December 23, 1876. J 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



553 



fruits from the district immediately surrounding it, received 

 large accessions from distant places ; and the free-trade policy 

 inaugurated at this time led to imports from abroad, which, 

 though small at first, gradually rose to gigantic proportions ; 

 and as travelling beoame more easy our young gardeners had 

 opportunities of visiting London and other diBtant places at 

 less saorifice of time and money than had formerly been 

 necessary to visit the county town of the district where they 

 lived. 



Following on this came the first general Exhibition of 1851, 

 of which gardeners have great reason to be proud, since the 

 design for the building and its erection was'confided to a gar- 

 dener, after the learned profession by whom such things were 

 UBually erected had failed to produce a design at all applicable 

 to the purpose wanted ; and the able manner in which this 

 was accomplished by its talented projector (Sir Joseph Paxton) 

 is known far and wide. After the building was no longer 

 wanted where it was erected, its removal to and the laying-out 

 of the garden at the place which it now ornaments, forms an 

 epoch in our history not likely to be easily forgotten. Coeval 

 with this, gardening matters were not stationary elsewhere. 

 Glass structures kept rising in all directions, and the hints 

 and ideas which engineers and architects received from the 

 Crystal Palace are seen in many of the finest railway stations 

 and other similar erections in the kingdom ; and the spirit of 

 enterprise fairly launched displayed itself in many ways. Col- 

 lectors of plants were sent to all parts of the world. The 

 Himalaya and Californian ranges had previously yielded many 

 of their floral treasures, and from the latter choice-flowering 

 annuals had been sent by poor Douglas and others years 

 before. But other fields opened out. Intercourse with China 

 being permitted more freely than before, a host of new plants 

 and choice shrubs were sent over, and the Ekill of our nursery- 

 men and propagators soon placed them in the hands of the 

 publio ; while older plants did not get neglected, but some that 

 were thought to require the aid of a glass houBe to protect 

 them in winter were now found to endure our winters, and 

 added considerably to our outdoor display. Notable amongst 

 this class were the seedling Rhododendrons obtained by crossing 

 the half-hardy species from northern India with those we 

 already possessed. Hence a mass of beauty that it would seem 

 hopeless to surpass has been created, which has forced its 

 way into places that were previously little better than wild 

 unsightly wastes ; and it is not too much to say that the Rho- 

 dodendron is now planted where only the very commonest of 

 our wild plants once found a home, and many a poor planta- 

 tion is rendered gay by their flowers where only a coarse 

 herbage once existed. 



In like manner other plants have become common as the spirit 

 of enterprise has kept pace with the introduction of new things, 

 and I well remember tho warm summers of 1857, 1858, and 

 1859 gave hopes that many tropical plants would do outdoors 

 with us ; and some who had tried the Chinese cattle-feeding 

 plant, Sorghum, in 1859 were so elated with the success attend- 

 ing it that very large breadths were planted in 1860 ; but that 

 disastrous year dispelled the delusion we had fallen into. The 

 cold wet summer of that year, and the hard winter which 

 followed, reminded us that the geographical position of Great 

 Britain still remained where it had done for centuries, and 

 that a fine temperate season could only be looked for now 

 and then. Perhaps it is as well that it is so, for acquaintance 

 with warmer climates informs us that they are not exemp from 

 the cares and troubles which we are told is the fate of all man- 

 kind, and a knowledge of the difficulties we labour under has 

 the natural tendency of increasing our industry to counteract 

 these difficulties. But it is needless moralising on such 

 matters here. Suffice it to say that after the cold wet season 

 of 1860 we had two or three dry years, and the outory for 

 water was almost as loud as that which took place against it 

 the year before ; but a favourable season taking place in 1865 

 seemed to put all into good spirits again, and all went on well 

 till the autumn, or rather winter of 1866-67 proved to us that 

 our lot was still cast in the northern latitudes, and with the 

 return of spring great complaints were made of the destruc- 

 tion of some choiee Conifers. These casualties were perhaps 

 after all more ideal than real, and attention being drawn to 

 other matters, industry did much to compensate for the severe 

 frosts which had been so destructive. 



The events of the few past years are still in remembrance. 

