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JOURNAL OF HOETICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GARDENEB. 



[ June 11, 186B. 



the above-mentioned plant in frnit at Dangstein eight or nine 

 years ago, and he says that Mr. Scott, of whom he received the 

 cuttings, fruited it before that time in the gardens at Leigh 

 Park, near Havant, Hants. — Geoege Newlyn. 



STRAWBERRIES FROM PREVIOUS YEAR'S 

 RUNNERS. 



"Fkcit Eater" in his list of about forty kinds of Straw- 

 berries taken from the previous year's runners, and stating 

 what proportion of them was then in bloom, omitted two kinds, 

 which, from my experience, I should place amongst the best of 

 our early Strawberries ; I refer to Oscar and Eclipse. 



I took three or four hundred runners of the above last 

 autumn, merely removing them with a trowel from the bed 

 where they had rooted, and ninety-nine out of every hundred 

 have not only bloomed, but fruited, and most of them very 

 heavily (some from forty to fifty berries, and very large), and I 

 gathered a very nice dish of ripe fruit from Oscar on the 26th 

 of May, and a dish from Eclipse the next day. 



My soil is similar to that described by " Fruit Eater." — 

 J. D., Siietjd Park. 



EARLY PEAS.— SUTTON'S RINGLEADER. 



The introduction of a new early Pea is not an event calcu- 

 lated to cause any great commotion in the gardening world, as 

 very few seasons pass without one or more being brought for- 

 ward, many of them being, as the Irish sergeant would have 

 it, " an advance backwards," and some are only slight varia- 

 tions of old sorts. Indeed, so comparatively small has been the 

 progress made during the last dozen years, that if the earliest 

 sort previous to that date be sown side by side with the very 

 earliest we now have there wiU not be much more than ten 

 days between them. 



These ten days earlier, however, are a great matter, and the 

 only Pea which can perform that feat, with me at least, is 

 Sutton's Ringleader, one which will, there is little doubt, become 

 the parent of many better and still earlier varieties, and head 

 a new chapter in Pea lore. From rows of it sown in the first 

 week in February, I am now (June 1st), gathering well-filled 

 pods, which is early for this cold humid part of the country, 

 whilst a single row of Dillistone's Early and four of Sangster's 

 No. 1 are only just beginning to fill the pods, although all were 

 sown at the same time and on the same border. The last two 

 sorts will, however, produce much heavier crops, and continue 

 longer in bearing, as Ringleader, when grown on light soils, 

 ceases flowering soon after the first pods begin to fill. 



One circumstance in connection with this variety may be 

 worth mentioning. As is well known, it is still somewhat high 

 in price, resulting, no doubt, from the great demand for it 

 during the last three seasons, so last year I managed to save 

 about a pint of seed, which was sown along with those we are 

 now gathering from, and the difference between the two lots is 

 most marked, those from the home-sa%'ed seed being more than 

 6 inches taller, greener, and in every way more robust, and 

 also four or five days later. This I am at a loss to account 

 for, as it goes quite against all my other notions — they may, 

 perhaps, be nothing more — about change of soil being beneficial 

 to most crops. In the case of Potatoes, which for farm pur- 

 poses we frequently exchange for others from a distance, and 

 from different soils, it most undoubtedly is beneficial, and 

 acting under the same impression I have procured Strawberry 

 runners from a distance, instead of using those from plants 

 which had been long grown in the same garden. Can the 

 difference between the Peas be the result of wholesale cross- 

 ing with some other sort in flower at the same time ? or can 

 the fact of the other seed having been grown in a sunnier, 

 drier climate influence the habit in the succeeding year ? — Ayr- 

 shire Gardenek. 



NEGLECTED HARDY ORCHIDS. 

 I AM much pleased to see that some of your readers are at 

 last paying attention to neglected border flowers. I should like 

 to recommend to them the cultivation of the hardy Orchids. 

 As I grow about thirty species in the open borders, I can say 

 from experience that there are few flowers more interesting, 

 more ornamental, or more easy of cultivation. I have had 

 this year Cypripedium pnbescens with nearly fifty flowers on 

 one plant, C. calceolus with nearly twenty flowers, and I have 

 now in flower a good clump of C. speotabile with flower stems 



nearly 2 feet high, and the flowers more than 3 inches across. 

