440 JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. c November n, isso. 
indicate that the demand is rapidly increasing. Cypripedium 
spectabilis grows luxuriantly in these grounds and proves quite 
hardy. These plants are in beds, and the crowns are covered 
with cocoa-nut fibre after the foliage has died, and in the severest 
weather mats or dried fern are thrown over the beds. The plants 
had made strong plump crowns, and a good supply of flowers may 
be anticipated another year. Good collections of Phloxes and 
Pentstemons are cultivated, and Irises are grown in great variety. 
The bulb ground must at times be very gay with the immense 
number of Liliums and Narcissuses. 
Passing to the large stock of Roses I noticed near a winding 
walk a large number of Clematises planted out for stock. Two 
plants of each variety are placed together and supported by large 
upright stakes when the plants are thoroughly established, and 
in flower they are very effective. Special attention is paid to 
Clematises, and a large stock is worked annually and grown for 
sale. The stock of Roses this year consists of 250,000, of which 
00,000 are grown as standards and half-standards, and about the 
same quantity of dwarfs are grown upon the Manetti stock. 
Some 40,000 are worked upon the seedling Briar, and special 
varieties are selected for the purpose, such as La France, Capitaine 
Christy, and the Hybrid Teas; 20,000 Roses are upon their own 
roots, The soil in the Newton Nurseries is well adapted for 
Roses. They are planted in exposed situations, and no shelter 
whatever can be afforded. The plants make sturdy luxuriant 
growth, and are in excellent condition. Tea Roses are largely 
grown in 6 and S-inch pots ; the plants are grafted in the spring, 
and at the time of my visit they were free from mildew and in 
the most satisfactory health. 
The fruit trees occupy about 15 acres, and a better grown stock 
it would be difficult to find. No time or trouble is spared to produce 
creditable specimens. The young trees are well balanced, whether 
trained in fan-shape, horizontally, or as pyramids. The large squares 
of pyramid Pears and Apples and their symmetrical shape indi¬ 
cate the attention that is bestowed upon them. The horizontally 
trained trees are equally good, and the large squares of fan-trained 
Cherries, Peaches, Apricots, and Plums are excellent. It is in¬ 
structing to see the different effects the various stocks have upon 
the growth of the plants; this was especially noticeable in a 
number of maiden Plum trees on the English and French Paradise 
Stocks and upon the Doucin stock, those upon the latter having 
made the strongest growth, while those upon the English had made 
the least. 
The stock of forest trees is excessively large. About twenty 
millions of Larch are grown, varying in size from seedlings to 
strong plants 4 or 5 feet high. Sycamores are grown in large 
numbers, and I noticed some extraordinary seedlings that had 
made a growth of from 2 to 3 feet. The Sycamore is an admirable 
tree for planting by the seaside and in the vicinity of towns as 
well as in exposed situations, and it thrives in poor soil where 
many forest trees would die. Much attention is devoted to the 
forest department; and when Limes, Elms, Sycamores, Horse 
Chestnuts, and others attain a height of 5 or 6 feet they are 
planted in single rows and by the sides of the walks and drives, 
the result being strong stout stems and well-proportioned heads 
much better than if drawn up by one another as would be the 
case if planted together. Much ground in addition to better 
plants is saved by planting on the single row system. The trees 
are no detriment to the large flats of Larch and Firs that occupy 
the land close to them. Scotch Fir and Austrian Pines are grown 
at the rate of eight millions each, and twelve millions of Spruce 
Firs. The Corsican Pine is also very largely grown. About ten 
thousand Cedrus Deodara are grown from seedlings to well- 
developed specimens suitable for planting singly upon lawns or in 
the pleasure grounds, Cupressus Lawsoniana the same ; and the 
choicer varieties, such as C. erecta viridis, C. alba spica, C. 
lutea, a beautiful Golden variety, and others, are well and 
largely grown. Yews, Thujas, Juniperus, Retinosporas, are also 
extensively propagated. Hollies are another of the special fea¬ 
tures, and the stock consists of thousands, and the variety called 
Hodginsi is largely grown. It is much hardier than the common 
Holly, and is by far the best Holly for exposed situations and the 
neighbourhood of large towns, Gold and Silver varieties being very 
good. Standards are also grown with the stems 5 or 6 feet high, 
suitable for planting as single specimens. Both common and 
Portugal Laurels are largely grown, the stock being about 120,000 
of the former and GO,000 of the latter. Noticeable were some 
good standard Portugal Laurels with beautiful round heads, 
suitable for planting upon terraces, where they are very effective. 
