November 10,1881.] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
433 
Orchid houses during the dull winter months. Many people kill 
these little Orchids with too much heat. We find the cool house 
suits them best, but when in flower we remove them to the inter¬ 
mediate house, as they are liable to spot in the cool house then. 
After they have done flowering they should be allowed to remain 
in their old pots for about two months, giving them very little 
water, and when beginning to start fresh roots they should be 
potted and removed to their growing quarters. Treated in this 
way anyone may grow them with success. 
Zygopetalum Mackayii with its long spikes of Hyacinth-scented 
flowers is also now in perfection.— Obchidist. 
NOTES ON CIRCUIT.—No. 4. 
Amongst the many pleasant memories of the last summer I must 
reckon a short sojourn I made at Chester-le-Street in the County of 
Durham. I had just finished my assizes in Scotland and was on my 
way to the Newcastle Show, intending to pass the Sunday at the 
cathedral city of Durham, when, on looking at Bradshaw, I found we 
passed through Chester-le-Street; and it occurred to me that the 
Red Rose Vineries, of which the readers of the Journal have often 
read, were there, and that on the days when he grew Gladiolus Mr. 
Witherspoon and I had met, and so I telegraphed to him that I would 
spend a few hours on my way. In its own time—a very liberal cal¬ 
culation—the train left me there ; but of the many tedious journeys 
I have had I think there are few which exceed that from Carlisle to 
Durham. Mr. Witherspoon not only met me at the station, but 
induced me to spend Sunday there, and held out the additional in¬ 
ducement of showing me Lumlev Castle and Lambton Castle on 
Monday morning. I was very glad that I fell in with his kind wishes, 
for I saw much that was interesting at his own place, and was in¬ 
tensely delighted by my visit to the very old and very modern Castles 
on Monday. 
Mr. Witherspoon is another example of how when the love of 
gardening is in a man it overleaps all boundaries, and enables him to 
achieve succ s? with little theoretical knowledge of the pursuit. Mr. 
Witherspoon was a wheelwright, but it is evident that he was a born 
gardener, and the proof of it is in the results he has achieved. The 
piece of ground o i which his garden stands was a few years ago a 
field, and on this he has erected his greenhouses and made himself 
well known in the no;th of England by the excellence of his culture. 
I have seen vin ries and fruit houses, but I do not think that I have 
ever seen any so thoroughly utilised, and, so to say, made the most 
of, as these two houses of Mr. Witherspoon. In one house were the 
Vines covering the lean-to portion ; at the back were Peaches and 
Nectarines, with occasionally an upright cordon Pear. There were 
Tomatoes along the border: Peaches. Nectarines, and Figs in pots, 
and all bearing a fair crop of fruit. The Vines especially were good, 
particularly in the second house, which was exclusively devoted to 
them. I should say that it is Mr. Witherspoon’s object to grow for 
market, and that therefore he is guided in the selection of his fruit 
by what is most likely to pay. He is not, therefore, inclined to try 
new varieties which are introduced with high-sounding names and 
descriptions unless he finds them available for this purpose. Nor 
will Grapes that require very much heat answer his purpose ; nor is he 
desirous of obtaining very large bunches, bunches of about a pound 
or three-quarters of a pound being the most available for market 
purposes. Hence the greater portion of his Vines are Black Ham- 
burghs and Gros Colman, the latter from its size and handsome 
appearance being a great favourite in the north. In the second 
house, which is exclusively devoted to Vines, they are planted on the 
back wall as well as in front, and from this house last year Mr. 
Witherspoon cut 1400 tbs. of Grapes, and expects to cut a larger crop 
this year. 
It must not be supposed that Mr. Witherspoon confines himself to 
indoor fruit. On the contrary, he has made some interesting experi¬ 
ments as to the Pears and Apples which will suit the less sunny 
skies of the north. He says that the idea that it is the freezing of 
the flowers which causes the loss of crops is not correct, but that 
more frequently the bud has been frozen in the winter, yet has suffi¬ 
cient vitality to flower, but, having expended its energies thus, can 
do no moi’e, and the bud perishes. The more hardy sorts will break 
through this and make up their loss. This is much the same as we 
find sometimes in Roses, especially this last season. They have com¬ 
menced growing, the shoot has goneacertain length ; then thestrength 
of the plant seems exhausted, the stem blackens and it dies. By 
these experiments he will be able to determine as to what fruits he 
shall grow in future—information, too, which will be useful for others 
besides himself. 
There are few remnants of olden times which strike one more 
forcibly than does Lumley Castle. There are but few like it in 
England, Bolsover and Roby being something in the same character. 
It is not a ruin, and it stands there to be seen from all parts around, 
a strange and weird-looking building, bringing us back some seven 
or eight hundred years when the fighting Lumleys, whose effigies are 
on its walls, held revel there. Under the intelligent direction of Mr. 
