Oololjcr 1, 1871. ] 



JOURNAL OF nORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



299 



the glazed frames with hooka and eyes at the top instead of 

 using hinges or making them fixtures. I made ono yester- 

 day, and it has simply two or three hooks on the top bar of 

 the frame, and the eyes are on the glazed frame. This mode 

 renders them easy to paint and remove for any purpose. 

 They are easily unhooked, and the whole vinery is so rendered 

 portable. — G. C, Croydon. 



GERANIUMS AT CHILWELL. 



H.iviNO on the 'ilst of August an opportunity, by a little 

 study of Bradshaw, to have about ua hour and a half at Mr. 

 Pearson's Chilwell Nurseries, and being somewhat of "D., 

 Deal's," turn of mind — inclined, like Dr. Watts'e busy bee, to 

 make the most of the shining hour's, I accordingly paid a 

 flying visit, and will endeavour brielly to allow your readers 

 to partake of the honey I gathered from the flowers — not feel- 

 ing like that sellJsh bee who gathered honey all the day, but 

 ate it all the night. 



Having wasted nearly two minutes over the station-master 

 at Beeston , who refused to allow me to retain my ticket because 

 I had booked through from Bristol to Nottingham iuutead of 

 to B^.'eston, whereby the station-master was able to secure to 

 the Midland Railway Company the great sum of Gd., which 

 was my additional fare from Beeston to Nottingham, I found 

 Mr. Pearson waiting for me outside the station, and a few 

 minutes' drive brought us to Chilwell. 



Previous to going to see the new seedlings of 1873 I went 

 round the gardens to see some of the older favourites. The 

 first bed we came to, passing over one or two Tricolors, was 

 Corsair, here as elsewhere very good, and establishing its repu- 

 tation as being one of the best zonals for bedding, not shedding 

 its petals as Jean Sisley and one or two others of that class. 

 Mrs. Mellows came next : this was not so good as I have seen 

 it before, the season being too dry for it. Mrs. Holdeu, a 

 dwarf deep pink, a type of a good bedder, stout footstalk, large 

 truss, was next. Then came Edward Sutton : this and General 

 Oatram are much alike — a deep scarlet crimson. Next to this 

 was Mrs. Turner, in colour somewhat between Amaranth and 

 Florence Durand, and very promising. Augusta Miles was not 

 at its best — too dry. The Rev. T. F. Feun, a dark crimson, 

 was near it and doing well ; the dry season which had not 

 suited Augusta Miles having just suited the latter, which last 

 year grew much too strong for me. The next, George Miles, 

 a cerise scarlet, large truss, tall in the footstalk, was new to 

 me. One of Dr. Denny's seedlings, Wellington, was the next 

 bed ; fine in colour, but growing too strong liere. My own 

 namesake, a bronze raised by Mr. Laing, of the firm of Downie, 

 Laird, iS Laing, near to this, was one of the best bronze beds 

 I ever saw — short-jointed habit, and a fine rich gold and red 

 leaf. Robert Evans, a cerise or rosy scarlet, gave me the 

 impression as being better for pots. Col. Holden was good, 

 but too coarse and strong for most gardens ; but this and Dr. 

 Tate seem exactly suited for those who like a good hardy sort 

 and free grower. 



Mrs. Ffytche, another dwarf deep pink somewhat like Mrs. 

 Holden, a very good bedder, came next ; then General Outram, 

 and next Mrs. Hole, a dwarf magenta — one of the seedhugs, 

 1 believe, from Violet Hill— a large truss, very floriferous, and 

 quite a gem with those who will treat it properly, but too 

 dwarf for harsh treatment. Near this was Grand Duke, still 

 one of the best of its class, raised, I believe, by Mr. G. Smith ; 

 then Shakespeare, not so good as I have seen it before, and 

 near, Lady Kirkland, one of Mr. Laing's seedlings, very good. 

 If Lady Kirkland had but a stouter footstalk it would be very 

 difficult to defeat. I had a bed this year fuller of large trusses 

 of flower than almost any bed I ever saw; it hardly ever 

 seeds, and the petals stand sun and wind well, but it wants a 

 good footstalk. Next was Mrs. Hetley ; then Florence Durand, 

 not nearly so good as with me, but the bed was too dry and 

 suffered from the proximity of a Conifer. Then came two old 

 favourites — Bayard and Duke of Devonshire, and near, Mrs. 

 Lowe and Frank Miles. And to show how Geraniums vary in 

 different seasons under different conditions, Mrs. Lowe, which 

 with me was one of the very best light flesh-pink beds I ever 

 saw, was not nearly so good here — so much so as hardly to be 

 like the same plant ; but there had been so great a demand 

 for them in the spring that Mr. Pearson was almost sold out, 

 and only some of his worst plants had been put out. This 

 also confirms me in my impression that if there is a trying 

 season inferior plants, however good the kind, never recover 

 to do justice to the sort. In another part of the grounds, in 



front of the orchard houses, were some more beds of zonals ; 

 some of those I have named recurring again with one or two 

 others, as Mrs. Taite, a good pink, and Mrs. Vincent, a very 

 fine crimson, which were not planted out elsewhere. 



