March 10, 1863. ] 



JOURNAL OE HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAliDENEE. 



183 



greenhouse plants share the same fate ? Next, on what prin- 

 ciple is it that amateurs are placed in a more favoured position 

 than nurserymen? "Oh, they sell their plants, and it is an 

 advertisement for them !" But is this to he considered in en- 

 deavouring to bring together the beBt display that can be ob- 

 tained? I think not; for surely every encouragement should 

 be given to those who so largely maintain the credit of these 

 exhibitions. 



Very much was said last season, when the complaints of the 

 florists were brought forward, about the' desire of the Council 

 ■to meet their wishes, and conferences of some members of the 

 Committee with that body were mooted. With what feelings 

 of disgust, then, does one see that, instead of a forward, a retro- 

 grade movement has been made ! Not only have no fresh 

 flowers been introduced, but Tulips have been excluded from 

 the May Show altogether, while no attempt has been made to 

 introduce Pansies, which are then in their prime. 



I object to the term "florists' flowers" altogether, but am 

 compelled to use it for want of a better, although it is indefinite, 

 and might be made to embrace now almost everything that is 

 grown ; so that nothing could be more ad captandum than the 

 paper that appeared in one of your contemporaries, comparing 

 the suras spent on florists' flowers and on other plants, and 

 showing how largely the florists gained. The truth is, that 

 there is a sort of foolish prejudice in the minds of the Council 

 against cut flowers. Some they cannot do without, but they 

 have tried their best to nullify what they do offer. It is, I 

 believe, the cause of their abolishing the Rose Show as a distinct 

 exhibition. It is also the cause of their peculiarly shabby 

 autumnal show (of which more anon) ; and to it I suppose we 

 must attribute the exclusion of the Tulip, Pansy, Pink, Car- 

 nation, Picotee, and Ranunculus from the great shows. 



"What folly it seems to be not to endeavour to please all 

 parties. £50 or £100 might very well be spared from stove 

 plants, Orchids, &e., and would satisfy a very large number of 

 real lovers of flowers. As it is, signs of discontent are showing 

 themselves elsewhere. A Chrysanthemum Society has been 

 formed ; and one would not be at all surprised to find that 

 this extended itself to other flowers, as was suggested by more 

 than one speaker at the meeting where it was established. 



I must ask you to permit me to recur to this subject next 

 week, as my simple desire is to benefit floriculture, while at the 

 same time I do not wish to injure the cause of a Society at 

 whose shows I am — An Exhibitor. 



VINES INJTJKED BY MICE. 



I WISH to offer a few words in re the mice, as we lawyers say, 

 in answer to an inquiry of your correspondent " R. P.," who 

 weekly favours us witli his valuable notes on the " Doings of the 

 Last Week." 



He speak3 of the ravages of this shrewd little destroyer upon 

 his Vines, and inquires whether anybody else ever knew the like. 

 I never did until this year. I have known rats destroy by whole- 

 sale the roots of a fruitful Vine in a garden belonging to my 

 Bister at no great distance from this ; but I have never known 

 mice do any injury in this respect until the present year. 



My Vines, three in number, are planted outside my house, 

 which has apertures for the stems quite sufficient to admit a good 

 supply of air, and, of c jurse, any number of mice. One day my 

 attention was excited by a sort of rustling nibbling noise, which 

 was unusual ; but I did not at first give much attention to it. 

 Day after day the same sound Btruek me, and at last I began to 

 think there must be some cause for it. I accordingly made search, 

 and was not long in discovering the cause ; for there sat, as 

 sleek and as fat as high feeding could make him, Mr. Mouse, 

 just under the front shelf of the greenhouse, and in close con- 

 tiguity to one of my Vine stems. I could not deal with the 

 offender at the moment, but it led nre to make an investigation, 

 the result of which was that I discovered that all my three 

 Vines were gnawed quite to the inner bark by this pestilent 

 little enemy. I immediately went to work, and set four or five 

 traps with the most tempting baits I could think of — peas, beans, 

 and new cheese — but all in vain ; he preferred the sweet juices 

 of the Vine to all my dainties ; and at last I was obliged to cast 

 humanity to the winds, and transfix him with a fork, and so I 

 delivered myself from my enemy, and I hope saved my Vines. 

