January 6, 1912.] 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



5 



HENGRAVE HALL. 



(See Supplementary Illustration.) 



The entrance lodge of the Suffolk residence of 

 John Wood, Esq., is opposite the tiny, spick-and- 

 span village of Hengrave, a little over three miles which have Oak caps, and here peep out the 

 north-west of the ancient market town of Bury 

 St. Edmunds. It is a most delightful entrance ; 



died September 20, 1608," with falcons and 

 hound. Mural tablets testify the virtues of the 

 Gages, Baronets of Hengrave, which family for 

 generations owned this estate. The perfectly - 

 turned arches are supported by stone pillars, 



globes of the electric light, in sharp contrast to 

 the recumbent figures clad in ruffles and knee- 



the lodge is built in the best Elizabethan style, breeches, with rapiers by their sides, 

 with tall, slender chimneys, and lattice windows 

 looking across the read upon the clean walls and 

 reed thatches of the village. The carriage drive 





Kitchen Gardens. 



The mellow walls of this portion of the garden 

 tell the same story of nearly 400 years, which 

 have come and gone since they were built. As 

 we note the countless nail marks we wonder how 



impoverishment. 



last August, to kee^> 



is bordered on the right with a hedge of pruned 

 Box and Yew, 15 feet high, with an occasional 

 -archway cut to give access to the woodland 



walks. 



The mansion, which dates from 1530, is the 

 most beautiful example of Elizabethan architec- 

 ture it has been my good fortune to see. The 

 upper illustration in the Supplement depicts the 

 garden front, which la-cks the splendour 

 and beauty of the carriage entrance. In the 

 porch, which leads to the courtyard, there stand 

 two complete sets of beautifully-chased steel 

 armour, with halberds ready ; and the ancient 

 Oak doors, 4 inches thick and almost black with 

 age, with heavy iron bolts and bars, are a silent 

 testimony to the troublous times which this 

 famous residence has passed through. Beyond 

 the very wide gravel carriage-sweep there 

 stretches a long broad avenue of Lime and Plane 



trees, with a view towards Bury St. Edmunds. 

 The lower illustration, with its charming, old, 

 red-brick walls, covered with Roses and other 

 climbing plants and well -filled borders at the 

 foot, shows a garden gate leading to an exceed- 

 ingly fine old Lime Avenue, composed of trees 



with huge, gnarled trunks. One can only sur- the sunny hours," and a pergola of Roses, with 

 mise its age, for Mr. Tuck, who has had charge Lavender at the foot, provides a fitting frame 

 of this real old-English garden for nearly half a 

 century, pointed out a few trees which he 

 planted 40 years ago, when the owner desired 

 to make the avenue complete, and these fine 



Much pruning might be done now during open 

 weather and when the ground is not too wet to 

 m work upon ; such pruning, for instance, as the 

 removal of old and useless wood from large 

 plants growing over arches, pergolas and similar 

 structures. More thinning out might well be 

 practised in such cases. Swaying branches also 

 need securing. It is generally these branches 

 that are most valuable during the flowering 

 season, so we may well thin out to make more 

 room for them. Some of the wood upon Crimson 

 Rambler, Dorothy Perkins, and similar sorts will 

 be too old to give good results, and this 

 should be cut out at any time now. The present 

 is also a good time to kill the lichen or moss 



many times new fruit trees have been planted frequently found upon the stems of old standards 



against the walls, and how many gardeners (not 

 -so very many if the length of service of the pre- 

 &3nt head gardener, Mr. Tuck, is any criterion) 

 have trained the branches of the trees with 

 mathematical regularity. This old garden re- 

 calls the discussions of a decade ago on soil ex- 

 haustion, and we look in vain for evidences of 



The Strawberries planted 



up a good succes- 

 sion, evidently find the soil to their liking, for 

 they have made stout leaves and possess fat 

 crowns. But perhaps they owe something to the 

 potting soil in which they were layered. So we 

 pass on to the Raspberry quarter, but here also 

 our quest is in vain, for the canes are tall and 

 strong, and as similar vigour is apparent in the 



A little freshly-slaked lime will check this, but 

 should not have any size mixed with it as in the 

 case of whitewash, or it will not be so readily 

 washed off by rains. If the stems are badly 

 affected, I would prefer to scrape some of the 

 worst off before applying the limewash. As a 

 rule, such Roses are growing in much too poor 

 or wet a soil, and if lichen is verv prevalent, the 

 Roses should be removed or the soil drained. 



ROSES UNDER GLASS. 



The earliest Roses will require more heat after 

 this date, and those that have formed flower- 

 buds may be helped by a little liquid manure, 

 applied twice a week. Other batches intended to 

 flower a short time before blooms are obtainable 



trees, though they would be noteworthy if other- 

 wise situated, appear to be only babes and strip- 

 lings against the older and massive specimens. 



The flower garden is a comparatively new addi- pots bore Quantities of brightly-coloured flowers, 

 tion to this old demesne, and restful quietness an a retarded Lily of the Valley crowns potted 



seems to be the keynote. In front of the house 

 there is a broad terrace, surfaced with gravel, 

 which has been toned by the weather 

 to match the walls of the residence, and 

 a flight of four broad steps of easy 

 gradient lead down to the long central path and 

 spacious lawns as level as the gardener's skill 

 can make them. As will be seen, most of the 

 flower-beds are circled around the centre vase, 

 and at the time of my visit they were exceedingly 

 gay and bright with a variety of flowering plants. 

