544 



JOtRNAL OP HOBTlOtJLTTJBE AND COTTAGE GARDKNEE. 



[ Dsoembor 17, 1874. 



Beedlicg Vine, and was Riving complete satisfaction. Tlie 

 second house contained Barbarossa, oarryiog bunches quite 

 2 feet in length; Black Hamburgh, White Lady Downe's, 

 Black Alicante, really splendid ; and Duchess of Baccleuch, 

 liner than I thought it could possibly be grown. A similar 

 range of houses consisted of an early house quite cut away, 

 and a Muscat house. The early house was planted with Black 

 Hamburgh, Muscat Hamburgh, and Buckland Sweetwater. 

 The Muscat, which was still carrying some fine fruit, consisted 

 principally of Muscat of Alexandria, Muscat Escholata, Barnes' 

 Mntcat, and Bowood Muscat. 



The next range, which may be called the greenhouses, is in 

 three divisions : one iilltd with the newer varieties of Coleus, 

 Amaranthus salicifolius well grown and very ornamental, 

 Alternanthera parouychoides major, &c. ; another devoted to 

 Fuchsias ; and the third filled with a choice collection of green- 

 house plants, many of them noble specimens. Amongst the 

 most remarkable were the following :— Acacia Drummondii, 

 Adenandra speciosa, Rhyncospermum jasminoides, Pleroma 

 clegans. Erica depressa, Cavendishii, and jasminiflora alba, 

 with Genetyllis tulipifera and f uchsioides. Next comes a stove 

 in two divisions, well filled with the usual tenants of such 

 structures. It would quite unnecessarily extend this article to 

 give a detailed list, so I will content myself by saying that 

 the following were particularly noticeable — Anthurium Scher- 

 Berianum, Bougainvillea glabra, Pandanus Veitchii, Gardenia 

 Stanleyana, Clerodendrou Balfourii, and the pretty little Ur- 

 ceolina aurea. Here were also very fine plants of Eucharis 

 amazocica, Stephanotis floribunda, and Eranthemum leu- 

 conervum. 



The next range we enter is a propagating house in three 

 divisions, efficiently arranged and heated. Two of these di- 

 visions were literally filled with a beautiful and healthy stock 

 of young plants in different degrees of development — fine- 

 foliaged and ornamental stove plants and Ferns. Particularly 

 noticeable were Maranta hieroglyphica and Paliconrea discolor. 

 The third division had just been planted with Sion House 

 Cucumber for winter use. 



Retracing our steps a little we next come to a house devoted 

 to the growth of fine-foliaged plants, and which contains the 

 gems of the whole collection. They are really beautiful, and 

 evidence the highest cultural skill and care. To be rightly 

 appreciated they should be seen. Here we have the pretty 

 Aoalypha tricolor, Alocasia gigantea, Jenningsii, etc. ; Crotons 

 pictum, uufluiatum, Weismauui, and many others; Dieffen- 

 bacbia Binraquiana and varicgata, Dracfena Cooperi, gracilis, 

 Guilfoylei, &c. ; Hibiscus fol. variegata; Maranta beautifully 

 done, including among others the following — alba lineata, 

 Makoyana, Vanden Heckei, tubispatha, Warscewiczii, and 

 Veitchii; Peperomia argyrea, and Sanchezia nobilis variegata. 

 Adjacent is a fernery, not very extensive, but containing some 

 fine Ferns and Mosses. Among the former I may mention the 

 lovely Adiantum Farleyense, Veitcbii, and tinctum ; Blechnum 

 torcovadense, Lomaria gibba, and Trichomanes radicans. 



The lower portion of the ground is occupied by pits and 

 frames, which, when I saw them, were filled with Roses, 

 Jhrysanthemums, Cinerarias, Primulas, Cyclamens, and a host 

 of things useful for the winter and spring decoration of the 

 mansion and greenhouse. Amongst other things Mr. Burns 

 was growing largely a Campanula, which he calls media caly- 

 canthema alba, for this purpose. Here was also being struck 

 in boxes the immense stock of bedding stuff required for so 

 extensive a place, and which appeared to be just making them- 

 selves at home in their new quarters. This brings us to the 

 garden gate. There is a still lower stretch of ground in which 

 are situated the Melon and Cucumber frames for summer 

 work, the reserve grounds, young men's houses, offices, &e. 

 And so having spent a very pleasant, and I trust profitable, 

 day, I bade goodbye to Mr. Burns, and turned my back on 

 Loughcrew. If the recollection of my visit has interested even 

 a few readers, X am repaid. — Excelsior. 



[We hoped to add a view of the gardens, but the photo- 

 graph sent to us is not suitable for wood engraving. We have 

 a ground plan of the garden, but it is too large and elaborate 

 to be reduced to the size of a page ; we are obliged, therefore, 

 to be contented with three of the beds and their arrangements.] 



DOINGS OF THE LAST AND PEESENT WEEKS. 



