September 20, 1877. ] 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



233 



bears many anch cones, which, when they have arrived at 

 maturity, drop to the ground. The seeds lie in suoh great 

 numbers on the ground that only a patt of them are collected. 

 The Indians have also a way of making a kind of brandy from 

 these seeds. 



The "Journal of Forestry" gives the following enu- 

 meration of remarkable Walnut trees:— A Walnut tree at 

 Gordon Castle, Banffshire, stands 6G feet high and 11 feet in 

 girth at 3 feet from the ground ; and at Altyre, Morayshire, 

 there is one 62 feet high, with a trunk 4 feet in diameter. At 

 Blair Drutnmond, Perthshire, there is one 75 feet high, and 

 13 feet 7 inches in girth at 2 feet up ; and one of the finest in 

 Scotland is at Eccles, Dumfriesshire, 63 feet high, girth at 

 base 22 feet, and at 12 feet up 13 feet girth. In England 

 there are many fine old Walnut trees of which there is no 

 record. There is a fine one at Rufford Abbey, Notts, the butt 

 of which, although only 4 feet long, girths 21 feet 10 inches at 

 2 feet up. Another particularly remarkable trea, which grows 

 at Downlands, Hants, measures 16 feet in girth, and contains 

 223 cubic feet of timber. The above are but pigmies in com- 

 parison with the prodigious size and great age which the 

 Walnut tree attains in Eastern Europe. In the Baider Valley, 

 near Balaclava, in the Crimea, grows a Walnut tree at least 

 1000 years old, which yields annually from 80,000 to 100,000 

 nuts, and belongs to five Tartar families, who share its produce 

 equally. Scammozi, an Italian architect, mentions having 

 seen at St. Nicholas, in Lorraine, a single plank of the wood 

 of the Walnut 25 feet wide, upon which the Emperor Frede- 

 rick III. had given a sumptuous banquet. 



ZONAL PELARGONIUMS AT PUTNEY. 



When we visited Mr. Roser and saw the masterly examples 

 of Geraniums grown by him, and heard of the praises bestowed 

 on several varieties of Mr. George's raising, we felt somewhat 

 anxious to pay a visit to Mr. George at Putney, and see them 

 growing at their own home. A rich treat was in store for us. 

 In a three-quarter span house from 20 to 30 feet long there 

 were hundreds of plants growing in 6-inoh pots, the majority 

 of the varieties being Mr. George's own seedlings, the whole of 

 which were in full bloom (Zonals and Hybrid Nosegays), with 

 flowers of various shades of colour, and trusses like Hydran- 

 geas. We measured one of The Moor, a deep rich crimson 

 flower, and it was just 11 inches over — that is, measuring from 

 the lowermost petal on the one side to the same on the other. 



Mr. George had a few very promising seedlings, additions to 

 those already sent out by him, in flower at the time of our 

 visit ; one was a zonal flower of a distinct crimson scarlet, the 

 flower perfeot in shape and a large truss. The raiser thinks 

 very highly of it, says it far surpasses anything he has ever 

 produced before. It is to be named General Grant. Thero 

 were also other promising seedlings, especially a deep orarjge 

 scarlet Hybrid Nosegay. This was not named, but we under- 

 stood it would be sent out along with General Grant. Con- 

 spicuous amongst the quantity of bloom we noted A. F. 

 Barron, Par Excellence, Ivanhoe, Rose Unique, Royalist, 

 Seraph, Salamander, Progress, Sir Garnet Wolseley, Mrs. J. 

 George, Enchantress, Chancellor, Cromwell, The Shah, H. M. 

 Stanley, and Negro Boy, all Mr. George's seedlings. There 

 were numerous other varieties, for the house was one mass of 

 colours, verily maintaining the fact that no other flowers but 

 Zonal Pelargoniums could make such a show in suoh small 

 space, and remain in bloom for so long — May to Octobbr. Mr. 

 George perpetuates his stock in the manner described by Mr. 

 Roser, and Bimply blooms them in 48 and 32-size pots. In 

 the distance we saw some beds of H. M. Stanley, which is 

 without doubt one of the finest bedding Geraniums we have. 

 The numerous varieties sent out by him, and the excellent 

 qualities they possess both in size of pip and truss as well as 

 finish of flower, must rank Mr. George as one of the most 

 successful raisers of both Zonal and Hybrid Nosegay Pelar- 

 goniums of the day. — An Exhibitor. 



THE APPLE ELECTION. 

