July a, 1868. ) 



JOUBNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



of Grapes, chiefly the Muscata, Teaches, Melons, &(:., had a 

 peculiar charm about them in tho humid atmosphere that met 

 ■ you BO pleasantly after being nearly parched out of doors. This 

 was more particularly the case in tho tropical orchard house, 

 where a large tank in the centre was kept supplied with moving 

 ■water, heated with pipes when necessary, and almost all the 

 bouses were shaded with line tillany, Ac, which contributed to 

 the pleasant sensation, the same rolls of tiffany coming in for 

 covering the Peach and Apricot walls in the spring. I'ine.s, a 

 -new feature here, were also doingwell in a narrow house, not 

 >the best fitted for them. 



But whilst giving all due honour to tho energy, and the in- 

 dustry, ond the intelligence of tho gardener, ho would own 

 that one cause of his success was tho good supply of excellent 

 water. Naturally he was no better situated that many of us, 

 but a water-ram at a fall in tho river Lea sent up a good 

 supply of water for house, garden, and farm. If one ram 

 should be iusullicient, a second would only involve a fresh set 

 of pipes for a mile or so. What a pleasure it is to be able to 

 dash water along paths, on stages, over foliage, &o., and not be 

 troubled with the thought that if you act so lavishly to-day, 

 you may have plants starving for what you cannot give them 

 to-morrow. 



The HviiE stands equally high, not quite so far from the 

 Lea, but with no cascade or waterfall so near. Its gem of a 

 little flower garden promises to ha as fine as in Mr. Donald- 

 son's time, and would only be more pleasing if the huge raised 

 terrace walk in the middle of it were removed. 



The want of plenty of water has always been a drawback ; 

 and does not the gardener almost dread to use it in this 

 weather, and plumb his tank every day, fearful that he will 

 quite run out and be dependant on carting up a steep hill 

 from the river ? And yet much has been done to meet the 

 want ; a huge pond, puddled and concreted, near the farm has 

 been made, and it holds the water drained into it well, and 

 held a great body of water in its centre on our visit. A deep 

 large tank about 20 feet deep and 15 feet or more in diameter 

 had been sunk at the back of tho garden, and as the ground 

 above it shelves all round like the sides of a basin, the bricking 

 and cementing that ground would nearly double its size. It 

 was considered wasteful to have such a large tank bricked and 

 cemented at first, but on our visit there was not more than 

 2 feet at the narrowed bottom, and well might the gardener 

 look on every drop used as valuable as tho finest vintage. This 

 is supplied by drainage from the garden and park, and the over- 

 flow of house cisterns, &c., but large as the tank is, and large 

 as the widening shelving basin around it, it soon gets full and 

 water runs away by the waste-pipe every winter. How valuable 

 that wasted water would be now. I had not seen the pretty 

 old place for some years ; its kitchen garden, with its trellises 

 for common fruit, was and is an example of how much can be 

 obtained from little room. I have lived to see the realisation 

 of many a musing dream. Some day we may seek for the 

 much-praised old terrace walk and find no trace of it left. The 

 dream of a comfortable cottage home, close to the garden, for 

 the gardener and his helpmate has already been realised, and 

 most likely when I return there some day I shall find a piece 

 of ground outside the walls appropriated to garden purposes 

 and means secured for even more water than now. Neither in 

 plant houses, fruit houses, nor even out of doors among flowers 

 and excellent vegetables had the drought told very injuriously, 

 but that was a fortnight before this will be read. 



KrMPTox Hoo. — Spirits of envy and covetousness, stand 

 aloof ! I will nought with you. Surely we may admire the 

 blessings that others have without detracting from the value 

 of our own. The mansion and flower garden, like our own 

 and the places mentioned, stand on the highest ground in the 

 neighbourhood. Turning from the dusty road, and through 

 a wood in which Rhododendrons and some of the best I'inuses 

 are growing luxuriantly, we come ou the little flower garden in 

 front of the mansion, and every sense of the oppressive heat 

 and the stifling dust leaves you as by enchantment. You 

 might even fancy you were enjoying all the luxuries of a shower 

 bath, as a man, after watering the roots, was sending a shower 

 of spray water over the flower beds. The water comes on turn- 

 ing a tap from a cistern ou the top of the house, supplied by a 

 water ram from the lake. Just think of taking hold of gutta 

 percha tubing, and giving what your plants require, and how 

 they require it, with so little wear and tear even to the 

 physical machine. These flower beds showed the perfection of 

 keeping. 