A coEEESPONDENT recently alluded to the fact that failures 

 occurred in large as well as small gardens. Many years ago an 

 intimate friend, who was acquainted in some way with the 



details of the management of one of the largest gardens in 

 England, stated that it would quite surprise those whose only 

 knowledge of gardening had been gained in small or medium- 

 sized gardens if they were made acquainted with the failures 

 and mistakes made in the one to which he alluded. We would 

 fancy that in the smaller gardens there would be less probability 

 of mistakes being made or failures taking place if the person in 

 charge does not attempt too much with the limited means 

 usually at his command. We have known gentlemen who ex- 

 pected their gardener to grow Pines, Vines, Cucumbers, and 

 Melons in one house ; but a gardener who would undertake to 

 do this would have himself to blame if he failed either to satisfy 

 his employer or gaia credit to himself. Many of the owners 

 of small gardens also on first taking to gardening are very 

 enthuBiaetic ; they run hither and thither, aud whatever they 

 fancy in other people's gardens they would like to try in their 

 own. They try everything, but have not perseverance enough 

 to do anything well, and failing in their expectations on all 

 hands they give it up in disgust. But mark the successful man, 

 and the one who seldom has any failures to chronicle. He has 

 a passion, shall we call it, for, say, Roses, and whether the soil 

 of his garden is unsuitable or not, Rosea he must and will have ; 

 and after he has surmounted every obstacle that was opposed to 

 bis success, he will not stop there, but will add some other class 

 of plant, and yet another, and another, until, step by step, he 

 becomes a successful gardener. And how is this success at- 

 tained? Simply by patient and laborious work and study. 

 Whatever is undertaken is done with the intention of being 

 thoroughly investigated. The plants or fruits are watched 

 daily, and if anything is amiss it is quickly detected, and im- 

 mediate steps taken to set the wrong right. Then books, weekly 

 papers, and monthly periodicals are read and re-read ; a wrinkle 

 is gained here and another there, so that every hour of well- 

 directed study lends its quota to complete the ultimate success. 

 In small gardens, where tbe head gardener can do much of the 

 work with his own hands, and where but little of his time is 

 taken up superintending others, he ought to present better ex- 

 amples of good culture than the man whose time is wholly 

 given to overseeing. 



The weather has been very changeable during the last week, 

 and all out-of-door oiierations have been much retarded, owing 

 to alternate days of frost, thaw, and rainfall. The farmers also 

 complain of the difficulty they have to get the seed Wheat into 

 the ground in good order. 



The only work we have been enabled to do in the 



KITCHEN AND PKUIT GARDEN 



has been to prune Currant and Gooseberry bushes ; they are all 

 trained in the bush form, which is the most natural and that 

 most frequently adopted. The system of pruning is easily un- 

 derstood, even by those who have bad but little experience. 

 All the young wood is spurred closely back, leaving only the 

 buds that cluster together thickly at the base. Any young wood 

 that is required to fill up has the points merely taken ofi on the 

 Gooseberry bushes. The young wood on the Currants at the 

 extremity of the branches is cut back much closer to the old 

 wood. If the young wood of the previous year is, say, 18 inches 

 long, two-thirds of this ought to be removed. But Gooseberry 

 and Currant bushes are amenable to almost any system of train- 

 ing, and one of the prettiest sights to be seen in the kitchen 

 gardens at Ashridge, under the care of Mr. Sage, is a row or 

 two of espalier-traiued Gooseberry bushes, and the method of 

 trainiug is as simple as it is pretty. A number of horizontal 

 growths are trained right and left from an upright leading shoot. 

 As the leading growths are trained to the horizontal wires side 

 shoots are freely produced, which are annually spurred back 

 unti' the cordon bristles with fruit buds, and the fruit clusters 

 on tbe whole length of the branch like strings of Onions. We 

 also wheeled a good dressing of manure on to the .Asparagus. 

 The usual method of treating this crop is to dress the beds with 

 manure now, and by forking up the alleys between the beds in 

 the spring suflicient snil is obtained to cover a portion of the 

 manure, some of it beiug dug into the alleys to replace the soil 

 that is taken out. In our case the Asparagus was planted in 

 rows, and the crowns are not deep enough in the ground, so that 

 we will wheel some spare soil on to the quarter and quite cover 

 the manure with it. 



Pine Houses. — The principal thing to be guarded against here 

 is undue excitement. W^e have a few fruits swelling slowly in 

 the fruiting house, but the night temperature is not over 60'=; 

 and even if the sun should occasionally peer out it has little 

 effect on the glass, so that the temperature by day is seldom 

 more than 5° higher. To force the plants on in a high tempera- 

 ture under such circumstances can only cause a weakly growth, 

 which future good management would scarcely set right. After 

 Christmas, with the lengthening days and more brilliant sun- 

 shine, the temperature can be increased 5°. It is still necessary 

 to damp the paths, walls, &c., of the house once a-day if the 

 weather is cloudy and dull, in drying frosty weather twice 

 a-day. Nor do we neglect to give air daily, just a very little 

 at the apex of the roof. The plants will not require any water 



