li 



JOUBNAL OF EORTICULTDEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



[ Jauuaiy 27, 1876. 



o[ B. Vesuvius with one of B. Stella, wliicli, with some cultural 

 notes, will appear in a future issue. 



The great merits of this free and beautiful race of Begonias 

 entitle the plants to be cultivated extensively. They should 

 be as familiar in conservatories during the summer months as 

 are Pelargoniums in flower gardens. — W. 



GEOS COLMAN GEAPE— HAWTHOKNDEN 

 APPLE. 



Your correspondent " Ex-Exhibitor " invites experienced 

 growers of Gros Colman Grapes in a cool vinery to state their 

 opinion respecling their flavour. I have grown the Vine in a 

 vinery without a stove for many years. We are situated nearly 

 600 feet above the sea, and in tho mountains, where we have 

 more than a usual share of sunless days. Two years the Gros 

 Colman failed to ripen so as to be eatable ; but for some seven 

 or eight years it has ripened and coloured fairly. I recollect 

 it was remarked one season that it had an " earthy " taste ; 

 but I should characterise it rather as flavourless than as 

 having any bad taste, and it is such a vigorous healthy Vine, 

 so good a bearer, and such an ornament to a dessert, that I 

 do not grudge its room, even in my own limited spacs. In 

 regard to "Ex-Exhibitob's" recommendation not to grow late 

 Grapes in a cool vinery, I can only say I have had Mrs. Piece's 

 Black Muscat for many years, and it has never failed to pro- 

 duce an abundant crop, and both to colour and ripen well. 



In looking over the new edition of Dr. Hogg's " Fruit 

 Manual," 1 observe that he etpecially recommends the Haw- 

 thornden Apple as one always healthy and vigorous, and not 

 subject to canker. Now, my experience of it is totally different. 

 I have tried it for many years, and, admiring its useful quali- 

 ties, have distributed plants of it among the cottagers in my 

 neighbourhood, with one uniform result ^ /.c, destruction 

 within a year or two of every plant by canker. I have now 

 given it up entirely. The soil here is a light gravelly one, 

 with a gravel subsoil. But I have noticed tho same thing has 

 occurred in other localities where a heavy and clayey soil pre- 

 vailed. I may add that I have tried cutting down, paring 

 away, and removal, to no purpose. My trees are entirely gone, 

 and so are those of my cottage neighbours. With the excep- 

 tion of Kibston Pjppin no other Apple cankers here. — C. B. 



EANGEMOEE HALL.— No. 2. 



THE SEAT OF M. T. BASS, ESQ., M.P. 



CoNTiNuiNri my notes on this complete and excellent garden 

 from page •55, 1 will glance at the glass structures, not in a 

 detailed manner, but as affording a general idea of the extent 

 of the garden, and as shadowing also its sound management. 



We first enter the Peach houses. The extensive ranges of 

 houses devoted to Peaches and Nectarines are of two kinds — 

 lean-to's, the trees being trained to back walls, and span-roofs 

 with the trees trained on trellises. Only the latter demand a 

 note of description. The houses are spacious and lofty, having 

 a sharp pitch, tho fruit trellises on either side extending from 

 the ground in front to the apex of the roof overhead. The 

 trees are not trained on the usual fan shape, but the branches 

 are trained horizontally along the wires, similar to the mode 

 generally adopted in training Pear trees on open walls. This 

 mode of training Peaches under glass Mr. Bennett finds has 

 important advantages over the orthodox system. The work of 

 thinning and training of the shoots in summer is simplified 

 and can be done more expeditiously, and much of the common 

 danger of overcrowding is averted. Winter pruning is also 

 similarly simplified, and copious waterings and rich feeding at 

 the roots does not result in exuberant wood growth, but pro- 

 duces healthy trees and fine and regular crops of fruit. The 

 trees are at first trained in the ordinary way, and when they 

 have attained a suitable size the branches are gradually brought 

 to the horizontal position as the permanent mode for fruit- 

 bearing. No trees could look neater than did these. Every 

 foot of wire was occupied, and between the lines of wire there 

 was no useless spray, and thus every inch of space was devoted 

 to a profitable purpose. Mr. D. Thomson trains his Fig trees 

 in the same mode at Drumlanrig with great success, and, as 

 is evidenced at Eangeraore, the plan is equally applicable to 

 Peach trees when cultivated under glass, and especially when 

 the glass has a steep pitch ; on flat trellises the system would, 

 perhaps, not be so advantageous. All the standard sorts of 

 Peaches are grown. Prince of Wales is much prized by Mr. 



