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JOURNAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GABDENER. 



[ November 14, 1887. 



: Statement, it will prove one of our greatest acquisitions, and 

 ■win long hold a high place among such varieties as Lady Cullum, 

 .Lucy Grieve, Northern Star, and Victoria Begina. It is equal 

 ■to either of these, and very distinct from them all, and is quite 

 ■worthy to be called " the beautiful Miss Watson." — D. T. Fisn. 



CLOSING ORCHARD-HOUSES EARLY. 



Pbemit me to ask Mr. Pearson his motive for closing his 

 orchard-houses to give flavour to the fruit. A gardening friend 

 of mine happening to call at the Chilwell Nurseries one fine 

 day about the end of August last, and seeing the orchard- 

 houses shut up closely, asked the foreman the reason. He 

 replied that Mr. Pearson thought it caused the fruit to have a 

 Ijetter flavour. — W. C. 



[We have inquired of Mr. Pearson, and he has obliged us 

 ■with the following reply : — " We always shut our orchard-houses 

 •np at four o'clock (see page 31 of my " Hints on Orchard- 

 _lionses "), to forward the fruit ; if too late in ripening they are 

 injured in flavour. In very hot weather, when the fruit is 

 •nearly ripe, air all night will do good ; but Peaches, when too 

 •cold, are always deficient in iiavour."] 



PLANTS IN BLOOM DURING OCTOBER. 



Among the many beautiful plants I have seen during the 

 'last mouth, one deserves a passing notice. It was a shrub 

 about i feet high, growing in the American border, was covered 

 with spikes of rather dull white flowers about 5 inches long — 

 perhaps the dull colour might be attributed to the late season 

 — and is named Clethra alnifolia. It likes shade, but can- 

 not bear confinement by other trees, and it flourishes in a 

 moist American border. It is a native of North America, and 

 is"fforthy of much more extensive cultivation. It may be in- 

 creased by layers or division. I have not tried it, but I have 

 an impression that it might be of very great service grown in 

 pots and plunged for the autumn decoration of the greenhouse 

 or conservatory. Its beauty and fragrance so late in the year 

 as October render it especially valuable. 



Oct. 3, Lythrum tomentosum 

 Anemone japonica 

 Salvia patens 

 Tigridia conchiflora 

 Gladiolus gaodavensis 

 Ijoasa aurantiaca 

 Origanum marjorana 

 n 7, Hibiscus africanus 

 Erica ramentftcea 

 Anne Boleyn Pink 

 Veronica iucana 

 Cletbra alnifolia 

 ,,; 12, Coronilla elegang 



Erigeron bellidifolius 

 Eupatorium purpureum 

 Helianthus diffusua 

 Parnassia palustris 

 -Gaillardia picta 



Wellsiana 

 'Zauscbneria califomica 

 JPlnmbago Larpent.-e 

 Crocus sativus 



nudiflorua 

 Sednm telephium 

 ■15, Watsonia angustifolia 

 Loasa lateritia 

 Bidens cemua 



tripartita 

 Rndbeckia fulgida 

 Jasuiinum pubigerum 

 Rhododendron hirsutum 

 It 18, Tormentilla reptaus 

 Apargia autumnalia 

 Omphalodes verna 

 Spiranthes antuniualia 

 Sedum Sieboldi 



Oct. 18, Convolvulus althffioidea 

 Phlox stolonifera 

 Eerberis Darwinii 

 Clematis Henderson! 

 Alonsoa incisifolia 

 Bartonia aurea 

 Callirhoe digitata 

 Clarkia grandiflora 

 Gilia tricolor 



,, 2^2, Collinsia grandiflora 

 Gynerium argenteum 

 IpomsBa quamoclit 

 Lasthenia califomica 

 Leptosiphon androsaceus 

 Malope trifida 

 Mescmbryanthemum tri- 

 color 

 glaucum 

 Nicotiana tabacum 



virginica 

 Oxyura chrysantbemoidca 



,, 27, Portulaca grandiflora 

 Verbena Tenosa 

 Zinnia elegans 

 Godetia rubicnnda 

 Latbyrus magellanicug 

 Briza maxima 

 Corydalis glauca 



„ SO, Colchicum autumnale 



plenum 

 Rubus id^us 

 Viscum album 

 Adonis autumnalia 

 Pectis grandiflora 

 Dlirabilis dicbotoma 



— M. H., AcMam Hall, Middlesborough-on-Tees. 



LATE CAULIFLOWERS. 



Having just now some heads of Lenormand's Cauliflower as 

 fine and compact as any I have had during the summer months, 

 I beg to make known to the readers of your Journal that I 

 sowed the seed of the above-named CauUflower on the 12th of 

 May, pricked out the plants into nursery-beds when fit to 

 handle, and attended to watering as required, finally planting 

 out for heading on the 20th of July. 



