September 17, 18f8. I JODKNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND OOTTAQK GARDENER. 



203 



is very good. Our seedsmen in England resort for their supply 

 of this sood to these islanda. 



The suecesR of the Parsnip crop during the late protracted 

 drought is another testimony to the good cHoct of deep stirring 

 of the soil. This deep stirring for the Parsnip crop is quite 

 an annual festival in the Channel Islands. It is called " In 

 prtiiuh' cliarrtii\" or, as we should say, " the groat ploughing." 

 The holdings in Jersey and Guernsey are very small, varying 

 from four to eight acres, and all devoted to cow-keeping, at the 

 rate of a cow per acre. The owners of such small plots keep, 

 at the utmost, one horse or pony, and to stir the soil deep 

 enough for the Parsnip crop, four at the very least of these 

 animals are required for each plough. Neighbours, therefore, 

 render aid to each other, and the farmer at whose plot of land 

 the neighbours assemble thus to lielp, feasts them and their 

 families. It is " li (jrande charrnr " ®f the year. A customary 

 junket on the occasion is called " a goshe." I do not know 

 whether I spell it correctly. It is a Yorkshire pudding, con- 

 taining a layer of sweetmeat, and raado so rich, that it is a 

 jocular observation that butter always rises 'id. per pound at 

 tho " charrue " season. 



No more forcible evidence of the forcing power of the past 

 summer could bo adduced than that a farmer in the parish of 

 St. John's, in this island, planted a licld with Potatoes on the 

 20th of February, took up the crop they produced on tho Hrd of 

 June, planted Potatoes again the same day, and took np their 

 produce in perfect condition during the second week of last 

 month — August. 



The only fruit that does not succeed either here or in Guern- 

 sey is the Filbert. It has been repeatedly planted, and as often 

 failed. I am told that not a Filbert or Hazel Nut bush is to 

 be fonnd in these islands. The Spanish Chestnut and Walnut, 

 however, thrive well. 



Not long since, I remember, that the ornamental gardening 

 of Jersey was noticed in your columns, and that a committee 

 of the Agri-Horlionltural Society of the island reported on 

 some of the most distinguished of its gardens, so I pass them 

 over ; but I must record my protest against the prevalence of 

 topiary work near St. Helier's. It is far more often observable 

 than is compatible with good taste. Here are evergreens 

 clipped into huge cones, reminding one of "Jack in the green " 

 in the chimney-sweeper's May-day procession ; others rounded 

 into perfect globes ; pyramids also are numerous ; and these 

 geometric figures are in rows, rendered more grotesque by being 

 put in totally irregular association. One long hedge of Ever- 

 green Oak is absolutely clipped into an uniform series of scol- 

 lops, and one of Tew is cut so as to represent a battei'y and 

 its embrasures. In the graveyard around that fine old Anglo- 

 Norman church at St. Brelade, the evergreens are as tastelessly 

 cut as are the pillars within coated over with incrustations of 

 whitewash. Ornamental shrubs attain a size quite unknown 

 in England, except in its most south-western counties — Mag- 

 nolias 20 feet high, and Hydrangeas and Fuchsias large in 

 circumference and half that height. 



The Cow Cabbage is almost peculiar to this island, being 

 rarely seen even in Guernsey. It is chiefly cultivated for its 

 leaves, which are used for wrapping round the butter before 

 conveying to market. The stems of this Cabbage are often 

 10 feet long and stout. The regularly-placed scars on each 

 stem, caused by the falling-off of tho leaves, produce a varie- 

 gation in the colour of the stems, and when these are stained 

 and varnished and furnished with a ferule, they are admired as 

 walking-sticks by some, with whose taste mine does not coin- 

 cide. One gent near Mount Orgueil I saw with six of these 

 Cabbage- wort truncheons under his arm ! 



That Mount Orgueil Castle is one of the island's " places to 

 be seen," and that many do see it is told, after the manner of 

 Englishmen, by tho names, initials, and dates pencilled upon 

 its fabric. These are not usually the suggestions of vanity, 

 but are written in the hope that some friends in after days may 

 be gladdened by this written greeting. Sometimes, however, 

 the record is dictated by vanity, and one " J. P.," I remember, 

 has written those initials, and his place of residence, most dis- 

 figuringly, on about twenty difficult places of Sandsfort Castle, 

 near Weymouth ; aud though I do not know the scribe, I would 

 wager a broad acre against a foot's breadth of Weymouth sand, 

 that he never perpetrates anything more worthy of remem- 

 brance. Strange, too, is it how unworthy are the entries in 

 the " Visitor's Book " usually kept at places of celebrity. 

