•lulj 27, 1S76. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



caring of bacon and sawing of wood being apparently its chuf 

 occupations ; but it is most beautifully situated. The river 

 Cree flows by the town, and on the hills around it are to be 

 noted some very pretty residences, while in the distance glorious 

 mountains with their ever-varying play of light and shade are 

 to be seen. Like many places in Scotland it has its fair share 

 of rain — somewhere about 49 inches, but owing to its vicinity 

 to the west coast the climate is mild, snow seldom remaining 

 for long on the ground. The 6oil is fairly good, and in shel- 

 tered places the Rose does well. The largest place is that of 



Penninghame, the seat of Stopford Blair, Esq., who with 

 the Earl of Galloway owns the greatest part of the property in 

 the neighbourhood. It is situated about two miles from the 

 town on the banks of the river Cree, and amidst a moBt beau- 

 tiful variety of scenery, from the wild woodland with its natural 

 tarns where the wild duck and teal breed and the Water Lilies 

 grow abundantly, to the cultivated pleasure ground and garden 

 where all is neat and well ordered. One can wander through 

 the woods for hours and enjoy the sights that everywhere 

 meet the eye ; while in the garden, under the able management 

 of Mr. Duthie, there is much that is noteworthy. It is not a 

 large garden ; indeed in comparison with many I have lately 

 seen it may be called small, but within it are to be found all 

 the useful and ornamental belongings of a well-ordered and 

 carefully tended place. The stoves and greenhouses had a 

 ohoice selection of good plants ; the vegetables were examples 

 of good cultivation, and out-of-door flowers were in good order. 

 An exception must be made to the Roses, which were curiously 

 affected and in a manner I have never seen before. Every 

 tree, whether H.P. or Tea, new or old variety, had all the 

 leaves most singularly curled — in fact doubled over, and this 

 no matter what the position of the plant. Nor is it this year 

 alone, but every year it is the same. I imagine that it is 

 somewhat the same as that which occurs on wall trees — not 

 the blister, but the curl — and occasioned by the same cause, 

 the cold eaBt winds of the earlier spring months. I am the 

 more confirmed in this opinion from noticing that in several 

 instances the trees had already begun to push away, and Mr. 

 Duthie informed me that the second growth was entirely free 

 from it. Just'as I was in despair at the aspect of my few wall 

 trees when I saw how they were blistered and curled, but in 

 a few weeks they broke away, and now are getting up to the 

 top of the wall. The only thing that militates in my mind 

 against this is, that no matter where the plants are, it is the 

 same; and one would imagine that, in some places at any rate, 

 they would be sheltered from the blast. 



I saw here, and indeed everywhere throughout this part of 

 Scotland, growing in the most wild luxuriance a plant which 

 I have never seen in the south — Tropasolum speciosum, and 

 yet I have seen a good many gardens. As many of your 

 readers may be as unacquainted with it as I was, let me say 

 that it is like its congeners a creeper, running about as lux- 

 uriantly as the annual yellow one T. canariense, with which 

 everybody is acquainted ; but this is a brilliant soarlet, most 

 profuse in flowering, and most showy, so that in going into a 

 garden where it is you cannot help exclaiming, What is that ? 

 Mr. Duthie told me that it makes very little way the first year 

 it i= p'anJed, that it is impatient of pot culture and requires 

 to Be well established, but that the second year it becomes 

 a perfect weed and formB very large roots. One border he 

 pointed out to me and said, That is full of them. Can any of 

 our southern friends give any clue to the reason why we never 

 see this plant ? Is it that it requires the damper climate of 

 Scotland, or are our winters too severe? It is a native of 

 South America, but where I do not know. Probably with 

 us it would require to be covered over with some protecting 

 material during the winter months ; at any rate it is well 

 worth trying, and I mean to do so this autumn. 



The evergreens here, as elsewhere through this part of Scot- 

 land, remind me of Ireland, so vigorous and flourishing are 

 they, especially the Rhododendrons, and in spring the grounds 

 must be very gay with their many-coloured blooms. 



