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JOURNAL OF HOETICULTDBE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ September 30, 187E. 



employers to the uttermost of their ability. To be good eer- 

 vants in every sense is the shortest road to gain the confidence 

 and admiration of employers. To do right is the way to be 

 happy. No one need fear that his virtues will not be found 

 out or appreciated. Employers are well able to estimate a 

 servant's character and worth. Tact, tamper, and a disposi- 

 tion to serve are estimable qualities. With these and even a 

 moderate share of ability gardeners will not fail to satisfy 

 their employers, who seldom complain without occasion, and 

 often abstain from complaining when there is occasion for it. 

 If a gentleman should see anything wrong, why should he not 

 mention it ? And if he does mention it, why should the gar- 

 dener unwisely retaliate by the use of immoderate language ? 

 Calm reason is always more effective than extravagant passion. 

 In the duties of life mistakes are often made, and, what is 

 ■worse, are attempted to be hidden. The very confession of a 

 mistake made in a transparent manner is an honourable trait 

 in any man's character ; and he who has the courage, prompted 

 by a sense of right, to frankly admit an error is sure to win 

 confidence, and in the end success. Be careful in forming 

 friendships and social connections. In this matter much 

 caution is needed, as an improper connection, or a connection 

 formed at an improper time, is almost more than anything 

 else calculated to mar the prospects of a man whose profes- 

 sional attainments and diligence would otherwise eventually 

 secure him an honourable position in life. — A. Pettigkew. 



GEOWING LAEGE STEAWBEEEIES. 



Mt reply to a correspondent on this matter is that, in order 

 to grow anything large, whether Strawberries, Grapes, or 

 Pumpkins, the stock must be had from a vigorous strain to 

 begin with. That is a point of the first importance, and one 

 that is not so fully recognised as, with advantage, it might be. 

 The nest condition is, that to produce extraordinary specimens 

 of a given fruit the soil and locality must be naturally suited 

 for the growth of that fruit, and to this must be added the 

 best assistacce that art can give. 



The Strawberries alluded to were the produce of one-year- 

 old plants. Early runners were taken from the plants of ex- 

 ceptional vigour, and layered in pots in May ; these were 

 potted into 5-inch pots in June, and generously treated for 

 forcing. They were so fine that a portion were repotted into 

 8-inch pots on August Ist, and were well tended. They were 

 eventually planted out in strong rich soil 3 feet deep, and 

 regularly watered with sewage. The fruit was thinned-out, 

 and the crop was remarkably fine. 



Early runners layered in pots and generously cultivated 

 invariably produce larger fruit the first season than is produced 

 from two-year-old plants. The fruit from one-year plants is, 

 however, not so numerous, and the gross weight of the crop 

 may not be so great as the crop of the second year. — F. G. 



HALF AN HOUE AT CYFAETHFA CASTLE. 



Ctfakthfa Castle, the seat of R. T. Crawshay, Esq., is 

 within a few minutes' walk of the centre of Mertbyr Tydvil, 

 overlooking one of the largest iron works in South Wales, where 

 the air is black with soot and smoke by day, and by night of a 

 continuous red glare from the flames of its multitude of forge 

 chimneys ; yet here amidst so much that is detrimental to 

 fruit-growing Grapes are grown by the ton. This is no exag- 

 geration, for we found in one house upwards of seven hundred 

 bunches of Canon Hall Muscat, grand in bunch and berry, and 

 of that rich golden yellow that speaks truthfully of high 

 flavour. If we only put them down at 2 lbs. each, though the 

 greater part would be double that weight, we would have in 

 this house alone more than half a ton. 



In another house Gros Guillaume at once struck the eye, 

 with its leviathan bunches ; not one here and another there, 

 but all the way up the rods and all over the end of the house. 

 There are twelve Vines, I think, of it; these bunches would 

 weigh 5 lbs. on an average, and only require a few days' more 

 sun to finish them off perfectly. Since then (the first week in 

 September) we have had beautiful weather here in the north ; 

 in fact, September has been the only fine summer month we 

 have had. In another house Madresfield Court was equally 

 fine, but the greater part was cut. Black Hamburgh was all 

 cut, with the exception of a few odd banches, which just 

 showed what they had been — beautifully bloomed, hammered, 

 and coloured. 



