September 23, 1836. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
271 
plumosa aurea, the groundwork to all being Herniaria glabra, the whole 
arrangement being particularly pleasing. Flower beds and baskets on the 
terrace were charming, the arrangement being varied yet harmonious, the 
object being to alter the style of planting each year, not following any 
strict rules of fashion. The result is a most interesting mass of plants 
most effectively disposed. All the beds have raised edges 4 inches high, 
and planted with Herniaria glabra, which contrasts well with all sur¬ 
roundings. Sutton’s Miniature Sunflower was used largely for the 
decoration of the large stone baskets, mixed single and whits Cactus 
Dahlias, Castor Oil Plants, &c. The centres of several beds were planted 
with Fuchsias. Charming in name, and charming, too, they were, flower¬ 
ing profu-ely, hanging in a graceful manner, the carpet under them 
being Verbena Purple King, which contrasted well with the Fuihsias 
above. Two oblong beds were planted in quit9 a suggestive manner, as 
follows :—Two single-stemmed plants of Abutilon Thompsoni and one of 
Ricinus Gibsoni were placed among a centre arrangement of Pelargonium 
Henry Jacoby in one and Waltham Seedling in the other ; next to this was a 
broad band of yellow Calceolarias profusely blooming ; next was a band 
6 inches wide of Coleus Verschaffelti, then a squarely clipped band 
3 inches wide of Silver Thyme, next to this was the raised edging of 
Herniaria glabra. These beds lent colour to their neighbours, which were 
of a duller hue. In some of the beds were plant ;d Rudbeckia New- 
mani and Lilium auratum. As these were blooming freely the effect was 
grand with other foliage plants. The houses were all characterised by 
extreme neatness. Strawberries in pots were very strong and promise 
a future good crop of fruit, 
The noble owner, Lord Eversley, now in his ninety-third year, is very 
active both in mind and body, taking a personal interest in all matter! 
connected with the garden, even to the details of planting the fl iwer beds, 
the result bemg a grand combination between the employer and his 
excellent gardener, Mr. Wildsmith, who is most courteous to all visitors. 
—E. Molyneux. 
PEAR CULTURE AT CARDIFF CASTLE. 
Me. Pettigrew, The Castle Gardens, Cardiff, has through the 
Journal furnished us with the method he adopts in Pear culture. During 
my visit to Cardiff on the 17th inst. I took the opportunity of visiting 
these gardens for the first time, where, with Mr. Pettigrew’s able foreman, 
Mr. Smith, I made my way to the fruit garden, and I at once came to the 
conclusion to endorse Mr Pettigrew’s writing on Pear culture. I read in 
the Journal of Horticulture, April 28th, 1885, page 337, that the fruit 
trees at the Castle Gardens were not so hard pruned as generally seen, 
plenty of young wood being allowed to remain, and this I found to be 
true. In the upper garden the south wall is completely occupied with 
Pear trees, all creditably trained fan shape and in fine health, bearing, as 
it were, ropes of fine Pears from top to bottom of the branches. Amongst 
them were some extremely fine Duchesse d’Angouleme, such as are seldom 
seen, both in size and quantity, all other varieties being almost equally 
good. In the lower garden is the fruit room, and here I was astonished 
to see such a fine lot of Pears, Pitmaston Duchess and Glou Moreau 
were very large ; they are the finest Pears that I have ever seen. I may 
mention the fruit trees are in fine healthy condition, with strong robust 
shoots beautifully spurred, showing they receive the attention which 
they require.— T. Tebby. 
ORCHIDS. 
With this I send you the following Orchids for your approbation— 
Miltonia Clowesi, of which we have a plant now in bloom with five 
spikes, two of the spikes have eight flowers each; Odontoglossum 
bictonense, and two varieties of 0. b. album ; Coelogyne Massangeana, 
this spike has been in flower for a fortnight ; Cattleya velutina, we have 
had several in flower this season, but this we consider the b st variety 
that has opened yet: Cypripedium Ashburtoniac, a twin-flowered spike ; 
Cypripedium Lawrenceanum, a twiu - flowered spike ; Cypripedium 
Veitchi; Cypripedium insigne Maulei; Cypripedium insigne album mar¬ 
ginatum ; Laclia pnestans, cut from a plant on a bio-k having a number of 
flowers. We have also now in flower twenty-six plants of Oncidium 
JoDesianum, some of the plants bearing three and four spikes, with ten to 
fouiteen flowers on a spike.—H. Simpkins, Gardener to R. J. Measures, 
Esq., Cambridge Lodge, Flodden Road , Camberwell. 
[A very attractive assortment of very well-grown flowers, but withered 
by being picked in dry paper instead of soft green leaves.] 
A REMINISCENCE OF DONALD BEATON. 
If the late Mr. Donald Beaton had lived and practised in the present 
decade be would have been obliged to considerably modify his ideas as to 
the value of the Tomato for dessert purposes, but I question if he would 
not still hold the same opinion concerning Melons. I am not the for¬ 
tunate possessor of many back numbers of the Journal of Horticulture, 
or, as it was called in the days of Mr. Beaton, The Cottage Gardener, 
and am indebted to a friend for the extracts I am about to comment on. 
Mr. Beaton, in his report of the Crystal Palace Fruit Show held on 
September 7th, 1859, in criticising a dinner-table decoration of fruit and 
flowers, remarked (see The Cottage Gardener, September 13th, page 349), 
“ Such devices are not out of place on dessert tables, but there were two 
fundamental errors in this fruit device which would keep it out of 
company who appreciate what is appropriate—Grapes, Melons, Peaches, 
Pears, Plums, Nectarines, Currants, and Tomatoes f Who could conceive 
the idea of putting raw Tomatoes in a dessert before a civilised being ? 
