16 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ July i, 1872. 



is an illustration. Years ago we visited the place, years ago 

 we were charmed with it, and now we have grown older and 

 colder we are charmed with it still. On revient a ses premiers 

 amours. So it is with us. The place as we viewed it a few 

 days ago is not much changed ; we shall therefore use the 

 words we wrote seven years ago, and which are as descriptive 

 now as they were then. In front of the conservatory runs a 

 terrace, overlooking a rosery, which is planted with a good cob 

 lection, consisting of Hybrid Perpetuals, whilst Tea Roses are 

 trained against the 6-feet-high terrace wall. The centre of the 

 rosery is formed by a pedestal encircled by quadrant beds, 

 then a circular walk, and exterior to this twelve other beds 

 converging towards the centre, the whole being surrounded by 

 four borders separated from each other by the four principal 

 walks, which meet in the centre. Above, on the terrace, there 

 are twelve beds on each side of the walk, six oblongs with 

 the corners swept out alternating with the same number of 

 circles, and the whole planted with standard Roses. 



Passing over the plant houses from which Mr. Hill has so fre- 

 quently and so well exhibited at the metropolitan shows both 

 Orchids and Ferns — passing over also many other fine features 

 of this place, we come to the fruit and kitchen garden, which 

 covers a space of five acres, of which two acres are enclosed by 

 walls 15 feet high, built hollow on the same plan as those at 

 Chiswick, which, unlike other forms of hollow walls, have 

 exactly the same appearance as a solid one. The wall on the 

 south side is 300 feet long, giving of course 300 feet of south 

 aspect and a corresponding extent of north aspect; and at right 

 angles to this wall run two others, and one dividing the 

 enclosed space up the centre. Each of these is 210 feet in 

 length, and the whole, consequently, give 720 feet of west 

 aspect and a like extent of east aspect. The borders are 

 15 feet wide, and variously cropped to within 4 feet of the 

 waE. The south aspect is covered with Peaches and Nec- 

 tarines. The trees were chiefly Grosse Mignonne and Barring- 

 ton Peaches, and Violette Hative Nectarines, and were all in 

 excellent bearing condition. But it was on entering the 

 walled-in garden that we were more especially struck with the 

 appearance of the trees. The walls were literally covered 

 with blossom, and the trees in a healthy bearing state from 

 top to bottom. The north aspect is chiefly occupied with fan- 

 trained Plums and Cherries, the former consisting of Coe's 

 Golden Drop, Magnum Bonum, Angelina Burdett, Eirke's, 

 Orleans, and Victoria ; the latter of Elton, Black Tartarian, 

 and Morello, one tree of which alone extends over a width of 

 25 feet. The east and west aspect walls are covered with ex- 

 cellent horizontal-trained Pear trees of the best varieties, as 

 Duchesse d'Angouleme, Louise Boune of Jersey, Glou Morgeau, 

 Thompson's, Althorp Crasanne, Josephine de Malines, Easter 

 Beurre, &c, Plums, and Cherries. Along that side of the 

 walks farthest from the wall, at 6 feet from the edge, are 

 planted about two hundred pyramid Pears, from 12 to 18 feet 

 apart. . These were all root-pruned two years ago, and were, 

 like those on the walls, white with blossom. The interior was 

 variously cropped with Peas, Carrots, Cauliflowers, Asparagus, 

 and other vegetables, and the supply is supplemented by the 

 produce of the outside slips, in which there are standard 

 Apples, Plums, and other fruit trees. 



We now come to the south-aspect wall on the north side of 

 this garden. Here there are four vineries each 30 feet by 

 15 feet, and a Peach house 40 feet long by the same width. 

 In the first house, heated by five rows of 4-inch pipe, were fine 

 crops of Black Hamburgh, Trentham Black, Muscat Ham- 

 burgh, and Frontiguans, and in a succession-house Black 

 Hambm-ghs, Lady Downe's, and Muscats in pots, the two 

 former having set a good crop, and the last being just started. 

 The fourth vinery was a Muscat house, in which fresh Vines 

 had been planted to replace the old. The most pleasing sight, 

 however, was the Peach house, the roof being covered with two 

 fine trees bearing a profusion of fruit. 



