386 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ May 15, 1884. 
towards our coast. This is a repetition of the observations made in the 
summer of 1805. The unaccountable vicinity of the masses of ice has 
rendered the climate of Iceland so cold that corn no longer ripens there, and 
the Icelanders are in such fear of a coming famine and ice climate that they 
are beginning rapidly to form for themselves a new home in North America.” 
—(Copied from a translation in the “Ladies’ Journal.”) 
I now submit such evidence as I have been able to collect from an earlier 
date and wider field. 
VINEYARDS IN ENGLAND. 
In “ Pomona Pruit Garden, Illustrated,” by Batty Langley of Twicken¬ 
ham, 1729, he describes various methods of growing Grapes for making wine 
in open vineyards, each Vine producing from ten to twelve bunches of 
Grapes, and adds : “ If any doubt or dispute the truth hereof let them but 
go and see the Vines now growing in the garden of Mr. Warner at Rother- 
hithe, which, by his judicious management after the manner before described, 
annually produce great quantities of Burgundy, and, if I mistake not, claret 
Grapes also, with which he makes cheerful nectar for the accommodation of 
his friends.” 
Mr. Langley then gives a dissertation on the growth of Grapes against 
■walls in England. He had a high opinion of one he calls “ The July Grape,” 
because it ripened in that month. The Royal Muscadine did not ripen till 
the 15th of August. Pigs gave two crops a year—one ripe about July 10th, 
the other in September. 
I fear there is no Grape in cultivation at present that will ripen in July 
in the climate of London. The Royal Muscadine is a well-known Grape; 
but I am disposed to think that in no part of Britain will it ripen on the 
open wall as early as August 15th, which it appears to have done 150 years 
ago. 
I have a very old book, which was printed in 1631. It is a republication, 
by a “ Captain Garvase Markham,” of a much older book called “ The 
Whole Art of Husbandry.” In it the Grape is treated of as a commonly 
cultivated fruit in England. 
Having often visited a very sheltered spot in Hatfield Park, Herts, known 
by the name of “ The Vineyard,” sheltered on one side by a grand old Tew 
hedge that appeared to be three hundred years old, I thought it likely that 
at some date it must have been planted with Vines after the style of those 
of France and Germany. 
I recently asked the proprietor, the Marquis of Salisbury, if he could 
give me any information regarding it, and he most courteously directed his 
Secretary to send me the following communication :— 
"Hatfield Park, January 2,1884. 
“ SIR,—I am directed by the Marquis of Salisbury to acknowledge receipt of your 
letter of the 29th December, and, in reply, to send you the enclosed notes with regard to 
the Vineyard at Hatfield. 
" I am, yours, &c., H. T. Gtjrton.” 
“ The Vines at the vineyards at Hatfield were planted in 1610-11. As the 
vineyard was 5 acres in extent, and 30,000 Vines were planted, it may be 
concluded that they were standards. The Vines were a present from the 
wife of the French ambassador to Sir Robert Cecil. 
“ It is probable that this was one of the latest vineyards planted in 
England. There is no record of the time when it was abandoned. Vine¬ 
yards in England are mentioned as early as a.d. 280, and there are thirty-eight 
entries of vineries in the Doomsday Book (compiled 850 years ago). Camden 
says, in his ‘Britannica :’ ‘It may seem to be the slothfulness of the people 
more than the indisposition of the air that this nation yieldeth not wine at 
this day.’ The vineyards probably declined gradually with the growth of 
commerce, which enabled better wine to be got from France than could be 
produced at home. (The overthrow of the monasteries gave the finishing 
blow to home production of wine.) 
“Parkinson, writing of vineyards in 1627, says : ‘The former vineyards in 
England have long since been destroyed, and the knowledge how to order a 
vineyard has entirely perished with them.’ 
“Austin, writing in 1663, gives as a reason why it is fruitless labour to 
strive in these days to make a good vineyard in England—‘ That the years 
are not so hot in England as formerly.’ ” 
It will be remarked that Austin blames the climate for the abandonment 
of open-air culture of the Vine for wine-making. 
SEVERE WINTERS. 
In an inquiry of this sort the severity of recent winters must be taken 
into account, and I think it is pretty certain that no such frost, in its fatal 
effects on vegetation, as that of the 4th December, 1879, had occurred 
for 300 years. The grounds upon which I make this statement are—first, 
that old Yew trees that had stood the frosts of more than 300 years 
succumbed at that time, as at Floors Castle and elsewhere ; and, second, that 
I looked over the “ Chronicles of Fortingal,” being extracts made from the 
“ Black Book of Taymouth,” by Cosmo Innes, where special reference is 
made to only two severe winters during a like period. In the or.e case fro6t 
and snow began on the 30th November, 1554,and continued till 17th January, 
1555. The next notably severe winter began on January 15th, 1572, and 
lasted till March 22nd. 
These, by the reference made to their effects, seem to have been on a par 
with 1879. 
THE WEATHER ABROAD. 
Recently the climate has been peculiarly erratic. For instance, in Florida, 
on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, which supplies the Gulf stream with its 
tepid water, Orange trees that had stood for one hundred years have been 
killed by frost last winter, and in others of the Southern States of North 
America railways have been blocked where snow was hardly ever seen before. 