The next fault was in principle. The Melon was higher up in the cone 
indicating that a false cone of stuffing was inside, which is never done in 
actual desserts.” 
Further down the same column he goes on to say, “ Melons were an 
enormous trial for the Judges; every Melon was cut and tasted, and if 
some of the tasters do not get the cholera through it, it will be a mercy. 
There were scores of them, but I only took a few notes of the smaller 
kinds. If I were a duke, or a marquis, or even a baron, I would not 
tolerate a Melon in my dining room that was over 2 lbs. weight. There 
is nothing so thoroughly vulgar as putting a large Melon before gentility. 
But as long as vulgar people are happy, societies must encourage fruit to 
their taste ; Tomatoes and large Melons to wit.” 
Only a short time ago there were plenty ready to ridicule me for 
suggesting that Tomatoes be tasted at exhibitions, with the idea that we 
should then get at the best sorts and not have to award the prizes to 
turnipy monstrosities; and although this may not be altogether prac¬ 
ticable, I still think, in spite of Donald Beaton and his notions that they 
are not fit for civilised beings, that the time has arrived when a class 
should be provided for dessert varieties. It is really surprising how many 
there are who eat uncooked Tomatoes with as much avidity as a schoolboy 
will an Apple. For instance, in our long midnight ride to the Liverpool 
meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society, out of six in the same com¬ 
partment only one refused an uncooked Tomato, of which one of our 
party had a good supply in his bag, by way of supplying a little needful 
moisture. That single civilised being was myself, as, if the truth must 
be told, I did not then care for raw Tomatoes unless as a salad. Since 
then I felt that the ta9te must be cultivated, and raw Tomatoes are now 
eaten as readily as other fruit. A good Tomato is really fit for the 
dessert of those classes to which Mr. Beaton alluded, but I do not assert 
many of them yet admit them to the dessert table, but the time will come 
for even that. As has often been remarked, the love for Tomatoes must 
be acquired, and why so many dislike them at first is because they 
commence with shop fruit instead of having them fresh from the plant. 
To form an adequate idea of their taste they should be eaten when just 
ripe and quite firm. If kept till they are soft they become flat and to a 
certain extent insipid. At one time I was under the impression that the 
solid fruit, or those with the fewest seeds, of which Trophy is a good type, 
were the best, and many seem to be still of this opinion, but such are 
really not the best for eating raw, and the preference should be given to 
the small Orangefield or medium-sized fruit of Carter’s Perfection. The 
latter for my choice, and altogether it is the handsomest and one of the 
best flavoured sorts in cultivation, being good alike for dessert or salad 
purposes. 
Melons would appear to vary considerably in quality in olden times as 
much as they do now, and if the truth must be told we have not made 
much progress either as regards improving the varieties or in their culti- 
tion. Instead of the old dung frames we have now well-heated houses, 
and the larger the Melons are grown the better pleased is the cultivator.. 
Strange to say, the small frame-grown fruit very frequently gain the 
awards at shows, being found altogether superior to the over-fed and poor- 
flavoured giants grown under presumably more favourable circumstances. 
We may procure seeds from what source we will, including the fruit we 
have awarded the first prize, but, after all, everything depends upon the 
treatment given the plants. For a fruit to be of first-class flavour it must 
be cut from a healthy plant, whereas more than half the fruits shown are 
from dried or dying plants. Well might Mr. Beaton anticipate a 
cholera attack. I would much rather taste fifty Tomatoes than half that 
number of Melons at a show. 
Mr. Beaton’s ideas would appear to be much at variance with those of 
the Fruit Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society, for did not “ The 
Goodwood” Melon gain a first-class certificate on August 14th, 1883 ? 
The fruit of this novelty which gained the approbation of the Committee 
weighed 21 lbs., and if they had been content to award a cultural com¬ 
mendation, as first suggested, it would have received its due; but, 
fortunately or unfortunately, as the case may be, it was cut and found to 
be good to eat; hence the award. But who grows it? or who has 
exhibited it in a presentable condition ? If it had existed in the time of 
Mr. Donald Beaton it might have done well for the centre of the cone he 
described, and obviated the use of any padding ; but what would he have 
said of this monstrosity for table purposes ? He thought a Melon ought 
not to weigh more than 2 lbs ; the Fruit Committee like them ten time3 
larger. Our tastes with regard to raw Tomatoes are materially changed, 
and it may be large Melons are not such vulgarities as they were considered 
thirty years ago.—W. Ig gulden. 
HOW NOT TO GROW ROSES. 
“ F airplay’s ” communication on page 248 is either a burlesque, or he is 
one of those terrors to nurserymen who expect hours of attention, which 
means money, in consideration of giving a trifling order—a fitting com¬ 
panion to ladies who appear to delight in making a draper’s assistant 
display everything in a shop, and then coolly depart, as nothing quite 
suits” her. We are, “if possible,” to find a nurseryman whose fame rests 
more on his “ pertinacity as an advertiser than his skill as a horticulturist. 
“ Fairplay ” may well say “if possible,” for the great Rose and general 
nurserymen, without an exception, are justly famed for their skill. As to 
the “ cosmos of insect pests ” on Roses in winter, will your correspondent be 
good enough to say what they are ? I have no interest in defending 
nurserymen. I am a buyer and not a seller, and have, during a period of 
forty years, dealt with many firms, meeting with uniform courtesy from all. 
It is, on the face of it, absurd to suppose that any firm could long conduct 
