May 10, 1883. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
389 
kinds the compost employed is the same as we use for Roses, Lily 
of the Valley, and Chrysanthemums. It is composed of loam 
three parts, and cow manure, dry but fresh, one part. For the 
weakly growers horse droppings are substituted for the cow 
manure, and for the very weakly kinds a little coarse sea sand is 
added. We pot rather firmly. The plants are placed during the 
summer months at the corner of two tall Holly hedges, the one 
shading from the sun in the earlier part of the day and the other 
during the afternoon. As to watering, they get water just when 
they require it, as we give water to any other plants. Excessive 
dryness will kill the roots, and excessive wet will render the soil 
sour, and the plant will succumb. 
Those offsets that were taken off the plants in February are 
now placed into 3-inch pots, and the stronger plants may receive 
another shift in August into pots a size larger. Such a course is, 
however, advisable only when the plants are growing very fast, 
and it is pretty certain that the last shift will be made the most 
of before winter sets in. The offsets taken from the parent plants 
just now are most easily managed pricked out into boxes, from 
which they may be potted in August, or left till spring if room is 
limited. I see a few good collections in the course of the year, 
and I Dotice many growers are possessed of strange fears about 
their pets. In one I saw the other day the plants were beset with 
offsets, their owners (not long commenced cultivating Auriculas) 
being frightened to remove any lest the plants might suffer in 
consequence. Another I met with where the plants were allowed 
to become dust-dry before water was given. Yet another had the 
compost thickly sprinkled with charcoal, and the base of the 
plant standing on the apex of the convex surface of the soil— 
this lest the plants might damp off should water touch them. 
One grower has his plants exhibited in 8-inch pots !—R. P. B. 
ROCHDALE AURICULA SOCIETY. 
Ox Wednesday, the 2nd inst., the first Exhibition of this re¬ 
organised Society was held in the Public Hall. There was an excel¬ 
lent assemblage of choice Auriculas and Polyanthuses, and, through 
the kindness of several ladies and gentlemen, a fine display of stove 
and greenhouse plants. Mr. Samuel Barlow of Stakehill had a grand 
collection of Azaleas and Rhododendrons on the table immediately in 
front of the platform. The Azaleas were the best varieties of the 
mollis type, and the Rhododendrons the sweet-scented forms raised 
by Mr. Davis of Ormskirk, and beautifully flowered. Amongst his 
plants were two examples of the double-flowering Raspberry, Rubus 
rossefolius var. coronarius, and five pans of the Hoop-petticoat Nar¬ 
cissus, which were splendid. Mr. Schofield of Buckley Hall, Mrs. 
King, Sandfield, and Mr. J. H. Lancashire sent good collections of 
stove and greenhouse plants. Mr. James Horsfall of Healey Nurseries 
had a collection of Conifers, and in addition a number of fossils ; 
and Messrs. Dickson, Brown & Tait exhibited a stand of cut 
Hyacinths, for all of which certificates of merit were awarded. The 
schedule was a long one, and the classes were well filled. The prizes 
were awarded as follows :— 
In the class for six varieties the prizes were won by Messrs. W. 
Bolton, Warrington, and H. Wilson, Halifax ; for four by Messrs. 
Wilson, Bolton, and Simonite, Sheffield; for pairs by Messrs. J. 
Fletcher, Bagslate, and R. Heys, Norden ; for maiden pairs by Messrs. 
Fletcher and Heys ; for four Alpines by Messrs. J. Beswick, Middle- 
ton ; Heys, and S. Barlow, Stakehill, in the order named. 
Mr. Bolton had the premier green-edged variety—Lancashire Hero, 
the other prizetakers being Mr. Simonite first with the same variety, 
Mr. Bolton second and third; Messrs. Barlow, Wilson, and C. M. 
Royds, Greenhill, taking the remaining prizes. Mr. Wilson showed 
the premier grey-edged variety—George Lightbody ; Mr. Wilson 
being first and second with Lancashire Hero and Ajax. Mr. Bolton 
was third and sixth, and Mr. Barlow fourth and fifth. Mr. Wilson 
also had the premier white-edge—Smiling Beauty ; he was first with 
John Waterston, and second with Acme. Messrs. Bolton, Barlow, 
and Heys secured the other prizes. Ringdove was the premier self 
shown by Mr. Bolton, who was also first with Ellen Lancaster, and 
second with Mrs. Douglas ; Messrs. Simonite, Barlow, Bolton, and 
Royds followed in that order. 
In Alpines Mr. Beswick showed the premier—Diadem, Messrs. 
Heys and Beswick taking the other prizes. Polyanthuses and Fancy 
Auriculas were chiefly shown by Messrs. Beswick, Fletcher, Barlow, 
Heys, Bolton, and Royds. 
Mr. Royds, Greenhill, was awarded a certificate for a beautiful 
assortment of Primroses, Polyanthuses, and Myosotis. A certificate 
of merit was awarded to a fine seedling self Auricula from Mr. 
