October 3, 1867. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICDLrUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENEB. 



253 



subsoil of green sand ; thi? I found unsnited for Applea, which 

 were cankered, and of slow growth, and wall fruit was without 

 flavour. In such localities an artiticial subsoil must be made. 



In the village of Seend the subsoil is a rich iron ore, the 

 worst producing thirty-three per cent, of iron. On this all 

 trees thrive, especially the Apricot. One tree produced eighty 

 dozen this year on a south aspect. The poor regard it as a 

 stock tree to help to pay rent. If highly manured it gums, 

 from an exuberance of sap. The failure of a bough, as if struck 

 by lightning, is caused by an insect, which cuts oil the commu- 

 nication of the sap vessels which supply the leaves. It will be 

 found that although the leaves wither the wood is not dead. 

 Whilst conversing with the intelligent gardener of a gentleman 

 horticulturist and first-rate florist in this village, who has fa- 

 voured me with permission to visit his houses, I observed the 

 bough of a pot Apricot languishing in the same manner as those 

 on walls. I broke off the bough at the identical spot where the 

 leaves commenced to droop, and I found the insect had punc- 

 tured it entirely round between the bark and wood, falling out 

 as I broke it off. If gardeners will examine a hough as soon as 

 this drooijing of the leaves commences, they will be gratified so 

 far by discovering the cause. 



If fruit trees bear nothing but leaves, they are worthless. 

 Do not, however, dig them up, try them one year longer. I have 

 seen an unfruitful Pear tree trenched round, and the wood 

 roots cut oS in the autumn, producing the following year a 

 prodigious crop, and things more marvellous than that. If a 

 Fig tree is planted in a rich loam, you will have no Figs, 

 but give it a foundation and drainage of stones, and you 

 will have abundance, whether limestone, bricks, flint, or 

 rubble. I have tasted the most delicious Figs at St. Helena, 

 grown on that rocky island, composed of volcanic matter 

 highly carbonised. At Melksham I have seen two Fig trees in 

 a garden, one in rich loam, a luxuriant tree, fruitless ; the 

 other in a subsoil of stones, full of fruit. Such was the 

 character of Palestine, the land of Figs, Olives, Grapes, and 

 Pomegranates. All stone-bearing fruit trees require help whilst 

 hardening the stone — that is the trying time ; the best help is 

 mulch or stable-dung kept moist, not too thick. The ground 

 should not be encumbered with flowers or vegetables ; if so, the 

 sun cannot get at the roots, for it is not the action of the sun 

 on the fruit that ripens it, but its extracting the acidity from 

 the soil, Ic'iving the ammonia and saccharine matter to fertilise 

 and perfect the fruit, both in flavour and appearance. The 

 Apricot tlirives best in the south aspect, and this is natural, 

 considering from whence we derive it. — Excelsioe. 



VAKIEGATED AND ZONAL PELARGONIUMS. 



Will you mention the names of the twelve best and newest 

 Variegated, and twelve of the best and newest Zonal Pelar- 

 goniums ? I want to grow them for exhibition as well as sale, 

 and I am willing to pay a good price for really good varieties, 

 but am at a loss to know which to select. — W. S. D. 



[Many of our readers must be in the same difficulty as our 

 correspondent, so we answer him thus prominently. 



The following thirteen are Zonals : Scarlet : Lord Derby 

 (Mann), Clipper, Warrior, Imperial, Lucius, and Faust. Wliite .- 

 Purity and Virgo Marie. Siilmonshaded : Eugenie Mi'zard, 

 Madame Werle, and Monsieur Barr^. I'ink : Beaute de Suresnes 

 and Rose Rendatler. Ixosy Scarlet .- Roi d'ltalie. 



The following are Variegated and Tricolors. The first eight 

 have yelloie grounds :— Miss Watson, Mrs. Dix, Jetty Lacy, 

 Sunray, Victoria Regina, King of Tricolors, Countess of Craven, 

 and Queen Victoria. The next four have icliite grounds : — Miss 

 Burdett Coutts, Italian Sunshine, Peri, and Alexandra. 



There are some fine varieties of />;■»»;. and Golden Zonals 

 which should be added to the collection, such as Beauty of 

 Rjbbledale, Beauty of Calderdale, Model, Circlet, <S,-e. 



We would also refer you to our Journal for September 19th, 

 where you will see all the leading sorts which took the first 

 prizes and certificates. There are many more equally good 

 varieties.] 



GARDENING IN HYDE P^VRK. 



Will you tell mo the name of the Caladinm planted in Hyde 

 Park, and whether the Canna roots are stored awav in pots, or 

 dry mould, to live through the winter sheltered ?— G. W. H. 



