September 21, 1871. 1 



JOtJBNAL OF HOETIOULTUBE AND OOTTAQB GABDBNBB. 



231 



find it out, and after taking what they want, very seldom have 

 the wisdom to go oat as they came in. Like higher races of 

 existence whose soaring ambition too often proves their ruin, 

 they fly upwards, find the holes in the hand-light, get through, 

 and fly about in the upper glass until they fall down exhausted. 

 Those who cannot bear the sufferings even of a wasp unmoved, 

 may put all such quickly out of pain and trouble by lighting a 

 paper dipped in brimstone in the lower glass in the evening, 

 and the fumes will be almost dissipated before the morning. 



The best security for in-door crops is to stretch some fine 

 gauze netting over the openings intended tor ventilation, so as 

 to allow the air freely to pass, and yet keep out wasps and even 

 small flies. On walls— after syringing well to dislodge ants 

 and woodlice, and tarring the bottom of the wall, or even run- 

 ning a cordon of fresh soot along— much may be done to keep 

 away all intruders by covering with fine Nottingham netting, 

 making it secure to the top and bottom of the wall by list or 

 tape. Small pieces may be used to cover individual fine fruit, 

 but it is often diffioult to fasten it properly about the stem 

 when the footstalk, as in the case of Peaches and Nectarines, 

 is short. We have often used cotton wadding with good effect, 

 placing it thinly round the fruit, the paper side inwards and 

 the woolly side outwards. Hardly any insects will venture on 

 the loose cotton, as their feet become clogged up and entangled. 

 Put on very thinly, the fiavour and colour were little injured. 



One of our cheapest resources, however, for fruit out of doors 

 when insects and birds threaten to have more than their legi- 

 timate share, is to gather a good quantity of fruit before it is 

 JuUy ripe — so ripe as to tempt the marauders, and then assist 

 them to ripen with a little heat in rather a close vessel, so as 

 to prevent the juices of the fruit evaporating. We often help 

 Peaches, Nectarines, Plums, Apples, and Pears in this way, 

 and, full of rich juice, no one would know at the dinner-table 

 that they had not been taken ripe from the tree the same day. 

 The birds have begun on some of our latest and hardest Pears, 

 and for that there is no remedy, as they would shrivel if 

 gathered. When the first Pear of Williams's Bon Chretien 

 was picked, we took that as a hint to gather a lot of the most 

 forward fruit, and to place them, covered up at first, where they 

 would, after a little full exposure, be juicy and mellow. Much 

 onay be done in this way to secure untouched fruit when other 

 .aieana, are wanting. — E. F. 



BICTON.— No. 2. 



The Eesidence of Baeoness Kolle. 



The Vines at Bioton could not have been in a satisfactory 

 'State in 1869, neither are they at the present time. Several 

 new Vine borders, however, have been made by concreting, 

 dividing, draining, and ventilating. The late vinery in the 

 Jiitchen garden is a fine house 68 feet long by 16 feet 6 inches 

 in width, the Vines in which are planted in an inside border 

 at about 2 feet apart. These Vines are said to have been 

 planted about twenty years, and soon afterwards mildew is said 

 'to have taken and kept possession almost to the present time. 

 Scraping off the Vine bark in the winter, and proper dressings, 

 followed by summer sulphuringa seem to have conquered the 

 ■mildew, for we could detect little, it any. Want of drainage 

 was a great defect, for water was reached within 30 inches of 

 ihe surface. Excavations were made, concreted, drained, air- 

 pipes laid, and divided into compartments for six borders. The 

 divisions are only brick thick, and give each Vine its own com- 

 partment. Replanting a vinery by this plan, the having to 

 sacrifice a whole house for two or three years, is superseded. 

 The question is, whether it is necessary to replant at all, unless 

 by mistake a worthless sort may have been introduced ; the 

 Toota being so perfectly under control, they can be fed, top- 

 dressed, root-pruned, soil added, and even lifted without injury 

 to the following crop. It is, therefore, only when having found 

 that a bad variety — and there are some of them much talked of 

 :|u3t now — that you may have to dig it out, relay your drainage, 

 change the soil, and plant another. 



Mr. Begbie considers the system of air-drains commencing 

 on the front of the Vine border and ascending into the house 

 ■of great importance, not only as a purifier of the soil, but by 

 a jadieious opening and closing of them a much higher root 

 temperature may be secured than by the ordinary method. 

 When we were at Bicton, in mid-August, 73° to 75° was the 

 Sieat in such borders, and during the summer the average, Mr. 