The State of New York, twenty years ago, produced for exportation 
1,750,000 barrels of that finest of all Apples, the Newton Pippin, in the 
highest condition of excellence ; now it produces only 250,000 barrels, and 
they are small and very inferior in quality. There is still a great quantity of 
an Apple called the Newton Pippin exported. It is, however, a very inferior 
Apple compared with the true one. Unfavourable change in the climate is 
the assigned cause of this falling-off in the supply of the true Newton 
Pippin. 
An extensive fruit-importer in Edinburgh recently showed me a letter 
from his correspondent in Spain, begging to be released from a contract to 
supply 5000 boxes of bitter Oranges, on the ground that nearly all the fruit 
in the district of Seville had been destroyed by frost, which was, he said, 
an unprecedented occurrence. 
SUMMARY. 
It seems to the writer that the weather has got curiously mixed of late • 
Such a succession of severe storms of wind in Britain as no living person 
can remember ; this accompanied by very mild temperatures, while frost and 
snow are stopping the trains in some of the Southern States of America 
where snow' is seldom seen; sunsets of the most gorgeous description, and 
earthquakes on the most gigantic scale—all pointing to some disturbance 
within, at least, the atmosphere of our planet. Whether this is the result of 
stellar influence or not some of our scientific men may be able to determine. 
In the meantime the ungenial weather we have had for some years has been 
in large measure the cause of the depression of the great interest of agri¬ 
culture, and through it all other interests have suffered, and will suffer still 
more if the average temperature sinks but a degree lower than it has been 
of late years. The warm nights of my boyhood and early life, where are 
they now ? Do ladies wear thin muslin dresses now, as their mothers wore 
nearly all the summer? “As hardy as a Whin bush” used to be an 
aphorism. It can no longer be given as such, for the Whin has been killed 
to the surface of the snow or soil almost annually of late years. 
I am indebted to Mr. Buchan for notes, of which the following is a 
digest:— 
The mean temperatures of the months of May, June, and July for forty 
years—from 1840 to 1880 inclusive—show that the twenty years from 1840 
to 1860 were warmer than the twenty from 1860 to 1880 by 40.2° on the 
three months ; and supposing the same ratio to hold good over the year, it 
would give 160.8° on the tw r enty years. This is not much when divided! 
over twenty years ; still it is on the adverse side, and we have but a small 
margin we can afford to lose in these latitudes. 
MEDINILLA CURTISII. 
Fob compactness of habit and floriferousness this charming little 
plant is not surpassed by any of its relatives, and these characters alone 
would be sufficient to render it worthy of attention. Beyond those 
recommendations, however, it possesses such a simple and pleasing 
beauty that it will certainly rank high amongst favourite flowering stove 
plants. Again, too, the flowers are produced at a season when they seem 
to be doubly welcome—namely, the autumn, October and November^ 
and lasting for several weeks, their value in a stove cannot be too highly 
rated. Many very distinct handsome plants are contained in the 
Melastomad family ; but, imposing as some of these are, Medinilla 
Curtisii is likely to become one of the most useful garden plants of those 
yet introduced. 
It is a native of Sumatra, and was introduced thence by Mr. Curtis 
for Messrs. Veitch & Sons a short time since, plants being exhibited at 
Kensington on October 9th, 1883, when a first-class certificate was 
awarded for it. The habit is bushy, as shown in the woodcut (fig. 90)> 
kindly lent us by Messrs. Yeitch & Sons. The leaves are oblong or 
elliptical, bright green, with midribs and veins coloured of a reddish 
tint. The flowers are borne in terminal and axillary clusters, the petals 
are creamy white, the sepals similar, and the dense central tuft of 
stamens purple—a pretty contrast. It is easily grown, needing only a 
moderately light open compost of peat and loam, and the temperature of 
an ordinary plant stove. 
SPRING GARDENING AT BELYOIR. 
Probably no garden establishment in these times can vie with 
Belvoir in spring gardening. Those who only know Belvoir by name cam 
form no idea either of the extent and exquisite arrangements which are 
there to be seen. Spring gardening there is quite distinct from that 
generally bearing the name ; we find no formality, no geometrical 
design with flattened surface and unique precision, but, on the contrary, a 
wealth of floral beauty. 
It was a glorious April morning when I started for Belvoir, where I 
soon found the enthusiastic gardener, Mr. Ingram, who never tires 
discussing spring gardening with others of like tastes. On entering the 
Castle grounds we ascend a winding path and the terrace garden is 
reached. Ahead the visitors can behold a picturesque landscape extending 
for many miles, and the floral beauties which surround him on all sides. 
Here my guide drew my attention to the Castle walls above us on our 
right, bedecked with Magnolias and Forsythia suspensa, the latter 
covered with bloom. Passing along we enter the Castle garden, in 
which, considering the few plants employed, the effect produced is 
marvellous. Conspicuous as a main feature is Saxifraga ligulata, one of 
the Megasea group or large-leaved Saxifragas, in grand masses, and 
spikes of its rosy-red blooms 15 inches high, a telling plant, and in front 
of this is a Cardamine grandiflora ; the white is good and remarkably 
early, and plants having these qualities are by no means common in early 
spring. Myosotis dissitiflora, which holds its own against all comers, 
and the intense blue of the Siberian Squill, an exceptionally dwarf form 
of Arabis albida, together with overhanging masses of Aubrietia grasca 
grandiflora were very handsome. Other beds in this garden were filled 
with Violet Marie Louise, and bearing hundreds of flowers. Here are 
, also to be seen Anemone coronaria, some remarkably fine early Cowslips, 
