246 



JOUENAl OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GABDENEB. 



[ September 16, 1876. 



Mr. Goodhall and Mr. Simpson, Wortley. For single bunches 

 of Lady Downea', Mr. Erunton and Mr. Mclntyre, Kingsmuir. 

 For Muscat of Alexandria, Mr. Goodhall and Mr. Stalker; and 

 for any other Black, Mr. Brunton and Mr. Mclntyre. 



For the silver cup offered by James Boyd & Sons for six varie- 

 ties are three splendid collections, Mr. Stewart, Innerleithen, 

 being successful. The Grapes, of which there are about 450 

 bunches, are a grand exhibition in themselves. For collections 

 of fruit (sixteen varieties), the winners are Mr. Johnson, Mr. 

 Stewart, and Mr. Ingram, Alnwick Castle. Twelve varieties, 

 Mr. Upjohn, first; Mr. Dickson, Mount MelvUle, second; and 

 Mr. Cooke, Holeyn Hall, third. Twelve varieties, Mr. Eobert- 

 son and Mr. Shand are successful. These collections are very 

 fine. 



Peaches are an admirable display of (for twelve), twenty-six 

 competitors. The winners are Mr. Leyden, Whitehill ; Mr. 

 Donald, Kinfauns Castle; Mr. Brown, Birkwood, and Mr. Jack, 

 Battle Abbey. For six fruits, Mr. Brand, Courtou House, first; 

 Mr. Sharp, Pitfour Castle, second; and Mr. Brown, third. 



Nectarines, for twelve (twenty competitors), small, except 

 winners, Mr. McLean, Gosford, first ; Mr. Jack, second ; Mr. 

 Louden, Qninta, third ; and Mi-. Speiis, fourth. For six fruits, 

 Mr. Cooke, first; Mr. Fowler, Springfield, second; and Mr. 

 McLean, third. 



Apricots (small), Mr. Gibson, Vogrie, is first; Mr. Harper, 

 Dundas Castle, second; and Mr. Thomson, Alnwick, third. 



Pines are not numerous, bat very fall. For two Smooth 

 Cayennes the awards go to Mr. Stewart, The Glen, Innerleithen, 

 and Mr. Ingram, Alnwick Castle. For Charlotte Rothschild 

 Mr. Miles, Wycombe Abbey, has the premier award. For 

 Queens Mr. Sancford, Underley Hall, and Mr. Ingram stand 

 in the order named. Mr. Stewart also exhibits nine fine fruit 

 of splendid quality. 



Melons are an excellent show. Of forty fruit, Green-flesh, 

 Mr. Mansell, St. Leonard's Park, is first; Mr. Weir, Kirse 

 House, second ; and Mr. McFarlane, King's Meadows, third. 

 Scarlet-fleshed, Mr. Methven, Blytheswood, first; and Mr. 

 Kettles, Archerfield, third. 



Of baking Apples there are fifty very fine collections, Messrs. 

 Cocks & Co., Donnington, taking first honours. They are also 

 first for heaviest Apples. The winners in dessert Apples are 

 Mr. Calton, Mr. Kerr, and Mr. Jones. 



Of Pears (very fine) there are twenty collections of twelve 

 sorts, the winners being Mr. Ingram, Alnwick; Mr. Smith, 

 Bargauy; and Mr. Anderson, Oxenford Castle. For Jargonelles 

 Mr. Brunton is first ; Mr. Patter, second ; and Mr. Goodhall third. 

 Successful for this fruit also are Messrs. Dickson, McLean, 

 Pairgrieve, Barry, and Mitchell. 



For Bananas Mr. Fortune, Castlemilk, is first, and Mr. Brown, 

 Kilmaroon, second. For collections of tropical fruit Mr. Leslie, 

 Munches, is first, and Mr. Brown second. 



Gooseberries and Currants are splendid. Messrs. Brown, 

 McFarlane, and Beeck being the principal prizetakers. 



Veitch's memoral m-dals and prizes were awarded to Mr 

 Beid for the best bunch of Black (Mrs. Pince) Grapes, Mr. John- 

 son for the best Mutcat of Alexandria, and Mr. Carror for Cala- 

 briau Raisin. To Mr. Shearer, Grassmonnt, for the best Orchid, 

 Mr. Mathieson for the best stool, and Mr. Todd for the best 

 greenhouse plant. 



Plants are numerous and fine, Mr. Patterson, Milbank, taking 

 the principal prize for ten specimens, Mr. Todd being second. 



PORTKAITS OF PLANTS, FLOWERS, and FRUITS. 



DioK EDULE. Nat. Old., Cycadaeeai. Lhm , Dicecia Dode- 

 candria. — " For greenhouse decoration this remarkable Cyoad 

 is at once the most easily cultivated, efiective, and on account 

 of the flatness of its rigid frond, the most easily of its class 

 kept free of that pest of Cycads, the scale insect. It is a 

 native of Mexico, where it is said to be found in various pro- 

 vinces, and has been in cultivation since 1843, when it was 

 brought from that country by a Mrs. Lavater, who presented a 

 plant to the Horticultural Society. 



