June 15, 1871. ] 



JOUBNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



419 



first. The soil at this potting may consist of light loam from 

 turves not more than 1* inch thick laid up for sis months, or, 

 failing such, fresh turf will do. If it is fresh, place it in an oven 

 lor half an hour, turning it over once, so as to get rid of wire- 

 worms and other vermin. It should be a good, rich, light loam. 

 Of that two parts chopped up in pieces about half an inch 

 .square, brown sandy peat one part, old cow dung, served the 

 same as the loam to get rid of grubs, one part (old dry hot- 

 ied manure will do), one part charcoal, in pieces from the size 

 of a pea to that of a hazel nut, and one part silver sand, the 

 ■whole well mixed and incorporated. Drain the pots well, but 

 not excessively, and place about half an inch deep of half- 

 inch bones over the crocks. This will suit the plants in all 

 after-pottings. Make choice of the best plant — the strongest, 

 most sturdy, and close-jointed, cut away the others when they 

 are about 2 inches high, pot in from 4j-inch to 7-inch pots 

 when the roots reach the sides of the pots, and continue the 

 oprinklings overhead every evening, and at this stage early 

 in the morning as well. The watering should be moderate, 

 not giving any water until the soil is dry, but a good supply 

 before the leaves flag. In the case of the plants, from growing, 

 getting too close to the glass, withdraw the pots they are set 

 •on, and place them on coal ashes, rough rather than fine, and 

 when they grow too tall for the frame raiae the frame by means 

 of bricks under the corners, and this will admit plenty of air 

 without withdrawing the lights in showery weather. In very 

 bright hot weather keep on the lights and afford a slight shade 

 irom bright sun. 



The last shift should be given as soon as the roots reach the 

 sides of the 7-inch pots, shifting the plants into those 9 inches 

 in diameter, and give this time about an inch of half-inch 

 bones. The plants should have the first flower-spike pinched 

 out as soon as it appears, and a neat stick put in to keep it 

 erect. Train up a shoot as leader, and do not stop the side 

 shoots until they show flower, and then take out the bloom 

 wherever it appears until a month before the time at which 

 you wish to have it in flower. The side shoots may be tied out, 

 or rather down, and brought in the direction of vacancies, so 

 as to form a close symmetrical plant well furnished to the 

 pot. About a fortnight after the last potting liquid manure 

 may be given twice a-week, but it must not be strong. A peck 

 of sheep's droppings to thirty gallons of water well stirred up 

 before use is the best we know. The tyings should be done 

 neatly, and with thread, using no stick except for the central 

 shoot or main stem. In tying, be careful not to break the 

 shoots. To bring the shoots down you will need to place a wire 

 or string beneath the rim of the pot, which, with the strings 

 used for a time to give the side shoots the required direction, 

 may be removed when that is effected. — G. A. 



LOXFORD HALL, 



THE RESIDENCE OF F. WHITBOURN, ESQ. 



I OFTEN have the pleasure of meeting Mr. Douglas at the 

 various exhibitions, and have a wholesome dread of him when 

 3 see that he is a competitor, for he is one of those gardeners 

 who do nothing by halves ; he is so thoroughly up to the mark 

 in all departments, that you may be pretty sure, if you enter 

 "the lists with him, to come oft with some broken bones. When, 

 'therefore, in answer to his oft-repeated wish I went doivn to 

 see the garden he superintends, I was quite sure that I should 

 see things well done, and I was in truth amply repaid. 



Loxford Hill is not, as perhaps one might be led from its 

 name (a name not given by its present owner) to suppose, a 

 lordly mansion, stauding in the midst of a grand park and 

 surrounded by all the et-ceteras that "Euglish luxuriousness," 

 (according to General Trochu), can supply. No, it is a plain 

 simple villa near Ilford, Essex, stauding in the midst of a good 

 acreage of farm, and by the great multitude of people would be 

 passed by as not having any features of peculiar interest ; but 

 to anyone instructed in horticulture you have only to pass into 

 the garden, and you at once see the marks of a master hand. 

 The garden owes all its value to the contents and not to the 

 surroundings. It is perfectly level, and was a few yeais ago 

 simply a piece of meadow. The houses, which are numerous, 

 were not built on any special plan, and were run up at different 

 times, so that there is no continuity, and there is cousequeutly 

 need of more care and attention on the part of the gardener 

 than where a one-boiler system and long range of houses exist. 



la fruit Mr. Douglas has long taken a foremost place, and 

 the vineries showed evidence of the successful treatment that 

 iias enabled Mr. Douglas to take such a prominent place. There 



were splendid bunches of 4 and 5 lbs. weight of Black Ham- 

 burghs ; then there were Royal Ascot, Golden Champion, Mrs. 

