288 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENEK. 



[ September 28, 1876. 



conveniences which a thoughtful employer will always see that 

 his employees have. There is probably no one except the 

 Steward on whom so much depends as the gardener, and it is 

 a poor policy not to treat him as he deserves. Here from his 

 vantage ground Mr. Thomson can overlook the twelve aores of 

 kitchen garden and see at a glance if all iB going on right. 

 On entering one is at once struck with the extreme neatness 

 and order of everything. Outside the wall there is a long 

 border of herbaceous plants, not growing in the admired dis- 

 order one so often sees them in, but each in its place with a 

 good legible label attaohed. On the opposite border and nearer 

 the wall is another long border ; at the back a grand row of 

 Delphiniums, each well Btaked and showing the noble spikes 

 of bloom ; in front of them three or four rows of Phloxes, 

 including, of course, all the best of the late-flowering kinds ; 

 then Carnations, Roses, &a. On entering the walled garden 

 there is a long range of houses, pits, frames, &a., in which is 

 a fine collection of stove and greenhouse plants, Vines, Peaches, 

 &a., but none of them in a forward state, everything being 

 arranged to suit the visit of the noble proprietor the Duke of 

 Buccleuoh, who comes here after the London season for shoot- 

 ing ; so that everything has to be arranged for that time, all 

 the requirements of the family during the London season 

 being met by the resources of Dalkeith Plaoe near Edinburgh. 

 In front of the vineries was a long wide border of Viola cornuta 

 Perfection in splendid bloom, the centre filled up with the 

 golden variegated Periwinkle and bordered with Alyssum. 

 This lasts up to the time of frost, and certainly nothing can 

 be more effective. All this oountry seems to be the very para- 

 dise of the Viola tribe, the excess of moisture suiting it well, 

 whereas down south they are burned up. There are 48 inches 

 of rain at Drnmlanrig, while with us not more than 21 or 22 

 are the average. All Mr. Thomson's care has not been able 

 to ward off the ravages of the Phylloxera, and one house had 

 to be destroyed entirely, the only way of eradicating it being 

 to stamp it out. This has been proved to be the experience 

 of all our best cultivators, and happy are they who have not 

 been required to put this experience to the test. And let me 

 say, as a proof of the manner in which things are done here, 

 that the flue of the chimney into which the smoke from the 

 furnaces goes is carried half a mile away amongst the woods, 

 and that the same is done with the kitchens at the mansion, 

 so that no inconvenience from the smoke is felt. 



But it is on leaving the kitchen garden that the special glories 

 of the place burst upon you. You enter woodland walks, at 

 every turn of which some new point of interest, some glorious 

 bit of scenery, bursts upon your view. The extent may be 

 gathered from one fact — there are seventy-five miles of drives 

 and the same number of miles of grass walks to be kept in 

 order. And then all at once your eye rests on the pleasure 

 grounds, of which there are fifty acres, some laid out in bed- 

 ding surrounded by grand timber, and with acres of Laurel 

 hedging, every bit of which is kept close cut with a clasp knife, 

 no shears being allowed to be used. In the lower gardens (for 

 as the house is situated on an eminence the gardens rise up 

 in different levels) there are some beds of Heather kept 

 closely cut, and the tender lively green of this is very 

 charming ; in others Oak hedges neatly trimmed are used, and 

 Verbena venosa is much more largely employed than I have 

 seen it in most southern gardens. Then at another part is 

 what is called the Duchess's garden, where many of the old- 

 fashioned flowers are to be found, and the air is sweet with 

 Carnations and other plants such as were to be seen in the 

 Lady Corisande's parterre. Then there is the Sand Garden, 

 in which the pattern of the beds is run out in Heather on 

 white sand, tons of freestone being broken up every year for 

 this purpose. On another terrace one comes to an exquisite 

 piece of carpet bedding, arranged with great skill and with 

 a true artist's eye; and then all around the scenery is so 

 grand, the setting of the green so perfect, that one is at a 

 loss which most to admire— the exquisite taste and refine- 

 ment of the gardening or the beauty of the scenery around. 

 I need not say that there is a most liberal supply of labour, 

 for no place could be kept in the perfect order that this is 

 without that. 



I am quite aware that this is a very imperfect attempt at 

 setting forth the beauties of Drumlanrig. But what can one 

 do ? How many a time have I read graphic descriptions of 

 places, but whioh when I saw them turned out to be so very 

 different to one's expectations. I would gladly have added an 

 engraving from a photograph, but it is forbidden ; and I have 

 only left to me now to record my obligations for the kindness 



and hospitality with which I was received by one who holds so 

 high a place in his profession as Mr. Thomson. — D., Deal. 