 A fortnight from tho publication of this letter in your 

 Journal I intend closing the Apple election ; will you therefore 

 kindly use your editorial influence to induce Apple growers to 

 forward more lists ? The result will be published at a time 

 when growers will be able to look over their own grounds and 

 compare the results of the election with their own experience. 



It is also a year to note the bearing properties of the different 

 kinds, so as to know what to plaut and what to avoid. After 

 the election I shall be pleased to compare notes with other 

 growers through the medium of your Journal. — Lewis A. 

 Eilliok, Mount Pleasant, Langlcy, Maidstone. 



[We commend to the notice of our readers Mr. Killick's 

 excellent suggestion for them to note the bearing properties 

 of the different kinds. This will afford very valuable infor- 

 mation in a year like the present, when so great a failure of 

 the fruit crops has taken plaoe. We may remind growers that, 

 the election is for fifteen dessert and the same number of 

 kitchen Apples.— Eds. J. op H.] 



POSE SHOWS. 



Have the Roses shown at the various shows this year been 

 up to the mark ? Have they been up to the average ? I fancy 

 this may seem a startliDg question to some, but I do not know 

 that there is any harm in putting it. If I state my own 

 opinion in the most prosaic manner possible, I should simply 

 answer the above question with a direct negative. I do not 

 think that any stands shown by nurserymen or amateurs have 

 been equal to what I remember five years ago. Bat more par- 

 ticularly do I think that this has been the case with the great 

 nurserymen. It may be that my ideas have advanced, that 

 what Beemed to me magnificent five years ago now seems 

 merely an ordinary stand, but somehow I do not think it is bo. 

 Mr. George Paul's stand at the Royal Horticultural Gardens 

 the last time that that Society had a Rose show in a tent, and 

 Mr. Baker's stands the year that he swept the board at Exeter, 

 Crystal Palace, and Hereford, have in my opinion never been 

 equalled. I was cot at the Alexandra nor at Hereford, and I 

 believe that the former show was one of the, if not the, beBt of 

 the year ; but I was at all the others, and I can confidently 

 say, that with certain exceptions hereafter named, I saw no 

 astonishingly good bloom shown. The exceptions were gene- 

 rally among the amateurs, although Mr. Curtis at Torquay 

 certainly showed a bloom of Prince Camille de Rohan which I 

 never saw equalled. Mr. Baker's bloom of Marie Van Houtte 

 shown at Exeter was, in my opinion, the bloom of the season ; 

 and next to it I should place Mr. Curtis's Camille de Rohan, 

 next to that the bloom of Marquise de Mortemart shown by 

 Mr. Jowitt at Torquay. 



Throughout the year the Teas have come to the front re- 

 markably well. Mr. Cant's stands were always remarkable for 

 good Teas, but this year he surpassed himself ; but perhaps 

 the best of the year were those shown by Mr. Mitchell of Pilt- 

 down at the Crystal Palace. This year I have never known 

 some of the Teas bloom so well before in the autumn, par- 

 ticularly Marie Van Houtte ; indeed this Rose with me never 

 does so well in summer as in the autumn. 



With regard to a question asked by my friend " O. P. P.," 

 as to the cultivation of these charming flowers in the north, 

 I would recommend him to take up his Teas every autumn 

 and plant them in pots, and take them into a conservatory till 

 May, then plant them out again ; or if he has not room for 

 this, I would still advise him to lift the plants and place them 

 in some sheltered corner, and during the frosts cover them 

 over with mats. Plant them out again the next spring. It is 

 almost hopeless to try and grow tender Teas in the north 

 without protection. — Wtld Savage. 



RUFFORD ABBEY, 



THE RESIDENCE OF HENKY SA.VILLE, ESQ. 



Rufford is a place of considerable antiquity, and was 

 formerly called Rugford or Rumford. It is bounded on the 

 north by Ollerton and Edwinstowe, on the west by the manor 

 of Clipstone, and on the south by the Hundred of Bassetlaw. 

 It is one of those places somewhat difficult of access, for it is 

 nine miles from Tuxford (the nearest railway station) and 

 eleven from Mansfield. The little market town of Ollerton, 

 ten miles from Rufford, is pleasantly situated near the con- 

 fluence of the Mann and the Rainworth water, on the Work- 

 sop and Newark road. 



It is always interesting to stroll through a country church- 

 yard and read some of the inscriptions on the ancient stones ; 

 and on the church bell at Ollerton we meet with the following : — 



" I to the ehnrch the living call, 

 And to the grave do summon all." 



But the most singular epitaph is on the tomb of Franois 



