October 27,1881. ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER, 
379 
year free of expense. 4tb, That the number of meetings be in¬ 
creased, so that the members may have more opportunities of dis¬ 
cussing the objects of the Society. In conclusion your Committee 
express a hope that the next year’s meetings will be more fully 
attended, and that the members will take greater interest in its 
objects, and endeavour to obtain growers, thus insuring the 
Society’s success.” The above was, after some discussion, adopted 
and ordered to be sent to members of the Society. Mr. W. E. 
Boyce, 14, Gloucester Boad, Holloway, N., is the Hon. Sec. 
WINTERING STRAWBERRIES IN POTS. 
Various methods of preserving these from frosts are, accord¬ 
ing to circumstances, adopted, and no doubt in the majority of 
cases with satisfactory results. In the open ground healthy plants 
are seldom injured by severe frosts, but the best roots of those in 
pots are at the sides, and liable to be injured in the winter ; or 
if they are not, the pots, owing to the expansion of soil when 
frosted, are liable to crack. This demonstrates the necessity of 
protecting, but not, however, of coddling. They are too often 
stored away in pits and frames, and rarely if ever watered till 
transferred to their fruiting quarters. At one time at least half 
the stocks of plants were wintered in a heated pit here, and but 
little further trouble taken with them. The consequence was a 
weakly start, then a bad outbreak of green fly, followed later on 
with a plentiful supply of red spider. This will not happen 
again. All that is really required is to protect the pots and roots 
from frosts, as rains will not hurt them. If well drained there is 
no fear of injury by excessive moisture, and dry at the roots the 
soil should never be. At the same time, if it can be avoided, I do 
not believe in subjecting them to extremes of any kind, and for this 
reason shall fill two rough shallow pits with leaves in which to 
plunge the Strawberries, covering them with large old lights 
when necessary. Had I not these old pits (which are, besides, 
extremely useful for forwarding vegetables in the spring) I should 
enclose an open dry space with boards, form a good clean bottom 
with ashes, and, as the Strawberries were stood in. work more 
ashes round the pots till the rims were nearly buried. The frost 
must be exceptionally severe if they are at all injured in such a 
position ; but they can easily be protected with dry fern or litter 
when severe frosts are expected.—W. Iggulden. 
A RUN TO THE WEST. 
The grand view from the terrace at Marston terminates in a range 
of tree-clad hills, the ridge resembling a rugged wall of foliage far as 
the eye can reach : but in it there is a distinct break as if a giant had 
hewed his way, like cutting through a hedge and leaving a sharply 
outlined gap. “Do you see that break in the trees?” asked Mr. 
Iggulden, pointing across the valley below us, and continuing, “ that 
is Heaven’s Gate where Bishop Ken composed the Morning Hymn; 
it is four or five miles distant, and there is something worth seeing 
below it buried between the hills.” Driving from Marston by moon¬ 
light, about two miles through a park-like country, where ever and 
anon large trees cast their dense shadows across the road, with a fine 
expanse of well-timbered and undulated tract of pasturage on each 
hand, and still more shadows, something like a substance was seen 
ahead as if obstructing the road. Formidable the barrier looked 
under the deceptive light, but as we approached it the apparent 
difficulty, as difficulties often do when faced, began to vanish ; the 
mass was found easily vulnerable, and we entered the domain of 
LONGLEAT. 
Passing through a portion of the well-kept woods we reach the 
park proper, in which a little further on the grand old mansion stands, 
a square massive pile, where it has stood for three centuries, and is 
apparently little the worse for wear. There are no palisades nor 
sunk fence, at the least on two sides of it, to separate it from the 
park, but all is open, grand, and free ; a curving lake is near, and 
noble trees tower above and surround us. But we pass on through 
the avenue of stately Elms; the lamp of night is a magnifier of a 
scene like this, and we will see it on the morrow ; to-night our quest 
is the gardener’s cottage. We find it, a mile distant, a humble happy 
home. 
“ What 1 ” is someone prompted to exclaim ; “ does a man so famed 
as Mr. Taylor is, the gardener at such a place as this, dwell in a 
humble cottage ? We should have thought he had a handsome Gothic 
villa, or pretty mansionette.” Stay ; you do not quite know the 
man, though his writings tell plainly enough that he is no dandy, 
and he will not be ashamed that you should know his cottage is 
an extremely humble one. He might have had a different dwelling, 
but he prefers his plain commodious and convenient home where his 
children were born and trained, and where, from the knoll on which 
it stands, he can look across a narrow paddock and see over the gar¬ 
dens, with the grand vinery which he created full in view. 