 The startling productions of monster bunches of Grapes were 

 duly commented upon in the Journal by those well qualified to 

 do bo, and I note the very prominent position the Rose has taken 



during that time. I think further comment may be left to all 

 who have been able to read during that time, and I will cIobo my 

 notes with the usual compliments which the time of year calls 

 forth, trusting that the new year we are entering upon may 

 prove as favourable to all as everyone in bis individual case 

 can wiBh it to be ; or, if otherwise, it may be consolatory to 

 know that those who preceded us had their difficulties, with- 

 out the many accessories to ensure a good result which we of 

 the present day posseBS. Of the truth of this observation I 

 feel certain that those who, like myself, have followed the 

 calling a half-century or upwards will fully bear me out. — 

 J. Robson. 



ELECTION OF PEAES. 



Some of your correspondents wished to know the names of 

 the Pears that have done best ; therefore I write the names of 

 those I have always found best to come in succession. I state 

 the months of ripening and names of the Pears : — 



Citron des Carmes July 



Jargonelle Aug. 



"Windsor Aug. 



Donmore Sept. 



Autumn Bergamotte Sept. 



Bern-re d'Amanlis Sept. 



■Williams' Bon Chrietien Sept. 



Marie Louise Oct. 



Brown Beurre Oct. 



Duchesse d'Orleans Oct. 



Chaumontel Dec. to March 



Napoleon Nor. 



LouiBe Bonne of Jersey .... Oct. 



Duchesse d'AngouIeme Nov. 



Beurre Diel Deo. 



Easier Beurre Dec. 



Beurre Spence Dec. 



Knight's Monarch Jan. 



Winter Nelis Jan. to March 



Ne Plus Meuris .... Feb. to April 

 Josephine deMalines March to May 



— Willia^Gain, Gardener, Lynewood, Hants. 



VENN'S BLACK MUSCAT AND DUKE OF 

 BUCCLEUCH GRAPES. 

 I see at page 496 one of your readers inquires about the 

 first named of these Grapes, and from what I have seen of 

 it I am quite of your opinion in thinking it will not keep so 

 well as Lady Downe's or Alicante. When it was shown at 

 South Kensington on the 8th of November last it was de- 

 scribed as being very much " shrivelled." Now the first week in 

 November is very early for any Grape with the slightest pre- 

 tensions at being late to shrivel. About the middle of the 

 same month I chanced to be visiting a friend of mine in the 

 midland counties, who grows Grapes extensively and well. In 

 one large house he had fine fruit of nearly every kind of Grape 

 that is grown, and Venn's Black Muscat was the only one 

 shrivelled and very badly so. It was remarked at the time 

 that it corresponded here with those shown at Kensington, 

 and fears were expressed that it would not prove a good 

 keeper. No doubt some of your readers will have fruited it 

 this season, and by this time they will be able to form an 

 opinion of its keeping qualities, and perhaps " Readeb," as 

 well as myself, would be very thankful to see some of your 

 correspondents state their experience. 



I am contemplating planting a vinery shortly, and as I 

 would like to introduce a few of the newer varieties of Grapes 

 of known merit, would any of your readers recommend me to 

 plant Duke of Buccleuoh ? By the time the Golden Champion 

 was as old as the Duke we were pretty well informed of its 

 merits or demerits, but of the Duke we have heard nothing, 

 or I would not ask a place for this in your valuable columns. 

 — Ax A spiking Ahatede. 



EARLY WRITERS QN ENGLISH GARDENING. 



No. 24. 

 HUMPHRY EEPTON. 



H rjiiPHBY Repton was born at Bury St. Edmund's, May 2nd, 

 1752. His father was Mr. John Repton, who for many years 

 held the honourable and lucrative situation of Collector of 

 Excise. 



At a very early age Humphry was sent to the grammar school 

 at Bury. He says, " I was too young to recollect much of 

 those happy days, as they are always deemed by men, but of 

 which children think differently, since the fear of the rod and 

 the ferula, with the labour of the lesson and the task, are not 

 less evils while they last than the fears of riper age or the 

 anxieties of manhood. Perhaps the true difference between 

 the life of a child and that of a man should be estimated by 

 his power of enjoying pleasures rather than in his experience 

 of evils." 



From this school he was removed to the grammar school 

 at Norwioh, in which oity his parents then resided, and thus 



