96 



JOTJENAL OP HOETICULTTJEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ August I, 1872. 



offered np this petition — " May it please thee to give and pre- 

 serve to our use the kindly fruits of the earth, and the blessings 

 of the sea." 



The importance of this fishery is shown by these statistics — 

 about four hundred Manx boats are employed in it, using more 

 than 2,000,000 yards of netting, and having as their crews 

 nearly three thousand men and boys. The number of herrings 

 caught in one season varies greatly. One authority states that 

 foriy thousand barrels, each containing eight hundred fish, 

 have been cured in one season, of which ten thousand barrels 

 were retained for consumption in the island, and when we con- 

 sider the enormous quantities that are consumed fresh, we 

 feel the justification of the doggerel rhyme — 



" Herring's the food of Mona's greedy sons, 

 Vvho eat them up as fast as butter' d buns." 



The vast number of carts loaded with salt-sprinkled herrings 

 which I meet daily induced me to ask a fisherman if they were 



ever caught in such large quantities as to be used for manure, 

 as sprats are on our eastern coast. The look which accompanied 

 the responsive "Never!" expressed as much of pity as of 

 indignation. 



The vast daily consumption of fish justifies, I think, the 

 conclusion that it causes the neglect of culinary vegetables ; 

 and we can see why these, when first brought here to market, 

 caused the surprise I mentioned in my previous notes. No 

 records either private or public make the slightest allusion to 

 I such an enclosure as a garden being attached to a house untE 

 j the year 16-51, when " a dark of the garden" was appointed 

 at each of the castles — Eushen and Peel. 



Potatoes are the next staple food of the islanders. They are 



one of the principal field crops, and are very prolific. I never 



saw healthier crops, and have looked without success for a- 



i diseased plant. Seaweed is the principal manure used for 



, their culture ; but bone manure is also applied. The reason 







SSsSiS! 



The Nunnery. 



■ •- r the latter being so largely consumed on the island appears 

 tj be the deficiency of farmyard manure, for there are very 

 few oxen kept, and the agricultural horses are also small in 

 number, for the far greater portion of eveiy farm is grass land, 

 and the chief stock kept are sheep. The beef in the market is 

 bad and small in quantity, but the mutton, lamb, and veal 

 abundant and good. "Widely differing as are the prices of 

 those four meats in London, they all bear one and the same 

 price here — lOd. per pound. 



The absence of kitchen gardens which I have mentioned is 

 not a characteristic of the labourers' cottages only, but equally 

 of the better, and even many of the best residences ; but all 

 have good flower gardens. Very superior among these is the 

 Nunnery. The gardens and gardening there are good in all 

 departments. Tradition states that where this residence now 

 stands a nunnery was founded by St. Bridget in the fifth 

 century. It was a highly privileged establishment, its prioress 

 being a baroness of the island. Nothing remains of the ancient 

 structure but a portion of its chapel and main gateway. The 

 present mansion is comparatively modern, castellated, and 

 near'y enveloped by Ivy. Its present possessor, a liberal pro- 

 moter of the island's horticulture and agriculture, is Major 

 Gold'e Taubman. He succeeded to the estate on the death 

 of Lis uicle, Brigadier-General Goldie, who fell at the battle of 



Inkerman, as is recorded on a monumental obelisk erected near 

 one of the approaches to the mansion by public subscription. 



The house is on an elevation, and the flower garden sloping 

 from it in front temiiaates in a terrace 300 feet long. On each, 

 side of this the bedding-out is tasteful, but I shall only note 

 two facts which struck me as peculiar. A row of Calceolaria 

 Aurea floribunda is on each side of the walk, consequently 

 there are 600 feet of it, yet not a plant showed the slightest 

 symptom of that gangrene of the stem to which it is so liable. 

 Does a similar exemption occur in all mild seaside localities ? 

 An exactly opposite fate attends the Humea elegans here. Mr. 

 McDonald, the courteous and intelligent gardener, has wished 

 to grow it on the crown of each of the conical beds, but he 

 cannot effect his purpose — it always " fogs off." 



The melonry and vineries are evidences of skilful fruit- 

 culture, evidence strengthened by 368 Peaches being gathered 

 from two trees this summer, although they are on the back 

 wall of a vinery. 



Eoses and Pansies must be the special favourites of the 

 family, for they are in profusion, and never have I seen them 

 mere healthy or more productive of flowers. In the plant 

 houses Lisianthus Bussellianus is unusually abundant, and 

 its purple flowers are worthy for what they are here required 

 — room decoration. All the house plants, including Allamanda, 



