November 26, 1875. ] 



JOUENAL OF HOETICULTUJRE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



465 



a thick layer of spent gas lime, and in spring dig it well under, 

 and jon will have all the vegetables you can wish." The 

 result was, we had more than we could use and the finest in 

 the country round. 1 allude to Cauliflowers, Cabbages, Carrots, 

 Onions, Beets, Parsnips, &c., and some of which were finer 

 than I have ever seen since. I left the house in the following 

 year, but the suooeeding tenant corroborated some years after 

 what I have now written.— J. C. 



KEEPING GRAPES FEESH. 



The accompanying sketch (fig. 98) is of a tin tube 2 inches 

 diameter at the top and about 8 inches deep, which will hold 

 four bunches of Grapes ; 

 the tube to be filled with 

 water and a few pieces of 

 charcoal. The top of the 

 tube is to be fastened in 

 the centre with copper 

 wire ; the ends of the wire 

 twisted will form a loop 

 to hang the tube from the 

 edge of a shelf or any 

 other method, so that the 

 Grapes may not touch 

 the wall. 



I use email bottles for 

 a single bunch, hung 

 on iron rods with small 

 hooks. The four divi- 

 sions at the top of the 

 tube keep the bunches at 

 equal distances from each 

 other. The bunches to be 

 cut with 7 or 8 inches of 

 wood, 60 that they may 

 not slip out of the tube. 

 — James Cross, 15,Z)eiJo«- 

 sjiire Buildings, Bath. 



Sbashoke Weeds on 

 Garden W.iLKs. — Mr. 

 Eobson, on page 447, 

 makes inquiries for some- 

 thing that will destroy 

 Beaehore weeds on garden 

 walks. If he can conve- 

 niently procure gas water 

 I think it will destroy the 

 weeds thoroughly. I al- 

 ways use it here, and I 

 find it more powerful and lasting in it; 

 destroyer than salt. — M. H., Cole Orion. 



Fig. 98, 



effects as a weed- 



OLLA PODEIDA— A CONTINENTAL TOUR.— No. 7. 



I HAD no idea when I began an account of our short tour on 

 the Continent that it would occupy so much space in the 

 columns of your Journal, and must, in this my concluding 

 paper, apologise to your readers for having been so long in 

 finishing these somewhat desultory remarks, which by the 

 pressure of other matters I have not been able to conclude 

 before. 



It is my intention now to compare (even though, as Mrs. 

 Malaprop said , " comparisons are oderoua ' ') Battersea Park with 

 other parks and gardens abroad. Wishing, while other parks 

 were fresh in my memory, to take a stroll through Battersea 

 Park, I did so a few days after my return to London, and was 

 much pleased with what I then saw. I especially noted as 

 being attractive some varieties of the Fuchsia with ornamental 

 foUage, such as Meteor, Pillar of Gold, &a., which combine 

 both high-coloured foliage and graceful flowers. Mr. Rogers 

 tries new varieties of Pelargoniums, Lobelias, itc, every year, 

 but does not give them a prominent position till well tested. 

 Among the Lobehas on trial were some new varieties from Mr. 

 Henderson : — Charming, Unique, and Defiance of the pumila 

 section — the latter is a lilac somewhat similar to Omen — and 

 Brilliant is a good bright blue of the speciosa kind ; but none 

 of the Lobelias seemed to be better than a selected strain of 

 pumila raised by Mr. Eogers himself, called, I think, maxima 



aznrea. Planted alongside one of the drives were some trial 

 plants of some of Mr. Pearson's best Pelargoniums. Mr. 

 Rogers kindly put himself at my disposal, and mot me near the 

 lodge at the Battersea Eoad station end, and drove me round 

 the principal drives, while wo left the carriage from time to 

 time to see more closely the more interesting part of the parks 

 and gardens. I am not going now at this distance of time, 

 having only made a few cursory notes, to attempt a full descrip- 

 tion of each bed and each design. I only wish to give my 

 general impression of the park. 



Now, first of all, I may observe that in point of position aa 

 well as in the general outline and landscape the park has had 

 much to contend with, and much credit is due to those land- 

 scape gardeners, especi- 

 ally Mr. Gibson, who 

 have so well overcome 

 these natural difficulties. 

 A flat piece of ground 

 with, I believe, hardly a 

 rise or irregularity in it 

 anywhere, lying close 

 along the river, where 

 it had to contend with 

 spring frosts and damp, 

 within reach, too, of the 

 smoke and fogs of Lon- 

 don — these, all gardeners 

 will admit, are certainly 

 difficulties of no slight 

 nature, and yet the re- 

 sult is such that there 

 are some portions, espe- 

 cially the subtropical and 

 more highly-kept parts, 

 which give as much or 

 even more satisfaction to 

 me than almost any gar- 

 dens I know. This result 

 has been accomplished 

 by judicious planting, by 

 careful study of the gene- 

 ral outlines and contours 

 of shrubberies and beds, 

 and in the disposal of the 

 proper trees and shrubs 

 in the right places. The 

 soil which was taken out 

 to form the lake has been 

 used to make raised 

 ground for planting on ; 

 and the subtropical gar- 

 den, which is one of the 

 most ornamental and successful features of the park, is pro- 

 tected by the manner in which these raised banks, carefully 

 planted, protect the more tender plants from winds and weather. 

 I do not say that the park is perfect, but the care with which 

 it is kept, and the variety of plants and shrubs which are to be 

 found, and the advantage which is taken of the different kinds 

 of plants, hardy, alpine, herbaceous, bedding, subtropical, <S:c., 

 each to produce their own effect in their own way, is an agree- 

 able contrast to the want of care and attention in foreign parks 

 and gardens. I do not wish to repeat my former remarks, but 

 in the parks and gardens abroad too much seems to be left to 

 the climate, and too littlo to art and cultivation. 



I do not like at Battersea the attempt at imitating natural 

 rocks with stucco and plaster. No one expects rocks there, 

 and no one is deceived, and to the end of the chapter it will 

 remain a mere mass of concrete, on which Ferns will not 

 grow, and even Ivy will not cling, nor even, I believe, Ampe- 

 lopsis and other plants. It would have been far better, I 

 think, to have made a rockwork of stones and soil disposed 

 irregularly, so as to have given different sites and aspects for 

 Ferns, alpines, &o., and to have studied the habits and re- 

 quirements of the plants, than to have stirred up the wonder 

 and admiration of the Cockneys by sham rocks in concrete. 

 I believe, however, the intention was good, and I do not wish 

 to be over-critical. The ornamental water, too, is still left too 

 flat in its outline, though the general contour is good. 



I am going to have, too, my growl about pincushion beds 

 and carpet bedding ; and here I do not want my remarks to 

 apply to Battersea Park only, where I do not think too much 