" Dion edule has been cultivated at Kew almost ever since 

 its introduction into Europe, and thrives both in the cool end 

 of the Palm house and in the octagon of the temperate house, 

 forming a trunk "> to 4 feet high and 8 to 10 inches in diameter. 

 The spread of the crown is 8 to 10 feet, and contains as many 

 as fifty fronds, each 4 to 5 feet in length and 6 to 1) inches in 

 breadth. Both sexea cone frequently, the male cone varying 

 from 9 to 12 inches in length, the female from 7 to 12 inches. 



" The seeds of Dion are eaten by the Mexicans, both the 

 fleshy testa and the albumen, which latter in other Cycadese is 

 full of a starch that affords an excellent arrowroot." — (Bot. 

 Mag., t. G184.) 



PniuuLi Pakryi. Nat. ord., Primulscere. Linn., Pentan. 

 dria Monogynia. — Flowers reddifh purple. " Except perhaps 

 the P. japonioa this is the handeomest Primrose -ever intro- 



duced into this country. It was discovered about 1800 in the 

 Rocky Mountains of the Colorado district, always on the bor- 

 ders of alpine streams near the snow line, floweiing in July, 

 where it gives the name of " Primrose Creek " to one of the 

 affluents of the Colorado River, in about lat 'AT N. Since 

 that peiiod it has been discovered commonly in alpine and 

 sub-alpine spots in Nevada, in the E. Humboldt range. Clover 

 Mountains, Gray's Peak, and Mount Lincoln, ascending to 

 13,000 feet altitude. Primula Parryi was raised and flowered 

 by Messrs. Backhouse of York in May of the present year." — 

 (Ibid., t. G185.) 



PRUNING FIG TREES. 

 When Figs are grown in heat, and those sorts selected which 

 bear only an autumnal crop, it has been recommended to cut 

 the trees into shape at the end of the season, as they will 

 break in the spring from dormant buds. It takes time, how- 

 ever, for these dormant buds to rouse themselves, and I find 

 it better practice to cut-back the shoots to two leaves as soon 

 as they become denuded of fruit. These leaves will remain on 

 another month, and will employ their time in forming a bud 

 in the axil of the upper one. Thus considerable advantage is 

 gained in the spring. If any shoots do not show fruit in 

 summer after having been pinched they are cut-back at once, 

 and make either strong buds or fresh shoots. In the autumn 

 I like to seo on the trees a few stubby shoots which have never 

 been stopped, and have a natural terminal bud. These in 

 spring start first and excite the roots, which in their turn 

 stimulate the other parts of the tree. — G. S. 



OLDLANDS HALL, 



THE SEAT OF ALEXANDER NISBETT, ESQ. 



Between the readers and writers of the Journal a vein of 

 sympathy exists to a more than ordinary extent. It is not 

 easy to determine why it is so, but the fact has been demon- 

 strated in a hundred ways. A contributor to the pages of this 

 paper has only to make himself known wherever he may be, 

 and shelter and hospitality is offered him, and he is made, 

 like the publication which has preceded him, a welcome guest. 

 Probably this feeling is engendered by the fact which is ever 

 manifest, that there is a willingness on the part of all who 

 essay to do so, to convey information in a manner to be the 

 most useful to the recipients, sparing neither time or details, 

 however simple these may be, in accomplishing what is the 

 mutual desire of both. 



I am about to he the medium of making one whose name is 

 familiar still better known, if possible, to the many who have 

 profited by the details of his practice, who have been stimu- 

 lated by his precepts, or interested by the happy expression of 

 his communications. Mr. Luckhurst has frequently shown 

 himself in the Journal, I will now try to show Mr. Luckhurst 

 at home. 



His home is in a wood on the confines of a wUd forest in 

 Sussex, and one has only to see what he has done and fraternise 

 with him in the discussion of congenial topics to find that he 

 is one of the most able and accomplished gardeners of the 

 day. In five years by extraordinary perseverance and a com- 

 bating of difficulties and overcoming them he has converted 

 a poison-impregnated soil, a worse than a wild waste, into a 

 garden of extraordinary productiveness. The walls, which 

 have only been built within the time mentioned, are — at least 

 the south wall — covered with Peaches and Nectarines from 

 base to apex, with not one insect on the trees, but thousands 

 of fruit. The ground, which then would not grow Potatoes, 

 Globe Artichokes, nor even Horseradish, owing to its impreg- 

 nation of iron, is now growing Raspberry canes 8 to 10 feet 

 in height and other crops in the same order of luxuriance. I 

 can say it, as the results of no inconsiderable experience with 

 gardeners and their duties, that not many men could have 

 done what Mr. Luckhurst has done at Oldlands in so thorough 

 and systematic a manner. The work that he has been called 

 upon to do, and has done it in a manner to secure the appro- 

 bation and confidence of an able and critical employer, is a 

 proof that something more than donning a blue apron, potting 

 a plant, and using a garden implement are amongst the re- 

 quirements of a skilled gardener. Young men may well note 

 what has here been done, and the way it has been done, and 

 judge how far they are able to carry out similar duties which 

 they may be called on to perform. 



First, then, it is noted that five years ago the place was a 