 Towards the end of the lawn there stands an ex- 

 ceptionally fine Libocedrus decurrens — a part of 

 it comes into the left side of the illustration— 

 45 feet high, and girthing 8 feet at 5 feet up, of 

 perfect symmetry, and bearing quantities of 

 young strobiles. At the end of the lawns there 

 is a broad terrace walk, bordered with fine Box 

 hedges, which enclose three sides of the garden. 

 An uncommon feature of the broad herbaceous 

 borders are the clumps of Pampas Grass, which 



crops of vegetables we conclude that there is no from plants growing against warm walls out-of- 

 immediate danger of the soil not responding to doors, should now be started, while all pot Roses 

 the skill of the cultivator. snou ld have their pruning finished this month. 



A broad grass path, with flower borders on It i s not too late to graft. Some of the ear- 



each side, leads to an old sun dial, which " tells liest-worked plants will need a shift into pots 



two sizes larger, using a richer compost, but still 

 keeping them warm and active. Too early or 

 sudden ripening off frequently leads to failure. 

 At the end of March we start to harden 

 our grafted plants before turning them into the 

 open borders. These borders should be prepared 

 soon, so that the ground can get settled down 

 before planting. Free-growing Teas and 

 their hybrids, also all of the dwarf-growing 

 Polyanthas, make good plants the first season if 

 grafted and treated in this w r ay, while it is dif- 

 ficult to secure buds of many of these during 

 summer. Twelve of the very best pot Roses are 

 Richmond (deep crimson), Molly Sharman Craw- 

 ford (pale lemon or white), Sunrise (orange and 

 carmine), Mrs. Aaron Ward (coppery-orange and 

 yellow), Bridesmaid (deep pink), Betty (golden 

 yellow), Killarney (shaded flesh), Theresa Bevan 

 (coppery-rose and carmine), Lady Hillingdon 

 (golden yellow), Le Progres (nankeen-yellow), 



Catherine Mermet (rosy-pink) and Niphetos (pure 

 white). Practice. 



for a pair of semi-circular Italian gates of un- 

 common shape and exquisite workmanship. 



Glasshouses do not belong to the Elizabethan 

 era, and the builder of the glass at Hengrave 

 wiselv olaced them out of sight. The vineries 

 contained ripe Grapes of good size and colour. 

 A batch of Begonia Gloire de Lorraine in small 



singly into small pots were pushing up strong 

 flower-spikes — these single corner plants are in 

 demand for furnishing small vases. Other houses 

 are devoted to the cultivation of Melons, Cucum- 

 bers, Ferns, Cordylines, and winter-flowering 

 Pelargoniums. A. C. Bartlett. 



THE ROSARY. 



CULTURAL HINTS FOR JANUARY. 



Composts of manure and soil should be turned 

 over occasionally before the time comes for 

 using the soil. Be quite prepared with some 

 protective material for outdoor Roses, for it is 

 during the first months of the year that we 

 generally get the most severe weather. 



I do not recommend planting in January un- 

 less the ground be in an exceptionally favourable 



HARDY FLOWER BORDER. 



HELLEBORUS ANGUSTIFOLIUS. 



The narrow-leaved Hellebore, the prettiest of 

 all the Christmas Roses, has pushed up its buds 

 and expanded its blooms recently. The flowers 



relieve the levelness of the bordering hed-e in condition > but P refer to . wait until the end of are rather smaI1 > and > in that res P ect > compare 



an attractive manner. 



The Ch^ 



Within two minutes walk of the house there 

 stands the manor chapel, which in past ages was 

 so essential an adjunct to the country house. 

 This building, which is faced with flints, and 

 supports an Ivy with a massive stem, was re- 

 cently restored, and now is used as a chapel of 

 ease for Flempton Church. The clock tower con- 

 tains a quaint old clock, bearing the date 1778, 

 whilst over the porch there is a vertical sun dial 

 of much 



irigly interesting; here are recumbent figures, 

 in vivid colouring, of bygone owners of Hengrave 



February, when root-action may be expected to 

 take place in a very short time after the opera- 

 tion. Nevertheless, the class of soil and situa- 

 tion have a direct bearing on this question of 

 planting. 



Pot up some dwarf plants ready for planting 

 late in spring. This gives very little trouble, as 

 the plants can be plunged beneath a wall until 

 wanted to fill up the blanks found in the beds 

 and borders at pinning time. Some standards 

 and half -standards should also be potted up for 



greater 



the same purpose, or it will be impossible to 

 age. The interior is exceed- make good any blanks discovered after the roots 



unfavourably with those of Helleborus latifolius 

 or H. maximus, which have been in flower for 

 two months or more. But they are snow-white, 

 and the plant should not be omitted from collec- 

 tions or even selections of hardy plants. The 

 flower-buds of Christmas Roses, when picked 

 and the stems immersed in water', expand into 

 very refined flowers after standing for a few 

 days in a hothouse; they are longer opening in a 

 greenhouse or an apartment in a house. H. 

 odorus, a greenish-yellow-flowered species, also 

 flowers profusely throughout the winter; a little 



are active without danger of losing the speci- extra warmth results in a lengthening of the 



mens transplanted. flower-stems, which is an advantage when used 



Earls of Bathe, and Lords Darcie, whilst Dame Employ the hoe to destroy w r eeds which have as cut blooms. It is remarkable that frost does 



Elizabeth Kytson placed a beautiful monument appeared during the mild winter and keep the not harm the flowers, but continued rains, with 



to the memory of my beloved husband, who 



possible 



a low temperature, spoil the petals, R. P. B 