Barlow, and similar awards were made to Mr. James Hill, Reform 
Street, for a good example of Aralia elegantissima, and to Mr. G. W. 
Schofield for a beautiful specimen of Oncidium tigrinum. 
COLESHILL HOUSE, HIGH WORTH. 
Occupying an elevated position in an extensive, undulating, 
and finely timbered park, through which flows the winding Cole, 
is Coleshill House, the Berkshire residence of the Earl of Radnor. 
It is a commodious and picturesque building in the Elizabethan 
style, built by Inigo Jones in 1650. The summit of the roof being 
flat and enclosed by an ornamental balustrade is large enough to 
accommodate a regiment of the Royal Berks Volunteers with 
standing room, the huge stone chimneys and cupola rising from 
the centre, giving to the whole a bold yet graceful finish. From 
this roof extensive and delightful views of North Wilts, Gloucester¬ 
shire, Oxfordshire, and Berkshire are obtained. 
From the west-front terrace of the mansion the grounds slope, 
first with a sharp declivity, then gradually, to the river Cole (from 
which, in connection with the eminence on which it stands, Coles¬ 
hill derives its name), whence the ground rises in the direction of 
Highworth and Sevenampton, which, together with the castle-like 
homestead of Strathenborough Farm on the Coleshill estate and 
Squire Hanbury’s mansion, make a pretty background to the 
western side of our picture. 
There are five entrance lodges to the park, built of stone and of 
the same style of architecture as the numerous excellent cottages 
constituting the village of Coleshill, and provided for the accom¬ 
modation of those employed on the estate, the principal ones being 
from Faringdon, Shrivenham, and Highworth, and immediately 
inside the latter entrance an avenue of fine Limes and Chest¬ 
nuts leads to the east (carriage) front of the house. A detour to the 
li ft conducts us between two massive and elaborately carved stone 
piers to the “ top flower garden ”—as calm and tranquil a spot as 
could be desired, and in which are some fine trees and Rhododen¬ 
drons, among the former being a few fine English Yews and a 
remarkably fine specimen of Taxodium sempervirens about 60 feet 
high, having a stem at 3 feet from the ground 11 feet in circum¬ 
ference, while that of the branches, which sweep the velvety turf, 
is 46 yards—a truly grand tree of the kind. Proceeding south¬ 
ward through the extensive grounds, which are bounded on the 
east by the Faringdon road, and afford many pleasant peeps of 
distant scenery, we pass on the way thither a couple of fine piers 
(similar to those referred to above), and the position of which sug¬ 
gests that another approach to this fine baronial residence is con¬ 
templated. From the southern extremity of the grounds, which 
are divided from the park by a “ ha-ha,” the summit of which is 
adorned at short intervals by Laburnums, &c., which in May and 
June, together with flowering Thorns in the park close by, render 
a good account of themselves, the eye traverses a large tract of 
undulating country, including Badbury and White Horse Hill, 
the sight of which, although now it would involve considerable 
time and labour to restore the famous steed to his former shape 
and colour, reminds one forcibly of the descriptive lines— 
“ Carv’d rudely on the pendent soil is seen 
The snow-white courser stretching o'er the green. 
The antique figure scan with curious eye. 
The glorious monument ol victory i 
Then England rear’d her long-dejected head, 
Then Alfred triumph’d and invasion fled.” 
The kitchen garden, which is a long strip of ground, and in 
which the numerous glass houses and sheds, together with the 
head gardener’s convenient cottage, are also located, is not only 
one of the finest, but also one of the best managed gardens of 
the kind in the country, beiDg well and judiciously cropped and 
in capital condition. It is situated a short distance from the 
house, having as a boundary Faringdon road on the one side, and 
the private drive to the celebrated Model Farm on the other. It is 
in five divisions and covers an area of 5 acres. The soil a dark 
loam, nearly 3 feet deep, resting on a bed of clay, and sloping 
somewhat sharply to the south and west, being everything that 
could be desired for the production of first-rate vegetables such 
as those staged annually by Mr. Haines, the able gardener-in¬ 
chief at Coleshill, at South Kensington and other horticultural 
exhibitions, and on which occasions his name is to be found well 
to the front. Mr. Haines, like all good kitchen gardeners, has a 
portion of the garden deeply trenched and liberally manured 
every year, and to this fact not a little of his success in vegetable¬ 
growing may be ascribed. Where everything is so well done it 
is difficult to particularise, but I may state that Leeks, Celery, 
and Onions are especially deserving of notice, many individual 
bulbs of the latter, Reading Improved, turning the scale at 18 ozs., 
and as hard as a board. Before concluding these brief remarks 
of the kitchen garden, the walls of which are furnished with an 
assortment of choice fruit trees, I may state that a central walk 
from the wicket in the wall adjoining the Faringdon road 
entrance runs through a series of arches and flights of steps the 
entire length of the five divisions, and on each side of which 
are good examples of pyramidally trained Pear trees, and between 
them, among other herbaceous plants, good clumps of Campanula 
pyramidalis. There was also a good batch of this plant in pots in 