A span-roofed Peach house, formerly an orchard house, but 

 not heated, 3G feet long, 18 feet wide, and 10 feet high to the 

 ridge, was also planted with Black Hamburghs and Buckland 

 Sweetwater Vines trained along the ridge, whilst on .shelves 

 were numerous pots of Sir C. Napier and Premier Strawberries, 

 bearing very freely. A second span-roof was devoted to Figs 

 well set with fruit, the kinds being chiefly Brown Turkey, 

 White Ischia, and Early Violet, which produces a small sweet 

 fruit, is a very free bearer, and excellent for forcing. Other 

 houses contained pot Vines started to come in at Christmas, 

 Bowood Muscats just colouring, Oranges in pots grown chiefly 

 for their flowers, good crops of Strawberries, Kidney Beans, 



and Cucumbers. Of the last Mr. Hill has a very prolific 

 variety of his own, raised by him several years ago between 

 the Manchester Prize Cucumber and Black Spine. The fruit 

 averages 18 inches long, and is produced in twos, and some- 

 times three or four at a joint. 



At the back of the north wall of the kitchen garden were the 

 men's rooms, not the small, low, dark, and badly-ventilated 

 rooms too commonly met with, but 14 feet square, and 9 feet 

 high, heated by hot water, and with ample provision for air 

 and light. Where there is such a liberal employer as Mr. Han- 

 bury, and such a zealous and well-skilled servant as Mr. Hill, 

 great things may be expected ; still we were not prepared to 

 meet with such high-keeping and thorough efficiency in every 

 department. Everything that was done was well done, and 

 it is no exaggeration to state that there was not a weed to be 

 seen. • ■ 



We ended our last notice with " weeds," and to them we 

 have returned ; as we said seven years ago so we say now — 

 " There was not a weed to be seen." 



ROSES. 



The Roses previously recommended by me have been bloom- 

 ing well — namely, Perfection de Lyon, Edward Morren, Ma- 

 dame Chirard, Marquise de Castellane, Baron Chaurand, Felix 

 Genero, and Lord Herbert quite first-rate. They are a splen- 

 did lot. 



I have only just bloomed Leopold II. (W. Paul). It is a 

 magnificent Rose, and of excellent growth and habit. It is 

 full-sized, well-formed, and of a brilliant scarlet-crimson colour. 

 All comers made a " note " of it. 



I recommend to window-gardeners Baroness Rothschild, 

 Triomphe de Caen, Princess Christian, Madame Creyton, Mar- 

 quise de Mortemart, and Baron Chaurand. 



The Roses here (Dorset) are healthy, and blooming well. I 

 have cut them all back three times, some of them four times, 

 since Christmas. By so doing I have got rid of orange fungus 

 for the year. Cut away all damaged and inferior wood ; you 

 cannot get good wood out of bad. — W. F. Radclyffe. 



EXCRESCENCES ON VINE LEAVES. 



We have recently received from several correspondents 

 examples of Vine leaves, the under surfaces of which are a 

 mass of warty-like excrescences, resembling small green boils 

 or blisters, so thickly clustered together as to completely ob- 

 literate the natural surface of the leaves. From others we 

 have had communications describing this disorder, with in- 

 quiries as to its cause and cure ; and we have recently seen 

 some vineries in which the growth of the Vines has been 

 seriously checked by .an aggravated form of the same affection. 

 This disordered state of Vine leaves, it need scarcely be said, 

 is not by any means of recent date, nor altogether peculiar to 

 this season. At the same time we are not at all surprised at 

 its prevailing t'o an apparently unusual extent in a season so 

 characterised by sunlessness and wet as this has been up to 

 the middle of June. 



The disorder in question we have noticed to have been a 

 complete puzzle to men who have never had an opportunity 

 of practising Vine culture, nor of testing the causes that have 

 been assigned for those excrescences. At one time it has been 

 assigned to one cause, while at another several causes have 

 been suggested, and remedies proposed which could neither 

 prevent nor remove the evil. Indeed, we are not aware that, 

 after it once appears, it can be removed, although it can be 

 prevented and arrested. 



In so aggravated a form of this disorder as prevails in so 

 many cases this year, it has a most injurious effect on the 

 growth of Vines. In fact, we have seen cases where it has com- 

 pletely arrested the growth of especially young Vines. Last 

 year a large closely-glazed house of pot Vines came under our 

 notice, where the Vines were so much affected that the leaves 

 were not half their natural size — were cup-shaped, and so in- 

 veterately affected by this extravasated state of the sap, that 

 every leaf was four times the thickness that is usualin a state 

 of health ; and a general stunted growth and yellowish green 

 colour prevailed over the whole house. The cause was not far 

 to seek for : the means of ventilation in an otherwise excellent 

 structure were sadly deficient, and the floors and borders were 

 kept in a constantly saturated condition by frequent sprink- 

 lings. So confident are we of the cause of this undesirable 

 disorder in the leaf of the Vine, that we will undertake to pro- 



