Angnst 10, 1871. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



101 



maimer described. Stioh an instance as this may serve to show 

 that where well-trained trees are not required — though I should 

 certainly not recommend this plan in every case — it is much 

 better, so far as quantity of fruit is concerned, to let the trees 

 have their natural freedom. Too much restricting of wall 

 trees in some instances is apt to weaken their constitution, 

 and it makes them much more liable to be attacked by difierent 

 kinds of vermin which would not otherwise molest them. — 



EOBEEI MaCKELLAB. 



A BIT OF SOUTH DEVON.— No. .5. 



The monks of the olden time were as wise— some people 

 think they were wiser — in the care of their bodies as of their 

 souls, and the monks of Tor were not less wise thaii their 

 brethren. They built their abbey on the sheltered shore of a 

 bay, where a greater variety and abundance of fish are caught 

 than in any other spot of England's sea-boundary. I was at 

 Brixham recently, not far from Tor Abbey, and saw such heaps 

 of whitings, soles, and red mullets as I never before looked 

 upon. Then these monks of Tor selected for their herb garden 

 one of the best-soiled, best-watered, and best-sheltered plots ; 

 it is in a valley, with a stream of water sparkling through its 

 whole length. Mr. Curtis, perhaps, thought they were trusty 

 guides in such a selection ; at all events he agreed with their 

 estimate, and secured -the ground for the site of his rosery. 

 It is on the side of the road to, and close to Paignton. Who 

 that knows anything of kitchen-gardening is ignorant of the 

 Paignton Cabbage? He may have always seen it spelled 

 " Penton," but Paignton is its true name, after that of the 

 place of its origin. Who can say that it was not raised by the 

 monks of Tor in this their garden ? It has been known so long 

 that, as lawyers say, " the memory of man runneth not to the 

 contrary." It is just such a pot herb as monks would covet — 

 large, firm-hearted, and strong-flavoured. It is extensively 

 grown hereabouts, and is found to be produced finest when sea- 

 weed is used to manure for it the soil. 



This recurrence to Mr. Cartis's rosery may appropriately 

 introduce the following additions and corrections he has sent 

 to me : — 



" A few EoBes that were omitted in the list of good old varieties. 

 White and Cream. — Alba Rosea, T. ; Baronne de Maynard, H.P. ; 

 Niphetos, T. ; and Soavenir d'Elise, T. Blush and Flesh. — Presi- 

 dent,!.; and Souvenir de la MaImaison,B. Finic and Base. — ^Annade 

 Diesbach, H.P. ; CentifoUa rosea, H.P. ; Colonel de Eongemont, H.P. 

 (an improved Baronne Prevoat) ; Elie Morel, H.P. ; La France, H.P. ; 

 and Mobs Laneii, S. Carmine, Scarlet, and Lif/ht Crimson. — Antoine 

 Dncher, H.P. ; Dachesse de Caylas, H.P. ; Camille Bernardin, H.P. ; 

 Madame Caillat, H.P. ; and Victor Verdier, H.P. Crimson, Bar!; 

 Crimson, and Purple. — Dnlio of Wellington, H.P. ; GeneralJacqnemi- 

 not, H.P. ; Pierre Netting, H.P. ; and Prince CamUle deEohan, H.P. 

 Yellovi. — Madame Falcot, T. ; Soliateire, N. ; and Persian Yellow, S. 



" The following were inserted by mistake, and should not be included 

 among the best old varieties : — Glemence Eaoux, Edward Morren, 

 Charles Lee, La Brillante, and Laurent Descourt." 



I have mentioned, in more than one sentence of my previous 

 " Bits," the extreme luxuriance of the vegetation hereabouts. 

 It is so everywhere around, but in no place more so than at 

 Hacoombe. And I must diverge here — I can't help it, for I 

 am quite vagrant now — to observe, as I did previously at Ilfra- 

 combe, what a multitude of places combe-named there are in 

 Devon. Fifteen are within a circuit of five miles round here ; 

 and well there may be, for "combe," being interpreted, is "a 

 wooded valley," and most truly are they such to which the 

 name is applied, and none more so than those of Hacoombe 

 Park. It is the most beautiful of the small parks that I have 

 ever seen. It is a cluster of small well-wooded combes, the 

 trees all noble, especially the Beeches. It is and has been the 

 seat of the Carews for five centuries, one of the three old British 

 families commemorated in the Devon historic lines intended 

 for rhyme — 



" Crocker, Crnwys, and Coplestone, 

 When the Conqueror came were found at home." 