STRIKING CUTTINGS. 



Various modes are adopted in striking cuttings, and the fol- 

 lowing American plan is reoommended in the Rural New 

 Yorker as being simple and effectual : — 



"A flower-pot 8 inches in diameter answers as well as any 

 other Bize, though of the two a larger rather than a smaller is 

 to be preferred. Place an inverted flower-pot saucer within 

 the pot, of a size large enough to rest about midway or a little 

 below. This serves the threefold purpose of (1) perfect drain- 

 age, of (2) affording a firm base for the sand, and of (3) dis- 

 pensing with a greater body of sand than can be of any use. 

 Of course, other drainage material may be used if sauoers are 

 not at hand — but we prefer the saucer for the reason that it 

 has given us better success. Aside from any philosophical 

 causes as to its greater efficacy, its use is less troublesome than 

 to half fill the pot with broken crocks, stones, moss, or what 

 not ; it is a cleaner method ; the weight of the pot is less, and 

 that it is more effectual in practice will appear to others as it 

 has to us upon giving both a fair comparative trial. When 

 there is bottom heat perfect drainage is of little moment, since 

 the immense evaporation caused by the heat and shallowness 

 of the boxes generally used renders it unnecessary. But with- 

 out bottom heat, unless the drainage is perfect, the water very 

 soon stagnates, and the resulting acids cause the cuttings to 

 damp-off at onoe. 



' ' With the spaoe in the pot beneath the inverted saucer empty, 

 let us fill to the brim above with coarse aand, as coarse as is 

 used for mortar — first sifting and washing it until thoroughly 

 cleansed. Place it on a rack or stand in a window which re- 

 ceives the morning sun until noon and saturate it with water. 

 Another saucer or some other vessel will be required to receive 

 it as it passes through. We need not, as when flat boxes are 

 employed, so much fear watering too much, because the water 

 passes freely away and can never become sour. It is only 

 necessary, however, to preserve the sand constantly moist. 



" An 8-inch pot will accommodate twenty cuttings. Make 

 them from 2 to 5 inches long, depending, of course, upon what 

 they are. At this season of the year more leaves may be per- 

 mitted to remain upo'n them than earlier in the season, when 

 the sun is higher and the air less cool and moist. Use a sharp 

 knife, and make smooth cuts just beneath the joints or nodes 

 ■ — strip off the leaves nearly to the top, and insert them about 

 an inch in depth. 



" The development of new leaves or buds will generally in- 

 dicate the proper formation of roots, when the cuttings are to 

 be pricked out and planted in small pots of rich sandy soil. 



"One of the greatest drawbacks to the thrifty growth of 

 house plants is the use of clayey soil that, becoming hard — 

 almost solid in fact, is impervious to both air and moisture. 

 The plant must suffer, and all the doctoring in the land is not 

 going to help it while thus strangled. 



"As to the number of leaves to be left upon a cutting, a 

 little experience is required to determine. If too many are left 

 the cutting is exhausted, and the formation of a callus (which 

 is simply the healing-over of the wound) and roots is retarded. 

 If all the leaves are cut off or too few are left the same effect 

 is produced, though from a quite different cause. No better 

 hint can be given than that the drooping of the leaves for any 

 length of time after the cuttings have been inserted is an in- 

 dication that they have too many. Where a leaf is too large 

 it may be cut in two, as in the case of Aristolochia sipho (the 

 Dutchman's Pipe), Hydrangea quercifolia, &o." 



THE OLD MARKET GARDENS and NURSERIES 

 OF LONDON.— No. 12. 

 A botanist whose standing in soience gives him a right to 

 be heard demurs to my assumption that the Blacklands 

 estate, situate in Chelsea and Pimlico, was so called because 

 the ground was darkened with an undergrowth of a species of 

 Heath, probably Erica tetralix. I grant the difficulty there is 

 in establishing a negative, and therefore allow my opponent 

 all the chanoes I oan ; but it by no means follows, because at 

 a time when England boasted so few botanists no one recorded 

 the occurrence of this Heath on Chelsea Common and the 

 adjacent Blacklands, that the specieB did not grow there, for 

 from more than one reference to this district by historians 

 who make no pretensions to be naturalists, we gather that it 



