188 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ August 18, 1892. 
yards of glass, but with it all where are they when the bunches 
come to be counted and the fruit to be weighed ? Can either 
of them, with all their bulk, produce 1200 lbs. of such delicious, 
large, well-flavoured G-rapes as this Speddoch Vine in its little 
house of 60 feet by 20 ? 
This o'd Yine has had several marvellous escapes from utter 
destruction. More than once it has suffered the ordeal by fire. 
On one occasion in its early days it came very near being entirely 
consumed. One Sunday morning the gardener having made a 
good fire owing to the weather being cold, banked it up well and 
set off to go to church three miles away, leaving his wife with 
instructions to see that no harm happened to the vinery. But, 
busied with her household affairs, the good woman forgot all 
about her charge, and when the gardener returned he found that 
in his absence the flue had taken fire, and all the Ymes in the 
house were destroyed except this, which happened by good luck 
to be in the cool corner. Once again, when the new house was 
being erected, an impatient mason in endeavouring without 
assistance to remove the lintel from the old door tumbled it over 
on the leading bi’anch, which was, of course, irretrievably ruined. 
Then a superstition used to prevail in the neighbourhood in favour 
of burying the bodies of dead donkeys at the roots of a Yine, as 
the most appropriate manure it could have. So all the creatures, 
dogs and cats and other animals as well as donkeys, that died 
within a radius of a mile or two were brought religiously to 
nourish the roots of the old Yine. When the present gardener 
came his first care was to effect a thorough pruning of the 
branches, and when that was done to look to the roots. The 
border was duly trenched, and, sure enough, the bodies which had 
been brought to the spot were found in a putrid mass. There 
was not one root of the Yine near them. As soon as possible the 
evil stuff was removed and replaced with good loam, and no 
more defunct pets were allowed to find their last resting place 
there. 
Mr. Smith has something to say about the honours he has won 
in past years at the horticultural shows in Edinburgh, Glasgow, 
Dundee, and Dumfries. Once he took a prize with a bunch of 
Grapes 9 lbs. in weight, believed to be the second heaviest bunch 
of the Black Hamburgh ever exhibited. He mentions a curious 
instance of the uncertainty of judges which occurred in 1884, 
when he was awarded the second prize at the International 
Show at Dundee, while at Edinburgh a week later he carried off 
the first prize from the previously successful competitor. It is 
now a good many years since Mr. Smith ceased to exhibit. 
Leaving the house containing the old Yine, and passing through 
the span-roofed house in which the phylloxera made its appearance 
in spring, noticing how the young Yines are flourishing, and noting 
the large specimen Ferns ranged on the tables, we visit next the 
potting house, the fruit room, and the well-lighted boiler house. 
Everywhere we observe the same substantial fittings, and the same 
convenient arrangement of accessories. The windows of the fruit 
room are of obscured glass 1 inch thick, so that the temperature 
within is little affected by the temperature without ; while the 
fruit tables and shelves are of foreign maple—a wood free from 
all resinous odour. In the boiler house are two large Meikle- 
john’s cruciform boilers, which can be used together or separately 
as required. The heat is regulated by a convenient arrangement 
of Messenger’s patent valves. 
These all adjoin the house where the old Yine has its 
habitation. Passing now into the open air, a few steps lead us 
to a second span-roofed house. It was originally intended for 
a Melon house, but is now occupied by five Yines of Alicante 
and Gros Colman, which, planted at one side, are trained right 
over the span. They bear an enormous crop of heavy bunches, 
with berries of an unusual size. Another house contains Yines 
of Muscat of Alexandria, and I was struck with the length and 
weight of the tapering bunches, which seem extraordinary for 
Yines not more than six years old. In these two houses, which 
open into one another, we had barely time to glance at the Ferns 
and bright-foliaged plants, such as Gesnera zebrina, which crowd 
the tables, or the Tomatoes trained against the walls, or at the 
Fig tree in the corner, but were compelled to hurry on to the 
Peach houses, where we found such a grand crop of Yictoria and 
Lord Napier Nectarines, that we felt as much inclined to com¬ 
pliment Mr. Smith on his success with this fine fruit, as on his 
unparalleled crop of Grapes. Then we walked through the 
garden, remarking how well the wall fruit was thriving, protected 
as it is in places with a glass coping ; noticing the great rockery, 
120 yards in length, with its wealth of Alpine plants and Ferns 
almost concealing the enormous boulders of conglomerate and the 
blocks of shining felspar brought all the way from the mines at 
Wanlockhead ; admiring the showy flower borders with their 
cleverly contrasted tints ; and out into the cool shade of the 
giant trees, where there was something new to observe. 