I sowed some seed of Grange's Autumn White Broccoli on 

 the 11th of April, and attended to pricking out, &c., as above. 



The two kinds are planted beside each other, and I must say 



that the Cauliflower is far superior to the Broccoli. The latter 

 is not at all close, and is of an inferior stained appearancei 

 and more incUned for starting. — P. B., Charleville, 



AN OCTOBER AFTERNOON AT BOWOOD, WILTS. 



THE SEAT OP THE MAEQUIS OF LANSDOWNE. 

 {Concluded from page 346.) 

 Enteking the drawing-room at Bowood associations crowd 

 upon me. Here used to come in, eyeglass at eye, little Tommy 

 Moore, tumbling over footstools and hassocks, and here he used 

 to trill out his sweet Irish melodies. Here Miss Berry, the 

 late love of Horace Walpole — he eighty, she little more than 

 twenty ; and the old lady who said she had been ordered by 

 her doctor to take one tea-spoonful of brandy in her first cup 

 of tea. Solemnly she drew forth her flask, then she held the 

 spoon with the bottom upwards, and poured away with a pe- 

 culiar purblind look ; then presently she started as if discover- 

 ing her mistake, and turned the spoon the right way, and 

 measured an exact spoonful. This she did every time, so the 

 old lady had a cup of tea and — something else, and a pretty 

 strong something too. 



But I am forgetting the pictures, the most choice collection, 

 it is said, iu Wiltshire. At the centre of one end of the draw- 

 ing-room hangs a most beautiful MurOlo, a Ufe-size portrait of 

 a Spanish gentleman sitting, and with a dog at his feet. The 

 power as well as the sweetness of that pale face is wonderful ; 

 it seems as if just turned to you, and that in an instant it will 

 speak, and speak most earnestly. This picture is to my mind 

 far beyond any other at Bowood. To the right of the Murillo 

 is Sir Joshua Keynolds's St. Cecilia, being, in fact, the portrait 

 of Mrs. Sheridan, playing a harpsichord. She was the famous 

 musical beauty Miss Linley, for whose sake Sheridan fought 

 the two duels with Captain Matthews. Alas ! owing to Sir 

 Joshua's constantly experimenting in pigments, the colour of 

 the dress is fast going. On the other side of the Murillo ia 

 the portrait of dirty, witty, woman-hating Lady Mary Wortley 

 Montague, who said " she was glad she was not a man, as she 

 should have had to marry some woman." Sir Joshua has 

 represented her in a Persian dress, this also fading. 



It would be impossible in a short article to describe all the 

 pictures, but I will glance at a few. On one side of the room 

 is the pretty saucy face of Peg Woifington the actress, by 

 Hogarth. Poor Peg's career was cut short by an attack of 

 paralysis while in the very act of addressing an audience. With 

 sad flaws of character, she is said to have been very kind to 

 the poor. On the same side of the room is the infant Johnson, 

 concerning which this tale is told : — Eeynolds, laughing, said 

 one day to the great doctor, " Oh, doctor, what an ugly baby 

 you must have been ! I'll reduce your face, and paint you as 

 an infant." And a queer-looking infant he painted — a sort of 

 infant Hercules, pouting, and in a bad temper. At the other 

 end of the room is the famous "Windmill" by Eembrandt, 

 said to have been, but this is not quite correct, the only land- 

 scape that artist ever painted. Many have come hundreds of 

 miles to see this picture, and it is marvellous in its shading. 

 At the same end is an admirable Gainsborough, in which the 

 cattle stroUing forward look as if they must stroll into the 

 room. 



In the dining room, by far the loftiest and finest room in the 

 house, the larger panels were painted by Stanfield, and he 

 himself considered them his very best pictures. The two 

 Venetian views at either end are excellent, and are said to light 

 up well. I could not but think of the company that had dined 

 here — Lords Grey, Kussell, the jaunty Palmerstou, and other 

 great whig statesmen. Here the present French Emperor, 

 after his escape from Ham, used to be slightly poked at by 

 Lord Lansdowne by the question, " Prince, wo'n't you take a 

 little more ham ?" Here Sidney Smith was wont to set the 

 table in a roar. Here Macaulay used to show his wonderful 

 memory, and his forty-thousand power of talk. 



Passing to other rooms, I will just note that here is the 

 original of the often- engraved "Eeturn from Deer-slalking " 

 by Landseer — a narrow long painting difiicult to get a good 

 view of. Then there is " The Pool of the Thames," by CaU- 

 cott, with its hundreds of masts, and a Thames boatman in a 

 punt, who seems just going to shout ; but I would rather he 

 would not, for I am sure by the look of him he would swear. 

 Also a view of St. Michael's Mount, with a thin light haze upon 