Hall, the steward, explorations have been made and much that is 
interesting brought to light. As we walked through the many 
spacious apartments we could almost expect to see the ghosts of 
those who dwelt in them in former days walking through them, and 
to live in it when the wind was howling through its embrasures and 
making all kinds of strange and unearthly noises must be a trial of 
courage ; but as it presented no features of horticultural interest I 
must not dwell on it. Far different is the scene at Lambton, to 
which place Mr. Hall kindly drove me, and where Mr. Hunter, whose 
fame as a gardener, and as a Grape-grower especially, is so widely 
known, kindly met us. Here everything was in the perfection of 
order. What shall I say of the vineries ? That their whole aspect 
was wonderful. Here were those grand examples with which he 
gained so many honours a few weeks after at Manchester. There 
were ranges of houses, conservatories, stoves, &c., and the same order 
and excellence reigned throughout. Out of doors it was the same 
save in the woods, where the havoc wrought by last winter’s storms 
was truly deplorable ; but in the garden, whether fruit, vegetable, or 
flower, all evidenced the presiding care of an able and intelligent 
gardener. The view from the upper terrace down the long walk was 
very beautiful, and the bedding-out was most tastefully arranged ; 
but as I know that the beauties of Lambton have been described in 
the pages of the Journal I did not take any special notes. The sur¬ 
roundings of the Castle with the river Wear rolling beneath it are 
very fine, and affotd many lessons for a landscape gardener. Of 
Roses, as in so many of those grand places, I saw but little ; for 
them we must look in the smaller garden of the amateur who can 
give special care and attention to them. 
Thus ended my visit to Chester-le-Street—a totally unlooked-for 
one when I started on my northern circuit, but of which I retain 
pleasant memories ; and I would certainly advise anyone whose 
business might bring them in that direction to stop for a few hours 
and see both the Red Rose Vineries and Lumley Castle.—D., Deal. 
LESSONS OF LIFE FOR YOUNG GARDENERS. 
I HAVE read with pleasure Mr. Pettigrew's advice to young 
gardeners at page 273, which, in my opinion, is as good as could 
be given, and the rising generation of young gardeners should be 
proud to see that Mr. Pettigrew is one of those who remember 
that it is the duty of age and experience to warn and instruct 
youth. He says, “Except a taste for gardening be acquired in 
early life it will be hard work to make any advance on the high 
road to success.” Time will prove the truth of this warning. 
We all know the good effect which correct opinions and sound 
principles established in early life have upon us as we ripen into 
years. Gardening differs widely from all other callings, as it 
appeals to such a variety of tastes. Hence it is when a young 
man is apprenticed to learn gardening he has a wide field of 
culture before him. Young men should always bear in mind that 
they cannot know too much about that on which their living 
depends. A stock of knowledge which has an almost immediate 
effect on their financial interests, and upon which the happiness 
of their future homes wall principally depend, is the most practical 
and valuable. Neither should they be discouraged in seeking 
knowledge if they do not make the progress they expected. 
Having planted their acorn they must remember it cannot grow 
into an Oak at once; they must therefore cultivate the habit of 
endurance and perseverance, or, in other words, they “must learn 
to labour and to wait.” 
A rock on which many young gardeners arc wrecked is by 
beginning too soon to look on their labours as a marketable 
commodity. This evil is a growing one : they prefer a place where 
they obtain a shilling or two more a week and learn little, than 
one where less wages are given and much more is to be learned in 
their business. Mr. Pettigrew justly observes that education in 
gardeners is uplifting in every sense, and no doubt it is one of their 
best aids. There is no excuse now for the rising generation not 
being educated, since cheap instruction is at the command of all ; 
but it was not always so, and to those who begun gardening some 
few years ago with a defective education, as well as to the youth 
who has begun it now, we tender the same advice, and urge them 
not to lose a moment in self-improvement. Mr. Pettigrew truly 
says that young gardeners during the winter months have plenty 
of spare time : let them employ it wisely. In the first place, we 
would advise the keeping of a diary of all that is transacted about 
the garden, both inside and out. This diary should be written at 
a certain time every evening, pains being taken that it is plainly 
written and well spelled. This would be a very good lesson on 
writing for every evening. Then for ordinary instructive reading 
there are two books which we have found most valuable ; the title 
of the one is Smiles’ “ Self-Help and, as its author says in the 
preface, the chief object of the book is to stimulate youths to 
apply themselves diligently to right pursuits, sparing neither 
labour, pains, nor self-denial in prosecuting them, and to rely 
upon their own efforts in life rather than depend upon the help or 
patronage of others. The title of the other book is Cobbett’s 
“Advice to Young Men;” and then there is also Cobbett’s 
“English Grammar,” which is a famous self-instructor. We are 
glad to see Mr. Pettigrew is of our opinion concerning these two 
works of Cobbett’s. 
