310 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ October 17, 1872. 



have no doubt whatever of its being both easy and effective, 

 but it would be a most tedious one, particularly if there were 

 a large collection badly infested. I could cleanse as many 

 plants of scale in five minutes by syringing them with Clarke's 

 insect destroyer as a man could do in a week with a hair 

 pencil. Time is money. I congratulate him respecting his 



Lapageria. I have one planted out in the way he describes, 

 and a most splendid plant it is, at the present time all laden 

 with flowers. This plant is also subject to scale, and it would 

 be more difficult to free it from scale than the Camellias. A 

 good syringing with the insect solution would also cleanse it 

 from scale and every other insect. — A Constant Readek. 



PEASGOOD'S NONESUCH APPLE. 



This handsome Apple was presented before the Fruit Com- 

 mittee of the Royal Horticultural Society on September 18th, 

 and received a first- 

 class certificate. It was 

 raised by Mr. Peas- 

 good, of Stamford, and 

 is one of the most hand- 

 some autumn Apples 

 in cultivation. 



The fruit is like a 

 very large Nonesuch, 

 and not unlike a well- 

 grown and highly co- 

 loured Blenheim Pip- 

 pin. It is above the 

 medium size, roundish, 

 and somewhat oblate. 

 The skin is yellow, 

 overspread on the 

 sunny side with red, 

 which is copiously 

 streaked with dark 

 crimson streaks. The 

 eye is very large and 

 open, set in a deep, 

 round, and even basin, 

 and with short de- 

 pauperated segments. 

 Stalk short, deeply in- 

 serted. Flesh yellow- 

 ish, tender, very juicy, 

 with a sweet and 

 sprightly flavour and 

 pleasant aroma. 



It is a valuable culinary Apple, and not unworthy^of the 

 dessert. 



As an opinion had been expressed at the meeting of the 

 Fruit Committee that this Apple too closely resembled the 

 Blenheim Pippin to warrant its being considered distinct, we 

 wrote to Mr. Laxton, of Stamford, whose opinion on such 

 matters we believe no one would doubt, and his reply is — " I 

 had not either seen or heard of Mr. Peasgood's Apple until 

 I saw him staging them at our recent show, when I, and also 



Peasgood' 



Mr. Gilbert, of Burghley, at first sight took them for Blenheim. 

 Upon further comparison, however, we were both satisfied they 



were not Blenheims ; 

 and oninquiringof Mr. 

 Peasgood, who is a 

 respectable tradesman 

 and town councillor, he 

 gave me such an ac- 

 count at once as satis- 

 fied me that a seedling 

 had been raised by his 

 wife, who came from 

 Grantham, and my 

 only doubt was whether 

 by accident a grafted 

 tree could have been 

 substituted for it. Ac- 

 cordingly I asked Mr. 

 Peasgood, in whose 

 garden I had never 

 been, to allow me to 

 see the tree, which I 

 examined carefully be- 

 low the ground line as 

 well as above, and being 

 quite satisfied that it 

 was a seedling, I re- 

 commended him to 

 send a specimen to the 

 Fruit Committee. Mr. 

 Y\\ Ingram, of Belvoir, 

 was one of the judge 1 ', 

 and I believe he and 

 many others acquain' - 

 edwith Apples were satisfied that it was distinct; and I do not 

 believe, from the result of my inquiries of Mr. Peasgood, that 

 any accident or otherwise could have caused a change of the 

 seedling for a grafted stock, as the tree seems to have been 

 especially fostered by Mr. Peasgood. There is a remarkable 

 parallel between the circumstances attending the raising of this 

 variety and the Stamford Pippin by myself, both being from 

 pips sown by children in pots, and saved and selected as being 

 the most vigorous in each batch of seedlings." 



LUTON HOO, 

 The Residence of J. Shaw Leigh, Esq. 



The name of this estate is purely Anglo-Saxon. Lee Lauton 

 signified " the town by the water," and in succeeding records 

 it was contracted into Luyton and Luton. Hoo meant a high 

 place : so that literally the name is " the high place near the 

 town by the water." 



Robert de Hoo was a man of high mark in the reign of 

 Canute, and was buried in Luton church ; and his descendants 

 retained it until the time of Henry VI., who raised its then 

 possessor, Sir Thomas Hoo, to the peerage as Baron Hoo and 

 Hastings. His estates seem to have passed by marriage or by 

 purchase to Lord YVenlock, who fell at the battle of Tewkes- 

 bury fighting for Henry YI. ; and the victor, Edward IV., 

 granted this estate to Rotheram, Archbishop of York, whose 

 eldest son, John, resided here. From the Rotherams it 

 passed to Thomas Crawley, who died in 1629 ; and from him 

 to his son Sir Francis Crawley, Kt., a Judge of the Common 

 Pleas, who died in 1649, and to his son Francis Crawley, a 

 Bar-on of the Exchequer, who died in 16S2. From him it was 

 purchased by Sir John Napier, a descendant from the Scottish 

 Earls of Lenox ; and from the Napiers it passed to the Mar- 

 quis of Bute's family, from whom it was purchased by the 

 present proprietor. 



Luton Hoo was in a great measure rebuilt by Sir Theophilus 



Napier its possessor in 1790. The seat of the Rotherams is 

 now a farm house caUed Forleigh. 



Tiate is necessary to give dignity to a place by enabling the 

 trees to attain the dimensions and stamp of age, which neither 

 money nor skill can give, and at Luton Hoo the park and 

 domain are furnished with trees of the noblest kinds in great 

 abundance. There is aU that is necessary for the dignity of a 

 fine country house. I am not sure how long it was in the 

 family of the Marquis of Bute prior to the fire which, in a great 

 measure, destroyed it, but I believe it was one of the favourite 

 seats of a late Marquis, who sold it after the fire. The present 

 possessor has done so much to embellish it naturally, and has 

 shown such an example of successful farming, that the farm- 

 yard at Luton Hoo is one of those sights whieh one may go a 

 long distance to see. The garden, too, is not without its 

 interest. But let us first note the appearance of the park as- 

 we enter it from the Luton side. 



The town of Luton lies in a valley just within the county of 

 Beds, and one of the old roads to London through St. Albans- 

 also passed through Luton ; and following this road from 

 the latter town in the direction of London for less than a 

 mile we come to the lodge entrance of Luton Park. Entering, 



