Jnne 8, 1893. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
461 
tried it personally he did not feel confident in recommending its 
general use. 
A vote of thanks to Sir John Llewelyn for his admirable paper 
closed the meeting. 
A DAY IN THE DUKERIES. 
When I was living within the puilieus of the Cinque Ports the ques¬ 
tion used often to be mooted by visitors, Which are the Cinque Ports? and 
it was somewhat odd to find that even old inhabitants were very much 
at sea (as perhaps they ought to have been) as to which were the five 
included in the term. “Oh,” it used often to be said, as if the 
informant was running out a sounding line, “ there are Sandwich, Deal, 
Dover, and-,” then came the halt. Were Rye and Winchelsea or 
Hastings to be included 1 and I believe that very many who live in that 
favoured locality can hardly tell. Indeed, I think that probably a Lord 
Warden may have been ignorant of the possessions over which he ruled. 
his untiring zeal we are to hold the provincial show of the N.R.S. 
this year at Worksop, the smallest town in which it has ever been held. 
If he who kills fat bullocks should himself be fat, it also follows that 
anyone who would undertake to introduce the National Rose Society 
into his neighbourhood must of necessity be a rosarian, and thus I was 
prepared to find that whatever else might be grown at Gateford, the 
chief object of interest would be the Rose. Nor was I disappointed. 
The garden is a large old-fashioned one ; one mark of this being that 
the walls are hollow and capable of being heated, according to a practice 
which was once, when glass was dear, commended to those who could 
afford it, but one which cheap glass and better knowledge has com¬ 
pletely done away with. But as I have said, it v.'as of course too early 
to say much about the condition and prospects of the Rose itself, but the 
plants looked well and healthy, and there were large battalions which 
ought to stand Mr. Machin in good stead on the day of battle. 
These are in what may be called the Rose garden outside of the 
walled garden, and on a slope where they are well sheltered, although it i& 
I 
( 
I 
Fig. 83.—the PALM 
It is very much the same with regard to the Dukeries. What are the 
estates so called ? “ Oh, there is Clumber and Welbeck,” and then 
often comes the hesitation. Sometimes Trentham is called in, some¬ 
times Chatsworth—very far wide of the mark, while the difficulty is 
increased by the fact that there are now only the two above mentioned, 
the third estate (Thoresby, which once belonged to the Dukes of King¬ 
ston) having passed into the hands of Earl Manvers. These three noble 
estates, lying close by one another, include a large slice of the northern 
part of the county of Nottingham, and are in some of their characters 
unique. 
When my kind friend and host, Mr. H. V. Machin of Gateford Hill, 
Worksop, proposed a drive through the far-famed Dukeries it opened 
out to me visions of enjoyment which I am bound to say were amply 
fulfilled. One’s imagination—and I have not a very vivid one—con¬ 
jured up the stories of Robin Hood and Little John. One thought of 
Friar Tuck and all the dramatis personm of Scott’s bewitching story ; 
and then there were realities to see—princely houses and domains, grand 
gardens and verdant glades and hoary forests, for were there not Oaks 
to be seen which had existed there before the Conquest? And as the 
weather was fine, as it has been generally during this extraordinary 
season, one’s anticipations of enjoyment rose high, but high though they 
were they were amply justified by results. 
But before I say anything of the day’s proceedings I would like to 
say something of the place from whence we made our start. Mr. Machin 
is,as many readers of the Journal know, an energetic rosarian ; through 
HOUSE AT WELBECK, 
only a portion of a field which has been brought into cultivation for this 
special purpose. Here there are about 7000 cut-backs, and thereare 12,000 
stocks for next year’s budding, besides two or three thousand dormant 
buds on dwarfs and 800 to 1000 on half-standards. Here there is 
an army with which some of our combatants will have to take account. 
I may add, too, that Mr. Machin is thoroughly alive to all the requisites 
for showing. The place for setting up his blooms is admirably arranged, 
and every requisite amply provided, so that I think we may fully 
expect to see him taking up a prominent position. 
Our start was a false one ; one of the horses took it into his head to 
gib, and threw himself down on the pole, to the imminent danger of 
snapping it. However, the coachman was master of the situation, and 
by very good charioteering and a judicious use of the whip he succeeded 
in getting them off, and the mare proved herself, like many an ill- 
tempered one, a thorough good one to “go.” She did not try her tricks 
again, and behaved well throughout the day. 
Although we desired to have a run through the Dukeries, wh’ch 
involved a round of about thirty-five miles, we could not possibly 
hope to see everything of interest, and I believe as horticulturists if 
nothing else we were inclined most to Welbeck. On our way we had 
a view of the cricket ground where the N.R.S. is to hold its Show, a 
convenient and suitable spot close to the town, passing by Worksop 
Manor. Welbeck was, however, the Mecca of our pilgrimage. We 
might see the environments of Clumber and Thoresby, but we felt that 
there was a magnetic influence in Welbeck that drew us irresistiWy 