In a span-roofed Fig hoase the Figs are planted out in a 



centre bed, and grown in gigantic bushes 9 or 10 feet high by 

 as much through ; these are ripening their second crop. On 

 each side of this house, the pots standing on a narrow stage, 

 were pot Vines trained over the pathway, one side contain- 

 ing those for next year's fruiting, and the others in fruit, 

 each Vine carrying from IG lbs. to 20 lbs. of Grapes. Eight 

 bunches were the rule, and a regular rule it was, for there was 

 little to chooso in any of them, and as black as they could be 

 for a thick covering of bloom. The chief variety was Alicante, 

 and, judging from results, there is no better one for pot culture. 

 In a small vinery we ijassed through was a rod of Duke of 

 Buccleuch, which did not at all look promising, and was 

 thought little of at Cyfarthfa. 



Pines are grown very extensively, there being upwards of 

 three thousand plants in various stages of growth, a hundred 

 ripe Pine Apples being required for every Christmas. One pit 

 upward of 100 feet long was filled with odd plants which threw 

 up between the main lots here, and my guide said, " We can 

 cut a Pine any day of the year." They certainly looked like 

 it, for there were Pines in all stages of fruiting from showing 

 to ripe. 



Stone fruit was nearly all gathered, just a few late Peaches 

 and Nectarines only being left, but the foliage and wood looked 

 quite able to rank as high as the Grapes in their season. It 

 is, however, impossible to do justice to all in the short time 

 that I had to look round this little town of glass structures. 



There are eleven vineries, some of them very large, four 

 Pine stoves, nine succession Pine pits. Fig house, three large 

 Peach houses, two Peach cases 300 feet each, Apricot cases 

 same length, and Melon pits. 



But fruit is not all that is grown at Cyfarthfa, for at a 

 little distance from the fruit houses, nearer the Castle were the 

 plant houses, five in number, with pits hot and cold. The 

 plant houses are roomy span-roof structures. The inter- 

 mediate house is very lofty and large, containing tree Ferns, 

 Palms, &c., one very fine Latania borbonica being as much as 

 four men could move. In the stove are very large plants of Cro- 

 tons variegatnm and angustifolium 8 feet through and as much 

 in height, Alocasia macrorhiza variegata some 12 inches rotmd 

 the stem and the foliage large and beautifully variegated, 

 Bougainvillea glabra bract stems 18 inches long, AUamanda 

 and Stephanotis in equally fine condition ; but I was a little 

 too late to see this department at its best, the plants having 

 returned from the last show of the season about a fortnight 

 before. If Mr. Crawshay should allow them to extend their 

 showing radius we shall hear more of Cyfarthfa, its fruit and 

 plants. In the New Holland house was Erica Massoni major 

 in rude health and full of flower, and a pair of very fine Yuccas. 

 But it struck me the large specimen Ericas, &c., were old, and 

 their places will be better fiUed in a year or two by the younger 

 specimens on the side shelves. 



But to do justice to Cyfarthfa would require both more 

 time and a better pen than mine. However, a slight idea will 

 have been given of the good things to be found in this out-of- 

 the-way yet well-managed place. — T. W. 



BEES AND PEACHES. 



When a few weeks ago I saw it stated in the Journal that 

 bees devoured Peaches I smiled incredulously, and said to 

 myself " That is clearly a mistake, and you must look else- 

 where for the robbers." When I state that for thirty years 

 I have been a Peach-grower in places abounding with bees, 

 and that I have never seen a Peach touched by them, you will, 

 I trust, admit that I had reason on the side of my mistrust; 

 but, alas ! the awakening. 



In the beginning of this year I went to a new situation, 

 where Peaches had not hitherto been much cultivated. Peach- 

 growing is one of my specialities, and I had a beautiful crop, 

 of which I was very proud. One day a swarm of bees alighted 

 in my garden. I made inquiries but failed to find an owner ; 

 so, having hived them, I kept them. I am sorry to say they 

 have turned and stung the hand which saved them, and that, 

 too, in its most vulnerable part. Last week I found that my 

 prided crop of Peaches was ruined, and I had to take them oS 

 for preserving, or whatever else use could be made of the 

 halves which were left. They were literally worried, and as 

 I swept the bees off they fell to the ground helpless, com- 

 pletely surfeited, and unable to fly from the place. The 

 destruction was little less complete than the destruction I 

 afterwards made of the bees, and I guarantee that it is the 

 last hive which will find a resting-flnis in my garden. I 



