March 21, 1865. ] 



JOUKJJAL OF HOKTI-CULTTJBE AND COTTAGE GAJBDENEK. 



231 



bowled along to Bishop Stortford, where a German lady was 

 found, who told the nrducky German that he luid got too far 

 by four miles; and so the next morning he was brought 

 back and safely deposited at my house. That great card 

 which I saw held before eoachee's eyes, who stopped a minute 

 on the brink of the hill " dubitating," will never leave my 

 memory, nor the hearty laughs we had with Brifhaut about 

 it when he had learnt English. 



Well, I have got too far, and have left Early Betsy and 

 ditto Ten-week somewhere. I must " resume the thread of 

 my interesting narrative," as the novelists say, by stating 

 that after selecting the true kind from the medley received, 

 I cultivated the sort to some extent, and distributed it in 

 the neighbourhood — among others to Mr. Moifat, who exhi- 

 bited this kind at South Kensington last autumn, and ob- 

 tained a prize for it. I mention Mr. Moffat's name in con- 

 junction with the Early Ten-week Potato, because he cor- 

 rected an error into which I had fallen. When the Early 

 Handsworth was sent out a few years ago I hastily concluded 

 that it must be the same as the Early Ten-week ; but Mr. 

 Moffat says that it is a much better sort both in flavour and 

 earHness. I have thought it worth while to give the history 

 of this old and interesting Potato ; and as the true sort is 

 scarce, to observe that its usual form is a blunt oval, but 

 many round tubers are usually found. It is very early, its 

 habit dwarf, and it does not bloom. Probably it is one of 

 our best early round Potatoes, and is quite worthy of culture 

 for forcing and for a first crop. — T. E.. 



HADSOE HOUSE, 

 The Seat of — Galton, Esq. 



This residence is one mile from Droitwich. At the entrance 

 gates is a handsome lodge, the drive from which -winds along 

 the side of a hill between plantations and groups of Furze, 

 with a Gothic cottage nestled among trees below to the 

 right; on the left is ground, diversified in surface, rising 

 above the drive, and planted with groups of forest trees, in- 

 terspersed with handsome specimens of Hawthorn. The 

 drive then passes through a large plantation of Oaks, ex- 

 tending on the right through a deep deU, and on to the 

 house. On the west side of the house the terrace was fur- 

 nished with large specimens of variegated Aloes in vases, 

 and on a lower level are flower-beds on grass. On the north 

 side below the terrace is the Eose garden furnished with all 

 the best sorts of Roses. Attached to the house is a con- 

 servatory 65 feet long by 36 feet wide gay with Passion- 

 Flowers, Teeoma jasminoides, Mandevilla suaveolens, Brug- 

 mansia sanguinea, and B. suaveolens, planted in the border. 

 The Brugmansia suaveolens was the finest specimen I have 

 ever seen. It was 15 or 16 feet high with about thi-ee hun- 

 dred large, white, trumpet-shaped flowers hanging down 

 from aU parts of the tree. The succulence and rapidity of 

 growth apparent on its branches, and the prodigious numbers 

 in which it develops its gigantic, snowy white, and sweet- 

 scented blossoms, mark it as one of the most magnificent of 

 conservatory plants. This fine exotic is too much neglected 

 in collections on account of its liability to the attacks of the 

 red spider. Having hitherto seen but poor sickly specimens 

 with straggling flowers of tawny hue, my delight at behold- 

 ing this Peruvian beauty in all its splendour may be con- 

 ceived. Many of the blossoms were 12 inches in length, and 

 7 or 8 inches across the mouth of the flower. There were 

 also Passiflora edulis bearing fruit used at the dessert, fine 

 specimens of Camellias, and Orange trees. In a niche in the 

 centre of the conservatory were a marble statue of Venus, 

 and a fountain. There was great taste displayed by Mr! 

 DaJrymple, the head gardener, in the an-angement of the 

 plants in the border, and grouped beside the pathways. A 

 terrace walk leading from the flower garden to the temple 

 is ornamented with vases ; and on the right a peep may be 

 obtained of the pleasure grounds and a lake at the bottom 

 of the lawn, with aU sorts of water fowl. 



The pleasure grounds contain some fine specimens of 

 Spruce Firs well feathered to the ground : Piuus excelsa ; 

 Sumachs in their autumn scarlet livery : Pinus pinsapo. in- 

 fested by wasps to such a degree that Mr. Dahrvmple feared 

 the trees would be ultimately killed by them,'although he 

 was adopting every means to insure their destruction ;°also. 



