10 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



January 6, 1912 



tible, proof against the strongest winds^ is 

 light in appearance^ and not injurious to 

 tho plants. Among the roses that have 

 been utilised in clothing the pergola are 

 Madame Abel Carriere, Minehaha, Doro- 

 thy Perkins, White Dorothy, Crimson 

 Rambler^ Longworth R ambler, and For- 



additional wall space has been fully utilised as to indicate cultural skill of a high order. 



for the production of choice fruits, such as 

 the finest of the dessert pears. The soil is 

 a strong loam, with clay at no great dis- 

 tance from the surface, and Mr. Hanson 

 finds that he obtains the best results from 

 both apple and pear trees on dwarfing 



VIEW IN THE WINTER GARDEN, 



[I'lioto: U. N. Kit: 



SOMERLEYTON HALL. 



tune's Yellow, winch grows with great 

 rigour, am] produces groat masses of 

 flowers. The smali-fidwcrcd hybrid clema- 

 tis have also hcon Titili.^ed with much suc- 

 c(^>s as also h iv.' the pu rplo-hvivcd vim\ 

 and P[!lyn;()ii,ini l)a Id -cli ua n icuin^ whii-li is 

 annually pruned rather hud back, and 

 thus kept well within l>()und>. At one end 

 of the pergola, the plants trained to the 

 last pair of uprights are exposed to so 

 strong a draught that there was a <i:ffi-tdty 

 in furnishing them until Mr. Hansoti tru'd 



the eh^gani K>ea!!onia Lamj;leyense, whirh 

 has ausw.K (I adniira])ly, and presents a 

 pleasing a j)pea ranee. 



On on(^ side of the pergola there is a 

 lawn, and on the other a broad l>ordei-, the 

 latter this year being effectively furnished 



with bron.d bands of red peiitstemrins. blue 



salvias, lu rha: eon- phI(iN<^< ( '.'ilrrei-i ria 

 amplexieaulis. and white ina r<;iH'rites 

 Not far <lts!a)it is i hnnlvv lUMi in h^no-tli' 

 wholly dev<n.<i to in.vlv i)ereii!uals tliat 

 bloom tr<Hit tin- \:ni.y p ,t of the >unimer 

 untU tfh' autiiion is wel! a.lvaneed. \1! 

 the subjects were arra.ig.Ml m bold groups 

 aud <-onspi(-u(MH ainoMir theru were \rte- 



' cs 



mesia lactiflora. Solnlauo Gohleu Win - 

 Helianthus sparsiHoj iis. and Asters Climax 

 and Perrv's F-uourite 



Within recent years tlio kitchen garden 

 has been considerably enlarged, and the 



stocks. The pears he necessarily grow 

 on the quince, and in planting a^U the sta- 

 tions are carefully prepare<l with a view 

 to pievtMiting the roots striking down into 

 th(^ cold subsoil. Mr. Hanson does not 

 regard with mut'h favour single cordon 

 l>ear trees, and now few remain^ but cor- 

 <lons witti six stems are most sat'sfactory. 

 The anpl es are grown on the brou.d-leaved 

 paradise, and as (n"ident'e that on a strong 

 soil, this stock is fully able to produce a 

 robust growth, it may be mentioned 

 that one of the bush trees of Gascoyne's 

 Searlet measured 14ft. in height and lOft. 

 in diameter. Ribston Pippin ber.-rs well 

 on young trees. Lord Burgh'ey is con- 

 sidered one of the best late Varieties. 

 James Grieve is highly satisfactory, and 

 Rival is regarded as one of the best of the 

 apphvs raised by My. Charles Ross. 



The glass structures devoted to fruits 

 were built from designs by Sir Jose})h Pax- 

 ton, are spacious, and have ridge and fur- 

 row roofs, but whatever may be the <lraw- 

 back to th = s f{)rm of roof, as comparefl with 

 tlie conventional form, Mr .Hanson does 

 not aUow it to interfere with ero]>s of the 

 highest 'excellence. They inelude peacli 

 and fig houses and vineries in eonsiderable 

 numbers, and the erops of Aluscat of Alex- 

 andria and the various late kinds other 

 than Muscats were so admlrahlv finished 



As recently mentioned in these pages, Mr. 

 Hanson. grows with much success that ex- 

 cellent late white grape Lady Hutt, and it 

 may now be mentioned that the companion 

 grape Appley Towers was represented by 

 remarkably fine bunches. It is also w^orthy 

 of note that Lady Downes is chiefly de- 

 pended upon for late supplies of black 

 grapes, and that the showy Alicante is not 

 regarded with much favour. 



In a run through the numerous structures 

 devoted to the production of supplies of 

 decorative plants, and cut flowers, it soon 

 became evident that perpetual-flowering 

 carnations are not less appreciated at 

 Somerleyton than elsewhere. Several 

 houses were devoted to them, and through- 

 out the plants were in buxom health and 



Mal- 



maison carnations are also grown largely 

 and well. Seldom is that attractive 

 stove plant, Gesnera zebrina^ grown with 

 so much success as here, and the big bank 

 of plants in one of the structures afforded 

 a useful object-lesson, both as regards cul- 

 tural methods and utility in decorations. 

 Hardly a plant had a flower spike less than 

 eighteen inches in length, and the finely- 

 developed orange-red flowers presented a 

 brilliant contrast to the large velvety 

 foliage. Several houses were filled wdth 

 the varieties of Begonia Gloire de 

 raine known as Mrs. Leopold de Roth- 

 schild and Turnford Hall, and of the first- 

 named there must have been scores of 

 plants growing in three-inch pots that were 

 simply pyramids of flowers with a height of 

 eighteen inches. George Gordon. 



producing a full quota of flowers. 



Lor- 



RAISING THE SOIL LEVEL 



OF FLOWER BEDS* 



A practice which seems greatly on the 

 increase is that of raising the soil of flower 

 beds in a pincushion-like manner, with in 

 many cases, the result that the plants 

 therein are absolutely starved. It is bad 

 enough when carried out by those who 

 make no profession of a knowledge of gar- 

 dening and simply follow the example of 

 their neighbours, but when one sees verv 

 pronounced examples of it in some of ouV 

 public parks, it is, of course much worse. 



Examples of this unnatural way of treat- 

 ing plants were plentiful enough during 

 the past summer, for with everything ar- 

 ranged so that nearly all the water poured 

 on them wiis waited, failures were, a.s a 

 matter of course, frequent. In a wet sum- 

 mer the fol'y of arranging beds in this 

 way IS not so pronounced, but in such a 

 season a,s the last, it shoidd be brought 

 home to every on (\ We all know how fond 

 the beautiful flowering cannas are of liberal 

 treatment, yet last summer I saw some 

 completely str.,rved, and looking as miser- 

 able as possible. This, too, was in an estab- 

 lishment that enjoys a great reputation. 

 The beds had been free'y watered, but 

 nearly all the liquid ran on to the su!- 

 rounding grr.ss. On the other hand, in a 

 far less extensive place a splendid bed of 

 the same kinds of cannas came under viv 

 notice. It was fashioned like a shallow 

 saucer, with the result that not one drop 

 of water was wrsted, and the plants were 

 in luxuriant health. 



L't^t suJsuiMM* was, from its great heat 

 and ^ong-continuod drought, a very trying 

 one for many ])lants, hut its effects would 

 in inany cas(\s bave been h^ssoned h;;.d the 

 soil of the beds been dispn'-crl in a more 

 rational manner. A])arr from any other 

 consideration, this heaping up of the soil 

 above the surrounding level causes a great 

 deal of extra work during the summer 



months. 



K. 



