Joly 29, 1876. ) 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



89 



ready for use. We are now at the potting bench. Bore a hole 

 through the bench, and put the bolt No. 3 into the model 

 No. 1, and the shank of No. 3 into the hole in the bench; 

 put into the model a lump of the composition, pressing the 

 plug No. i into it, and by holding this with one hand, and 

 turning the model with the other, the shape of the pot is 

 obtained. By pressing the bolt upwards the shield pushes the 

 pot No. 2 out of the mould in a perfect state. 



With a little practice a man and two boya will make a great 

 number of pots in a day. The pots when finished are about a 

 quarter of an inch in thickness. When dried they can be stored 

 the same as are tire-burnt pots, bo that their manufacture can 

 be entered on at any convenient time, and is profitable work 

 in inclement weather. The size given is for Lobelias, Alter- 

 nantheras, Verbenas, and other spring- struck plants which 

 do not long occupy the pots, but of course size can be deter- 

 mined according to the nature of the plants. They are dried 

 in the open air, and in fine weather are ready for use shortly 

 after being made. 



Previous to bedding-out the plants are watered and the pots 

 are planted in the ground — that is, the plants are not turned 

 out. The porous pot absorbs the moisture and becomes soft, 

 and the roots grow through the sides into the surrounding soil. 

 Even when the pota are standing closely together in a frame 

 and are kept moist the roots protrude through the sides. 

 Plants prepared in these pota are found to flourish in all 

 respects as well as do those in the ordinary lire-burnt flower 

 pots. 



It is premature to note the flower gardening at Victoria Park, 

 as the plants are washed out of character by the drenching 

 rains, but there are beautiful combinations which require 

 Btmny weather to perfect them, and which will then rank 

 amongst the fluest examples of modern bedding. 



IN AND OUT OF LEICESTER. 

 A CROAKING old Leicestershire farmer has recited to me the 

 old qnartrain — ■ 



" When the sand doth feed the clay. 

 Then for England weU-a-day ; 

 But when the clay doth feed the Band, 

 Then it is well with England." 



That farmer's laud is heavy and rich, on which in the last 

 century Beans were the staple crop. So extensively were they 

 cultivated that the county was locally known as " Bean-belly 

 Leicester." So largely were they consumed by the population 

 that in the neighbouring counties a proverbial saying was, 

 " If you shake a Leicestershire man you may hear the beans 

 rattle inside of him." 



Bean feasts are said to have been earUest instituted by 

 Leicestershire farmers. They feasted their labourers at the 

 conclusion of the Bean harvest, which being late in autumn 

 the crop is liable to be injured by the wet weather then 

 prevalent, so they rejoiced when all the Beans were in safety. 

 The notoriety of the county for Bean culture ia of many 

 centuries' existence. It has given a name to places and even 

 townships. Bean Hills is a manor; and of Barton-in-the- 

 Beans, Jlr. Burton, the earliest topographer of Leicestershire, 

 says " It is so called of the great store and increase of that 

 grain in this place, yet the old shire yieldeth great abundance 

 of Peaa and Beans more than any other county, insomuch 

 that there ia a common byeword of the same, commonly known 

 to all men — namely, ' Leicestershire bean-belly !'" 



I have seen an average acreage of Beans this year about 

 Leicester, and they and Oata are the only seed crops that have 

 not suffered by the heavy and continued rains, yet I do not 

 arrive at the croaking farmer's anticipation that the light-land 

 crops must be superior in produce to those on the heavy. A 

 few windy days and a hot dry fortnight now will restore an 

 upright position to most of the prostrated grain crops. Then, 

 all along the eastern margin of the northern counties I can 

 attest that in the three first weeks of .Taly there was no excess 

 of rain, and a letter before me tells the same of Scotland, and 

 that much of the hay has been secured without a shower on 

 it. Potatoes in the same localities are abundant and healthy. 



Abundance of Bean blossoms may have suggested and been 

 one of the sources which supplied the honey the Anglo-Saxon 

 monarchs claimed from the town of Leicester, which " Domes- 

 day Book" tells was fifteen sesterces annually. 



A short and pleasant walk led to the rain of Leicester Abbey, 

 and he must know little of England's history during the Tudor 

 period who, as he looks upon the ruin, has not cadled to his 



remembrance the words of the fallen Wolsey to the monks— 

 " I am come to lay my bones among you." No man is with- 

 out some good qualities, and among those of Wolsey was his 

 encouragement of gardening. A contemporary versifier repre- 

 sents the Cardinal as saying — 



" My gardens sweete are closed with walles Btrong, 

 Embanked with benches to sit and take my rest. 