There is a large stock of Rhododendron ponticum, and an excel¬ 
lent collection of hybrids; about 6000 are annually grafted. 
Round-leaved Privet, Spinca salicifolia, Broom, and Berberises 
are grown in large numbers for planting as cover for game. 
Amongst the Firs Abies Douglasii is largely grown, and a tall 
quick-growing Fir it is. Amongst Piceas Nordmanniana and 
nobilis are represented from seedlings to handsome specimens, 
also Wellingtonia gigantea ; at the same time every new and rare 
kind is well grown and cared for. 
The Nurseries are much exposed, and in consequence the 
occupants are not so likely to be damaged when planted in ex¬ 
posed situations, as is the case with hardy shrubs when raised in 
sheltered positions. Good practice in these nurseries is to allow 
each shrub as well as fruit tree ample room to develope into 
shapely specimens, which can never be the case when they are 
crowded together. A thorough system of lifting is practised with 
all plants that require it, and many are annually transplanted, 
especially after they attain a saleable size, so that the risk of 
lifting is reduced to a minimum. The enormous sale renders it 
necessary to move up the plants after the lifting season, or a 
large amount of land would be unoccupied, which does not 
appear to be the case in the Newton Nurseries. At the time of 
my visit the grounds were clean and in capital order. The large 
seed warehouse is in Eastgate Street, and the farm and implement 
warehouse close to it.— Wm. Bakdney. 
ARCHING ROSES OVER WALKS. 
When pruning my standard Roses the winter before last I 
left two strong shoots on each of two trees, which were bent over 
and tied to a strong stake about 6 feet long on the opposite side 
of the walk. The result has been most satisfactory. Last season 
every joint or bud started and bloomed well. One was a Gloire 
de Dijon, and on this arch I counted at one time this sirmmer sixty- 
four buds and blooms. The name of the other Rose I do not 
know, although it has been budded about five and twenty years, 
and the result of many inquiries, for the name only adds to the 
confusion, as I seldom obtain the same opinion from two indivi¬ 
duals. Perhaps you could oblige me with the correct name, for 
which purpose I enclose a bunch of blooms. This has, perhaps, 
been more pleasing in the result of arching than the Gloire. At 
one time this summer I counted no less than 196 buds in different 
stages of development on a portion of the arch 4 feet in length, 
and at the present time there are over sixty buds looking very 
bright considering the severe frosts we have had.—J. Hiam. 
[The “ bunch ” sent is very fine, having sixteen buds and 
flowers. We showed it to Mr. William Paul, who recognised it 
as the old Bourbon Rose Madame Desprez.—E ds.] 
THE CHAMPION POTATO AND ITS RAISER. 
At the present time, when the merits and demerits of this 
famous Potato are being so keenly canvassed in your Journal, it 
may not be out of place to put on record a short account of its 
origin and its probable effects on the future cultivation of our 
most indispensable root. 
The history of the Champion can never be dissociated from the 
name of its raiser, Mr. John Nicoll, formerly gardener at Ochter- 
Tony in Forfarshire, and at present Superintendent of Arbroath 
Cemetery, where he has made his mark in the splendid way in 
which he has decorated and rendered attractive this city of the 
dead. 
Mr. Nicoll, as his portrait will show, is a gentleman of mature 
years. His amiable and obliging disposition, and the unassuming 
way in which he has accepted the honours justly awarded him, 
are well known by all who have the pleasure of his acquaintance. 
Not so many, however, are aware of his extensive and accurate 
knowledge of the principles that have already issued in the 
production of at least one national benefit, and that promise to 
revolutionise the whole system of Potato cultivation in this 
country. To these principles I shall shortly advert. While others 
have usually been, in the production of new varieties of Potatoes, 
aiming at a type where form, colour, shortness of haulm, and in a 
less degree quality and prolificness, are the chief points, Mr. 
Nicoll has kept steadily in view a type that would withstand 
disease, yield large returns, and be of good nourishing quality. 
Those who criticise the Champion from a show point of view 
should bear this in mind, and remember that Mr. Nicoll’s great 
aim has been the production of a profitable field rather than a 
garden variety. And if success in this and other lands has so 
undeniably indicated the Champion as “ the poor man’s Potato,” 
it is safe to say that, spite of its shaggy growth and rough 
exterior, it may be hailed as the progenitor of a race the vigour 
and prolificness of which will enable us eventually to bid defiance 
to the dreaded disease. 
The Champion was raised from seed gathered in 1862 from 
