JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
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134 
[ February 17, 1881, 
plants were cut was sufficiently early to enable them to make 
some growth before being lifted and potted for the winter. The 
young growths from these will be grafted on roots. Though these 
plants were purchased as being free from disease, one or two of 
them were slightly affected ; still I had hoped to clean them 
before planting by removing infected leaves and parts of leaves. 
But the most peculiar fact in connection with these plants and 
the fungus was this : I cut every plant down beneath the surface 
of the soil and drew a little soil over the rootstock of each, and 
yet, no sooner were the plants in full growth again, than the 
fungus appeared as strongly as ever. Hollyhocks were grown in 
several districts last year free from disease, even where the Puccinia 
was in abundance on the common Mallow. I am having plants 
from three different localities where the Hollyhock succeeded last 
year, and hope I may be able to have these fine autumn flowers 
again in abundance. 
At this season the only certain mode of propagation is by graft¬ 
ing the young growths on small pieces of root. I have tried them 
as cuttings, but it is a slow and uncertain method, and at this 
date it should not be attempted, as, even if the cuttings root, they 
would be very late. Root-grafting is a simple and sure method 
of producing plants. After cutting the growths off the Hollyhocks 
select as many pieces of roots as may be required, if with active 
fibres so much the better ; then cut the base of the scion quite 
level across, cut its stem half through l£ inch from the base, and 
cut this vertical section out; cut the piece of root in the same 
manner to fit closely, and tie with a strand of matting. The roots 
are better for having been washed, as pieces of soil on the cut 
surfaces cause trouble which is otherwise easily obviated. Though 
I recommend 1^ inch as a good length to cut for splicing, I have 
often made successful grafts with very small pieces of growths. 
These require a pin to be run through the rootstock and scion in 
addition to the matting. The best kind of matting is that from 
mats in use for protecting frames, as it decays quickly. The 
grafts must be potted rather deeply. If the pots are plunged in 
a mild bottom heat and precaution taken that the top heat is 
very moderate—not over 50°—a very speedy junction will be 
effected. After removing the plants from this frame place them 
where they can grow slowly, and see that they receive a shift into 
6 or 7-inch pots directly the first pot is well filled with roots. Let 
the compost be a rich one of loam and dung. Do not be in too 
great a hurry to have the plants into their flowering quarters. 
By the middle of April all danger of check will be past in most 
seasons, though it may be equally safe to plant a fortnight earlier. 
I do not know any plant which roots so deeply as the Holly¬ 
hock : deep cultivation is therefore necessary, In soil already 
rich I allow 6 inches in depth of manure over the surface of the 
ground. In addition a spadeful and a half of a compost of equal 
parts loam and dung, with a little soot and bones added, is placed 
on the spot each plant is to occupy. Under these conditions 
Hollyhocks grow uninterruptedly with us until the Puccinia stops 
them. No other disease troubles them here. Staking is of course 
a necessity ; but 1 do not insert the permanent stakes at the time 
of planting, as most writers recommend. There is no necessity 
for placing a long pole at least 6 feet out of the ground into its 
position two months or more before it is required. 
The summer cultivation is simple enough. In ordinary seasons 
the roots will find abundant nourishment without watering. In 
dry seasons watering will be a necessity ; but the roots travel 
straight downwards, and water should therefore be given close to 
the plant without watering the ground in the spaces between. If 
you require spikes or flowers for exhibition the tops of the spikes 
must be pinched off in the first case to the height the flowers are 
expected to open, which is not very easy to determine ; and in 
the second instance, to give the flowers which are retained the 
full benefit of the powers of the plant to perfect them, the blooms 
on the spikes must be thinned out as well, to give every bloom 
space to develope freely. The plants should be at least 4 feet 
from each other if in the beds, more if it can be spared ; but the 
plants look better and do equally well in borders amongst other 
plants. As the blooms fade cut the stems down to within a few 
inches of the ground. If wanted for stock lift and pot the plants 
in November, and keep them in a cool house where they can grow 
slowly, and have growths large enough to propagate by root¬ 
grafting in the early part of February. 
Cuttings are produced during summer from the base of the 
plant; these strike freely in cold frames, and even out of doors 
in a shaded position. The flowerstems may be cut into pieces 
like the eyes of the Grape Vine and inserted in frames, where 
they root and grow freely. When propagated from seed the 
autumn is the best time to sow ; if sown in cold frames flowering 
plants are obtained the following year. I may say that the 
Hollyhock does perfectly well year after year on the same piece 
of ground provided the soil is well manured and cultivated.— 
R. P. Brotherston. 
MR. JOHN SPENCER. 
