152 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. r August is, mi. 
flourishing ; in another fruit trees are growing in the most satis¬ 
factory manner, and in stronger soil still Hoses are luxuriating. 
A great acreage is devoted to each of these classes—for there 
nearly everything is grown in thousands—indeed Conifers, in¬ 
cluding Larch, Spruce, and other Firs, are grown in millions, as 
also is “ deciduous stuff,” which term includes all kinds of orna¬ 
mental trees, forest trees, and hedge plants, such as Quick. The 
nursery, in fact, is as interesting to the forester as to the gar¬ 
dener. The seedling beds of the Firs most in demand, and that 
demand must be enormous, form a striking feature of the nursery. 
There are undoubtedly several millions of trees there, and 
scarcely a weed to be seen amongst them. Evergreens, old and 
useful, new and rare, are also grown extensively ; but the winter 
has done much damage in many of the quarters, especially 
amongst common and Portugal Laurels. Standard Roses have 
also suffered severely, and Japanese Privet. It is gratifying to 
notice that while Deodars have been much cut, the most rare and 
ornamental Conifers—Cupressuses, Thuias, Retinosporas, See., 
have endured the wintry ordeal well, and the hardiness of those 
that are now so healthy has been firmly established. Many acres 
are devoted to fruit trees ; almost every popular variety of fruit is 
represented, and every form of tree that is required in gardens is 
provided. 
The glass structures are numerous, and all are fully and use¬ 
fully occupied. Vines in pots are grown largely and well by 
Mr. Fancourt, and Figs in pot3 command attention by their 
numbers and quality. There are hundreds of trees in G-inch 
pots as healthy as it is possible to conceive Figs to be. Many of 
these raised from eyes in January are now showing fruit, and 
others a little older are ripening crops of from six to twelve fruits 
each. These miniature trees are models of good culture. Seme 
large structures are filled with stove and greenhouse plants, of 
which there is a good collection. One house resembles a vista in 
an antipodean forest, as it is filled with Tree Ferns, many of the 
trunks being very fine ; on the back wall Camellias are trained, 
the demand for such plants being considerable for covering the 
back walls of vineries. Camellias in pots, home-worked, are 
very numerous and in fine healthy condition. Several conically 
trained specimens of Azaleas are both large and fine, and one 
of these plants yielded flowers this spring that realised £11 ; at 
that rate Azalea-growing is lucrative. “ Bedding plants are 
going out of fashion ” is a somewhat hackneyed cry now-a-days ; 
but a few are yet sold at Chester, a stock of 250,000 having been 
disposed of at this nursery during the spring of this year, and the 
demand, I was informed, increases yearly. Succulents of all kinds, 
from Agaves to Sedums, are largely grown. Florists’ flowers have 
a large share of attention, Dahlias, Carnations, Auriculas, Sec., 
being numerous and the varieties choice. Of herbaceous and 
alpine plants there is a large and well-cared-for collection, all 
the favourite old forms, with not a few rarities, being included ; 
in fact there appears to be something, or rather a great deal of 
everything, in this nurser} 7 ’, which is in telephonic connection 
with the establishment in Eastgate, more than a mile distance, 
and conversation between the two stations can be conducted with 
the greatest ease and with a great saving of time and labour. 
Mr. Ferguson, the manager, and the heads of the respective 
departments, add much by their intelligence and courtesy to the 
pleasure of a “ run round ” the extensive and interesting grounds 
and houses of the Newton Nursery. 
MESSRS. FRANCIS AND ARTHUR DICKSON & SONS, UPTON NURSERY. 
No wandering horticulturist finding himself in Chester would 
think of leaving the city of antiquities without also inspecting 
this establishment. So well Known does this nursery appear to 
be that the stranger may find it even without mentioning the 
name of Dickson, for not in the city only but in a wide district 
surrounding, its abbreviated title, “ F. & A.’s,” is well understood. 
This is a very large and beautiful nursery ; the extent is about 
175 acres, every portion of which is well stocked and every part 
clean. The most striking feature on entering the grounds are the 
long and highly attractive borders of choice Conifers. The plants 
are arranged ribbon fashion, and the effect of rows 200 yards long 
of gold and green and glaucous Conifers is unquestionably beauti¬ 
ful, the borders being as clean as a flower garden. In the grounds 
nursery beds of Firs of various kinds show the extraordinary 
demand that must exist for these trees at Chester, and deciduous 
forest and ornamental trees of all kinds are grown on a scale of 
great magnitude, while evergreens, such as Hollies, Rhododen- 
dron c , .See., are grown by the acre. Great attention is devoted to 
Roses, but the frost of last wiuter had a ruinous effect on the 
standards. Out of thirty thousand planted not a thousand was 
saved. The fashion for standard Roses has been severely shaken 
of late, especially in cold localities, aud the demand for dwarfs is 
correspondingly increasing, and probably will increase. Fruit 
trees form a great branch of business in this nursery, some forty 
acres being devoted to them, and the stock is remarkable for its 
cleanliness and health. All kinds of trees are grown, and all 
forms of training represented. 
