ENGLISH HOETICULTUEAL NOTES 



BY THE EIDITOR. 



IT was no small privilege to visit Hamp- 

 ton Court and see that immense 

 Black Hamburg grape vine which is 

 famous the world over, and to have the old 

 gardener, Mr. Jack, point out its character- 

 istics. The old man has been nineteen 

 years in the service, and now is pensioned, 

 with the vine as his special care. 



" How large is the vine in circumfer- 

 ence ?" we enquired. " At one foot from 

 the ground it measures four feet." 



" I have heard that you sometimes take 

 one ton of grapes from it in a single sea- 

 son. Is that true?" "Possibly it has 

 yielded that much in a single season, but I 





Fig. 2661. Avenue'of Wych Elms at Hampton Court. 



do not permit it as a rule. It often sets 

 about 3,000 bunches, but I remove about 

 half of them to economise the vigor of the 

 vine." 



The great Wisteria at Hampton Court 

 was quite as remarkable as the grape vine. 

 It was brought from China about 1818, so 

 that it is now over 80 years old, and proba- 

 bly the first one ever introduced into Eng- 

 land. It now covers a wall thirty feet long 

 and at least twelve feet high, and measures 

 six feet in circumference around the base. 

 It was in full bloom when we saw it, and 

 made a magnificent display. 



The avenue of Wych elms, probably 

 planted by Cardinal Wolseley, who built 

 Hampton Court in 1568, is another horti- 

 cultural curiosity. These trees are annu- 

 ally pruned in such a way that they never 

 increase in height, having once arched the 

 pathway. 



It is not quite clear, says the Gardening 

 World, why the avenue of wych elms, with 

 their interlacing branches, should have be- 

 come known as Queen Mary's Bower. 

 That it was formed prior to the building of 

 the new state rooms there can be no doubt, 

 for Evelyn, in an entry dated June 9, 1662, 

 says : " The cradel wolk of hornbeame in 

 the garden is, for the perplexed twining of 

 the trees, very observable." Evelyn was 

 mistaken as to the kind of tree with which 

 the avenue or bower was formed. The 

 branches are no longer allowed to interlace, 

 but are annually pruned in the manner 

 shown in the accompanying illustration. 

 The growths, however, meet during the 

 summer, and form a delightfully cool re- 

 treat. The walk is one hundred yards long 

 and twelve feet wide, and the trees are 

 twenty feet high. 



