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JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGK GARDENER. 



[ December 11, 1866. 



ability to produce flowers — if the spurs are not dead, it may 

 be recovered by judicious pruning. Wait and sea March well 

 advanced before you attempt to prune it ; and when you prune 

 the first portion of it, let this be only the lower part of it, and 

 let somo weeks elapse ere you attempt to cut in the higher por- 

 tion. Indeed, perhaps you had better lot all the upper part 

 break away into life before you prune any of the higher part. 

 By doing so, you will find that all the buds towards the base of 

 the shoots or spurs remain dormant ; while those more towards 

 the points of the shoots burst away into leaf. Well, just let 

 them do so, and in the end of April, or the beginning of May. 

 cut back all those upper shoots to their proper position. By 

 this way of acting, it often happens that all the lower parts, 

 where first pruned, will have time to burst away and go a-head 

 before the upper portion can break forth from the eyes, close 

 along the bottom, where you can cut it back to. 



Another way can be acted upon ; and this we have proved, in 

 several cases, to render great service in restoring unsightly 

 Rose trees, and to clothe again the lower portions with foliage 

 and flowers. The mansion-house where we were was about to 

 be renovated, and a portion of its walls painted outside, where 

 there were several Rose trees nailed up against the wall. These 

 had to be unfastened, and laid backwards as far as they would 

 admit of. A few stakes were firmly driven into the ground, 

 and the Roses tied slantingly backwards. This was in summer, 

 and thus they remained, while the wall was painted over several 

 times ; and before all was ready for the Rose trees being trained 

 up again, it was pleasing to see all the bare lower parts breaking 

 out with a healthy and vigorous covering of shoots, which in 

 due time repaid us with a nice crop of flowers ; and by judicious 

 management, this kept the trees in very fair condition for 

 several years. Since then, we have tried the Gloire de Dijon 

 Rose, as well as several others. It is only to put up with the 

 unsightliness of the trees being unfastened and brought for- 

 ward for a few weeks at most : rather this than allow them 

 to remain unsightly for a yard or two up the wall for years. 

 — G. Dawson (Scottish Gardener). 



SWYNNERTON PARK, 



The Residence oe Basil Fitzhekbekt, Esq. 



This beautiful residence is situated on an eminence skirted by 

 rich shrubberies and extensive pleasure grounds, and overlooks 

 an extensive park chequered with woods and heath, and laid out 

 with considerable taste. It is about four miles north-west of 

 the market town of Stone. The Hall, the residence of Basil 

 Fitzherbert, Esq., lord of the manor, is a handsome stone man- 

 sion, with a very pleasing exterior. In the reign of Henry VIII. 

 the daughter of Humphrey Swynnerton carried this extensive 

 manor in marriage to the Fitzherberts, a very ancient and 

 honourable family, which has been seated here since the six- 

 teenth century. Sir Anthony Fitzherbert, the celebrated judge 

 and author, was of this family. 



In the centre of the front a grand entrance opens into a 

 magnificent hall, between a splendid pair of Corinthian columns. 

 The internal arrangements are chaste and elegant ; the library 

 is of great value, and in numerous apartments are many fine 

 portraits and other paintings. I observed in close proximity 

 to the mansion a handsome chapel in the Gothic style, enve- 

 loped by masses of Ivy and luxuriant evergreens. It was built 

 by the late Thomas Fitzherbert, Esq. 



The kitchen gardens and vineries lie to the west of the man- 

 sion. The kitchen garden proper is about two acres in extent, 

 nearly square, and enclosed by brick walls. The south-aspect 

 wall was covered with Peach and Nectarine trees of the varieties 

 adapted to the climate. They were planted as maiden trees 

 about ten years ago by Mr. Turner, the head gardener ; they 

 are fan-trained, each branch being as straight as a rifle barrel, 

 and on an average in favourable seasons carry heavy crops of 

 fruit. The east and west walls are covered with Pear trees, 

 which are very productive. A few years ago Mr. Turner, findiug 

 they did not bear satisfactorily, had them all taken up, root- 

 pruned, and replanted, and now they are in the best possible 

 bearing. The wall with a north aspect was covered chiefly with 

 Plums. Round the different squares there are many bush Apple 

 trees about 7 or 8 feet high, and nearly as much in diameter ; 

 these have also been recently taken up and the roots severely 

 pruned, and though the stems are as thick as a man's thigh, 

 yet the trees are now in the highest state of fruitfulness — a fact 

 of which evidence was afforded by the large quantities of fine 

 Apples in the fruit-room. In the squares were large beds of 



winter vegetables, such as Savoys, Brussels Sprouts, BroccoK, 

 Borecole, and Cardoons. A large bed of the Triple Curled 

 Kale looked very ornamental, and is useful for garnishing, 

 whilst the young sprouts in spring are very tender and good. 

