74 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ January 28, 1875, 



espaliers. For this, especially, I should snppose that that large 

 Apple The Tompkins County King would require a wall, and 

 would be an astonishing production for the size and beauty ; 

 80 also would the Northern Spy, the Baldwin, the Belmon, 

 and all of them. 



There is n > don')t but he difference in climate exercises a 

 wonderful inllaence in the flavour and appearance of the same 

 variety of fruit. A very striking instance of this came under 

 my own observation the first or second year after I came to 

 America. The Ribston PippiE, which I had been in the habit 

 of cultivating in Scotland on the wall to the greatest perfec- 

 tion, and was generally esteemed as the most superior in 

 flavour to all others— I found a single tree of this variety grow- 

 ing in a large orchard of ten acres, and I asked the owner if 

 he knew the name of that Apple, and what he thought of the 

 quality. He said it was known by several names in this 

 country, but he had understood that it was the Ribston Pippin ; 

 but as to its quality, it was considered only second or third- 

 rate. I mentioned that with us in Scotland it was considered 

 as our No. 1 first-class. He immediately drew his conclusion, 

 and was not slow in asserting that we must have a very poor 

 stock of Apples in Scotland. I tasted the fruit, and found it 

 ripe and mellow, but in no way flavoured as I used to grow it. 

 I drew the conclusion at once that it was too highly ripened 

 in our hot climate, and I found the next year by an experi- 

 ment that in this I was perfectly correct. I therefore the next 

 season watched the tree, and before the fruit was fully ripened 

 (with a rich yellow, as it does here), I took off a quantity of 

 the fruit — the very same as has to be done with many of our 

 finest Pears — and I was very much pleased to find that I had 

 got these Ribston Pippin Apples nearly as fine as ever I had 

 them in Scotland ; and therefore I drew the conclusion that 

 this process, and the reverse of it according to the different 

 circumstances of two climates, would be absolutely neces- 

 sary in order to bring out the same fruit with full perfection. 



I have a quantity of the scions and a few of the one-year 

 graft, with roots of several of these specimens. If you con- 

 sider them of any importance, I shall be happy to send you a 

 few to experiment upon.— Geokge Taylob, Kalamazos, State 

 of Michigan. 



Nectarine.— ITfiftec^ Seedliv<j.—K seedling raised by Mr. 

 Tillery. " The specimens of this fine Nectarine which Mr. 

 Tillery sent were not only exceedingly beautiful in appearance, 

 but were also most excellent in quality. Leaves crenated; 

 glands reniform ; flowers small. Fruit as large as those of 

 Balgowan, in some cases roundish-ovate, in others rather 

 depressed, with a well-defined suture. Skin almost wholly 

 covered with dark red, the shaded parts showing a little 

 ■watery or pale green ground colour, whDe the most exposed 

 parts are of a very deep purple-red, sometimes slightly speckled. 

 Flesh greenish-white, red at the stone, full-flavoured, very 

 juicy, rich, and sugary. The flavour is brisk yet luscious, and 

 altogether it is one of the very best Nectarines we have ever 

 tasted." — [Florist and Pomologist, ii s., viii., 13.) 



MR. THOMAS WEAVER. 



" On the 2l8t inst. Thomas Weaver, gardener during forty 

 years to the late and present Wardens of Winchester College, 

 aged seventy-one years." 



The above was the brief notice we received, and little did 

 the sender think that it announced the death of one of the 

 earliest and worthiest of our gardening friends — little did the 

 sender think that he would cause to us deep sorrow by the 

 announcement; but so it was, and we turned to our desk to 

 pay a heartfelt tribute, when there we found the following : — 



IN MEMOBLA.M. 



In the past week there has gone to his rest one who deserves 

 a notice in the Journal to which he has so often been a con- 

 tributor in former years, though we have not seen much from 

 his pen of late — I mean Mr. Weaver, gardener to the late and 

 the present Wardens of Winchester College, who was found 

 dead in the potting-shed of the garden which he loved so well 

 and had tended so carefully for more than forty years. 



He began his gardening life in the botanical gardens at Ox- 

 ford, and I well remember his telling me how he used to get 

 young Mr. Baxter to set him " copies " after gardening hours 

 to teach him to write. When the late Warden of Winchester 

 was appointed he applied to Mr. Baxter for a gardener. He at 



once recommended Thomas Weaver. How good the choice 

 was no one who has ever seen the garden under his care can 

 doubt for a moment. For years he managed the garden en- 

 tirely alone — a thoroughly "working gardener" indeed. 

