842 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER 
[ October 14 1886. 
plants for cut flowers and the conservatory. Very noticeable was a large 
batch of Primulas, which Mr. A. Waters, the able gardener, grows exceed¬ 
ingly well. Some of the finest plants we have seen for years were staged 
by him at Preston last spring. The method of culture Mr. Waters has 
detailed, and therefore need not be touched upon in these notes. There 
is also a house for standard Peach trees, which are being removed except 
in the centre, and trees are trained to wires round the sides. The con¬ 
servatory contained some good samples of the old double white Primula, 
with a general assortment of other flowering and foliage plants. 
The fernery is a very beautiful little house, being very tastefully 
arranged with fountains, rockwork, and arches formed of Selaginella 
6 or 7 fret high with a winding walk passing through. The top of the 
house is furnished by a variety of Tree Ferns, and the rocks with those of 
a dwarf nature, and a few Begonias of the Rex type. A house of 
Camellias in pots completes the glass arrangements. The Camellias are 
healthy, clean, and full of flower buds. It is surprising what improve¬ 
ment has been effected in the condition of these plants during the short 
space of time Mr. Waters has bad charge of them. 
The same marked improvement is visible in every department, the 
grounds, houses, hardy fruit trees, as well as the well-stocked kitchen 
garden. The gardens had been dreadfully neglected by some previous 
gardeners, but the work of renovation and improvement commenced by 
Mr. Campbell, the gardener previous to Mr. Waters, has been ably carried 
on by the latter. I was very pleased to find that such a great change for 
the better had been effected in the condition of these gardens in such a 
short space of time. 
WORDEN HALL. 
This, the residence of the Misses ffarington, is situated on the 
opposite side of Leyland. The mansion and gardens are reached by 
traversing a lengthy drive that winds through a well-wooded extensive 
park. The entrance to the drive is of an imp sing nature, and the same 
may be said of the one on the opposite side of the park. The trees 
throughout the park are of large size and well developed. From below 
the pleasure grounds a winding walk runs very tastefully through a large 
but narrow strip of well timbered land. This is rendered the more 
beautiful by the silent rippling stream that winds its course through the 
wood, to be crossed here and there in following the walk to which re¬ 
ference has been made. This walk appears to be of such a nature that is 
as no starting or endiDg place, for it brings you through large luxuriant 
groups of Rhododendron ponticum and into an old but fruitful orchard, 
the Damson trees being particularly heavily laden with fruit, and then into 
other walks in the pleasure grounds. 
The walls are covered with various fruit trees, which must have been 
planted many years ago, many of them having lost their lower branches ; 
in fact, are fast falling into decay. It is a pity that these walls are not 
recovered with young trees or portions of them at a time, so that there 
would be no lack of fruit until the young ones were established. This 
has been done, however, on the wall devoted to Peaches, which were bear¬ 
ing excellent crops of large well coloured fruit, some of the fruits of 
Barrington Peach weighing over 7 oza. The kitchen garden is fairly ex¬ 
tensive, and was well cropped with a general assortment of vegetables. 
Close to the kitchen garden is one of those old but charming gardens 
that should find a place in every establishment. The Misses ffarington 
take a great interest in this garden; and well they may, for it contains a 
little of everything. For instance, beds of the common Moss Rose 
pegged down, bulbs of every description for flowering in the spring, 
alpine Phloxes, and a general collection of alpine and herbaceous plants. 
This garden is bounded on one side by a hedge of Rhododendron pon- 
licum and a row of climbing plants trained to pillars and festooned 
gracefully from one to the other. Even Hops are not dispensed with for 
this purpose, and remarkably well they look amongst other things after 
the Hops are produced. 
The flower gardens is situated close to the mansion, which is a 
geometrical design, laid out in Box and various coloured gravels, the work 
of Mr. Nesfield. The garden is sunk below the surrounding lawns, and 
would undoubtedly be very effective from the mansion. This garden 
was very gay, and the surrounding lawns in good condition. Below the 
flower garden, and stretching for some distance tswards the park, are large 
squan s of grass, not closely cut, that must be worth seeing in spring, 
for they are full of Narcissus ; and below these again are large masses 
of Scilla siberica. It is when massed together in quantity that these 
bulbous plants are most effective. 
The glass houses are not extensive. Vines occupy one house only. 
Melons and Cucumbers are grown in one small house and in frames. 
Pines are grown in pits, and the plants were sturdy and producing fine 
fruit; these houses are in the kitchen garden, the remainder being in the 
pleasure grounds. A large house intended for a fernery, with a quantity 
of rockwork, in progress of erection, will undoubtedly be interesting and 
effective when completed, the arrangement of which Miss Ffarington 
directs herself. Another house is devoted to Nymphseas, which cannot 
fail to be very interesting from time to time, when the different varieties 
are in bloom. Those that have not gone to rest are healthy and flowering 
freely. The remainder of the houses are devoted to Ferns and decorative 
plants in variety. Many very old plants that are seldom found in gardens 
nowadays are cherished at Worden Hall. The whole of the houses are 
heavily draped with a good variety of climbers, the back walls being 
also covered with a variety of flowering plants. The climbers add to 
these houses a very natural appearance, for they are not tightly tied 
together, but from a distance have the appearance of covering the entire 
roof. Such, however, is not the case, for they are only trained under the 
^afters. The houses are old, and consequently rather dark, and with the 
aid of the climbers a large amount of light is hiddm from the p'ants below 
Mr. R. Frisby, the able gardener, deserves congratulation for the condition 
of the gardens generally. 
