326 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



t April SO, 1808. 



the furniture and worts of ait to one, and the estate and mansion 

 to another — it was shut up, and the hotel stands deserted. 

 Litigation was had recourse to in order to determine what was 

 furniture and what was not. This has now been settled, and 

 all the gorgeous furniture and splendid tapestries, as well as 

 statuary, removed. We saw it in its glory, and we saw it after 

 it had been sacked, for its treatment deserves no other name. 

 The present owner is, however, redecorating the rooms where 

 the tapestries have been taken down, and refurnishing them in 

 a very elegant modern style, — lacking, however, the interest 

 which it had before, where every piece of furniture was worthy 

 of particular study. 



There are features of special interest in the gardens at 

 Harlaxton, where, adjoining the mansion at various points, are 

 five conservatories, built of stone, marble, iron, and glass, most 

 elaborately decorated, and furnished with marble fountains and 

 Jjasins. Some are stove conservatories, others greenhouses, 

 and well furnished with plants. To the south and west frenta 

 are elaborately terraced and decorated flower gardens, where 

 enormous sums have been spent on masonry and sculpture in 

 laying them out. Here we saw last August splendid masses 

 and borders of all the principal bedding plants in great beauty, 

 doing Mr. Vinden, Mr. Gregory's most intelligent gardener, 

 great credit by the taste displayed in their arrangement as well 

 as cultivation. 



The kitchen garden and forcing houses are about half a mile 

 from the mansion, on rather low ground. The garden walls 

 alone cost £10,000 ; they are 20 feet high, built of brick, with 

 elaborate stone dressings and copings, having niches at regular 

 distances intended for statuary — the whole so utterly unlike 

 anything else we ever saw before, that an intelligible description 

 of it is impossible. Only a small part of the glass that was 

 intended has been erected, and it is principally devoted to 

 Peach and Grape culture. The Vines and borders stand in need 

 of renewal. Here we saw the iinest Cherry trees (MoreUo and 

 May Duke) we ever beheld. Many of the Tear trees are also 

 very fine. The management of the place, considering the staff 

 of men kept, does Mr. Vinden much credit. — W. Thomson (in 

 The Garikncr.) 



PEAKS. 

 12. AMBr.osiA. — Flesh highly perfumed, melting, and juicy. 

 Kipe in September. Switzer says it was introduced soon after 

 Charles II. 's restoration. 



13. Amelie Le Clerc. — Not superior in quality. Ripens in 

 October, and soon decays. 



Amtlie Le Clerc. 



For full descriptions of these varieties, see Hogg's " Fruit 

 Manual." 



AmbroBia. 



A NOVEL MODE OF GROWING MELONS IN 

 HOUSES. 



As this is the season for planting Melons, I think the follow- 

 ing mode of cultivation may be interesting to ssme of my 

 brother gardeners. 



In the first place, plants must be raised in the usual way, 

 which I shall suppose every gardener understands. The sorts 

 to be grown must depend on taste. Some gentlemen are very 

 peculiar in this respect, and I must say that Melons more than 

 any other fruit have a great variety of flavours. I shall sup- 

 pose that the plants have been potted-off ; and generally for 

 houses they have to be grown 15 or 20 inches high before they 

 reach the wires, which will take from twelve to eighteen days, 

 according to weather and other circumstances. This grow- 

 ing to reach the wires is a great loss of time, and with this 

 object I have often seen plants drawn up with poor small 

 stems, and they must consequently be very much weakened, 

 and in the end not able to grow or ripen a fruit fit to be sent 

 to table. 



I shall now proceed to make the bed, which must have a 

 good bottom heat, either from hot water or from stable manure 

 properly prepared. The soil I prefer is a strong loam well 

 beaten down and made quite firm in the usual way. 1 next 

 bring in as many 4-inch drain pipes (not glazed — the old clay 

 pipes are far the best, because they absorb moisture), as I 

 require plants, place them upright on the flange end on the 

 bed, cover the flange enough to make them stand firmly, and 

 then fill the pipes up with soil. This I make firm, and then 

 I plant out in the small end of the pipe. 



I have known good, large, well-flavoured Melons grown in 

 this way in much shorter time than without the pipes. I hope 

 some of my fellow blue-aprons will try this mode of cultiva- 

 tion ; it saves time, does not weaken the plants so much as the 

 ordinary mode, and watering can be better regulated. The 

 roots will soon find their way down the pipes into the bed, and 

 the plants are not so likely to rot off at the coUar. 



There are several good reasons for growing Melons in this 

 way. First, they can be planted out and afterwards stopped 

 at "two or three eyes, and they will commence to throw ont 

 laterals at once ; fruit can be set in about eighteen days, whilst 

 in the general mode of management the plants would have 

 only reached the wires ; and, lastly, at the period of ripening 

 one can regulate watering to a nicety, and on this, together 



