August 21, 1884. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
1G3 
I do not gather that Mr. Muir transplants his. Mine are sown about 
this tirne of year in drills, and in the spring are planted out in good 
rich soil.^ I give them plenty of room, at least 9 inches every way, 
and I think they repay even larger space. As they grow fast I have 
the bulbs earthed up, this is some protection against the maggot. 
Finely sifted ashes, too, are a help against this pest, possibly not 
quite so great a safeguard as is supposed. I also fancy that Fir-tree 
oil over them properly and carefully diluted, for it is difficult to mix 
with water, is also a great help. If anxious to excel in the exhibition 
tent a few grains of nitrate of soda in the neighbourhood of each 
bulb will materially assist the rapid growth, but if there be a manure 
that requires a light hand and careful application commend me to the 
nitrate. 
But although, as far as my experience goes, this winter-sown 
Onion is not as liable to the attacks of the maggot as is its spring 
relative, there is another trouble to which it seems to me far more 
exposed, and which, when allowed its own way, is very fatal to size 
and goodness of the crop. This disease is, as appears to me, a sort 
of fungus or mould that attacks the leaves—the crop will look well 
to-day, but three or four days hence, here and there in the bed, the dark 
green foliage, if we can call it by such a name, has on one or other of 
its leaves a patch of white powdery-looking substance, and the healthy 
green colour is lost, whilst the part has also a pinched-in appearance. 
If allowed to advance unchecked it rapidly spreads, and the bulb 
ceases to grow, and the bulbs do not keep as well. I think I have 
checked it by the Fir-tree oil in solution, each leaf being wiped with 
a sponge wet with it. I have also sprayed them with the same, and I 
think this is useful. I fear in mj^' own garden that the spring-sown 
Onions, which hitherto have defied the inroads of this disease, are 
succumbing to its influence and following the bad example set them 
by their spring-sown cousins. Can any of the many readers of our 
Journal suggest an easy cure?—Y. B. A. Z. 
DIDDINGTON. 
( Continued from page 121,) 
The kitchen garden is shut off from the pleasure grounds by a high, 
well-trimmed Yew hedge, and it is divided into several compartments, 
two being surrounded by rather high wails well furnished with fruit 
trees in capital health, the remainder of the kitchen garden being the 
usual slips. 
Peaches are carrying full crops of what promises to be fine fruit. 
Magdala, of which there is a large tree, is much prized there, and there 
are the usual good old varieties, such as Royal George, Grosse Mignonne, 
Noblesse, Barrington, &c. The trees are all large and healthy, giving 
proof if it were needed that Peaches can be profitably grown on open 
walls in favourable localities. 
Apricots on a south wall are carrying good crops, but the best crops 
are on trees on an east aspect, not having had any protection in spring, 
which is all the more remarkable, as the weather was trying to the 
blossoms and embryo fruit last spring. Moorpark is most esteemed, and 
seems to suffer less from loss ot limb or sudden collapse of the branches 
than is the case in only too many localities. 
Plums may be set down as nil, except Rivers’ Prolific and Rivers’ 
Early Favourite, of which fine fruits were being gathered at the time of 
my visit—viz., the close of July, and Belgian Purple. Pears were very 
scarce, the most prolific this year being Glou Morceau. Bush fruit had 
been abundant. 
The grass structures comprise the usual ones for growing flowers and 
fruits for home consumption. The first I entered was a Peach house, a 
lean-to, with a double trellis, a low one in front for dwarf-trained trees 
and a curved one at the back to accommodate standards, the idea being to 
utilise the space and bring the bearing part of the trees well up to the 
glass. The trees have only been planted this season, but have made good 
progress, and being trees of some years’ training have given some fruit 
this season. As the supply was required to extend over some time the 
planting had been done accordingly with Hale’s Early, Grosse Mignonne, 
Bellegarde, Waterloo, Barrington, and Princess of Wales. 
In the vinery are nine Vines carrying a heavy crop of useful bunches, 
consisting of Black Hamburgh and Muscat of Alexandria principally, 
Bowood Muscat as there grown not being distinct from Muscat of 
Alexandria. The crop, though heavy, had coloured well, and the 
varieties being confined to those named shows the position these have in 
general estimation, they being the two most useful and finest Grapes in 
existence. 
Pines are grown in low houses or pits, the principal one being in 
three compartments, mostly used for fruiting purposes, whilst successions 
are grown in low pits in front. The structures are exceedingly simple. 