Bennett, and perhaps especially so is Baymaecker's, a kind 

 which is not in general cultivation ; it is a late Noblesse, and 

 a superior sort. Earrington is considered the best late variety, 

 and is superior to Lord and Lady Palmerston, which are not 

 proving so good as was expected. 



Peaches are also to some extent grown on the open walls, 

 and I notice one wall 100 yards in length covered with these 

 trees, and Apricots, to show the simple and efficient mode of 

 protecting the trees on the wall and tender plants on the 

 border by the same set of lights. It is a sort of home-made 

 contrivance, and answers its purpose admirably. The wall is 

 about lu feet high, and the border about 11 feet wide. On the 

 latter is fixed a continuous box or frame covering the entire 

 border save about -1 feet nearest the wall. At that distance 

 from the wall and parallel with it is fixed the back cf the 

 frame, posts being fixed in the ground at convenient intervals, 

 with boards from post to post, some of them opening as 

 shutters to admit air. The back of the frame is about 3 feet 

 in height, the front about Is inches. Batters are fixed to sup- 

 port the lights, which are about 'J feet in length. This huge 

 frame is crowded to repletion during the winter with Lettuces, 

 Endive, Cauliflowers, Parsley, and innumerable other plants 

 which need some protection against the severity of the weather. 

 On the approach of spring the lights are no longer needed over 

 these plants, but the trees, which are just then opening their 

 blossoms, need protection, and tho lights are simply pushed 

 up, their bottoms resting on the back of the frame, and their 

 tops under the coping of the wall, and the crop of fruit is 

 made safe ; the frame — the enclosed border — is then cropped 

 in the ordinary manner. It is a simple and effective combina- 

 tion, and it is not easy to determine for which purpose the 

 lights are the most useful, whether for preserving tender vege- 

 tables in the winter, or for protecting the fruit trees during the 

 spring and early summer months. It is adaptable to many 

 gardens, and is an eminently useful contrivance, easily made 

 and not costly. 



As may be expected. Grapes are required in large quantities 

 and at all seasons, but Mr. Bennett, by the aid of the moans 

 afforded him, is, in hackneyed parlance, " equal to the occa- 

 sion." For four years Eangemore has not been without 

 Grapes. Lady Downe's Seedling generally keeps in good con- 

 dition until May, and before that time Black Hamburghs are 

 ripe to continue the supply. To this sterling sort there are 

 four houses devoted ; it is a fine range of glass 100 yards in 

 length. The Vines in the first or earliest house are grown and 

 fruited in pots. At the time of my visit they were being pre- 

 pared for their work, and more promising canes it would bi 

 difficult to find. The Vines in the succession houses aro 

 planted out. They are six years old and in splendid condition, 

 producing superior Grapes. 



But more interesting at the end of October than the nearly 

 empty Hamburgh houses were the structures devoted to the 

 winter supply of late Grapes. These are grown in wide and 

 lofty span-roofed houses, the range being nearly 100 yards in 

 length. These houses are amply heated and ventilated, and 

 are well adapted for keeping the Grapes, and also, it must bo 

 added, for growing them, for a more regular crop of useful- 

 sized bunches with fine and highly-finished berries is not often 

 seen than the crop now under notice. I have had opportunities 

 of seeing the best exhibitions of Grapes in England and Scot- 

 land, and I have not seen Lady Downe's Seedling, Black Ali- 

 cante, and Muscat of Alexandria in better table condition than 

 at Eangemore. The bunches were not "monsters," but the 

 berries were fine and admirably finished, and for everyday 

 dessert purposes the crop was highly creditable to Mr. Bennett 

 and his assistants. 



It also speaks volumes of the power and bsnefits of surface- 

 dressing the ground with manure. The borders are mainly 

 inside, and had been originally made with some of the unsuit- 

 able Eangemore soil. So unsuitable was this soil that on ex- 

 amining the roots they were found in a deplorable state, many 

 of them being absolutely dead. Fresh material was applied to 

 the surface of the border, and especially a very heavy covering 

 of rich stable manure was given, and this, by inducing tho 

 emission of surface roots and affording them sustenance, has 

 perfected a splendid crop of Grapes, which but for the rich 

 svufacing must inevitably have been of a very moderate cha- 

 racter. Such an example as is afforded by these Vines of the 

 great value of top-dressing the borders with rich manure is of 

 the most conclusive kind, and the practice cannot be too ex- 

 tensively adopted. In theso houses Gros Colman was striking 

 by its huge purplish-black berries, but, unfortunately, their 