 Tennyson was at Waterloo iu the August of ISCfi, and this note 

 written by our Poet Laureate, I read in the album of the Hotel 

 da Mu6<^um, " Good fare, civility, and moder.ate charges." I 



should have expected such a sentence in such a place from the 

 man with the six Cabbage-stalk truncheons. 



On one of tho battlement stones of Orgueil Castle, I ob- 

 served " W. r." inscribed, and though not by the pencil of 

 William Prynne, yet they reminded mo that that stont-hearted 

 Reformer, but offensively bad rhj mester, had there been im- 

 prisoned, and had written such lines as these — 

 •' Jtont OrKUoil Castle is :i lofty pile, 

 Within tlie oaetern part of Jersey iHle, 

 Seated Ufiou a rock, full liUKe ftiicl liigh, 

 Close by tho Bert-shore, ne\t to Normandie." 



Piynne w.i8 not puritanical in all his ways, for one of the 

 charges Lempriere brouglit against him was, "that " Mr. Prynno 

 (whilst imprisoned here) played at cardes with my Lady Car- 

 taret and her daughters till midnight, or two of the clock in the 

 naorning." 



Whilst confined in Jlount Orgueil Castle, he wrote, " Mount 

 Orgueil; or divine and pr<4itable meditations raised from the 

 contemplation of these three leaves of Nature's volume. 

 1, Rocks. 2, Seas. 3, Gardens. With a poem of the Soul's 

 complaint against the body, arid comfortable cordials against 

 the discomforts of imprisonment. London, 1G41." The third 

 of the leaven on " Gardens," I am told, fori have not seen the 

 volume, is rhapsodical, like Austin's meditations iu his Orchard, 

 and Hervey's in his Flower tiarden. 



My last fragment shall be about Pigeons. They were formerly 

 far more highly prized than now as a dainty for the table. Tho 

 interior of tho upper stories of two of the towers of Hurst- 

 nonceaux Castle, near Eastbourne, were devoted to Pigeons, 

 tho recesses for their nests all round those interiors still remain. 

 So in Jersey more than one ancient farm house may be seen 

 ■with its front thickly pigeon-holed. I was told that this evidence 

 of the original proprietor's right to keep Pigeons, showed that 

 he was closely allied to the Lord of the Manor, and that the 

 permission had been granted by him to the proprietor. Few of 

 your readers, probably, are aware that the law is similar in 

 England. A Lord of a Manor may establish a Pigeon house or 

 Dovecot upon his laud that is part of his manor, but a tenant 

 cannot there establish one without the lord's permission. 

 Formerly it was decided that no one but the Lord of the Manor, 

 and the Parson, might erect a Dovecot, but later decisions have 

 established that any freeholder may erect one on his own 

 ground. — G. 



GOLDEN CHAMPION GRAPE. 



Favourably impressed as I have been with this Grape from 

 its appearances on the exhibition tables, and the flavour of the 

 few berries I had tasted, I was quite astonished to see it in its 

 full magnificence at Dalkeith to-day, to taste its most exquisite 

 flavour, and judge correctly of its merits in direct comparison 

 with other varieties growing in the same house under precisely 

 similar conditions. .Mr. Thomson has several rods of it grafted 

 on the Muscat of Alexandria. They are thus fruiting side by 

 side in the same house. 



For size of berry, colour, and general appearance Ihe Golden 

 Champion is far before the Muscat, and for flavour it is su- 

 perior also. Yes ! berry for berry, as I had them to-day, I 

 decidedly prefer the Golden Champion. II is more juicy, more 

 refreshing, and equally rich, if not richer, without cloying the 

 palate as the Muscat does. The flavour is of a particularly 

 rich and agreeable kind, and very lasting. I tried some well- 

 ripened Hamburghs afterwards ; they seemed to have no taste 

 at all, the powerful flavour of the Golden Champion had com- 

 pletely killed theirs. As a white companion to the Hamburgh 

 is its place, however, although it is far superior to it in 

 flavour. 



The Golden Champion requires exactly the same treatment 

 as the Hamburgh, and is of the same free habit of growth and 

 vigorous constitutiou. If anything it grows somewhat too 

 strongly. What a glorious Grape this will be for the early- 

 summer months ! It can be had ripe in .\pril. May, June, and 

 July, months when ripe, truly ripe Muscats are never seen, or 

 very rarely so. Mr. Thomson intends devoting some entire 

 houses to its cultivation. Tho Vines iu one house of Ham- 

 burghs (at least the top part of the rods), are already grafted 

 with it, and they are doing well, and so likewise are those on 

 the Muscat, but Mr. Thomson prefers the Hamburgh stock. It 

 is doing equally well planted out on its own roots. There are 

 canes as thick as cue's thumb from plants only planted this 

 season. 



I feel I cann ^t say enough in praise of this splendid Grape, 



