112 



JOUBNAIi OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ August 15, 1887. 



pure and so easily obtained should ever be wanting is, to say 

 the least of it, to be regretted. — AyiisniEE Gaedeneb. 



ABOUT THE LANDS END.— No. 1. 



Some five and a half centuries since — namely, in the reign of 

 Edward II., the Knights of the Shire for Cornwall passed seven 

 days on the road in travelling to the Parliament in London, 

 and were equally long in journeying home again, so they 

 claimed from their constituents the expenses of fourteen days, 

 at the rate of half-a-crown per day. No wonder, travelling at that 

 tardy pace, that it was enacted that there should be no bushes 

 or dikes within 200 feet of the highway side, nor that if any 

 underwood was left nearer than that distance, the owner of 

 that underwood was held responsible for felonies committed in 

 its vicinity. Even as late as the early part of the last century 

 ■we read, " The Fbj coach from London to Exeter slept at a 

 good house at Morcombe Lake, east of Charmoutb, the fifth 

 night from town. The coach proceeded the next morning to 

 Axminster, where it breakfasted, and there a woman barber 

 shaved the coach." 



Broccoli and early Potatoes could not then have been grown 

 at Penzance for the supply of the London market as they are 

 now, when they can be in the Cornish garden and in Covent 

 Garden within twelve hours. To learn among other things 

 how these vegetables are managed, and reversing the places of 

 departure and arrival, I reached Penzance, and as perversity 

 would have it, a wet day succeeded that of my arrival. 



Now, if there be a time when a wet day away from homo is 

 superlatively detestable to me, it is when it occurs the first day 

 after I have arrived at a strange seaside town. I have had no 

 opportunity to purchase guidebooks, nor to take the measure 

 of the place and its people ; but in this instance, as in most 

 other obnoxious occurrences, I had a compensaticn, for I found 

 out a folio some century old, the theme of which is the an- 

 tiquities of Cornwall, and some of its revelations I think will 

 be as novel to the readers of " our .Tournal," as they were to me. 



The Cornish language is now numbered with the dead, for 

 the last on record who could discourse in it, " Dolly Pentreath," 

 was buried so long since as 1778, in the churchyard of St. Paul, 

 about three miles from Penzance, but the old volume before 

 me retains many words of the language, and I will jot down a 

 few. 



These Cornish men must have been connoisseurs in kissing, 

 for I met with four distinct names for a kiss. Impoc, that 

 must have meant an ardent one; Pocetiil, surely one less 

 hearty ; nmatie, one tender and gentle ; and aff', which sounds 

 as if it describes one which would gladly have been avoided. 



Again, was there not sly satire in calling a man, ijoas ; and a 

 goose, gnu: ? 



More in unison with the sobriety of these pages, let me note 

 the Cornish names of some of our garden produce, and of the 

 animals your contributors delight to honour. Some of these 

 nanies evince a close relationship to other languages. I will 

 write them don-n alphabetically : — 



Guin-bren, the vine. 



jEran, plums. 

 Aidlen, a fir tree. 

 Avell, an apple. 

 Breily, a rose 

 Brisyeh, ii cabbage. 

 Gaboon, a capon. 

 Coulm, a pigeon. 

 Chelioc, or Kuliai*, a cock. 

 Eroinen, a turnip. 

 Fig-bren, a fig tree. 

 Gajah, a daisy. 



Jar-gini. a turkey hen. 



Kuliflg-gini, a turkey cock. 



Mel, honey. 



Moral - iala, a strawberry. 



Moyrbren, ft mulberry tree. 



Per, a pear. 



Spezaden, a gooseberry. 



Splusen, a pippin. 



Teill, a raspberry. 



Era is the Cornish for labour, and we may trace it appro- 

 priately in er, a field ; cro, a ridge ; and erbenm, gardens ; but 

 a large part of the market gardeners near Penzance totally 

 ignore such a derivation, and practically demonstrate that they 

 consider idleness and gardening synonymous. My first stroll 

 was to Tolcarn, an elevation about a mile from Penzance, for 

 Asplenium lanceolatum is said to be found there. I failed in 

 my search for it, but in the rich alluvial soil of the ravine, I 

 had no difliculty in finding examples of the worst possible gar- 

 dening and orcharding — every department slovenly conducted, 

 and everything overwhelmed with weeds. 



This miserable mismanagement is the more remarkable, 

 because on the opposite side of Mount's Bay there are very 

 superior examples of gardening in all its branches. Before 

 proceeding to details, some of which would otherwise be rather 

 startling, let me state that the soil is a light loam, about 2 feet 

 deep, thoroughly well drained by sloping to the south, and 



resting on greenstone. The climate is very mild and equable, 

 hills of greenstone formation sheltering, in a semicircle, from 

 all winds except those from the south and south-west, on which 

 points are the sea. A consequence of these favourable circum- 

 stances is, that the summers are cooler, and the three other 

 seasons far milder than in any other district of England. I will 

 only jot down in juxtaposition comparisons with London. 