We next went to a long double span house full of seedlings 

 of 1873, to be sent out next year. The moBt noticeable features 

 in these were, speaking of them in general, a great advance in 

 the siz^ of each individual bloom, with a rounder-shaped 

 flower, more of the true florists' type ; the generality of the 

 flowers much larger than a crown piece, and the truss large. 

 How much of the Nosegay blood is left in is difilcult to say, 

 or whether they will stand sun and wind when bedded — this 

 will be a test of time ; but, as far as the individual flowers in 

 their pots in this house, there was no doubt that there was a 

 great advance. I will mention those that struck me most. First 

 Sir II. G. Stanhope, of the General Outram stamp, but larger 

 flower and pip ; Lady Byron, bright pink, a white eye, good for 

 exhibition as a pot plant ; Brutus, a light crimson scarlet ; 

 and Charles Smitli, a darker; Ethel, a fine lilac; and Mrs. 

 J. F. Feun, somewhat in the way of Amaranth, but size of pips 

 larger ; Rev. — Atkinson, somewhat like Mr. Pearson's Rev. C. 

 P. Peach, a deep scarlet, very little orange ; John Gibbons, very 

 large, crimson scarlet, likely to make a striking pot plant ; 

 Mrs. Huish, a magenta crimson, very good ; and John Fellows, 

 reddish crimson, very good; Mrs. Bosworth, light pink, light 

 eye ; Annie Orton, something like Amaranth, but much larger 

 individual flower ; Percy Cooper, scarlet, with a white eye, of the 

 Jean Sisley stamp, a finer flower and brighter, would be first- 

 rate for exhibition. Next I noticed Mrs. Whiteley, also a 

 scarlet with a white eye ; and two of the very best salmons I 

 have yet seen — Miss Strahau and Ellen — a great advance among 

 the salmons, fine both in truss and flower, sure to be good in 

 pots, but yet to be tested for bedding. There was also a fine 

 1874 seodliug. Miss E. Burnside, of the type of Maid of Kent, 

 but a much finer and smoother flower, and large truss. Among 

 the 1873 seedlings I also omitted Mrs. Brown, a cerise magenta, 

 large truss, perhaps of the firm Brown, Jones, and Robinson. 

 Two of Mr. Pearson's Tricolors not sent out will also be 

 acquisitions as striking now a really new stamp of colour — a 

 magenta tinge in the red zone ; these two are Miss H. Walter 

 and Miss Eleanor Miles. I have not time at present to add 

 more.— C. P. P. 



SEACOX HEATH, 



THE SEAT OF THE KIOHT HON. O. ,T. G03CHEN, M.P. 



TouKisTS and others visiting the fashionable watering place 

 Tunbridge Wells cannot have omitted noticing the beautifully 

 undulating character of the country near that great resort of 

 wealth and fashion. The common, around which residences 

 of every style of architectural design have arisen, is in itself 

 not a bad example of what the neighbourhood abounds in. 

 Sandstone rock more or less exposed to the surface, and Ferns 

 and Gorse, give it a stamp of wildness. But my purpose is 

 not to describe Tunbridge Wells, but merely to point out that 

 the country is of the same character for several miles in various 

 directions, more especially eastward. The eminences and de- 

 clivities seldom prevent cultivation, but are sufficient to give 

 that interesting character to the landscape so much admired 

 by those who look to the softer and more manageable features 

 of rural scenery, if it may be so called, with greater pleasure 

 than they do on barren rock and inhospitable waste ; for here 

 we have the highest possible cultivation blended with a natural 

 scenery that in itself is at all times a source of pleasure to 

 look upon. 



Decomposed sandstone is the basis of the surface soil. The 

 vegetation is, as may be expected, a wide and varied one. 

 The Oak, Birch, Scotch and Spruce Fir assert their sway as 

 monarchs of the forest, or of such lands as still retain a sem- 

 blance of not having submitted to either spade or plough. To 

 these may be added the Hazel, Broom, Furze, and now and 

 then Heath, with plenty of the common Brake. The northern 

 sides of hedges and positions of a hke kind glisten with the 

 common hardy Ferns, not the least interesting being several 

 varieties of the Scolopendrium, which here finds a home to its 

 liking. The soU is generally of a pale yellow colour, and con- 

 tains few stones, and these generally soft, but it is very fertile, 

 and most crops attain great perfection, notably many kinds 

 of fruits ; and it is a singular feature of the district that 

 Apples grown here produce a different kind of cider from that 

 which is made from the same variety grown in the neighbour- 

 hood of Maidstone, the latter being an inferior liquor, although 



