52 



;fOUENAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ July 15, 1875. 



atmosphere can be maintained in it. In the passage leading 

 to the conservatory a border has been formed which is planted 

 with Lapngeria rosea and L. alba, with Tea Rose Mareohal Niel 

 to be trained overhead. The internal arrangement is unique 

 in its way. There is a background of artificial rock and water 

 falling over it ; this has been planted with Filmy Ferns, such 

 as Todea superba and pellucida. The Killarney Fern also 

 luxuriates in quiet nooks. On prominent positions on the 

 rockwork Yuccas, Ferns, Palms, Cordylines, Dasylirions, &c., 

 have been planted, and in a few years they will cover the 

 rugged rock, and the effect may be imagined. The plants in 

 the centre are arranged in two large beds, and you can walk 

 round and examine the plants in detail. The side stages are 

 formed of ornamental ironwork and slates covered with broken 

 shells. 



Passing out of the conservatory into the arcade we reach a 

 warmer house, wliere are some handsome foliage plants. 

 Cycas circinalis is magnificent, which, by the way, formed one 

 in the first-prize collection exhibited at Regent's Park last 

 month. Mr. Donald also grows the Fountain Plant of India 

 (Croton angustifolium), better than most gardeners; it requires 

 plenty of light, and to be kept free from red spider. Another 

 house devoted to Ferns, and then we pass into the kitchen 

 garden, which contains, besides the usual forcing houses, 

 vineries, Peach houses, pineries. Cucumber houses, &c., a plant 

 Btove and a cool house with a north aspect for retarding plants. 

 This last is a lean-to, and without such a house it is difiicult 

 to preserve plants in bloom for a length of time. The stove 

 is a large span-roofod structure in two compartments, contain- 

 ing the usual selection of stove plants. Stephanotis flori- 

 bunda and Dipladenia boliviense are cultivated in pots, but 

 the growths are trained to the roof to be trained round a 

 trellis to form specimens when the flowers begin to open. The 

 Dipladouia is a very pretty species, quite distinct in the colour 

 of its flowers, which are white with a pale yellow throat ; they 

 are also very freely produced. 



TEACH HODSE. 



This is a Isan-to, and the trees are trained in the old- 

 fashioned way to a trellis of horizontal wires fixed to the 

 rafters ; they were in good health and bearing a very heavy 

 crop of fruit. Royal George, Teton de V^nus, and Noblesse 

 are the eorte Mr. Donald considers best for forcing. 



VINEKIES. 



The first is a house devoted to Black Hamburgh, the Vines 

 trained on the short-spur system, and bearing a heavy crop of 

 fruit. There is also a large crop in the Muscat house. The next 

 is'a late house planted with Lady Downe's, but the fruit had 

 not set very well. Lady Downe's requires a little attention when 

 the bunches are in flower, and a temperature of 70' at night. 

 There is a remarkable plant of Chasselas Musquu in this 

 house. Although on its own roots it grows as freely as a Ham- 

 burgh ; the bunches and berries are more like those of the 

 Royal Vineyard than the FrontignanB,to which class Chaseelas 

 Musque belongs. Peaches and Apricots on the wall are a 

 heavy crop, and the trees are in good health. 



THE KITCHEN GARDEN 



Is well cropped, but there is only space to notice the Lettuce, 

 which attracts attention as you stand in front of the vineries ; 

 the variety is All the Year Round. President, Mr. Donald 

 considers the best Strawberry. At the time of our visit it 

 was the great local flower show. Mr. Barclay very kindly 

 allows the Committee of the Leyton, Woodford, &c., flower 

 and fruit Show to hold their Exhibition in his grounds, and 

 his kindness and consideration are also shown to the gardeners 

 and visitors from a distance by substantially providing for 

 their comfort, an act of kindness which is duly appreciated by 

 them. — J. Douglas, 



CANTEKBUKY BELLS. 



Amongst the most telling and beautiful border flowers are 

 these gay Campanulas. The white is pure, the blue rich, and 

 the rosy pink-tinted varieties are particularly attractive. 



The strain, the flowers of which possess coloured calyxes, is 

 a great acquisition, as affording a greater mass of colour and 

 also of longer continuance than the normal varieties. 



This is admirably adapted for conservatory decoration, as 

 affording a mass of colour which is always welcome in glass 

 structures; indeed, than fine plants of Campanula media 

 ealycauthema nothing can well be more distinct and attractive. 