Turkey Oaks, Wellingtonias, Cryptomeria japonioa, 25 feet 

 high, and 16 yards in circumference ; Taxodium semper- 

 virens, 25 feet high ; and a Deodar Cedar, 27 feet high. 

 There are Cypresses, Ked Cedars, Ilexes, and Turkey Oais, 

 with other trees and shrubs of diversified foliage in another 

 portion of the pleasure grounds to represent Italian scenery. 

 After admiring for some time the rich and gorgeous 

 scenery produced by the autumn tints of the foUage we 

 descended to tlie fernery, composed of old roots and stumps 

 of trees with arches to walk under, to admire the various 

 British species of Ferns that are planted in the crevices, 

 and kept moist by an underground pipe from the fountain 

 in the conservatory, the water fr-om which can be made to 

 trickle over them when rec|mred. The plumed Ferns, but 

 lately so light and green, were then clumps of blackened 

 fronds hanging over the old roots, whose nakedness they 

 covered so tenderly during summer. On the edge of the 

 lake is a hollow old Oak w ith a seat in the middle, where a 

 person may sit and contemplate the manifold beauties of 

 Natui-e around him. The following Unes of Cowper, who 

 had a keen sense of the beautiful, are applicable to this 

 picturesque object. 



*• Thou Trert a bauble once, a cup and ball, 

 \Yhich bibes mi£;ht ptay with, and the thievish jaf. 

 Seeking her food, with ease might have purloined 

 The auburn nut that held thee, swallowing down 

 Thy yet clo.^e-folded latitude of boughs, 

 And all thy embryo yastnesa at a gulp. 

 • '***• 

 Time made thee what thou wert— king of the woods, 

 And Time hath made thee what thou art." 



Further on is a grass walk: with a Tew hedge at each side 

 leading through a grove from the ornamental water to the 

 keeper's lodge. Returning by the terrace walk from the 

 b ullr ing to the bear, so called on account of a representative 

 of the grizzly animal at the end of the terrace walk, we 

 pass through a plantation of trees and shrubs to the kitchen 

 garden. The horticultui-al structures are a span-roof Orange- 

 house 36 feet by 27 feet, contaiaing good specimens of 

 Orange trees. Lemons, and Citrons ; a greenhouse 38 feet 

 by 1-i filled with Azaleas, &c. ; three vineries, ridge-and- 

 fiiiTOw, the middle one 48 feet by 17, with a high roof, and 

 the other two, one at each side of the middle one, 42 feet by 

 15 each. They contained good crops of Muscats of Alex- 

 andria, Black Hambm-gh, and Barbarossa, bunches of the 

 latter averaging about 4 lbs. each. There are besides a 

 Peach-house 80 feet long by 6 wide, with healthy Peach and 

 Nectarine trees that had, in the summer, borne fruit of the 

 average weight of S ozs. each ; a range of Pine-pits 72 feet 

 long by 16 wide, for fruiting and succession Pine plants, 

 and containing some good examples of Queens, Black 

 Jamaicas, and Smooth Cayennes; and a range of pits, also 

 72 feet long by 16 wide, for forcing French Beans, Straw- 

 berries, Potatoes, and many other things, aU heated by hot 

 water. 



These grounds are naturally varied andtastefully arranged. 

 The woods, pleasure grounds, roads, walks, drives, and plan- 

 tations with the kitchen garden, horticultural buildings, and 

 the various scenes connected with them, have been laid out 

 in the best manner to give a pleasing succession, and a 

 harmonious effect to the whole. — William Keane. 



SOIL FOE EHODODENDEONS. 



Having just read Mr. Eobson's article on Ehododendrons, 

 and having had some experience in growing them in uncon- 

 genial soils, I think I may be able to give some useful hints 

 or information to those simUaily circumstanced. 



When living in Ireland on a limestone formation sur- 

 rounded hy large black peat bogs, which furnished excel- 

 lent fuel not only to the poor but to the gentry around, I 

 tried this tiu-f mould, or "bog stuff " as it was called, for 

 Ehododendrons, but they barely existed in it, and never 

 flourished, though it formed an excellent manure for most 

 vegetables and flowers. Several of my neighbours attempted 

 to gTOw them, biit with no better success. One i^erson, 

 however, had a large bed of them growing most luxm-iantly, 

 and his mode of proceeding was this : He dug a large hole 

 or pit several feet in diameter and about 2 or 3 feet deep, 

 and this he filled, not with the rich-looking black stuff which 

 others as well as myself had used, but with the surface sod 