There is a bed in the fruiting compartments at the front with a narrow 
path at the back, with a shelf at the back near to the glass, on 
which are grown various useful plants, and in the late winter and 
spring is used for ripening forced Strawberries. Mr. Radclylfe for 
this purpose is highly spoken of, and deservingly, as I find it one of the 
very best for second-early forcing, its good habit and fine showy fruit 
swelling oil well being much in its favour. The beds or pits in which 
the Pine plants are fruited have four rows of 4-inch hot-water pipes, the 
plants being grown in pots and plunged in sawdust; and there are, if I 
remember rightly, the same number cf pipes for top heat. The plants 
have the benefit of being near the glass. I am minute in the description 
of these structures, which are of the simplest and most inexpensive kind 
possible, and to show that Pine-growing in this country is not nearly so 
costly nor so difficult as one would have us imagine. Queens are relied 
upon for the summer supply, supplemented by Smooth-leaved Cayenne ; 
The Queens attain a weight of between 3 and 5 lbs., and the Smooth¬ 
leaved Cayenne to over 6 lbs. A few Black Jamaica and Montserrat are 
cultivated for winter as a change from Smooth-leaved Cayenne. The 
successional plants are grown without bottom heat, but are plunged in 
sawdust, and there are two rows of hot-water pipes for top heat. 
On a plot of ground in front of the Pine pits, &c.. Dahlias are grown 
—exhibition flowers, which have in former years taken many prizes at 
many shows, not only local, but at the Crystal Palace and other places 
where the competition is keen—and this year an easy first were awarded 
to blooms from this establishment at the recent (August 4th) St. Neots 
Show, the varieties being John Cocker, Chorister, J. W. Lord, H. Walton, 
Peacock, Prince of Denmark, Perfection of Primroses, James Vick, Mrs. 
Gladstone, Rev. Goodday, and Vice-President. So strong are the plants, 
so clean and healthy in growth, and the opening buds so full of promise, 
that they cannot but be heard of again to the credit of the grower, who 
has done something in the raising of new varieties—Mr. Thornhill, for 
instance, and others. 
Returning to the glass structures, we find in the stove many useful plants 
Fig. 28.—Caepet Bed and Method of Planting. 
1, Weeping Clierry. 
2, Coleus multicolor. 
S, Golden Feather. 
4, Alternanthera amcena. 
5, Mesembryanthemum cor. var. 
6, Mentha Pulegium gibraltarica. 
7, Golden Feather, small plants. 
8, Alternanthera paronychioides. 
9, Sedum glaucum. 
lu, Echeveria secunda glauoa (raised). 
grown in pots suitable for table and house decoration, which are more in 
request than specimens, whilst those for affording cut flowers were not 
neglected. These were Dendrobium chrysanthum, D. nobile, Calanthe 
vestita lutea, C. Veitchii, Allamanda Hendersoni, Adiantum Williamsi, 
Ananassa variegata, Dracaena Bausei, Areca erinita, having red stems, 
dwarf and dense in habit; Dractena Baptisti, D. regina, D. nigrescens. 
Asparagus plumosus, Nephrolepis Duffi, Adiantum farleyense, Davallia 
Mooreana,Anthurium Schertzerianum giganteum,PandanusVeitchii, Croton 
Queen Victoria, C. undulatus, C. Weismanni. (3. majesticus, C. angusti- 
folius, and Adiantum tinctum, which from its rosy young fronds is very 
effective. 1 give the above names for the guidance of those wishing 
plants adapted for the purpose indicated. 
In a span-roofed house Tomatoes in pots are grown, the plants being 
trained to a trellis near the glass with single stems 18 inches apart, the 
stems being about 5 feet long, and they carry on an average sixty fruits 
each, some over 1 lb. weight, and elean smooth examples, gaining first 
honours at St. Neots Show, are the rule. This is a fine example of 
successful Tomato culture. The variety solely grown is Sutton’s Con¬ 
queror. In the same house are Eucharises. Gloxinias, Impatiens Sultani, 
Adiantums, and other Ferns. 
In the greenhouse were Tydmas, Achimenes, Coleus, Begonias, 
Fuchsias, the lovely blue Plumbago capensis, Statice profusa, Lygodium 
scandens, and other useful plants, either for decoration or to afford 
flowers for cutting. Cucumbers and Meloms are grown in frames on 
dung beds enclosed in brick walls, and they are filled with plants in a 
clean healthy condition, the varieties of Cucumbers relied upon being 
Telegraph and Telephone, Melons appear to do well, there being some 
fine fruits of Hero of Lockinge, Bloxholm Park, and Eastnor Castle. 
In the frame ground are a number of pits, that prove extremely 
useful for wintering or hardening-off plants required for the extensive 