Seed should be sown at once, and be encouraged to germinate 



quickly. It is best sown thinly in pans, to be placed in a 

 frame, and have shade and water. If sown in the open garden, 

 and dry weather sets in, the plants may not attain a size 

 sufficient to bloom well. The seedlings should be transplanted 

 in good soil in the open garden where they may remain all the 

 winter, but it is as well to pot in the autumn those required 

 for indoor decoration, and winter them in cold frames, when 

 a somewhat earlier bloom will be obtained. 



It is only recommended that the seed be sown in pans be- 

 cause of the late period of the year. It should properly have 

 been sown a month ago in the open ground. Experience, 

 however, has proved that if sown at the present time as above 

 directed, beautiful plants will be produced which will contri- 

 bute a rich efl'ect in either the conservatory or garden. 



The extended culture of these Campanulas is strongly re- 

 commended, and those who procure seed at once will eventually 

 have a return more than commensurate with the trifling out- 

 lay and little care required to produce a supply of plants. But 

 time is on the wing, and there must be no delay in sowing the 

 seed. — Amateur. 



NOTES AND GLEANINGS. 

 In reference to the Fruit Crop of this season, Mr. Francis 

 Dancer of Little Sutton, one of the largest growers in the 

 neighbourhood of London, says, "We are propping up our 

 trees in all directions." 



An important discovery has been made by Mr. Worth- 



ington G. Smith in connection with the Potato disease. That 

 gentleman has found that the same fungus which produces 

 the murrain from which the Potato has been suffering during 

 the last forty years is the same as that which produces 

 the " curl " or "new disease" with which we are at present 

 threatened with a recurrence. The only difference is that in 

 tubers affected by the curl Mr. Smith has found the " resting- 

 spore" which he never before detected in those aft'ected by the 

 murrain. The difference between the two diseases is the Mur- 

 rain is the result of the fungus attacking the leaves and haulm 

 after the tubers have been fully, or nearly so, grown ; and the 

 Curl is the efl'ect of its attack on the collar of the plant before 

 it has made much growth, and before the tubers have attained 

 any size. In consideration of this discovery the Royal Horti- 

 cultural Society at the Scientific Committee, of which Mr. 

 Smith first announced the result of his investigations, have 

 through the Council awarded him a Gold Medal as a reward 

 of merit. 



At a Committee Meeting held at the Horticultural 



Club House on Wednesday the 7th inst., T. E. Barlett, Esq., 

 of Penneil Court, Aylesbury, and Wentworth Buller, Esq., of 

 Exeter and Clifford Street, were elected members of the Com- 

 mittee ; and the following gentlemen balloted for and admitted 

 as members of the Club : Professor Dyer, Dr. James H. Bennet, 

 Dr. Denny, Dr. Stiles, Messrs. W. E. Dixon, Wm. Marshall, 

 J. T. McCullum, J. A. Anderson, Burnaby Atkins, G. F. Barrell, 

 Robert Veitch, and E. R. Cutler. 



■ We understand that Messrs. Sutton & Sons' extensive 



Royal Museum of Agricultural Products is being exhibited 

 at the Great Agricultural Show at Taunton. 



The Horticultural Show in Bukghlby Park in con- 

 nection with the Northamptonshire Agricultural Society's 

 Meeting on the 15th and 16th September next, bids fair to be 

 on an extensive scale. The schedules of prizes, and also those 

 for cottagers, are issued, and may be had on application to the 

 Secretaries. P. McKinlay, Esq., of Woodbine House, Becken- 

 ham, Kent, has presented four prizes of £1 10a., £1, 10s., 

 and 53. for six varieties of Potatoes, six of each sort, to be 

 grown and exhibited by cottagers. 



Y'ou have informed the readers of the Journal of Hor- 

 ticulture that a special Rose Show would be held at Lyons on 

 the 11th, 12th, and 13th of June. Rose-growers and amateurs 

 who know that the best Roses in their collections have been 

 raised at Lyons must have been waiting with anxiety the 

 report of that Exhibition, particularly on account of the new 

 seedlings. Unfortunately the Rose Show required the authorisa- 

 tion of our Prefect, which was refused. — Jean Sisley, Lyons. 



We have received from Mr. Murray Mr. Darwin's aew 



work on "Insectivorous Plants," a subject which has of late 

 engaged the attention of scientific observers and excited the 

 curiosity of the public generally. In such hands as Mr. Dar- 

 win's we expect to find the subject treated in the masterly 

 manner in which that great naturalist always does whatever 