FERN BANK. PV3 
This is situated on the opposite side of Preston, and is about two 
miles distant. It is the home of Mr. John Atherton, Hon. Secretary of 
the Preston and Fulwood Horticultural Society. This Society owes much 
to the exertions of Mr. Atherton, who has woiked hard in order to render 
it a success. No better or more able person could be found for the 
position. He is an enthusiastic amateur, with plenty of time on hand,, 
which he freely devotes to the Society, and in addition is well known 
to the ilite of Preston. The gardens at Fern Bank are not large, and 
principally consist of an orchard of various fruit trees, two glass houses, 
a small lawn, and a few flower beds. Fern Bank is referred to because 
amateurs may gather two or three useful hints from what 1 noted as 
particularly conspicuous. The first subject that took my attention was 
two flower beds of the old Sedum spectabile with its enormous heads of 
rose-coloured flowers. Two finer beds it would be impossible to have, 
and all desirous of having effective and telling beds without having to 
raise plants annually should make a note of this. One of the houses 
were filled with Yallota purpurea and various Lilies ; the other, a large 
span-roofed structure, contains a good assortment of succulents, about 
fifty varieties, some of the plants being good specimens. Eucomis regia 
was in bloom with fine spikes of its sweet-scented flowers. This is a 
plant that deserves to be more generally grown. The remainder of the 
house was filled with a general assortment of plants. Fuchsias—the old 
Rose of Castile—were strikingly beautiful; they were growing from 
beneath the stage by the side of the walk, and very full of bloom. The 
objectionable part of many houses might be rendered effective by this 
method.—W. B. 
FRUITS FOR NORTH WALLS. 
In many instances we see north walls clothed with Ivy, those in 
charge of them being of opinion that nothing of a more profitable character 
will grow on them ; but this is a mistake, as there are some fruits which 
succeed as well on a north wall as on any other aspect, and those in this 
position have advantages which others in earlier situations do not possess. 
Morello Cherries do exceedingly well on a north wall. They grow freely, 
and soon furnish it with plenty of wood and foliage. They begin fruit¬ 
ing early, and bear a crop when they are three or four years old. Their 
late position is in their favour in two ways. In spring they are later in 
coming into bloom than those in sunny positions, and this is greatly in 
their favour, as the weather is better as a rule towards the end of April 
than in March, and they very rarely miss a crop. Again, in the autumn 
the north aspect is all in favour of the fruit being late in ripening and 
hanging long. Our first Morellosin a west aspect ripened early in August, 
but those on a north wall were not coloured until the very end of that 
month, and now those that were in the last week in September we 
have still perfectly fresh fruit hanging on the north wall trees. It will 
be late in October before they fall, and I think all will admit that this is 
very late for Cherries in a district not generally late. 
The next fruits I recommend for this position are Red and White 
Currants. Some years ago we had a shed, the wall of which faces due 
north. It was quite bare and rather unsightly, and with the object of 
improving its appearance, in summer at least, a narrow opening was taken 
out along the bottom of the wall where there is a pathway, and this was 
filled with good soil. One-year-old Red and White Currant bushes were 
planted, and the branches trained upright to reach the top of the wall as 
soon as possible, but in addition to their covering the wall they soon 
began to bear heavy crops of splendid fruit, and for five or six years past 
the finest Red and White Currants in the garden have been produced on 
those north wall plants. They never fail to produce a full crop, the 
bunches and berries being very large, and they hang quite fresh until 
long after the bushes in the open quarters are destitute of fruit. 
The Keswick Codlin Apple also bears very well on a north aspect, and 
some Pears, particularly BeunAd’Amanlis, produce much good fruit facing 
the north; and as the planting season is again at hand, I would advise 
all who have north walls now occupied unprofitably or bare to plant them 
with those named above.—J. Muir. 
ROSE THE BRIDE. 
Several correspondents have requested us to furnish them with 
some particulars concerning this new white Tea Rose, which has appeared 
at several exhibitions this year and attracted much attention. At a 
meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society in August Messrs. Wm. Paul 
and Son showed a number of blooms and buds that were very charming 
and extremely fragrant. It was noted approvingly by one of our corre¬ 
spondents last week, and again in the present issue (page 334). As a free, 
late-flowering variety it is likely to be very useful. 
Writing in reference to this variety Mr. William Paul, Waltham Cross 
(to whom we are indebted for the loan of the woodcut, fig. 52) remarks as 
follows :— 
“ Tour correspondent, ‘ Wild Rose,’ tells us (page 314) that this Rose 
‘ originated in the garden of Mr. Bancroft, the historian.’ I think he 
will find that it originated with Mr. John May of Summit, New Jersey 
