224 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ SeptemSen 22,. 1870. 



to see the poor appearance which even Stella presented along- 

 side the Chilwell varieties. I do not doubt if Mr. Beaton had 

 lived to see varieties so greatly surpassing his own pet sort, 

 he would have been among the first to accord them his hearty 

 admiration. Although planted near the best kinds which I 

 have named, yet a bed of Violet Hill was as effective here as 

 elsewhere, and this, to my mind, tends more than anything 

 else that has been said in its favour to stamp it as a first-class 

 bedder. 



All these Pelargoniums were planted on the lawn near Mr. 

 Pearson's residence, each kind filling a circular bed of sufficient 

 size to give a good mass of colour, so that one was able to 

 judge very fairly of their merits and fitness for the flower 

 garden. These beds were not all together, but were dispersed 

 among the fine masses of Rhododendrons and beautiful speci- 

 men Conifers which are the permanent occupants of this 

 pleasant lawn, and they have grown into beauty under the 

 hands of the present owner during the past twenty years. A 

 fine Wellingtonia is about 30 feet high, and in perfect health 

 and vigour. Mr. Pearson attributes this principally to the bed 

 of very deep rich soil in which it is planted, and it is his opinion 

 that the chief cause of decay in so many fine young Welling- 

 tonias is because a suitable provision is not first of all made 

 for the perpendicular or tap roots which force their way so 

 deeply into the soil, and as this tree depends very much upon 

 such roots for its sustenance, it is but reasonable to suppose 

 that a shallow soil would quickly become exhausted. This is 

 worthy of attention, for it would be a fallacy to suppose that 

 those huge trees still flourishing in the primeval forests of 

 America ever attained their gigantic proportions by the aid of 

 mere surface roots ; and, therefore, if succeeding generations 

 in our own land are to see our native timber trees dwarfed by 

 mighty Wellingtonias, too much attention cannot be given to 

 the selection of the beBt situation and careful preparation of 

 the soil. The plant to which I allude above was, when planted 

 in its present position in 1860, only 1 foot high. 



Another point in the culture of Conifers on which Mr. 

 Pearson lays great stress, is the planting of the trees in their 

 permanent stations when quite young, as he is able to demon- 

 strate that small healthy young trees not only acquire the 

 handsomest proportions, but by their mora vigorous growth 

 "they soon beat those large specimens which have been trans- 

 planted so often before occupying their permanent quarters. 

 Among the many fine examples growing on the lawn here, there 

 are very fine specimens of Cupressus macrocarpa, the branches 

 of one having a spread of 18 feet in diameter at the base, while 

 the plant cannot be more than 14 or 15 feet high. Cupressus 

 Lawsoniana was also floe, its pendulous shoots giving it a very 

 graceful appearance. This and numerous other species were 

 all well furnished with branches downwards to the turf, and as 

 good lower branches are among the principal attractions in this 

 class of trees, the mode of culture followed here appears to be 

 the right one. In some instances where the young trees did 

 not produce lower branches in sufficient quantity, cutting off 

 the leading shoots has proved an effectual remedy. By this 

 somewhat startling operation the vigour of the tree is almost 

 entirely thrown into the side branches for a year or two, and 

 in time a sturdy leader is again formed, growing so erect as to 

 render it a difficult matter in a few years to discover its start- 

 ing point. A beautiful specimen of Picea Nordmanniana was 

 pointed out to me, the leader of which was accidental'y cut off 

 some years ago, and it is now as handsome a specimen as any 

 on the lawn, with a particularly dense mass of lower branches 

 restingion the turf, from whence it tapers upwards in most 

 elegant proportions. 



A few good beds of Cannas near the margin of the lawn were 

 noteworthy from the agreeable effect which their foliage had 

 when thus contrasted with that of the Pmuses. 



Passing from the lawn we at once come to the glass houses, 

 twenty-one in number, nearly the whole of them being of the 

 span-roof form, and many of them being really magnificent 

 structures of noble proportions, of great strength, and yet, 

 from the judicious use of iron pillars and ties, they have a 

 light and elegant appearance. They were built by Mr. Foster, 

 of Beeston, but the elaborate details are, I believe, the joint 

 conception of Mr. Pearson and Mr. Foster. Nothing appears 

 to have been overlooked in the building of these houses ; the 

 ventilating apparatus is as simple as it is effective, and I saw 

 many ingenious appliances, the usefulness of which I could 

 not but admire. One novel feature was that of the form of the 

 glass ; the ends of the panes, which lap over each other, instead 

 of being cut straight or at right angles with the sides, had a 



semicircular outline, and thus the moiBture from, evaporation 

 inside the house, instead of gathering along the edges of the 

 glass and dripping on the plants beneath, runs down the 

 centre of the panes in a single stream. Another plan for the 

 avoidance of drip was that of a broad groove along each side of. 

 the roof bars holding the glass, which thus had concave sides 

 instead of the usual flat surface, by which means any accumu- 

 lation of moisture on the woodwork runs downwards to the front 

 or sides of the house. 