 I may here add that Mr. Turner obtained the first prize for a 

 collection of vegetables at the Horticultural Exhibition at New- 

 castle-under-Lyne in September last. 



Leaving the kitchen garden we now enter another square, in 

 a line with the previous garden, covering nearly an acre, and 

 surrounded by walls. On the south wall was the range of 

 vineries. The centre of this garden is devoted to flowers, the 

 beds being filled withjbedding plants during the summer ; these 

 beds are encircled with a strip, about 4 feet wide, planted in 

 the ribbon fashion. In a shady corner there was a piece of 

 roekwork with many British Ferns growing in the interstices, 

 and such plants as Saxifraga oppositifolia and Sednms in great 

 variety, which, creeping over the stones, gave it a very pretty 

 and natural effect. 



We now enter the range of vineries, and I will take them in 

 rotation as we passed through them. The first I entered was 

 the early house, started geneially about Christmas ; the Vines 

 were being dressed and prepared for the next year's campaign. 

 It was planted with Black Hamburgh, Buckland Sweetwater, 

 and Muscat of Alexandria. Mr. Turner exhibited fruit out 

 of this house at Stafford in July, and obtained the first prize 

 for Black and White Grapes, taking also in the same month 

 the first prize for Black and White Grapes at Newcastle-under- 

 Lyne. The day afterwards the same Grapes were exhibited 

 at Alton Towers ; Mr. Silcock, of Somerford Park, on that occa- 

 sion bore off the laurels, but it was what our old friend Mr. 

 Beaton would have called " a neck-and-neck run," the contest 

 was so very nearly equal. The Vines in this house have been 

 planted many years, and last season Mr. Turner, considering 

 that they were deteriorating in vigour, lifted them, and remade 

 (he border; and now, in addition to the excellent fruit they 

 have produced this year, there is promise of success for the 

 future in well-ripened canes and prominent buds. The borders 

 are on the outside, and the mode adopted in their formation 

 has been very simple. They are about 5 feet in depth, 2 feet 

 being drainage, and the other 3 feet chopped turf, broken 

 bones, mortar rubbish, and stable-manure. The proportions 

 were three barrowloads of turf to one of bones, mortar rubbish, 

 and manure. The next house is the centre of the range, but 

 the last in rotation of cropping, it was full of late Grapes, all 

 Black Hamburghs ; they were as black as they possibly could 

 be, and did great credit to Mr. Turner's skill in Grape-growing. 

 Here we had a little discussion on a point of great interest to 

 all who cultivate the Vine. Some of the bunches showed 

 symptoms of shanking, and as Mr. Pearson, in Nc. 294, page 

 361, had given it as his opinion that one of the most frequent 

 causes of shanking is the injudicious removal of a large quan- 

 tity of foliage while the Vies is in a growing state — and one 

 of the most sensible ideas 1 ever ren_emoer being advanced on 

 the subject —I was anxious to obtain Mr. Turner's opinion on 

 this important point. Mr. Turner adopts the long-rod system 

 of training and pruning, and has occasion to remove very little 

 foliage ; as a rule his Grapes are not subject to shanking, so he 

 informed me, but he attributes it in his case to the excessively 

 wet autumn, and the borders being saturated with rain before 

 he put on their winter covering. 



The last house in the range is the second forced, and the 

 Vines are Buckland Sweetwater, Royal Muscadine, and Black 

 Hamburgh. I noticed a rod of the Buckland Sweetwater, 

 grafted this spring on the Black Hamburgh ; when the graft was 

 placed on the stock it was like a mere straw, but the shoot had 

 reached the top of the rafter, and was about 2* inches in girth. 

 I did not take the dimensions of these houses, but I should 

 suppose them to be each about 50 feet long, and 18 feet wide. 



Stepping out of the houses, we pass through a winding 

 shrubbery to the pleasure grounds, and pursuing our journey 

 in the direction of the mansion, we come to the terrace front, 

 where a glorious landscape presents itself, one of the most ex- 

 tensive prospects being obtained that any county can boast, 

 and of its kind the most beautiful. The park falls with a 

 gentle declivity to a lake in the distance. Its extent is con- 

 cealed by evergreens and tall trees of varied foliage. To the 

 left, in the distance, are seen Sandon Hall and park, the resi- 

 dence of the Earl of Harrowby. In the distance may also be 

 seen Cannock Chase, a vast tract of land comprising 32,000 

 acres of heath, the greater part of which has been enclosed 

 during the present century. It was a favourite hunting-ground 

 of the early Saxon kings. At that time, and for centuries after- 