The Residence of Mes. Van Agnew is one of the sub- 

 urban retreats round Newton Stewart, and is one of those old- 

 fashioned places where one expects to find things not met 

 with elsewhere, and thus to see large standards of such Roses 

 as Duchess of Sutherland, Sir Joseph Paxton, and others (the 

 heros and heroines of past days) was quite in accordance with 

 one's expectations. The houBe stands high, and commands a 

 fine view of the beautiful scenery of the neighbourhood ; and 

 the Rose garden at the side of the house contained most of 

 the varieties which are now grown, while many of the climbing 



Roses were making their way over the front of the house. On 

 the opposite side of the river is a pretty residence, rented for 

 the shooting by Mr. Macorquodale, but save the luxuriance 

 of the shrubs there was nothing very remarkable about it. I 

 wish some of those Roee-growers who in our southern climate 

 complain of situation as unfavourable to the growth of their 

 favourite flowers could see the garden at 



All Saints' Parsonage. — Imagine a garden without one 

 atom of shelter, exposed to every wind (and the winds here are 

 something worthy of the name), when after a night's breeze 

 you have to walk round your garden and see how many branches 

 of Calceolarias have gone, how many Rose buds twisted off or 

 branches broken, and it will be seen that Mr. Mackenzie must 

 have something of the love of gardening, and of the Rose in 

 particular, to enable him to face the difficulties of his position, 

 and yet he does so. He has coaxed Roeee somehow to grow; 

 and although in one place where the wind swept over the wall 

 and played sad havoc he has been driven from the field, yet 

 it is only to transfer them to another site, where he hopeB to 

 be more fortunate. Had there been but a small belt of trees 

 at the back of his garden, or had it been placed a little lower 

 down, it might have been well; but it is hard work to get them 

 to do, exposed to such blasts as they experience here. I Baw 

 here the Tropasolum above-mentioned growing well, and also 

 some other herbaceous plants, such as Aquilegia cajrulea, 

 Alpine Auriculas, Violas, Pansies. Lideed all this country Bide 

 seems to suit the latter flowers remarkably well, the cool moist 

 climate being so very different to the heat and dryness of tho 

 south, which have almost driven the Pansy out of cultivation. 

 I have already mentioned the succesB of the Rose show, bo 

 much due to him. I may add as a sample of how they do 

 things at Newton Stewart, that on the same day a bazaar held 

 in a small room in the town produced £260 for the Zenana 

 Mission. — D., Deal. 



LEEK ROSE SHOW. 



"Will you judge for us at our Rose Show?" was the question 

 pnt me by the energetic Secretary of the Leek Rose Society, and 

 indeed a very weighty one it was to answer. 



Leek in Staffordshire, and my nearest railway station in 

 Devon ! But so kind and pressing and liberal was the Secretary 

 that I could not refuse, and bo set off from London on Monday 

 laBt. I went first to Lichfield, for Leek is somewhat of an in- 

 accessible place, and frequent are the chaDgesyou have to make, 

 and very sow the trains after you leave the Midland and North- 

 western systems. At Lichfield I was j U6t in time for the service 

 at the glorious cathedral, and I do not know which to admire 

 most — the building or the way in which the service was per- 

 formed, the masterly way in particular that the organist accom- 

 panied. I then dined, and dined well too, at the Swan, and I 

 would advise any of your readers who wish to visit one of the 

 moBt beautiful cathedrals in England to take up their quarters 

 for a day or so at the Swan at Lichfield. They will be waited 

 upon by a charming, freBb, lively, pleasant maid, who, from the 

 moment you arrive, takes you under her wing, and sees that you 

 are as comfortable as at home. It was quite refreshing after a 

 long journey to Bee her flitting about the room on that hot July 

 afternoon ; and I felt much inclined to tarry there, but I thought 

 it wisest to push on to the far end. At Leek I was met by a 

 deputation, who informed me that I was invited and expected 

 to stay at the house of one of the leading men of the town, and 

 that a cab was waiting to convey me there. I was hospitably 

 entertained, and feel very grateful for the kindness which I met 

 with from first to last. 



The Show itself was really a very fair one. One open class 

 for seventy-two varieties was the only one offered to nursery- 

 men, the first prize being £8. This brought three exhibitors — 

 Messrs. CranBton & Mayos, Mr. Davison of Hereford, and Messrs. 

 Frettingham of Beeeton near Nottingham. Messrs. Cranston 

 and MayoB staged a very fair Btand, not by any means one in 

 their best form, but still a good even lot of blooms. They were 

 first. Mr. Davison was second with blooms inferior indeed to 

 Mr. Cranston's, but remarkably fresh and clean, considering the 

 time they had been cut. Mr. Frettingham, for whose benefit 

 the judging was postponed for two hours in order that he might 

 cut that morning, was left hopelesBly behind. His blooms were 

 coarse rough specimens, and nearly all too much expanded. He 

 was third because there was no other to compete with him. But 

 instead of being grateful, he was quite the contrary ; or we might 

 say, as in logic, " contradictory." 



The rest of the Show was composed of exhibits of Roses, 

 ratifies, table decorations, bouquets, and stove and greenhouse 

 plants, and these were all shown by men resident within six 

 mileB of Leek. The exhibitors were few, the moBt part working 

 men, and I do not think anything could be more gratifying than 

 to see the blooms they showed. I am afraid there would be 



