November 3,1881.] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 399 
rustic style, the receptacles for plants being made in the garden. 
They are like Orchid baskets in miniature but in various shapes, the 
wood employed being about the thickness of an ordinary pencil. It 
consists of young growths of some of the Spiraeas, and yearling shoots 
of Yines. Maple half an inch in diameter and with rough bark is also 
used for larger baskets. Another simple method is to cut the stems of 
young Larches into lengths of 4 inches, then bore a hole through each 
with a bit and gouge out the rest of the wood, leaving about a quarter 
of an inch all round ; a piece of zinc is nailed over one end, and the 
miniature rustic vase is complete. Numbers of these baskets and vases 
are made, and small Ferns and other suitable plants placed in them, 
and they are more admired on the table by Lord and Lady Bath and 
their distinguished guests than more showy vessels of glass, gold, or 
silver. The really great can afford to enjoy simple homely tastes, 
and they do not, in the Sir Georgius Midas and Ponsonby de Tom- 
kyns style, estimate the beauty of an article by what it costs. I pass 
now to a greater subject, and what is beyond question the pride and 
glory of Longleat Gardens. 
THE VINERY. 
It is easy enough to describe a garden, any clerk or schoolmaster 
can do that; but to do so usefully is another matter. And although 
I may fail in this, I would impress on others more competent in 
writing descriptions of places not to exhaust their talents in a flowery 
glossing-over of the results on the surface, but endeavour to go 
deeper and find, if possible, the causes of good effects or of failures ; 
or at least to scatter a few good seeds that may be gathered by the 
way, for there is always ground waiting for their reception. 
Much as there is to admire at Longleat, and well as are the different 
departments of the garden conducted, the great vinery overshadows 
all. It is a span-roofed structure standing on a wall of about 3 feet 
of brickwork, with side lights opening all the length, and a lantern 
in the ridge with two rows of side lights there also. Ventilation is 
thus amply provided for. The house is 210 feet long and 30 feet 
wide in the clear. It is not very lofty, the height being about 13 feet 
to the base of the lantern, which is 3 or 4 feet higher. A broad path 
runs along the centre, with pillars at intervals along each side, con¬ 
nected by semicircular arches over the path. The house is thus very 
strong, while at the same time it is light. It was built by Mr. Buck- 
enham, the clerk of the works at Longleat, and the structural part 
was designed by him. The condition of the house testifies to his skill 
and competence, which have certainly not been exercised uselessly, 
but the skill of the cultivation of the Yines is at the least equally 
prominent, and the noble owner has just reason to be proud of the 
combined work of his servants. The heating was done by Messrs. 
Weeks, and is very satisfactory. 
The border is about 3 feet deep, entirely inside. Ample drainage 
was provided, and freshly dug turf was, as has been previously stated 
in the Journal, put together like so many bricks ; only no mortar 
was used, a very slight sprinkling of boiled 1-inch bones, about a 
handful to a cartload, being all that was mixed with it. The borders 
are quite hard, as bedding Pelargoniums are wintered on them, and 
other plants in pots are accommodated there, according to require¬ 
ments, Mr. Taylor knowing very well that the plants do no harm to 
the Yines—indeed thousands were in the Muscat house when the 
grand crop was ripening and finishing so well. Besides, the borders 
are trampled on continually for dressing the Yines, not only by the 
chief but by his “boy Joe,” this being Mr. Taylor’s skilled and 
trusted foreman, who is in excellent keeping with the house and 
Vines, as he weighs about 17 stone. Many readers will remember 
it was almost a crime to step on a Vine border without using a board ; 
but these notions are gradually vanishing, as it is being found out 
that the roots of Yines will not, cannot, take possession of a mass of 
light loose surface soil; but they come to the surface in this hard 
border, as may be seen readily enough when the Pelargonium boxes 
are moved, and the fibres, ever multiplying, spread in all directions, 
and no food escapes them. In light rich borders it is otherwise, for 
their strong, straight, fibreless roots pierce through the soil like 
driving a skewer through a bread loaf : hence the very luxuriant 
canes we sometimes see, and large but not thick leaves and small 
fruit. Such Vines, however, often come right in time, especially if 
they are not too severely prune!. But it must be remembered, that 
while firmness and adhesiveness may be regarded as synonymous 
terms as applied to cement, they are not as applied to Vine borders, 
which can and should be firm without being adhesive. So much 
for the borders, and now to the Yines. 
The Vines were raised from eyes in the spring of 1870, and planted 
about 7 feet apart during the summer of that year. They grew 
strongly, and were allowed to bear fruit, to check over-luxuriance, 
the first year after planting. They continued growing vigorously 
and cropping heavily until 1874, when it became a question of per¬ 
sisting in the practice of mutilating them, or removing some and 
letting the others extend. Some moral courage was requisite in 
removing Vines that were bearing so well, but still a few of them 
were removed, and the end Yines were allowed to extend by training 
tbe main rods horizontally, and taking canes from them up the roof. 