 These require peat soil, but I find that all the rest will grow 

 almost anywhere. The common Orchis mascnla is a handsome 

 plant to dot about a spring border, and I know few flowers 

 more ornamental than 0. maculata well grown. The whole 

 family does well in rockwork, where the roots are shaded, but the 

 flowers can come up into full light and air. In such a place 

 I find no difliculty in growing even the Marsh Orchids, such 

 as Epipactis palustris and Liparis Lceselii. The only difficulty 

 is in first establishing them, some of them being rather im- 

 patient of removal, but when once established and left undis- 

 turbed, they grow without any dilEculty. — H. N. E., Bitton 

 Vicarage. 



\^SITS TO GARDENS PUBLIC AND PRIVATE. 



archdeacon croft's, saltwood, near hythe. 

 On (so say the meteorologists), the hottest day in May that 

 we have had since 18SS, in company with some friends who 

 were staying at the " Pavilion," Folkestone, I drove to seethe 

 grounds of the Venerable Archdeacon Croft, more especially 

 The Alders, as they are locally called, although it might be 

 better named the Rhododendron Valley. The drive was broil- 

 ing, the dust was tremendous, but the treat at the end amply 

 repaid all ; and I came away with the feeling that the impres- 

 sion it made upon me some fifteen years ago — that it was one 

 of the choicest pieces of landscape gardening I had ever seen — 

 was in no way diminished by this sight of the place after so 

 many years. It is just one of those places which it is impossible 

 to describe, for words cannot, any more than drawing, set before 

 us the varied beauties of such a spot ; yet I would fain give 

 some notion of it, so that if in another spring time any of the 

 readers of the Journal should be in the neighbourhood, they 

 may enjoy such a sight as they will not find in many places. 



We sometimes hear of the Rhododendrons in such a place 

 being so beautiful, but when we go there we find simply a mass 

 of the commoner kinds which have obtained a congenial home 

 and grown vigorously ; but the case is entirely different with 

 this beautiful spot. It was originally, thirty years ago or more, 

 nothing more than a deep fissure, something like a railway 

 cutting ; and it has been transformed into its present beautiful 

 condition by the taste and skill of Mr. Acomb, the gardener, 

 and the liberality of the Archdeacon, the former enjoying the 

 rare happiness of seeing the child which he had thus cradled 

 growing up to its full perfection, the admired of all comers. 

 This deep fissure has, then, been widened out ; small pieces of 

 water have been formed ; and the most judicious and careful 

 planting of Conifers, Rhododendrons, Azaleas, Kalmias, &c., 

 has been made. Here you come upon a view, in the fore- 

 ground of which is a fine plant of Araucaria imbricata, close to 

 it a noble Rhododendron, and in the background some lovely 

 plants of Azalea indica alba. On seeing these with their clear 

 beautiful foliage and their profuse bloom, I could not but com- 

 pare them with the tortured crinolines, and pyramids, and 

 umbrellas that one has seen at exhibitions at home and abroad, 

 and could only say, "O.' si sic omnia!" And why should 

 they not be ? This over-training is a mistake ; and I believe 

 ninety-nine persons out of a hundred would prefer the more 

 natural growth. But to return to the garden. These Azaleas 

 have withstood 20° of frost before now ; and this only shows 

 how hardy they are, and causes one to wonder at the way in 

 which they are tortured and coddled in private collections at 

 times. Now we take another turn, and masses of the orange- 

 coloured Ghent varieties and Rhododendrons meet the eye. 

 Here, again. Ferns luxuriate in all their gracefulness, and now 

 a huge tree of Kalmia unfolds its sunny blossoms ; and so at 

 every fresh step fresh beauties break in upon your view, and, 

 if you be cuiious in such matters, new varieties unfold their 

 blossoms for you. The Sikkim species flourish here, but as 

 they bloom earlier than the other kinds, they were out of flower 

 before my visit was paid. 



Among the wonders of the place I may mention that Ca- 

 melUas grow here in the open air with only a slight thatching 

 of the Brake Fern in winter. The size of some of the plants 

 of Rhododendrons is very large, showing how thoroughly their 

 treatment agrees with them. One in particular covers a very 

 large space, and was much larger — I forget exactly the dimen- 

 sions ; but it was greatly injured by a severe snowstorm two 

 winters ago, which broke the head out of it. The Archdeacon 

 grudged no money to add to this beautiful collection ; but I 

 was struck by what his gardener said on this point — viz., that 

 he used at one time to go up to London to visit the exhibitions 