 There were three things here that were gratifying to me. 



When I described tho place tho flower garden was on three 

 Hquares of lawn. Now mark ! It is concentrated in one square. 

 1 do not say but that all three squares might not have been 

 eifually good, but tho same hands could not have done for the 

 three what they would have done for tho one. Secondly, an 

 elegant conservatory has been built, which will bo a great 

 acquisition to the house, and more especially as it is intended 

 to keep the bulk of the floor for promenading purposes, the 

 back wall being set out with Derbyshire ragstono for growing 

 Ferns in the interstices. Thirdly, the ugly sunk ditch and 

 wall close to the principal walk liave been removed and the 

 lawn extended, which isagreat improvement, as anything would 

 have been which would have prevented the ditch, tho ha-ha 

 being such a prominent object. 



The kitchen garden is near tho river, but as the water here 

 had to be carried some crops were showing the effects of the 

 drought ; but what surprised me was a quarter of Peas just 

 snelliug and showing no distress, though never watered. Dr. 

 Hogg and Premier Strawberries were in fine condition ; and the 

 luto Kleanor was looking well, even though water had to be 

 carried. It was delightful to see the water at the bottom of 

 the garden and over the outside part of it pretty well all round 

 it. In such a position the subsoil could scarcely ever be very 

 dry. It was not on the low part, however, that the fine Peas 

 stood ; no mode of preparing the ground would have enabled 

 me to have had them equally good in such a season without 

 watering. 



It is pleasant to see improvements. I called on Mr. Cox 

 when he had only a small vinery and a few frames. Now there 

 is the flower garden and the conservatory at the mansion, 

 almost a new gardener's house, numerous suitable sheds, fruit 

 rooms, &o., and a good supply of glass in the shape of span- 

 roofed houses and brick pits and houses ; and, as in most other 

 places, most additions sho'.v that some other little addition 

 would be desirable. — R. F. 



VIOLA CORNUTA AND ITS FAILURE IN DRY 



SEASONS. 

 My experience of Viola cornuta is exactly opposite to that of 

 Mr. J. Kobson. Last year our summer was wet, and my Viola 

 hardly flowered at all. This year (the plant has been out all 

 winter) it has been a mass of bloom tor the last six weeks, and 

 looks like continuing for weeks. I am satisfied that, if pos- 

 sible, it does better if not moved after flowering. — H. A., 

 Frestaich,Maiieliester, 



EARTH HE.\T. 



Much was at one time written about the supposed discovery 

 of a natural means for the preservation of plants from frost, 

 and for enabling us to attain greater perfection in the production 

 of early and late crops. 'Through its agency many plants 

 treated as half-hardy, or requiring protection by fire heat from 

 frost were to be kept unharmed over winter, and in summer 

 we were to grow many plants and fruits which are. only ob- 

 tained in perfection from heated and costly glass structures. 

 The so-called discovery, however, was recognised in this country 

 as a means well known, and extensively utilised for all the 

 purposes it was to aid in, and about which some of our oldest 

 and best horticulturists were able, retrospectively, to say far 

 more than the discoverer. The new name of the discovery I 

 will not employ, but shall content myself with calling the 

 means earth heat, though this seems to me neither more nor 

 less than the absorption and retention by the earth of the sun's 

 rays. It is absurd to consider the earth, so far as vegetation is 

 concerned, in the light of a heat-supplying medium, for the 

 earth so far as it conduces to the growth of plants, is entirely 

 dependant on the sun for its warmth. The sun being the ote 

 great centre of light and heat to the earth, it is evident the 

 earth's internal heat has a very insignificant, if any, influence 

 on the temperature of the earth's surface. It is very interesting, 

 and even desirable, to know that the further wo descend into 

 the earth the higher the temperature is. Facts, however, in 

 connection with the earth's upper or surfacial temperature are 

 of far greater consequence to the gardener than the knowledge 

 of the earth's internal formation and heat. We know that coal 

 and other mines have a greater mean temperature than the 

 surface of the earth, and that the temperature increases with 

 the depth. Earth heat proper, then, is distinct from the heat 

 derived by the earth from th.e sun : the former has no essential 