The wisdom of the step was soon apparent, for the fruit on the 
restricted rods that still remained was clearly inferior in both size 
and colour to that on the others ; therefore the extension Yines were 
encouraged to extend still further, and more of the restricted rods 
were removed to make room for them. At present there are just 
fourteen Yines left out of about seventy that were planted. The 
house is in three compartments. The north compartment, which is 
58 feet long, contains five Black Hamburghs ; the south compartment, 
which is some 20 feet longer, is occupied by two Alicantes, two Lady 
Downe’s, and one Mrs. Pince ; the middle compartment, 80 feet long, 
is filled with four Muscats. The house is not wired in the ordinary 
manner, but an arched trellis is formed, starting at 2 feet from the 
glass at the base of the rafters on each side, and passing overhead 
8 ^ feet from the ground. These four Yines therefore cover nearly 
3000 superficial feet of trellis, from every part of which hang noble 
bunches, producing many berries inch long and inch in dia¬ 
meter ; but these do not altogether quite satisfy the cultivator, yet 
as they increase in size yearly it is to be hoped they will do so shortly. 
They would satisfy most people now, and do satisfy those, as a rule, 
who see them and eat them. 
It was of the Muscat and Hamburgh compartments that a corre¬ 
spondent, who is unknown to me, wrote on page 3G3 that it was 
“the finest sight he had seen, or would perhaps ever see again.” 
Although it is the finest sight of the kind that I have seen it is not 
the finest I hope to see, as I intend, if spared, to go to Longleat again 
when Mr. Taylor has grown Muscats to his satisfaction. He knows 
they have a fault, and he knows also the cause and the remedy. 
When he made the border he was not aware the soil did not contain 
a particle of lime, and there is not a trace of that mineral in the 
water of Longleat. This accounted for the defective stoning of the 
berries. By making good the defects of the soil, and adding lime and 
potash, he is surely overcoming the difficulty, and finer berries 
follow as a natural result. 
The Black Hamburghs are all cut and bottled ; they are of the 
first size and quality, while the colour is not only as dense as it can 
be on the fruit, but has crept up the footstalks. Many but not all 
the footstalks are coloured, and there is no mistake about these 
Grapes with coloured footstalks being decidedly richer than those 
with the ordinary green footstalks. This colouring of the footstalks 
is not a common occurrence ; wherever it is seen it is evidence of good 
culture, and the Grapes under notice were of the highest quality. 
The Grapes in the late compartment are less striking than the 
others. Larger bunches of Alicantes I have often seen, but never 
better finished berries. Lady Downe’s has berries decidedly above 
the average, and the bunches are good. Mrs. Pince is splendid in 
bunch and berry, but not quite coloured as it should be. Want of 
colour is the great defect of this Grape, but Mr. Taylor is convinced 
it will improve—is improving—with age. He states, and few people 
can speak with more knowledge on the point, that the constitution 
of this Vine was broken by over-propagation when it was first intro¬ 
duced. At that time Mr. Taylor was Mr. Meredith’s right-hand man, 
and had “ something to do ” with the Garston Yines when they 
were in the zenith of their celebrity, and he knows how great was 
the demand for Mrs. Pince, and how they had to go on topping and 
striking as fast as growth was produced to meet it. No Vine, 
he asserts, could endure such treatment without being seriously 
weakened, yet he is convinced that Mrs. Pince will in time be re¬ 
stored, and prove what it really is, a splendid Grape—a little more 
colour and it would be splendid at Longleat. 
I had the curiosity to take the dimensions of one of the Yines 
under notice. It was not selected, but was the first at the end of 
the house which I happened to enter—a Black Alicante. Taking the 
length of the horizontal rod and the nine rods that arose from it at 
intervals and were trained up the roof, we found a total length of rod 
of 250 feet. “ What sort of rod ? ” does someone ask ? Well, such as 
is not common in Vines eleven years old, as just above ground the 
stem girthed 1G| inches. Nor was this the thickest stem, for one of 
the Muscats girthed 18 inches. These, then, are the Vines of which I 
ventured an opinion last week, that a similar example of culture had 
not been achieved in the time in the Queen dominions. In that 
opinion I must rest until proof is adduced to the contrary. When 
the house is entered and you pass under the arch of Grapes, all so 
near the eye, and see the timber-like stems in the corners and the 
horizontal rods trailing along the front like huge cobras, the sight is 
a truly remarkable one, and it shows what Yines will do when they 
have the chance. 
Nor are these Yines tenderly nursed and pampered. They have 
never been syringed and never been peeled, and yet there is not an 
insect of any kind on them. Red spider could make no impression on 
foliage so thick, thicker than leaves of Figs, and which crumples like 
stout brown paper. The mere size of the leaves does not astonish, 
but their substance is wonderful. No doubt this is rightly attributed 
to comparatively low night temperatures. What these are is recorded 
on page 375 ; and that Muscats will ripen in Wiltshire under these 
temperatures the crop shows conclusively, for fine indeed the Grapes 
are, and superbly finished. 
The growths of the Yines are trained thinly ; the sun can shine on 
every leaf, and air can circulate freely between the foliage and the 
glass, the trellis being 2 feet from the roof at the bottom, and quite 
4 feet at the top of the house; let this ample foliage space be a 
lesson. Laterals are preserved on the Yines down to the ground for 
thickening the stems and providing free sap channels ; let this also be 
a lesson. In fact the non-peeling, non-syringing, non-steaming, and 
free-growing systems are all lessons, and sound lessons too, for they 
are derived from one who has shown their value by a striking and 
unequivocal example of success. 
