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JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ November 15, 1877. 



a set of brashes ; 15th, John Hollison, a cruet stand; 16th, 

 Thomas Cook, pair of candlesticks; 17, Edward Barber, a 

 water pot ; 18th, Robert Purvis, a spittoon ; 19th, Edward 

 Pearson, a butter pot. 



OUE BOEDER FLOWERS— AMAEYLLIDS. 



The Snowflakes are a small family, but that does not detract 

 from their beauty or their service to us in many ways and 

 under a variety of circumstances. In a late Journal a well- 

 deserved word of commendation was spoken for our old 

 favourites, the border flowers, by one who was visiting a place 

 where those had been cast aside for the red, white, and blue, 

 but the old favourites were being again reinstated. Snow- 

 flakes are epring, summer, and autumn-flowering plants, but 

 the family we notice is the Summer Snowflake, Leueojum 

 sestivum, said to be derived from lukos, white, and ion, a Violet, 

 having reference to the colour and fragrance of the flower — a 

 charming name for a charming subject. It is said by some to 

 be a native plant, but I doubt the authority. It is perfectly 

 nardy in our climate and may be well naturalised n but I have 

 not had the pleasure of meeting with it away from the habi- 

 tation of man. It thrives well in most soils and situations, 

 and is increased by division after growth has been matured. 

 They are capital plants for most shady borders and sides of 

 walks in wood or wilderness. 



Less known is Leueojum pulchellum ; it has much the same 

 appearance, but flowers earlier in the spring, and is a very 

 useful border plant. Closely allied we have Acis autumnalis, 

 or the Autumn Snowflake, named after Acis, a Sicilian shep- 

 herd. Being from Sicily it is a delicate subject in our climate. 

 It is of dwarf slender habit, and requires care to succeed with it. 

 It should have a moderately warm dry situation ; sandy loam, 

 peat, grit, or charcoal, with thorough drainage will meet its 

 requirements. There are others of this charming group. 

 A. grandiflorus, A. trichophyllus, and A. roseus are seldom seen, 

 but are worthy of extensive cultivation : when once established 

 they will take care of themselves. 



Then we have the Erinosma, from cr, the spring, and osme, 

 to smell, one of if not the most charming of all our spriDg 

 flowers. This, the Spring Snowflake, is right wherever you 

 like to put it. Six or eight bulbs in a 6-ineh pot repeated as 

 often as you please for indoor work in early spring are among 

 the most beautiful of early flowers, and for beds and borders 

 they are all that can be desired. Instead of being planted by 

 the dozen they are worthy of being planted by the thousand. 

 This is not a plant of yesterday, having been among us since 

 1596. It should have a place in all gardens. At present, com- 

 paratively speaking, it is a rarity. E. multiplex and E. car- 

 pathica need looking up now that we are in want of early 

 bloomers in the spring; they are early-flowering spring plants. 

 To succeed with them they raquire attention. 



The rarer kinds are increased by parting the bulbs when 

 they have matured their growth ; when established they are 

 best left alone. They last many years, repaying any amount 

 of care bestowed on them. There is some confusion in the 

 families above named. Why they are separated I am not able 

 to say ; no doubt there is a cause, or they would have been left 

 quietly under the name of Leueojum, or further back still 

 with the old authors under Galanthus. — Veritas. 



ROSE CUTTINGS. 



Observing in the Journal of October 25th a method of pro- 

 pagating Tea Roses on their own roots, and that July and 

 August are the best time for inserting the cuttings, I beg to 

 suggest a simple method which will answer well this present 

 month of November — a method which I have found to exceed 

 any other way ; a method which I think will suit all, as glass 

 is not brought into use. 



I have come to the conclusion after many experiments, that 

 the best system of propagating Roses on their own roots, 

 whether they be Teas or Hybrid Perpetuals is, about the 

 middle of this month to have a west-aspect border ; dig or rake 

 it down fine ; then prepare the cuttings, choosing the most 

 ripened shoots. Make the cuttings, say 5 or 7 inches long, 

 have a sharp knife for the purpose. In cutting the end to be 

 inserted make the cut through the base of the joint, trim the 

 rest of the buds off, leaving the cuttings with two or three 

 buds above ground. Have a spade and short line ; nick or make 

 a Bmall trench ; place about an eighth of an inch of sand at the 

 bottom, then insert your cuttings, taking care to make the soil 



firm to them. The sand will induce the cuttings to callus soon. 

