352 



JOURNAL OF HOBTICULTURB AND COTTAGE GARDENEB. 



[ May 4, 1876. 



not of a pretentions nharaoter, having evidently been built 

 with a view to economy and usefalnese. Almoet all are low 

 epan-roofed houses, 100 feet long by 10 to 15 feet wide, with 

 divisions in the centres. A large heated shed for packing, &c., 

 runs along the ends, so that all the houses can be entered 

 without having to step out in the open air. This plan econo- 

 mises labour, and is doubtless a great advantage to both plants 

 and men. 



In the stove I noted a good stock of Dracienas, inolndiug 

 several of the newest varieties. Epiphyllums are here grown 

 in large numbers worked on the Pereskia stock — portable 

 plants with good heads. Vines for forcing and planting are 

 here grown largely. Zonal Geraniums are grown in large 

 numbers, and most of the newer varieties are to be found here. 

 In another house I noted a healthy stock of Pelargoniums of 

 the show, fancy, and early-flowering sections. P. Queen 

 Victoria is here in quantity. Lapageria alba is thriving well 

 with very cool treatment. 



The trade of these nurseries in flowering and softwooded 

 plants is very widely spread, plants being sent to all parts of 

 the United Kingdom daiiy either by post or rail. That a large 

 trade is done by poet may be judged from the fact that a ton 

 of cardboard is annually made up into boxes and sent away. 

 Although tin boxes are stronger they are not used here on 

 account of their weight, and the per-centage of breakage with 

 cardboard does not exceed a half per cent. — W. W. 



EXHIBITION OP CLEMATISES 



AT THE EOTAL BOTAXIC SOCIETY'S GAEDENS, REGENT'S PARK. 



There are now arranged in these popular gardens in the new 

 corridor Messrs. Jackman & Son's collection of Clematises, 

 which will prove one of the most pleasing exhibitions of the 

 season. Oar readers may form some idea of what this noble 

 collection must be when we say they completely fill the corridor, 

 broken-up by new shrubs and evergreens, also some very nice- 

 trained creepers, such as Vitis heterophylla variegata, V. pur- 

 purea; Ampelopsis japonica, A. bipinnata, &o. The corridor is 

 upwards of 200 feet in length, and the specimens number nearly 

 four hundred, ranging from 2 to 6 feet in height, many being 

 3 feet and more throngh, most of the plants being in full flower ; 

 some of the specimens have sixty flowers now open. 



Of new varieties we notic d Prince Alfred of Edinburgh, a 

 fine bold flower from G to 7 inches across, sky blue with white 

 bars running throngh the petals, making it have a very chaste 

 appearance ; Marquis of Salisbury, dark maroon, a quite dis- 

 tinct variety ; Vesta, the best of the whites; Sir Garnet Wolseley, 

 a magnificent specimen and one of the most striking in the 

 Exhibition; Lord Mayo, a fine light variety with large blush 

 flowers ; Countess of Lovelace, a fine double variety, a much 

 better flower but after the colour of John Gould Veitch. Of 

 the older varieties Pair Rosamond, a very nice primrose-scented 

 kind, in fine flower; Aurelliana, a fine delicate mauve purple; 

 Mrs. C. S. Baker, a very pleasing kind ; Lucie Lemoine is a fine 

 double variety with very pretty blush flowers; The Queen, a 

 delicate lavender or mauve-like tint; and many others that 

 should be seen to form an idea of what a variety of tints there 

 are to be found iu this fine collection, which we hope will draw 

 many visitors. — J. P. 



FBDIT PEOSPECTS. 



Ods eoutbern brothers of the spade need not envy their 

 northern ones, for though we had a promise of an abundant 

 fruit year in this part .of Yorkshire (Cleveland) the severe 

 weather of the second week in April, following, as it did, a week 

 of very fine weather, has made such a difference as to turn 

 cheering pro.speots into apparently hopeIo?s by the severe frost 

 of AprU 12th, when the thermometer fell to 15°. After a 

 time we may form an estimate of the injury done and calcu- 

 late future prospects by piesent appearances. 



Apricots were well set, but they were almost everyone frozen, 

 blackened, and have since fallen. The hardiest seems to be 

 Blenheim or Shipley's. There will be the barest sprinkling of 

 Boyal and Moor Park, also Oullin's Early Peach and Kaisha ; 

 but St, Ambroiee with Moor Park on a soutk-west aspect not 

 being so forward as those on a south aspect promise fairly. 



Peaches and Nectarines had the corolla and the stamens 

 and pistil singed, and are dropping off. They cannot be other 

 than few and far between, as It is only those which being set 

 had extra protection, or late blooms, that we can expect to have 

 any from. 