[Mr. Mann, whose taste and skill are so conspicuous in the 

 arrangement and cultivation of the beds and borders in Hyde 



Park, informs us that the Caladium there planted is C. escn- 

 lentum. The Canna roots are kept through the winter imder 

 the stage in the greenhouse, not in pots. The earth is shaken 

 from the roots before being placed under the stage.] 



BEDGEBURY. 



Deei'lv embosomed in trees, but with the foreground open 

 and clear, stands Bedgebury, the noble seat of A. J. Beresford 

 Hope, Esq., M.P., a modern mansion of considerable elevation 

 and size, erected on or near the site of an ancient edifice that 

 had figured in the county history. The present mansion is a 

 stone structure, much enriched by architectural ornament. It 

 has a great number of windows, each adorned with suitable 

 mouldings and carvings, and there arc two tiers of windows in 

 the roof which give a loftiness to the structure which few 

 country mansions possess, while throughout there seems ample 

 depth between the storeys to remove the idea that there is 

 any lack of light in the rooms ; and as, I bcUeve, it has been 

 entirely built during the present century, when the defects in 

 the architecture of the Georgian period became so manifest as 

 to call for a change, we may fairly presume that low incon- 

 venient rooms form no part of the plan. The site is elevated, 

 but not so much as to be bleak, and a high well-clothed 

 ground shelters it on the west and north-west, and more dis- 

 tantly ou the south and south-west sides also. There is no 

 lack of that natural scenery which forms so important a con- 

 sideration in the case of a country home. The principal view 

 is to the east, with a wide sweep to the south-east and north- 

 east ; and although the extensive dressed grounds by which the 

 mansion is surrounded give it a fair degree of openness in other 

 directions, the principal one is on the side above-mentioned. 

 The carriage front is to the north, and is open to the park, but 

 on the south and eastern sides a broad terrace with a sub-terrace 

 flower garden on gravel extends along these tw^o sides, and from 

 them the ground recedes in both directions, but more par- 

 ticularly to the south. Masses of choice shrubs clothe a portion 

 of the extensive lawn on the east side, while a clear unbroken 

 incline of closely-shaven turf of some half-dozen acres or more 

 carries the eye down to a lake of considerable extent, which will 

 be described hereafter. This incHne, it is proper to say, ex- 

 tends westward of the mansion, but in the same slope ; a broad 

 walk leading from the mansion westward along the top of the 

 slope commands the whole, and at the same time carries the 

 visitor in the direction of the kitchen garden, which is, how- 

 ever, properly concealed by intervening trees and shrubberies 

 from the dressed lawn. The western edge of this open lawn is 

 bounded by shrubbery, and at one corner we noticed a nice 

 little flower garden — not little, indeed, if met with elsewhere, 

 but when one sees an unbroken slope of six or seven acres of 

 closely-mown turf all in a piece, ordinary objects look small. I 

 may add, that the shrubbery alluded to at the west end of this 

 incline forms a boundary to one of the carriage roads which 

 approach the mansion from the south, which, taking a sweep 

 round the garden, joins the other at the north front. 



The mansion, as will be seen, occupies a rising ground that 

 falls to the east and south, the west and north being more level, 

 and the large inclined lawn alluded to forms a sort of irregtilar 

 parallelogram all inclining one way, its southern or lower edge 

 sloping to the lake which occupies the valley, for on the oppo- 

 site side the ground rises again ; but the margin is planted at 

 intervals with choice Pinuses and other shrubs, which eventu- 

 ally blend into the wood by which it is backed ; for I must ob- 

 serve, that very properly no attempt is made here to show any- 

 thing in the way of keeping, the Heath and common Brake being 

 almost tall enough to hide a bullock ; there is a scattering 

 of Scotch Fir and other trees, with here and there some 

 of the best of the Pinuses of the day, rising up into stately 

 specimens. The past winter had. however, lelt tokens of it 

 destructive character here as well as elsewhere, though less 

 severely so than in some places. Cupressns macrocarpa, Pinus 

 in'iignis, and even some Deodars had suffered, but it was 

 pleasing to see the Wellingtonia, of which there were numerous 

 good specimens, uninjured ; and the same may be said of 

 Cupressus Lawsoniana, Thuja borealis, Retinospora pisifera, 

 and others. I need hardly add, that some of the latter, as well 

 as other recent introductions, had not assumed the tree pro- 

 portions of Abies Douglasii, Pinus excelsa, and the like ; but 

 good representatives of them were to be seen, as well as Cryp- 

 tomeria elegans, which promises to be a great acquisition. 

 Thuja Lobbii and T. gigantea had also escaped, and when it U 