We took our stand on the tennis ground, and noted how well 
its oval shape fitted into the steep ascent which rises beyond. All 
around were a great variety of magnificent trees, some standing 
singly, some planted in groups, including specimens of Araucaria } 
Thuja gigantea, Cedrus deodara, C. atlantica, and C. libani; Piceas 
nobilis, Normanniana, and pinsapo ; Abies excelsa aurea, Douglasi, 
canadensis, and Albertiana. Then through the midst of these 
we took our way along a grassy path, past a large pond where only 
the leaping trout disturb the placid water, past the extensive 
kitchen garden, and on to the lovely Speddoch Glen, where we 
found a shady retreat from the blazing summer sun. We crossed 
a deep and rocky ravine on a neat footbridge supported by iron 
girders resting on substantial stone piers. Even now the scanty 
stream betrays by its brown waters its origin in the moorlands. 
As we followed the path we noticed the natural rockwork 
with Ferns—the Oak, the Beech, and the Lady Fern—growing 
in wild luxuriance. Then we recrossed the stream by a bridge 
similar to that below, and retraced our steps through woodland 
alleys to which the lofty Picea nobilis lends a marvellous dignity 
with its stately form and glistening bark, and before we were 
aware we found ourselves at the summer house on the height over¬ 
looking the tennis ground, with the gardens, the house, the grounds, 
and all their wealth of arboreal beauty spread out at our feet. Far 
away we caught once more a glimpse of Queensberry, dim in the 
distance as a summer cloud, and, stretching in the other direction 
for miles, we could follow the valley where lay the road to 
Dumfries. And so once more we bade farewell to Speddoch, 
conscious that we had seen only a part of the beauties which, like 
some coy maiden, it hides away in its secluded glen.— Karmi. 
VIOLAS AND PANSIES. 
I should like to add a few remarks on Yiolas to those on 
pages 48 and 118, and also to give some notes on new Fancy Pansies 
exhibited this summer. 
New Yiolas. 
Other new Yiolas to be sent out which have come under my 
notice as worth having are Prince of Orange, deeper in the yellow 
than Bullion and a fine variety ; Rob Roy, rich gold with a bright 
brownish red blotch in the top petals, both to be sent out by 
Messrs. Dobbie & Co. ; and Duke of Clarence, rich velvety 
black violet, with light clouded upper peta's. 
Another lot of blooms of seedling Yiolas has been sent to me 
by Mr. J. D. Stuart of Belfast, who is devoting much attention to 
Yiolas, and I append a few notes of some of the best of those he 
sent to me. H. W. Stuart is a very richly coloured beautiful 
flower of good size, perfect form and substance, colour maroon 
purple clouded and striped with rosy lilac ; a beautiful variety. 
Mrs. Joseph Chamberlain is another fine and distinct variety, 
having the good properties of H. W. Stuart, but much lighter in 
colour and distinctly clouded with lilac; a beautiful variety. 
Hibernia is a flower of first-class quality, admirable in form and 
substance and smooth, rich violet lower petals, and greyish lilac 
top petals ; extra fine. Unionist is a rich deep plum purple with 
blue-tinted lilac blotches, somewhat resembling Master of Arts 
in colour, but a larger flower. Commodore is very distinct in 