 Had he been allowed to continue his ravages a little longer I 

 fully believe it would have been all over with them, and I do not 

 yet feel certain they are safe. 



I should mention that it was not on the Vine stems only that 

 he had feasted, for he had treated in the same way a good many 

 bedding Geraniums which stood on the Bhelf in front of the 

 house ; iheso he had barked all round, and of course they were 

 completely destroyed. I subsequently caught a second, not by 

 the same cruel process, but in one of my traps, which confirms 

 me in the view I have been led to take, that at this 6eason of the 

 year mice go in pairs, and, therefore, if you mean to exterminate 

 your enemy you must deal a double blow. 



A word or two now as to the cause of this unexampled in- 

 fliction. Generally in this quarter of my garden I have early 

 Peas and Beans. This year I have none, and my garden has 

 been particularly bare of everything that would seem to be the 

 legitimate food for this destroyer. 



As the thief says when taken, " Wo must live somehow," 

 and so, as there was nothing for them outside the house, my 

 little friends thought it no trespass to venture inside ia search 

 of a livelihood, and have paid the penalty. — R. R. 



A FEW DAYS IN IRELAND. 



STEAHPAN HOUSE. 

 (Concluded from page 169.) 



We must now finish by giving some account of this very 

 striking flower garden, consisting of two massive parterres which 

 present themselves on entering the gate, one parterre being 

 placed on the left hand, and the other on the right hand of the 

 main gravel walk which divides them from each other; the 

 parterre on the one 6ide is a counterpart of that on the other 

 side. The main walk is 9 feet in width. A plan of one side 

 is here given. The beds are all nicely Box-edged, and divided 

 from each other by gravel paths of 3 feet in width. These par- 

 terres, each 120 feet by 56 feet, were laid out by Mr. Kelly ; and 

 the Hon. Sirs. Barton and Hugh Lvndoch Barton, Esq., take 

 great interest in the arrangement and planting every season. 



One of the charms of this garden for flowers placed in a kitchen 

 garden is, that just like a similar garden at Raith, which we 

 noticed some years ago, when looking at the flowers no views or 

 considerations of the merely useful are obtruded upon you, unless, 

 perhaps, a bright vision of luscious Grapes in the vineries at the 

 farther end already alluded to. Everything connected with the 

 kitchen garden is excluded from sight or thought by a fine 

 Privet hedge on each side, 10 feet in height, though planted only 

 a few years. In front of this hedge, longitudinally, are a series 

 of bold wide arches covered with hardy creepers, with fine 

 Hollyhocks in the openings ; and in front of these again, each in 

 its separate bed and at equal distances from each other, a fine 

 row of healthy large-headed tree Roses of equal height and of 

 the best kinds. Standing on the central walk, on whichever 

 side you look you are presented with a fine rich background to 

 reflect the brilliant colours in the beds. We must content our- 

 selves with a few words on the position of the parterres, the styles 

 of planting, and a hint or two to be considered if not adopted. 



The first impression as the eye goes from side to side of this 

 garden is one of overpowering brilliancy, from the vast blaze of 

 colours presented in one uniform slope or level. This very 

 brilliancy, the great number of beds, and their nearness to each 

 other, are apt, when looked at from a distance, to mingle and 

 merge together, so as to give variety of shade instead of distinct- 

 ness in colouring. This would be still more the case but for the 

 incline of the ground. 



Such parterres, to. be seen to the very best effect, should have 

 such a position as they would have enjoyed, had they been one 

 on each side of the fine flight of steps that takes you to the panel 

 gardens. The next best would be the position they now occupy, 

 but with that centre walk Borne 2 feet higher than a regular ground 

 level of the Sower-beda. The third best is that which has been 

 adopted, not a ground level the same as that of the walk, but 

 rising from it by a gentle incline on each side. By this means 

 the plants in the farthest beds are brought nearer the eye, 

 and are seen more distinctly than if all the beds had been on 

 the same level. This effect was also frequently increased by the 

 taller-growing plants being used next the line of Roses, and the 

 dwarfer ones next the middle main walk ; but always so as to 

 preserve uniformity of slope, showing the advantage in such 

 an arrangement of studying heights as well as colours. 



" Uniformity of slope ! Why that is next thing to uniformity 

 of level, 1 or keeping clumps on the level ! " we think we hear a 

 learned gentleman say, who wrote us such a nice letter last week, 