The houses and their contents were alike interesting ; one, 

 an orchard house 90 feet long by 30 wide, contained a remark- 

 ably fine healthy stock of Reaches and Nectarines in pots of 

 all sizes and heights ; a number of very large standard Peach 

 trees planted in one of the borders had been cropping heavily, 

 and there was still enough fine fruit remaining to convince one 

 of the excellence of the entire crop. A few Vines, trained at 

 intervals along the iron rods used to strengthen the roof, had 

 an agreeable effect. Another orchard house contained an 

 equally fine batch of pot trees all in a flourishing condition ; 

 here, too, were a number of standard trees bearing fine crops. 

 The sight of the trees leads to the conviction that where the 

 houses are lofty enough, Peaches may be grown so with much 

 less care, and with results quite equal to that of any other 

 more laborious method. 



The pot Vines at Chilwell are a grand sight. They are grown 

 principally in two span-roofed houses, one 60 feet by 20, and 

 the other 100 feet by 24. They were all in splendid condition, 

 forming such a collection of noble, well-ripened canes aB is 

 very rarely to be met with. The collection of sorts is good, 

 comprising all the leading varieties. Another of these fine 

 houses, intended eventually for a Fig house, was filled princi- 

 pally with Figs and a variety of standard fruit treeB in pots. 



The grand vinery, of which a section is figured in Mr. Pear- 

 son's book on Vine culture, is 100 feet long by 24 wide. The 

 entire length of one side is taken up by seedling Vines, which 

 form a most interesting sight from the varied appearance of 

 the foliage, a sure sign, in Mr. Pearson's opinion, of success in 

 the operation of impregnation, which is well known to be a 

 work of great difficulty, reqs ring much skill and watchfulness 

 on the part of the operator, owing to the peculiar structure of 

 the flowers of the Grape Vine. Among these seedling Vines 

 was a plant of Ferdinand de Lesseps, raised by Mr. Pearson, 

 and awarded a first-class certificate by the Fruit Committee at 

 South Kensington. This is the most distinct and remarkable 

 Grape of modern introduction. The berries are of a fine 

 golden amber, but it is the full rich Strawberry flavour that 

 renders this variety so remarkable, and I am confident that 

 there iB no one caring for Grapes at all but who, after tasting 

 this delicious sort, would wish to grow it. From what Mr. 

 Pearson told me of its hardiness and vigour, it is likely to 

 thrive in a cool vinery equally with the Black Hamburgh, and 

 if this prove to be the case it will be an acquisition indeed. 

 On the opposite side of the house were a number of young 

 Vines bearing some magnificent fruit, among which were some 

 grand bunches of Muscat of Alexandra, equally fine in bunch 

 and berry, and thoroughly well finished. Bowood Muscat, 

 Black Hamburgh, and Muscat Hamburgh were also fine ; an 

 extraordinary, but by no means handsome, bunch of the latter 

 kind had such wonderful shoulders that I measured it, and it 

 was actually fully 2 feet across. Mrs. Pince, too, was very fine, 

 and Mr. Pearson spoke very highly of it. Frankenthal, or 

 Victoria Hamburgh, was equally good, with berries of a large 

 size. 



The conservatory is a fine house, filled principally with a 

 healthy stock of Camellias all growing in a pure turf soil. 

 Among the miscellaneous plants, Pelargonium echinatum with 

 its clusters of pretty white flowers, having a crimson blotch on 

 the upper petals, was an attractive object ; this fine old species 

 is most useful to cut from ; its sprightly flowers would have a 

 charming effect in a bridal bouquet. 



Another long, low, span-roofed house was filled with plants 

 of the famous Long Gun Cucumber, growing on a trellis ; they 

 were in pots, which were plunged in cocoa-nut fibre, into which 

 the roots had penetrated on all sides, apparently very much to 

 the benefit of the crop, which was a very fine one. 



The two long ranges of span-roofed pits struck me as being 

 the most admirable structures of the kind that I have seen ; 

 great utility and simplicity are their leading characteristics. A 

 description of them has already been published in " our Journal" 

 by Mr. Pearson, but as it is probable that their full value is far 

 from being understood, I will give a slight sketch of them. A 

 low 9-inoh wall forms the tides and ends ; half the width of the 



