504 



TEE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[NoVEMBEK &, 1888. 



fruit. Royal George and Grosse Mignonne are con- 

 sidered two of the best. A-bec is found to be rather 

 a shy bearer. Nectarine Peach is a good late variety, 

 and hangs a long time after ripening. Several other 

 sorts are grown, but those named have proved them- 

 selves to be the best. 



Peaches outdoors are carrying good crops, but on 

 account of the sunless season it is feared the fruits 

 will not ripen. Amongst Nectarines, Humboldt and 

 Pine-apple are the most favoured sorts. 



At the end of this range is one of the oldest 

 Marechal Niel Roses in England. An account of it 

 appeared in this journal some six or seven years 

 since, but on account of building operations, its roots 

 were obliged to be cut and confined to a small space, 

 so that this old favourite is not now seen in its former 

 splendour. 



"We noted some good Muscat Grapes, that deserve 

 more than a passing notice. The Vines are about 

 thirty years old, and two years since Mr. John 

 Lambert, the gardener lifted them. Their roots 

 were tied up in damp mats for two days and 

 nights, in order to put in a new bottom to the 

 border. Nearly all the old Vine border was used again, 

 fresh cut loam being unobtainable. In the Muscat 

 class at Shrewsbury show this year, Grapes from these 

 Vines secured Mr. Lambert first honours, showing, 

 therefore, the complete success of the operation. 



Pears are a favourite fruit, a good collection being 

 grown. Young cordons are kept, being planted in 

 preference to trained trees on walls. 



Vegetable culture is well carried out here, Mr. 

 Lambert gaining the much-coveted Veitch Memorial 

 Medal and prize of £5 at Shrewsbury, thirteen com- 

 peting in the class. He has also taken the 1st prizes 

 in the vegetable classes at Liverpool for seven years. 

 Gardeners in Proud Salopia, as it is called, have not 

 such a " rosy " time of it as those in the South ; in- 

 deed, with them it is often a case of gardening under 

 difficulties. Carrots, Parsnips, and such roots are 

 fully three weeks later here than in the South. 



Mr. Lambert says the present season has been the 

 most trying he has ever experienced. Peas sown 

 for Shrewsbury show are now (end of August) only 

 in bloom. Autumn Onions appear to have been 

 treated too kindly, for ninety out of every hundred 

 are double-necked. The plantation of Autumn 

 Giant Cauliflowers, that should have been just ready 

 for Shrewsbury, and which, under ordinary circum- 

 stances, would have been quite as large again as the 

 ones comprised in the Medal Collection, were 

 attacked by maggots at the roots, and so turned in 

 three weeks before the proper time It may be added, 

 that the kitchen garden is nearly 4 acres in extent, 

 some of it (recently added) is rough, subsoil clay, 

 with about 2 feet of rather stiff loam. 



In the neighbourhood of Onslow is a somewhat re- 

 markable Oak, called Glendower's Oak, famed by the 

 tradition that it afforded in its branches an observa- 

 tory to theWelsh chieftain.Owen Glendower, to ascer- 

 tain the issue of the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403. 

 Though now hollow and decayed (only one small 

 branch being at present'alive), it girths upwards of 44 

 feet. This aged monarch in the tree way stands in the 

 grounds of Shelton Priory, Colonel Field's residence, 

 in which there is a good tree growth. Prom this 

 point several fine views of the town may be obtained. 

 Hawkstone. — Unfortunately (our time being some- 

 what limited), we were unable to Visit this, the seat of 

 Lord Hill. Mr. Lambert, however, is an old Hawkstone 

 man (having learned his business underthat good all- 

 round gardener, the late Mr. Daniel Judd), and in- 

 formed us that it contains one of the prettiest parks 

 in England, a nice lot of plants are grown, and fruit is 

 done well. There is a fine kitchen garden (walled 

 in) of 4 acres. The present chief of affairs horticul- 

 tural, is Mr. Carr. What is called " Lord Hill's 

 Column " in Shrewsbury deserves notice. It is 

 situate in a most commanding position, at the top of 

 Abbey Foregate. It was erected by public subscrip- 

 tion, at a cost of £5973, to commemorate the glorious 

 victories and well-earned laurels of a Shropshire 

 hero and patriot, General Lord Hill. The column 

 was designed by the late Mr. Edward Haycock, 



architect, of Shrewsbury. It was completed on 

 June 18, 1816, the anniversary of the Battle of 

 Waterloo. The statue of his lordship is 17 feet in 

 height, the total height of the column from the base 

 to the top of the statue is 133 feet. 



Whilst in the district, we took a trip to Alton 

 Towers, Staffordshire, the princely seat of the Earl 

 of Shrewsbury and Talbot. Our notes concerning 

 this fine place must be reserved for publication in 

 a future issue. B. 



SPECIMEN TREES IN KEW 

 GARDENS. 



The Persimmon. — The tree herewith figured (fig. 

 72, p. 505) stands close to the Temple of the Sun in the 

 Royal Gardens, Kew, not far from the principal gates 

 on Kew Green. It is one of the original denizens of 

 the Kew Arboretum, and, in all probability, is one of 

 the numerous trees presented to George III. by the 

 then Duke of Argyll, "which he had imported and 

 propagated in his garden, at Whitton, near Houns- 

 low." The Temple of the Sun was nearly the centre 

 of the original botanic garden — a walled-in space of 

 about nine acres, planted and arranged by William 

 Aiton. 



The Persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) is a native 

 of the Central and Southern United States, and has 

 long been known in cultivation in this country, 



Fig. 71.— bark of the persimmon. 



having, according to Loudon, been introduced in 

 1629. The following are the measurements of the 

 Kew specimen which, according to many American 

 botanists who have seen it, is~a remarkably fine one : 

 — Height 60 feet, spread of branches 38 feet, girth of 

 trunk at 4 feet from the ground 5 feet 2 inches. 

 The trunk has no branches for about 15 feet, and the 

 deeply-Assured bark renders it a decidedly handsome 

 object. 



There are only half a dozen genera in the order 

 Ebenacete, and about 250 species, the genus Dio- 

 spyros embracing no fewer than 153. Nearly all are 

 natives of warm regions, and a number furnish 

 economic produce of considerable importance. 

 Ebony, so well known on account of its extreme 

 dark colour and hardness, is the heartwood of the 

 Ceylon, D. ebenum. One of the most beautiful of 

 all cabinet woods is that of D. qumsita, another 

 Cingalese tree ; this is so hard that edge-tools can 

 scarcely work it. The fruits of most of the species 

 are very astringent, and many are used medicinally. 

 Prom the unripe fruit of D. virginiana an indelible 

 ink is made in the Southern United States. 



In his North American Sylva Michaux makes the 

 following statement which is of interest historically 

 in connection with the Persimmon : — " In an ancient 

 periodical work printed at Philadelphia, I find that 

 the English Government, in the years 1762 and 1763, 

 offered a premium of £20 sterling for every 50 



pounds of gum collected from the Persimmon in their 

 American colonies. They were doubtless misin- 

 formed on this subject ; a greenish gum without 

 taste or smell exudes from the tree, but, in several 

 hundred experiments, I have not been able, by 

 wounding the bark, to collect more than two scruples 

 from a single stock." 



D. virginiana much resembles in general aspect D. 

 Lotus, the European Date Plum, but differs from it 

 by the male cymes and female peduncles being rather 

 longer, and by the larger flowers and fruit. I have 

 not seen fruits of the Persimmon produced in 

 England, but have met with specimens fruiting 

 abundantly in several parts of France. The Kaki or 

 Chinese Date Plum, is not hardy enough to with- 

 stand the English winters or to ripen its wood suffi- 

 ciently to bear its handsome fruits ; it can, however, 

 he grown as an orchard-house plant. Many curious 

 forms — widely differing in the colour and shape of 

 the fruits — are cultivated in the South of France 

 and — apart from the value of the fruits themselves — 

 make very beautiful bushes. The figure is from a 

 photograph of Mr. W. G. Smith. G. Nicholson. 



The Bulb Garden. 



DAFFODIL LIFTING AND PLANTING. 



I have read with much interest all that has been 

 said on this subject, and with some of the remarks I 

 thoroughly agree. As regards the annual lifting, I 

 do not agree, and would not practise it unless forced 

 to do so by the soil being very light or very heavy. 

 Most certainly, were all our summers like the wet 

 one of 1888, the delicate sorts like pallidus precox, 

 Henry Irving, General Gordon, Lincoln Yellow, 

 and many of the white trumpet or "swan's neck" 

 section, would be better by being lifted and dried, 

 and not replanted until September. But with strong 

 growers, like Trumpet Maximus, Golden Spur, Prin- 

 ceps, Horsfieldi, Emperor, and Empress, if the soil 

 be suitable, and they are planted on the three 

 years' system, I should let them remain. 



Ard Righ, Blondin, Tenby, and particularly Henry 

 Irving, which has got such a very thick skin, should 

 be annually cleaned ; the others may remain in well 

 prepared beds for a couple of seasons if the alleys 

 are deep. The whole matter of annual lifting very 

 much depends on the soil and the situation, and, 

 with us in Ireland, the characteristics of the months 

 of May and June. If these are wet months the bulbs 

 are apt to suffer while in the dormant state. Take 

 the case of all the " spurius " class, notably Ard Righ, 

 the foliage of which is quite withered by May 20, if 

 there is much rain during the summer until vege- 

 tation again sets in — I mean root-action — which 

 generally commences in September, there is great 

 danger that such a bulb may rot in soils that are 

 heavy and cold. If the bulbs are not lifted in 

 time and dried the bloom will be of indifferent 

 quality — what we call sick or blind bulbs — I mean 

 such as throw up one or two stunted leaves, and 

 make an attempt at flowering at the surface. These 

 are generally bulbs that were water-logged during the 

 previous summer through defective drainage or 

 retentive soil. Bulbs pierced by the Narcissus-fly, 

 and having the grub in them, will also exhibit this 

 stunted growth, and they do not recover. 



In the case of the water-logged bulbs, if these 

 are lifted at once and put in the sun to dry off, well 

 cleaned afterwards, and if the base of the bulbs (quite 

 brown, as if scalded) be trimmed with a sharp knife 

 until this skin is cut away and the bulbs carefully 

 planted on a dry border, they will recover. This 

 season, among some English bulbs, and especially 

 with Dutch ones, water-logged, badly ripened 

 bulbs are more observable than I have before 

 observed, and it is only the trumpet and incom- 

 parabilis sections, whilst dormant, that show appa- 

 rently " scalded buds." I have never observed 

 it in the Tazettaor poeticus sections, and would like 

 to hear from a grower of Mr. Walker's experience, 

 whether he ever had a " sick " stock of poeticus orna- 

 tus or majalis. And why? For this very good reason, 

 that their growth is active during the summer, when 

 the others are at rest j and though late to flower and 



