine ; Theophrasta imperialis, very luxuriant : variegated Ja- 

 panese Bamboo, and Yucca quadricolor are the most couspicuous. 



For Orchids, the only prize awarded was to Messrs. Lee, who are 

 first for six : and the same well-known firm take a first prize for Palms, 

 amongst which are the noble-leaved Stephensonia graudiflora, Areca 

 crinita and Verschaffelti, and Geonoma magnitica. 



Fuchsias are remarkable for the superb condition in which they are 