The moonlight drive and the evening’s chat are over, albeit the 
latter was a long one and pleasant. How often I have heard words 
to the following effect, and with which others of my readers are 
doubtless familiar. “ Talk about ‘ women’s tongues,’ they are no¬ 
where against gardeners’ gossip. Once let two or three gardeners get 
fairly set to, and what with Grapes, Potatoes, plants, potting, pruning, 
pinching, stopping—their great results and small conveniences—they 
never know when to leave off ; they will ‘ pinch ’ themselves of rest, 
‘stop’ all night, and talk the best of ‘talking women’ to sleep.” 
Never mind who is the author of that sentiment, it has a hundred 
authors probably, and I dare not say it does not contain truth ; but 
it at least testifies to the existence of a great fact—the earnestness 
with which gardeners pursue their calling, their anxiety to learn all 
that is possible connected with their duties, and their willingness to 
impart of their knowledge to those to whom it may be of use. But 
for this devotion to their business, this friendly interchange of know¬ 
ledge and recounting of experiences, British gardeners would never 
have attained to the position they occupy, not in this country alone, 
but abroad, where I know from some experience how highly they are 
estimated as cultivators and how greatly they are respected. Let us 
then endure the above reproach, or rather enjoy the compliment, and 
go on working by day, and talking and teaching by night; yet let 
not those who are absent from home forget there may be “ some¬ 
body waiting.” 
But to resume. My night at Longleat ended. It is daylight now. 
We are in the garden, and having written a paragraph for gardeners’ 
wives, hundreds of whom I know read gardening papers, I will 
endeavour to write something for gardeners, for I found, what Mr. 
Iggulden predicted, “ something worth seeing.” 
It must be a plain matter-of-fact narrative, as anything having 
the semblance of undue praise would be decidedly obnoxious to the 
very practical gardener whose works I must notice. I will therefore 
tell the truth in soberness. First of all it is the simple truth to say 
that Mr. Taylor does all that he writes about, and more. Kitchen 
gardening, hardy fruit culture, Grape-production, Rose and Carnation 
culture, winter-flower growing, forcing in spring, and flower gardening 
in summer, are all done well. Everything, too, is done with an object. 
The wants of the family are known, and met in the best manner 
possible. No fancies are indulged in, nor space occupied uselessly. 
That which is serviceable is grown largely, that which is not of 
service is not attempted. Mr. Taylor has the reputation of being a 
good thrower-away. However great a reputation anything new may 
have, if it does not after a trial surpass the old it is promptly dis¬ 
carded. It does not suffice that it wins and even merits the approval 
of others, if it does not meet the requirements of Longleat away it 
goes. It will be readily understood that not many varieties of either 
plants, fruits or vegetables are grown. Many of a few is the govern¬ 
ing principle, not a few of many. For instance, instead of growing 
a bushel each of forty varieties of Potatoes, he prefers having forty 
sacks of two varieties ; instead of having forty rows of Peas all 
different, he prefers ten rows each of four proved varieties ; instead 
of having a hundred Vines in the great vinery, as he easily might, 
and twenty varieties, he. is content with just fourteen Vines and five 
varieties ; instead of a “collection ” of Zonal Pelargoniums for winter 
he only wants two varieties, one of which is fixed, the other not quite 
determined ; instead of a dozen or more varieties of Carnations for 
winter to meet the great demand, he only has three sorts that he 
knows can be depended on. Such is the policy adopted, and who 
can say it is not a sensible one ? It will be convenient and perhaps 
useful to refer as briefly as possible to the more prominent features 
and objects under separate heads. 
THE KITCHEN GARDEN. 
About five acres are enclosed, and it is difficult to find a rod of 
level ground ; it is all hills and hollows, but apparently fertile, burnt 
clay and lime having been employed with great effect. Besides an 
early Potato the Scotch Champion is exclusively grown, and yields 
at the rate of 1G0 sacks, or 1G tons, per acre. Never have I seen the 
Champion so good as from this garden, the tubers being white, 
floury, and delicately flavoured. No other is desired in the Long¬ 
leat dining-room. Besides its good cropping and disease-resisting 
character it is found to be the best weed-exterminating crop in exist¬ 
ence. Mr. Taylor finds it a real twitch-killer, and employs it for 
reclaiming outlying neglected land matted with twitch or couch, and 
points to results with satisfaction. This is a new virtue of the 
Champion and worth recording. By growing the following Peas— 
William I., G. F. Wilson, Veitch’s Perfection, and Ne Plus Ultra, 
superior produce is obtained as early and as late as possible, and no 
blank in the supply. Summer Spinach is grown for winter, indeed 
for all seasons, and so on throughout the routine : when the best of 
everything is found by trials, that is adhered to. 
HARDY FRUIT. 
Some deviations from the popular track are found here, but not 
without experience of other systems. Mr. Taylor has had the ad¬ 
vantage of being trained under some of the most famed cultivators, 
and is practically aoquainted with all methods of fruit-tree manage- 