 When the Diocesan Training College was established at Wolve 

 sey Mr. Weaver was asked to give botanical lectures to the 

 pupils, which he gladly undertook with his master's leave. I 

 say his " master," for Weaver was never ashamed to use this 

 word, though there are no such things now ! About this time 

 the Warden suggested to him that he should have someone 

 to help him in the garden, an offer which he gladly accepted. 

 At the end of the week, when his book was brought in, the 

 Warden observed that the extra man was not charged. " No, 

 sir," was the reply, " you allow me to lecture at the Training 

 College, which I think a great honour. I cannot think of 

 letting you pay the man who does my work. I am only thank- 

 ful to you for allowing me to have him." He has, in fact, 

 been "single-handed" in the management of that large gar- 

 den, and surely no garden was ever better kept ; no garden 

 ever supplied a more unfailing succession of flowers and vege- 

 tables of the very first order. Who that has ever seen them 

 can forget his Asparagus and his Strawberry beds ? Who has 

 ever gone round the garden with him without gaining many 

 useful cultural hints ? Who has failed to learn from him a 

 lesson of unswerving duty and faithfulness ? for this was in- 

 deed his characteristic. His contempt for what he called 

 " six o'clock men " was quite amusing. 



His death was in keeping with his life. He had gone to the 

 garden on Thursday to shut-up his houses, and it is supposed 

 that feeling unwell he went to the pot-shed to sit down. He 

 was found with his head on his hand quite dead. Dear old 

 man ! may we, when our time comes, be found to have been 

 as faithful in the discharge of our duty as he was — aye, " faith- 

 ful unto the end." — H. G. M., Michclmarsh Rectory. 



The next letter we opened was this : — 



" I feel it to be my painful duty to write and tell yon of the 

 death of my dear father, who passed away sitting on a wheel- 

 barrow in a little shed in the dear old garden he loved so well 

 on Thursday afternoon, the 21st. He was quite well and in 

 good spirits when home to his dinner at 1 p.m. He sat read- 

 ing your Journal until about quarter-past two, when he left 

 home to go into the High Street to pay a little bill, &c., and 

 returned a little past three through the Warden's house, where 

 he spoke to the cook in a pleasant joking way as he passed 

 through into the garden, and told where he had been. He 

 went briskly on and opened his little ' sanctum,' as he called 

 one of the little sheds, to take off his coat and hat for work, 

 but instead of that must have felt a pain or giddiness in the 

 head, as he sat down on this old wheelbarrow, leaned his head 

 against the wall, and fell asleep — so sweetly, so peacefully, 

 with a smile which stOl remains and seems to say, ' I know 

 all that you're doing, but I'm not going to wake up.' We 

 cannot yet realise the thought that he is gone. 



"Feeling it would be his wish that we should write and let 

 you know the circumstances, I have thus taken the liberty." 



Can we add without bathos anything to those testimonies ? 

 yes. This extract from a note to us by the Warden : — " I am 

 sure you will condole with me on the loss of my old gardener. 

 Weaver, who was found dead in the garden which he loved like 

 one of his own children." 



Thus friend, family, and employer in unison bear testimony 

 to the worth of our old supporter. In all that they say, in all 

 that they feel, we fully coincide. Weaver was a thoroughly 

 honest man, and we use the epithet in its broadest sense ; he 

 was true to his family, true to his friends, and true to his 

 employer. 



HARDWICKE HOUSE.— No. 2. 



THE SEAT OF LADY CULLUM. 



All the glass houses at Hardwicke are easy of access from 

 the mansion, and in such positions that the proprietor can 

 walk from the drawing-room to the conservatory, and from 

 thence to the ranges of vineries. Peach houses, ferneries, &a.. 

 without passing into the open air, with the exception that the 

 stove and another house, used for miscellaneous subjects in 

 winter and for Cucumbers and Melons in summer, is isolated. 

 The present notice will begin with the stove, a span-roofed 

 structure 1-j feet by 47 feet. Until recently it was a wood 

 erection entirely, but portion of it has been converted by Mr. 

 Beard of Bury St. Edmunds into their new patent system of 

 metallic bars and patent glazing without putty, and so far as 