 Leaving your card at the mansion you are admitted to the 

 church adjoining. I wish your pages were archjeological as well 

 as horticultural, poultrycultural, and apicultural, for then I 

 would pour out much of " notes of things that were " relative 

 to the statues and brasses over the Haccombes and Carews of 

 whom all that is mortal rests there. I will drag in, however, a 

 note on the horseshoe and three-fourths of a horseshoe nailed 

 to the church door. Tradition says that a wild Carew wagered 

 Haccombe against another manor that he would ride on his 

 horse whilst swimming to and back from some marvellous dis- 



tance in the sea, won the manor, took off the horse's shoes, 

 nailed them to the church door, and turned the horse out into 

 the park to work no more. I don't believe it, any more than' 

 I believe that the bit of skin I once saw on Great Horkesley 

 church door was part of that of a freebooter the people had 

 caught and flayed. I believe that the shoes are testimonials of 

 the superstition that witches and evil spirits could not pass where 

 a horseshoe reversed, as these are, was affixed. Let it not be 

 objected that such a guardian could not be needed for a church, 

 for then and here the Devonians beUeved that all priests had 

 dealings with the Evil One and were coDJarers. One caught 

 boys stealing Apples near the church, and by his magic kept . 

 them powerless in the tree until the congregation saw who were 

 the culprits. That's a little bit relative to orcharding, so let ' 

 me slide in another little bit relative to the Devonian super- 

 stitious, and you may be lenient because it gets within the con- 

 fines of another of your departments. Fairy rings prevail in 

 some of the very many pastures here, and I am assured that on 

 moonlit nights a black hen and chickens may be seen within 

 some of these magic circles ; but my informant, not being, 

 learned in poultry classification, could not say whether they 

 are Black Spanish ! Let me add as I have mentioned the Fairy 

 ring (though you and I know that Mushrooms not fairies make 

 it), that the Devonian Fairy, or Pixy, is less modest than in 

 other counties, for a local rhyme describes him — ■ 

 " Little Pixy, fair and slim. 

 Without a rag to cover him." 



There, now, I will for the remainder of this " Bit " be en- 

 tirely horticultural, confining my notes to that which we all 

 have on our hearts, the encouragement of cottage gardening. 



During the past fortnight within two or three miles of Tor- 

 quay have been held four horticultural and cottage gardeners' 

 shows, and the reports I have from each is that it exceeded all 

 previously held. This growing fondness for gardening among 

 all classes is to be rejoiced over. "Our Journal" has aided 

 much in this progress back to ".the pursuit in Paradise." I 

 could cover pages on the topic ; but " Wiltshike Eeciob " and 

 Mr. E. Fish, to which I will add an extract from an address 

 delivered by a Devon rector, render any addition from my 

 willing pen needless. 



The four cottage gardeners' Shows to which I have referiBd 

 are St. Mary Church, Upton, Torre, and Paignton. Let me 

 observe, to commend, that they offer prizes to be competed for 

 by children. Bend the first shoot in the direction you would 

 have the plant grow. 



The following is an extract from the very excellent address of 

 the President of the Paignton Society, the Eev. Prebend Hall, . 

 at the time he delivered the prizes : — 



" The Society was not established so much to give prizes, as with 

 the view of giving employment at vacant periods, and in that way 

 aiding the industry of the competitors and their own respectability. 

 One thing for which the exhibition has been distinguished is the 

 distribution of prizes for the good culture of flowers, vegetables and 

 fruits ; and he hoped, in the observations he should make, that the 

 one word which ran through his mind would run through theirs also, 

 and that word is ' cultivate.' The love of flowers is inherent in 

 the human heart. The child that could just walk, and the old man 

 just tottering near the grave, welcomed the flowers as friends and 

 as treasures which the spring and summer brought. Besides, too, 

 he knew that many a man, the son of a labourer, who lived perhaps 

 in this or other counties, when he went to the great towns, London, 

 Birmingham, Manchester, or Leeds, very often carried with him a 

 little flower pot, the plant in which he treasured, and which reminded 

 him of his former home. In fact what is called 'window gardening' 

 is carried on most successfully, and to a very great extent, in some 

 parts of London, especially in Westminster, and among the Spitalfields 

 weavers. If we have a few friends come to dinner, what do we do ?. 

 We ornament the tables with flowers. If we have friends in our 

 house we send to their rooms a bunch of flowers ; or if, as it sometimes 

 happens, a singer or an actress departs from the stage, they are, as one 

 was recently, overwhelmed with bouquets of flowers. On the great 

 festivals of the Church, also, we are glad to adorn our churches with 

 flowers and fruit, and place the choicest on the Lord's table. In our 

 marriages we place a coronet on the brow of the bride ; and we weave 

 a chaplet to the memory of some beloved one departed, and drop it on 

 the grave with tender feeling .and afi'ectionate remembrance. This 

 country is now celebrated for the production of flowers. It is but little 

 more than 400 years ago that there were scarcely any flowers in Englajid. 

 A celebrated botanist (LinnEeus) came from Sweden, and on passing 

 through the wolds of Yorkshire, and seeing the country covered with 

 golden Furze, was bo delighted that he fell down on his knees and 

 thanked the God of Nature for ornamenting the landscape so beauti- 

 fully. Now, however, by means of cultivation and searching in differ- 

 ent climes, we have added to our flowers a stock which makes England 

 the country where there is the greatest exhibition of floriculture. Of 



