122 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



L August 15, 1865. 



and present a neater appearance. Another year I shall have 

 the sticks and strings placed around the plants before they 

 open their blossoms, for the scapes -will the more readily take 

 their proper positions, and the operation can be performed 

 with greater care and with less injvu-y to the scapes and young 

 fruit. 



Carolina Superba and Sir Harry are, in my opinion, the best 

 two Strawberries at present in cultivation. The former far 

 surpasses the old British Queen in point of flavour, and for 

 the foiu' years that I have gi-own it the plants have done well 

 and cropped veiy abundantly. Sir Harry is the next best, 

 it continues fruiting about ten days longer than Carolina. 

 We have had very fine fruit of Sir Harry tUl very recently. 

 The last dish was gathered only a week ago (end of .Tuly). From 

 two-year-old plants of Eclipse we have gathered wonderful 

 quantities of fniit. On many of the plants there were as 

 many as thii-ty-seven fruit-stems. — J. Wills. 



AWARDS AT DONCASTER HORTICULTURiU. 

 SHOW. 



I enclose you a schedule of the Doncaster Show, and will be 

 inueh obliged for your opinion or that of any of your coiTe- 

 spondents as to what the class forhandsome-foliaged Geraniums 

 should be. The words of the schedule are " a premier prize 

 for the best twelve distinct varieties of handsome-foliaged 

 Geraniums." I exhibited the following twelve sorts : — Roi 

 d'ltalie, ills. Kingsbury, llrs. PoUock, Italia Unita, Fontain- 

 bleau. Glowworm, Countess, Adonis, St. Fiacre, Eugene Ne- 

 grier, Picturata, and Simset. These were disqualified for not 

 being according to schedule, and I have not yet had anything 

 like an explanation why. — G. Edw.ikd, York. 



[Om- opinion is, that if the line is correct " a premier prize 

 for the twelve best distinct varieties of handsome-foUaged 

 Geraniums," and there is nothing else in the schedtde to 

 render that statement more definite, then there could be no 

 reason for disqualifying the varieties sent, though there might 

 be reason for not giving them the prize. The words " distinct " 

 and "handsome "leave a wide margin, and much to the taste of 

 the exhibitor. We meet with people who prefer the bold 

 horseshoe leaf of Village Maid, and the small dark leaf of 

 Baron Hugel, to Mrs. PoUock, Italia Unita, and Golden Chain. 

 The Judges might have good reasons for passing by a collec- 

 tion ; but, without more than we know from the above line, 

 we do not see the reasons for the disqualification.] 



OX AND .\BOITT THE ROCKS AND SANDS 

 OF TENBY.— No. 2. 



OxE more note in addition to those I gave last week, and 

 then I will pass to other topics from the still-retained con- 

 nection of plants with old British customs, and this last note 

 is on the old Oak which stands on Penallt Common, far away 

 on the banks of the Wye. It is a noble specimen of our repre- 

 sentative tree, on a well-wooded eminence in the rear of the 

 church. Beneath that Oak is a stone seat, and every corpse 

 on its way to buri.al is set down on that stone whilst the 

 mom-ners sing a psalm, significant that their dead friend has 

 triumphed over man's last enemy. I have no doubt that this 

 practice is a remnant of that wise accommodation of Christian 

 to Druidical practices which teU of the earnest good sense 

 which characterised the first promulgers of our faith in these 

 islands. 



Let me now jot down some notes on the climate of Tenby 

 and its consequences. Lj-ing high and extending out into 

 the sea, Tenby has a more than average amount of wind ; 

 yet a good observer, and not locally interested, remarks, that 

 being more exposed than Torquay to the influence of the 

 gulf stream, Tenby has a sHghtly warmer midwinter, whilst 

 from its high and more northern locality its summers are 

 rather less hot. The differences between the day and night 

 temperatures are also somewhat less. The mildness of the 

 winters is sufficiently testified by the Hydrangeas, Fuchsias, 

 Myrtles, and Verbenas, remaining in the borders uninjui-ed 

 throughout the year. The geniality of the whole year's climate 

 is told by the general luxmiance of vegetation, and the 

 numerous native plants not found where our winters are felt 

 more severely. The Ferns are particularly fine and abundant, 

 and searching for these I wandered on, diu-iug the first day of 



my sojourn, through deep narrow lanes with luxuriantly- 

 clothed banks, until I came to a residence where surely dwells 

 some banished one, or some modem Timon, some misanthrope, 

 some one disgusted with a world that has played bim false. 