'rZ°^ "•'■""■- Spri.o. Snr,...er. Autumn. Zftk.mX. 1^"^' 



rain, fns, 

 Penzance 62.P .. 44.6^ .. 49.6= .. CO.n' .. 53.8° .. 61.5° .. 43.0° .. 44 

 Lcindon ,50.4° .. 39.b° .. 48.6° .. 63.2° .. 60.2' .. 64.4° .. 37.8° .. 24 



Knowing all this, and therefore, prepared to observe plants 

 grown in the open air throughout the year, that near London 

 can never flourish, unless protected by glass, yet I have mar- 

 velled at what I have seen at Gulval. 



In the rectory hers resides the Rev. W. W. Wingfield, with 

 whom some twenty years since, one of the Editors of "our 

 Journal " co-operated to foster tho rising taste for domestic 

 fowls. " The Poultry Book " was the result of that co-ope- 

 ration, and which would have been differently arranged had 

 not the original intention been to confine its contents to the 

 management of the then newly-introduced Cochin-Cbinas. 

 However, its illustrations are still unsurpassed. They have 

 been incorporated in a new edition, its details employed, and 

 the authors consistently abused by the new editor, at least so 

 I was informed by Mr. Wingfield. 



For nine-aud- twenty years he has been rector of this parish, 

 and during that time has created the grounds which now 

 beautify the rectory. When he first was inducted, it can 

 scarcely be realised that a mere field fronted the house, for it 

 is now embosomed in sheltering, vigorous plantations, and the 

 lawn embroidered with flower-beds. My notes must be desultory. 



The prime and prevading impression is the intense health- 

 fulness, and, indeed, excessive growthfulness (if there be such 

 a word), of every tree, shrub, and herbaceous plant. The Roses, 

 without mulching, are undisfigured by either green fly or 

 spotted leaves, testifying to Rose-growers in drier localities, if 

 such testimony be still needed, that an increase of moisture, 

 both to the roots and foliage are the shields from those plagues. 



Evergreens Mr. Wingfield has wisely made to predominate 

 in his plantations, not only because ornamental throughout the 

 year, but because they afford shelter from the powerful south- 

 westerly gales, and because they flourish here marvellously. Ber- 

 beris Darwinii, usually seen as a pigmy bush, is here 8 feet 

 high, as many in diameter, and exuberantly vigorous. Camellias 

 are as healthful as they are in .Japan. A Pinus insiguis, only 

 18 inches high when planted in 1852, has now a trunk (J feet in 

 circumference at its base, 60 feet in height, and with branches 

 issuing round down to the turf's surface. A Dracena indivisa, 

 only ten years old, endured last winter's intense cold, which 

 even at Gulval, descended to 18', or fourteen degrees of frost, 

 and is really like a dwarf Palm, being 14 feet high, and its 

 stem more than a foot in circumference at 5 feet from the ground. 

 Another specimen not quite so large, was slightly injured by 

 the frost, and this check to its growth has caused it to emit 

 suckers all round the base of its stem. The Cedrus deodara 

 Mr. Wingfield has discarded, for when it attained to a stature 

 of 20 feet it came within the influence of the powerful winds 

 from seaward, and had the tops destroyed. This deserves the 

 attention of a gentleman on the Welsh coast, who some months 

 since inquired in "our Journal" what Conifers would succeed 

 in his locality. Boronias and Myrsine undulata endured last 

 winter's severity uninjured in the open borders, and Cassia 

 corymbosa, though killed down to the soil's surface, is now 

 sending up most vigorous shoots. On remarking that I had 

 seen some very large Agaves in a villa garden near Tolcarn, 

 Mr. Wingfield observed in reply, that he had observed them in 

 full bloom in the Scilly Islands, their flower-stems measuring 

 36 feet in height. It has also flowered at Mousehole, about two 

 miles west of Penzance. 



The climate is not suited to the fruitful growth of some 

 trees, and Mr. Wingfield specified the Walnut and Filbert. He 

 said he was not aware of any in the neighbourhood, for they 

 were found never to ripen their young wood so as to attain a 

 bearing condition. Neither does the Vine succeed for a similar 

 reason. Mr. Wingfield has tried it under a frame in imitation 

 of the ground vinery, but unsuccessfully. The Vine was over- 

 luxuriant, but bore no Grapes. It is possible that shallow 

 planting, and in a poorer soil, might reduce the luxuriance ; yet 

 even then it is very doubtful whether the young wood woiJd 

 ripen in this uniformly mild and moist climate. From this, 