 Then they will remain in this dormant state until spring, 

 when they will take root, and will make good plants during 

 the summer. — H. T. 



EAVENSWORTH CASTLE. 



Ravensworth Castle, the seat of the Earl of Ravensworth, 

 is about three miles and a half from Newcastle-on-Tyne. The 

 name Ravensworth, according to Hutchinson, is derived from 

 the Saxon word rajj'en, meaning the standard of Denmark; 

 but Surtees shows the name Raven enters into numerous 

 Saxon words, and in some instances it may be derived from 

 the haunts of the bird itself. Ravensworth Castle, observes 

 Hutchinson , ' ' was a castle long before any records now extant,, 

 as there is no license to embattle and kernellate this house 

 found in the archives of the bishop, though of every other 

 house in the county there is that evidence." The Castle 

 stands on the side of a hill sloping gradually towards the river 

 Team. In the time of the Boyntons and Gascoignes it seems 

 to have consisted of four oblong square towers connected by a 

 regular curtain, and probably included a keep or central tower. 

 In 1808 the whole of the old house was taken down, with the 

 exception of two corresponding towers. The erection of the 

 present noble edifice was commenced when the old building 

 was partly removed on a plan of the light Gothic, designed by 

 Nash, and consists of a selection of castle architecture of va- 

 rious periods Bkilfully brought together. The Castle has three 

 principal fronts ; the south one is very handsome, consisting of 

 turrets and facades, some of which are covered with Ivy and 

 have a pleasing effect. A handsome conservatory, built from 

 a plan of one of the family, terminates the west front. Oppo- 

 site to this on a raised terrace is a handsome fountain ; the 

 water falls into a basin from eight leopards' heads, while a 

 powerful jet plays from the centre. The stones used in the 

 building are freestone, and were procured from an adjoining 

 quarry. The north side constitutes the entrance to the Castle,, 

 and is very pretty and effective. 



The Castle is sheltered on the north by a fine forest of Oaks 

 and evergreens. The south aspect consists of at least three 

 hundred acres of rich meadow land, with here and there trees 

 planted for effect, and it stretches for a mile and a half to- 

 wards the pretty village of Lamesly, whioh is beautifully 

 wooded. At the south entrance to the park stands a beautiful 

 lodge in a style corresponding with the Castle. There are 

 several other lodges, all neat and handsome structures, com- 

 fortable for the inmates as weil as ornamental. 



On the private road to Newcastle stands a cross, the com- 

 mon tradition of which is that when Newcastle was visited 

 with a plague in the reign of Queen Elizabeth the people from 

 the country here sold and bartered for their provisions. The 

 cross is a plain shaft on an octagonal pedestal. The manor of 

 Ravensworth contains a valuable and extensive field of coal. 

 The first waggon-ways and the second steam engine used in 

 the north belonged to the Liddells, the family name of the 

 Ravensworth family. 



The gardens lie north of the Castle; at the entrance is 

 the Superintendent's house, which is a neat and tasteful 

 structure, and partly overlooks the gardens. The principal 

 range of glass, which is nearly semicircular, is about 430 feet 

 long and 18 feet broad, and is divided into nine houses or com- 

 partments, which are all lean-to's. The first, a greenhouse,, 

 contains some very fine specimen plants, foremost of which 

 may be mentioned two Erica Bothwellianas 5 feet through 

 and 3 feet high ; also a fine plant of Phcenocoma prolifera 

 Barnesi. Aphelexis macrantha is fine and healthy. Here is 

 also a Genetyllis tulipifera, which is set with flower buds at 

 each joint, and a fine Chorozema spinosa, also two Lisiandra 

 maeranthas, which Mr. Moult is decidedly partial to for the 

 autumn ; he starts this plant in heat, and gradually inures it 

 to greenhouse treatment. Here was also Cassia corymbosa, a 

 maEs of golden yellow, which Mr. Moult manages to flower six 

 months of the year in the following simple manner : — In 

 February the plant is pruned back to about two eyes of the 

 young wood ; it is then potted in a compost of about two parts 

 loam and one part peat, to which is added sufficient sand to 

 make it sharp. He then starts it in heat, say a vinery or in- 

 termediate stove, from whence it is removed to a greenhouse to 

 prepare it for being placed outside in the first or second week 

 of June where it does not get the sun too strong ; this makes 

 it firm and short-jointed. Here are also some fine Camellias, 

 Buch as the Marchioness of Exeter, rose colonr, between 