At the bottom of a deep declivity I saw a stream rippling 

 along ; a little lower down it was crossable by a rustic bridge ; 

 but this was so tastefully constructed that I could not reconcile 

 it with rusticity. On I went, and every step showed more and 

 more of civility, a good well-kept road, mo%vn banks, Fuchsias, 

 evergi'eens, and then an immistakeable evidence that an 

 Englishman was lord-paramount there, for on a board with 

 bulldog brevity was inscribed, "Pbivate." Thus brought to a 

 standstill I sought and found a path permitted to be trodden, 

 and this, one of the narrowest and deepest, I traversed until, 

 jiassing imder an old Ivy-clad arch, I emerged upon the sands 

 of a little rock-enclasped bay. At the head of this, by the side 

 of a M'aterfall, stood the cottage villa, none other near, and 

 looking as if "Welcome," ought to be a more desirable word 

 than '■ Private," to inscribe over its entrance-gate. It is a 

 henuitage without the name, for it is kno^vn as Waterwinch. 

 With rocks around and the sea in front, I had forced upon my 

 memory the poet's querj* — " Does here some gloomy outcast 

 sleep ? " But the owner was saved from a totally unfavourable 

 estimate (and " Y. B. A. Z." \vill say I am right), by my seeing 

 on the grass plat a group of good dark Brahma Pootras. Then 

 there is another pleasing association with the place, for 

 Blechnum boreale, or Northern Hard Fern, is found in its 

 hedgerows. I never saw finer specimens, and I never gathered 

 any before, for it is not now as it was in Gerarde's time, when, 

 he records, " on a heath by London, called Hampstead Heath, 

 it groweth in great abimdauce." The fertile fronds of the 

 specimens I gathered are 2 feet high, and the baiTcn fronds 

 18 inches. 



Let me here record, with commendable self-complacency, 

 that there were twelve fertile fronds and ten barren fronds, 

 and that I took only two of each. If collectors would remem- 

 ber that there are others having a similar need, we should not 

 hear such complaints of species no longer to be found in 

 certam locaUties, nor have to hsten to such speeches as — " I 

 dare not tell where I foimd it, for if I did it would soon be 

 extinct there." 



Contrasts are often as pleasing as hannonies, especially when 

 you pass from the beautiful wild to the beaiititul cultivated ; 

 and such I found the transition from the Watenvinch to Pe- 

 nally. This is a dot of a village of wide-apart cottages aii'l 

 residences scattered among many old trees on a steep declivity 

 facing the south, open to the sea, and sheltered behind by 

 the high limestone fonnation. What a place for blooming 

 CameUias in the open air, one would think ; but, strange to 

 say, I could not discover one. Yet good gardening guided by 

 good taste is there. 



I was told that a fernery in this village was worth seeing, 

 nor was the information deceptive. The gardener was not to 

 be seen, but a young lady ceased from flower-gathering, and 

 advanced and otfered to be my guide with that sunny look and 

 kindly speech which make the stranger feel he is not intruding. 

 We passed up a slope, skirted a well-kept geometric flower- 

 garden, by a small vinery and melonry, caught a ghmpse fil 

 some more than ordinary standard Fuchsias, and araved at 

 the entrance of the remains of an old chapel. Near it stands 

 a portion of a ruin siuTuounted by one of those round chimnies, 

 now mantled with I^w, so numerous in Pembrokeshire, testi- 

 fying of the architectm'e prevalent in the middle ages. The 

 chapel is known as St. Daniel's. I hope that that Saint pre- 

 sided over Ferns — and I think he must, for never were they 

 more luxm-iant or better-gro-ning than those now within his 

 sanctuary. 



I would only take a huiTied glance at them, for my obliging 

 guide was interrupted m arranging bouquets to decorate the 

 inaugui-atiou ceremony I mentioned in my commencing notes ; 

 so I soon made my best bow of withdiawal, and begged my 

 thanks and card might be presented to the proprietor. That 

 proprietor, Miss Robson, most kindly incited me and mine to 

 repeat the visit ; and then I had fuU leism-e to inspect not 

 only the fernery, but the garden, and to search among the wild 

 plants of the vicinity. 



The walls of the old chapel are perfect — even the tracery of 

 its east window remains, and that window with good taste is 

 now partly filled with stained glass. No vestige of the old 

 roof remains, and Miss Robson has had it replaced by one of 

 glass. In the centre is a tank of water, around which is rock- 

 work, between which and other rockwcrk and the border adioin- 