 Pince, Barbarossa, and many others, and a seedling which I 

 think is likely to prove a valuable variety, a cross between 

 Euokland S.veetwater and a Prontignau, a cross-breed having 

 the large berries of the one parent and a very decided Frontig- 

 nan flavour. We shall hear more of this Grape, I am persuaded, 

 by-and-by. In another house in the kitchen garden there is 

 a Muscat of Alexandria which is somewhat remarkable. It 

 was on a wall outside and was brought into the house, and the 

 space in which its roots can travel is very circumscribed, yet 

 it had some magnificent bunches and always does well. 



Mr. Rivers might quote Mr. Douglas as a successful champion 

 of orchard-house culture. The house has hot-water pipes in 

 it, and can thus at the critical period have the extra heat which 

 is often needed to set the fruit, the point in which I have ever 

 felt the unheated orchard house was defective. Nothing could 

 exceed the healthy appearance of the trees, while a plentiful 

 crop of Peaches and Nectarines showed that there was profit as 

 well as beauty. All around shelves near the glass were filled 

 with Strawberries in pots, and here the fragrant perfume clearly 

 indicated how well they were cared for. Various kinds were 

 used for this purpose, and among them one of M. Souchet's 

 which I had noi before seen. There were besides La Con- 

 staute and President Wilder of De Jonghe, Cockscomb, Dr. 

 Hogg, and President, and in all cases the fruit was well grown 

 and colouring well ; and whatever may be the habit of La Con- 

 etante out of doors there is no doubt, from what I saw here, 

 that it is well suited for pot culture. 



In the flower garden Mr. Douglas has managed to combine 

 the requirements of a home like this with the love of a florist. 

 While he grows Azaleas, Pelargoniums, Orchids, stove and green- 

 house plants, and grows them well, he also grows the Gladiolus 

 and Chrysanthemum, and his flowers of both have taken pro- 

 minent places on the exhibition table. I quake when I see him 

 putting up his stands ol Gladioli, and I am sure, from what I 

 saw of his Chrysanthemums at Kensington last autumn, exhi- 

 bitors of that flower must do the same. His Gladioli looked- 

 well, and he has a large number of seedlings from carefully 

 fertilised flowers, which ought to produce something. It will be 

 recollected by some that he exhibited last year a very fine seed- 

 ling for which he gained a first-class certificate, and which went 

 into Messrs. Standish's hands. Most of his Chrysanthemums 

 were grown for single stems, and by this means he obtains some 

 very fine flowers, few in number of necessity, but very fine in 

 quality. There were also here some of the very finest plants of 

 Lilium auratum that I have anywhere seen, stems producing 

 twenty and thirty blooms a-piece, and some eight to ten of these 

 in a pot. Mr. Douglas has detailed his mode of culture in The 

 JouKNAL OP HoETicuLTUEE, and I need only add that he grows 

 them mainly in Wanstead loam, and plunges them out of doors 

 during the winter, and thus obtains hardy well-constitutioned 

 plants. These large pots contain the produce of a single bulb, 

 the bulbs being simply pushed away from each other so as to 

 partly separate them. 



In vegetables, too, Mr. Douglas has shown himself an able 

 cultivator, the seedling Cucumber he exhibited last month being 

 a very fine variety ; while a walk through the kitchen garden, 

 where he has Peas, Potatoes, and other vegetables on trial, will 

 show much that anyone interested in this most useful part of 

 the garden will be pleased with. He has often told me that he 

 cannot grow the Lapstone Potato, but I very much question 

 from what I saw whether he has it true. 



I have said nothing of the bedding-out and other more ordi- 

 nary matters, but simply have noticed those points which 

 struck me most. Mr. Douglas has some difficulties to contend 

 with, but he has one great advantage in having in Mr. Whit- 

 bourn a kind and considerate employer, who, believing that a 

 man whose profession it is to be a gardener must know what 

 is best to be done, is willing to trust him. Surely if there 

 were more of this feeling there would not be so many complaints, 

 and for both the employer and employed there would be great 

 advantages. — D., Deal. 



PRESERVING WALKS FROM WEEDS. 

 To aid your correspondent " Idem " to prevent weeds from 

 growing on his paths, allow me to suggest spent lime from the 

 gas house as very suitable in his case. It is put on the last 

 coat of stones just before the gravel, and is merely shovelled 

 on to the stones and spread evenly over. For a path 3 or 

 4 feet wide, about 3 inches in thickness would be sufficient. 