The glass structures are numerous. Several houses were filled 
with Tea Roses in pots. The plants are mostly worked on the 
standard Briar, the growth being free, clean, and in the most 
satisfactory condition. Camellias and Azaleas are represented 
in great numbers and superior quality ; in fact all kinds of stove 
and greenhouse plants are well and largely grown, as also are 
herbaceous alpine and bedding plants, the sale of the latter being 
on the same large scale as above mentioned, so that half a million 
are raised at Chester and sold yearly. Fruit trees in pots com¬ 
mand attention by their excellent form, cleanliness, and health, 
and in one house some conical specimens of Acer Negundo varie- 
gata were remarkable for the purity of the foliage. Thus grown 
it is a question if there is any variegated plant equally effective 
for decorative purposes. 
This is but a mere outline sketch of these nurseries, which 
together cover over three hundred acres, and both firms have other 
nurseries at Chester and elsewhere. Those who desire a more 
detailed account of the Chester establishments will find the same 
in the Journal of last year, and there is therefore no need for un¬ 
necessary repetition here. They are fine establishments, and my 
fellow traveller was justified in regarding horticulture as a staple 
industry of Chester, and the citizens have reason to be proud of 
such fine “gardens.” 
Both firms have extensive establishments in the city—seed and 
implement warehouses and every convenience for conducting trade 
in horticulture and agriculture on a large scale. Nothing could 
exceed the courtesy of the heads of the firms and the chiefs of 
their respective departments, and my first visit to Chester and its 
fine nurseries will be a “ sunny memory ” for years to come—in¬ 
deed until I have the privilege of seeing the old city again.— 
Visitor. 
GRAPE-GROWING AS A PASTIME FOR AMATEURS. 
As some encouragement to amateurs who would like to com¬ 
mence Grape-growing, and are afraid to make a start owing to 
doubts and difficulties which are conjured up in their minds, I 
have thought it might be useful if I relate the experience of an 
old retired gentleman in this district, who at my suggestion some 
years ago was induced to make a small beginning. This has 
proved to him a great boon in many ways, but chiefly, as ho 
firmly believes, in prolonging his life by many years, in conse¬ 
quence of the agreeable occupation and moderate exercise which 
the Vines have occasioned him. He attends to them entirely 
himself, including stoking, thinning the Grapes, and supplying 
water. Many people are under the impression that because they 
live in a town the luxury of Vine-growing must be denied to them ; 
but this is quite a delusion, as I hope I shall be able to prove. There 
is no reason whatever why every householder who may have a 
fair-sized back or front garden to his house cannot have a vinery 
or two and plenty of good Grapes also, if he plants the right sort 
of Vines and sees that the preliminary work of border draining 
and making is properly carried out. 
This gentleman’s residence is in a town of about eight thousand 
inhabitants ; at the back of his house he has a small yard walled 
in. Against a portion of this wall with a south-west aspect he 
built his first very small vinery—a rough-and-ready structure built 
by himself and a carpenter at a trifling cost, obtaining a small 
second-hand boiler with two rows of piping, a flow and return. 
A border 3 yards wide and 1 yard deep was made with a compost 
of turf cut into not too small pieces, and into which had been 
previously mixed a little half-inch bones and a sprinkling of old 
mortar rubbish, and in connection with which a drain had been 
laid to take away all stagnant water. His Vines grew luxu¬ 
riantly the first year and soon reached the top of his house, and 
by a little firing in the autumn to harden the wood and ripen the 
buds of the Vines, he had the satisfaction of seeing in about 
twelve months after planting a good show of bunches on all the 
Vines as the result of his own attention and care with an oc¬ 
casional hint from me. The Vines were not allowed to carry 
more than three bunches each the first year, but were cut back as 
is usual, leaving them about 2 feet long. The second year they 
also grew well and ripened the Grapes they carried finely. In 
the autumn as before they were assisted with a brisk fire heat for 
about a month or six weeks (from the end of August to the be¬ 
ginning of October), to help to harden and ripen the wood of the 
Vines. This is of much more importance than many are aware. 
The want of attending to it is more often the cause of failure 