In our issue of the 13th ult. we announced the death of this 
estimable man. To the brief notice of his life given on page 31 
we have received what our friend “Wiltshire Rector” terms 
“a few additional words by a neighbour of the late Johh Spencer 
of Bowood.” With this true “ word picture ” we give the accom¬ 
panying portrait of Mr. Spencer, also true and life-like, and 
which we are sure will be acceptable to our readers. In our 
remarks on page 31 we stated that Mr. Spencer died on the 10th 
of January, 1881, but omitted to say he was born on the 27th of 
June, 1809. _ 
Permit me, as a near neighbour of the late Mr. Spencer, to 
say a few words from a Wiltshire, and, may I add, a near personal 
view. In the Journal of January the 13th there was an extremely 
good account of our late friend, of which the writer speaks too 
modestly “ as a hurriedly prepared sketch.” All I can say is, 
that such a sketch has all the realisation of a complete picture, 
yet I would venture to place gently and lovingly my wreath also 
on the coffin of our friend. 
Though neighbours, living within three miles of each other, we 
had never met until some fifteen years since. Mr. Spencer, a 
regular reader of this periodical, had noticed some articles by 
“ Wiltshire Rector,” and desiring to make the acquaintance 
of their writer, made inquiries at head quarters, and, as he told 
me, he found to his very great surprise that “ W. R.” was a 
clergyman in his, the extreme northern part of Wilts. I, too, 
had heard of Mr. Spencer as a man of science, a successful lec¬ 
turer, a gardener of renown, the bringer-out of the Bowood 
Muscat Grape, and a man not only of literary power, but a great 
and successful man of business—a possessor of that order of 
trained intellect which is of the greatest value when its owner is 
placed in a position of high trust. That position Mr. Spencer 
had as steward to the great and remarkable Lord Lansdowne, 
and to his son and grandson ; and he won more than the respect 
—the love of his noble employers. Mr. Spencer I met in the old 
office in Fleet Street, and afterwards again and again in Wilt¬ 
shire. This Journal brought us together, and the day of our 
introduction I mark in memory “with a white stone.”. 
John Spencer began life as a gardener, and to the last he had a 
gardener’s heart. He delighted, so it seemed to me, to go back in 
talk and in thought to horticulture ; he loved to admire again the 
beauty of a flower ; and as we tasted fruit together had all a 
gardener’s relish for a garden’s production. 
It was of course a grand day in his life when the great Marquis 
gave to him the key of the steward’s office. I happen to know 
that Mr. Spencer undertook the duties of the stewardship with 
hesitation and fear : but on Lord Lansdowne’s side there was no 
hesitation and no fear. He, an admirable judge of character, 
knew the man of his choice, and had full confidence in his powers. 
Twenty years of successful stewardship showed how well and 
truly Lord Lansdowne estimated the man and his powers. 
Every steward of a nobleman has, of course, an exalted position, 
rays of his master’s glory fall as it were upon him—he is “ the 
great man’s great man.” This always follows, but I claim for 
John Spencer a position higher than this. When he was, say, at 
an agricultural dinner he was pointed out as “ Spencer of Bowood,” 
not merely as “the Steward at Bowood.” He had made in men’s 
minds an independent position apart from the office he held. His 
hand was grasped warmly by men of science, and rank, and 
station, not only in London, but even in this somewhat exclusive 
western county. Next to Paxton and “ Capability ” Brown he had 
been the gardener who had achieved the highest social position, 
and he had done it, not by favour nor by fortune, but by the 
force of his own brain, and character, and manners. 
In person John Spencer was a fine, tall, broad-shouldered 
Englishman, brown-haired and ruddy, with a forehead high and 
wide and reaching well over the eyes. Having lost his forelock 
his fine forehead gained in intellectual look ; eyes light-coloured 
and intelligent ; nose fine and long ; a mouth in which were both 
power and kindness, the latter I think predominating. I remember 
watching his face at a public dinner, he sitting at another table 
just within pleasant view, and I noticed how his face lighted up 
in conversation, and I recently saw an engraving of a likeness of 
him in a shop window which did him full justice. He was a man 
concerning whom a stranger would say, “ Who’s that ? ” and I am 
told by men of business that whenever he was among men of 
business his words always carried weight. In his own house he 
was a charming and chatty companion, a pleasant shower of 