Plums promise well ; even trees which were heavily loaded 

 last year give fair prospects. Some trees on a south wall have 

 had the bloom injured and it is falling, but the etaudard and 



pyramid trees are only just coming into flower now, April 27th. 

 Blackthorn or Sloe has not yet made itself conspicuous by its 

 profuse white blossom. This will show that we lie high and 

 cold. That very excellent Plum Prince of Wales, which ex- 

 hibits such a tendency to debility and premature decay, I may 

 say succeeds admirably on a west aspect. Young trees of 

 various kinds heavily fruited last year are bare of promise 

 this. 



Pears show abundantly, and being later have not apparently 

 Buffered any injury from the severe weather, though the tips 

 of the leaves and the almost expanded trusses of bloom were 

 more or less blackened. Exceptions are trees heavily cropped 

 last year. 



Apples, especially those on the dwarf stock, are fuller of 

 bloom than last year ; but old trees on the Crab, which cropped 

 more heavily last year, have no more than a fair show, yet the 

 young trees on that stock promise well. 



Cherries if bloom is an evidence should be abundant. 



Gooseberries have at least one-third the fruit destroyed, 

 which is perhaps well, as they bore unusually heavily last year, 

 and promised to improve upon it this. Red Currants are iu the 

 same plight as the Gooseberries — fully a third of the crop de- 

 stroyed, but stUl enough remains for a crop. Black Currants 

 appear to have escaped, the prospect being very cheering. 

 Raspberries have some of the shoots blackened, still no great 

 harm has been done to them ; and as to Strawberries they are 

 not only no worse from a cold spring, but are certainly the 

 better of a wet autumn and winter, and will, from the fulness 

 of the crowns and trusses appearing, be good. 



Altogether northern fruit prospects, notwithstanding the 

 wet, snow, and frost, stand fair for a full average, especially 

 in that most useful national bind the Apple. — Yobkshiee 

 Geeeninq. 



BLOXHOLM HALL, 



THE SEAT OF THE EIGHT HON. E. A. C. N. HAMILTON. 



Mr. Hamilton's name is familiar in garden literature. His 

 position as a large landed proprietor iu Scotland and England, 

 and the high character of the gardening which is carried out 

 at his different establishments, justly entitle him to be in- 

 cluded amongst the patrons of horticulture. His garden in 

 Scotland has been made famous by the high-class practice of 

 Mr. David Thomson and the practical lessons resultant on 

 ornamental gardening. Than Archerfield few gardens occupy 

 a higher position for their superior keeping and for their ad- 

 mitted floral attractiveness. They wr 'e fully described on pages 

 8 and 22, vol. xxviii. If Mr. Hami'l.on'a Scottish establish- 

 ment is typical of the ornamental character of gardening, his 

 English seat at Bloxholm is not less noteworthy for the useful 

 practice which for many years has been carried out by Mr. 

 David Lumsden. It is from Archerfield primarily that Mr. 

 Hamilton is provided with floral decorations, Bloxholm sup- 

 plying the more substantial requirements for his London man- 

 sion. In meeting these requirements Mr. Lumsden's steady 

 aim has been to produce the best hardy fruit and vegetables 

 that were produceable, and the success that he has achieved 

 has won him far more than local fame. In the district in 

 which he has resided for more than a quarter of a century he 

 is held in the highest esteem for his integrity and ability, and 

 in general regard he occupies the same honourable position. 

 Being the first winner of the "Carter" challenge cup, and 

 having second place in the competition next following, he has 

 done more to win that trophy than any other gardener, well 

 as it was won by the present possessor under the changed con- 

 ditions which the great firm found it necessary to adopt. Mr. 

 Lumsden is also a medallist of the other great firm of Messrf. 

 Sutton & Sons, and he holds also the Royal Horticultural 

 Society's medal for the finest collection of Potatoes that has, 

 perhaps, ever been exhibited. A notice of Bloxholm, there- 

 fore, both as being owned by a gentleman who has done so 

 much to encourage practical gardening, and as being managed 

 by a gardener who has achieved more than an ordinary 

 measure of success, can scarcely fail to possess some interest 

 to readers of garden literature. 



Bloxholm is i-ituated in the agricultural county of Lincoln- 

 shire, and is about twelve miles south of the city of Lincoln 

 and five miles north of the clean and thriving town of Slea- 

 ford. The locality of Mr. Hamilton's seat is not picturesque, 

 the country being (generally flat, but the land is fertile and 

 well cultivated. Bloxholm formerly belonged to the Thornton 

 family, one of whom lost it by speculating in the South Sea 