 Begbie said, is over 78°, secured by sun heat alone, by opening 

 the air-pipes about 9 a.m., and shutting them at 4 p ji., and 



this heat, be it observed, is not taken near the surface, but at 

 the bottom of the border next to the drainage. The concrete is 

 laid at 4 feet from the surface, over which at least 1 foot of 

 clean rubble is laid. A 6-inch air-drain-pipe is placed in the 

 centre of each compartment, over the drainage was placed turf in 

 sods of 3 inches in thickness. All was carted in dry weather, and 

 when the soil was neither too dry nor too wet. Over every layer 

 of sods was added a good sprinkling of boiled inch bones, a little 

 soot, and some rough clean plasterers' rubbish. The rougher 

 the soil the better, porosity being the first consideration. 

 Mulchings and waterings in summer the Vines delight in, and 

 rich water too. There is here a row of 4-iuoh pipes commu- 

 nicating with the drainage and surface of the border, two for 

 each compartment, placed near where the Vines are planted, 

 and by which a supply of liquid to the roots is given when the 

 surface may not require it. There is a large main drain along 

 the front of the border, so as to insure perfect drainage at all 

 times. The borders are not covered in winter by any other 

 material than a surfaoe-dresfing of rotten manure, which ex- 

 cludes frost, and encourages the growth of fibrous roots near 

 the surface. 



The Heath and New Holland house is a noble structure o£ 

 96 feet in length by 17 feet in breadth, and 13 feet in height, 

 with stone table in the centre, stone shelves at each side, and 

 a broad path all round the house. Lady RoUe took great interest 

 in the Heaths, of which she had one of the most extensive col- 

 lections, and would not allow any other plants to be grown in 

 the same house. Mr. Glendinning had taken great pride in the 

 Heaths, and left them in the best of order. There ero now 

 less than one-third, and there were no more when Mr. Begbie 

 arrived here in 1869. 



The Camellia house, besides the Heath house, was designed 

 and erected by Mr. Glendinning, and they bear traces of his 

 talent, both being models of their kind. The house now called 

 the Camellia house, and where Camelliaa are planted out and 

 till the house, affords an enormous supply of cut flowers from 

 October until April ; indeed, there are few if any places in 

 England which could have supplied during thelast winter sixteen 

 dozen of cut flowers daily for sixteen days, and after a short 

 cessation repeated the process without injury, but rather to 

 the advantage of the plants, which remained loaded even then. 

 This house was formerly the orangery, and Oranges were in 

 those days grown in tubs, and were very fine trees. 



Some years ago Lady EoUe wished to have her Orange trees 

 near the house, and, therefore, had a noble orangery erected 

 adjoining the mansion, and so placed as to be in connection 

 with the library. It is lidge-aud-furrow-roofed, 87 feet in 

 length by 52 feet in width, and 21 feet in height, with a hand- 

 some Portland stone path down the middle, and branching off 

 towards the private chapel. Owing to some neglect underlormer 

 management, either in the concreting, draining, or soil of the 

 borders in which they are planted, the Orange trees, once the 

 pride of Bicton, are now a sad picture. Three parts of them 

 are dead, the others following them rapidly, and gone beyond 

 any gardener's skill to recover. 



The kitchen garden includes about tour acres, and furnishes 

 an ample supply throughout the year of every kind of garden 

 produce for a large establishment. 



There are two specimens of Wistaria sinensis, one measur- 

 ing 4 feet 8 inches at the base, and covering the roof of a tool 

 shed 54 feet long by 15 feet wide. The other tree runs 72 feet 

 on the coping of a wall, and is a truly grand sight in early 

 spring, when it flowers profusely, and also in early autumn. 

 Near this stands the standard Wistaria, which was supported 

 originally by stakes, but is now nearly self-supporting. Pinns 

 macrocarpa close by is 71 feet high, and measures 8 feet 2 inches 

 at the ground, and at 3 feet, 7 feet 4inches. This tree has often 

 shown pollen, but as yet has not coned, yet Mr. Cox, of Eedleaf, 

 in Kent, has had it coned there, but it has not shown any 

 pollen. Abies Morinda has also coned at Eedieef, and seedlings 

 raised from home-grown seeds are now 9 feet high. Welling- 

 tonias have not done so, and we should much like to bear if it 

 has done so elsewhere in England. 



The flower garden on the east and west is bounded by mag- 

 nificent Magnolia walls, which produce an enormous quantity 

 of blossom during the autumn months. At present they scent 

 the air for a very great distance. Those walls are valued very 

 highly by Lady Bolle, who justly will not allow any other plants 

 to have a place there ; no other wall-olother being entitled to 

 compare with it. 



Beech trees at Bioton are clothed with Ivy, but branching 

 trees, Mr. Bsgbie observes, suit it best, and on those it has 



