Ttbruiry 12, 1874. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOBTIOULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAEDENER. 



119 



1 think few persons understand what are the requirements 

 Of such a place as Chatsworth, anj the amount of responsibility 

 that rests on the gardener who has to supply the wants of its 

 owners. How few who, admiring the luscious fruits or bril- 

 liant flowers which adorn the tables of our great houses, think 

 of how much the skill and intelligence of one man have been 

 taxed to send them in just at the time that they are wanted. 

 If they want to have an idea of it, then let them go through 

 the long lines of houses contained in this garden — look, too, at 

 the out-door arrangements, and then say whether he who has 

 all this on this on his shoulders has not his work cut out for 

 him. Such were my own reflections on going through house 

 after house in the kitchen garden. Here, for instance, are two 

 houses entirely filled with pot Vines. Here, again, are houses 

 after houses filled with Black Hamburghs, Muscats, and all 



the best kinds of Grapes, among them Mrs. Pince being notice- 

 able and much used by Mr. Speed. The late houses, contain- 

 ing Black Alicante and Lady Downe's, were in line condition. 

 Then we came upon Peach and Nectarine houses, from whence 

 the fruit had all been picked, but the trees with their well- 

 ripened wood promised well for another year. Then we have 

 a Fig house 50 feet long, all the trees being in pots ; then a 

 splendid house of Plums, and so on in every department of 

 fruit-growing. Then as to flowers and plants, the same cm- 

 barnis des riehesses meets one at every turn. Here, for example, 

 is a circular house erected for Amherstia nobilis, that grand 

 and noble paragon of India ; whUe all round the front are fine 

 specimens of Nepenthes, which have been planted out and 

 trained to the glass. Here is N. llalllesiana with its dark 

 green pitchers, and N. sanguinea with blood-red-coloured ones. 



CHATSWORTH.* 



Here, again, hybrida maeulata with pitchers streaked with 

 reddish purple, and others of this strange family. 



Turn we now to the three Orchid houses with such plants of 

 Vanda as are rarely seen, Aerides, Saccolabiums, Phalasnopsis, 

 &a. Another house contains Cypripediums, MUtonias, then 

 another Dendrobiums, Cattleyas, Lielias, &c. ; while trained 

 along the house is Stephanotis floribunda. And now we come 

 upon a fine collection of Sarracenias ; then to a stove filled 

 with fine-foliaged plants for decoration— Crotons, Dracienas, 

 Marantas, and allied plants ; plenty, too, of Palms, which, in 

 their young state especially, are so useful for this purpose. 

 But as I have said, what description can ever give one a correct 

 notion of the grandeur of such a place? It is, however, well 

 to recollect that an intelligent gardener like Mr. Speed is not 

 contented with dealing with grand totals ; he is also conversant 

 with smaller details. Here are two instances : We all know 

 Disa grandiflora is a difficult plant to grow well. I found here, 

 however, a fine specimen, but Mr. Speed told me there was 

 only one position in the house that suited it. He had tried it 

 in others, and it immediately began to droop. This was near 

 to the door in an intermediate house ; here it received the 

 full air, and seemed to rejoice in it. The other instance was 

 Ou\-irandra fenestralis, the curious Madagascar Lattice Plant. 

 Although often grown, how seldom is it grown well ! and since 

 I saw a fine plant of it some years ago at Dangstein I have 



not seen so good a one as here. Now Mr. Speed has ascer- 

 tained three things with regard to it — first, that the tank 

 should be placed close to the north wall of the house ; second, 

 that the plant should be potted deep ; and third, that it should 

 be sprinkled every day. Under these conditions it thrives won- 

 derfully well. One of the most attractive places in the grounds 

 was a long glass corridor, on the back wall of which were 

 trained many fine climbing plants, such as Indigofera decora 

 with pretty lilac-coloured flowers, Clematis .Tackmanni, Rose 

 Mari'chal Niel, Lapageria rosea, Ehynchospermum jasminoides, 

 Cantua dependens ; and here also was a fine plant of the old 

 Fuchsia microphylla, so seldom seen, and so very pretty. In 

 the centre is a grand plant of Camellia reticulata, and another 

 fine one of Alba plena. Adjoining tbn house stands the 

 orangery, which on grand occasions is lighted up and forms a 

 beautiful object. It is 100 feet in length , and filled with Orange 

 trees 15 to 20 feet high. Camellias, tree. Ferns, &o. 



As the Victoria house was the model from whence arose the 

 Crystal Palace, so doubtless the waterworks at Chatsworth 

 suggested the grand display at Sydenham. Far up in the 

 woods when the water is turned on, as it obligingly was by 

 Mr. Speed when I was there, one sees it tumbling down a 

 veritable cascade ; as it comes further down it is made to go 



♦ From a photograph by Mr. Clarke, Photographer, Matlock Bath. 