 The knotts so enknottod it cannot be espresB'd; 

 "With arbors and allies, 80 pleasant and so dolce. 

 The pestilent airs with flavors to repulee." 



In tracing Wolsey's career I have gathered many other notes 

 illustrative of the circumstances of those days. Even his 

 expenses are records of prices. Chickens were 2s. a dozen, 

 pigeons 15d. for the same number, a peck of Filberts Is., one 

 hundred Pears the same money, a goose Id., one hundred 

 WaLnuta 2(i., three Cabbages 2d., and Grapes, herbs, Onions, 

 salt, and sauce, quantities not specified, 2s. 



I had no leisure for searching after plants Dr. Pulteney, the 

 well-known botanist, tells of being found near the Abbey, nor 

 to visit Mount Soar-HiU where he was born, but I have read 

 his notes in the " Philosophical Transactions " on " The more 

 rare plants of Leicestershire." He died on the 13th of October, 

 1801, and was buried at the village of Langton in Dorset- 

 Bhire, but a memorial tablet in the church of Blandford, where 

 he practised as a physician, bears the appropriate portrait of 

 his commemorative plant, the Pultentea, and beneath it this 

 inscription : — " This tablet is erected in memory of Richard 

 Pulteney, M.D., F.R.S., who, after thirty-six years residence 

 in this town died on the 13th of October, 1801, aged seventy- 

 one. That modesty for which he was remarkable through life 

 forbad any eulogium on his tomb ; but he will long be re- 

 membered with gratitude and affection both as a physician 

 and as a friend ; and with the truest reverence and sorrow by 

 EUzabeth his afflicted widow, daughter of John and Elizabeth 

 Galton, of Sbapwick, Dorset." He bequeathed legacies to 

 various institutions, his museum to the Linnean Society, but 

 the chief part of his library was sold by auction in 1802. His 

 MS. " Flora " is in the Leicester Museum. — G. 



ROSES. 



I HAVE bloomed St. George and Souvenir de John Gould 

 Veitch since I last wrote ; they are both high-coloured and 

 excellent. The first is nicely scented, which cannot be said of 

 the new Rosea generally. The finest-scented Rose, and the 

 finest of all Roses lately raised, is Louis Van Houtte (La- 

 charme) and Baron Chaurand. The scent of these Roses is 

 equal to the Teas ; the last I think is superior in scent to moat 

 of the Teas. It does splendidly on the seedling Briar. I have 

 grown some noble specimens of it. I shall buy twenty more of 

 it on the seedling ISriar. I do not think it does well on the 

 Manetti. I must now thank M. Lacharme for raising these 

 fine Roses — Charles Lefebvre, Alfred Colomb, Louis Van 

 Houtte, and Madame Melanie Willermoz ; they are all first-rate. 



These also are good — Victor Verdier and Baron Adolphe de 

 Rothschild. The next is very curious, Auguste Vacher; the 

 base is deep fulvous gold, and the tips of the petals pure bright 

 copper. If he raises no more he will have done enough. I 

 hear well of his Roae Gapitaine Christy. I have bought his 

 Rose Souvenir du Baron de Semur. 



I am glad Mr. Peach suggested the affixing of the names of 

 the raisers. I will not buy unless I see the raiser's name. 

 Seeing Lacharme's name I bought the last Rose, and because 

 we want more high-coloured Roses. Baron de Semur and Star 

 and Queen of Waltham are the only novelties that X have 

 bought this spring. — W. F. RADCLyFFE. 



CUTTINGS. 



Do we not make serious mistakes about the best time for 

 putting in cuttings ? Take the case of Roses. The usual time 

 is to put the cuttings in about October or November. I am of 

 opinion that July is a far better time. When the plants are 

 full of organisable matter cuttinga will callua sooner, ana_ if 

 other circumstances are favourable roots will be more readily 

 produced than later on when the plants are going to rest. 

 Recently I have been trying the experiment, and though it is 

 too early to express a positive opinion, I have seen enough to 

 induce me to pen this note with a view to encourage others to 

 try the experiment at once, and to report the results. 



It is well known that Pansy cuttings put in as early aa 

 possible root almost to a certainty. Pipings of Pinks, &c., if 

 put in as soon as they can be obtained are far more likely to 



